RTHK: New NYC Mayor calls for resiliency against virus

New York City's new mayor, Eric Adams, pledged on Saturday to steer America's largest city out of the pandemic by drawing on the resiliency of its people and promising a government that works better, even if it's not radically different.

Hours after being sworn into office in Times Square as the city rang in the new year, Adams used his inaugural address to promise more efficiency, invoke New Yorkers' reputation for toughness, and urge the city's nearly nine million residents to make a New Year's resolution that their lives not be controlled by the pandemic.

Getting vaccinated is not letting the crisis control you, Adams said at City Hall. Enjoying a Broadway show, sending your kids to school, going back to the office, these are declarations of confidence that our city is our own.

Adams, 61, faces the immense challenge of pulling the city out of the pandemic, taking office as New York grapples with record numbers of Covid-19 cases driven by the Omicron variant.

While he has pledged to keep New York open and stave off any return to shutdowns, he is taking the helm of a city that has seen subway lines, restaurants and even urgent care centres temporarily close because of staffing shortages driven by Covid cases.

Adams said this week that he plans to keep in place many of the policies of outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio, including vaccine mandates that are among the strictest in the nation.

In his Saturday address, Adams also said he would take a radically practical approach to improving the citys government that involves not just grand plans and proposals", but also weeding out waste and eliminating the inefficiencies.

The former New York City police captain rode the subway from his Brooklyn brownstone to City Hall for his first day on the job. Adams chatted with New Yorkers and a throng of reporters following him.

He even called 911 to report a fight after witnessing two men tussling near a subway station. (AP)

This story has been published on: 2022-01-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Xi's New Year speech shows China's firm resolution towards building community with shared future

Xinhua) 09:00, January 02, 2022

Children hold red lanterns during a New Year celebration at a kindergarten in Suining, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Dec. 31, 2021. (Photo by Liu Changsong/Xinhua)

BEIJING, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- The New Year speech of Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday has shown China's responsibility as a major country to advance global peace and development, and its resolution and action to promote building a community with a shared future for mankind, overseas experts and officials have said.

Meanwhile, they said they wish China success in hosting the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

Phay Siphan, chief spokesman for the Cambodian government, said Xi's speech has reflected China's commitment to building a modern socialist country.

"President Xi's speech inspires people around the world to love peace, to jointly protect peace, and to work together for common development and prosperity towards building a community with a shared future for mankind," he told Xinhua.

An art performance titled "The Great Journey" is held in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) at the National Stadium in Beijing, capital of China, on the evening of June 28, 2021. (Xinhua/Xing Guangli)

Ivona Ladjevac, deputy director of Serbia's Institute of International Politics and Economics, said the event of 2021, "without any doubt, was the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC)."

Led by the CPC, China is pursuing the Chinese dream, Ladjevac noted, adding "there is no reason to doubt that China will make the year 2022 at least as successful as the previous 2021."

"China has broadened the scientific reach of humanity by placing a space station into orbit," said Cavince Adhere, a Kenya-based international relations scholar.

Adhere said he believes in the year of 2022, "China will, in many ways, shape the course of humanity towards a more stable, peaceful and prosperous world."

Charles Onunaiju, director of the Abuja-based Center for China Studies, hailed China's important contributions to the world through its eye-catching performance in epidemic control and economic growth.

China-donated Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines arrive in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, Feb. 10, 2021. (Photo by Li Boyuan/Xinhua)

China has shouldered its responsibility as a major country, as it has offered COVID-19 vaccines and other medical assistance to developing countries, including those in Africa, Onunaiju said.

French writer and sinologist Lea Bessis said she quite agrees with Xi's remarks that "only through unity, solidarity and cooperation can countries around the world write a new chapter in building a community with a shared future for mankind."

The remarks have shown China's firm resolution to promoting global peace and development, she said.

Bessis added that China's efforts for development aim at improving the well-being of the people.

Pui Jeng Leong, a media veteran in Brunei, said China has declared a comprehensive victory in the battle against poverty, completing the arduous task of eliminating absolute poverty, which is not only a Chinese miracle but also a major contribution to the world's poverty reduction project and global development.

He said he appreciates Xi's remarks about China's contribution to the global anti-pandemic cooperation, adding the friendship and mutual support between Brunei and China in the joint fight against the pandemic have become an example of mutual assistance.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Bianji)
Photo: The Canadian Press Flood waters surround a farm in Abbotsford on Nov. 23. Jesse Zeman and Neil Fletcher argue that the cost of repairing disasters such as this year's Lower Mainland flooding is far higher than building up natural ecosystems that can protect us. JONATHAN HAYWARD, THE CANADIAN PRESS

Sustained funding for ecosystem restoration in B.C.s forests and waterways could reap billions of dollars in savings down the road.

The systematic defunding of natural resource management has delivered exactly what you would expect: Some of the worst fire seasons in B.C.s history have come in the past five years, along with two equally catastrophic flood seasons.

The share of the provincial governments budget dedicated to renewable natural resource management has shrunk by about 75 per cent over the past 30 years, with obvious consequences: People put out of their homes, more than one million farm animals killed, hundreds of people dead from smoke-related illness, and record low fish and wildlife populations.

B.C.s Interior steelhead runs are nearing extinction, kokanee salmon have suffered a massive population setback, and many chinook, coho and sockeye salmon runs are considered threatened or endangered.

And its not like we didnt know it was coming.

The 2017 B.C. Flood and Wildfire Review and its recommendations were intended to inform government actions in advance of the 2018 flood and wildfire seasons.

But that wasnt the first time B.C. was warned of future catastrophe and offered solutions. The government has had nearly two decades to consider the Filmon report, which is bristling with recommendations on strategic logging and fuel reduction.

An aggressive program of controlled burns and fuel mitigation would likely have saved billions of dollars in fire fighting and recovery costs. Wetland restoration and changes to logging and road densities may well have cut the bill for flood damage this fall by billions of dollars.

Then, as now, municipal governments were relied upon to foot the bill for improvements to Crown land to protect themselves from fire and to maintain wetlands and flood protection. Few can afford to do either.

The 2018 report put the cost of treating moderate to high-risk forests at $6.7 billion. Repairing Abbotsfords dikes alone was estimated to cost $400 million last year, possibly much more now, while orphaned dikes in rural B.C. need $865 million in repairs.

Sadly, we dont need to guess at the cost of doing nothing, do we? The Bank of Montreal believes that the cost of putting things right in Abbotsford alone after Novembers atmospheric river event will exceed $7.5 billion.

The economic impact of a region-wide flood on the Lower Mainland could be as high as $30 billion.

Without a rapid change in priorities, we will continue to spend orders of magnitude more on recovery than we would restoring natural assets and infrastructure that protect us.

Diking and drainage schemes of the Fraser River delta and the south Okanagan have sidelined 70 per cent to 85 per cent of historic wetlands, forfeiting the environmental services they provide.

A 2018 Insurance Bureau of Canada report called for the protection and restoration of remaining wetlands in settled areas of Canada, as water damage is one of the greatest threats to their industry.

The provincial government has committed to creating a Watershed Security Fund and strategy as well as Together for Wildlife, a provincial strategy to improve wildlife and habitat stewardship that could provide long-term sustainable funding to projects that combine forest management, wetland restoration and wildlife management in a coordinated way.

Stable, dedicated funding is essential to support local decision-making and to encourage the long-term planning and local solutions needed to respond to changing watershed conditions brought about by climate change.

B.C. provided $27 million for the one-year Healthy Watersheds Initiative.

The Real Estate Foundation of B.C. is administering more than a hundred projects across the province through the HWI, employing 700 people to restore watersheds, create local capacity and strengthen relationships with First Nations. Funding for those projects will end in the coming weeks and months.

This work helps to mitigate future floods, improve water quality, support fish and wildlife populations and demonstrate reconciliation in action.

While the provincial government committed to a watershed security fund and strategy before the last election, neither of those have been implemented. Projects that are desperately needed are simply fading away.

Its time for the provincial government to implement its watershed security fund and strategy, and, more importantly, that the federal government allocated sustainable funding to watershed security as part of its disaster recovery plan for B.C.

Jesse Zeman is the executive director of the B.C. Wildlife Federation. Neil Fletcher is the director of conservation stewardship.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Journalists' detention set a "new record" in 2021 and out of 488 detained, 127 were reported from China, who topped the list.

A Paris-based international group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that a record 488 journalists have been detained around the world because of their work, reported NHK World.

RSF in its annual round-up published last month reported that the figure is the highest since record-keeping began in 1995.

China, including Hong Kong, topped the list for the fifth straight year with 127 journalists in detention. It was followed by Myanmar with 53, Vietnam with 43, and Belarus with 32, RSF reported.

RSF Secretary-General Christophe Deloire expressed concern about "the extremely high number of journalists in arbitrary detention," saying, "it is a reflection of the reinforcement of dictatorial power worldwide."

He called on the international community to take action to protect journalists by considering sanctions against countries that arbitrarily detain journalists, reported NHK World.

A freelance photographer died in custody in Myanmar. He had been documenting demonstrations against the military, which took power in a coup last February.

Local media said that the photographer may have died after being assaulted during interrogation, reported NHK World.

(ANI)
Lithuania needs the support of the West and other foreign powers to counter Chinese aggression as it seems to be struggling almost alone against one of the world's economic and political superpowers, according to a report.

According to the Hong Kong Post, Lithuania finds itself at the forefront of countries that identify China as the greatest threat as it dared to openly oppose Chinese President Xi Jinping's autocracy and Beijing's aggressive behaviour.

Tensions have escalated between China and the Baltic nation in recent times after Lithuania took steps to strengthen ties with Taiwan. China considers Taiwan as its integral part.

The tensions erupted between the two countries when in November Lithuania angered China by allowing Taiwan to open a representative office in Vilnius, equivalent to an embassy.

The representative office opened with the name "Taiwan Representative Office in Lithuania", thereby implicitly implying recognition of a legal entity separate from the mainland.

Beijing attacked Lithuania by lowering its diplomatic relations with Lithuania.

In addition, this month Beijing also demanded that Lithuanian officials surrender their identity documents in order to downgrade their diplomatic status.

The demand was such a serious concern for Lithuania that Vilnius withdrew its remaining diplomats from China in mid-December, fearing for their safety.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman noted that this act 'creates a false impression of 'one China, one Taiwan' in the world, violates the one China principle, undermines China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and grossly interferes in China's internal affairs'.

Further, China has suspended the movement of freight trains connecting Vilnius as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It stopped processing Lithuanian food export license applications, according to Hong Kong Post.

"Lithuania seems to be struggling almost alone against one of the world's economic and political superpowers. It finds itself at the forefront of countries that identify China as the greatest threat as it dared to openly oppose Chinese President Xi Jinping's autocracy and Beijing's aggressive behaviour. It remains to be seen if the world community will come together to stand in support of Lithuania against Chinese coercion," the Hong Kong Post article read.

"The Baltic nation needs the support of the West and other foreign powers to counter Chinese aggression. Washington announced its support for Lithuania's decision. The EU, on its part, warned of further consequences if Chinese pressure on Lithuania continues, but did not specify what the consequences might be," it added.

(ANI)

Also Read: China warns Taipei of 'decisive measures' after Taiwan President advises Beijing to curb military adventurism


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Millions of people saw local school teacher get MAJOR honor; Owners exploring possible solar facility; Danville Area Humane Society hopes reward money will solve animal cruelty case; And Martinsville is NOT throwing in the towel on reversion.
A man on Kirby Avenue told police his wife came home in their Honda Element. The next morning his wife attempted to leave, only to hear an extremely loud sound coming from their vehicle. The man was able to hear the loud sound from inside their residence and immediately knew the catalytic converter had been stolen. He said this is the second time they have experienced this type of theft, as a similar incident happened approximately two months ago to the same vehicle. After the man spoke with the insurance company the first time, they agreed to have a generic catalytic converter installed with a heat-resistant red coating. This is the catalytic converter that was stolen this time. The approximate value is $1,500. There is no suspect information.

* * *

A man on Bailey Avenue told police someone got into his vehicle and stole his wifes purse. He said there were no signs of forced entry, due to her leaving the vehicle unlocked. He said this occurred overnight.

* * *

An employee at the Chattanooga Room in the Inn, 230 N. Highland Park Ave., told police that she discovered that morning that the catalytic converter had been cut off one of the company vans). She said they last saw the van on Friday around 3 or 4 p.m. and a worker noticed the catalytic converter was missing the next morning. She said they found a camo hat and a worker had seen some guys walking around there at one point, and one of them had the hat. However, no one saw the incident occur.

* * *

An employee at the Sherwin-Williams Paint Store, 1315 East 23rd St., told police someone had cut the catalytic converter from one of their vehicles. He was able to show police video of the incident, but due to the distance, no clear description was able to be gained of the suspect, other than a male wearing a white or light-colored sweatshirt.

* * *



A security guard at Alan Gold's, 1100 McCallie Ave., told police there was a verbal disorder between security and two men. Both men admitted they had been drinking at the bar. They said they were kicked out by security for their friend projectile vomiting in the establishment. Security said both men were acting up and they wanted them to leave. Security and the owner wanted both men trespassed from the premises. Both men were asked to leave and were informed they were trespassed from the establishment. Both men left the scene safely.
Always on My Mind is one of Elvis Presleys most famous late-period songs. During an interview, one of the writers of Always on My Mind revealed the song was inspired by an argument he had with his wife. Notably, a major country music producer artist turned down the song before Elvis covered it.

Elvis Presley | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

How an angry phone call inspired an Elvis Presley song

Wayne Carson was one of the writers of Always on My Mind. According to the Los Angeles Times, the song originated during a trip Carson took to Memphis, Tennessee. Carson had to extend the trip by 10 days. His wife was upset when he told her over the phone how long the trip would be. She was pretty damned irate about it, recalled Carson. So I tried to calm her down.

The phone call became part of rock n roll history. I said, Well, I know Ive been gone a lot, but Ive been thinking about you all the time  and it just struck me like someone had hit me with a hammer, Carson said. I told her real fast I had to hang up because I had to put that into a song.

RELATED: Elvis Presleys Always on My Mind Wasnt the Version of the Song That Hit No. 1

A country producer didnt think the world was ready for Always on My Mind

Parade reports Carson and his friend Tips Smallman offered the song to country music producer Fred Foster. Tips and I were convinced that it was a No. 1 record, Carson said in the book Nashville Songwriter: The Stories Behind Country Musics Greatest Hits. We were just like two school kids with a new invention, you know. I played it for Fred Foster and he said, I dont think the worlds ready for that. I said, Youve got to be  kidding me.'

Carson wasnt happy. We left there  I mean, we were mad, Carson said. So we flew back to Memphis and I remember the last thing Tips said about it was, Hes going to rue the day he ever turned that song down.

Wayne Carson | Don Paulsen/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

RELATED: This Singer Said Elvis Presley Was a Good Person Because of 1 Thing He Did When He Recorded Songs

The way the world reacted to Elvis Presleys Always on My Mind

Elvis covered Always on My Mind and released it as a B-side to his song Separate Ways. Separate Ways reached No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for 12 weeks. Always on My Mind eventually appeared on the compilation album Elvis: 2nd to None. Elvis: 2nd to None hit No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 16 weeks.

According to The Official Charts Company, Always on My Mind became even more popular in the United Kingdom. In 1977, the song peaked at No. 9 in the U.K. and stayed on the chart for 22 weeks. In 1985, Always on My Mind reached No. 59 and lasted on the chart for five weeks. Meanwhile, Elvis: 2nd to None hit No. 4 and spent 12 weeks on the chart. Always on My Mind had an interesting backstory and it became a hit.

RELATED: Elvis Presley: Why Its Hard to Hear Johnny Cashs Voice on the Songs From Their Jam Session
Today Prince William and Kate Middleton are married and have three children. The two began dating in the early 2000s and after several years together, William asked Kate to marry him. But once upon a time before he and the Duchess of Cambridge tied the knot the prince was in a relationship with Jecca Craig, who many refer to as his first love, and they reportedly carried out a pretend engagement.

Heres more on that and the woman that may have been the Duke of Cambridges first fiancee.

(L): Prince William Dressed in a tuxedo for the Royal Variety Performance | Karwai Tang/WireImage, (R): Jecca Craig arriving to a friends wedding in Chippenham, England | Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

How Prince William and Jecca Craig met

The future king and Craig first met as teenagers when William traveled to Kenya where Craigs father ran the Lewa Downs conservancy. Because the prince stayed at her familys estate often, chatter about a romance between the two began to swirl.

Palace courtiers denied at the time that they were anything more than friends, but the rumors did not go away.

However, William and Craigs relationship came to a halt when the prince began attending St. Andrews University.

They had a pretend engagement when they were dating

(L): Prince William arriving at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum | Chris Jackson  WPA Pool/Getty Images, (R): Jecca Craig attends day 5 of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse | Indigo/Getty Images

After their romance ended the two remained friends and the press dubbed Craig as Williams first love. The Daily Mail reported that the prince and his old flame had even entered a pretend engagement back when he was staying with her in Kenya.

When William turned 21, he had an African-themed birthday party and Craig was invited. His future bride, Kate, was also there too. According to royal expert Katie Nicholl, who authored the book Kate: Our Future Queen, William was seeing Kate at the time and just invited Craig as a friend. However, Nicholl explained that the prince didnt spend much time with Kate at the event and they werent seated near one another, but Wills ex-girlfriend was seated quite close to him.

Kate didnt know whether they had been romantically involved or not, but she noted that Jecca had been seated at the head table next to William, whereas Kate had to raise her glass to toast the prince from afar, Nicholl wrote (per Express).

William proposed to Kate at Craigs home

Prince William and Kate Middleton pose for photographs after announcing engagement | Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Everything worked out for Kate in the end though and ironically William ended up proposing to her at Craigs familys safari reserve in Mount Kenya.

On April 29, 2011, Craig was a guest at the Cambridges royal wedding. And five years later, William flew to Africa and attended Craigs nuptials to Zoological Society expert Jonathan Baillie.

RELATED: Kate Middletons Ex-Boyfriend Did Not Respond Well When Asked About Being Invited To Her Royal Wedding
Netflix is becoming a reality TV empire, with shows like Selling Tampa. The series is a spinoff of another successful series by the streaming service, Selling Sunset. However, the real estate teams of both series have only one connection.

In the Netflix spinoff, one of the stars is Tennille Moore. She has prospered as a real estate agent, and now she entertains viewers with her ability to sell large homes in Tampa. However, Moores career led her to her states Senate before she ever joined the realty industry.

Tennille Moores background is in real estate like many of the other Selling Tampa cast members

The cast of Selling Tampa at the premiere party | Jose Devillegas/Getty Images

Selling Tampa has made Moore more famous. However, she is more than just a reality star on Netflix. A peek at her LinkedIn profile shows that Moore began being a realtor in 2019. While her status on her page says she is self-employed, she provides services for Allure Realty.

Allure Realty consists of an all-Black, all-women staff. Moore works under founder and CEO Sharelle Rosado, and she has several other colleagues. Moore has worked with many clients, and she has focused on multiple locations in Florida.

The company has been prosperous enough to expand to the real estate markets of Miami and Charlotte. Moores previous job gave her insight into the community and has helped her be successful. The main reason why she ended up on Selling Tampa is because of her association with Allure Realty.

People can see Moore serve up luxury and drama for eight episodes. Whether the show gets another season, the reality TV star already has professional work lined up.

Tennille Moore worked in the Florida Senate for years

The 45-year-old Florida native is the type of person who goes the extra mile. On both TV and social media, you can see that Moore is a smart and successful person. In fact, shes worked in the world of politics for over a decade. According to Cosmopolitan, she has been an employee within the states Senate.

In 2005, Moore started as a legislative assistant in the Florida House of Representatives. Some of her roles likely included supporting legislators in drafting legislation, legal services, and creating legal memos. Moore remained a legislative assistant until November 2016.

In the same year, Moore became a chief legislative assistant for the Florida Senate. She likely continued to help draft legislation as well as build other policy priorities. Moore likely had connections with various politicians in the Senate. Then, until May 2021, she was a chief legislative assistant.

Tennille Moore is also a mother of three

Fresh market, fresh attitude. Selling Tampa premieres December 15th only on Netflix.  pic.twitter.com/uNcUFnYdi9  Strong Black Lead (@strongblacklead) November 22, 2021

Like her colleagues on Selling Tampa, Moore helps sell luxurious houses on the waterfront of Tampa, Florida. She also mixes business with pleasure and provides viewers with some drama. But the tension is mainly between the real estate agents, not the clients.

Moore has acquired some wealth, too. According to The Cinemaholic, she has a net worth of around $1 million. Her Instagram profile indicates that shes the CEO of CreditPro as a Certified Credit Repair Specialist.

Moore is also a mother of three children and posts about her personal life on Instagram from time to time. The real estate agents daughter, JaNiyah Moore, just graduated from the University of Florida in the spring of 2021. Tennille also posts in support of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and President Joe Biden.

Of course, she does like to share posts of work-related things as well. While Moore has provided some insight into her life, she had kept most of it more or less private. If she becomes more famous due to the Netflix series, fans could learn even more.

RELATED: Selling Tampa: Did Rena Upshaw-Frazier Open Her Own Brokerage After the Season 1 Finale?
Travis Scotts Cacti hard seltzer brand was the rappers entry into the world of beverages. But following the tragedy at his 2021 Astroworld music festival, the brand is no more.

Travis Scott | Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Travis Scotts Astroworld 2021 left 10 people dead

Travis Scott launched Astroworld festival in 2018 in his hometown of Houston, Texas. The 2021 edition was the festivals grand return after being canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Throughout the first day of the festival, crowds rushed barricades and crowded into tight spaces, all out of excitement to see their favorite performers. The situation soon became deadly after people were squished together with no way of breathing. In total, eight people died after being squeezed by the crowd or trampled under rowdy fans, while two others died in the hospital.

Travis Scotts Cacti hard seltzer has been discontinued

Scott has been doing damage control since the incident, including a highly publicized interview with radio personality Charlamagne tha God. He also offered to pay for the funeral costs for all the deceased.

The latest casualty of the fallout is his hard seltzer brand, Cacti. After careful evaluation, we have decided to stop all production and brand development of CACTI Agave Spiked Seltzer, beverage company Anheuser-Busch announced on Friday, according to AdAge. We believe brand fans will understand and respect this decision.

Cactis social media channels have been taken down. When asked about whether the Astroworld tragedy was the deciding factor in discontinuing the brand, UpRoxx reported that a spokesperson for Anheuser-Busch declined to comment.

A rep for Scott told TMZ the rapper hasnt been working on Cacti since the tragedy anyway. Travis was clear in his interview that he is not focused on business right now and his priority is helping his community and fans heal, he said. Cacti asked AB InBev to inform their wholesalers there will not be product at this time.

Travis Scott has lost business deals

When Scotts Cacti brand launched in March 2021, Anheuser-Buschs InBev reported that the brand broke records and made history by selling out at thousands of locations across the U.S. within 24 hours after its release; the online inventory was also cleared out in 12 hours. It holds the highest rate of sale in its first week for any variety pack in Anheuser-Busch Seltzer history.

AB isnt the only brand thats decided to cut business ties with Scott since Astroworld. Nike has also decided to hold off on the release of Scotts Air Max sneakers, writing in a brief statement on their website, Out of respect for everyone impacted by the tragic events at the Astroworld Festival, we are postponing the launch of the Air Max 1 x Cactus Jack.

Scott has secured several business deals over the past year, including a celebrity meal at McDonalds  the fast food chains first in three decades  and a virtual concert series in the Fortnite video game.

RELATED: Travis Scott Partied With Drake at Dave & Busters After His Deadly Astroworld Festival
A sign calling attention to drug overdoses is posted to the door of a gas station on the White Earth reservation in Ogema, Minn., Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021. The drug crisis has diversified; it is no longer an opioid epidemic but one in which people are dying from deadly cocktails of many drugs. Deaths involving methamphetamine have nearly tripled in recent years, with Native Americans now 12 times more likely to die from it.
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China ramps up new restrictions on Christian content on the internet

The Chinese Communist Party, which has been criticized for targeting Christians and wielding its power of internet censorship through big tech companies, is putting even more restrictions on the religious freedom of its citizens with a new law regulating online religious content, according to a report.

The new legislation, known as Administrative Measures for Internet Religious Information Services, which was promulgated last month, will be enacted on March 1, reports Bitter Winter, a publication produced by the Center for Studies on New Religion which covers human rights issues in China.

The law mandates an Internet Religious Information Service License for any religious group that wants to disseminate religious content on the internet. But it says only legally established organizations can do so, which practically means only groups that are part of the five authorized religions in China can use the internet to distribute religious content.

Open Doors USA, which covers persecution in over 60 countries, estimates that China has more than 97 million Christians, many of whom worship in unregistered or so-called illegal underground churches.

The five state-sanctioned religious groups in China are the Buddhist Association of China, the Chinese Taoist Association, the Islamic Association of China, the Protestant Three-Self Patriotic Movement and the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association.

Even the organizations within the five authorized religions are subject to surveillance and limitations, Bitter Winter reports.

As per the new law: [T]hey can broadcast sermons and lessons, but these would be checked by the authorities for their Sinicized content, making sure they promote socialist values and support the party, and are not intended as proselytization tools. Religious universities and colleges may disseminate content via the internet only to their students. Any attempt to spread religious content to minors or induce minors to believe in religion will lead to the termination of the license.

Without the license, it will be severely prohibited to share images or comments on religious ceremonies such as worshiping Buddha, burning incense, taking ordination, chanting, worship, mass and baptisms.

The law follows complaints by President Xi Jinping that prohibitions on the use of the internet to advertise religion are not enough to prevent religious propaganda.

Last May, when another set of regulations on religion went into effect in China, communist authorities removed Bible apps and Christian WeChat public accounts, including Gospel League and Life Quarterly, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern reported at the time.

Bookstores owned by the state-sanctioned Three-self churches had increasingly been selling books that promote President Xi Jinpings thoughts and communist ideology, ICC added.

In October 2020, internet censorship targeting Christians in China became so severe that even official government-sanctioned Christian groups started using the Chinese Pinyin initials JD to replace Chinese characters for Christ, China Aid reported at the time.

In 2018, the Chinese government banned the sale of Bibles at online bookstores across the country to comply with a white paper that dictated compliance with the core values of socialism.

Australia's ABC News reported at the time that copies of the Gospels had been removed from online retailers following the release of a regime document titled Chinas Policies and Practices on Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief.

The white paper declared that Chinese faith communities should adhere to the direction of localizing the religion, practice the core values of socialism, develop and expand the fine Chinese tradition and actively explore the religious thought which accords with China's national circumstances.

China ranks as the 17th-worst country globally when it comes to Christian persecution on Open Doors USAs 2021 World Watch List.
Sheriff refuses to remove Bible verse from office: 'We need more Jesus'

A North Carolina sheriff who's garnered national attention for refusing to remove a Bible verse from a wall at his office cited a need for more Jesus as the reason for his decision not to comply with the demands of a leading atheist legal organization to take it down.

Jody Greene, the sheriff of Columbus County, North Carolina, addressed the Madison, Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundations concerns about the Bible verse Philippians 4:13 being displayed on a wall at the Sheriffs Office in a Facebook post last week.

The Facebook post came two weeks after FFRF Staff Attorney Christopher Line sent a letter to Greene asking him to remove the exclusionary and unconstitutional religious display, which proclaims, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Greene pushed back on the claim that the display constituted a government sponsorship of religious messages.

The sheriff added: The Bible verse was placed on the wall after I took office. It was paid for with private funds, not with county funding. The verse is one of my favorite Bible verses, and it seemed fitting for all the adversity I have had to endure.

After describing the scripture as being very motivational to me and my staff, Greene contended that there was a political motive behind the sudden outcry over its presence at the sheriff's office: I have taken many pictures with that Bible verse in the backdrop with not a single issue, but now that we are going into an election year, it is an issue. How absurd!

This is a political ploy. Some want a person that they can control. Companies spend thousands of dollars on motivational classes, to come up with motivational slogans. My motivation comes from the greatest motivational speaker of all time, Jesus Christ, he added.

Greene lamented that drugs and violence are killing our youth before concluding that We need more Jesus and less politics. He also expressed gratitude for all the phone calls and messages of support for the Bible verse.

I am not scared of much, but I am afraid of burning in Hell, he said. The post included an image from FFRF announcing an Unabashed Atheist/Nonbeliever of the week featuring a headshot of the unabashed freethinker in a silhouette of the devil and flames. Greene pointed to the image as a warning of where our society is headed, as well as an example of the need to stand up. He further declared that I will not waiver on my stance and Christian beliefs.

FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor elaborated on the organizations concerns in a statement. The Columbus County Sheriffs Office must serve all citizens equally, whether Christian or non-Christian, she asserted. A blatantly Christian message in a law enforcement division sends a message of exclusion.

In his Dec. 6 letter to Greene, Line noted that FFRF first became aware of the display as the result of a complaint from a concerned Columbus County resident. He asked the sheriffs office to respond in writing detailing the actions the Sheriffs Office has taken to rectify the concerns of the complainant.

Line listed several U.S. Supreme Court cases that found the First Amendment mandates government neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and nonreligion. He also argued that The Establishment Clause, at the very least, prohibits government from appearing to take a position on questions of religious belief in an effort to back up his claim that the Bible verse display is unconstitutional.

Line indicated that the presence of Philippians 4:13 on a wall at the Columbus County Sheriffs Office was not the only example of the government agency making an unconstitutional endorsement of Christianity. The FFRF attorney began the letter by noting that we are still awaiting a response to our January 26, 2021 letter regarding the Sheriffs Office regularly promoting Christianity on its official Facebook page.

On Christmas Day 2020, the sheriffs office posted a Christmas message on its Facebook account that said, Merry Christmas to all and Happy Birthday to our lord and savior. To all that are working today, we thank you and hope you all have a very merry Christmas. #InGodWeTrust.

The sheriffs office posted a similar message on its Facebook page this year.

In his response to FFRF, Greene detailed how Christianity plays a role in the day-to-day operations of the sheriffs office as well as in his own life: Before we execute a search warrant, or any service that puts our people in immediate harm's way, we ALWAYS go to the Lord with a group prayer. ALWAYS! I was raised in the church. I have been in law enforcement for over thirty years. My training taught me to value God, family, and my country.

North Carolina resident Franklin Graham, the CEO of Samaritans Purse and the son of legendary televangelist Billy Graham, encouraged his followers to pray for Sheriff Greene and his staff in a Facebook post on Monday. Im thankful this Sheriff knows where the true solution to lifes challenges and problems comes from, and he is standing his ground, Graham wrote.
More churches burned down by Myanmar military amid massacres in predominantly Christian state

Two Christian churches were among over 50 buildings burned down by Myanmar military troops on Thursday in the Thantlang township of the Chin state as the junta has razed several villages in recent months in the predominantly Christian province.

The Chin Human Rights Organization reported that the Assembly of God Church and a church belonging to the Thantlang Association of Baptist Churches were burned down by military forces. The watchdog further claimed that Light Infantry Battalions 222 and 269, as well as Light Infantry Division 66, were responsible for the arson fires.

Drone image taken today of the arson fire on Dec 30 confirms the destruction of the Assembly of God Church and one of the office buildings of Thantlang Association of Baptist Churches (TABC), the largest religious organization in the Township, a tweet from the human rights group reads. Over 50 buildings were destroyed.

The Assembly of God Church & one of the Thantlang Association of Baptist Churches' buildings are among over 50 structures burned down by junta troops on Dec 30. LIB 222, 269 & LID 66 are blamed for the arson fires, which started from 4 different blocks & lasted for nearly 9 hrs. pic.twitter.com/5NcpWM0rGv  ChinHumanRightsOrg (@ChinHumanRights) December 30, 2021

Since the military coup of February 2020 that saw the overthrow of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, security forces have re-embraced scorched-earth tactics to combat opposition militias in various regions of the country, killing civilians along the way.

The Buddhist nationalist military had used similar tactics in the past to target ethnic minority groups, such as its genocide of the predominantly Muslim Rohingya people that began in 2016 and attacks against predominantly Christian Kachin and Karenni ethnic minorities.

This year, the Myanmar military  known as the Tatmadaw  has stepped up operations in the northwest Chin state and neighboring Sagaing. This month alone, several villages have been razed and civilians killed or abducted.

According to Salai Za Uk Ling of the Chin Human Rights Organization, post-coup violence has led to more than 20% of the states population (about 500,000 people) becoming displaced.

In the Sagaing region, more than 80 have died in killings of three or more since August, according to data compiled by the Myanmar conflict watchdog group Assistance Association for Political Prisoner. The group estimates that at least 1,384 people have been killed since the military coup as of Thursday.

An Associated Press investigation based on interviews with 40 witnesses and satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies suggests that at least 580 buildings have been burned down in Thantlang since September.

An attack on Dec. 7 saw over 50 soldiers chasing civilians on foot in the Chin town of Done Taw. While many fled, 10 were captured and killed, including five teenagers, according to a 19-year-old farmhand who spoke with AP.

A witness interviewed by AP said the victims of the Done Taw attack were just normal workers on the betel-leaf plantation.

Witnesses told AP that nine people, including one child, were reportedly killed during an attack in the Magway region on Dec. 17.

On Christmas Eve, the Karenni Human Rights Group reported that as many as 35 displaced people, including elders and children, were killed and their bodies burned near Mo So village of Hpruso town of the Kayah state, an eastern region home to the ethnic minority.

Thursdays attack was not the first time churches were burned in Thantlang township. On Dec. 4, a United Pentecostal church and its clergy quarters were among 19 buildings set on fire in an arson attack carried out by the military, according to Chin Human Rights Organization.

Former regional minister Salai Isaac Khin reported on Facebook that ousted Vice President Henry Van Thio used to attend the Pentecostal church, according to the United States-based watchdog group International Christian Concern.

St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Thantlang was burned down on Nov. 27.

According to the Chin Human Rights Organization, at least 22 churches were burned down or destroyed between August and November in the Chin state, the Union of Catholic Asia News reports.

Myanmar is recognized by the U.S. State Department as a country of particular concern for engaging in egregious violations of religious freedom. Open Doors USA, which monitors Christian persecution in over 60 countries, ranks Myanmar as the 18th-worst country globally when it comes to Christian persecution.

ICC Regional Manager Gina Goh previously stated that the Myanmar military is notorious for its relations with the ultranationalist ultra-Buddhist group the Ma Ba Tha and targets religious minority groups like Muslims and Christians. She warned earlier this year if the military regained power, it would resort to things they were doing before they passed the power to the civilian government.

In November, the U.S. State Department condemned the Myanmar military after setting over 100 homes and two churches on fire in the Chin state.

We condemn such brutal actions by the Burmese regime against people, their homes, and places of worship, which lays bare the regimes complete disregard for the lives and welfare of the people of Burma, the State Department stressed. We are also deeply concerned over the Burmese security forces intensification of military operations in various parts of the country, including in Chin State and the Sagaing Region. We call on the regime to immediately cease the violence, release all those unjustly detained, and restore Burmas path to inclusive democracy.
11 notable Christian figures who died in 2021

In addition to new COVID-19 variants, a new president, and new highly-watched Supreme Court battles, 2021 saw the passing of many Christian leaders and ministry figures.

Largely centered on figures prominent to Christianity in the United States, those listed here sometimes made history, sometimes made headlines, and sometimes influenced many within the Church and society at large.

Here are 11 notable Christians who died this year. They include a theologian who was censured by the Vatican, a prominent Latin-American evangelist, a major anti-Apartheid figure, and the founder what is believed to be the largest congregation in the world.

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221-year-old Pennsylvania church permanently closes due to declining membership

After hosting generations of worshipers beginning in 1800 when there were only 16 states, a 221-year-old church in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, is now among the latest casualties of the decline of American Christianity as it permanently closed its doors on Christmas Eve due to declining membership and attendance.

The 15,000-square-foot First Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, located at 203 North Spring Street, had only 40 members before the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to The Centre Daily Times, which reports that the church now has about 25 members and only 12 attend in-person worship services.

Theres just such a love among this congregation. Weve all known each other so long and we know each others foibles, church elder Candace Dannaker told the publication. Ill miss our personality, our laughter and our joy in just being together. And, of course, the faith aspect of sharing that with other like-minded people.

Dannaker, who joined the church 34 years ago, estimates that there were about 200 people in attendance at that time.

Pam Benson, 77, who has been a member of the church for 73 years, blames the decline of her church on the changing times. Growing up, Benson explained, businesses would close on Sundays, and parents would insist on their children going to church. The competition between churches for new members, she recalled, was also not as fierce.

It was so different. It was just what you did. Unless you were really sick, it was just what you did, Benson said. Its just change. Its progression. Its what happens. Not that I like it, but it is what it is.

Many pews remained empty at the congregations socially distanced Christmas Eve service broadcast on Facebook. But the older adults in attendance worshiped and celebrated the birth of Christ before saying their final goodbyes.

And the light has splintered the darkness. And hope is ours once more. And this light does call us forward, remembering the past, and walking confidently into the future. And now go in the peace of Christ, members said together as they raised lit candles before the final hymn.

Data from the National Public Opinion Reference Survey conducted by Pew Research Center from May 29 to Aug. 25 with a nationally representative group of respondents found that only 45% of U.S. adults say they pray daily compared to 58% who reported doing so in 2007 and 55% who said they prayed daily in 2014.

Even though self-identified Christians are still the largest religious group in the U.S., they now only make up a collective 63% of the adult population. When the Pew Research Center began measuring religious identity in 2007, self-identified Christians outnumbered nones 78% to 16%.

The study noted that the decline in the number of Christians nationwide was mostly concentrated among respondents who identified as Protestant. Their numbers declined by 10% in the last decade and 4% in the last five years.
Televangelist Perry Stone slams secular media after report alleges sexual misconduct

Longtime Tennessee-based televangelist and Bible teacher Perry Stone warned his followers against trusting secular media Monday, days after a local publication accused him of sexual misconduct.

Over 32 years I have been involved with television. ... Im involved with media, I know how media works, Stone said in a YouTube video titled The Truth Behind Todays Media.

Its not always about whats true or not, its about the advertising dollars, he continued, explaining the relationship between the media and advertising and the need to make money.

Information can be twisted by the god of this world so easily. So when youre dealing with a Christian system who wants to be honest ... secular individuals, it has been proven, they will give a false scenario and then you know, two, three years down the road come back and apologize for it and I dont want to go into collusions and all that, he said.

Citing multiple sources connected to Stone and his Perry Stone Ministries, a report published in the Chattanooga Times Free Press on Christmas Day said the Federal Bureau of Investigation began looking into sexual misconduct claims against the minister last month, but the agency has not confirmed this.

Perry Stone Ministries also did not immediately respond when contacted by The Christian Post on Monday morning.

More than a dozen people connected or formerly connected to Stone's ministry told the Chattanooga publication that they were worried about what appears to be a lack of accountability in the ministry a year-and-a-half after claims of inappropriate conduct involving women were first made.

Some expressed outrage that the board of directors at Voice of Evangelism, Stones international evangelistic outreach, did not involve law enforcement or fully investigate claims of misconduct against the televangelist. These allegations included "groping, unwanted kissing and showing women he was aroused, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.

In an update from Israel posted on Facebook on Sunday morning, Stone suggested his ministry was coming under attack without mentioning the allegations of sexual misconduct.

Days ago, we sent a voice file of the words spoken by the Holy Spirit that was spoken recently, to be translated (not interpreted), to several Arab friends, as there [were] three different dialects. All three sent back the same message from what they could understand. One part was a warning for me personally, from the Lord, exposing some people who were plotting and making war against me and the ministry, Stone said, in part.

John Rodriguez, an outside spokesperson for Voice of Evangelism, told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that the manner in which the allegations against Stone were handled was "appropriate and intensive."

"The conclusions reached and actions taken by the board were determined by the board to be reasonable and appropriate and in the best interests of Voices of Evangelism, its supporters and even its detractors," he said in a statement.

During a special service on Nov. 30, when he tried to explain why some people were no longer with his ministry, an unidentified woman interrupted his address to suggest it was because he is a nasty perv.

Why don't you tell them the real reason why they left? Because you kept touching them, she said before she was removed by security.

Stone later explained that the allegations against him were misinterpreted social behavior that is seen as normal in Italian culture.

I am not a perfect man," he said. "People have taken me hugging and kissing them on the cheek wrong. I quit that. I'm Italian. My whole family holds hands, rubs backs. I didn't know you can look at somebody and say, 'Hey, how you doing?' and they can take it wrong.

He further noted that God told him that his accusers will have to answer for their behavior toward him when they die.
Actor Chris Tucker turns down over $10 million for movie role over religious objections to content

Rapper Ice Cube has revealed that actor Chris Tucker, his co-star in the popular 1995 film Friday, didnt appear in the sequels because of his Christian faith, turning down a $10 million to $12 million offer to portray a character known for cussing and smoking marijuana.

Ice Cube shared the information on social media after being asked if Tucker quit because the comedy actor, who portrayed the character Smokey in Friday, was underpaid.

We were ready to pay Chris Tucker $10-12m to do Next Friday but he turned us down for religious reasons, he tweeted. He didnt want to cuss or smoke weed on camera anymore.

In an interview with All Urban Central last November, Tucker, who is best known for his role in the Rush Hour film franchise, had hinted at the reason why he refused to appear in the sequels Next Friday and Friday After Next.

Back then, I gotta tell you, one of the reasons why I didnt do the second one was because of the weed. Because I said, man, that movie became a phenomenon. I dont want everybody smoking weed  and I never really told people this because I kind of forgot about it, but it was one of the reasons why I didnt do it. Because I said, I don't wanna represent everybody smoking weed.

He added, And thats one of the reasons why I said, Nah. I didnt wanna keep doing that character. It probably was good for me because it kept me moving to the next phase and next movies.

Tucker has publicly spoken about his Christian faith. In 2018, he told Piers Morgan, who was co-host of ITV's Good Morning Britain at the time, that he prayed for former President Donald Trump.

I hope he does a good job, because I pray for him. I hope he does a great job, because we need a good president, he said. We need a lot of things to happen in our country, America. So I hope tomorrow he wakes up and just does the right thing.

Tucker also explained why he didnt make fun of Trump.

I say a little bit of stuff, but I try and encourage him to do the right thing, he said. Im not a comedian that dogs people out. I want you to do that right thing. Hopefully, we can be friends one day and we can talk. I want him to be successful. I want him to do that right thing. Thats my whole attitude and, in my show, thats what I talk about.

In 2014, Tucker told the Canadian newspaper Straight that he returned to stand-up comedy because of his faith.

Being a Christian helps me in comedy, he said. I have to talk about other stuff. Normally, most comics talk about stuff thats easy  maybe cussing or saying something raunchy. I have to dig deeper to find something thats still funny and not raunchy. Its harder. I like the challenge.

Tucker was raised Pentecostal and regularly attended church, according to FaithWire, which says the actor abandoned his faith after becoming famous but later became a born-again Christian after moving back to Atlanta in the late 1990s.
Lysa TerKeurst announces divorce after battling to save marriage, standing 'firm' in faith despite pain

Bestselling author Lysa TerKeurst has announced she and her husband, Art, will be ending their marriage of nearly 30 years after he engaged in chosen patterns of behavior that dishonor God and the biblical covenant of marriage.

TerKeurst, the founder of Proverbs 31 Ministries and author of numerous New York Times bestselling books, including Its Not Supposed to Be This Way and Forgiving What You Cant Forget, shared the news on social media on Saturday.

The 52-year-old said that though she and her husband renewed their marriage vows three years ago after a painful separation, he has since broken those vows.

It has crushed my heart to know he has broken those vows, she wrote.

Over the past several years, I have fought really hard to not just save my marriage, but to survive the devastation of what consistent deception of one spouse does to the other. Its brutal and heart crushing to constantly fear the hurtful choices of someone you love. Ive had to learn the hard way theres a big difference between mistakes (which we all make) and chosen patterns of behavior that dishonor God and the biblical covenant of marriage.

TerKeust, who has five children, said she believes the wisest (and hardest) choice I can make is to stop fighting to save my marriage of 29 years and, instead, accept reality.

While there is clear biblical justification for my decision to end this marriage, I am choosing to hold most of the details private out of respect for our children and grandchildren, and to give space and privacy for my family and me to continue to heal, she wrote.

In 2017, TerKeurst revealed she would be pursuing a divorce from her husband due to his infidelity and struggles with addiction. In an interview with The Christian Post, she described the experience as an excruciatingly painful time in her life. However, the couple renewed their vows just over a year later after working to restore their marriage.

At the time, TerKeurst told CP that while the process of fighting for their marriage was "so, so hard, it was one we want to do.

"And we want to give it the necessary time so that trust can be rebuilt, and trust takes an incredible amount of time, she said.

Over the years, TerKeurst has openly discussed the emotional turmoil she experienced due to her husbands actions  and Gods continued presence in her life.

She previously told CP that she strives to share the perspectives and life wisdom that shes gained to highlight the evidence of God's faithfulness that shes witnessed even in the midst of really deep heartbreak.

I would just encourage anybody who's walking through stuff  there's someone else who needs to hear your story," she said in a 2021 interview. "I think everyone has life wisdom, evidence of God's faithfulness and experiences. ... And I think when we share our stories, if we focus on those things rather than the details of how we were hurt, that's where it becomes really helpful for other people.

However, over the years, she kept details of her situation private. And in her latest post, the speaker and author explained that while there is clear biblical justification for my decision to end this marriage, she is again choosing to hold most of the details private out of respect for the couples children and grandchildren and to give space and privacy for my family and me to continue to heal.

Its hard to face a future that looks nothing like what I desperately and constantly prayed it would look like, she wrote.

I dont like this reality, but the truth is, relationship restoration doesnt always work. Ive cried and grieved over this and waited years hoping this wouldnt be our story. But even when restoration doesnt work, forgiveness always does.

The ministry leader said that despite her circumstances, she has never been more grateful for the healing redemption God has done in my heart through the power of forgiveness.

"Bitterness and resentment could be eating me alive. But, miraculously, thats not where Im at. With time, prayer, and lots of counseling, my heart is healing, she wrote.

Sometimes the culmination of all our efforts and the answer to our prayers is that God restores us in relationships, TerKeurst concluded her post. And sometimes He rescues us out of relationships. I dont understand why circumstances sometimes go the way my story is now going. But Im standing firm in my faith and trusting God with every step. My family and I treasure your prayers and your compassion.
Most violent year for Christians in India: Persecution watchdog

For Indias Christians, 2021 was the most violent year in the countrys history, according to a report, which says at least 486 violent incidents of Christian persecution were reported in the year.

In almost all incidents reported across India, vigilante mobs composed of religious extremists have been seen to either barge into a prayer gathering or round up individuals that they believe are involved in forcible religious conversions, says the report by the United Christian Forum, which recorded 486 violent incidents of Christian persecution, topping the previous record of 328 incidents in 2019.

The UCF attributes the high incidence of Christian persecution to impunity, due to which such mobs criminally threaten, physically assault people in prayer, before handing them over to the police on allegations of forcible conversions.

Police registered formal complaints in only 34 of the 486 cases, according to the UCF, which added: Often communal sloganeering is witnessed outside police stations, where the police stand as mute spectators.

While Christians make up only 2.3% of Indias population and Hindus comprise about 80%, the countrys radical Hindu nationalists have been carrying out attacks on Christians under the pretext of punishing the minority for allegedly using monetary rewards to convert Hindus to Christianity.

Open Doors USAs 2021 World Watch List had warned that since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party took power in India in 2014, persecution against Christians and other religious minorities had increased.

In 2021, the UCF recorded 274 incidents of violence against Christians in four states in north India alone: Uttar Pradesh (102), Chhattisgarh (90), Jharkhand (44) and Madhya Pradesh (38).

There is also one Southern State which is also witnessing a high number of incidents of violence against Christians that is Karnataka with 59 incidents, the report says.

Days before Christmas, Karnataka became the 10th state in India to pass an anti-conversion law, which presumes 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 has also reported earlier 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 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.

The U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern warns that the pace of Christian persecution only seems to be accelerating with the arrival of 2022, and adds, Whether 2022 will be as violent of a year as 2021 is yet to be seen.
This week in Christian history: Granada conquered, Methodist missionary born

Throughout the extensive history of the Church, there have been numerous events of lasting significance.

Each week brings anniversaries of impressive milestones, unforgettable tragedies, amazing triumphs, memorable births, notable deaths and everything in between.

Some of the events drawn from over 2,000 years of history might be familiar, while other happenings might be previously unknown by most people.

This week  Jan. 2-8  marks the anniversary of the birth of accomplished Methodist missionary E. Stanley Jones and the completion of the Christian reconquest of Spain.

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The power to choose in a childs hands

Some kids wait years to be chosen by sponsors. Now its their turn to take action.

Kids now have the chance to choose you as their sponsor. This puts the power in the hands of our brothers and sisters in developing countries  honoring their dignity as equals and celebrating our belief in Christ by loving our neighbor no matter who they are, or where they live.

Its a simple switch in our thinking that gives value and honor to everyone involved acknowledging that these kids have the power to change our lives, too.

Instead of you choosing from hundreds of pictures of children who need sponsors, your picture goes to the kids, and one of them will choose you. And in doing so, people like Shanda are experiencing Gods goodness through the simple act of a child.

Shanda and her family said yes to sponsoring a child with World Vision while attending Soul City Church in Chicago. We believe it's a part of our mission as believers in Christ, says Shanda about helping others. Their photo was taken, then sent to Mwala, Kenya, along with photos of hundreds of other Soul City congregants, to be displayed at a large community event.

In Mwala, a rural community of 40,000 people two hours east of Nairobi, Kenya, the freedom to choose is an unfamiliar luxury for children like 9-year-old Junior.

Junior had experienced a childhood of deep poverty. Since he was 6 months old, he and his three older brothers have lived with their widowed grandmother. She scraped together money from odd jobs washing clothes or farming other peoples land but struggled to pay school fees and buy food.

At the Mwala community event, photos of potential sponsors were displayed for the kids to see. One by one, each child took their turn to examine the faces and choose who they wanted. Junior saw Shandas face and chose her. Knowing he has her support makes him want to give back. When [people] help me, I feel happy. That makes me want to help others so that they feel happy, he says.

Shanda knows that the best way to help a person living in poverty is not with handouts, or as she explains it, taking away their power and their agency. The best way is to encourage them to take hold of their own futures  starting with choices like Juniors.

For him to look and to then say, I have choices, I have agency,  it was just the most amazing thing for me to be on the receiving end of that, to say that he looked, and he looked, and then chose me, she says.

Like Shanda, you can step into a life-changing connection, one that empowers the child and their community for a future filled with opportunities. Better yet? Because of World Visions community-focused solutions, for every child you help, four more children benefit, too.

Learn more about being chosen at worldvision.org/Chosen

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. We serve all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.
CP year in review: Top 10 most read stories of 2021

Among the most read news stories of 2021 were reports of the power wielded by big tech companies to silence Christians, actor Denzel Washington professing Gods calling on his life and backlash against the words of a progressive congregation that claimed the Bible isnt the Word of God.

The year also saw a mix of reactions to the downfall of Christian leaders, others announcing they were deconstructing their faith and walking away from Christianity, and some publicly sharing their testimony of coming to faith in Christ.

The following pages list the top 10 most read news stories in 2021.
India blocks foreign donations to Mother Teresa's Christian charity

Indias federal government has announced it will block foreign donations to a Christian missionary group founded by Mother Teresa amid a rise in attacks on religious minorities in the country.

On Christmas Day, Indias Ministry of Home Affairs said they found adverse inputs when reviewing the Missionaries of Charitys renewal application. As a result, the faith-based nonprofit no longer meets eligibility requirements under the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act.

Founded by the famed Roman Catholic nun in 1950 in Calcutta, the charity runs orphanages, schools for abandoned children as well as soup kitchens and other charitable operations. The organization is dedicated to the service of the poorest of the poor, irrespective of social class, creed or color.

We deliberately choose to show Gods concern for the poorest and the lowliest, remaining right on the ground, while offering immediate and effective service to those in need, until they can find someone who can help them in a better and more lasting way, the website notes.

The group relied largely on foreign donations to support its humanitarian work, according to The New York Times. Though the Missionaries of Charity can appeal the decision, it is now cut off from vital resources.

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, Indias government has increasingly tightened rules on foreign funding of non-governmental organizations, many of them religious. Christians make up about 2.5% of Indias population, while Hindus comprise nearly 80%, according to the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project.

Several Indian states have passed what are referred to as anti-conversion laws, which ban religious conversion by force or through financial benefits. Activists warn that such laws have intensified attacks and prosecution of Christian individuals and groups.

Earlier this month, police in Indias western state of Gujarat filed a case against the Missionaries of Charity under the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act of 2003 for allegedly hurting Hindu religious sentiments and luring young girls toward Christianity in a shelter home it runs in Vadodara city.

The institution has been involved in activities to hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus intentionally and with bitterness, a report filed to the police alleged.

The girls inside the Home for Girls are being lured to adopt Christianity by making them wear the cross around their neck and also placing the Bible on the table of the storeroom used by the girls, in order to compel them to read the Bible  It is an attempted crime to force religious conversion upon the girls.

A spokesperson for the Missionaries of Charity rejected the allegations of forced conversions as unfounded. We have not converted anyone or forced anyone to marry into Christian faith, the spokesperson said.

On Monday, Bishop M. Jagjivan, the moderator of the National Christian Council, an organization representing Indias Christian community, told The Wall Street Journal that Indias government has increasingly rejected foreign-funding approvals for Christian groups, forcing many faith-run organizations to shut.

They are thinking that opposing Christianity is patriotism, the bishop said. This is not a healthy atmosphere.

In 2017, Christian child sponsorship organization Compassion International, which helped 147,000 children in India, was ceased operations in the country after it was blocked from receiving foreign funding. In response, more than 100 members of U.S. Congress wrote a letter to Indias interior minister calling on him to allow Compassion International to receive foreign funds.

Also, in 2017, India cut off Believers Church, a network founded by Gospel for Asias K.P. Yohannan, and three other associated groups from receiving foreign funds.

In 2020, the Indian government banned six other Christian groups from receiving foreign funds: New Life Fellowship Association, Evangelical Churches Association of Manipur, Ecreosoculis North Western Gossner Evangelical, and Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church.

India ranks as the 10th-worst country globally when it comes to Christian persecution on Open Doors USAs 2021 World Watch List. In 2020, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended that India be listed by the U.S. State Department as a country of particular concern for the first time since 2004.

In 2020, religious freedom conditions in India continued their negative trajectory. The government, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, promoted Hindu nationalist policies resulting in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, the report reads.

USCIRF warned that mobs attacked Christians, destroyed churches and disrupted worship services as they were fueled by false accusations of forced conversions.

Last week, a mob of 200 to 300 people stormed a Christian school in Madhya Pradesh while students were taking their exams and threw stones at the building, the schools principal said.

Earlier in December, the Christian community in Indias northern state of Haryana found a life-size statue of Jesus Christ at the entrance to their historic church desecrated and the lighting inside the premises damaged.
Major cities worldwide cancel New Years Eve celebrations due to Omicron

While New Yorkers are going ahead with their iconic New Years celebration, authorities in many other major cities around the world have canceled celebrations due to the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Paris, Rome, London, Edinburgh, Athens and New Delhi are among the cities where New Years celebrations have been canceled or large gatherings prohibited, according to media reports.

In Germany, which is in the midst of a fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, a massive fifth wave with omicron infections is feared while the hospitals are already overloaded, according to DW. New Year Eves private fireworks have also been banned due to possible injuries caused by such fireworks.

The German health agency recently confirmed its first death  a person between the ages of 60 and 79  related to the omicron variant.

In the U.K., the Trafalgar Square New Years Eve celebration has also been canceled due to the surge of omicron cases in London, the citys Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced, according to The Telegraph. The occasion will instead involve a live broadcast highlighting the most defining moments of 2021.

With infections of COVID-19 at record levels across our city and the U.K., Im determined to work closely with partners in our city to do everything we possibly can to slow the spread of the new variant and ensure our NHS services are not overwhelmed this winter, Khan was quoted as saying.

This means that we will no longer be hosting a celebration event for 6,500 people on Trafalgar Square this New Years Eve, he continued. This will be very disappointing for many Londoners, but we must take the right steps to reduce the spread of the virus. Im proud that we will still have an incredible broadcast spectacular to watch on our screens, which will showcase our great city to the rest of the world.

In the U.K., about 144,000 people a day are getting infected with omicron and feeling unwell, according to the Zoe COVID study, the BBC reported last week. Preliminary studies suggest the omicron variant is milder, with fewer people getting severely ill than with other variants.

The study also suggested that half of people with cold-like symptoms could actually have the coronavirus.

In Edinburgh, Scotland, public New Years Eve celebrations have been canceled, according to Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

The move will also mean unfortunately that large-scale Hogmanay celebrations  including that planned here in our capital city  will not proceed. I know how disappointing this will be for those looking forward to these events, Sturgeon explained in a statement.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex has also announced a ban on major public parties and fireworks on New Years Eve.

In Athens, Greece, fireworks show over the Acropolis has been canceled. The countrys Health Minister Thanos Plevris has said all public New Year celebrations planned by municipalities have been canceled, according to Fox Carolina.

According to Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 90% of the coronavirus infections in some parts of the United States are of the Omicron variant.

New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio has said the New Years Eve celebration will be scaled back, as those who want to attend a party will have to be fully vaccinated, wear face masks and practice social distancing.

New Yorkers have stepped up tremendously over the past year  we are leading the way on vaccinations, we have reopened safely, and every day we work toward building a recovery for all of us, the mayor said, Fox News reported. There is a lot to celebrate, and these additional safety measures will keep the fully vaccinated crowd safe and healthy as we ring in the New Year.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 flights in the U.S., and thousands more globally, were canceled Sunday due to concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant, The New York Times reported.
We all know that in the past two years, the only constant for small business owners has been change. Thousands of businesses changed their business model at the onset of the pandemic, introducing new products or services and embracing new channels to reach their customers. Thousands more launched new businesses altogether, spotting untapped opportunities in our collective new normal.

Now, as we head into 2022, we see the impacts of the past two years crystallizing and new trends emerging, like the beginnings of the metaverse to changing how we define small businesses and how small businesses operate  online, offline and in-between.

A few weeks ago, I sat down with my colleague Pooja Piyaratna who leads Metas Business Product Marketing Group for small businesses. Together, we identified four trends that will reshape the small business landscape in 2022 and beyond.

The evolution of entrepreneurship

One fortunate byproduct of the pandemic was an outpouring of creativity. Around the world, people reexamined previously held assumptions -- like the need to conduct some business exclusively in-person  and new, exciting ideas and businesses were born. This effectively redefined what it means to be an entrepreneur, adding more diversity to the small business space. In 2022, this trend will accelerate further as a record number of businesses are forecasted to be started. One of the most interesting evolutions is the increasing frequency were seeing creators turn their passion into a living. For example, Emily Delaney, the Cheese Board Queen, started with a humble Instagram showcasing her love of cheese and charcuterie boards in 2019. Now, just three years later, she hosts virtual classes and workshops, partners with brands regularly and has a book coming out with Penguins DK Books in the Spring. Her story of sharing a passion online and turning it into a bonafide business is not unique, and one well only see more of in the future.

Related: 8 Ways a Data Breach Could Take Out Your Company Tomorrow

The art and science of creativity

Over the last two years, small business owners have had no choice but to become increasingly creative with their digital presence. And for many, this opened new doors for driving sales and building their brand in the process. Live Shopping is a great example of a digital technology that has helped businesses showcase their offerings while also infusing their brands unique personality into an online experience. And for many, the beauty of fun live video combined with the convenience of online shopping has opened up new revenue streams that will persist beyond the pandemic.

Related: How to Keep Your Employees Focused and Motivated in 2022

Consider Illinois boutique owner Kelley Cawley, who credits regular streams on Facebook Live with making her customers more engaged than ever, driving more online and in-person traffic to her store. To make Live Shopping a success, Kelley mixes the art of a fun Live experience with the science of digital tools and insights that help her understand what keeps her customers engaged. In fact, Crawley knows her sales have jumped 88% since shes implemented the Live Shopping strategy. Combining the art of creativity and the understanding digital tools provide of what drives the most success enables businesses like Crawleys to experiment, innovate and make strategic decisions based on real data. In 2022, we can expect businesses that have found a home online to experiment further  combining the art of creativity with data science tools  ultimately discovering the strategies that work best for them.

Messaging paves the way for the next era of communication

Another interesting development is how businesses are using messaging to infuse personalization into their customer communications. Peoples preferences for how they want to talk with companies are evolving. In this digital era, 75% of adults globally say they want to communicate with businesses via messaging, in the same way they communicate with friends and family. As we transition from the mobile Internet to the Metaverse, we know well see businesses large and small working with more immersive formats to forge personal connections online. While this may sound far off, the groundwork is already underway. For example, small businesses can now conduct video calls via Messenger, allowing them to speak and see their customer, helping them to answer questions faster, provide better customer service, and of course, truly connect person-to-person.

Bridging the physical/digital divide

Many businesses are now operating in a hybrid model  meaning theyre maintaining a physical presence while also selling via ecommerce platforms that became a necessity during the pandemic. In a way, we see the pandemic having accelerated what digital actually means, and as a result, there is no longer a binary divide between online or offline or digital and non-digital. Take Akila McConnell, owner of Unexpected Walking Tours in Atlanta as an example. Prior to the Pandemic, Akilas business provided walking tours focused on Black History in Atlanta. When the pandemic hit, she lost 100% of her revenue overnight. Akila pivoted online to sell gift boxes on Facebook and Instagram Shop that represented the best Atlanta had to offer and introduced virtual tours  bridging her physical offering with a new online experience. Figuring out how to balance and maintain both in-person and digital experiences, and infusing the two experiences together will ensure small businesses are reaching the largest possible customer base, not restricting them based on their geographical footprint, while also providing the convenience that local customers desire.

Related: Top 10 Changes Your Business Needs to Be Ready for in 2022

Despite all the changes and innovations weve seen over the past few years and that lie ahead in 2022, some things remain the same. The ability to watch, listen and connect with your customers will always be paramount to small business success, and now digital tools make this easier than ever.

Copyright 2022 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Volunteers plant a tree at the S.A.N.D. School in Hartford. The surrounding Clay Arsenal section has one of the worst shortages of tree canopy in the city, according to the Connecticut Urban Forest Council. (Courtesy of the Connecticut Urban Forest Council )

Looking to curb asthma rates, ease the impact of summer heat waves and perhaps reduce neighborhood stress, Connecticut will be planting trees in some decidedly non-green neighborhoods of Windsor, Greenwich, Stratford, Bridgeport and New Haven.

The state recently announced that it will spend about $180,000 next year to encourage small urban forests. Its part of a bigger campaign to get more and bigger trees into cities and towns with abundant blacktop but little tree cover.

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Planners say adding trees will reduce the urban heat island effect that can make mid-summer heat waves especially dangerous in neighborhoods where sidewalks, blacktop and buildings cover too much of the ground.

Beyond that, benefits range from reducing local impacts of climate change to addressing social justice, they said.

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Were trying to integrate more of the benefits of trees  the health benefits, the ecological benefit. And people are happier amongst trees, whether they know it or not, said Heather Dionne, chair of the Connecticut Urban Forest Council. Humans have no idea the connection to trees that they share.

Conservation organizations and local tree conservancies for decades have worked to encourage more plantings on both public and private land, but in recent years climate change concerns have added urgency to that work. At the same time, disease and drought have been weakening many of Connecticuts trees, putting on more pressure.

An Arbor Day tree planting in Hartford got help from the city fire department along with Eversource. (Courtesy of the Connecticut Urban Forest Council)

The council is targeting neighborhoods in five communities for its first round of Urban Forestry Climate Change grants, awarding $34,000 to $37,000 apiece for planting trees. Another set of grants will be given out next year.

The neighborhoods were chosen because of relatively low tree canopy cover, but also because adding trees there could promote social equity and environmental justice, help clean the air and encourage residents to be outside more often, the council said.

The environmental organization American Forests recently launched a tree equity mapping system that identifies areas with a serious deficiency of tree cover, but also includes overlay maps showing census tracts of poverty.

With few exceptions, trees are sparse in socioeconomically disadvantaged and neighborhoods of color and more prominent in wealthier, whiter neighborhoods, the organization said. American Forests is focused on addressing this inequity by focusing resources in neighborhoods of highest need. Its our moral imperative to do so, given how many life-saving and quality of life benefits trees provide people.

Bridgeport, a coastal city with a diverse population and plenty of abandoned industrial land, is getting $33,000 to add trees at Seaside Park, Beardsley Park and the Old Mill Green to replace part of the canopy that the emerald ash borer destroyed.

Bridgeport, Connecticut. (<p>dehmystic / iStock via Getty Images</p>)

Those parks are essential recreation spots for the nearby neighborhoods, and the surrounding neighborhoods have been hurt by industrial pollution and heavy development leaving little room for vegetation, the council noted.

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But the council emphasized that very different places also meet the standards.

Even in some of the states presumably wealthiest communities, pockets of poverty and social disadvantage exist, including along interstate highways and in older industrial zones, it said.

So the council is funding planting in the neighborhoods of Byram, Chickahominy and Pemberwicktown  the three parts of Greenwich with few trees, the highest minority population and the highest proportion of residents in poverty, it reported.

We assume Greenwich is a wealthier community, but there are neighborhoods everywhere that are struggling with canopy cover and environmental justice, Dionne said.

Windsor is getting money to put in 91 trees and shrubs at public parks in the Deerfield and Wilson neighborhoods; those sections have poor health indicators, are close to I-91, contain large amounts of impervious surface and are home to minority populations ranging from 66% to 89%, the council said.

Tree removal on Evergreen Avenue in Hartford. "Our trees are full of decay from the drought. Their normal biological processes were interrupted because of the lack of water," said Heather Dionne, the city's forester as well as the chair of the Connecticut Urban Forest Council. (Courtesy of Heather Dionne)

Stratford will get $37,000 to bring trees to two neighborhoods recommended by Environmental Conservation Superintendent Kelly Kerrigan.

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The areas were focusing on have very dense housing, some with maybe one-tenth of an acre lots. The houses are so close that a lot of folks are leery about planting trees, Kerrigan said.

Five Things You Need To Know Daily We're providing the latest coronavirus coverage in Connecticut each weekday morning. >

In some places the tree-planting strips (along sidewalks) arent wide enough for larger trees, so we have to plant smaller species, she said.

Kerrigan plans community meetings in the first half of 2022 to talk with residents about where trees would fit best and what species should be used. Shes hoping those conversations will be a springboard for encouraging homeowners to plant trees on property, a key part of any large-scale reforestation effort.

We want to talk about stormwater runoff, air pollution  the list goes on and on, she said. Many residents dont want to deal with leaf cleanup, but we want to tell them about the advantages (of trees), including the cooling and heating costs.

The council is looking for many of those same conversations to be held around the state. Dionne noted that a few studies have shown the urban areas with plenty of tree coverage are less prone to crime than those with just concrete and asphalt, and many reforestation experts suggest that shade and natural beauty contribute to improved mental health  and reduce stress.

Dionne is also the city forester in Hartford, which has been working on a plan to get its tree canopy coverage on par with New Havens.

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To do that we need to plant about 3,000 trees a year, she said.

Honestly we dont have room for all those trees on city property. We have to think outside the box. We need to get residents and business owners to want trees on their property because its going to make an impact for everybody.
SPRINGFIELD  A three-judge federal panel has rejected proposed changes for three new Illinois legislative districts, including one involving state Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville.

The redistricting maps, pushed through the General Assembly by Democrats earlier this year, were challenged in court by the NAACP lawsuit, as well as lawsuits by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the two top Republican leaders in the General Assembly, Sen. Dan McConchie, of Hawthorn Woods, and Rep. Jim Durkin, of Western Springs.

The first set of maps, passed in May, were based on population estimates. Democrats passed revised maps this summer after final Census data was released. A federal district court initially struck down the first maps but said the revised maps could be amended. A three-judge federal appellate court panel on Thursday said the maps could stand.

The ruling will allow state legislative candidates to begin circulating petitions Jan. 13 for a spot on the June 28 primary ballot. Lawmakers had pushed back the traditional March primary because of delays in federal census results.

The NAACP in East St. Louis had argued that, because of the redistricting, Black areas in and around the city that could have made up a Black-majority district were deliberately broken up and spread across separate House districts to protect two white incumbent Democrats. Other parties in their suit included the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Cooley LLP on behalf of the East St. Louis Branch of the NAACP, the Illinois State Conference of the NAACP and the United Congress of Community and Religious Organizations.

Its filing focused on the 112th currently held by Stuart; the 113th, a safe Democratic district currently held by Rep. Jay Hoffman, of Swansea; and the 114th, currently held by Rep. LaToya Greenwood. They proposed reconfiguring all three districts to make the 114th District a Black-majority district.

They argued there has been a long history of racial discrimination against Blacks in East St. Louis and surrounding communities since Blacks began moving there in the early 20th century in search of industrial jobs. That culminated in race riots in 1917 which led to the murder of an untold number of Black men and women, their filing stated.

Over the past 10 years, they said, the region has seen a seismic loss of population and a shift of its Black population out of East St. Louis and into surrounding suburbs, resulting in increasingly competitive races in some districts.

They claimed Democrats in the General Assembly moved a large number of Black voters, who tend strongly to vote Democratic, out of Hoffmans district and into Stuarts, then replaced those voters by moving a large number of Black voters out of Greenwoods district into Hoffmans and moving a large number of mostly white voters from other districts into Greenwoods.

The judges rejected the NAACP's arguments, instead saying the move was done to shore up white Downstate Democratic districts in rural areas where Republican strength is increasing. Political gerrymandering, while controversial, is legal, they said

It is very disappointing that, in 2021, Black residents of East St. Louis wont get justice today from our legal system," said Rod Wilson, executive director of the United Congress of Community and Religious Organizations. "The courts have decided to support partisan gerrymandering over their legal duty to uphold and protect the voting rights of Black voters.

Teresa Haley, president of Illinois State Conference of the NAACP, said her organization was "disappointed" in the panels decision but would "continue to fight for freedom and justice for all people." She encouraged people to stay engaged, involved, "and stay on the battlefield."

Despite the courts decision, we are proud to lift up the voices and experiences of Black voters in East St. Louis, said Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

We are nevertheless disappointed by the courts ruling," he said. "The record is clear that Illinois lawmakers intentionally diluted the voting power of a cohesive Black community, allowing their partisan political interests to trump the voices of Black voters. This decision is a part of a dangerous turn in legal precedent that essentially allows racial discrimination to masquerade as partisanship in order to pass legal muster."

All three of the suits had named House Speaker Emanuel Chris Welch, Senate President Don Harmon and the Illinois State Board of Elections, along with its individual members, as defendants. They had sought to block the Illinois State Board of Elections from implementing the maps Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law on Sept. 24 and to adopt new maps they have submitted to the court.

All three suits had relied heavily on a 1986 U.S. Supreme Court precedent from North Carolina, Thornburg v. Gingles, which set out three factors needed to invalidate legislative district maps on the grounds of racial discrimination.

Under that standard, plaintiffs must show that the minority groups at issue are sufficiently large and geographically compact to constitute a majority in a single-member district; that the minority groups are politically cohesive; and that the majority votes sufficiently as a bloc such that it can usually defeat the minoritys preferred candidate.
The Mucho Monte Audubon Society and birdwatchers from the community gathered at various locations throughout the city last weekend for the annual Laredo Christmas Bird Count. The event is one of the nations longest-running community science bird project, according to the National Audubon Society.

The event was first started prior to the turn of the 20th century in response to declining bird populations and was a part of the early stages of Conservation. Through the collaboration of 27 birders, 25 Christmas Counts were held that day and set the foundation for many more throughout the year, including the annual counts in Laredo each year.

Beginning on Christmas Day 1900, ornithologist Frank M. Chapman  an early officer in the then-nascent Audubon Society  proposed a new holiday tradition: a "Christmas Bird Census" that would count birds during the holidays rather than hunt them, the NAS stated.

According to Raul Delgado, birder and early member of the MMAS, Audubon chapters and participants from across the country all collect data that is collected by Cornell University. After dividing up into teams, local birders visited Lake Casa Blanca, North Central Park, Slaughter Park, areas on the river bend and a private ranch to count the birds and keep an eye out for exotic species, Delgado said.

He added that tactically, the teams split into visiting different geological locations across the city to cast a large net and count as many species as possible. Fifteen members all took part in the Christmas Count, and Delgado said that he invites birders of any and all experience for 2022s count.

However, the event was much warmer, which resulted in bird count numbers being approximately 25% lower than usual, Vice President of the MMAS Board Glenda Barrera said.

We average about 130-140 species every year but this year we had a low count of 108, she added.

The MMAS was founded and created by Jim Hailey approximately 20 years ago, and its approximately 45 members focus on watching and collecting data on birds migrating to Central and South America. According to their website, they are a community-based citizen science organization that promotes the conservation of avian habitat and preservation of green spaces, clean waterways and parks for a healthy environment for Webb County and South Texas.

Currently the local chapter is headed by chapter president Daniel Perales, and it is avidly inviting new members to join. It currently covers seven counties including Webb, Zapata, Starr, La Salle, Duval, Jim Hogg and Dimmit.

We are at an advantage of seeing many different species of birds during the migration period when they are flying south for the winter, he said.

In 2010, local birders were treated to the first recorded U.S. sighting of the Amazon kingfisher at Zacate Creek. According to the Laredo tourism site, the sighting drew in almost 1,000 birders during the first 10 days. And after six years, the kingfisher returned to the same location.

Additionally, during the 119th National Christmas Bird Count, a blue mockingbird was spotted on the river bend of the Rio Grande.

With the attention brought by the kingfisher and the overall ongoing success of the Laredo Bird Festival, Delgado believes that there is the potential for ecotourism to be a strong attraction for the city. With it being accessible, newcomers only need to be conditioned to endure a mile or two of walking, own a pair of comfortable shoes and own some binoculars. With all that, the MMAS would provide seasoned bird watchers to accompany fledgling birders.

As the city designated Las Palmas Trails as a bird sanctuary, there has been a step in the right direction in regard to attracting tourism. With the geography and flora in the area, neotropical birds and butterflies can attract people interested in all things nature, Delgado said.

This is also compounded by the Laredo Birding Festival, which will celebrate its 10th year on Feb. 2-5. Newcomers and experienced birders from around the nation are welcomed to visit and take part in watching out for exotic birds in Laredo.

In Laredo, you will have unprecedented access to view the seedeater and other avian beauties. We are a small festival, so there is ample opportunity for discovery. You never know what you are going to find, the website states.

They continue by stating that some prized birds that can be expected are the Morelet's seedeater, scaled quail, gray hawk, Audubons and Altamira orioles, green parakeets, Muscovy duck, red-billed pigeon and clay-colored thrush, among many others.

Tricia Cortez, the Rio Grande International Study Center Executive Director, said that the bird count is a rich, fun way to get to learn about birds and the habitat where they live. Furthermore, in her experience, it gave a chance to explore the beautiful and unique areas of Laredo including along the river, certain lakes, ponds, ranches and parks.

The annual event is open to new birders, experienced birders and everyday people. It gives each of us a chance to become a citizen scientist for a day, Cortez said. All the data we collect gets submitted and helps real scientists track patterns of birds all over the country and beyond.

Plus, anytime that youre out in nature focused on your surroundings, its so good for your mental health and spirit. Its one of my favorite days that I look forward to every year.

According to Delgado, with only one high school currently operating an Audubon Club, he said that the MMAS would support other schools interested in starting their own club. The only active student birding club is at United High School and is helmed by Barrera. She said that The United Birding Club is in its 10th year despite not going on any birding excursions for the last two years due to the pandemic.

Regardless, it presents the learning opportunity to know more about the local wildlife, and Barrera said that the students have their lists of local birds they have studied and learned to ID on their own.

Local birding trips and birding events such as the Laredo CBC and the Laredo Birding Festival give the young birders an opportunity to ID in real life, and this practice helps them hone their skills for the yearly Great Birding Classic held every spring throughout the state, from April 15 through May 15, Barrera said.

The GTBC sees teams compete in respective age groups throughout the students designated region, and awards are presented in eight different categories throughout four designated regions. In 2013, UHS won the regional competition and have finished in the top three spots every year that they have participated in.

While they have not competed in the last two GTBC, there are hopes to be a part of the tournament this new year.

We would support a young birders club at any school. They just need to be prepared to go bird watching, he said as he compared it to the multitude of other extracurricular activities and said it could be a stepping stone for the students.

Ultimately, members of the birding community are eager to welcome rookie and experienced birders, as well as promote birding and ecotourism for the unique environment found in Laredo.

Birding has given me the chance to spend time outdoors and appreciate the flora and fauna, while getting exercise. It is an activity that can be a solo effort or with others. Any place is a good place to bird. You never know what you will see next, Barrera said.

cocampo@lmtonline.com
Area business leaders are reaching out to draw in commercial property owners as they establish the new Greater Sharpstown Management District.

At least 50 property owners must be on record before the district can be activated, said Bill Calderon, a member of the new management district's board and director of the Sharpstown Economic Development Authority.

Once activated, the district can assess commercial property owners up to 12 cents per $100 valuation.

The district, approved by the Texas Legislature this spring, was created to levy taxes from commercial property owners to increase security, improve beautification and encourage economic development in the area bounded by Westpark Tollway, Hillcroft, Bissonnet and Sam Houston Tollway.

"Getting a bill through the Legislative system is just part of the battle," said Calderon, also a partner with Hawes, Hill and Calderon, a management company that oversees many similar taxing districts in the city.

"Once you have a district created, you have to activate it."

Calderson said Houston City Council still must approve the district's creation.

"The city leadership has already vocalized support for districts in general, and this one specifically already has support from several council members," he said.

The impetus for the new district's creation came from commercial property owners outside the Sharpstown Public Improvement District boundaries who wanted to benefit from the PID's efforts to beef up security and economic development, Calderon said.

The management district in fact replaces the eight-year-old Sharpstown PID, which had similar goals but a smaller territory. The PID has levied a 6-cent tax on commercial property owners within its boundaries.

New district board members have been working on a service and assessment plan. A public hearing will be held before the district can assess commercial property owners the proposed 6 cents per $100 valuation.

The levy could go up to 12 cents as the district takes on improvement projects, Calderon said.

"Everybody who might be assessed will have the opportunity to come before the board and express their views. ... It's like a court proceeding, with a court reporter and all the comments are written down and presented to the board, which finalizes into a service and assessment plan," he said.

The district's assessments will be synchronized with other taxing entities so as to be part of a single bill at tax time, Calderon said.

Though district projects are still to be determined by the board, Calderon said he predicts a focus on security and safety, with a continuation of the contract with the Precinct 5 Harris County Constable's office.

"We'll probably supplement the patrol and try to create a greater presence by peace officers," he said.

The district also will provide increased opportunities to market the Sharpstown business community and to upgrade public-use infrastructure, he said.

Kenneth Li, a member of the Sharpstown PID and executive director of the management district's initial board, said the management district will not assess residences, but residents should see improvements.

"Look at our neighbor, the Westchase Business District, and what they've tried to accomplish through additional funding," Li said. "We can use that funding to apply to the district to improve the traffic conditions, security and safety in the area and also improve the area's image."

Steve Pittman, communications director for Hawes, Hill and Calderon, said management districts are created by the state Legislature to provide supplemental services residents want but can't pay for with existing tax dollars.

"Although residents will not be assessed, they will enjoy the benefits in terms of what the district can do  security, landscaping, beautification," he said.

betty.martin@chron.com
Larry Ferlazzo, who has taught at Luther Burbank High School for the past 19 years, for a decade has written a column making annual education predictions.

It's time for him to look into his crystal ball for 2022.

In addition to being a full-time teacher, Ferlazzo has written or edited two books on education, writes a weekly teacher advice column for Education Week, and hosts a popular resource-sharing blog.

Here's Ferlazzo's look into the future:

- There will be a big increase in teacher retirements in the spring/summer, leading to a teacher shortage that will make this school year look like a picnic. Then, in an advance prediction for 2023, the stress created by that staff shortage will result in an equal number of departures the following year. These losses, combined with a similarly alarming drop in numbers of students enrolling in teacher-preparation programs, will result in an awful downward spiral. Districts with skilled leadership will have already developed "grow your own" and "teacher-residency" programs to recruit new students, and programs to support those educators who choose to stay. But, as the pandemic has shown, those kinds of districts are definitely not the majority.

- Mask mandates in many schools will continue through the fall and will, in fact, increase in numbers. The omicron variant of the novel coronavirus will have successors, and we will all learn the Greek alphabet. The vast majority of school districts, however, will not be choosing to return to distance learning - even with high community transmission rates. Parent pushback would be too great, and many schools have learned the hard way how to reduce transmission risk. Of course, there are also some states that will continue to do little or nothing to reduce those risks.

- State standardized test scores will be down. Many schools officials will NOT see that a major cause for these drops will be that the districts are only giving lip service to social-emotional learning, mental health support and genuine accelerated learning. Instead they will put their money and energy behind remediation and double down on adding instructional time and "drill-and-kill." They will continue to appear dumbfounded that what they are doing is not working, and conclude that they should add more of the same. Welcome to another downward spiral.

- Attacks on teaching about systemic racism will intensify leading up to the November midterm elections as Republicans continue to believe it will be a hot-button issue to galvanize voter turnout. It generally won't be successful in that Republican aim, but the attacks will hurt students, their families and teachers as educators will self-censor themselves. After the election and polls find that these attacks on critical race theory - an intellectual movement that examines the way policies and laws perpetuate systemic racism - didn't expand the Republican base. Conservative strategists will forget about the issue, but damaging laws passed by Republican-dominated state legislatures restricting how teachers deal with race and other issues will remain on the books, and their impact will continue.

- There will be some major consolidations in the educational technology world more educators conclude that yes, our students need more personalized learning and, no, technology might not be the only, and not even main, vehicle through which to provide it. Smaller class sizes, listening, connecting to student interests, building relationships can lead to better learning. Bye, bye unicorns.

- President Joe Biden's Build Back Better Plan - or some version of it - will eventually pass. It's unclear whether it will universal prekindergarten and a child-tax credit extension. As countless studies have found, outside factors such as child poverty have a much greater impact on student achievement than we teachers do, and the child tax credit has already done an impressive job at reducing child poverty. Quality pre-K programs have also been found to positively influence later academic performance. So these two efforts could end up being the most effective school improvement efforts done in many years - if they actually happen.

- Despite recent school shootings, efforts to reduce police presence in schools will continue. A high priority will be made to twin these changes with an increase in other harm reduction and safety strategies, including restorative practices. Major experiments and research on how to implement these strategies, particularly in secondary schools, will take place and their results widely disseminated.

- Private foundations like Gates and Chan Zuckerberg will continue coming up with ideas about what schools should do, finding people who will accept their money to do them, and then concluding that it didn't work. Their staff will continue believing they are the smartest people in the room, and not bother listening to ideas from educators who actually teach in classrooms every day.

- I borrow this last one from educator Bill Ivey every year. He predicts that "each and every school day will bring tens of thousands of reasons to celebrate in schools across the country." Despite anything the pandemic can throw at us, I think this is still going to be the case.
NWS

UPDATE: The National Weather Service provided a new update at 3 p.m. on the wintry weather. Tonight, there will be a hard freeze throughout the South Central Texas region with upper teens expected in the Hill Country, to low-mid 20s elsewhere. We will start to see a brief warm-up this week before a few more fronts come through Wednesday and Thursday.

The National Weather Service has issued its first freeze warning this winter season for Bexar County from 4 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Sunday, January 2, according to a news release from the department. A strong cold front is forecast to move through the area starting New Year's Day evening.
Abby Valentukonis, 4, gets a rapid COVID-19 test at a drive-up testing site at New Britain Veterans Memorial Stadium on Friday. "Let's get our noses tickled," said Abby to her dad, Robert, referring to her previous experiences with testing. The Valentukonis's waited in line for 2 1/2 hours before getting tested. (Cloe Poisson / Special to The Courant) (Cloe Poisson / Special to the Courant)

With students set to return from winter break on Monday, the state Department of Education is reminding school districts that closing schools due to COVID-19 outbreaks is generally not permitted under state law, but that very limited exceptions will be allowed.

Remote learning will be allowed when students must be in isolation due to a confirmed COVID-19 infection or after close contact with a confirmed case, according to a memo from Charlene M. Russell-Tucker, the state commissioner of education, sent to schools late last week. Students will also be allowed to remain at home in rare and individualized circumstances when there are family members with an unusual vulnerability to COVID-19. Remote learning may also be used for special education students in rare cases.

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But in school districts across Connecticut, theres now a creeping concern that rising COVID-19 cases could plunge public schools into a staffing crisis, according to Frances Rabinowitz, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents.

School officials have long stressed that the safety of students, faculty and staff is their top priority, but staffing has emerged as a major concern among superintendents, Rabinowitz said, amid record COVID-19 numbers and an insistence from school districts and state leaders to keep schools open.

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Rabinowitz said superintendents are prepared to do whatever it takes to avoid moving instruction online.

You may have an assistant superintendent or a director of human resources that may need to take over a classroom for part of the day [for a sick teacher], Rabinowitz said. They feel that strongly that the students need that consistency, and they need to be back in full, in person.

Improved mitigation

In a letter to parents, West Hartford Superintendent of Schools Tom Moore was blunt.

I understand why some would prefer us to set up another remote learning option. We simply cannot do that,' Moore wrote. The state of Connecticut does not consider remote learning as an alternative this year to in-school days, and any remote days for the district would need to be made up. We also do not have the staffing necessary to set up a large scale remote learning school like we did last year.

We will ramp up our mitigation efforts due to the high transmissibility of omicron. We will once again focus on providing spacing when possible, reinforce the importance of mask wearing, and reiterate our guidance to all that if your child shows any symptoms of illness, please keep them home,' Moore said.

Educators have emphasized the benefits of routines and in-person schooling, particularly for younger children. Every time thats interrupted, that interrupts the educational experience for the child, said Patrice McCarthy, deputy director of the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education.

The insistence on keeping schools open comes during a recent rise in cases within schools. On Dec. 23, the Connecticut Department of Health reported that more than 3,000 K-12 students tested positive for COVID-19 over the previous seven days  the most in any one-week period since tracking began.

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On Thursday, the state reported 1,021 K-12 positive tests among students for the week, but schools havent been in session.

The state reported a daily positivity rate over 20% on Thursday, though the metric is considered imperfect for assessing coronavirus spread, due to several caveats including variance in who gets tested at a given time.

Several institutions are reacting proactively in response to omicrons spread. Yale New Haven Health announced that visitation to hospitalized patents will be temporarily disallowed, with narrow exceptions.

UConn announced Thursday that the first two weeks of the spring semester will be conducted online, with move-in delayed to the weekend of Jan. 29.

In a letter, Kate Dias, president of the Connecticut Education Association, stopped short of calling on Lamont to recommend or enforce remote learning throughout the state.

The CEA, the states largest teachers union, will continue to stress the need for stronger actions to protect our school communities, Dias said, amid soaring case counts, a surge in positivity rate and a shortage of masks and tests.

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But according to Dias, most local teachers union presidents said they would prefer a remote learning option, with no dual instruction.

The Board of Education Union Coalition, which represents over 60,000 public education employees in Connecticut, went further.

For districts unable to provide in-person learning in a safe manner, we believe distance learning should be followed until such time physical re-entry is safe for the entire school community, reads a statement updating their core principles, dated Dec. 30.

The board also outlined several rigorous testing, tracing and other safety standards that it demands schools must follow to operate in person. Standards include vaccination access on site, strict mask enforcement and N95 mask distribution for staff, the closure of school facilities to outside organizations and a ban on school visitors, among many others.

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More testing

Health officials say theres evidence to suggest people who have contracted the omicron variant are generally less likely to develop severe illness, despite the states current spike in hospitalizations.

Thats a modicum of good news for the general public, but omicrons high transmissibility poses serious problems for large institutions like public schools: ecosystems that rely on teachers, office staff, paraprofessionals, food service workers, custodial staff, bus drivers and more to run effectively.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker reiterated that the city has no intention of systemwide remote learning, but mentioned concerns over staffing.

Five Things You Need To Know Daily We're providing the latest coronavirus coverage in Connecticut each weekday morning. >

Families should be prepared for the possibility that their class may go remote, or even multiple classes and even potentially a school may go remote if there are so many cases, or if theres a lot of staffing shortages, Elicker said. New Haven schools will open as normal on Monday.

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Dr. Iline Tracey, superintendent of New Haven Public Schools, added that the district is very concerned about the recent uptick in cases and is monitoring it closely.

At a press conference in New Britain on Friday, Lamont encouraged teachers and anybody showing a symptom to get tested, to give you that confidence you can be in the classroom safely.'

More than 400,000 at-home rapid test kits were delivered to the state overnight Thursday and Friday morning. Officials say the availability of tests will be crucial to keeping workplaces across sectors staffed and safe.

Schools traditionally have been safe places, Rabinowitz said. Im hoping that with home testing kits, families will also have peace of mind.
Millions of Americans watched the events in Washington last Jan. 6 unfold on live television. Police officers testified to the violence and mayhem. Criminal proceedings in open court detailed what happened.

Yet the hoaxes, conspiracy theories and attempts to rewrite history persist, muddying the public's understanding of what actually occurred during the most sustained attack on the seat of American democracy since the War of 1812.

By excusing former President Donald Trump of responsibility, minimizing the mobs violence and casting the rioters as martyrs, falsehoods about the insurrection aim to deflect blame for Jan. 6 while sustaining Trump's unfounded claims about the free and fair election in 2020 that he lost.

Spread by politicians, broadcast by cable news pundits and amplified by social media, the falsehoods are a stark reminder of how many Americans may no longer trust their own institutions or their own eyes.

Several different conspiracy theories have emerged in the year since the insurrection, according to an analysis of online content by media intelligence firm Zignal Labs on behalf of The Associated Press. Unfounded claims that the rioters were members of antifa went viral first, only to be overtaken by a baseless claim blaming FBI operatives. Other theories say the rioters were peaceful and were framed for crimes that never happened.

Conspiracy theories have long lurked in the background of American history, said Dustin Carnahan, a Michigan State University professor who studies political misinformation. But they can become dangerous when they lead people to distrust democracy or to excuse or embrace violence.

If were no longer operating from the same foundation of facts, then its going to be a lot harder to have conversations as a country, Carnahan said. It will fuel more divisions in our country, and I think that ultimately is the legacy of the misinformation we're seeing right now."

An examination of some of the top falsehoods about the Capitol riot and the people who have spread them:

CLAIM: THE RIOTERS WEREN'T TRUMP SUPPORTERS

In fact, many of those who came to the Capitol on Jan. 6 have said  proudly, publicly, repeatedly  that they did so to help the then-president.

Different versions of the claim suggest they were FBI operatives or members of the anti-fascist movement antifa.

Earlier today, the Capitol was under siege by people who can only be described as antithetical to the MAGA movement, Laura Ingraham said on her Fox News show the night of Jan. 6, referring to Trump's Make America Great Again slogan. They were likely not all Trump supporters, and there are some reports that antifa sympathizers may have been sprinkled throughout the crowd.

The next day, Ingraham acknowledged the inaccuracy when she tweeted a link to a story debunking the claim.

Another Fox host, Tucker Carlson, has spread the idea that the FBI orchestrated the riot. He cites as evidence the indictments of some Jan. 6 suspects that mention unindicted co-conspirators, a common legal term that merely refers to suspects who havent been charged, and not evidence of undercover agents or informants.

Yet Carlson claimed on his show that in potentially every single case, they were FBI operatives.

Carlson is a main driver of the idea that Jan. 6 was perpetrated by agents of the government, according to Zignals report. It found the claim spiked in October when Carlson released a documentary series about the insurrection.

Members of Congress, including Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., have helped spread the theories.

Some of the people who breached the Capitol today were not Trump supporters, they were masquerading as Trump supporters and, in fact, were members of the violent terrorist group antifa, Gaetz said.

Spokespeople for Carlson and Gaetz say they stand by their claims.

In truth, the rioters are just who they said they were.

One was a recently elected state lawmaker from West Virginia, a Republican Trump supporter named Derrick Evans who resigned following his arrest. Evans streamed video of himself illegally entering the Capitol.

Theyre making an announcement now saying if Pence betrays us you better get your mind right because were storming the building, Evans said on the video. The door is cracked!  Were in, were in! Derrick Evans is in the Capitol! Vice President Mike Pence was in the building to preside over the Senate's certification of Democrat Joe Biden's election victory. Pence went ahead despite Trump's pleas to get Pence to block the transfer of power.

During testimony before Congress, FBI Director Christopher Wray was asked whether there was any reason to believe the insurrection was organized by fake Trump protesters.

We have not seen evidence of that, said Wray, who was appointed by Trump.

___

CLAIM: THE RIOTERS WEREN'T VIOLENT

Dozens of police officers were severely injured. One Capitol Police officer who was attacked and assaulted with bear spray suffered a stroke and died a day later of natural causes.

Former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who rushed to the scene, said he was grabbed, beaten, tased, all while being called a traitor to my country. The assault stopped only when he said he had children. He later learned he had suffered a heart attack. Fanone resigned from the department in December 2021.

Rioters broke into the Senate chamber minutes after senators had fled under armed protection. They rifled through desks and looked for lawmakers, yelling, Where are they? In House Speaker Nancy Pelosis office, staffers hid under desks while rioters called out the name of the California Democrat.

That's not how some Republican politicians have described the insurrection.

Appearing on Ingraham's show in May, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said he condemned the Capitol breach as well as the violence, but said it was wrong to term it an insurrection.

By and large it was a peaceful protest, except for there were a number of people, basically agitators, that whipped the crowd and breached the Capitol," Johnson said.

Johnson has since said that he doesn't want the violent actions of a few to be used to impugn all.

Rep. Andrew Clyde, after watching video footage of rioters walking through the Capitol, said it resembled a normal tourist visit. Other video evidence from Jan. 6 showed Clyde, R-Ga., helping barricade the House doors in an attempt to keep the rioters out.

Trump called the insurrection a display of  spirit and faith and love.

Rioters also broke windows and doors, stole items from offices and caused an estimated $1.5 million in damage. Outside the Capitol someone set up a gallows with a noose.

The notion that this was somehow a tourist event is disgraceful and despicable, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said in May. And, you know, I wont be part of whitewashing what happened on Jan. 6. Nobody should be part of it. And people ought to be held accountable.

___

CLAIM: TRUMP DID NOT ENCOURAGE THE RIOTERS

Trump may now want to minimize his involvement, but he spent months sounding a steady drumbeat of conspiracy theory and grievance, urging his followers to fight to somehow return him to power.

Big protest in D.C. on January 6th, Trump tweeted on Dec. 19, 2020. Be there, will be wild!

Immediately before the mob stormed the Capitol, Trump spoke for more than an hour, telling his supporters they had been cheated and defrauded in the rigged election by a criminal enterprise that included lawmakers who were now meeting in the Capitol.

At one point, Trump did urge his supporters to peacefully and patriotically make your voice heard. The rest of his speech was filled with hostile rhetoric.

We fight. We fight like hell, he told those who would later break into the Capitol. And if you dont fight like hell, youre not going to have a country anymore.

Now, Trump says he had nothing to do with the riot.

I wasnt involved in that, and if you look at my words and what I said in the speech, they were extremely calming actually, Trump said on Fox News in December.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe Trump bears some responsibility for the Capitol breach, according to a survey last year by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

___

CLAIM: ASHLI BABBITT WAS KILLED BY AN OFFICER WORKING FOR DEMOCRATS

Babbitt died after being shot in the shoulder by a lieutenant in the Capitol Police force as she and others pressed to enter the Speaker's Lobby outside the House chamber.

Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran, was unarmed. An investigation cleared the officer of wrongdoing.

The Capitol Police Department protects all members of Congress, as well as employees, the public and Capitol facilities. The officer wasn't assigned to any particular lawmaker.

Trump falsely claimed the officer was the head of security for a certain high official, a Democrat," and was being shielded from accountability. He also misstated where Babbitt was shot.

Who is the person that shot ... an innocent, wonderful, incredible woman, a military woman, right in the head? Trump asked on Fox News.

___

CLAIM: THE JAN. 6 SUSPECTS ARE POLITICAL PRISONERS AND ARE BEING MISTREATED

No, they are not, despite some assertions from members of Congress.

J6 defendants are political prisoners of war, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., tweeted in November. She said she had visited some suspects in jail who complained about the food, medical care and re-education they were receiving in custody.

Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., said the Justice Department was harassing peaceful patriots by investigating their involvement in the insurrection.

While its true some of the suspects have complained about their time in jail, its wrong to argue theyre being held as political prisoners. Authorities have said the suspects in custody are being given the same access to food and medical care as any other inmate.

One of the most notorious rioters, Jacob Chansley, known as the QAnon Shaman, was given organic food in his jail cell after he complained about the food options.
The House staffer quit after awakening one night and imagining a pack of Proud Boys amassing outside his apartment door. Another left after questioning whether strangers he encountered had helped plot the insurrection. A police officer resigned, still agitated by the frantic voices of co-workers she recalled hearing on her radio scanner that day.

"What's the plan?" one had asked.

"I've got an officer down!" another had shouted.

A year ago, they all worked at the U.S. Capitol, a citadel of American democracy they believed was as impervious to attack as any center of Washington power. But Jan. 6, 2021, upended all that. An invading mob of Donald Trump's followers destroyed that sense of security - not only on that day but in the long year that followed.

"There's a dark cloud over Capitol Hill," said Jodi Breiterman, a Capitol Police officer who submitted retirement papers in November after almost 21 years on the force, and will officially leave the agency in mid-January. "I look at officers' faces, and they've changed. They've lost weight and they don't know why."

In the months since the insurrection, senators and representatives have chronicled the trauma of Jan. 6, recalling how they cowered behind seats in the House chamber and barricaded themselves in offices as Trump acolytes pounded on doors and shouted threats of violence.

Yet alongside the political leaders, there were hundreds of Capitol workers who suffered their own trauma that day. They are the supporting cast on the edges of Washington's biggest stage: the legislative aides, police officers, custodians and cafeteria workers who keep the business of government moving and ensure that the Capitol is safe, clean and well-functioning.

In many cases, they soldiered on after the insurrection, entrenched in positions that can be high-pressure and demanding even on routine days. But for other Capitol workers, Jan. 6 became a psychic tipping point, a reason to leave jobs that had made them targets for threats and potential danger.

"The idea that you're in a place where your life is at risk was just - on top of everything else - the clinching factor for me," said Rich Luchette, 35, a former senior adviser to Rep. David N. Cicilline, D-R.I.. "It becomes overwhelming at some point."

A sign of the enduring trauma, Luchette said, occurred a week or so after the insurrection, when the sounds of partying neighbors woke him up in his Navy Yard apartment. As he opened his eyes, his first thought was: "Are there Proud Boys out in the hallway?"

Luchette had considered looking for a new job before Jan. 6. By July, he had found one.

In any given year, staff turnover at the Capitol is constant, making it difficult to quantify the number of employees who quit or retired because of the insurrection. More than 100 U.S. Capitol Police officers had departed as of early December, a figure that was a sharp increase over the previous year.

On a typical day, the 290-acre Capitol complex is a veritable city unto itself, spread out over multiple blocks, with its own subway system, an array of cafeterias and a workforce approaching 30,000 people.

Jan. 6 was anything but typical, with the coronavirus having kept many employees at home. Yet, no matter where they were as the insurrection unfolded, Capitol employees could not help but feel violated as they saw rioters invade and vandalize their workplace.

Another former House staffer, a Democrat who quit months after Jan. 6, said the toll of that day grew as time passed.

"I got to the point where my mental health just took an absolute nose dive because I was still trying to process all this stuff," said the former aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she fears retribution from Trump supporters.

Death threats continued to arrive daily by phone from constituents who were convinced that Democrats had stolen the election. "It absolutely broke me to know that people would be fine if my boss was dead, if I was dead, if my co-workers were dead," she said. "The American people stopped believing in the institution. And if they don't believe in it, what the hell are any of us doing working for it?"

Tyree Douglas, 34, knew long before Jan. 6 that he wanted out of his laborer job at the Capitol, where he felt underpaid and trapped after 10 years of picking up garbage, delivering cups and ice to members' offices, and cleaning bathrooms, if needed.

Douglas, a cancer survivor, had taken a medical leave at the start of the pandemic. Although he was not working on Jan. 6, he said the insurrection was another signal that he should not return.

"The dangers, the risks were not helpful," he said. "I did not need that in my life."

But Douglas, who was then president of AFSCME union Local 626, which represents hundreds of laborers and custodians, said few blue-collar workers could afford to quit after the attack, even if they wanted to leave.

Hours after the riot ended, some were back at work, repairing doors, removing broken furniture and cleaning up cigarette butts, shattered glass and other trash left behind.

- - -

By Jan. 6, the usual rigors of working at the Capitol had mushroomed after four years of the turbulent Trump presidency, the unceasing acrimony between Republicans and Democrats, and hostility from constituents. The pandemic, in its 10th month, added another level of unprecedented strain.

After the insurrection, heavily armed platoons of National Guard troops and 10-foot-high fencing surrounded the campus.

Yet there were additional incidents that caused alarm. Later in January, police arrested a 71-year-old man from West Virginia after noticing him leaving his car improperly parked near the Capitol. In his vehicle, they found a handgun, 20 rounds of ammunition, paperwork related to the Jan. 6 rally, and a list of U.S. and state lawmakers.

A few months later, a motorist rammed his car into two Capitol Police officers, killing one and injuring the other.

Then, in August, a Trump supporter who had expressed disgust for President Joe Biden parked his pickup truck outside the Library of Congress and told police he had a bomb. That his claim turned out to be false did not ease the anxiety engulfing the Capitol.

"There is definitely just this large sense of doom," said Aaron Fritschner, who has remained in his job as deputy chief of staff to Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va.. "There's definitely an ever-present fear about what kind of threats are out there, but at this point it's not as much a question about, 'Is there going to be another one?' It's like, 'How long is it going to be and what form is it going to take?'"

- - -

Brian Baird, a former Democratic congressman from Washington state and a longtime clinical psychologist, visited the Capitol in early December for a series of meetings. As he walked between offices, Baird said he was astonished by the sorrow he detected as he greeted police officers, some of whom he had known from his days as a legislator.

"Whereas before the people would always be very positive, upbeat, conversational and positive, there was now more a sense of withdrawal, tension, sadness, resignation," Baird recalled in an email. He described the mood as "heartbreaking despondency."

"I saw one officer who I hadn't met before and I asked him point blank, 'How are you all doing?'" Baird said. "His answer in words was 'We're doing okay' but the way he said it and the expression did not look or sound at all okay."

By early December, a total of 135 officers had left the 2,000-member Capitol police force in 2021, compared with the 80 who departed the previous year, said Tim Barber, a department spokesman. He added that "not all of these departures are because of Jan. 6."

A police officer who confronted the rioters that day said he remains on the job only because he has not worked long enough to retire with adequate benefits and has no other options available. He described his emotional recovery as difficult, in part because he did not get time off. On Jan. 7, he was back on the job.

The officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said an especially painful part of his post-Jan. 6 experience was hearing Republicans minimize the insurrection's significance. One even compared the rioters to tourists. At moments, the officer said, he has had to pass those same lawmakers in the halls of Congress.

"You sign up to do your job for the right reasons and all that stuff and then you see people don't even appreciate what you've been through," he said. "You've got people that we protect that were literally out there pumping the crowd up. What the f---?"

Jodi Breiterman's two-decade career with the Capitol Police had its ups and downs. She was honored as officer of the year in 2011. But after she leaked a photo of an unattended police firearm to a reporter in 2015, she was demoted from sergeant, and later filed a lawsuit against the agency alleging gender discrimination. But through it all, she loved her job and envisioned staying another 10 years - until Jan. 6.

The events of that day and the ensuing weeks of distress altered her plan.

On the day of the insurrection, Breiterman was part of a group of officers who responded to a bomb threat near the Capitol. Away from the worst of the fray, Breiterman listened as her police radio transmitted the panicked calls for help from fellow officers who were battling the mob outside the Capitol. Months later, she said the voices from her radio still intrude on her thoughts at the most unlikely moments.

"When I take a shower, I hear the radio," she said. "The calls were terrible."

For 22 consecutive days beginning on Jan. 6, Breiterman worked around the clock, staying in a Washington D.C. hotel where the department put her up with other officers whose grueling schedules kept them away from their families.

She eventually resumed a normal schedule, commuting from her home in Maryland. As weeks stretched into months after the attack, the National Guard troops eventually left their posts and lawmakers returned to work. But something was different, she said. The anger, terror and despair that had consumed the Capitol on Jan. 6 never seemed to recede.

All the while, Breiterman said, officers seldom talked about what had transpired.

"Are you okay?" she recalled asking a fellow officer whose vacant stare alarmed her.

"No," the officer replied. "I'm not."

- - -

When he left the Capitol complex late on Jan. 6, Jabir McKnight, then the communications director for Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Tex., arranged for a friend to pick up him and a co-worker in a car.

At another time, McKnight might have called an Uber. But in the hours after the insurrection, he wondered if his driver could have been part of the mob at the Capitol, some of whom carried Confederate flags and shouted racial epithets.

"You didn't know who was who," said McKnight, who is Black, describing a feeling of uncertainty that metastasized as the days passed. He found himself questioning how the insurrectionists had been able to traverse the Capitol as if they knew where they were going and gain access to places he himself could not get into.

"The way they were navigating the building was among the most frightening parts of the experience," he said. "Were you let in? Did you have prior understanding?"

McKnight, 24, had started his job only seven months earlier, arriving in Washington from Philadelphia, where he grew up before graduating from Lincoln University. Although he had no set plan, he expected to work at the Capitol for a year or two, maybe longer, gaining exposure to politics, policy and the ways of Washington.

But Jan. 6 created a "fork in the road," he said. The riot echoed the vitriol of the white supremacist march in Charlottesville in 2017 and a 2020 plot orchestrated by extremists to kidnap Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

McKnight began to re-evaluate his purpose and how he could be "part of positive change in a way that is most authentic for me." He also was concerned about his safety at work, where he now felt like "anything could happen."

"It wasn't a one-day event," he said of Jan. 6, recalling the weeks of round-the-clock news coverage, mounting security and fear of new attacks. "I wasn't comfortable. We were all uncomfortable."

By the end of February, McKnight had taken a new job at an IT consulting firm.

Others such as Gabby Richards were already exhausted by the tumult of Trump's presidency, his tweets, the debates over his border policy, impeachment, the Mueller report and the pandemic.

But Jan. 6 became the decisive factor in her departure, the moment that "pushed me over the edge," said Richards, 28, who left her job in February as communications director for Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa.. "You get to the point where you're like, 'Okay, we're done.'"

Richards was working from home in Philadelphia on Jan. 6, communicating throughout the insurrection with her boss, who was alone, barricaded inside her Capitol office. In the ensuing days, Richards found herself cataloging the "what-ifs" from that day - what if there had been no pandemic and the Capitol had been open? What if there had been the normal retinue of staffers on hand? What if there had been school tours and tourists?

"The what-ifs associated with that day are terrifying in the same vein as what happened," she said.

A month after the insurrection, Richards returned to the Capitol and walked with Scanlon through Statuary Hall, a setting that typically inspired in her a sense of awe. Instead, she could not help but think about the insurrectionists who had been there, an association she compared to the "stench" of a house fire that takes "forever to get out."

"It felt like something bad had happened, and I didn't want to be there anymore," she said.

Democrats were not the only ones who felt anguish.

A former Republican staffer who was at the Capitol complex on the day of the riot said it was difficult for aides within her caucus to cope with what had occurred as many GOP leaders began downplaying the attack's severity.

"There was just a lack of candid conversations about what had taken place," said the staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the politically sensitive nature of the subject. She said she was shaken to know that a mob riled by a Republican president - the leader of her party - had gone to the Capitol and done "the worst possible thing they could do."

"These were the very people we were supposed to be working on behalf of," she said.

- - -

Months after the insurrection, Jay Rupert has grown accustomed to recurring dreams of the mob storming into his office inside the Capitol, above the entrance to the East Front, where he had locked himself in with a cluster of journalists.

In actuality, the rioters had screamed, "We're gonna get you!" and "We're gonna kill you!" as they banged on the door. But no one had made it inside, except for in his dream, where he is prepared to fight.

"I want to bash them in the face," said Rupert, 49, deputy director of the House Periodical Press Gallery. "I can only do it in my dream."

Another House employee, a friend he's known for more than two decades, was shaken enough by Jan. 6 to leave. But Rupert said that the mob had only made him more committed to the Capitol, where he has worked in various capacities for 25 years.

"I came to that defiant conclusion that night," he said. "You're not going to stop me from doing what I do."

The constant reminders of that day - the ubiquitous video footage, the unrelenting news coverage - have made the past year daunting.

When he walks downstairs from his office to the area inside the entrance of the East Front, he often thinks about what he saw that day as the mob assembled outside - "the faces in the windows," their expressions twisted with rage.

He remembers the police officer who looked at him and warned, "You gotta get the f--- outta here." He remembers looking at his boss and saying, "How did this happen?" In his office, he remembers grabbing a fire extinguisher he would use to pummel anyone if they got through the door.

Several months later, after reading an article about police miscommunications on that day, he punched his kitchen wall out of frustration. On another day, when a relative compared the insurrectionists to people who protested the Vietnam War, he replied: "Don't go there with me. It won't end well."

A year removed, he said he largely feels secure at the Capitol, that the insurrection was a "once in a lifetime occurrence." But he also acknowledges a "sliver of doubt" when he thinks about the complex reopening to the public.

When that happens, he said, it will be impossible to know if someone who had been part of the mob is "in my hallway taking a tour."

What if they sneak a knife in? he wonders. What if they find his office?

The thought, he said, "makes my head want to explode."

- - -

The Washington Post's Meagan Flynn, Tom Jackman, Peter Hermann and Aaron C. Davis contributed to this report.
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Judge Robert Devlin, newly appointed as Connecticuts first inspector general and responsible in the era of Defund the Police for investigating all cases involving deadly force by law enforcement, is probably beginning the most challenging chapter in a career that has never involved sitting in quiet offices.

He has been a government lawyer defending the indigent, a mob prosecutor, presiding judge in the states most violent city, a judicial administrator and a judge on the state Appellate Court, from which he stepped down a year ago after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.

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His new office, when it is up and running, will be the most visible element among the set of law enforcement reforms social justice advocates pushed through the legislature over the last two years. And his success will likely be measured by how thoroughly he displeases everyone with whom the new office comes into contact.

If he gets all sides hating him equally, he has probably done a great job, said Frank Rudewicz, a consultant and retired Hartford police lieutenant . He is in a no-win situation. There are people who are not going to like his findings.

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The anti-police sentiment that swept the country after George Floyd died at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis in May 2020 drove passage of the states Police Accountability Act, which was written to expand control over how police work and to establish new means of holding to account officers who break the rules.

Connecticut's Capitol building. (Patrick Raycraft / Patrick Raycraft)

Relationships

The inspector general, the most visible of the state reforms, is charged with investigating every use of force case and all in-custody deaths  in police stations and prisons. That means sorting out violent, split-second encounters, usually between the police and those they are pursuing. The legislature said it tried to create an office with enough power and independence to operate free from the institutional and racial biases reform advocates complain have long favored the police in such investigations.

Few, including Devlin, believe that anything he does will be accepted without protest  and events from the recent past support that belief. A police officer refused to cooperate as a witness in a recent police shooting investigation. And a community group argued to the state Supreme Court in a case about police surveillance that Black and Brown communities within Connecticut have been targeted for and subject to lawless attacks by police.

Devlin said he plans, among other things, to meet with advocacy groups in an attempt to establish some trust.

It is better to get to know people in a setting that is not as charged as it is when there is an actual case that people are thinking off, he said. Ive talked to the ACLU, and I intend to talk to various community groups in our state. I think it is important to have a relationship with them. When a case comes down and they have an interest in it, at least theyll know my name and we will have spoken before.

In this file photo, family and friends of Mubarak Soulemane, the New Haven teen fatally shot by a state trooper in 2020, held a press conference Thursday announcing they will be seeking to sue the state and West Haven, claiming officials failed to properly train and supervise their officers. Omo Klusum Mohammed, Mubarak's mother, spoke at the press conference. (STEPHEN DUNN / Special to the Courant)

It is not realistic, he said, to expect that his office, which will consist of nine people when fully staffed, can repair the rift in police-community relations exposed by the Floyd death and the flurry of reforms that followed.

That was a trigger that generated the Police Accountability Act, and creation of the inspector generals position was part of that, he said. But the problem really goes much deeper than that. It is a societal issue that needs to be addressed for sure. I think the way the inspector general is going to do it is sort of on a micro basis, on a case-by-case basis. Well do our best to get each case correct and then move forward with that.

But these big macro, society issues? To the extent that this office could affect that for the better? That would be great. That would be fantastic. But that seems like kind of a big ask for nine people working out of a building in Cheshire.  I think this is a smaller piece of a much bigger conversation that we are having as a society.

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New staff; new tools

Devlin is in the process of hiring staff for offices he found in Cheshire.

He appointed Andrew Slitt, an assistant states attorney in Windham County, as deputy inspector general . Should there be prosecutions of police officers, they will be brought by Devlin and Slitt.

He plans to hire James Viadero, the former Newtown police chief who recreated that towns department following the tragic Sandy Hook murders. Viadero, who sits on a state board that sets police standards, spent most of his career on the Bridgeport Police Department, which he left as a captain.

There are more than 50 applications for the five inspectors who will work with state police detectives and forensic specialists on use of force investigations. The office will have one paralegal.

The legislature also gave Devlin a powerful tool that it stubbornly denies every other state law enforcement agency: the authority to issue investigative subpoenas that compel witnesses to provide statements or produce records. Witnesses who refuse to comply with a subpoena, including police officers, can be jailed.

Devlin said the proliferation of surveillance cameras should also assist the inspector generals investigations, as well as another aspect of the legislatures police reforms requiring all departments to be equipped with body and dashboard cameras in 2022.

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What happened is often times quite well-documented, he said. It is interpreting the evidence that I think is really the key.

Just straight ahead

The office will rely on Connecticut State Police forensic experts and laboratory services and, when necessary, work alongside state police detectives. Devlin will manage investigations, evaluate findings, issue annotated public reports and make decisions about prosecuting.

In some ways, the new job synthesizes what Devlin has done as a judge and prosecutor. As an assistant U.S. attorney, he helped investigate and prosecute the leadership of the Patriarca crime family, a case that concluded in a sensational, four-month trial that, for all practical purposes, ended the Mafia in New England.

This office is in the crosshairs of a lot of people with different sorts of ideas about how these cases should go, he said. Ive told everybody the same thing: I am just going to follow the evidence, and that is going to determine the outcome.

Sometimes that is easy. And sometimes Its hard. But that is the objective. No thumb on the scales for or against anybody. Just straight ahead.

Five Things You Need To Know Daily We're providing the latest coronavirus coverage in Connecticut each weekday morning. >

I am going to try to operate in a way that is s transparent, to give people an opportunity to see reasons why we reached the decisions we did. There are going to be some people who probably wont be convinced, even by a very persuasive presentation. And that is OK. I get that.

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But most people I think are reasonable. And if you present a reasonable, measured report about an incident  whichever way it comes out, whether the police were justified or not  most reasonable people would accept that, particularly if they think that it was prepared by someone who doesnt have any kind of ulterior motive in it.

Devlin issued his first report last week  although it was largely completed by others before he took office on Oct. 8. He said a Naugatuck police sergeant was justified in firing three times at a suspected drug dealer who had knocked the officer down in a car crash and who the officer believed was trying to run him over. Only the sergeant was injured, and the suspect later told police he considered running over the officer.

Devlin inherited eight more cases that were pending when he was sworn in and a ninth that recently took place in Norwich.

A dozen or so judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers questioned about Devlin called him well-suited for the Inspector Generals Office. Rudewicz, who was assigned as a Hartford police detective to work with Devlin on the Patriarca case, called him ideally suited.

He is the perfect guy for the job, Rudewicz said.

And it is not just his experience. It is his temperament. He is charismatic, but I think he has a very humble nature about him. And, especially as a judge, and I would think as an inspector general, you dont want the judge or the IG to be the story. Its the facts and the evidence that are supposed to be the story.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 2)  Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong is pushing for the use of at-home antigen test kits to scale up testing efforts amid rising coronavirus infections.

The local government on Saturday said it is now preparing "to introduce the easy-to-use home testing method to residents through an appropriate program launch tentatively set this week.

"Our city could be the pilot site for these do-it-yourself testing kits that are widely used in the US, Canada, Europe and Singapore," Magalong said.

According to the US Food and Drug Administration, rapid self-test test kits may be less sensitive to picking up Omicron, although US health officials said these are still a useful tool.

The Baguio City government also noted these could help reduce chances of spreading the virus, as those infected would no longer have to leave their homes to get tested, especially as fears mount over the new variant.

Magalong said testing czar Vince Dizon has expressed support for the plan. He added he will also seek the approval of the National Task Force for COVID-19.

Nationwide, the number of new cases dramatically jumped to 4,600 on Jan. 2, from the 433 logged the week prior. The latest positivity rate recorded by the Department of Health was 19.6% based on around 26,000 tests reported on Dec. 31. This means nearly one in five individuals who had themselves tested turned out infected with COVID-19.

To show there is adequate testing and transmission has been controlled, US nonprofit Covid Act Now has recommended a positivity rate below 3%, while the World Health Organization has set the ideal percentage to below 5%.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 2)  Face-to-face basic education classes in Metro Manila will be suspended from Jan. 3-15 as the region shifts to the stricter Alert Level 3 status.

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairperson Benhur Abalos confirmed on Sunday the suspension of in-person classes due to the steep rise in COVID-19 cases in the region and the detection of local Omicron variant cases.

Abalos said the Metro Manila Council and the Department of Education (DepEd) met on Sunday to discuss the status of physical classes.

DepEd said in a statement that face-to-face basic education classes will be allowed in Metro Manila if the region reverts back to Alert Level 2 status.

"It must be noted that the pilot face-to-face classes ended last December and the only ones affected will be those included in the expansion phase," the agency added.

The pilot run of in-person classes in areas under Alert Levels 1 and 2 will still continue, DepEd clarified.

More than 2,000 students in 28 public schools in Metro Manila participated in the pilot run of limited physical learning sessions, which started last Dec. 8 and ended on Dec. 22.

On Sunday, the country recorded its highest single-day increase in COVID-19 cases since October last year with 4,600 new infections, 3,279 of which were logged in Metro Manila.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 2)  The Department of Transportation has ordered stricter implementation of health protocols in public transport vehicles and terminals amid the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the country.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade has directed the Land Transportation Office, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, and train marshals of all railway lines to ensure that physical distancing is being observed in public transport vehicles and stations.

Enforcers must also make sure that passengers wear their face masks, and prohibit them from talking or eating while inside the vehicles.

"The safety of commuters is paramount. We must make sure that health protocols are strictly implemented in all public transport vehicles and in all transport facilities," Tugade was quoted as saying in a statement on Saturday.

He also urged commuters to do their part and not be complacent.

"We need everyones cooperation. We cannot do this alone," he said.

The country's transportation chief also announced on Sunday that the agency will maintain the present 70% passenger capacity in all rail lines.

A random antigen testing will also be conducted to consenting passengers to control the spread of COVID-19 in the train lines.

"Passengers who volunteer to be tested will be permitted to proceed with their trip after testing, and will be informed of their test results by text message," Transportation Undersecretary TJ Batan said.

Tugade also asked aviation authorities to revisit existing international arrival cap at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

"Let us continue to hold our guards up. If there is a need to reduce the cap on passenger arrivals, then let us implement in coordination with concerned agencies," he said.

"Revisit the existing cap, let us make sure that the process if thoroughly observed, and in everything we do, make sure that we ensure the protection of our kababayans," he added.

Tugades order came after the national government decided to place the National Capital Region under Alert Level 3 from Jan. 3-15 following the detection of three local Omicron cases in the country.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 2)  The rate of COVID-19 infections in Metro Manila may breach 30% on Sunday as cases in the country continue to spike, an experts' group said.

The last time the capital region recorded the same positivity rate was in April 2021, when it was under enhanced community quarantine, according to OCTA Research Group fellow Guido David.

"The peak positivity rate in the [National Capital Region] was 30% on April 2, 2021," David said. "It looks [like] we will surpass that by Jan. 2."

The figure is also significantly higher than the 5% benchmark set by the World Health Organization for control of COVID-19 transmission.

The Philippines had been seeing less than 5% positivity rate since Nov. 13. But on Dec. 30, the figure increased to 6.60%.

OCTA also said the number of occupied hospital beds in NCR rose to 23%, up by 41% from the previous week. ICU occupancy is still at 25%, way below the 70% critical level threshold, it added.

Nationwide, OCTA forecasts new COVID-19 cases for the day to range from 3,500 to 4,000, with 2,500 to 3,000 from NCR.

It also noted an increase in the number of pediatric infections, "which account for more than 1/8 of active cases."

The country logged over 3,000 new COVID-19 cases for the first time in two months on Jan. 1.

Metro Manila will be placed under the tighter Alert Level 3 from Jan. 3 to 15. OCTA has urged the government to also consider raising the alert level in provinces near the capital region following the detection of the first three local Omicron cases.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 2)  Two Metro Manila mayors announced on Sunday they tested positive for COVID-19, amid rising infections in the region.

Pasay City Mayor Emi Calixto-Rubiano has again tested positive for COVID-19 and is now undergoing facility isolation, her chief-of-staff Peter Eric Pardo told reporters on Sunday.

Pardo said Rubiano has been feeling "unwell" since Saturday last week, exhibiting symptoms such as a sore throat. She immediately took an RT-PCR test and was found positive for the virus.

This is the second time that Rubiano got COVID-19. She first contracted the disease in February 2021.

Pardo said the Pasay mayor will only hold online meetings while under isolation, assuring that she will continue to attend to her duties as local chief executive.

Pardo said the Pasay mayor will only hold online meetings while under isolation, assuring that she will continue to attend to her duties as local chief executive.

Meanwhile, Navotas City Mayor Toby Tiangco confirmed he contracted the disease after testing positive in a RT-PCR test he took on Sunday noon.

Tiangco said he has been constantly taking a self-antigen test, where he yielded a negative result on Saturday, due to being immunocompromised and having severe asthma.

Tiangco advised all those who had come in contact with him during the past few days to observe their health condition, while assuring that he will continue to perform his duties as city mayor.

The positive COVID-19 diagnoses of the two Metro Manila mayors come after the country recorded on Sunday its highest single-day increase in cases since October last year with 4,600 new infections, 3,279 of which were logged in the region.

CNN Philippines' Paolo Barcelon contributed to this report.
As omicron fuels a dramatic surge in COVID cases, indoor dining in Connecticut is more dangerous than ever. One of us (Heide) is a professional chef. The other (Mark) is an ICU physician. Together, we own The Fig Cooking School in Milford. We love nothing more than eating out but find ourselves unable to do so safely. Our states failure to require standard safety measures exposes restaurant customers and staff to needless risk.

There is, however, a clear roadmap to responsible indoor dining once COVID subsides to containable levels.

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With COVID positivity rates currently at 20%, indoor dining in restaurants is currently too dangerous, particularly for people who are unvaccinated or vulnerable because of underlying health conditions. As business owners, we know firsthand that restaurants are struggling and dependent on keeping tables full, but were also committed to protecting the health of customers and staff. It just takes one infected customer or employee to spread COVID, potentially sending someone to the hospital or worse.

The path to making restaurants safe once infection levels subside is clear. First, Connecticut restaurants should require proof of vaccination as a condition of service, just as their counterparts are doing in New York City, Boston, and Chicago. Second, Connecticut should fund free rapid testing for customers to add a layer of safety. Third, eateries should open doors and windows to maximize ventilation and encourage outdoor dining when the weather allows. Fourth, employees and customers should wear masks when not actively eating.

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Currently, seventy-five percent of Connecticut residents are vaccinated. Of the measures we recommend, requiring proof of vaccination seems to be the most controversial, but it should be a no-brainer.

Many potential customers avoid restaurants right now but would return if safe.

Opinion Weekly Perspective on the week's biggest stories from the Courant's Opinion page >

The Fig Cooking School offers a prime example. After closing for 15 months at the start of the pandemic, Fig re-opened in June 2021, requiring all customers to show proof of vaccination. A handful of customers sought exemptions, but the overwhelming majority told us the opposite: they readily signed up for cooking classes because our policy made them feel safe. Dozens tell us its the first time theyve eaten indoors with strangers since the pandemic began.

If we go to a restaurant and everyone is vaccinated, at least we know were not going to the hospital, says Gail Kerwin, a nurse anesthetist at Yale-New Haven Hospital and a frequent Fig customer. She is concerned for other customers too. If I was an asymptomatic carrier, I wouldnt want to be responsible for giving the virus to someone else. When you walk in a restaurant that requires the vaccine, they are caring for both me and themselves. I have felt comfortable at Fig, knowing the staff and people are vaccinated. I feel like theres a shield.

Vaccine requirements would also protect staff and attract potential employees. These days, the food industry is struggling to find workers, but not Fig: we recently had 340 people apply for a dishwashing position and 80 apply for a highly experienced assistant position. Just like customers, workers seek safety.

While some fear this approach would be unwelcoming, our experience has been the reverse. Figs revenue has returned to nearly pre-pandemic levels because customers and staff know were doing everything possible to keep them safe.

Ensuring safety is the key to the restaurant industrys success. Just as no one should worry about contracting food poisoning when they dine, they should not have to worry about inhaling a deadly virus when they breathe.

Right now, amidst one of the worst COVID surges the state has seen, no one can guarantee the safety of indoor dining. But once the numbers come down, all restaurants should take the steps needed to maximize safety: mandatory vaccination, rapid testing when available, maximal ventilation and outdoor dining, and masking for everyone who isnt actively eating. These measures are good for customers, good for business, and crucial to ending this pandemic.

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Heide Lang is the founder and culinary director of The Fig Cooking School. Mark D. Siegel is a pulmonary and critical care physician at Yale New Haven Hospital.
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King Tut is the most famous Egyptian pharaoh of all time, but it's through no doing of his own because Tutankhamun isn't famous for any pharaonic achievements, be they architectural, political, or militaristic. Unlike Egypt's more accomplished emperors of lesser renown, Tut didn't commission any grand temples, imposing fortifications, or even an obelisk to euphemize his virility and penile might. He wasn't a Machiavellian wheeler-and-dealer who puppeteered significant political movements. And he didn't claim any military victories or unite vast swathes of desert into one nation.

Though, to be fair, it's not really his fault. The boy-king became pharaoh at just nine years old, only ruling for about 10 years before dying at 19, spending his entire life and reign dealing with disease and deformity. So Tut owes his fame and pop culture immortality to the seemingly unplundered condition of his tomb when Howard Carter unsealed it in 1922  which says a lot about the efficacy of ancient looters. The vast majority of other burial sites are comprehensively plundered, but Tut's burial site held 5,000 artifacts, including a chariot for raising hell in the afterlife.


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Connecticut school district officials are pushing ahead with plans to return to a normal, in-person schedule in January amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, inadequate testing supplies, and record state positivity rates.

Yet, with Connecticut cases climbing and not enough COVID tests to meet demand, some school districts could face a staffing shortage  not only of teachers and support staff, but  kitchen staff, bus drivers, maintenance workers and more.

I do think that is a potential that we will face, said Dr. Jody Terranova, an assistant professor of pediatrics at UConn Health

The week before winter break, an estimated 400 Connecticut educators tested positive for COVID-19 as the omicron variant spread through Connecticut, according to preliminary state data that was subject to change. The continued trend of positive tests and difficulty many have had in getting tested led the states largest teachers union to survey members as to whether they would prefer to teach remotely or in the classroom.

Local union presidents have completed a survey regarding district protocols, and while we dont have absolute agreement on every issue, it appears most prefer a remote option, with no dual instruction, wrote Connecticut Education Association President Kate Dias in an email to members Thursday.

Dias cited the surging positivity rate, increasing number of pediatric cases, lack of consistent at-home testing protocols and inadequate supplies of N95 masks and at-home tests as she stressed the need for stronger actions to protect our school communities.

A full remote school schedule appears unlikely as schools are set to return this week, as Gov. Ned Lamont would have to issue an executive order to allow this to happen. So The state has taken a clear stance on remote learning, insisting kids learn better in schools.

This position was reiterated in a statement sent to Hearst Connecticut Media on Thursday by the state Department of Education.

Staffing concerns

On Wednesday morning, superintendents across Connecticut had been discussing back-to-school plans on an email chain through the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents. At the time, their biggest concern was having enough staff to safely open schools.

No superintendents indicated plans to deviate from full in-person learning after the break as of Wednesday afternoon, according to Fran Rabinowitz, executive director of the CAPSS, who was on the email chain.

Rabinowitz said she believes schools are in constant contact with their staff and staying alert to any reported cases or expected absences.

Erin Daly, who heads Danburys teacher union, reported severe staffing shortages in late December, telling Hearst Connecticut that teachers were limping along to try and make it to the winter break.

Many of our members are reporting either currently having COVID symptoms and unable to get a test, or testing positive for COVID, Daly said on Thursday. Another larger group of our folks is reporting having household members that are either confirmed positive or symptomatic and awaiting a test. This is beyond troubling and will have a serious staffing implication for next week.

Terranova, the UConn doctor, saw this scenario play out in other states with lower vaccination rates at the start of the school year.

We saw that they just didnt have teachers for the classrooms, she said.

Connecticut could face the same problem with the omicron variant.

Students and teachers have had to quarantine for 10 days if they test positive or are deemed a close contact. However, the requirement could change following the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions five-day quarantine guidance released last week.

Rabinowitz, however, said she was not getting any indication from superintendents that a temporary return to remote instruction will be necessary. Superintendents are aware of the situation and will do anything that they need to do to ensure that there is enough staff safely in schools, she said.

Clearly, this pandemic is exhausting for everyone, and I think that educators, classroom teachers, superintendents, bus drivers have all been doing an incredible job to try and make sure that there is the opportunity for in-person learning in a safe environment, said Patrice McCarthy, the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE) deputy director and general counsel. So its just a matter of continuing to adapt as the circumstances change.

A temporary return?

From a public health perspective, Terranova said it probably makes the most sense to temporarily shift to a short-term remote learning setup for two weeks to mitigate spread and give parents time to prepare.

Making the decision ahead of time would make it easier for parents to plan around the remote learning as opposed to an unexpected student quarantine, she said.

Both experts and educators say the ultimate goal is to keep kids in schools.

We dont want kids away from school for a long time, Terranova added. We know that that had some negative impacts [in 2020].

Rabinowitz said districts absolute goal for Jan. 3 is to have enough staff to keep schools open.

While no districts reported or indicated at midweek they will go to a remote setup, Rabinowitz said they would be well prepared if that did happen. Teachers unions were already talking about the possibility of a shift to remote ahead of winter break.

In Hartford, the school district canceled all student assemblies and concerts the week before break, but stopped short of going fully remote. The Greenwich school district closed earlier than expected before the break due to the rising number of cases.

New Milford Public Schools, which serves more than 3,700 children, sent a letter to parents ahead of winter break saying that the district planned to return to in-person learning Jan. 3, but there were no guarantees. As a precaution, students were told to bring home their laptop computers.

Changing protocols

The past several months have been marked by continued changes to some school protocols, while other policies  like masking  remain firmly in place. After a hopeful start to the 2021-22 school year with a full in-person schedule, continued COVID waves have introduced speed bumps in the return to normalcy.

In December, some districts that had opted to participate in the states new Screen & Stay protocol paused the program after cases started rising again.

The program allows unvaccinated students who dont have COVID-19 symptoms to stay in school even after exposure to a positive case.

Department of Education spokesman Eric Scoville said the department continues to meet on a regular, ongoing basis with the Connecticut Department of Public Health to update and revise state guidance, as needed.

We are calling for consistent protocols and safety standards for testing and monitoring, wrote Nancy Andrews, the state teachers unions communications director.

CABE is continuing to advise districts to follow whatever state protocol is recommended or required.

Whatever the information  the best protocols of the moment are  thats what they should be using, said CABEs Patrice McCarthy.

But some medical experts predict the COVID-19 situation in Connecticut will likely get worse before it gets better. With only 22 percent of children ages 5 to 11 fully vaccinated, and around 67 percent of those ages 12 to 18 fully vaccinated, students could start testing positive more frequently.

The next couple weeks are going to be really tough for us, Terranova said. Its not going to be any better  its probably going to be worse than where we are today.

On Thursday, Connecticut hit a 20 percent positivity rate  its highest since data collection began.

Kids will be going into a setting where they can easily spread this very contagious variant and dont have the protection of vaccines, she added.

For now, teachers are left waiting to see what the state and their local districts say  and whether protocol will change again.

I dont know what will come out [from the state] before next Monday, CABEs McCarthy added.

Sandra Chafouleas, the Neag Endowed Professor of Educational Psychology at UConn said educators are trying hard to maintain a semblance of routine for students in part because of the importance consistent routines play in promoting mental and emotional health.

As humans, our ability to cope with uncertainty is being pummeled, she said. The cuts to our routine, the limits on the social connection have really tested our coping skills to the limits.

Chafouleas is most concerned with increased mental health challenges among students as the pandemic drags on, affecting academic plans and schedules.

Stopping the spread

Gov. Ned Lamont announced plans to distribute 2 million at-home tests to K-12 school districts in January in part to deal with crushing holiday demand for testing.

On Thursday, the governor said that the announced deal for the delivery of 3 million at-home tests had fallen through. But the following day, hundreds of thousands of kits from a separate deal were delivered and the governor reiterated a commitment to bring additional kits to the state for distribution.

Still, Rabinowitz said these tests, while welcome and helpful, do not meet the negative test requirements for schools. The state would have to change its policy on accepted tests for this action to help staff and students provide proof of negative COVID status.

Still, she said the extra tests will be good for peace of mind for staff and families to know theyre negative and can return to school.

With climbing case counts and relatively lower vaccination rates among school-aged kids, there is also concern that children and staff will be more exposed to COVID-19.

Certainly, the fact that the new variant seems to have an even higher transmission rate is a concern, McCarthy said. Reinforcing those protocols that have been in place and not getting lax about them is more important now than ever.

Indeed, mitigation strategies are effective when theyre followed 100 percent  consistently and properly  Terranova said, but that can be difficult when kids are unmasking to eat lunch all together, wearing masks improperly, or not social distancing in classrooms.

We, as humans, are never doing everything 100 percent correctly, so thats where were opening up a little bit of risk.
With an influx from the state of hundreds of thousands of at-home COVID-19 tests through the weekened, Connecticuts towns and cities began handing out tests amid crushing demand from eager residents.

Local officials, who saw their plans dashed after an anticipated shipment of 500,000 at-home testing kits Wednesday or Thursday of last week when the deal did not go through, hastily made new plans after the state received more than 400,000 kits through the weekend.

While some municipalities started handing out tests immediately, many scheduled distribution events on Sunday and Monday.

Here is the latest on the testing efforts across Connecticut:

2:40 p.m.  Many towns pick up kits

Gov. Ned Lamonts office said Sunday that 104 out of 167 towns and cities had picked up allotments of test kits. As of midday, more than 350,000 test kits had been distributed to towns and cities.

The remaining towns and cities will pick up test kits on Monday, Lamonts office said.

Additionally, 2.4 million masks had been distributed since Dec. 30.

2:35 p.m.  Stamford nears end of supply

Stamford officials said on Twitter that they were nearly out of supplies of COVID-19 test kits. By 2:34 p.m., Kosciuszko Park was out, and Cummings Park and Scalzi Park were nearly out and expected to wrap up soon.

2:15 p.m.  Derby warns of few kits

Officials in Derby said that given the adjustment in allocation, they are only getting 400 kits to hand out to residents.

Due to the limited number of kits, we are now asking that only people who are experiencing Covid symptoms or have had close contact with a positive Covid case come to receive a kit today, officials said.

2 p.m.  Ansonia acknowledges test demand

Officials in Ansonia acknowledged the frustrations felt by residents when it came to the limited numbers of test kits available at its distribution event.

Please know we hear your frustration on the limited supply of at home tests Ansonia has been allocated from the State. We share in the frustration but are hopeful that this is just the first of many distributions.Simply put: we do not have a large supply of tests to distribute. Further, we have been advised by the State of CT that this first allocation is for symptomatic patients, officials said in a message to residents.

1 p.m.  Milford announces plans for drive-thru test distribution

The city of Milford said it would begin giving tests out to residents at 3 p.m. Monday at the Joseph A. Foran High School parking lot and the parking lot of Walnut Beach. Tests will be given until 7 p.m. or the supplies are exhausted, officials said.

12:30 p.m.  Trumbull officials warn about traffic

Trumbull town officials are reporting a high volume of traffic in the area of Unity Park. The crush comes as the town distributes its allocation of COVID-19 home test kits. Residents should avoid Church Hill Road, White Plains Road and Unity Road for the next several hours, officials said.

10 a.m.  Darien officials warn of traffic impact of test distribution

Darien officials planned to distribute the towns allotment of at-home test kits from noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday at the towns high school. They said officers will be on hand to ensure safety and that vehicles move appropriately through the area.

They asked drivers not seeking a test to avoid the area.

9 a.m.  Shelton announces test disribution

Town officials said they received only 2,500 tests, but would start distribution at Shelton High School at 10 a.m.

The primary focus is for residents who have a known exposure or are symptomatic and are unable to find another test, said Sheltons office of emergency management.

8:45 a.m.  Norwalk hits testing capacity

Officials in Norwalk said the citys drive-up testing site at Veterans Park had already reached capacity for the day. Testing there would resume at 2 p.m. on Monday.

8: 30 a.m.  Gov. Ned Lamont addresses testing demand

In a tweet early Sunday, Lamont addressed the sustained high demand for testing across Connecticut.

Ive heard the wants and needs of people at testing sites around the state, and to everyone out there waiting for more tests, I see you and hear you, Lamont said. We continue scouring the globe for more at-home rapid kits and working with our partners to expand capacity ASAP.

Test kit distribution by town:

Fairfield: The town is set to receive about 9,200 kits on Saturday and has scheduled distribution for Sunday from 12 to 4 p.m., or until supplies last. Tests and masks will be limited to four each per household. The town will distribute test kits at Roger Ludlowe Middle School, with all traffic entering at 440 Mill Plain Road, adjacent to Sturges Park, First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick announced Saturday.

Naugatuck: Naugatuck has scheduled their test distribution for Sunday beginning at 10 a.m. at the Naugatuck Events Center. Police, fire police and the CERT team will monitor the distribution. Residents should enter the event center by car from Old Firehouse Road. Proof of Naugatuck residency is required.

Brookfield: Brookfield will distribute tests on Sunday as well in the Town Hall parking lot from noon to 1 p.m. There will be 760 tests available from the 1,260 the town received.

New Fairfield: The town of New Fairfield will be distributing its allocation of tests on Sunday in front of the Middle School from 1 to 4 p.m., or until all tests are distributed.

Danbury: Danbury Mayor Dean Esposito and the citys Department of Health and Human Services announced Danbury residents could pick up their testing supplies at the Western Connecticut State University Westside Campus at 43 Lake Avenue Extension on Sunday.

Bethel: Bethel announced residents would be able to pick up COVID tests and N95 masks at 11 a.m. Sunday at the Bethel High School junior parking lot, directly across Whittlesey Drive from DeSantis Stadium.

Trumbull: Trumbull is only giving out testing kits to those registered and limiting it to one kit per household. The event will be Sunday morning at Unity Park. People must be on the reservation list and have proof of residency and can arrive between 9 a.m. and noon.

Ansonia: Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti announced their distribution would be held on Monday at Nolan Field, located at 333 Wakelee Avenue. The event will run from noon to 3 p.m. Residents will be allowed to line-up for the event no earlier than 11:30 a.m. Nolan Fields parking lot will be closed until then, and on-street parking will not be allowed prior.

Shelton: Shelton will hand out its allotment of 2,500 tests on Sunday starting at 1 p.m. at Shelton High School. Officials said those seeking tests must be a Shelton resident and identification is required to receive a test and mask.

Milford: The city of Milford said it would begin giving tests out to residents at 3 p.m. Monday at the Joseph A. Foran High School parking lot and the parking lot of Walnut Beach. Tests will be given until 7 p.m. or the supplies are exhausted, officials said.
From the mysteries of the Lost Colony to the global impact of the lowly chicken, Norfolk native Andrew Lawler long has made archaeology, history and science his pursuit as a writer. His latest book digs into the history and impact of archaeology in Jerusalem: Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the Worlds Most Contested City (Doubleday, 464 pp.).

French and British Christians took archaeology there, seeking the biblical past. In 1863, a French senator started a dig just outside the Old City, wrote a Wall Street Journal reviewer. Louis-Felicien de Saulcy broke into an ancient tomb and abducted an attractive sarcophagus, enraging rabbis and making off-target claims about the remains identity. De Saulcy set the tone of most subsequent efforts: wild ambition, wild exaggeration, wild protests  and hardheaded chauvinism.

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Offshoots included religious, scientific, historical and political strife, and war. Lawler incisively untangles the contentious geopolitical dimensions of ancient history as modern-day Israelis and Palestinians use archaeological analysis to bolster their political viewpoints and territorial claims, Publishers Weekly wrote in a starred review. But, Lawler says on his website, the archaeological pursuit could provide a map for two peoples and three faiths to peacefully coexist.

Lawler, now an Asheville resident, writes for National Geographic, Smithsonian and other major outlets. His other books: The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke and Why Did the Chicken Cross the World?: The Epic Saga of the Bird that Powers Civilization.

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Dan Brown lawsuit: The author and his ex-wife settled the suit, in which she alleged that during their marriage he led a secret life, with affairs and diverted money, and that the premise for The Da Vinci Code was hers. He has said he was stunned by Blythe Browns claims and called them false; he said she ended up with half their holdings. (AP)

Canceled: The in-person Winter Institute, an annual American Booksellers Association event for booksellers, authors, publishers and others. It was set for Cincinnati in mid-February. The ABA cited the rising number of COVID cases, the contagion of the new variant, and the hospital crisis in Ohio  including the National Guard being called in to assist understaffed hospitals. A new plan is in the works.

Obituary notes: E.O. Wilson, a pioneer of evolutionary biology and author of two Pulitzer winners  On Human Nature and The Ants, with Bert Holldobler  was 92. ... Richard Marcinko, founding commander of the Navys SEAL Team 6, and author of several books, was 81. His Rogue Warrior (1992) was a tell-all bestseller that cemented the SEALs in pop culture as heroes and bad boys, The New York Times wrote (tinyurl.com/RMarcinko). ... H. Jackson Brown Jr., author of Lifes Little Instruction Book (1991), was 81. That three-year New York Times bestseller prompted knockoffs, his 19 other Lifes Little books, and a host of mugs, calendars and whatnot. (NYT)

New and recent

Bright Burning Things by Lisa Harding (HarperVia, 336 pp.). A single mother struggles with her alcohol addiction, fearing she will lose her 4-year-old son. A character study with insight into addiction and single parenthood from the Irish novelist. (Star Tribune, Minneapolis)

Around the World in 80 Books by David Damrosch, on how the world is reflected in those new and classic works, and how they have shaped our ideas of the world. (Penguin Press, 432 pp.)

Also: The Myth of Closure: Ambiguous Loss in a Time of Pandemic and Change by Pauline Boss.

 Erica Smith, erica.smith@pilotonline.com
Carolyn Caudill Tipton, age 83, of Corbin, KY, passed away on Saturday April 30, 2022, in Corbin She was born in Ashland, KY, a daughter of the late Rexford & Mollie DeBord Caudill. Carolyn was a retired nursing home LPN. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her child
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Omicron cases in Telangana shot up to 79 on Saturday, with the state health department reporting that 12 more persons who arrived into the city from different countries, tested positive for the new Coronavirus variant. (Representational Image/ DC)

Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area appears to be driving the slow, but steady, surge in Covid cases in Telangana.

In the state health departments release for Saturday, GHMC limits reported 217 of the 317 new Covid infections across Telangana.

The GHMC area reported 198 cases on Friday, 167 on Thursday, 121 on Wednesday, 110 on Tuesday, 90 on Monday, and 69 last Sunday.

Also, indications from the Covid cases and testing data released by the health department are that the rate of Coronavirus infection is rising rapidly in the state. While five days ago, on December 27, one in 187 people tested turned up being Covid-19 positive, it came down to one in 83 on Saturday, which also resulted in the death of two positive patients taking the overall toll in the state to 4,029.

Saturdays tests fell to 28,886 across the state from 36,759 on December 31. The department said the state had 3,733 active cases, of which 1,229 were receiving treatment in hospitals.

After GHMC, the highest cases were 26 from Ranga Reddy, followed by 18 from Medchal-Malkajgiri district.

Rising infection rate in Telangana

Date  No of tests per Covid +ve case

Dec 27  187

Dec 28  161

Dec 29  139

Dec 30  115

Dec 31  103

Jan 1  83

Omicron cases in Telangana shot up to 79 on Saturday, with the state health department reporting that 12 more persons who arrived into the city from different countries, tested positive for the new Coronavirus variant.

The health department said that three persons from at-risk countries and nine from not-at-risk countries who landed at the RGI airport over the past few days and tested positive for Covid-19, were on Saturday confirmed as being infected by the Omicron variant.

It also said that it was awaiting genome sequencing test results on samples collected from another 21 international arrivals, who also had tested positive upon arrival in the city, over the past few days.

On Saturday, 10 people who came from at-risk countries had tested positive for Covid-19.
From Hawaii to Bali and the ski-slopes of Perisher, 26-year-old Jimmy Antram has seen plenty of the world.

But it has all been from the vantage point of his mother's back.

Fulfilling a promise she made to herself as a 17-year-old first-time mum to give her disabled son the best life she possibly could, Niki Antram has spent years travelling the globe with Jimmy clinging to her shoulders.

She had already planned their next adventure - a trip to Canada - when Covid struck and international borders closed.

At 43, she's wary that she isn't getting any younger and it's getting more and more exhausting to carry Jimmy on her back during their travels.

Jimmy was born with physical and mental disabilities, including blindness, and requires round the clock care from Ms Antram and his support workers.

Niki Antram carries her son, Jimmy, on her back for their adventures. Picture by Matthew Evans with Luna Productions in Coolum on the Sunshine Coast, exploring their own backyard

When Nicole Antram fell pregnant at 17, she had no illusions that her life would be easy. Pictured when Jimmy was a child

Ms Antram and Jimmy, who has mental and physical disabilities, including blindness, live on the Sunshine Coast (pictured) in their own little pocket of Queensland paradise. They're often found at their local beach soaking up the sun

He has a wheelchair, but Ms Antram has never enjoyed using it. She's content to carry him while she's physically able and helps him walk short distances on his own.

Incredible photographs taken around the globe show him clinging on as they hike through mountains and rainforests.

'Planning big holidays, I always make sure I have plenty of nappies, clothes, and even bed pads, sheets and pillowcases,' she tells Daily Mail Australia.

Ms Antram plans a meticulous itinerary and calls ahead for every venue she wants to visit - whether it be a restaurant, hotel or daredevil adventure.

'Even if I know we will be okay I like to inform the companies to give them a heads up about us to make sure they understand and are okay with having us there,' she says.

'I have worked out how to piggyback Jimmy while pulling my suitcase and carry on through an airport until they give me a wheelchair we use until we board the plane,' Ms Antram said. Pictured: Outside the Banjo Patterson Inn in Jindabyne, near Perisher, for their snow trip

Pictured: Jimmy on a sit-ski in Perisher while Ms Antram learned to snowboard during a trip in August 2019

Pictured: Niki and Jimmy swimming with a crocodile during a trip to Darwin in September 2017. She plans a meticulous itinerary and calls ahead for every venue she wants to visit - whether it be a restaurant, hotel or daredevil adventure

Sometimes, they can't accommodate. This is usually because of risks associated with Jimmy's condition or logistical difficulties.

Ms Antram said the exception to this was in Hawaii, where 'everyone wanted [Jimmy] to join'.

'I have worked out how to piggyback Jimmy while pulling my suitcase and carry on through an airport until they give me a wheelchair we use until we board the plane.'

She counts herself lucky that Jimmy has similar interests to her. They both enjoy the outdoors, the water and adventures.

'From Hawaii to Bali I'd be staying out all night with Jimmy because he was a party animal like me at the time,' she says.

'I will with Jimmy find ways to get him the best and most adventurous life, and most of the time, it's the simplest things that he loves the most.'

She's created a life for herself and her 26-year-old son Jimmy she could have only dreamed of as a girl from Perth in Western Australia. They spend most weekends hiking and exploring the Sunshine Coast when they're not travelling interstate or overseas

'Being a mum so young, I didn't get that carefree life that most 17-year-old's get,' she says. 'I had responsibility'

Jimmy and Niki visited Hawaii in 2016 (pictured overlooking the ocean from a mountain they'd climbed on the trip)

I ask myself how can I be sad when Jimmy, who has never seen colours, clouds or rainbows and he is sitting with a smile Niki Antram, Jimmy's mother

The duo are based on the Sunshine Coast in their own little pocket of Queensland paradise.

When they're not travelling, they wake up in the morning and go for a bike ride - Jimmy in the trailer while his mother peddles for them both - as the sun rises.

The pair smile and wave as they pass their neighbours. People who were once strangers have come to know and love Jimmy, and admire Ms Antram.

Before their early outing, she's already made breakfast, fed Jimmy, dressed him for the day and washed his sheets from the night before.

Her schedule is exhausting, but she's determined to give Jimmy the best life she can provide.

She takes time each day to workout, with Jimmy normally tagging along and sitting while she trains.

Ms Antram is beginning to slow down on piggybacking Jimmy everywhere, both to help him walk and because she 'isn't getting any younger'

Ms Antram counts herself lucky that Jimmy has similar interests to her. They both enjoy the outdoors, the water and adventures

She takes time each day to workout, with Jimmy normally tagging along and sitting while she trains

He listens to the sounds around him if they're training outdoors, playing with the sand or shells during a beach session.

Even when doing group fitness sessions at various venues throughout the Sunshine Coast, Jimmy will be in the thick of the action, listening to the workouts around him.

Ms Antram found out when Jimmy was about two months old that he was blind.

As a first time mum, she wasn't entirely aware of the milestones he should have been hitting. Jimmy's grandmother noticed he wasn't reaching for or directly looking at toys as they were dangling in front of him, prompting Ms Antram to get further tests conducted.

Six months after that, she learned Jimmy also had epilepsy, but weened him off the medication to treat it after years without any seizures.

'He's my inspiration,' she says. 'I see him... He's always happy, smiling... He doesn't see me in a conventional way, but I'm sure he has a vision of what I look like in his mind.'

Pictured: Niki and Jimmy meeting the monkeys in Bali during a trip in March 2018. She and Jimmy say Bali feels like 'home' to them both

Pictured: Jimmy laughing and smiling on a helicopter ride while holidaying in Darwin in 2017

Every single day, Ms Antram still tries to teach Jimmy new words and movements. It's a process that needs to be repeated copious times to give him a chance to learn. Pictured in Coolum on the Sunshine Coast

Every single day, Ms Antram still tries to teach Jimmy new words and movements. It's a process that needs to be repeated copious times to give him a chance to learn.

His favourite words are 'yay' and 'oww' - which he usually saves for bedtime.

'He knows he need to get his teeth brushed, which he hates,' Ms Antram says. 'He will say ''oww'', then I hold his mouth open, he complains and allows me to brush his teeth... but then he's very happy because he finally gets to go to sleep.'

By about 4pm, Jimmy is exhausted and ready for bed. He's often heard 'giggling away' in his room as he drifts off.

'He's very happy,' Ms Antram says.

'Sometimes I ask myself how can I be sad when I see Jimmy, who has never seen colours, clouds or rainbows and he is just sitting with a smile.'

The pair completed a Colour Run on the Sunshine Coast - completing 5km in 35 minutes with Jimmy on Niki's back the entire way

Pictured: Mother and son in a book store. 'He's my inspiration,' she says. 'I see him... He's always happy, smiling... He doesn't see me in a conventional way, but I'm sure he has a vision of what I look like in his mind'

Her heart 'broke' the day she learned her son was permanently blind and it took 'a long time to overcome those feelings of hurt'. Picture by Matthew Evans at Luna Productions

But Ms Antram admits she hasn't always been so content. She says her heart 'broke' the day she learned her son was permanently blind and it took 'a long time to overcome those feelings of hurt'.

'Being a mum so young, I didn't get that carefree life that most 17-year-old's get,' she says. 'I had responsibility.'

The duo were planning a trip to Canada before the Covid border closures halted their plans. Now, Ms Antram has set her sights on seeing Australia.

She's saving to buy a troop carrier which she hopes to fit out in travel gear to get around Australia, but it's not easy on a single carer's pension and the shifts she picks up while Jimmy is booked in with his support workers.

The duo were planning a trip to Canada before the Covid border closures halted their plans. Now, Ms Antram has set her sights on seeing more of Australia. They regularly explore their own backyards in Queensland (pictured)
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From a flamboyance of flamingos to a crested cockatoo, a photographer showcases some of the world's most brilliant birds in a dazzling new book.

London-based photographer Tim Flack, an honorary fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, travels the world photographing animals and has turned his attention to our feathered friends for his latest title, Birds, published by Abrams Books.

Flack said: 'When I began this project, my intention was to explore the beauty and wonderment of birds by depicting them in a series of portraits, abstract and in flight.

'For many of us, the global pandemic has heightened our awareness of nature and specifically birds, which have with their very presence awakened our senses and elevated our spirits.

'The enforced solitude of lockdown has also given me an opportunity to reflect on my photographic processes and glean new inspiration from the old masters such as Rembrandt and Turner.

'I hope this book will further reveal just how extraordinary they really are, while inspiring empathy and encouraging conservation and support. Connecting people to the natural world has never been more important.'

Here, FEMAIL shares a selection of some of the most spectacular snaps...

What's up, duck? The Miniature White Crested Duck is a smaller version of the Crested Duck and is native to Yorkshire. It is featured in the new book by London-based photographer Tim Flack, an honorary fellow of the Royal Photographic Society

Showing off their feathers: A Peruvian Inca tern, which looks like it has a large moustache (left). Right, a Major Mitchell Cockatoo, a bird known for its delicate pink and white feathers

Best foot forward: A flamboyance of American Flamingos, the only species of flamingo that inhabits Northern America

Splash of colour! A Nicobar Pigeon, native to Asia, has colourful feathers that would put the grey pigeons in the UK to shame

Diving into the deep: A raft of Gentoo penguins, typically found near the Falkland Islands, is snapped diving into the water

All fluffed up: This impressive fellow is a Philippine Eagle, and as its name might suggest it, it can be found in the Philippines

Heavenly! Tim photographed this red bird of paradise mid-flight. It is located on Waigeo and Batanta islands of Raja Ampat, West Papua

Flying high: The majestic Grey Crowned Crane, the national bird of Uganda, can be found in Southern Africa
A newlywed couple have revealed how their big day was almost ruined by a string of disasters including a damaged ring finger, Covid lockdowns and the entire bridal party becoming stuck in a lift on the way to the reception.

Queenslanders Amy and Fabian Ring, both 30, said the stories are now wedding highlights but admit at the time they were feeling very emotional.

Speaking with FEMAIL Amy recalled the moment Perth went into a three-day lockdown, a week before her wedding which was held on May 1.

Amy and Fabian Ring, both 30, from Queensland were married in a fairytale ceremony but a string of disasters meant they were lucky to have their big day at all

Arriving to the ceremony in a chopper was the icing on the cake for the groom who thought the rain might ruin the adventure

The couple also revealed how Covid lockdowns meant many of the bridesmaids were in danger of missing the wedding

The guests from Perth, where Amy grew up, included her grandmother who she is very close to and most of her bridal party.

'We thought our guests from Melbourne would be most likely to be locked down, because at this point NSW was against locking down and WA hadn't needed to,' she said.

Fabian said Amy is usually chilled out but he could see her anxiety at the shock announcement.

'Amy's key people were all in Perth, so we spent those days grieving and trying to work out how we could do a second wedding over there,' he said.

The lockdown was the first of a string of disasters in what they describe as a very big two weeks.

After coming to terms with the lockdown the grieving couple decided to share a few glasses of red wine and 'dance around the living room in an attempt to 'find their vibe'.

Amy's dad Wayne, pictured at the wedding, had a stroke on the second day of their honeymoon - forcing them to come home early. He made a full recovery

The couple are pinching themselves that they were able to get married exactly as planned and understand if their wedding was a weekend either side it wouldn't have happened

Amy was devastated when Perth went into a snap lockdown the week before her wedding - because her grandmother lives there and is a huge part of her life

'I caught my finger nail on the couch and the whole thing was ripped off the bed,' Amy said.

And it wasn't just 'any nail' it was the nail on the bride-to-be's ring finger.

'I couldn't believe it I was wondering what kind of voodoo this all was,' she laughed.

Luckily Fabian, who is a doctor, had some surgical glue and was able to stick the nail back on, binding it together with surgical tape as well.

His quick fix worked well and the nail lasted until the day after the wedding before coming off again, permanently.

The couple laugh at the disasters now but admit they were feeling the stress at the time

Amy felt like she had been cursed when the nail on her ring finger tore off after being caught on a couch days before the wedding

'On my wedding day it was getting really itchy,' Amy recalled.

'When it came off after I was relieved but people kept asking to see my wedding rings and all I could think was how ugly my finger was.'

Just two days before the wedding the Perth lockdown was called off - sending a wave of relief all the way across the country to south-east Queensland.

'I was refreshing the advice, hoping they would be able to come. I was at the hairdressers and just started crying,' she said.

The groomsmen and bridesmaids all got stuck in the elevator for 30 minutes after ignoring capacity limits on the way to the reception

The wedding was saved, but the couple couldn't know what was to come.

The morning of the big day they awoke to heavy rain, threatening their plans to arrive to their ceremony by helicopter.

'But the weather cleared up within a half an hour window and it was able to go ahead,' they said.

The wedding venue, The Valley Estate in Currumbin, had gifted them the helicopter trip as a thankyou - after they agreed to have their wedding there before it had even been built.

'We said yes after seeing a paddock and buying into a dream,' they laughed.

'But it ended up being one of the most stunning venues either of us had ever been to.'

The ceremony went off without a hitch.

But when it was time to head to the reception their bridal party decided to ignore the signs on the elevator and all hopped in together.

'The doors shut and then refused to open so they were all stuck on the ground floor,' Fabian said.

Wedding pictures show a carefree couple, dreamlike ceremony and happy group of loved ones

Adding to the stress Fabian is a doctor which means he could have been plunged into isolation at anytime whilst planning the wedding

'I was told about it but just tried to distract Amy - we had taken the stairs and were mingling with guests at this point.'

The wedding party was stuck in the elevator for about half an hour but one of them had some alcohol with him so they came out of the ordeal in high spirits.

The disasters followed the couple to their honey moon in Tasmania.

Two days into the trip - during the dinner which was to be one of the highlights of their time away Amy got a horrific phone call from home.

Her dad Wayne who is a fit and healthy 62-year-old had had a stroke whilst free diving off Heron Island.

'He came up to point out a fish he had seen and his mate, who is a doctor, noticed his face was drooping and got him back in the boat,' Fabian recalled.

Amy's dad Wayne recovered fully from the stroke he had - and walked himself out of hospital two days after

The couple are looking free to a future plagued with a few less disasters

'He had a massive stroke so we flew up as soon as we could to be by his side. A few days later he walked out of hospital with no ill-effects, it was amazing, actually his recovery is absolutely unheard of.'

The couple went back to Tasmania and finished their honeymoon and now look back at the chaotic time with fondness.

And surprise they were able to get married at all.

'A weekend wither side and it wouldn't have happened, and it was actually perfect,' they said.

They hope to start a family soon and are trying to steer well clear of any future disasters.
An 'Instagram famous' baker has wowed foodies with her simple recipe for decadent mini millionaire's cheesecakes.

London food blogger, Eloise Head, who's behind the viral page Fitwaffle Kitchen, demonstrated how to make the delicious mini desserts that can be ready in under an hour in a video posted to Instagram.

'They have a buttery digestive biscuit base, a caramel cheesecake filling and a rich chocolate ganache topping,' she wrote.

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London food blogger, Eloise Head, who's behind the viral Instagram account Fitwaffle Kitchen, demonstrated how to make drool-worthy mini millionaire's cheesecakes that can be ready in under an hour.

Eloise starts by mixing together melted butter and finely crushed up digestive biscuits.

In a separate bowl, she whisks 200 grams of double cream with an electric mixer.

Then in a third bowl, she whisks together cream cheese, icing sugar and caramel then adds the whipped cream and stirs to combine.

Eloise starts by mixing together melted butter and finely crushed up digestive biscuits then in another bowl whisks cream cheese, icing sugar, caramel and whipped cream until combined

Recipe: Mini millionaire's cheesecakes Ingredients For the base: 200g digestive biscuits, finely crushed 90g unsalted butter, melted For the cheesecake: 200ml double cream, cold 400g cream cheese 100g icing sugar 100g caramel For the topping: 150g dark chocolate chips 150ml double cream Method 1. Add the crushed digestive biscuits and melted butter to a bowl and mix to combine 2. In another bowl, whisk 200g of the double cream until fluffy 3. In a third bowl, combine the cream cheese, icing sugar and caramel and whisk until creamy 4. Add the whipped cream to the mixture and stir to combine 5. Put cupcake liners into a muffin tray and spoon the biscuit mixture into each pressing down firmly to smooth 6. Spoon the cream caramel mix on top and smooth down then put the tray in the freezer for 15 minutes for the cakes to harden 7. Melt the chocolate chips with 150ml of double cream in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds 8. Pour the ganache over the mini cheesecakes and put them in the fridge for 30 minutes until they're set Advertisement

To make the mini cheesecakes, Eloise spoons the biscuit mixture into each mould on a muffin tray and flattens the base until smooth.

She then layers the cheesecake mix on top and put them in the freezer for 15 minutes to set.

For the topping, she microwaves dark chocolate chips and cream to melt them into a ganache.

Eloise spoons the biscuit mixture into each mould on a muffin tray and flattens the base until smooth then layers the cheesecake mix on top and put them in the freezer for 15 minutes to set

For the topping, she microwaves dark chocolate chips and cream to melt them into a ganache

After taking the cheesecakes out of the freezer, she tops them with the ganache and places in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.

She said the recipe can also make one big cheesecake instead of 12 smalls ones.

'They're super easy to make and they can be ready in a less than an hour as you don't need to chill these ones overnight,' Eloise said in the clip.

After taking the cheesecakes out of the freezer, she tops them with the ganache and places in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.

Many viewers said they were keen to give the easy indulgent cheesecakes a try.

'We would take 10 of these please - saving this recipe!' one foodie said.

'Now youre talking - you had me at cheesecake. Looks amazing,' wrote another.
An Australian influencer and swimwear designer has revealed why she doesn't feel guilty for putting on a bit of weight over the holiday period.

In a post to Instagram, Karina Irby, 32, from the Gold Coast, shared a bikini photo from October then another from December after putting on a few extra Christmas kilos.

'Yeah I'm a little more bloated, a little more round, a little more heavier but I'm happy,' she wrote.

The body-positivity queen said she was looking forward to 'physically kicking my own butt back into the best shape' in 2022.

In a post to Instagram, Karina Irby, 32, from the Gold Coast, shared a pic of her in a bikini from October then another from December after putting on a few extra Christmas pounds and says she doesn't feel bad about it.

'Be your own motivation, they say,' she finished the post.

Many of her followers from across the world were quick to applaud her confidence in the comments.

'We have such similar body shapes and I love seeing you being normal!! It makes me want to love my body even more!! Keep it up!! Love all the way from Utah, USA,' one woman wrote.

'Thank you for being so REAL and transparent. Its super refreshing and much appreciated!' said a second.

The body-positivity queen said she was looking forward to 'physically kicking my own butt back into the best shape' in 2022.

'In the same boat, life is too short not to enjoy what you like , thanks for helping me learn to not be so hard on myself, youre beautiful,' commented a third.

Karina is a successful swimwear designer with her business Moana Bikini and has 1.2million followers on Instagram thanks to her uplifting, body positive posts.

In the past, she has hit back at internet trolls who called her a whale after she shared a video of herself dancing around her living room in her underwear.

'It says a lot about their character if theyre hiding online behind a fake or troll account and giving hell to someone who is just trying to make people feel good,' she said.

'I feel like if you know and feel you are in the right, then you should have the confidence and power to call out the haters and show the world who they really are.'

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Karina Irby, who owns Moana Bikini, champions 'real bodies' and body positivity and has helped women all over the world learn to love the way they look

On top of the video Karina put one of the heartless comments, which started by telling the designer she 'sucks' and that the writer was 'embarrassed' for her.

'No one wants to see fat chicks dancing poorly to the Macarena. Go for a jog and get a thigh gap, you whale,' the cruel message read.

But instead of feeling bad about her body like the bully wanted Karina slammed them.

'This is the absolute lowest form of bullying on the internet and I see them everywhere,' she said.

Before adding that they do have a huge impact on peoples mental health.

'Its such a shame we can actually let these ghosts inside our minds. Stay strong. Shake it off. And have fun with it,' she said.

'I dont want anyone to feel alone or lonely when they are going through or experiencing whatever struggles they might be facing.'

Karina often shows off pictures showing the difference between posed and unposed looks

She instead wants to encourage people to reach out and talk about their problems so they don't feel isolated.

'Something that may feel isolating or alienating from your immediate peers, is actually so incredibly normal and there are other people around the world that you can connect with and normalise what you are going through,' she said

And her fans were on her side - one said the trolls must be embarrassed by their own behaviour if they weren't willing to show their faces.

Others called Karina a queen for showing self-love and turning her back on the negative comments.

'I envy your resilience against these comments. I would literally fall apart if I got even a fraction of the hate comments about my body that you get. Thats why I follow you - so I can remember there is good and strength in the world,' one woman said.

While another said Karina comes across as 'confident and strong' which is something they want to work on.

'Its such a shame we can actually let these ghosts inside our minds. Stay strong. Shake it off. And have fun with it,' she said

Karina often shares posed versus un-posed pictures to show off how bodies look very different when they are in their natural state.

In one such photo she admitted she wasn't 'feeling' the selfie on the day but when she looked back at it she decided she looked 'cute'.

'I also think its SO puppy important to share relaxed pics like this on socials because its a nice reminder bodies also look like this,' she said.

She has also documented her battle with eczema, which can leave her skin sore and dry.
Kate Middleton had no interest in fame and all she ever wanted was 'a quiet life in the countryside', a friend has claimed.

The Duchess of Cambridge, who turns 40 this week, has become one of the most famous women in the world since marrying Prince William. But she had no interest in fame or a 'big job' and hoped for a quiet life growing up, according to a close pal.

Instead, of the glitz and glam of royal life, Kate- who splits her time between Anmer Hall in Norfolk and Kensington Palace in central London - just hoped for a life similar the way she grew up in rural Berkshire.

Writing in the Sun on Sunday, royal correspondent Emily Andrews claims a family friend of the royal once told her: 'All Catherine ever wanted was a house in the countryside, loads of kids, dogs and an AGA. She wasn't interested in having a big job or becoming famous.

Kate Middleton had no interest in fame and all she ever wanted was 'a quiet life in the countryside', a friend has claimed. She is pictured with Prince William

'Family life is incredibly important to her, and motherhood has been the making of her. Now that she feels she's achieved that, there's time to turn to her public role and what she wants to achieve there.'

And despite being thought of as one of the most glamourous women in the world, Kate is also conscious of her appearance.

Recalling a meeting with the Duchess shortly after she gave birth to Princess Charlotte in 2015, Ms Andrews revealed she complimented Kate on her new hairstyle - to which she replied: ' Are you sure it suits me? You don't think it looks too mumsy? I was a bit worried'

It comes amid reports the Duchess of Cambridge's 40th birthday will be muted  like her Christmas  due to the Covid risk.

Instead of a big party, the Duchess is expected to have a much smaller affair with just family and close friends.

Writing in the Sun on Sunday , royal correspondent Emily Andrews claims a family friend of the royal once told her: 'All Catherine ever wanted was a house in the countryside, loads of kids, dogs and an AGA. She wasn't interested in having a big job or becoming famous.' She is pictured in her 2020 Christmas card with George, William, Louis and Charlotte

Kate and William  who on Friday unveiled a photograph of themselves on the way to last years James Bond premiere to coincide with New Years Eve  missed out on the traditional Royal Family Christmas celebrations after the Queen was forced to cancel her plans to host the festivities at Sandringham.

Due to fears of the Omicron Covid variant, a smaller lunch was held at Windsor Castle while the Cambridges hosted Kates family at Anmer Hall, their country retreat on the Sandringham estate

A source told Mail on Sunday: There are likely to be low-key celebrations for the Duchess. She didnt want anything flashy anyway  thats not exactly her thing  but particularly given the current climate anything is likely to be scaled down.

Instead of a big party, the Duchess is expected to have a much smaller affair with just family and close friends

It come as her former private secretary, Rebecca Priestley (nee Deacon), who worked for the duchess for seven years, told the Daily Mail how newlyweds William and Kate approached the daunting task of a life committed to public service together as if it was a 'blank piece of paper'.

All three were in Anglesey in 2011, where the couple had chosen to spend their first years of married life while William worked as an RAF Search and Rescue pilot.

Rebecca says of their conversation: 'I said: 'Right, what next? You have the philanthropic world at your feet. There are so many directions you can go in terms of causes you can get involved in.'

'Catherine [as William prefers her to be known] had clearly put a lot of thought into it and made very clear that, for her, it was about listening and learning.'

For his part, William had impressed on his bride the need for them to take their time.
Diane Kruger says she would have 'absolutely resented' a baby had she conceived in her early 30s, but has become 'ready and willing' to devote herself to her child as years have gone on.

The German-born actress, 45, who lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her fiance Norman Reedus gave birth to daughter, now three, in November 2018 when she was 42.

In a candid chat with The Sunday Telegraph, she said she's now 'happy' to give up the freedom of being childless, adding that she's 'been to every party' and 'visited every country' she wants.

Diane Kruger, pictured in October last year, says she would have 'absolutely resented' a baby had she conceived in her early 30s, but has become 'ready and willing' to devote herself to her child

The actress gave birth to her three-year-old daughter in November 2018 and says she's 'so glad' she chose to have a child later on in life

'I am so glad I did not have a kid at 30', the Inglourious Basterds star said. 'I think I would have absolutely resented it for all the things that you have to give up, because today I am happy to do so.

'I have been to every party, I have been to every country that I wanted to visit. So I'm 100 per cent ready and willing to give my kid that attention. But at 30, I know I would not have been ready to do this properly.'

Diane gained worldwide recognition in the early 90s as a high-fashion model, landing advertisements from Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Christian Dior, Burberry and Louis Vuitton.

She soon began pursuing a career in acting, gaining fame for her role as Helen in the war epic Troy in 2004 before starring alongside Nicolas Cage and Sean Bean in National Treasure the same year.

The German-born actress, 45, lives in Atlanta with her fiance Norman Reedus. The pair are pictured in New York City in 2016

Her acting career has grown from strength to strength over the years, and in 2015 met The Walking Dead actor Norman, 52, while filming drama movie Sky and went public with their romance two years later.

Normal shares son Mingus, 21, from his previous relationship with Helena Christensen and Diane says she sees him as more of a 'friend' than a stepson.

She added that she's known Mingus' mother, former Victoria's Secret Angel Helena, for longer than she has her fiance and says there's 'no weirdness' between the family.

Diane previously admitted that 'everything changed with motherhood' as she discussed jumping back into work while also raising her daughter in in December's Women's Health magazine.

Diane's acting career has grown from strength to strength over the years, and in 2015 met The Walking Dead actor Norman, 52, while filming drama movie Sky. They are pictured in 2018

The actress, who has yet to reveal her little girl's name, noted that becoming a parent has set the trajectory for her career because she's able to prioritise spending more time at home.

'Everything changed with motherhoodit's such a cliche, but it's true,' she said. 'The way I look at work is different. I love to work; in fact, I cherish it more today than I did before, but at the same time, you look at everything from a different angle.

'It's not: What's it going to do for my career? It's more about: Could it fit into my schedule? How can I make it work? Is it going to be worthwhile?'

'It was daunting,' she said of making the decision to go back to work months after giving birth.

'But after six months of being a full-time mom, I was ready to get back to me, and to get out of the house. It was fun to have a few hours away each day to focus on my body and my work.'
A US toddler has caught the attention of the Queen after dressing up as her for Halloween.

Jalayne Sutherland, one, from Kentucky , received a letter from Her Majesty after sporting an adorable double-breasted overcoat with matching hat for Halloween,

The toddler added a white wig and string pearls and posed with her family's corgis for an extra royal touch to go trick of treating.

Her mum, Katelyn Sutherland, sent the snaps to Buckingham Palace and never expected a reply so was shocked when she got a letter back from the Queen's lady in waiting the Hon Marry Morrison.

Jalayne Sutherland, one, from Kentucky, received a letter from Her Majesty after sporting an adorable double-breasted overcoat with matching hat for Halloween,

Her mum, Katelyn Sutherland, sent the snaps to Buckingham Palace and never expected a reply so was shocked when she got a letter back from the Queen's lady in waiting the Hon Marry Morrison.

She told The Mirror: 'The biggest inspiration for the outfit was the fact that our dogs are our daughter's best friends.

'We wanted to do something where they could all be included together. We are most definitely fans of the Royal family and truly admire how the Queen walks by faith.'

'While walking around on Halloween we received many, many compliments but my favourite reactions were when people bowed to her or did the royal wave and said, 'Your Majesty!'

The letter from the palace read: 'The Queen wishes me to write and thank you for your letter, and for the photograph you thoughtfully enclosed.

The letter from the palace read: 'The Queen wishes me to write and thank you for your letter, and for the photograph you thoughtfully enclosed.

It comes as the Queen (pictured) spend a low-key Christmas at Windsor Castle with Prince Charles, Camilla, Prince Edward and Sophie having to tone down her usual Sandringham celebrations due to the outbreak of omnicron.

'Her Majesty thought it kind of you to write to her, and The Queen was pleased to see the photograph of your daughter, Jalayne, in her splendid outfit.

'Her Majesty hopes you all have a very Merry Christmas, and I am enclosing a little information about the Royal Pets, which Jalayne might like to have.'

It was stamped with the Windsor Castle insignia and dated 9th December, 2021.

It comes as the Queen spend a low-key Christmas at Windsor Castle with Prince Charles, Camilla, Prince Edward and Sophie having to tone down her usual Sandringham celebrations due to the outbreak of omnicron.

As part of her New Year's Honour celebrations, the Queen is personally awarding the Duchess of Cornwall the highest honour possible thanks to her 'service to the sovereign'.

Camilla is to be made a Royal Lady of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior of the Orders of Chivalry in Britain, Buckingham Palace said.

The appointment will be seen as a royal seal of approval for the loyalty and discretion Camilla has shown since her marriage to the Prince of Wales in 2005.
Fed up with Deliveroo? Had enough sourdough to last you a lifetime? Then revive palates jaded by another year of takeout stodge and start home cooking with the latest food trends for 2022  a larder of new flavours, textures and, in many cases, nutritional benefits, too.

From floral yoghurt to Japanese citrus pesto and pineapple sauerkraut, kick-start your tastebuds with these six cutting-edge ingredients . . .

PEERLESS PINK HIBISCUS

Gorgeous good looks add to the hot trend status of hibiscus, which also has high levels of vitamin C  good for boosting immune health.

Taste-wise, hibiscus has a mild, semi-sweet tartness with delicate floral, fruity notes. It has long been enjoyed in fruit tea  and as its calorie-free, is a good way to make you feel full and help weight loss.

Now hibiscus is finding favour in yoghurts and spreads, as well as in soft drinks, mocktails and cocktails.

You can buy it pre-mixed in drinks such as Something & Nothings Hibiscus & Rose Seltzer (1.49 per 330 ml can, thevegankind.com). Plus, check out Lakelands Wild Hibiscus Flowers in Syrup (9.99, lakeland.co.uk); or buy them dried  Dried Hibiscus Flowers (1.50, souschef.co.uk).

Try making a hibiscus spritz with hibiscus syrup, lime juice and bitters, and a sprig of mint or slice of lemon. Chefs are also using it in baking, to add a citrusy tang and turn icing a pretty pink. Great British Bake Off winner Candice Brown recommends orange and hibiscus madeleines in her book Comfort (16.31, amazon.co.uk).

Lakelands Wild Hibiscus Flowers in Syrup (9.99, lakeland.co.uk)

EDIBLE MORINGA

You may have heard of moringa in your moisturiser  it has been a beauty ingredient for a while. But this miracle plant is entirely edible, from root to bark.

Widely cultivated in India, South-East Asia and East Africa, it is incredibly nutritious, with seven times more vitamin C than oranges and 15 times more potassium than bananas.

Its flavour can seem challengingly robust in tea, though health food stores also sell it as a powder to add to smoothies, sauces or desserts.

Sameer Taneja, executive chef at the Michelin-starred Benares Restaurant in Londons Mayfair, uses moringa leaves to flavour dishes with their earthy, spinach taste. He says: It has been called the worlds most nutrient-rich plant. Im currently working on several new dishes, including a moringa-marinated celeriac kebab with celeriac malai and moringa oil.

At home, try Natur Boutiques Organic 100 per cent Moringa Tea made with leaves and stalks (4.45, planetorganic.co.uk), Aduna Moringa Cleansing Tea with nettles and mint (9.18, amazon.co.uk), or Aduna Moringa Powder (8, ocado.com).

Aduna Moringa Powder (8, ocado.com)

FAB PICKLED FRUIT

The ancient technique of fermenting is riding high, and now a host of fruits from pineapple and watermelon to apple, plum and blueberries are being pickled in a brine of vinegar, sugar and salt. Pickled fruits are kind to your gut  and great for serving with cold cuts and cheeseboards, over roast chicken or in a breakfast yoghurt.

You can make your own. For 500 g fruit (e.g., cherries) youll need 150 ml moscatel vinegar, 50 ml white wine vinegar, 75g caster sugar, 1 bay leaf, a few sprigs of thyme, 1 tsp sea salt and 2 tsp black peppercorns. Put all the ingredients, except the fruit, into a small pan with 200 ml water and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar and salt. Pack the fruit into a sterilised (in dishwasher or low oven) one-litre jar and pour over the pickling liquid. Seal the jar, allow it to cool, then chill. Itll be good after a few days but best after a week, when the vinegar has mellowed a little.

Or, buy ready-pickled fruits at Planet Organic, such as London Fermentary Pineapple & Turmeric Kraut (6.99 for 460g, planetorganic.com). Or try The Fine Cheese Cos Pickled Cherries (8.95, harveynichols.com).

London Fermentary Pineapple & Turmeric Kraut (6.99 for 460g, planetorganic.com)

DATE MOLASSES

This deep mahogany, viscous syrup tastes like honey cut with a dash of molasses. Traditionally made in Israel by boiling Medjool dates in water, the thick pulp is strained and keeps in the fridge for ages.

It makes a fine sugar substitute. A tablespoon of luscious date syrup has only about a third of the calories of sugar and contains more than twice the potassium, calcium and magnesium in maple syrup or honey, with up to ten times the antioxidants (refined sugar has none of these). It also has a lower glycaemic index, so it wont cause a blood sugar spike.

According to online suppliers Sous Chef, demand for date molasses is up 390 per cent year-on-year. You can find it in supermarkets. Try Belazu Date Molasses (3.99 for 250g, waitrose.com); or Basra Date Syrup (3 for 450g, morrisons.com).

You can serve it up at breakfast, stirred into porridge, or spread it on toast with pomegranate seeds on top. Mix it with tahini to make a sweet spread, or blend it with lemon juice, Dijon mustard and warm water for a salad dressing.

It is delicious with cheese, too: try it with a creamy burrata or halloumi, or spooned over goats cheese. Plus, you can use it in sticky toffee pudding as a lower-calorie ingredient.

Belazu Date Molasses (3.99 for 250g, waitrose.com)

NEW YUZU PESTO

Yuzu, a citrus fruit mainly cultivated in Japan, has already taken the culinary world by storm. Tart and sour with a lemon-grapefruit-lime flavour, the tangerine-sized fruit is being used by chefs to accent salads, fish and desserts.

And now it is being made into a Japanese condiment, too, called yuzu kosho: it contains fresh chilis (usually green or red Thai chilis) fermented with salt along with yuzu zest and juice, which come together to powerfully enliven all manner of dishes, from sashimi to braised pork ribs.

Treat it like pesto (but use far more sparingly) with pasta, or mix with lemon juice to dress salads and vegetables or rub into fish before grilling. Ive even added a pinch of yuzu kosho to my breakfast scrambled eggs. The Japanese use it in hot pot and ramen dishes, too.

You can find milder, sweeter red chili and hotter green chili yuzu kosho online (7.95-13.50, thewasabicompany.co.uk).

It also sells yuzu kararin, with a light and fluffy, powdery texture and extremely complex flavour, which is very good for adding fragrant heat to soups and is spectacular in a Bloody Mary  it can be lightly dusted around the glass or mixed in (16).

Green chili yuzu kosho online (7.95-13.50, thewasabicompany.co.uk)
Hyderabad: New Year celebrations turned fatal for three persons at different places. While two persons died in Sangareddy district in road mishaps, a youngster fell into a well in farm land under Bibinagar police limits late Friday night.

According to police, around five persons were travelling by a car from Gachibowli to Sangareddy to celebrate New Year. When the vehicle reached Patancheru, the driver lost control over steering and rammed the car into the divider killing Basheer Khadri on the spot while the other four suffered injuries. Police suspect that the driver and others were in drunken condition when the mishap took place.

In another accident, one Sai Krishna, a software employee who was riding on a bike in drunken condition, died on the spot after he fell from the bike at old Toll plaza in Sangareddy. He died on the spot.

Meanwhile, a youngster fell into a well at Bibinagar police limits of Yadadri district and drowned. Police took up a search operation to retrieve his body. According to police, four persons were proceeding to Yadagirigutta temple to offer prayers on the occasion of New Year.

As the youngsters reached Gudur locality, they halted at a petrol pump where persons who were drunk, assaulted the four. While attempting to flee from the spot, one of them ran into a field where he fell in a well. Police have visited the place and verified CCTV footage. Police said that they have taken measures to retrieve the body.
The Lost Girls

Heather Young Verve 9.99

When Justine inherits her great-aunt Lucys lakeside house in Minnesota, it comes with a notebook in which Lucy records events from the summer of 1935, when she and Justines grandmothers six-year-old sister went missing.

The bequest enables Justine to flee a toxic relationship in California and give her daughters longed-for stability, but during an isolated mid-western winter, the distant past comes to feel menacingly present.

This is a cracking debut, tense and shocking.

Hephzibah Anderson

The Paris Bookseller

Kerri Maher Headline Review 16.99

Its 1919 and American-in-Paris Sylvia Beach is smitten by the City of Lights liberal attitude to sex and literature.

A bibliophile, she opens the iconic Shakespeare and Company on a quiet Left Bank street, selling and lending novels to the literati.

James Joyce is among them, and when Ulysses is banned in the US, Beach embarks on the monumental task of seeing it into print. Based on fact, its an intriguing story, beguilingly told.

Eithne Farry

A Time Outside This Time

Amitava Kumar Picador 14.99

As Covid starts to spread, an Indian author at an American writers retreat works on a novel about the nature of truth.

The lies peddled by President Trump and Prime Minister Modi are grist to his polemical mill; psychological experiments and lengthy political anecdotes are thrown into the mix.

Novels about writing novels are often irritatingly self-conscious and this one falls heavily into the trap, though its insights into Indian society add piquant interest.

Anthony Gardner

Murder Under Her Skin

Stephen Spotswood Wildfire 20

This second instalment in a highly enjoyable 1940s-set series sees Pentecost and Parker, New York detectives, investigating the murder of the tattooed lady at a travelling carnival.

Lillian Pentecost is a Holmes-like figure, her brilliant brain hampered only by her MS, while her young sidekick, Will Parker, was once a carnie herself.

This is a loving, intricately plotted tribute to the great days of American noir.

John Williams
Led Zeppelin: The Biography

Bob Spitz Penguin Press 30

Rating:

Outsiders entering the sulphurous orbit of Led Zeppelin during the groups 1970s pomp were presented with a written list of rules. The first two read:

1. Never talk to anyone in the band unless they first talk to you.

2. Do not make any kind of eye contact with John Bonham. This is for your own safety.

Robert Plant (above), the self-described Golden God, preens with poetic superiority despite the fact that most of his lyrics are ripped-off blues songs stuffed with schoolboy innuendo

In 1969, while The Beatles were noodling around in Twickenham and Savile Row making Let It Be, the more abrasive sound of the coming decade was roaring up behind like muggers on a motorbike. Some kind of innocence was snatched away.

Bolstered by record-breaking album sales, sell-out stadium tours and an air of swaggering impunity, by the early 1970s Led Zeppelin were adhering to a code which mixed regal exceptionalism with gangland thuggery.

During the period when they were releasing classic songs such as Whole Lotta Love, Stairway To Heaven, Kashmir and Rock And Roll, Led Zep were more or less invincible.

They occupy a more problematic position in these enlightened times, however.

Led Zeppelin (above, at the Bath Festival in 1970) are avatars of the kind of unreconstructed sex, drugs and rock n roll excess that has fallen out of both fashion and favour

Long acknowledged as the biggest, loudest, most unashamedly priapic rock group during the golden age of genre, they are also avatars of the kind of unreconstructed sex, drugs and rock n roll excess that has fallen out of both fashion and favour.

This puts Bob Spitz, the American author of a bestselling history of The Beatles, in a bind.

Spitz genuflects before the power and pomp of the music while tutting (not very loudly, it must be said) at their appalling behaviour  and then writing about it all, anyway.

The bands misdeeds have been infamous since the publication of Stephen Daviss lurid biography Hammer Of The Gods in 1985, but Spitz rehearses them again at prurient length.

There are allegations of attempted rape of an air stewardess made against drummer John Bonham, whose alcohol-related death in 1980 ended the band. Guitarist Jimmy Page enjoys the company of young girls.

Spitz rehearses the band's misdeeds at prurient length, including allegations of guitarist Jimmy Page (above) enjoying the company of young girls

Cocaine and heroin line almost every page, alongside satanic rituals, outrageous rip-offs and the monstrous violence of their manager Peter Grant.

The treatment of young women outlined here is not merely shameful but criminal. There was no oversight, no accountability, no inclination to put the brakes on the pursuit, Spitz writes. Rock and roll bands were given a pass.

Janine Safer, publicist for the bands own record label, says: I adopted the bands view that these girls werent quite human. Journalists were complicit, exchanging their silence for access to the bands sanctum and a ticket to the circus.

The early days at least were less unsavoury and Spitz colourfully conjures up the bands origin story.

Page and bass player John Paul Jones earn their stripes on the London session scene, while Robert Plant and John Bonzo Bonham scrape around the West Midlands semi-pro circuit, finally coming to the attention of Page in 1968 while playing with the Band of Joy.

The account of Page creating Led Zep from the rubble of The Yardbirds is by far the best part of the book. Once the group hit their stride, however, the four principals become cartoons rather than three-dimensional characters.

Bonham is a violent, uncontrollable drunk on a grim death spiral. Plant, the self-described Golden God, preens with poetic superiority despite the fact that most of his lyrics are ripped-off blues songs stuffed with schoolboy innuendo.

Page is a shadow. Jones appears not to have a personality at all.

Spitz seems most interested in Grant, Led Zeppelins morbidly obese, borderline psychotic manager whose story has already been told, excellently, in Mark Blakes recent biography.

The author leans heavily not only on Blakes book, but several others written about the group.

With a lack of significant new interviews  no band members and few in their inner circle talked to him  Spitz pulls his sources together competently but remains marooned from the heart of the story.

Hearsay is presented as fact; myths and tall tales stand untested.

There is some insight into the creation of the bands eight albums, but these 673 pages ultimately feel longer than a Bonzo drum solo, as they spiral around the same circular riff: new album, huge US tour and endless tales of excess, abuse and degradation  the latter offered up, disingenuously, for disapproval and titillation.

None of this is fun to read about. For all their immense success, the Led Zeppelin story is curiously joyless, male privilege gone rancid.

Four decades after the bands demise, laid low by heroin, hooch and hubris, one feels it either needs to be told in a completely new way, or not told at all.

The Oracle Of The Night: The History And Science Of Dreams

Sidarta Ribeiro Bantam Press 20

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What do the paintings of Salvador Dali, the first sewing machine, the periodic table and the song Yesterday by Paul McCartney have in common?

Answer: they all came from dreams, those strange private movies that we run in our heads at night without ever being quite sure who or what is directing the action.

In this fascinating book Professor Sidarta Ribeiro, a neuroscientist, reveals what is going on when we close our eyes for the night.

What do the paintings of Salvador Dali (above), the first sewing machine, the periodic table and the song Yesterday by Paul McCartney have in common?

In the 1970s, scientists generally wrote off dreams as brain farts, random discharges of meaningless bits of information that cleared out the mind ready for next days challenges.

Ribeiro, however, takes the more modern view that dreaming is a productive process that allows us to rearrange the doings of the day into useful strategies for the future.

How often have you gone to bed frustrated with a problem at work or in a relationship and woken up the next morning knowing exactly what to do?

This is the reason why ancient cultures around the world placed such great value on dreams.

Shamans, magi and medicine men were revered for their ability to conduct rituals that allowed their communities to tap into valuable knowledge about when the next rain would fall or in what direction to go hunting for supper.

It was the coming of Christianity that put paid to all that: dreams were now a sign that the devil was tempting you and your best bet was to keep schtum if you didnt want to be written off as evil or crazy.

It wasnt until Freud started taking an interest in his patients night-time excursions at the end of the 19th Century that dreams became legit again. Even then there was a problem.

Freuds habit of interpreting everything from jewellery boxes to swords as sexual symbols meant many felt embarrassed about what went through their head at night.

Now, says Ribeiro, the pendulum is swinging back in the opposite direction.

There are many online communities in which members share their dreams to tease out their deeper meanings and extract guidance.

Many also practise lucid dreaming when, every morning, you write down the dream from the night before the moment you wake up. Over time you should find that you dream more and more until it is possible to do so at will.

Better still, you find your dreams deliver the solutions to what seemed like insuperable problems in waking life.

Ribeiro delves into the multiple worlds of anthropology, literature, religion, psychology, classical myth and neuroscience to provide an exhaustive and occasionally exhausting study of why we dream.

There may be moments when his dense jargon threatens to send you to sleep. But that, you could argue, is a huge plus, since you may wake up with an idea for a painting or a song that will change the world.

Kathryn Hughes

Down And Out In England And Italy

Alberto Prunetti Scribe 12.99

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Is Alberto Prunetti the heir to Orwell? Hed like us to think so, with a quote from the author of Down And Out In Paris And London at the top of every chapter and a title that echoes one of the most readable memoirs of the 20th Century.

In doing so, he sets the bar too high. Orwell was the model narrator, never getting in the way of what he observed, immaculately sketching life in run-down English doss houses and revealing a hellish existence below stairs in Pariss Hotel X.

Prunetti  a very sweary, grizzled old Italian Lefty  too often centres the story on himself.

Alberto Prunetti lapses into descriptions so surreal  often about Margaret Thatcher (above)  that its like entering a Corbynista fever dream

In fairness, the cast of characters around him is often superbly drawn and clearly influenced by Orwell, including John Silver, the piratical head chef in the Italian restaurant where Prunetti finds his first job, in Bristol.

An old seadog whos worked all over the world, Silver cant help switching between languages mid-sentence, swearing in all of them. Necesito a ****ing day off, capeesh?

Since the author confesses I spoke like Google Translate, theres the odd moment of comedy here.

But Prunetti does ramble on and state the bleeding obvious. This is an immigrant pizza chefs stream of consciousness, he announces, after what was very obviously just that.

He then lapses into descriptions so surreal  often about Margaret Thatcher  that its like entering a Corbynista fever dream.

There is surely a great memoir to be written on life in the modern precariat  among the Amazon and Deliveroo workers who keep so many of us pampered and well-fed  by the heir to Orwell. Im not convinced this is it.

Will Heaven
The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain Cert: 12A, 1hr 51mins

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Licorice Pizza Cert: 15, 2hrs 13mins

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The Humans Cert: 15, 1hr 48mins

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Let me be honest, Id never heard of Louis Wain, but as I watched The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain I realised I did recognise his art.

Turns out hes the chap who did all those drawings and paintings of cats, often with big, supposedly adorable eyes, often engaged in distinctly human-like activities. To be honest again, I never really liked them.

Which might be one of the reasons it took a while to warm to the modest charms of this hyper-energetic biopic.

Whatever you think of Louis Wains cat pics, its all a bit full-on, all a bit relentless, driven ever forward by big performances from Benedict Cumberbatch (above) as Wain

Whatever you think of Wains cat pics  and they do have their admirers  its all a bit full-on, all a bit relentless, driven ever forward by a knowing narration and big performances by the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Wain, and Andrea Riseborough as his eldest sister.

Will Sharpe, the talented actor who moves behind the camera here to direct and co-write, has given it plenty creatively, too.

Employing everything from feline subtitles to animated visions of fantasy creatures one-part human and one-part cat, at times he gives it, perhaps, a little too much.

His aim is to convey some of the chaos, confusion and artistic creativity of Wains restless mind in a visual and cinematic way, but theres a constant danger of being off-putting in the well-intentioned process.

There are lovely supporting performances to enjoy, especially from Claire Foy (above, with Cumberbatch) as the spirited and somewhat older governess with whom Wain falls in love

The underlying story, however, of the eccentric, Victorian-era artist who today might be described as on the spectrum or neuro-diverse is an interesting one and, at times, really rather moving.

There are lovely supporting performances to enjoy, especially from Claire Foy as the spirited and somewhat older governess with whom Wain falls in love, and from Toby Jones as his quietly supportive editor and patron on the Illustrated London News.

So its not all cats, although there are a lot of them, particularly in the second half as the unworldly Wain begins to pay for his financial naivety and the lifelong challenge of providing financial support for his widowed mother and five unmarried sisters threatens to overwhelm him.

As for the electrical life of the title, lets just say Wain took an artists view of this newly harnessed power source rather than a physicists and was definitely no Faraday or Tesla. Then again, they probably couldnt paint cats.

The films of Paul Thomas Anderson are adored by the arthouse crowd and, indeed, by awards juries, though they sometimes struggle to gain a wider audience.

But Licorice Pizza (a title at least partially borrowed from an old Californian record-shop chain) is his most accessible for years, possibly since Boogie Nights  the film that first made him famous  way back in 1997.

Licorice Pizza's pace and gentle tone both suffer slightly as Sean Penn and Bradley Cooper (above) muscle their way in as older, more predatory men

It may share the same 1970s setting but Licorice Pizza is a whole lot more wholesome (Boogie Nights, you may recall, was set against the sleazy background of the porn business) dealing, as it does, with first love, namely that between Gary (Cooper Hoffman) a precocious, 15-year-old high-school student and former child actor, and Alana (Alana Haim), a 25-year-old photographers assistant.

He bravely asks her out on a date when shes helping with the taking of his school photograph. Even more bravely, she actually turns up.

There are two important things to say about the film straight away. First is that it has a properly adorable if slightly offbeat quality guaranteed to speed you out into a new film-going year with a warm glow in your heart and a smile on your face.

The second is that Haim  the youngest of the three sisters making up the music group of that name  is absolutely brilliant as the slightly directionless twentysomething who doesnt know quite why she got involved with Gary and his madcap entrepreneurial schemes but determines to stick along for the ride.

Other things you might like to know are that Hoffman is the son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, a regular Anderson collaborator, which is very touching, and that the pace and gentle tone both suffer slightly as Sean Penn and Bradley Cooper muscle their way in as older, more predatory men.

Nevertheless, with a fabulous soundtrack too, its highly recommended.

The Humans, by contrast, is distinctly hard work, a testing mumble-core drama adapted from a single-act stage play by Stephen Karam.

The cast includes Richard Jenkins and Amy Schumer (above), and while its claustrophobic and mildly scary, its also not nearly as groundbreaking as it thinks it is

As three generations of a family gather to celebrate Thanksgiving in a dark, empty and seriously dilapidated New York apartment, even darker secrets slowly begin to emerge

The cast includes Richard Jenkins and Amy Schumer, and while its claustrophobic and mildly scary, its also not nearly as groundbreaking as it thinks it is.
David Bowie Toy Out Friday

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David Bowie Hunky Dory Limited Edition Out Friday

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In Britain, every January, we have David Bowie Fortnight. If not quite official, it has rapidly become traditional.

It marks the bookends of Bowies life  his birth on January 8, 1947 and his death on January 10, 2016. Had his cancer not been terminal, he would have been 75 this week.

His touring musicians, who gather to honour him each year, are putting on three gigs in New York, while his madcap pianist, Mike Garson, stages a live-streamed show in LA.

As this century began, David Bowie (above) was still a superstar on stage, wowing a vast crowd at Glastonbury 2000, but he was stuttering in the studio

Bowie himself might not approve of the pedestal on which posterity has put him. This was a man strong-minded enough to turn down a knighthood (in 2003). But its his own fault for going out at the top of his game, with the mesmerising Blackstar.

For the umpteenth time, he discovered a new sound: a reflective kind of rock, played by jazzmen, steeped in Gregorian chant, haunted by approaching death, yet catchy enough to top the charts.

Fifteen years earlier, things were very different. Its hard to believe now that Bowie was ever unsuccessful, but even the greatest careers have their slumps

As this century began, he was still a superstar on stage, wowing a vast crowd at Glastonbury 2000, but he was stuttering in the studio.

His previous three albums, Outside, Earthling and Hours, had all gone silver, not gold, let alone platinum. It felt like the twilight of a god.

His response was typically idiosyncratic: he tried to climb out of one trough by revisiting another. In the mid-1960s he had been a no-hit wonder called Davy Jones, making singles, forming bands, going nowhere.

He dug out several songs from those days and gathered his live band in New York to rerecord them, along with some later tracks. The result was an album called Toy  which Virgin refused to release.

You can see why Virgin took against Toy (above): most of the faster songs are dated, snappy but shallow, a far cry from Station To Station

This week, after featuring in Bowies latest boxed set, Toy finally emerges in its own right. You can see why Virgin took against it: most of the faster songs are dated, snappy but shallow, a far cry from Station To Station.

Still, you can also see why Bowie believed in it.

There are two ballads that belong with his best work. Conversation Piece is wistful, grave and grounded (I cant see the road for the rain in my eyes). Shadow Man, a leftover from Ziggy Stardust, is sadder, grander, and just as gorgeous.

Bowie sings beautifully throughout, taking some undercooked lyrics and marinating them in midlife wisdom.

Toy is well worth hearing, but you may prefer to download its two gems  or to pick up the picture disc of Hunky Dory, rereleased for its 50th anniversary. Turn and face the strange, he urged us on the opening track, Changes.

From the quirks of Quicksand to the majesty of Life On Mars?, he followed his own advice. This was his first masterpiece.
...you just need perseverance and lots of passion, says TRINNY WOODALL. She shares the hard-won wisdom that turned her own start-up dream into a multimillion-pound business

Trinny Woodall: 'I had 5,000 voices in my head from all the women wed met. So many conversations were about make-up: women were confused by all the products out there and didnt know what suited them.'

To launch a business and grow it into a multimillion-pound empire in less than four years takes some serious determination. But anyone who follows Trinny Woodall (and there are a lot: shes amassed one million followers on Instagram, 1.9 million on Facebook) knows from her daily videos that she has the kind of boundless energy that practically fizzes out of your screen.

The former What Not To Wear presenter, 57, launched her beauty brand Trinny London  a range of make-up and skincare housed in space-saving stackable pots  in 2017. Shed spent the previous four years perfecting the products and developing the brands signature Match2Me technology, an online tool that solves the Russian roulette of ordering make-up on the internet by helping customers to find the right shades for their complexion.

Thanks to the clever stack concept and game-changing tech, Trinny London has been a phenomenal success. The company now employs 194 people, sells 187 different products and has customers in 167 countries. A pot of Trinny London Miracle Blur  an ingenious line-filling primer for your skin  is sold every 60 seconds. Despite the pandemic, the company made 45 million in revenue in the last financial year.

I went to a networking event recently and six people whod said no to investing in the company when I was fundraising pre-launch came up to me and said, I wish Id made that investment, says Trinny. It was such a good feeling.

Starting a new venture in midlife may be daunting but Trinny insists, We shouldnt define ourselves by age. We have to keep challenging ourselves and think: What do I really want from life?

Here she shares what shes learnt from launching a business in her 50s  and her advice for how you can get started, too

Know your skills

My career has been about evolution, rather than reinvention. How can I take the skills I already have and do something new with them?

I spent years doing TV makeovers all around the world. I ran myself into the ground and by 2013 I knew I wanted to change direction. I didnt want to be on a plane 64 times a year any more, but I still wanted to work with women and make them feel inspired.

I had 5,000 voices in my head from all the women wed met. So many conversations were about make-up: women were confused by all the products out there and didnt know what suited them. At the same time, Id started making my own DIY stack, decanting my make-up into little pots. It simplified and streamlined everything; people kept asking where they could buy them. That was the spark that became Trinny London.

If youre in midlife and would like to change lanes  whether youre a stay-at-home mum who wants to launch a business or youve had enough of the corporate world  start by identifying your existing skill set. What do you excel at or know lots about? Are you phenomenally organised? Super creative? Brilliant at running school events? Ask a friend if youre not sure.

Now, how can you take those qualities and spin them into a business? Is there a service or product that you wish existed in your life?

You know youve landed on a great idea if its something you get really passionate about. I was telling a friend about the idea for Trinny London and he said, When you talk about it, your whole face lights up. This idea is your passion. Do it.

Knock on every door

To get my idea off the ground I needed to find venture capitalists, manufacturers and packaging companies. So I thought: Who do I know who might have a friend in those fields? I created a spreadsheet for each area I needed help with and every week I wrote down five people I was going to email. If I didnt get a response Id follow up, saying: Just in case you missed this  Id love your help. Is there anyone you know who can help me?

Everyone knows somebody who knows somebody. Sometimes it took me three jumps to get to the person I needed. Youve got nothing to lose by asking for a favour  they might want one from you in the future. The worst thing they can do is say no or ignore you. My motto is you never know whats behind a closed door.

Assistants are very important. They are the gatekeepers to most busy people. Im not saying send flowers and chocolates, but when you email and call, be friendly, have a chat. The next time theres a gap in their bosss diary, they might think of you.

Perseverance is key

I spent a year on research and development, but by 2014 I realised I needed more money if I was going to continue. It happened at a very tough time in my life. My daughter Lyla was 11 years old and her father, my ex-husband, had just died.

At his funeral, a friend said, Maybe the last thing you need right now is to be taking a big risk. Perhaps you should get a job and have some security. I remember thinking, I just cant give up on this idea.

Perseverance is as important as passion. As an entrepreneur you often have to ask yourself, what am I prepared to do? So I looked at every single one of my expenditures  what was a necessity, what was an indulgence. I had a huge mortgage so I rented out my home and found a smaller place to live. I sold my 20-year collection of designer clothes and raised 60,000. The money kept the business alive for another nine months, enough time to prepare for a proper round of fundraising with investors.

Don't dilute your vision

I went to lots of investors and they all gave me different advice. Theyd pull apart my idea and say, Why arent you doing it like this? From having total faith in my concept, I started to question it.

One investor said the only people worth selling to online were millennials. But I knew that with the right personalisation I could give older women the confidence to buy make-up online too. I knew these women. I had spent decades working with them. That knowledge supported me. I realised that if I listened to every piece of advice, it would dilute what I felt most passionate about.

Part of my journey has been learning what advice to take on board and what to regard as simply one persons opinion.

I used visualisation exercises to stay focused. So I imagined the Trinny London products being made in the factory. I imagined them being packed up and shipped. I imagined a woman using the make-up for the first time and it giving her confidence.

If you start doubting yourself, it helps to think of all the benefits your business will deliver to your future customers. Have a really clear vision of what you want to achieve. Its that little shift in mindset that will help you convince other people that it can work.

Setbacks get less scary

The first prototype of the Trinny London stack was appalling. It looked cheap and clunky. It was a horrible moment and I actually cried. But I kept going. Eleven prototypes later we got it right.

The setbacks dont stop, even when things are going well. Last year we had an early version of our mascara ready to launch. We were very busy and a couple of things fell through the cracks. The outside of the mascara tube hadnt been sealed properly, so all the decoration and branding rubbed off.

We had to dump 50,000 worth of stock. It was a financial blow but I knew it was the right decision; bringing out a product that wasnt high quality would damage the brand in the long run.

For the first few years youre in business, you worry over every decision. It was only recently that I felt confident the business wouldnt disappear overnight because of one wrong move. When I started Trinny London it felt like I was walking a tightrope 20 feet off the ground; today its more like two feet  I dont have so far to fall. Now I have a strong foundation to keep growing the business.

Got a bright idea?

Heres how to get it out of your head and on to the kitchen table

Trinny Woodall 'Check out your idea on Google. If it exists, how are you going to do it differently?'

Step 1 Find out if it exists

Check it out on Google. Do a minimum of seven searches. If its already out there, dont panic. How are you going to do it differently?

Step 2 check your concept

Ask a couple of friends: Would you use this? Tell me truthfully. Then ask someone youre not as close to, such as a neighbour or acquaintance: Can I pitch you something and you tell me what you think? If a few people say, I would use that, it gives you a bit of momentum.

Step 3 consider funding

Where might you start? Do you want to put in your own savings? Can you take a bank loan? If you have friends or work contacts willing to invest, look into the governments Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS). It allows individuals to claim 50 per cent tax relief if they invest in your start-up

The secrets of social media success

Trinny woodall 'If anyone leaves a comment on my channels, I 'like' it and respond.'

Have a conversation

Social media is an essential part of any business launch. Although the algorithms that power them are complicated, they tend to promote channels where there is strong engagement with followers.

If anyone leaves a comment on my channels, I like it and respond. The more you can create a two-way interaction, the better.

Be your true self

Whats your true self? Its when you feel most passionate and emotive.

Thats what cuts through when someone speaks from the heart. My social channels started gaining traction when I switched from posting posed photos to making videos where I chatted about something that I loved and felt excited about.

Create a community

When starting out lots of small brands post things like, The first 20 people to share this can get a free product. Its quite a commercial approach to gaining followers but it can become a race to the bottom. Instead, consider what feelings you want people to associate with your brand. Rather than chasing numbers, build a community that people want to be part of and that reflects the ethos of your business.

How to nail a pitch

When meeting investors Id take an old make-up bag full of bulky products and slam it down, saying I want to take women from this... to this and then Id present my streamlined Trinny London stack. It got my idea across fast.

- Keep it simple. What is your product or service? And how is it different?

- If you cant summarise your business proposition in three sentences, refine it.

- Dont read your pitch from a script  you lose your passion and enthusiasm.

Tycoon Trinnys timeline

Aged 16 Trinny sold velvet hair bows

1980 teen mogul

Aged 16, Trinny launches Bow Unlimited. My friend and I sold velvet hair bows decorated with brooches. We were stocked in Harvey Nichols but it fizzled out.

1982 socks on the side

At 18, she gets a job as a PA in the city. She launches a short-lived side hustle, Sock It To You, selling socks on the trading floors  but the socks dyed peoples feet and the elastic went.

1986 city slicker

After dabbling in financial PR, Trinny eventually becomes a commodities trader in a bid to impress her father. I hated it. It was me and 60 men.

Trinny (middle) with Susannah Constantine (right) and Liz Hurley (left)

1996 style journalist

For the first time I asked myself: what do I really love? Fashion. Trinny gets a break writing a newspaper column, Ready To Wear, with Susannah Constantine.

Trinny and Susannah were internet pioneers with their 90s fashion site Ready2Shop.com

1999 dot- com pioneer

Susannah and I created a fashion site, Ready2Shop.com, but it was way too early. The site stops trading the following year.

Trinny and Susannah's show 'What Not to Wear' was a hit on the BBC

Trinny and Susannah's Magic Knickers

2001 TV stardom

The pairs hit BBC show What Not To Wear (below) runs for five series, winning them a Royal Television Society Award. They also land a seven-figure book deal.

2007 designer dabblings

The duos range for Littlewoods includes their bestselling Magic Knickers.

2010 globetrotters

Trinny and Susannah travel the world giving TV makeovers to women in America, Australia, Belgium, Sweden, Israel, Poland, Holland, India and Norway.

2017 the big launch

The day we launched Trinny London we took 20,000. Now we have half a million customers all over the world.

2022 coming soon

A new project  currently under wraps  will be launching.

Trinny and Susannah give a TV makeover in Australia

Stylist: Annie Swain.

Make-up: Olivia Davis.

Hair: Adam Embleton Perea.
Feeling exhausted all the time? Michael Breus, aka The Sleep Doctor, and fitness expert Stacey Griffith have teamed up to bring you the remedy: the best way to eat, exercise and sleep, tailor-made to your needs. Read on  and prepare to supercharge the way you live!

Exhaustion is often the result of living out of sync with one's circadian rhythms and chronotypes

When the two of us  the Sleep Doctor and the Fitness Expert  started talking about our lives and our vocations, namely, educating people about sleep and movement, we discovered that the biggest complaint among our patients and clients was: Why am I always so exhausted?

This question was always topic number one whenever either of us did interviews, too. It seemed like everyone was slogging through their days, sleeping fitfully all night, and living in a low-energy loop.

Michael had been studying and teaching the science of sleep for decades, and he knew that exhaustion was often the result of living out of sync with ones circadian rhythms, the inner clocks that dictate the ebb and flow of hormones, body temperature and blood pressure.

If you live against your natural rhythms  for example, your body wants you to go to sleep at 9pm, but you force yourself to stay up later  you are at high risk for sleep deprivation, chronic stress, mood disorders, lowered immunity and compromised overall health.

When youre out of sync with the master clocks in your brain (specifically, in your hypothalamus), all your energy goes towards waging battles within. However, when you live in sync with your circadian clocks, you are not fighting against your own nature and have energy to spare.

And its not just about sleep. We discovered that living against your genetically predetermined chronotype  your bodys natural disposition to be awake or asleep at certain times  is the reason youre so tired all the time.

Weve devised four different chronotypes based on the sleeping and waking habits of our animal counterparts, and each one has a different inner schedule based on your genes: Lion (early riser), Wolf (late riser), Bear (in between) and Dolphin (insomniac).

Moving, eating and sleeping in sync with your chronotype by sticking to a daily schedule will give you renewed energy, like a brand-new pack of shiny batteries. Youll stop saying, Im so exhausted! and start feeling the power to move your personal mountains.

In other words: there is no one-size-fits-all energising solution. But there is a programme tailored to your chronotype. Our two areas of expertise  circadian timing and movement  have come together to create a whole new concept of how to improve peoples health and feel more of what we all desperately crave: energy.

Take the quiz below to discover what chronotype you are

QUIZ: Find your energy chronotype

For the following ten statements, please circle T for true or F for false

1. The slightest sound or light can keep me awake or wake me up T/F

2. Food is not a great passion for me T/F

3. I usually wake up before my alarm rings T/F

4.I cant sleep well on planes, even with an eye mask and earplugs T/F

5. Im often irritable due to fatigue T/F

6. I worry inordinately about small details T/F

7. I have been diagnosed by a doctor or self-diagnosed as an insomniac T/F

8. In school, I was anxious about my grades T/F

9. I lose sleep ruminating about what happened in the past and what might happen in the future T/F

10. Im a perfectionist T/F

If you marked T for true on seven or more of the above ten questions, you are a Dolphin. Otherwise, continue to part two (below)

After each of the answer options, youll find a number in brackets. Keep a tally of these numbers to get your final score

If you had nothing to do the next day and slept in as long as you liked, when would you wake up?

1. Before 6.30am

2. Between 6.30am and 8.45am

3. After 8.45am

When you have to get out of bed by a certain time, do you use an alarm clock?

1.No need. You wake up on your own at just the right time

2.Yes, plus one or two snoozes

3.Yes, with a backup alarm and multiple snoozes

When do you wake up at the weekend?

1.The same time as during the week

2.45 to 90 minutes later than during the week

3.Over 90 minutes later than during the week

How do you experience jet lag?

1.You struggle

2. You adjust within 48 hours

3.You adjust quickly, especially when travelling west

Whats your favourite meal? Think time of day rather than the menu

1.Breakfast

2.Lunch

3.Dinner

If you were to go back to school and take an exam again, when would you prefer to start the test for maximum focus and concentration?

1.Early morning

2.Early afternoon

3.Mid afternoon

If you could choose any time of day to do an intense workout, when would you do it?

1.Before 8am

2.Between 8am and 4pm

3.After 4pm

When are you most alert?

1.One to two hours post wake-up

2.Two to four hours post wake-up

3.Four to six hours post wake-up

If you could choose your own five-hour workday, which block of consecutive hours would you choose?

1.4am to 9am

2.9am to 2pm

3.4pm to 9pm

Do you consider yourself

1.Left-brained  a strategic and analytical thinker

2.A balanced thinker

3. Right-brained  a creative and insightful thinker

Do you nap?

1.Never

2.Sometimes at the weekend

3.If you took a nap, youd be up all night

If you had to do two hours of hard physical labour, moving furniture or chopping wood, when would you choose to do it for maximum efficiency and safety?

1.8am to 10am

2.11am to 1pm

3.6pm to 8pm

Regarding your overall health, which statement sounds like you?

1.I work out a lot, eat well and avoid the bad stuff

2.I try to do the right things. Sometimes I succeed 

3.I hate exercise and love food, and thats not going to change

Whats your comfort level with taking risks?

1.Low

2.Medium

3.High

Which do you consider yourself?

1.Future oriented with big plans and clear goals

2.Informed by the past, hopeful about the future and aspiring to live in the moment

3.Present oriented. Its all about what feels good now

How would you characterise yourself as a student?

1.Brilliant

2.Solid

3.Slacker

When you first wake up in the morning, are you...

1.Bright-eyed

2.Dazed but not confused

3.Groggy, eyelids made of cement

How would you describe your appetite within a half an hour of waking?

1.Very hungry

2.Hungry

3.Not at all hungry

How often do you suffer from insomnia symptoms?

1.Rarely, only when adjusting to a new time zone

2.Occasionally, when going through a rough time or are stressed out

3.Chronically. It comes in waves

How would you describe your overall life satisfaction?

1.High

2.Good

3.Low

Scoring

Your score:

19 to 32: Lion 

33 to 47: Bear 

48 to 61: Wolf

Lion

Like their natural namesakes, human Lions wake up hungry, full of energy that maintains itself to early afternoon. They have total cognitive clarity in the early morning, when most others are still waking, but around 5pm their energy starts a rapid decline. They force themselves to go to social events at night  ideally, theyd be in bed by 9pm. They prioritise health, exercise regularly and eat well. They have the lowest BMI of all chronotypes. Optimistic, ambitious, emotionally stable, Lions are fearless, confident and driven. They are goal-oriented agenda setters, problem solvers and list makers.

Wolf

Human Wolves, like wild ones, are most alert at sundown and dont tire until midnight or later. Mornings pass with brains half-asleep. Most Wolves arent hungry at breakfast but will drink lots of coffee to clear brain fog. By afternoon theyre ravenous so have a big dinner and then snack. Exercise? Wolves would rather drink wine, eat cheese and debate until late. They have the highest BMI of all chronotypes and are impulsive, creative and happiest trying new things. While they spark with ideas all day they only concentrate well after 2pm. Morning moodiness can be challenging, but they wont shy away from an issue.

Bear

The most common chronotype, human Bears, just like their animal counterparts, are diurnal  active by day, restful by night. Waking is a long process but by mid-morning, Bears are alert. Energy plummets in the afternoon, rising again in the evening (their peak social energy conveniently coincides with happy hour) before slowly declining until bed. They love food, so often have an above-average BMI. As extroverts, Bears think and work best in groups. In relationships, they avoid conflict, and their moods reflect their circumstances: when things are good, Bears feel good; when things are bad, they get depressed.

Dolphin

In nature, Dolphins are unihemispheric sleepers  one half of their brain sleeps while the other stays alert. Their human equivalents are insomniacs who can relate to feeling half-awake and half-asleep 24/7. Their BMI tends to be lower than average but not because of obsessive exercise; instead calories are burnt by fidgeting and worrying. Dolphins tend to be caring and attentive parents and partners. But theyre so conflict-averse, small issues grow to big problems. They hit their creative peak mid-morning and their thinking peak in the evening. Theyre often too wound up at night to relax before bed.

SLEEP FOR ENERGY

According to the Sleep Doctor's research, the populations consists of: 10% Dolphin, 20% Lion, 20%Wolf and 50% Bear

A major cause of sleep deprivation is living against your chronotype. Waking and going to bed according to your circadian rhythm is the best way to optimise your sleep so that even if you get fewer hours than youd like, the quality of sleep will improve.

The key is to go to bed when your body wants you to, which is about an hour or two after the melatonin (the sleep hormone) secretions start flowing. And the most important factor for a strong, health-promoting routine for all types is a consistent waking time, both on weekdays and weekends.

Time for Bed?

Lions: 10pm Your body starts secreting melatonin around mid evening and screams at you to get in bed at 9pm. If you force yourself to stay awake until midnight, when your internal alarm goes off at 5am you will feel exhausted the next day.

Bears: 11pm Most of us are forced to live on a Bears schedule  it makes sense, since half the population are Bears. If youre a Bear, your pineal gland [a pea-shaped gland in the brain] starts secreting melatonin around 10pm, signalling to the body that its time to shut down.

Wolves: 12.30am If youre a Wolf and got into bed at 11pm, youd wind up lying awake for hours until your internal clock signalled sleep readiness. Wolves are usually wide awake then because their melatonin release is delayed for an hour or two. Getting into bed too early and not sleeping can trigger anxiety, which makes it even harder to shut down.

Dolphins: 12 midnight A hard rule for insomniacs is Dont go to bed unless youre sleepy, but for tired and wired Dolphins, wired often dominates tired, and you dont feel sleepy at bedtime. If you go to bed anyway, not falling asleep right away can set off an anxiety/insomnia cycle that will keep you up all night.

Rise and Shine

In the early hours of the morning, your body stops secreting melatonin and starts releasing the hormones adrenaline and cortisol, which trigger a rise in heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature. Each chronotypes ideal wake time is one to two hours after this. We recommend that Bears wake up at 7am, Lions at 6am and Wolves at 8am. The Dolphins ideal wake time is harder to gauge; according to their biology, they are not designed to have deep, continuous sleep, but if they are able to pass out by 1am, their recommended wake time is 7am.

Will a Nap Boost Your Energy?

A restorative 45-60-minute nap at 1pm (for Lions) or 2pm (for Bears) is fine and will coincide with a drop in cortisol and dip in blood sugar after lunch. Wolves can nap but only for up to 20 minutes. Dolphins  no naps. EVER.

Energise Your Waking Brain

While melatonin secretions taper off for most of us by 5am, for Wolves its still going at 6am, which suppresses stimulating cortisol. To help reduce the groggy feeling when your body is fighting waking, all chronotypes should try these

20 minutes of direct sunlight tells the pineal gland its daytime. After waking, go outside and open your eyes (dont look directly into the sun and dont wear sunglasses).

Cloudy day? Instead of going outside, drink water. We lose at least a litre of water every night.

Take a cold shower, which will increase oxygen levels, improve circulation, lower blood pressure, boost cardiac function and immunity. It will also increase your feel-good endorphins  adrenaline and dopamine  by up to 500 per cent. Start with a normal-temperature shower, then turn it to colder than is comfortable and stand under the water for 30 seconds. Repeat three times.

EXERCISE FOR ENERGY

The World Health Organization recommends that all adults aged between 18 and 64 should get between 150 and 300 minutes per week of any combination of moderate and vigorous aerobic physical activity. We should also sit less and replace sedentary time with light movement. If you follow our programme, you will hit those benchmarks.

Our daily 55 plan (see box, above right) provides energy gains and health benefits for everyone but your chronotype will dictate the best time to do them. By moving throughout the day, every day, youll boost your energy and speed your metabolism.

Stretch Try simple yoga stretches such as: Childs pose: kneel down with knees wide apart, keeping your big toes touching and your buttocks resting on your heels. Fold forward and rest your torso between your thighs, aiming to get your forehead on the floor, and extend your arms out in front of you, palms facing down.

Cat-cow: get on all fours, inhale, drop your belly downwards and lift your head, moving your gaze up. As you exhale, arch your back and drop your head, like a cat. Move with your breath through ten rounds.

Shake After sitting down for an hour, your body fluids begin to stagnate, and blood flow slows down. Shaking is the antidote to this as it sends blood and oxygen into your hips, shoulders, neck and lower back. To get the shaking effect, try these exercises:

Neck looseners: slowly turn your head from side to side. Arm rotations: stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and extend your arms to form a T-shape. Make 10 clockwise and 10 anticlockwise small circles. Leg swings: stand up with feet shoulder-width apart, and rest an anchoring hand on a desk or table. Put all your weight on your right leg and swing the left leg back and forth like a pendulum. Then switch to the other side and repeat.

Bounce Five minutes of jumping when you feel your energy begin to slump has the same heart-energising, brain-clearing effect as a shot of espresso or a power nap. It unleashes feel-good dopamine, serotonin and energising adrenaline. Bouncing also increases heart rate and blood flow, floods your body with fresh oxygen, burns calories, improves coordination, strengthens bones and lowers the risk of injury. A recent study showed that jumping for ten minutes daily gave participants the same heart benefits as jogging for three times as long. Try: burpees, jumping jacks or skipping.

Build From the age of 30, muscle mass dwindles by three to eight per cent every decade. The less muscle we have, the greater our risk of injury, disability, obesity, insulin resistance, osteoporosis, heart disease, joint stiffness and even decreased height. To build muscles, try squats, crunches or this triceps dip

Sit on the edge of a chair, feet flat. Place your palms flat on the edge of the chair next to your hips, fingers facing out. Now move your bottom forward so you are supporting your body weight with your hands and feet. Slowly lower your bottom until its six inches from the floor. Raise yourself by pressing into your palms and using your triceps muscles.

Balance Good balance improves your coordination, which you need as you get older, and calms you before bed. Try simple yoga poses, such as the tree pose

While standing, shift your weight to the left foot and place your right foot on your left ankle or on your inner thigh above the knee. Put your hands in prayer at the centre of your chest and stare at a fixed spot on the wall in front of you. Then switch legs.

Combine balance poses with deep breaths  inhale for a count of four, hold for four, and exhale for four  to stimulate the vagus nerve, which runs from your neck all the way down into your intestines. When stimulated, this nerve switches off your fight-or-flight nervous system and switches on your rest-and-digest parasympathetic nervous system. This shuts down the flow of the stress hormone cortisol, which, in turn, increases the release of calming serotonin to augment the sleep-inducing effects of melatonin.

When to exercise

There are five particular times during the day when you need to get up and move to get your juices flowing: first thing in the morning, mid-morning, after lunch, mid-evening and before bed. A short movement break  for example, taking a walk, doing 20 jumping jacks, stretching  doesnt require the body to use up a significant amount of energy to signal the hormones that control alertness to wake up.

Everyone should begin the day with Stretch and end with Balance. Otherwise, your Shake, Bounce and Build schedule depends on your chronotype

Lions

Wake and Stretch

Shake mid-morning 

Build in the afternoon 

As your energy falls off a cliff in the evening, you should Bounce to create a second wind 

Balance before falling into bed.

Bears

Wake and Stretch 

Shake mid-morning

Bounce to reset in the afternoon 

Build your muscles in the evening 

Balance one hour before bed.

Wolves

Wake and Stretch 

Bounce mid-morning to clear your brain fog 

Shake in the afternoon when you fall into the concentration zone and

forget to move.

Build later in the evening when you feel your most energetic  Do Balance moments before bed to quiet your active mind.

Dolphins

Wake and Stretch 

Bounce mid-morning to jolt the half of your brain thats still sleeping awake

Build in the afternoon when your energy peaks

Shake in the evening to calm your spike in nervous energy 

Finish the day with Balance to prepare yourself for sleep.

EAT FOR ENERGY

If you make only one change in your eating habits for huge energy gains Dont snack after your last meal of the day!

The key to eating for more energy is to eat in tune with the rhythm for your chronotype.

When you eat is more important than what or how much you eat.

It all stems from getting the last meal of the day right, because going to bed with a full stomach causes skyrocketing blood sugar and digestive problems, plus it disrupts sleep as well as having a negative effect on sleep quality.

To make sure you get your last bite at the best time for you, subtract three or four hours from your bedtime

Lions Bedtime is 10pm; your last bite should be no later than 7pm.

Bears Bedtime is 11pm; your last bite should be no later than 8pm.

Wolves Bedtime is 12.30am; your last bite should be no later than 8.30pm. But the earlier you stop eating, the better for your health.

Dolphins Bedtime is 12 midnight; your last bite should be no later than 8pm.

How all chronotypes can boost their battery power

1. Eat two meals and a snack on a consistent schedule

Our metabolism is stuck in neutral when we eat  meaning were not burning fat. Reducing meal frequency to two meals a day with a snack on a regular schedule, with a longer period between the first and last meal, can have numerous positive effects on our health: it reduces inflammation, improves circadian rhythmicity (better sleep; more daytime energy) and boosts cellular repair and regeneration (disease prevention and anti-ageing).

2.Swap your meal patterns

Traditionally, we eat the biggest meal of the day at the end of the day, but its actually healthier and more energy-boosting to do the reverse. A recent study showed that adults who ate a substantial breakfast had a more stable blood sugar level in the afternoon and evening than non-breakfast eaters.

3.Choose high-quality food fuel

Food is the fuel which sustains our body battery. The quality of our fuel, just like the grade of petrol we put in our cars, determines how well our systems function. Choose high quality fuel  plants (think fruit, vegetables, nuts, wholegrains) and lean proteins to keep your engine clean. Sugar and grains, on the other hand, clog our machine and weaken our energy system.

4.Stay pH neutral

Your body has to retain a neutral pH balance between acid and alkaline. However, coffee and alcohol, and foods including dairy, meat, grains, sugar, fruit, honey, syrup, vinegar and soy sauce, tilt your body towards the acidic end of the spectrum, making your body work hard to get back to neutral and crave more acidic (and sugary) foods. Instead, opt for leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, avocados, coconut oil, lentils and beans  which help balance your body and reduce sugar cravings.
'Thank you for making me feel amazing': Adele Roberts breaks down at the DIVA Awards as she is honoured for being a 'trailblazer in the lesbian community'
An Australian socialite 'living a nightmare' after a 'botched' cosmetic procedure by controversial doctor Danny Lanzer has finally had the damage repaired in Colombia.

Anthony Hess, 40, claimed the liposuction surgery in 2013 left him looking like a 'freak show' for eight years and so ashamed of his body he hid or edited his abs in shirtless photos.

Dr Lanzer surrendered his medical licence on December 2 and agreed to stop practising after an avalanche of complaints about his work.

Hess said the procedure damaged his abdominal wall and gave him internal scarring and fibrosis resulting in unnatural lines across his abdomen.

Now living in Los Angeles, where he famously unknowingly infected at least 60 people with Covid in July despite being vaccinated, Hess flew to Cartagena in Colombia for the corrective surgery by Dr Carlos Zuleta Bechara.

'I have been living a nightmare since my surgery with Danny and was a misery. It was the worst decision of my life,' Hess told Daily Mail Australia.

Anthony Hess, 40, (pictured with a friend) was so ashamed of his body after 'botched' surgery by Danny Lanzer he admitted to airbrushing his abs in shirtless photos like this one

'I am ecstatic that Dr Carlos was able to repair the damage and I can live a normal life without looking like a freak show,' Anthony said

Dr Lanzer surrendered his medical licence on December 2 and agreed to stop practicing after an avalanche of complaints about his work

'I thought I'd never be normal again, I had all this scarring, puckering and stretched skin.

'I am ecstatic that Dr Carlos was able to repair the damage and I can live a normal life without looking like a freak show.'

Dr Lanzer defended his surgery in emails to Daily Mail Australia, claiming the result was good until Hess gained large muscle mass that drastically altered his body type.

Hess had the original surgery with Dr Lanzer in June 2013 after he gained weight while recovering from rupturing his ACL 10 months earlier.

The extra kilos affected his work as a shirtless waiter, spray tan model, and brand ambassador so he opted for a quick fix - which he soon regretted.

A complaint to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency in June 2014 claimed Dr Lanzer convinced Hess to have a more invasive procedure that turned out to be unsuited to his body.

Hess also wrote that he asked Dr Lanzer if he would be better off going to a Bali 'fat farm' to lose the weight, but was told liposuction was his best option.

Hess flew to Cartagena in Colombia for the corrective surgery by Dr Carlos Zuleta Bechara (pictured together a few days after the surgery)

Hess pictured in Crown Towers with best friends turned mortal enemy Married At First Sight star Stacey Hampton in a photo where he Photoshopped his abs to look 'normal'

He claimed that despite promises of minimal post-op pain, it was 'the most excruciating pain of his life'.

'I thought I was going to die,' he wrote in the complaint compiled by AHPRA staffer Clare Morgan.

The complaint continued: 'When he went home after the procedure, Mr Hess said he was leaking blood everywhere, every towel and sheet he had was filled with blood.

'Mr Hess said he had to wear adult nappies to absorb the blood. Mr Hess had friends over and they had to help Mr Hess clean up the blood.'

Dr Bechara said it was one of the worst 'botched' surgeries he had ever seen and he had to 'stitch the abdomen back together'.

'The problem was all the internal scaring, the abdominal wall had to be repaired,' he said through a translator.

'There was the unnatural result with all the skin puckering and canals where fat was sucked out around the abs to give the look of "abs".'

Hess after waking up from surgery in Colombia, where he had the corrective surgery

Dr Lanzer also made 18 incisions in Hess' torso that turned into noticeable scars, whereas the recent surgery needed just four much less noticeable ones.

Modelling work dried up after the surgery due to the disfigurement of his abdomen and people often made hurtful comments about his appearance.

'Mr Hess is now depressed and has been suicidal because he says he looks bad,' the AHPRA complaint read.

'He does not go out because he does not like the way he looks, the modelling agency does not want to use him anymore due to his scarring.'

Hess repeatedly complained about lumps, loose skin, disfigurement, and scarring to Dr Lanzer and in March 2014 was refunded $7,000.

Hess got the original surgery with Dr Lanzer in June 2013 after he gained weight while recovering from rupturing his ACL 10 months earlier (pictured just before the operation)

The true appearance of Hess' chest before the corrective surgery (left) and a Photoshopped image he presented to the world

The complaint listed Melbourne doctors Ashley Granot and Bryan Mendelson as having assessed his surgery and been appalled by the results.

Unable to work as a model or promoter, Hess turned to prostitution to make ends meet for months, and was uncomfortable going to the beach or taking his shirt off.

'Mr Hess says his body has been ruined by Dr Lanzer and, he has scars everywhere, he has internal lumpiness that does not heal,' the complaint concluded.

Hess moved from Australia to Los Angeles last year after a brawl with Mongols bikie boss Toby Mitchell, a longtime friend.

Having failed in negotiations with Dr Lanzer about corrective surgery, he flew to Colombia to see Dr Bechara.

After going under the knife he spent several days recovering in the clinic and then a respite apartment he shared with another patient.

Hess (centre) at a bodybuilding competition where he was the judge, used in his AHPRA complaint to illustrate how deformed his abs wore compared to 'normal' ones

Another view of how Hess' abs looked unnatural just months after the 2013 surgery

Dr Bechara explained that he used Renuvion, formerly known as J plasma, to straighten out Hess' skin and give it more natural look.

It uses helium gas and radiofrequency energy to create cold helium plasma, which is injected and used to treat the underside of the skin.

The ionized gas stimulates collagen production, immediately tightening the skin.

'The Renuvion smoothed all the loose and damaged skin, and a cannula was used to even out all the fat that Dr Lanzer missed,' he said.

'It was a difficult but achievable process and I used every instrument to give the natural result with no permanent scaring.'

Hess plans to later have laser treatment in Beverly Hills to treat the scars left over from the 2013 surgery.

He also must have regular deep tissue massages for months to remove remaining fibrosis from his torso.

Dr Bechara (pictured) explained that he used Renuvion, formerly known as J plasma, treatment to straighten out Hess' skin and give it more natural look

Dr Lanzer claimed Hess was initially happy with the surgery and sent him photos like this one as he gushed about its results but then used steroids to bulk up, which changed his body in a way that caused problems for the procedure

'He was very happy initially. I have great photos of him and he loved sending me photos of himself topless. He used to pose topless with his work,' Dr Lanzer said

Dr Lanzer claimed Hess was initially happy with the surgery but then used steroids to bulk up, which changed his body in a way that caused problems for the procedure.

'He was very happy initially. I have great photos of him and he loved sending me photos of himself topless. He used to pose topless with his work,' he said.

'Intentionally putting on about 30kg with hormones totally changes the small liposculpture he had nine years ago on his stomach.'

In a May 13, 2020, email to Hess, Dr Lanzer also blamed Hess' decision to bulk up after the surgery for the results.

'[Gaining large amounts of muscle] caused further visceral deep fat and pushes out the muscle,' he wrote.

'The fine six pack on your slim body does not look the same on a big body.'

Dr Lanzer wrote that he never took responsibility for Hess' displeasure with the surgery, and only gave him a refund as a gesture of goodwill.

'When we met with your friend in 2014 you did not look so bad but my heart went out to you and I took the noble step of giving you a full refund,' he wrote.

'I recall clearly in room 3 upstairs how you thanked me and shook my hand.'

Dr Lanzer claimed to have spent $15,000 in legal fees defending himself against the AHPRA complaint, which was eventually dismissed.

Who is Anthony Hess? Anthony Hess is a controversial Australian socialite, now in Los Angeles with a seemingly never-ending appetite for drama. He is best known for his ill-fated friendship with Married At First Sight star Stacey Hampton and defeating Sydney PR queen Roxy Jacenko in court. The party animal with a nose for trouble got special permission to leave Australia last October after he was repeatedly hit in the face by Mongols bikie president Mitchell. Hess called the bashing a 'drunken misunderstanding between mates' sparked by Hampton spreading false rumours that he called Mitchell a 'dog and a c**t', and asked for the charges to be dropped. Police prosecuted Mitchell for the assault anyway, even after Hess flew to LA to avoid being questioned over the brawl. Hess was hit with a restraining order by prominent PR maven Ms Jacenko in 2019, but had it overturned in court in February 2020. Ms Jacenko accused him of spraying 'Roxy is a c**t' on her office wall in Sydney's Paddington after an altercation at one of her speaking events. Roxy Jacenko accused Hess of spraying 'Roxy is a c**t' on her office wall in Sydney's Paddington after an altercation at one of her speaking events Hess denied the vandalism saying 'gay guys don't do graffiti' and the court agreed, but he was in November fined $2,400 after new video evidence was discovered proving his guilt. His falling out with former BFF Hampton was no less dramatic with photos of the pair shopping last year critical to getting the MAFS favourite fined for breaching quarantine rules. Since their messy parting of way they have not missed an opportunity to snipe at each other on social media. In July he unknowingly spread the Delta strain of coronavirus to at least 60 people in a single weekend during a party bender in Los Angeles Advertisement

Danny Lanzer: From TikTok super-surgeon to retiring under a cloud

Dr Lanzer spent 30 years promoting himself as one of the world's top cosmetic surgeons and amassing an estimated $100 million fortune.

He used slick advertising, reality TV appearances, and built an audience of more than five million followers on TikTok and 300,000 on Instagram.

But in just a few weeks it all came crashing down after an investigation by ABC's Four Corners, the Sydney Morning Herald, and The Age.

The report, and more that followed in the Australian media, uncovered allegations of serious breaches of hygiene and safety standards.

More than 100 former patients came forward to share their stories of suffering extreme pain, poor work that needed corrective surgery, and resulting psychological distress.

The allegations prompted an investigation by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, and a review of the entire cosmetic surgery industry,

Dr Lanzer spent 30 years promoting himself as one of the world's top cosmetic surgeons and amassing an estimated $100 million fortune

Dr Lanzer vowed to defend himself, but after an exodus of staff and baulking investors, he declared he was retired and surrendered his licence.

His enormous social media platforms were almost overnight shut down, all traces of him scrubbed from the clinic, and many outlets shut down.

However, AHPRA vowed Dr Lanzers decision to surrender his registration would not stop it from continuing its investigation.

'We are continuing our investigations into Dr Lanzers conduct and performance and should they result in a regulatory outcome, this would be considered if he was ever to seek to reapply for registration in the future,' it said.

One of the most shocking scenes caught on video showed two surgeons, neither of whom was Dr Lanzer, thrusting cannulas in and out of an unconscious male patient during a liposuction procedure, while dancing to Dolly Parton's 'Jolene'.

Another attendant dances next to the operating table while the woman filming the scene laughs hysterically.

One of the most shocking scenes caught on video showed two surgeons thrusting cannulas in and out of an unconscious male patient during a liposuction procedure, while dancing to Dolly Parton 's 'Jolene'

The producers asked Mark Ashton, clinical professor of surgery at University of Melbourne and former president of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons, to comment on the video,

'These two - I'm not even going to call them surgeons - these two gentlemen, are not even watching where the tip of the cannula is going,' he observed.

'It is dangerous, disrespectful. It is bewildering,

Another video Dr Lanzer posted to social media shows him talking to the camera while he moves a large cannula in and out of a patient.

'In the four sentences I saw Dr Lanzer talk to the camera then, he didn't have any idea where the tip of that cannula was,' Dr Ashton said.

'You need to visually, directly look at where the tip of the cannula is, at all times. That's surgery 101 that you learn in the first week of training.

'This is incredibly dangerous.'

Two specialist plastic surgeons, Dr Craig Rubinstein and Dr Patrick Briggs, also weighed in on Dr Lanzer's method.

'One of the risks of liposuction is penetration through the abdomen into other organs, such as liver, kidney and even an aorta.

'To be using a cannula, not actually watching where the cannula is, is dangerous.'

Other former patients complained to the program about the lasting effects of the cosmetic work they had received at one of Dr Lanzer's clinics.

A nurse, Kathy Hubble, claimed she was diagnosed with a serious bacterial infection, cellulitis, after two procedures over two days at Dr Lanzer's Sydney clinic.

Four Corners played audio messages from Dr Lanzer to staff in which he stressed they were never to admit fault in the face of a complaint by a client.

'Never, ever, ever, not slightly ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever admit to a patient that something's bad or wrong,' he said in the message.

'They'll use it against you 100 times for the rest of your life.

'Never, ever, ever, ever own up to anything.'

He also told staff not to send clients to a GP because it's 'the worst possible thing you can do  and it always creates problems'.
Sailing into Lake Macquarie as the sun is setting would go unnoticed by just about everyone apart from a few preoccupied fishermen hoping to hook a yellowtail.

There's little crime in the area, no water police and no reason for Border Force agents to be monitoring the sleepy coastline about 130km north of Sydney.

But that all changed on a warm spring afternoon in 2017 when three yachties were busted by Australian Federal Police with 700kg of cocaine on board their 42ft catamaran.

The $245million bust sent shockwaves through the community mostly populated by sailors, young families, retirees and Newcastle Knights fans.

It also stunned organised crime investigators who quickly realised the large saltwater lake had become a major way for Colombian and Mexican drug kingpins to smuggle narcotics into Australia.

An even larger shipment, this time meth worth $495million, was seized in April 2020 - cementing fears that Lake Macquarie had become Australia's 'ocean superhighway' for trafficking drugs.

Three yachties were busted by Australian Federal Police detectives with 700kg of cocaine on board their 42ft catamaran in 2017 (pictured)

Police found 991kg of meth worth $495 million in April 2020 (pictured) cementing fears that Lake Macquarie had become Australia's 'ocean superhighway' for trafficking drugs

'I think we would be naive to say that there aren't a lot more narcotics that have made it through the lake,' NSW Police investigator turned private sector consultant Peter Moroney told Daily Mail Australia.

'Certainly law enforcement did a great job in nailing the yachts they have but if I was a betting man I would say there are definitely a lot that would have made it through.'

In the past two decades most drug shipments would come through the Sydney Heads or further south along the Wollongong coast.

Billion-dollar drug cartels however 'learn quick' and at some point in the past 10 years they decided to opt for a more unsuspecting drop-off point with easy highway access to the major cities.

Bigger ports such as Broken Bay on the Central Coast, Newcastle, Port Stephens, Coffs Harbour, Port Kembla and Eden all have local marine area command stations - Lake Macquarie doesn't.

The map shows how Lake Macquarie is mostly unguarded by NSW water police

The initial $245million cocaine bust sent shockwaves through the Lake Macquarie community mostly populated by sailors, young families, retirees and Newcastle Knights fans

The massive drug haul also stunned organised crime investigators who quickly came to the realisation the large saltwater lake (pictured) had become a major target of Colombian and Mexican drug kingpins looking to smuggle narcotics into Australia

While using Lake Macquarie to smuggle their goods, overseas drug lords exploited the information gap between local cops on the hunt for drunk drivers and bar brawlers and intelligence investigators in capital cities trying to crack international crime syndicates.

'There is obviously close cooperation between state police forces and investigators at the federal level but the overwhelming majority of police that are targeting major organised crime are based in capital cities like Sydney,' Mr Moroney said.

'Resources can only be spread so far and there is such a large amount of coast in Australia.'

The veteran ex-cop of 25 years said an old tactic of drug traffickers trained in deep-water scuba diving would be to fly to places such as Indonesia, identify a cargo ship then dive down and secretly attach drugs to the hull of the vessel.

'When it arrived and was under anchor they would then unattach it and bring it back to an Australian port. So these drug syndicates are quite advanced.'

Billion-dollar drug cartels 'learn quick' and at some point in the past 10 years they decided to opt for a more unsuspecting drop-off point with easy highway access to the major cities. Pictured: A marina in Lake Macquarie

Peter Moroney (pictured) is a vetern ex-cop of 25 years who now works in the private sector for Nemesis Consultancy Group

The standard tactic for drug lords looking to ship their illegal goods to Australia these days is to send out a 'mothership' somewhere into the South Pacific where there's little attention from local authorities and a vast amount of ocean to patrol.

The vessel will then meet a cruising yacht and fill it up with either Colombian cocaine or Mexican meth, and aim to return to Lake Macquarie.

In the case of skipper Craig Lembke, 47, and his crewmen Kent Jackson, 63, and Dennis Bath, 68, they sailed out to Tahiti in a 42ft catamaran before returning with 700kg of cocaine stuffed in the hull.

The tip-off came from 'liaison officers in Mexico and Colombia' working with the AFP.

It was a similar situation for UK-South African Sebastian Barnard, 35, and New Zealander Mark Bishell, 34, who were handed 991kg of ice and instructed to smuggle it into Australia after docking off Norfolk Island.

The would-be drug smugglers were found in waters off Lake Macquarie with so much meth it nearly sunk their $250,000 yacht. At their trial, the pair said they were only expecting to pick up a suitcase when they cruised by the Mexican mothership.

The duo were caught after New Caledonian authorities flagged a suspicious vessel with Australian officials that had been in Mexico before entering Pacific waters.

A water policeman watches a yacht caught with a ton of meth get towed into Sydney by a police ship after being seized off Lake Macquarie

Lake Macquarie (pictured) has very little crime, no water police and no reason for Border Force agents to be monitoring the sleepy coastline about 130km north of Sydney - at least that's what they thought

Sebastian Barnard, 35 (left), and Mark Bishell, 34 (right), can be seen being escorted off the boat and photographed by police in protective suits after the pair were handed 991kg of ice and instructed to smuggle it into Australia

Although all the men in both high-profile stings have been jailed with importing a commercial supply of a prohibited drug, they didn't receive anything near the maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

'In terms of targeting and recruiting drug mules, traffickers are very well rehearsed in it,' Mr Moroney said.

'They're not going to just go up to someone on the dock and have a crack, there would be an amount of time and effort expended into knowing who they are.

'In many cases, they are involved in purchasing recreational cocaine or some other drug, maybe got into a habit and started distributing themselves.

'From there they may get into money worries and essentially get owned by these crime syndicates.'

Daily Mail Australia reached out to NSW Police and the AFP for comment, with both agencies remaining tight-lipped about the their tactics to stop drugs coming into the area.

But the AFP added that Lake Macquarie is only one of many locations on Australia's east coast currently being targeted by international drug syndicates.
A wild 30-person brawl at a New Year's Eve party where a teenage boy was stabbed to death could have been caused by 'teenage jealousy', police allege.

The party in Cairns, Far North Queensland was advertised on Facebook and had spilled out into the street by the time police arrived about 1am.

The 17-year-old boy died at Cairns Hospital after he was rushed there in a friend's car before police broke up the birthday party.

A second 17-year-old boy also went to the Cairns Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries after he was allegedly stabbed with a broken bottle in the kidney area and shoulder.

Detectives late on Saturday charged a 14-year-old boy with one count of murder.

The wild party spilled out onto the street at Lychee Close in Cairns (pictured) and erupted into a brawl

Earlier on Saturday, Queensland Police Acting Inspector Gary Hunter said the investigation was 'fluid' and detectives were interviewing witnesses from the party including the surviving 17-year-old.

'Unfortunately, we have a young person who will not see 2022 out and we also have a grieving family as well,' Inspector Hunter said.

'It's very fluid investigation and we are definitely trying to help the family and trying to ensure that we are conducting a complete and thorough investigation,' he said.

'We are still establishing the cause of the actual disturbance.'

The sister of the boy hosting the party, Marley Stone, said the party quickly got out of hand.

'You don't expect any of that to happen around here because it's very quiet street,' she told the Cairns Post.

'People were all up and down here (Lychee Close) and from Murray Street and the house on the corner. These houses were all piling up, there were people everywhere.'

Two 17-year-old boys were rushed to hospital in Cairns (pictured) with stab wounds

Three males - aged 17, 18 and 28 - were arrested for obstructing police as part of investigations into the brawl.

The 18-year-old and the 28-year-old, both from Manoora, will appear in a Cairns court on January 18.

The 18-year-old was also charged with serious assault of a police officer after he allegedly punched one of the officers who tried to break up the brawl.

And the 28-year-old was also charged with contravening a direction.

The 14-year-old was denied police bail to appear in the Cairns Children's Court on January 3.
China reopens its embassy in Nicaragua

Xinhua) 09:12, January 02, 2022

China officially reopens its embassy in Managua, Nicaragua, Dec. 31, 2021, after the two countries resumed diplomatic relations on Dec. 10. (Xinhua/Xin Yuewei)

MANAGUA, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday officially reopened its embassy in Nicaragua after the two countries resumed diplomatic relations on Dec. 10.

The ceremony, held at the new location of the embassy in the capital Managua, was inaugurated by Yu Bo, representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada.

In his speech, Yu said that the one-China principle is the consensus of the international community and a universally recognized norm governing international relations. It shows an overriding trend that represents international justice and enjoys popular support.

Nicaragua's decision to resume diplomatic relations with China not only conforms to the historical trend and the trend of the times, but also fully serves the fundamental and long-term interests of both countries, said Yu.

China welcomes the Nicaraguan side to actively participate in the Global Development Initiative and join the Belt and Road Initiative at an early date, said Yu, adding that China stands ready to work with Nicaragua and Latin American countries to build China-Latin America relations characterized by equality, mutual benefit, innovation, opening-up, and benefit for the people in a new era, and advance the joint building of a China-Latin America community with a shared future.

For his part, Moncada expressed his gratitude to the Chinese leaders, government and people for a brotherly friendship with Nicaragua. He said the resumption of diplomatic ties between Nicaragua and China is supported by the overwhelming majority of the two peoples.

Nicaragua will adhere to the one-China principle and join forces with China to move towards a new international order featuring multi-polarization, peace, social justice and equity as well as the realization of human development and progress, the foreign minister said.

After the resumption of diplomatic ties, Nicaragua and China have entered a new stage of diplomacy, friendship and cooperative relations, in which the two sides will carry out cooperation in various fields such as trade, science and technology, education, health, culture and art, sports, media and information technology, Moncada added.

Presidential Advisor Laureano Ortega Murillo said Nicaragua fully recognizes the Chinese values of people-oriented, solidarity and friendliness in China's realization of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, poverty alleviation and cooperation in fighting against COVID-19.

The two sides will jointly formulate an agenda for developing Nicaragua-China ties, strengthen bilateral exchanges, enhance brotherhood and strengthen mutually beneficial relations, to take a path of common progress and development, he added.

More than 200 people attended the ceremony, including the president of Nicaragua's National Assembly, central and local government officials, military and police officials, representatives of foreign missions and international organizations in Nicaragua, and representatives of Chinese companies and overseas Chinese in Nicaragua.

On Dec. 10, China and Nicaragua signed the joint communique on the resumption of diplomatic relations between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Nicaragua. The two governments have decided to recognize each other and resume diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level, effective from the date of signature of this communique.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Bianji)
Home Minister Araga Jnanendra handing over the first installemnt of compensation of Rs 50,00 to the victims. (Photo by arrangement)

Udupi: Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said that a CID inquiry will be conducted into the alleged police assault on the members of Koraga community.

Home Minister Araga Jnanendra along with Social Welfare Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary visited the tribal colony and met the victims of police atrocity.

I know the Koraga community is most vulnerable section of the society. Such action by some police officials will tarnish the image of the police force. The government is committed to ensure justice to the tribals. At present, there is an inquiry being conducted by the DySP. As it is related to the police, an independent agency will give a fair picture. We will hold a CID inquiry into it, the minister said.

The government will also pay a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to the six victims of the incident, he said.

The Minister distributed the first instalment of Rs 50,000 each to the six victims.

I came to know that a police constable has filed a counter-petition. The complaint is not genuine and you (the tribals) need not bother about it, he assured. The Minister also wished the newlywed couple.

On December 27, Police Sub Inspector of Kota Station allegedly caned members of the Koraga tribal community including the bridegroom who was attending a Mehendi (pre-wedding) function in their colony.

Western Range IGP had suspended the Sub Inspector and transferred the personnel involved in the incident to other stations. Two days later a constable had filed a counter-complaint alleging that the participants in the event had tried to assault the police.
An off duty NYPD police officer was shot in the head while he was taking a nap in his car between shifts in East Harlem on Saturday morning.

The officer, who has only been identified by the name Keith, was finishing a late shift in the area when he decided to take a nap in the police parking lot outside the 25th precinct to rest before his next in the early morning.

He then woke up at around 6.15am when he noticed the window of his vehicle was shattered and blood dripping profusely from his head.

A sergeant from the precinct assisted the officer to the New York Presbyterian Hospital where he was treated for his injuries.

The wounded officer had the bullet fragments removed from his head and was found to have suffered a fractured skull. He is expected to make a full recovery.

DailyMail.com reached out the NYPD for comment.

A NYPD officer woke up on Saturday morning to discover he received a bullet to the head while he was sleeping in his car between shifts in East Harlem

The bullet, which has since been recovered, was shot through the officer's window

The officer woke up to find the window shattered and blood dripping profusely from his head

The wounded officer had the bullet fragments removed from his head and was found to have suffered a fractured skull

This incident comes on New York Mayor Eric Adam's first day in office after he succeeded Bill de Blasio early on Saturday morning.

Adams spoke about the incident outside of the hospital as he is determined to end gun violence on the streets of NYC during his term.

'We must not only find a gun but we must also find the person who discharged the weapon and we must find those who believe they will destroy our city with gun and gang violence,' Adams said at the conference. 'That is not going to happen.'

The new NYPD Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell joined Adams at the hospital who also promised to resolve gun violence issues that have been plaguing the city.

'We are extremely grateful that our officer is recovering as we know this could have been a very tragic outcome,' Sewell said.

'I also do believe this incident underscores that there are far too many guns out there in the wrong hands.'

New NYC Mayor Eric Adams spoke out about the shooting in front of the New York Presbyterian Hospital as he remains determined to end gun violence in the streets of the city

New NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell, who is also determined to end gun violence, noted that the officer was taken to the hospital after a sergeant noticed he was bleeding profusely from his head

A $10,000 reward is being offered for anyone with more information on the case

At the conference, Sewell also showed spectators where the bullet had hit the vehicle and noted that other officers in the area did not hear the gunshot at the time.

She also noted that NYPD officers were working long hour shifts due to staffing problems related to the pandemic.

A motive for the shooting has not been released yet as it remains unclear if the officer had been target.

Patrick Lynch, the President of the Police Benevolent Association, also spoke out on the current hazards facing NYPD officers as it shows the severity of problems facing the city.

'He was in a police parking lot and was still shot,' he said. 'It shows us the dangers police officers face always.'

The investigation of the shooting remains underway as police are offering a $10,000 to those with more information.

As he made his way to City Hall for the first time on Saturday, New York City's new Mayor Eric Adams called 911 about three men brawling on the street

They were seen in video tackling each other and punching one another in broad daylight

This shooting comes after Adams witnessed three men fighting in Brooklyn early on Saturday morning which prompted him to call 911.

One of the men was seen punching another man on the ground.

Later, one of the suspects lifts a victim up and continues to punch him.

'Yes, I'm at Broadway and Kosciuszko and I have an assault in progress,' Adams told officers on the phone as reporters followed the newly sworn-in mayor around town on his first day in office.

'No - assault in progress, not past assault,' the mayor soon clarifies. 'They are fighting each other on the street right now, three males.'

The fight ended and two of the men left by the time two police patrol cars arrived. Officers spoke to the remaining man but stayed in their car, and Adams told reporters he would have investigated more had he been the officer at the scene.

Despite his new title, the mayor was sworn into his position during a 10-year high murder rate for the city.

As of Thursday, the city had recorded 481 murders, which have been fueled by an increase in gun crime, according to city data.

The last time the city hit more than 500 murders was 2011, under then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg, when homicides ended up totaling 515.

The rest of the decade had seen a sharp decrease in murders, going down to 419 in 2012 and heading as low as 292 in 2017 under now former Mayor Bill de Blasio.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams first 911 call in office The new NYC Mayor Eric Adams placed a 911 call outside a Brooklyn subway station on January 1 as he witnessed three men brawling in the street below Adams, a former NYPD chief, was recorded placing the call on social media The call: Adams: 'Yes, Im at Broadway and Kosciuszko and I have an assault in progress. Three males.' 'Yes, Im sorry? No - assault in progress, not past assault. 'They are fighting each other on the street right now, three males.' Adams waited until the end of the call to identify himself as the 'Mayor' A police car arrived at the scene moments later where two of the men had left had in their own vehicles Officers managed to get a hold of the remaining man in his vehicle but only spoke to him outside the car No arrests were made at the scene Advertisement

But the numbers have climbed since, up to 462 in 2020 during the lockdown phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in the city, which also saw stores hit by looting, and riots in the wake of George Floyd's murder.

Those numbers have continued to go up this year, even as the city reopens, and are on pace to hit 10-year highs and the numbers continue to increase of late.

Between November 28 and December 26, homicides were double what they were in the same period last year, with 41 murders compared to 24 in 2020.

Overall, crime has risen 6.13 percent in New York City over 2020 through December 26.

The biggest rise came in felony assaults like the ones previously mentioned, which rose 9.6 percent from 2020.

Murders (4.1 percent), shooting victims (0.6 percent), rapes (3.3 percent), and robberies (4.7 percent) have also risen this year.

As a mayoral candidate, Adams has said he wants to see a return of the kind of community policing of the mid-20th century that saw officers posted to certain blocks to 'rebuild trust.'

Adams, a 22-year NYPD veteran who ran his campaign on public safety, said he will target areas where confidence in the police is low and give officers promotions based on how they are rated by local residents.

'The goal is to rebuild trust,' Adams told the New York Daily News.

'We can show people that these officers are human beings just like them. They have children. They have families. They have spouses. They want to go home safe, and they want you to go home safe.'

He said he remembered an officer who walked the working-class neighborhood of Jamaica, Queens, where he grew up.

'He knew how to keep you out of trouble,' said Adams, noting that cops who are out in the community learn better to understand the people they are dealing with.

'I believe that that steady cop could differentiate between little Johnny just acting up,' Adams told the paper, 'and little Johnny carrying a gun.'

He has also advocated for a return of the controversial stop-and-frisk policy, claiming it 'is a perfectly legal, appropriate and constitutional tool, when used smartly,' and has vowed to bring back an anticrime unit after it was disbanded by Police Commissioner Dermot Shea last year.
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An unresponsive man was pulled from the chilly waters off of Coney Island during this year's annual Polar Plunge after suffering cardiac arrest on New Year's Day after diving into the water.

The man, who's name was not immediately released, reportedly collapsed to the ground after spending what authorities describe as a few minutes in the frigid Atlantic ocean.

He had entered the water alone, according to the New York Post, which was at 48.9 degrees Fahrenheit at the time of the swim.

This year, 3,000 people took part in this year's Polar Bear Plunge at Coney Island, Bronx News 12 reported.

Hypothermia sets in once you are in water that is 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit and lower, according to University of Michigan health library.

Lifeguards were able to drag the man out of the water and perform CPR before EMTs were able to arrive, authorities said.

Pictured: a man suffered a massive cardiac event, with emergency medical personnel, pictured, transporting him to area hospital

EMTs arrive on scene after a man was pulled from the icy waters off of Coney Island following a Polar Plunge event on New Year's Day

The Post reported that the main remained unresponsive, even after attempts at chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation

The Post reported that the main remained unresponsive, even after attempts at chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

The FDNY confirmed that a person suffering from cardiac arrest was reported at 11:30 am at Stillwell Avenue and Surf Avenue.

The unnamed man was rushed to nearby Coney Island Hospital, however no further information was available as of Saturday evening.

The man is a part of the Polar Bear Club, which calls itself 'the oldest winter bathing organization in the United States,' with the plunge being a free charity event where participants are required to sign waivers.

'The club is the oldest winter bathing club in the United States and was founded in 1903,' the Polar Bear Club's website reads.

The 119th Polar Bear swim takes place in Coney Island after being postponed last year because of Covid 19

People participate in the annual Polar Bear Plunge in Coney Island in the Brooklyn borough on January 1, 2022 in New York City. The event returned this year after a hiatus last year due to COVID-19

A person wearing Santa Clause costume walks out of the ocean during the annual Coney Island Polar Bear Club New Year's Day Plunge on January 1, 2022 at Coney Island in New York

A reveler does a cartwheel into the frigid waters on Saturday to bring in the new year with a Polar Plunge

People participate in the 119th annual Polar Bear Plunge at Coney Island on January 1, 2021 in the Brooklyn Borough of New York City. The event returned this year after a hiatus last year due to COVID-19

Pictured: advertisement for the Coney Island Polar Bear Plunge reads: 'Happy #newyear to all of our #supporters #firstresponders and #volunteers We look forward to a fun event tomorrow'

'We swim every Sunday November-April at 1 pm. Membership is currently closed.'

The group welcomed the new year with a polar plunge, which they do on first of every year as well, however they were forced to take a hiatus last year due to COVID-19.

The 119-year old club is no stranger to controversy too.

A 35-year-old woman died shortly after participating in a 'Polar Bear Plunge' charity event in New Jersey in 2009, according to Syracuse.com.

Meanwhile, a man drowned last year after a 'dare' led to him being swept away in New Hampshire's Smith River.

In Boston this year, dozens of people participated in the L Street Brownies' 118th annual Polar Plunge at Carson Beach in South Boston Saturday morning, according to WCVB.

'It was great. It's actually warmer than I thought,' one participant told the outlet.

'My house is 42 degrees. I bet you this is warmer.'

The L Street Brownies are the oldest 'polar bear' club in America.

That same morning in Wisconsin, hundreds of locals gathered at Bradford Beach at Lake Michigan in Milwaukee for the annual Polar Bear Plunge.

'2021 was kind of a crappy year,' Stojanovic told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal Saturday.

'What better way to flush it out than to shock yourself, shock the system.'

Swimmers run into the lake in the annual New Year's Day Splash and Dash Polar Bear Plunge into Lake Michigan in Racine, Wisconsin, Saturday January 1

Swimmers dash to warmth after participating in the annual New Year's Day Splash and Dash polar bear plunge into Lake Michigan in Racine, Wisconsin, Saturday January 1

Pictured: a reveler looses her hat as hundreds of people took to the 44 degree ocean water, plunging and swimming, during the first swim of the year at M Street Beach in Boston, Massachusetts on January 1

Pictured: revelers run back to the beach after taking a dip into the water as hundreds of people took to the 44 degree ocean water, plunging and swimming, during the first swim of the year at M Street Beach in Boston, Massachusetts on January 1
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Almost a foot of snow has been dumped on Colorado hampering recovery and rescue efforts in the wake of the wildfire that has less three missing presumed dead and thousands without homes.

Snow and temperatures in the single digits cast an eerie scene amid still-smoldering remains of homes - with an estimated six feet of snow still forecast for certain parts of the state.

At least seven were injured in blaze and another three are still missing. Authorities say they will shift the search tomorrow into body recovery with cadaver dogs.

Despite the shocking change in weather, the smell of smoke still permeated empty streets blocked off by National Guard troops in Humvees.

The conditions compounded the misery of residents who started off the new year trying to salvage what remained of their homes after nearly 1,000 were wiped out in the fire.

Utility crews struggled to restore electricity and gas service to homes that survived, and dozens of people lined up to get donated space heaters, bottled water and blankets at Red Cross shelters. Xcel Energy urged other residents to use fireplaces and wood stoves to stay warm and keep their pipes at home from freezing.

Families filled a long line of cars waiting to pick up space heaters and bottled water at a Salvation Army distribution center at the YMCA in Lafayette, just north of Superior.

Almost a foot of snow has been dumped on Colorado hampering recovery and rescue efforts in the wake of the wildfire that has less three missing presumed dead and thousands without homes

Ten inches of snow has fallen on Boulder as it recovers from the devastating wildfire. Snow and temperatures in the single digits cast an eerie scene amid still-smoldering remains of homes - with an estimated six feet of snow still forecast for certain parts of the state

Mike Jones of Boulder, Colorado shovels debris and snow out of his girlfriend's home which was destroyed by the Marshall Fire in the Rock Creek neighborhood in the town of Superior, Boulder County, Colorado on January 1, 2022

Snow-covered walls are all that remain at a residence destroyed by the Marshall Fire in the Rock Creek neighborhood in the town of Superior in Boulder County

Businesses destroyed by the Marshall Fire in the town of Superior in Boulder County, Colorado are closed off with police tape on January 1, 2022

Snow covers the charred remains of a home destroyed by the Marshall Fire in the Rock Creek neighborhood in the town of Superior in Boulder County, Colorado

Steam rises around the snow covered remains of a home destroyed by the Marshall Fire in the Rock Creek neighborhood in the town of Superior in Boulder County

A snow covered car destroyed by the Marshall Fire is seen near destroyed homes in the Rock Creek neighborhood of Superior in Boulder County

A snow covered car destroyed by the Marshall Fire is seen near destroyed homes in the Rock Creek neighborhood of Superior

Sunlight illuminates the walls of a residence destroyed by the Marshall Fire in the Rock Creek neighborhood of Superior

The Marshall Fire was seen burning out of control on December 30, 2021 in Broomfield, Colorado

Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle told a press conference: 'We're very fortunate that we don't have a list of 100 missing. But unfortunately we do have three confirmed missing people.

At least 991 homes are thought to have been destroyed as the blaze raced through the towns of Superior and Louisville on Thursday, just outside the state's biggest city Denver, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee with little notice.

Shocking aerial footage showed whole streets as little more than piles of smoking ash, destruction that appeared almost total but somehow left a few homes oddly untouched.

Pelle said the search for the missing had been hampered by the destruction and snow.

'The structures where these folks would be are completely destroyed and covered with about eight inches (20 centimeters) of snow right now.'

Investigators found no credible evidence to back earlier reports that downed power lines may have caused the fire, with Pelle stating that some residents may have been confused by downed telecom lines.

Louie Delaware embraces his wife Judy as his daughter Elise embraces her fiance McGregor Ritter after returning to the remains of their home in Louisville, Colorado

Homes were burned in the Marshal fire in the neighborhood between Harper Lake and S Centennial Parkway. The Marshall fire that tore through parts of Boulder County may have destroyed up to 1000 homes

However, investigators have 'executed a search warrant in one particular location' as part of an ongoing investigation that Pelle described as 'very active' and comprising federal and state partners.

The fire, which was sparked in a tinder-dry landscape, was then fanned by winds gusting at more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) an hour on Thursday.

'This was a disaster in fast motion... over the course of half a day. Many families having minutes to get whatever they could -- their pets, their kids -- into the car and leave,' Governor Jared Polis said, 'just as in the blink of an eye.'

Debris lies scattered in the basement of a home destroyed by wildfire in unincorporated Boulder County, Colorado

At least 33,000 people in Superior and Louisville were told to flee, many doing so with little more than the clothes on their backs.

Pelle said he spoke to the granddaughter of one of the missing on Saturday morning.

'They're trying to find grandma. And we're trying to find grandma for her,' he said. 'But the conditions right now don't make that possible to do quickly.'

While snowfall had helped extinguish the fire, it was a 'hard thing for crime scenes, and recovery efforts and damage assessments,' Pelle said.

The fire, which occurred just before the New Year's holiday, follows mid-December tornadoes in the state of Kentucky that left dozens dead and thousands of families in crisis mode ahead of Christmas.

Although fires are a natural part of the climate cycle and help to clear dead brush, their scale and intensity are increasing.

Scientists say a warming climate, chiefly caused by human activities such as the unchecked burning of fossil fuels, is altering weather patterns.

One couple returned home Friday to find the mailbox about the only thing left standing. Charred cars and a burned trampoline lay outside smoldering houses.

On some blocks, homes reduced to smoking ruins stood next to ones practically unscathed by the flames.

A burned out car sits in the middle of the road amidst the remnants of a wildfire in Louisville, Colo., on Frida

Pictured: John Peer finds a couple of plates as he looks through the rubble of his fire-damaged home after the Marshall Wildfire in Louisville, Colorado, Friday

Renato D'Amario, left, hugs neighbor Lori Peer after finding their homes destroyed, Friday, while neighbors embrace after seeing the destruction left by the Marshall Wildfire, right

The wildfire broke out unusually late in the year, following an extremely dry fall and amid a winter nearly devoid of snow so far.

The sheriff said some communities were reduced to just 'smoking holes in the ground. He urged residents to wait for the all-clear to go back because of the danger of fire and fallen power lines.

Cathy Glaab found that her home in the town of Superior where she lives with her husband had been turned into a pile of charred and twisted debris. It was one of seven houses in a row that burned to the ground.

'The mailbox is standing,' Glaab said, trying to crack a smile through tears. She added sadly. 'So many memories.'

Despite the devastation, she said they intend to rebuild the house they had since 1998. They love that the land backs up to a natural space, and they have a view of the mountains from the back.

Pictured: a view of a Boulder County neighborhood that was destroyed by a wildfire is seen from a Colorado National Guard helicopter during a flyover by Gov. Jared Polis on Friday

Rick Dixon feared there would be nothing to return to after he saw firefighters try to save his burning home on the news. On Friday, Dixon, his wife and 21-year-old son found it mostly gutted with a gaping hole in the roof but still standing.

Only smoldering rubble remained where several neighboring homes once stood in a row immediately next to theirs.

'We thought we lost everything,' he said, as he held his mother-in-law's china in padded containers. They also retrieved sculptures that belonged to Dixons father and piles of clothes still on hangers.

The wildfire erupted Thursday in and around Louisville and Superior, neighboring towns about 20 miles northwest of Denver with a combined population of 34,000.

Tens of thousands were ordered to flee as the flames swept over drought-stricken neighborhoods with alarming speed, propelled by guests up to 105 mph.

At a Costco in Superior, two store employees came running toward the checkout lines, one of them shouting, 'Everyone evacuate, evacuate, evacuate!' said Katrina Peterson, who was inside.

Pictured: a burned out car sit in the driveway of a home destroyed by the Marshall Wildfire in Louisville

A fire still burns in a home destroyed by the Marshall Wildfire in Louisville

Pictured: a man reacts to seeing the remains of her mother-in-law's home destroyed by the Marshall Wildfire

A video she made showed dark skies and whirling debris outside. The falling ash filled her ears, and she had to squint to keep it from getting in her eyes. The store was left standing.

With some roads still closed Friday, people walked back to their homes to get clothes or medicine, turn the water off to prevent the pipes from freezing, or see if they still had a house.

They left carrying backpacks and pulling suitcases or wagons down the sidewalk.

David Marks stood on a hillside overlooking Superior with others, using a pair of binoculars and a long-range camera lens to see if his house, and those of his neighbors, were still there, but he couldn't tell for sure whether his place was OK. He said at least three friends lost their homes.

He had watched from the hillside as the neighborhood burned.

'By the time I got up here, the houses were completely engulfed,' he said.

'I mean, it happened so quickly. I've never seen anything like that. ... Just house after house, fences, just stuff flying through the air, just caught on fire.'

A woman cries as she sees her burnt down home. Tens of thousands of Coloradans driven from their homes by a wind-whipped wildfire anxiously waited to see what was left of them Friday

A Firefighter puts water on a hot spot after a wildfire in Louisville, Colorado, Friday

Renato D'Amario, pictured center, tries to open his safe with family members Francisco Declaw, right, and Jessica DeClaw, left, after finding his home destroyed

By first light Friday, the towering flames that had lit up the night sky had subsided and the winds had died down. Light snow soon began to fall, and the blaze, which burned at least 9.4 square miles, was no longer considered an immediate threat.

'We might have our very own New Year's miracle on our hands if it holds up that there was no loss of life,' Governor Jared Polis said, noting that many people had just minutes to evacuate.

Sarah Owens, her husband, adult son and their dog got out of their Superior home within ten minutes of learning about the evacuation from a Facebook post.

But as everyone tried leaving by way of the winding streets of the well-to-do Rock Creek neighborhood, it took them one and a half hours to go 2 miles.

'The good news is I think our house may be OK,' Owens said.

But from now on, she said, she plans to have a bag packed in case of another fire.

'I never thought a brush fire could cause this kind of destruction,' Owens said.

Residents fight the Marshall Fire in Louisville, Colorado, Thursday, as fire crews worked through the night battling the blaze that had destroyed more than 500 home

Renato D'Amario looks over what remains after finding his home destroyed by the Marshall Wildfire in Louisville, Colorado, Friday

'I want to stay here. No matter where you live, there are always going to be natural disasters.'

Superior and Louisville are filled with middle- and upper-middle-class subdivisions with shopping centers, parks and schools. The area is between Denver and Boulder, home to the University of Colorado.

Scientists say climate change is making weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.

Ninety percent of Boulder County is in severe or extreme drought, and it hasn't seen substantial rainfall since mid-summer.

Denver set a record for consecutive days without snow before it got a small storm on December 10, its last snowfall before the wildfires broke out.

Bruce and Mary Janda faced the loss of their Louisville home of 25 years in person Friday after learning it had been destroyed through a neighbor's photos.

'We knew that the house was totaled, but I felt the need to see it, see what the rest of the neighborhood looked like,' Bruce Janda said.

'We're a very close knit community on this street. We all know each other and we all love each other. It's hard to see this happen to all of us.'
Black people are more than three times more likely than average to have been hospitalised with Omicron.

While black communities make up about 3.5 per cent of Englands population, data from the UK Health Security Agency shows they make up 12.5 per cent of those who have ended up in hospital with the variant so far.

The number may be even higher, as ethnicity was not recorded in more than a fifth of cases.

Black people are more than three times more likely than average to have been hospitalised with Omicron (stock image)

The geography of the Omicron outbreak  concentrated initially in London where about one in eight of the population is black  may partly explain the figure, along with a significantly lower uptake of vaccines among black communities.

By mid-December just 73 per cent of black over-50s had received at least one Covid jab, figures from Oxford Universitys Open Safely data project show.

By comparison, 95 per cent of white over-50s had received at least one Covid vaccine, and 88 per cent of older South Asians.

Older people  of any ethnicity  are far more likely to end up in hospital from serious Covid symptoms.
Patients will be paid up to 400 to vacate their hospital beds in a scheme designed to free up space on wards.

A fifth of hospital beds are occupied by patients who are medically fit to leave but cannot. Often they are waiting for a care home place or another type of support.

The cash payments for incidental expenses such as the carers transport costs or childcare are intended to make it financially easier for a friend or relative to look after the patient temporarily and allow them to leave hospital.

Patients will be paid up to 400 to vacate their hospital beds in a scheme designed to free up space on wards (stock image)

Women failed by firms with no policy on IVF Employers are letting down women who need IVF, with nearly half of firms having no policy in place to support workers, a survey has found. The situation leaves many unsure if they can take time off in the same way they would for other medical appointments, say campaigners. The survey, commissioned by IVF provider Create Fertility and working parent organisation Cityparents, found that 48 per cent of women who responded said their employer had no policy regarding what time off or support they could expect if they needed IVF. Gwenda Burns, of charity Fertility Network UK, said: Most people experiencing fertility problems are reluctant to speak to their employer as they fear it may have a detrimental effect on their career. Advertisement

The Age UK charity last night gave the scheme a cautious welcome. Director Caroline Abrahams said: Given the difficult situation in many hospitals, creating the opportunity to pay a small amount of money to a family member or friend to help them take on the care of a loved one when they are discharged makes sense.

But its unlikely to be relevant to very many people and its use is also restricted, covering only ancillary expenses like childcare and travel.

She added: Although the vast majority of families want only the best for their older relatives, the policy also carries a risk that the money could be misused in some situations, leaving the older person without the support they need.

This places a special responsibility on hospital staff to exercise good judgment in how they use the policy.

Each hospital bed blocked costs the NHS about 400 a day, with almost 1.75 million days lost in the year to February 2020 in England to what is officially termed delayed transfers of care.

About half of the delays are caused by a lack of ongoing care for the patient, either because there is no available place in a residential or care home or because a home-help package has not been arranged.

A document setting out the new policy says the cash should be given out only when doing so will bring forward the patients discharge by at least two days.

It adds that health chiefs administering the scheme must ensure the proposed spend clearly represents value for money, record what the money is intended to be spent on and ensure the patient is not discharged before it is medically safe to do so.

For so-called direct payments  when money is sent to an individuals account or paid in cash  the document says it must not be spent on alcohol, tobacco, gambling or debt repayments, or anything that is illegal. The paper does not set out how this will be enforced.

A fifth of hospital beds are occupied by patients who are medically fit to leave but cannot (stock image)

NHS managers can also arrange to pay a patient or carers costs directly, meaning no money changes hands.

The initiative is an extension of the existing personal health budgets scheme which sees disabled people and those with long-term conditions provided with a nominal sum to spend on care and equipment, although this is not sent to accounts or paid in cash.

Ms Abrahams said the new scheme was not a game-changer, adding: Older people and hospitals alike need the Government to tackle the shortage of community care staff.

'We cant magic thousands of new care staff at the drop of a hat, but serious investment into the care workforce now would at least discourage even more from leaving.
Thousands of workers are facing the sack for refusing to get vaccinated against Covid - but one worker says she was fired because she did get the jab.

Lainie Chait, who has epilepsy, was working for Church of Ubuntu, a 'spiritual and holistic wellness centre' based in Newcastle as a client care consultant and claims she was let go because the church said vaccination was against its beliefs.

'I absolutely don't think it's fair I was dismissed. Assisting people to wellness is about my knowledge and my experience, not about my choice to protect my brain,' Ms Chait told Daily Mail Australia.

Lainie Chait (pictured), who has epilepsy, said she was fired from her role as a client care consultant at an holistic wellness clinic because she was vaccinated against Covid

She explained since being diagnosed with epilepsy as a teenager she has had to make life-changing decisions to help her avoid seizures.

Ms Chait said she has been researching and successfully using holistic and natural methods to support her treatment for 25 years rather than relying only on 'Western medicine', but in this case felt getting the Covid vaccine was the right choice for her.

'Having epilepsy, one of the symptoms can be a massive fever and my brain wouldn't like that at all. Potentially it could cause serious seizures,' she said.

'And I felt a little backed into a corner, I wanted to be able to cross borders and to see family and friends.'

She said being fired in October 'upturned her life'.

The Church of Ubuntu promotes and sells alternative health remedies including a large variety of marijuana-based products and 'works with a host of clinics, doctors, and practitioners'.

Ms Chait said she was let go from her job in October after the church discovered she was vaccinated.

She accused the organisation of being hypocritical and having double standards because it serves clients who are vaccinated but will not employ vaccinated staff.

She is currently working on another project aimed at empowering people to 'get in the driver's seat of their health choices as well as raising awareness around epilepsy'.

Ms Chait said Ubuntu offered her work with an affiliate company selling its products but would not directly employ her.

'I declined. It didn't make sense to me, it felt like they were trying to sweep their decision to discriminate against me under the rug,' she said.

The organisation previously referred to vaccine mandates in the workforce as 'medical apartheid'.

The Church of Ubuntu wellness clinic (pictured) sells holistic and natural health products including a wide variety of hemp based items

A letter from the Church of Ubuntu senior members outlining their position on vaccinations for employees said that the decision was reached after an 'urgent meeting' on October 11.

'No committee members or full members can be accepted if they consciously chose to, and then complete injections, with any of the current or future planned injections purported to protect from the Covid-19/Sars Cov 2 virus,' the letter said.

The organisation said the vaccine went against its beliefs and values and was 'in contradiction with the constitution'.

The Church of Ubuntu did not dispute letting Ms Chait go for her vaccine stance, but disputed she was ever an actual employee, just a subcontractor.

The organisation's vaccine ban is despite its praise for Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who was publicly vaccinated earlier this year, before he died this week.

'Unfortunately many great religious leaders and religious organisations are in their view unfortunately not honouring their original teachings in regards to the Covid-19 inoculations,' it said.

Ms Chait will sue through the Fair Work Commission against Ubuntu and its president Barry Futter, who regularly posts on social media advocating for the legalisation of marijuana.

She is seeking three months' pay in damages and and back payments for superannuation and other entitlements she didn't receive.

There has already been one conciliation meeting in December which Ubuntu did not attend and a second meeting is being organised.

Ms Chait is considering further legal action if Ubuntu does not attend the second meeting.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Church of Ubuntu for comment.
MPs have demanded action after health trusts reintroduced restrictions forcing pregnant women to attend scans and appointments alone in response to Omicron.

A letter to NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard, signed by Tory MPs Alicia Kearns and Shaun Bailey, criticised the 'disproportionate and unscientific reintroduction of inhumane restrictions' by some trusts.

It comes as Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust announced last week that partners would be banned from accompanying pregnant women to scans and appointments.

After MPs publicly complained about the changes, the trust reversed the decision but introduced a ban on visitors in maternity inpatient wards.

It refused to explain why the decision to ban partners at scans was taken in the first place.

Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, said women would have to attend antenatal appointments alone

A week before, Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, said women would have to attend antenatal appointments alone.

Support partners were also banned from its Maternal and Foetal Assessment Unit for women who are more than 22 weeks pregnant and have developed complications. It reversed the changes after being contacted by The Mail on Sunday.

The letter to Ms Pritchard, seen by this newspaper, says: 'These restrictions appear to be reintroduced uncritically, with little or no accountability.'

The MPs called on NHS England to introduce a proactive 'monitoring mechanism' to ensure all NHS trusts followed the guidance and partners could support women throughout pregnancy and birth.

Rutland and Melton MP Alicia Kearns said: 'Yet again we are seeing an unscientific, inhumane and dangerous assault by some NHS trusts on the rights of pregnant women for their partners to advocate for them

Mr Bailey, MP for West Bromwich West, described the Birmingham trust's decision to ban partners as 'disgraceful' and said it was a 'betrayal' of women.

He told The Mail on Sunday: 'It is proven that partners provide a vital lifeline and support framework for women during what can be one of the most vulnerable times of their lives.

'Any decision to limit involvement of partners at any stage of pregnancy goes against advice from the profession, the Government and advocacy groups.'

Last spring, after The Mail on Sunday's eight-month End The Trauma Of Lone Births campaign, all trusts scrapped restrictions for partners. A year ago official guidance made it clear that hospital trusts should find 'creative solutions' to ensure women had support at 'all stages' of pregnancy and labour.

Rutland and Melton MP Ms Kearns said: 'Yet again we are seeing an unscientific, inhumane and dangerous assault by some NHS trusts on the rights of pregnant women for their partners to advocate for them.

'There is no justification for these restrictions. NHS staff are vaccinated, families should be treated as one household and the testing scheme should be in full use. How have NHS bureaucrats not learnt any lessons?

'I'm calling on Amanda Pritchard to grip this pandemic of arbitrary discrimination against families, and require NHS trusts to uphold national guidance.'

NHS England said national guidance had not changed' and partners should be allowed access 'during birth and for all maternity appointments'.
Democratic socialist Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been widely mocked for saying GOP members are 'sexual frustrated' after they branded her a hypocrite when a picture of the staunch mask and vaccine mandate advocate emerged showing her drinking at a Miami bar without a mask.

The New York congresswoman was accused by many of 'frolicking in free Florida' while her home state enforced mask mandates, after her Miami lunch date with her boyfriend on December 30.

AOC hit back on New Year's Day claiming that the backlash came purely because her critics 'want to date her'.

'If Republicans are mad they can't date me they can just say that instead of projecting their sexual frustrations onto my boyfriend's feet. Ya creepy weirdos,' she tweeted.

She continued: 'It's starting to get old ignoring the very obvious, strange, and deranged sexual frustrations that underpin the Republican fixation on me, women,& LGBT+ people in general.

'These people clearly need therapy, won't do it, and use politics as their outlet instead. It's really weird.'

AOC's bizarre tweets triggered another deluge of mocking responses.

'I relate to AOC,' wrote CNN's Mary Katharine Ham. 'Literally every criticism of me boils down to people being disappointed they can't have sex with me. It is indeed a burden, but one we must bear.'

She followed up the tweet with a meme from Mean Girls.

'This whole thing just seems bizarrely anti- feminist,' added Meghan McCain in a now-deleted tweet. 'So, anytime women's political choices are criticized we can just say it's because people want to sleep them? Can't we just disagree with your tax/climate/mask policies without being involved in this weird sex narrative?'

'AOC has a seriously exaggerated estimate of her own importance,' noted Nick Adams.

Even some liberals added to the criticism: 'Instead of the 'Republicans have a big crush on me approach' AOC could have used that moment to teach people about sexism,' wrote @BidenHarrisBro.

Ian Haworth, editor of Daily Wire, tweeted: 'I definitely do not want to date you.'

Ocasio-Cortez replied: 'I'm glad you felt the need to share that with the world. Don't worry, this is a totally normal thought to have and share as an editor of a right-wing website, and totally doesn't prove my point at all.

'I hear if you say it enough times you'll actually start to believe it.'

She concluded with an attack on Haworth's conservative site.

'The fact that these people are so creepy/weird yet are also the ones responsible for shaping the NEWS HEADLINES we all see in media should be really concerning.

'I don't even want to know what knuckle-dragging thoughts these people have all day while covering women in politics.'

The liberal progressive had been responding to backlash from Republicans who welcomed her to enjoy a 'taste of freedom' while in Florida as they pointed out her mask was nowhere to be seen.

AOC even included one response in her tweet.

Former Trump advisor Steve Cortes, had tweeted: '1. If Leftists like AOC actually thought mandates and masking worked, they wouldn't be frolicking in free FL.

'2. Her guy is showing his gross pale male feet in public (not at a pool/beach) with hideous sandals.

'O for 2'

Ocasio-Cortez shared the tweet and replied with scorn, calling Cortes a 'creepy weirdo' for her remarks about her boyfriend's Birkenstock sandals.

Brian Mast, a Republican congressman for Florida, wrote on Twitter: 'Welcome to Florida AOC. Leave your politics in New York and enjoy a taste of freedom in our great state!'

Shawn Farash, who runs the conservative group Long Island Loud Majority, said her visit amounted to an endorsement of DeSantis.

'Hey @AOC tell me you endorse @RonDeSantisFL without telling me you endorse @RonDeSantisFL,' he wrote.

Republican anger was in part retaliation for her own criticism of Ted Cruz, the Republican senator for Texas.

In February, Ocasio-Cortez demanded Cruz resign for making a trip to Cancun with his family while Texas was ravaged by a deadly winter storm.

'If Sen. Cruz had resigned back in January after helping gin up a violent insurrection that killed several people, he could've taken his vacation in peace,' she tweeted at the time.

'Texans should continue to demand his resignation.'

In September 2021, in response to a thread on the storms in New York, she tweeted: 'I know Republicans' idea of 'disaster relief' is flying to Cancun while the power's still out, but unlike that approach I actually give a damn.'

Ocasio-Cortez's trip came as COVID cases exploded again in New York.

Residents have been forced to line up for hours for tests and many are planning to spend New Year's Eve at home, with restaurants closing and amid fears of the Omicron surge.
Queensland has recorded 3,587 new Covid cases, a figure 58 per cent larger than Saturday's tally of 2,262.

There are now 112 Queenslanders in hospital with Covid but only five of those are in ICU. Two of the ICU patients are pregnant women, one of whom is not vaccinated.

On Saturday there were 80 people in hospital and one in ICU with the disease.

Queensland has recorded 3,587 new Covid cases, a figure 37 per cent higher than yesterday's tally. Pictured: Queenslanders at Surfers Paradise on New Year's Day

It comes after mask mandates were extended to slow the spread of the disease in Queensland.

Previously masks were only required indoors at supermarkets, shops, on public transport and ride share as well as airports and planes, cinemas and theatres.

From Sunday they are also required at workplaces unless unsafe to do so, pubs, clubs and cafes unless when seated, indoor stadiums and sport arenas, libraries, hair dressers and nail salons and medical centre waiting areas.

Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said the increase in cases was smaller than he anticipated.

In part, the increase is related to a change in reporting protocols which saw case figures taken from a 12-hour window on Friday.

'This number is probably a bit smaller than we had expected,' he said in Brisbane on Sunday of the latest data.

'It probably (also) relates to testing over the holiday period and so it will not be a surprise at all that in the next couple of days we see a significant increase in cases as more samples are tested and more people come forward.'

Dr Gerrard warned that Queensland will see higher case numbers in the weeks ahead as the more infectious Omicron variant of Covid spreads.

'The issue we are facing is of course that with the degree of contagiousness of this virus, we are going to be seeing very large numbers of cases, even though the severity is clearly going to be less, we are going to see very large numbers of cases and a small proportion of a very large number is still a large number,' he said.

However, he said the level of severe illness was low, saying Queensland was seeing 'nothing like' the scenes in New York and Italy where hospitals were packed at the start of the pandemic in 2020.

Revellers celebrate New Year's Eve at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast, Queensland

Dr Gerrard called for pregnant women to get vaccinated and boosted as soon as they are eligible.

'Many people are not aware that in pregnancy, your level of immunity is slightly suppressed,' he said.

'The theory is that it is to prevent the mother's body from rejecting the baby as a foreign invader.

'So pregnancy it very slightly, it lowers your level of immunity in pregnant women.

'This means pregnant women are more susceptible to a number of different infections, including Covid-19. That is why it is so critical pregnant women get vaccinated.'

Queensland is 86.6 per cent fully vaccinated for everyone 16 and over.

Meanwhile, NSW has recorded 18,278 new cases with 1,066 in hospital and two deaths, while Victoria had 7,172 new infections.

An additional three people were admitted to ICU in NSW on overnight on Sunday - up from 79 on Saturday.

Sunday was the first time there were more than 1,000 Covid patients in NSW hospitals since October 2. The most ever recorded in was 1,268 on September 21.

There were 472 new hospital admissions during the same time period in Victoria - an increase from 428 on New Year's Day - with 52 in intensive care, down from 54.
The owner of a Perth pub busted for hosting a secret New Year's Eve party for 300 guests claims he had no idea the celebrations were being held.

Vinod Parihar, the sole director of Jashan Tavern Pty Ltd, which holds the licence for The George, said he planned to work with police to investigate the party.

Suspicious officers stormed the celebrations being held at the pub about 11.30pm on Friday and found close to 300 revellers inside, many not wearing masks.

The George (pictured) located in Perth's CBD was busted by police officers who discovered hundreds of unmasked revellers flouting Covid restrictions on New Year's Eve

'There are still a lot of unknowns, we need to work with authorities to find out what went wrong,' Mr Parihar told the West Australian.

Under the state's draconian Covid rules, nightclubs are closed and dancing outside of weddings is banned in Perth and the neighbouring Peel region until January 4.

Premier Mark McGowan also decreed masks must be worn indoors, spoiling New Year's Eve celebrations for thousands.

This is despite only 12 Covid cases being recorded in the entire outbreak in almost two weeks.

Owner of The George Vinod Parihar (pictured) claimed he was unaware the illegal New Year's party was being held

Unlike most states with indoor mask mandates, this included at licenced venues except when patrons are actually eating or drinking, both of which must be done sitting down.

Masks are usually only required, at most, to be worn when ordering from the bar or going to the toilets in other states.

The event itself was not illegal under WA's public health orders, but revellers at the party were accused of breaking mask, dancing, and seated drinking rules.

Dramatic police bodycam video showed the late-night bust that came after officers scaled walls to get inside the locked building.

Footage shows an officer tugging on heavy black curtains hung on glass doors as muffled dance music is heard from the celebrations inside.

Western Australia's Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said the pub was locked and had black curtains covering the windows and glass doors.

'We are continuing to investigate this matter but I've got to say from the outset I'm very disappointed at what I've been briefed at,' he said.

'Blatant disregard, selfish behaviour, admittedly on the evidence here.

Suspicious officers doing a city patrol busted into Perth's The George hotel at about 11:30pm on Friday (pictured), with dramatic bodycam footage showing how the incident unfolded

'On police attending there, they could not gain entry because the doors were locked and the windows had been covered with black curtains obviously obscuring vision from the outside.

'My officers had to climb walls to get inside and eventually get in through other doors.

'There appear to be several hundred people that were in The George hotel on a ticketed, licensed event on licensed premises.'

WA Police will also allege QR codes were ripped down from the walls.

'They were found scrumpled up behind the bar,' Mr Dawson alleged.

'The entire incident, we consider a blatant disregard of not only the liquor licensing requirements but we're in the middle of a pandemic, this is a state of emergency.'

A popular Perth pub has been locked down after the police scaled a wall to find 300 New Year's Eve revellers having a secret party in an alleged breach of Covid rules (pictured is an image of a police officer pulling back a black curtain at The George hotel)

Mr Dawson said the operators of The George were facing 'very serious charges' and questioned whether they were 'fit to hold a licence'.

'What we'll also be alleging is - and I've seen vision of this of patrons not wearing masks, dancing in licensed premises,' he said.

The licensee faces a maximum fine of $250,000 for breaching WA's Emergency Management Act and the loss of its liquor licence.

Under WA's public health orders which came into effect on December 23, nightclubs are temporarily banned in Perth and the neighbouring Peel region to the south (pictured is Premier Mark McGowan)

According to company records owner and licensee Mr Parihar also owns CBD venues The Grand Bar and Bistro and The Deck Cafe and Bar Lounge.

The George featured a marble bar that serves cocktails and finger food on cutting boards.

Police Minister Paul Papalia on Saturday confirmed a 'major investigation' had been launched into the 'irresponsible' and 'disgraceful' party.

'Three hundred people breaching Covid protocols in the middle of an outbreak of Delta in WA... it's an incredibly serious offence,' he said.

'If this is all demonstrated to be true, it's incredibly selfish and irresponsible. We are in the middle of a pandemic. There are health directives... these people appear to have just flaunted everything.

WA announced three new cases of Covid on January 1, with two of them linked to an unvaccinated French backpacker in Fremantle and another a returned traveller.

WA moved both Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory from medium risk to high risk after both jurisdictions had a surge in cases.

The Western Australia Police Force will be alleging that QR codes had been taken down at the posh venue featuring a marble bar that serves cocktails and finger food on cutting boards (pictured is a police officer encountering a locked down)

This means that, from Monday, anyone entering the state from the ACT or Tasmania must be fully vaccinated, take a PCR test within 24 hours of arrival and take another test on day 12 of their 14-day self-isolation.

They must also use the G2G Now app while in quarantine.

More than 92 per cent of Western Australians had received their first Covid-19 vaccination.

There are now 35 active confirmed cases in WA, while the rest of the country saw 35,326 infections on New Year's Day - the highest ever daily total.

Daily Mail Australia contacted The George hotel for comment.
Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government on Sunday announced an ex-gratia of Rs three lakh each to families of the persons killed in an explosion at a fireworks unit in Virudhunagar district on January 1.

Chief Minister MK Stalin said five people have died in the mishap and expressed grief over their death.

In a statement, he extended his sympathies with the families of the victims.

He said he has directed providing a sum of Rs three lakh each to the families of the deceased and Rs one lakh for the injured, from the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund.
Bravo television host Andy Cohen claims he was 'overserved' in a new Instagram post after he blasted former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio on CNN's New Year's Eve special.

A 'merry' Cohen, 53, said 'Sayonara Sucker!' to the former mayor after sharing shots with the network's co-host Anderson Cooper in honor of Betty White who passed away earlier that day.

Cooper appeared to be both entertained and alarmed at Cohen's comments as he attempted to diffuse the situation.

The following day, Cohen admitted his forthrightness may have had something to do with the shots he was seen downing earlier on New Year's Eve.

'I was a bit overserved last night,' he wrote in a Saturday Instagram post. 'I had so much fun though, and I hope you did too!'

In his Instagram video, he also advertised the two liquors he used in the shots with Cooper which included Denada Tequila and Mujen Spirits.

Bravo host Andy Cohen took to social media to announce he was 'overserved' on New Year's Eve after he went off on a drunken rant about former Mayor Bill de Blasio

Cohen was featured on CNN's holiday special alongside co-host Anderson Cooper

Cooper attempted to calm Cohen down during the alcohol-infused rant

Cohen has since taken to Instagram to wish everyone a Happy New Year's and partially explain why the drunken rant took place

Cohen shared a video and posts on his Instagram the next day admitted to having been a bit 'overserved'

Cohen openly mocked de Blasio on the network's holiday special as he called him the 'crappiest' mayor in New York.

'The only thing that Democrats and Republicans can agree on is what a horrible mayor he has been,' Cohen said.

'Dont go on a rant!' Cooper said in response to calm him down. 'Is this how you want to start the new year?'

'So sayonara sucker! 2022! Its a new year, because guess what? I have a feeling Im going to be standing right here next year, and you know who Im not going to be looking at, dancing as the city comes apart? You!'

The comments came after Cohen and Cooper took shots to honor the death of Betty White who passed away earlier that day.

Mayor Bill de Blasio kissing his wife Chirlane McCray in Times Square during his last New Year's Eve in office

Social media users reveled in Cohen's drunken comments about the former NYC mayor

Social media users have since taken to online sites such as Twitter to revel in Cohen's drunken comments over the Democratic mayor.

'Omg Andy Cohen just roasted Bill deBlasio and it was the greatest moment in live television history,' @NateGearySports tweeted.

'ANDY COHEN GOING OFF ON BILL DEBLASIO AT 12:05AM JANUARY 1 2022 IS CHAOS!!!!!,' @kikiballchangetweeted.

'Drunk Andy Cohen popping *OFF* and ranting about Bill de Blasio while drunk Anderson Cooper tries to calm him down and play it straight is just the teamwork and heroism we need in these troubled times,' CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams tweeted.

Other social media users noted that it was unfair that Cohen was not reprimanded for the remarks after CNN fired Kathy Griffin for posting a picture with a beheaded Trump

But not everyone was amused.

Some were quick to point out that Cohen had not received any kind of disciplinary action for his rant, yet former NYE host Kathy Griffin was fired from CNN for posting a photo with a beheaded Donald Trump in 2017.

'Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen two of the first folks to throw Kathy Griffin under the bus for making fun of Trump. I have no use for either of them since then,' @JayHart909 tweeted.

'Misogyny is firing Kathy Griffin over a picture but letting this dope be embarrassing and unfunny on live TV,' @DKTNNS tweeted.

New NYC Mayor Eric Adams was sworn in after the ball dropped at midnight in Times Square

The former Mayor de Blasio was criticized for his policies during his term in office

Cohen's New Year's Eve rant comes after he previously mocked de Blasio last year when he danced with his wife Chirlane McCray in Times Square which had drawn criticism from the public after he told everyone to stay at home and follow COVID guidelines.

'Do something with this city!,' Cohen shouted. 'Honestly, get it together!'

During de Blasio's term, he mainly drew criticism for his policies such as his approach to the city's rising crime rate.

The former mayor was succeeded by Democratic mayoral candidate Eric Adams who took office after the ball dropped last night.
A group of the UK's leading girls' schools will not accept transgender pupils because they are worried it will 'jeopardise' their status as single-sex institutions.

The Girls' Day School Trust, which represents 23 private schools and two academies, updated its gender identity policy guidance document last month and shared it with its members.

In a new section on admissions, the GDST said its schools do not accept applications from pupils who are legally biologically male, even if they identify as women.

They said that having a policy on 'gender identity' rather than the sex recorded on a pupil's birth certificate would 'jeopardise the status of GDST schools as single-sex schools' under the 2010 Equality Act.

A group of the UK's leading girls' schools will not accept transgender pupils because they are worried it will 'jeopardise' their status as single-sex institutions. The Girls' Day School Trust (pictured, chief executive Cheryl Giovannoni), which represents 23 private schools and two academies, reportedly updated its gender identity policy guidance document last month

In a new section, the GDST said its schools do not accept applications from pupils who are legally biologically male, even if they identify as women. The GDST, which counts institutions including Greater London's 137-year-old Sutton High School (pictured) among its members, said the guidance was drawn up 'in collaboration with experts, teachers and students'

However, a female pupil who begins to transition while already at one of the GDST's schools should be supported to remain there for as long as they want to, the document adds.

The GDST, which counts institutions including Greater London's 137-year-old Sutton High School among its members, said the guidance was drawn up 'in collaboration with experts, teachers and students'.

However, teaching union the Association of School of College Leaders (ASCL), which represents headteachers, last night called on the Government to issue clearer guidance for schools for what to do when a pupil says they are transgender.

Julie McCulloch of the Association of School and College Leaders told The Telegraph that as more children 'come out' as transgender, headteachers are forced to intervene in the controversial debate about sex and gender.

'It is a really big issue and the lack of formal guidance for schools is something that we are concerned about,' she said.

School leaders have said that, without national guidance on transgender issues, schools are left relying on lobby groups.

The Girls' Day School Trust, which represents 23 private schools and two academies in the UK, including 4,766-a-year Nottingham Girls' High School (pictured) whose head is Julie Keller

Pictured: Howell's School in Cardiff run by Sally Davis where parents pay up to 4,940

The GDST's guidance was reportedly first published in 2016 but was updated and shared with member schools at early in December last year.

The body's fears are centred around the fact that it is only able to operate a single-sex admissions policy without breaching the Equality Act because of an exemption related to biological sex.

'The GDST believes that an admissions policy based on gender identity rather than the legal sex recorded on a student's birth certificate would jeopardise the status of GDST schools as single-sex schools under the act,' the guidance states.

'For this reason, GDST schools do not accept applications from students who are legally male.

Pictured: Parents pay up to 5,912 to send their daughters to Northwood College for Girls

'We will, however, continue to monitor the legal interpretation of this exemption.'

Single sex schools face a dilemma over what to do if a pupil applies on the basis of their gender identity rather than their biological sex.

Ms McCulloch said this is a 'very difficult area' for a headteacher to deal with.

In a statement, the GDST CEO Cheryl Giovannoni said: 'It is important to state first and foremost that the underlying principle of our policy is to offer a supportive educational environment to those students who are exploring their gender identity or in the process of transitioning.

'Our trans students are welcome in our schools and our policy primarily sets out ways in which schools can support them.

'A trans student already at our school can remain at the school for as long as they wish to do so.

'Young people exploring their gender identity need space and time to make decisions, free of pressure.

'The school has a responsibility to support a trans pupil and ensure measures are put in place to enable them to remain at their school.

'We will work together with them to make the best choices for their long-term wellbeing.'

She added: 'GDST schools are able to operate a single-sex admissions policy, without breaching the Equality Act 2010 on the basis of an exemption relating to biological sex.

'Under current laws and guidance, the GDST believes that an admissions policy based on gender identity rather than the legal sex recorded on a students birth certificate could jeopardise the status of GDST schools as single-sex schools under the act.

'We will continue to monitor the legal interpretation of this exemption.'
Food industry leaders have raised the alarm over possible delays or shortages because European suppliers are not ready for new border controls imposed this weekend.

Stringent import checks came into force yesterday as a result of Britains departure from the European Union a year ago.

More than 230 billion of products  including more than a quarter of Britains food supplies  are imported from the EU each year.

But the extra red tape means EU shipments to the UK need to have full customs declarations and proof that goods should be tariff-free.

Shane Brennan, chief executive of the Cold Chain Federation, representing frozen and chilled food suppliers

Senior industry figures last night raised concern over the preparedness of EU businesses  particularly smaller suppliers  warning that a lack of awareness, incorrect paperwork and time-consuming extra checks at borders could have a significant impact on imports.

The Food and Drink Federation, which represents more than 1,000 businesses, has sent special guidance to members on the new import rules.

It warned that the trade barriers risk blocking deliveries from EU suppliers altogether, at least temporarily.

The federation said UK exports to the bloc were down by 40 to 60 per cent by value in the first three months of last year, when controls on goods moving into the EU were imposed. It said a similar pattern could emerge with imports.

The situation presents a real risk which could disrupt the operation of UK supply chains where a critically important ingredient is delayed or fails to arrive.

Shane Brennan, chief executive of the Cold Chain Federation, representing frozen and chilled food suppliers, said: This will make it harder for the smallest businesses to sell their goods.

The Food and Drink Federation, which represents more than 1,000 businesses, has sent special guidance to members on the new import rules

Some will choose not to do that anymore. So we could see those products no longer being stocked in restaurants and supermarkets.

Supermarkets contacted by The Mail on Sunday said they had been working closely with suppliers.

One said the Government had told them it would be pragmatic about enforcing the new rules.
We have just had the school holidays, so pupils do not need to take any more time off.

Every day lost is another day that we are damaging childrens lives, even if it is a few days here, a few days there.

Just before Christmas we had 230,000 children out of school. We cannot repeat that. Are we going to get our children educated again or are we not?

The priority should be having the children in schools. It shouldnt be about remote learning and children missing yet more days.

Remote learning is a poor substitute to classrooms. There are huge variations among schools over remote learning  we know disadvantaged pupils learn the least, and are less likely to have access to a laptop and the internet.

Just before Christmas we had 230,000 children out of school. We cannot repeat that. Are we going to get our children educated again or are we not? A pupil is pictured above in Cardiff

Even if the Government supplies the laptops, youve got to get the kids to open them.

It also puts an enormous burden on the parents, because what happens if they have to go to work? Theyre not permanent secretaries in the Department for Culture who can work from their Peloton bike.

My constituents are not at home, theyre working hard going out in their vans. They are making deliveries, they work in factories.

The whole engine of the Government must now be focused on keeping children in schools.

There should be a plan  equivalent to a military campaign  with a database of every school in the country.

They should set up emergency taskforces to help schools that are having problems, and make sure schools have the ventilation systems, the supply teachers and the testing they need.

My constituents are not at home, theyre working hard going out in their vans. They are making deliveries, they work in factories; writes Robert Halfon (pictured)

If there are individual problems in those schools, of teacher absences or whatever it may be, the taskforce should work with the local authorities and academies to help with supply teachers, volunteer teachers or possibly having joint classes with other schools nearby.

The Education Secretary should be ringing up schools directly and asking, what is it you need to keep schools open? How can we help you?

The Department of Education should act like a facilitator, so we do not just leave schools to fend for themselves.

The attitude should be that if its not impossible, there must be a way to do it, rather than a computer says no approach.

If children end up missing more days off school, we are destroying their lives, their life chances, their educational attainment, their wellbeing and, most significantly, their mental health.

This has got to stop  we need to have our kids in school. Forget about Covid, we will have a mental health epidemic among young kids if we are not careful.

And Boris Johnson should make it absolutely clear that keeping schools open is a priority.
There is bad news for Boris Johnson in The Mail on Sundays Deltapoll, especially in the Red Wall seats which the Tories captured from Labour under his leadership such a short time ago. If there were a General Election tomorrow, things would go pretty badly for the Conservative Party.

But of course there will not be an Election tomorrow, and voters have learned over many years that polls, like by-elections, give them a chance to let off steam and communicate unhappiness to those in power. All is not yet lost.

It is very hard to believe that voters are as keen on Labours underwhelming, underperforming and unconvincing leader Sir Keir Starmer as they say they are now.

There is bad news for Boris Johnson in The Mail on Sundays Deltapoll, especially in the Red Wall seats which the Tories captured from Labour under his leadership such a short time ago

And while there has been permanent damage done to the Premier by his foolish behaviour over Christmas parties in 2020, it is not yet so deep as to persuade huge numbers to switch to Labour. After all, how do people think Labour would have behaved under the same circumstances?

Many voters just need a few clear signs that Mr Johnson has recovered his sense of direction, to switch back well before the next real Election.

But he cannot expect that to happen by itself. He needs to show that he really means it when he talks of levelling up. He needs to squash any sleaze. He needs to ensure that Brexit is finished and done well.

And it would be a good idea if he tore himself away from fashionable Green concerns and took action to protect the British people from the growing energy crisis. You cannot fatten a pig on market day. If he wishes to re-establish his undoubted rapport with the electorate, the time to start is now, as the holiday period ends.

Sensible actions will put us on the path to normal life

The Government plans radical action to ensure schools go back as completely as possible in the coming term, and it is quite right that the classrooms should be full again. Schools are the key to a complete return to normality, and the young have suffered quite enough from missed classes and cancelled exams.

The full reopening of schools should be the keystone of a more general effort to get the whole nation back to normal, assuming the good news about Covid continues. The vaccine has greatly reduced the danger from the disease, and doctors are far more able to treat it. Severe provisions to prevent its spread, once vital, need to be reviewed to see if they are not too stringent.

The full reopening of schools should be the keystone of a more general effort to get the whole nation back to normal, assuming the good news about Covid continues (file photo)

And one such provision is the requirement to isolate for seven full days after a positive test. Is this length of time really necessary in the aftermath of the vaccine and the booster, and since the evidence began to pile up that those who contract the Omicron variant will in many cases suffer only mild illness? Huge numbers of NHS staff are now compelled by the rules to stay away from work.

The same must be true of many other services and industries, of the Civil Service and of public transport. Surely a more flexible regime is now needed, both to arm the NHS against the growing pressure (not only from Covid) that it faces every year at this time, and to allow a more general return to work.

Many are still deeply worried by the pandemic, and everything reasonable must be done to reassure and protect them. But a growing number are beginning to feel that it is time to learn to live with the virus, not by rash, rushed relaxation of rules but by sensible, cautious, lasting measures that gradually return us to normal life.
Ghislaine Maxwell will not help prosecutors and name 'names' of others involved in her ex-lover Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking network for a lesser sentence, her brother Ian has claimed.

Maxwell, 60, was found guilty of five out of six sex trafficking charges in New York earlier this week.

The former socialite has spent more than 500 days in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn although she will likely spend the rest of her life in federal prison in the United States after she is sentenced.

Ghislaine Maxwell, pictured right, will not assist federal prosecutors in the United States in order to secure a lesser jail term. She is pictured here with Virginia Guiffre, who was one of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Maxwell's sex-trafficking network. Ms Guiffre is suing Prince Andrew, pictured left, in civil court in the United States, claiming she was forced to have sex with the Duke of York. Prince Andrew strongly denies the allegation

Prince Andrew, pictured driving a Range Rover through Windsor on New Year's Eve is trying to have the case against him in New York thrown out of court

Maxwell's brother, Ian, pictured right, with fellow siblings Isabel, left and Kevin, centre, said his sister will appeal the court's verdict and will not assist prosecutors

The jury found Maxwell, pictured right, with Jeffrey Epstein, guilty on five out of six charges of sex trafficking

Her brother, Ian Maxwell said his sister maintains her innocence and is planning to appeal her conviction. He said she has no intention of assisting prosecutors in consideration of a lesser jail term.

Mr Maxwell told The Sunday Times: 'Prosecution confirmed no plea bargain offers were made or received. I expect that position to be maintained.'

Prince Andrew is facing a civil case by one of Epstein's victims, Virginia Giuffre, who claims she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew at Maxwell's London home after spending an evening in Tramp nightclub, an allegation the prince strenuously denies.

However, the Duke of York suffered a significant legal setback in the civil case after his lawyers failed to have the complaint dismissed on a technicality. His legal team hoped to have the case ended claiming neither Ms Giuffre or the prince are American residents and therefore the US courts have no jurisdiction.

Maxwell is facing up to 65 years in federal prison following her conviction

Prince Andrew is among a string of high profile men who have been linked to Epstein and Maxwell.

Prosecutors in the Maxwell case had hoped that she would provide information that could lead to further charges.

She faces two charges of perjury concerning information she supplied in earlier depositions in civil cases which prosecutors claim was false.

The jury convicted Maxwell of trafficking young girls who were then sexually exploited by Jeffrey Epstein.

The financier took his own life in 2019 while on remand facing further child sex abuse charges.

Mr Maxwell said his sister was 'understandably subdued' following the jury's decision but claimed she remained 'strong in spirit'.

He also denied his sister was considered a suicide risk.

He added: 'She will be appealing her conviction. She is a fighter and a survivor.'

Any appeal will be focused on procedural errors or mistakes in law made by the trial judge.

Maxwell's conviction has increased pressure on Prince Andrew because his long-term friend has been found to be a sex trafficker of underage girls.

The jury convicted Maxwell of trafficking young girls who were then sexually exploited by Jeffrey Epstein. The financier took his own life in 2019 while on remand facing further child sex abuse charges

This has prompted moves among senior figures in the Royal household to discuss Prince Andrew's future in 'The Firm'.

Royal courtiers are discussing plans to strip Prince Andrew of his Duke of York title if he loses the lawsuit brought by sex abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre, according to the Sunday Times.

Other ideas allegedly being considered by the Royal household include sending the Duke into some form of 'internal exile' and asking him to relinquish any links he still has to charities.

Ms Giuffre alleges that Prince Andrew sexually assaulted her three times when she was 17, which he denies, and is suing for unspecified damages. The Duke stepped down from public duties in November 2019 'for the foreseeable future' over his friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein in the wake of the disastrous Newsnight interview he had hoped would clear his name.

A source said: 'If [Prince Andrew] loses the case, the question is what do you do with him? You can't make him resign like you would a normal person but he would be asked to put his dukedom into abeyance.'

Royal insiders said it would be difficult to persuade the Queen to remove the title of Duke of York as 'it was held by her father, George VI, before he became king and she bestowed it on her favourite son. But he has disgraced that title', the Sunday Times reported.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said with regard to claims the Duke might lose his title: 'This is speculation and the comments are without foundation. We would not comment on an ongoing legal matter.'

And in a further blow, the Duke is said to be under pressure to give up his nine military roles, according to defence sources. Military chiefs hope he will resign so the Queen doesn't have to strip him of his honorary titles, the Sunday People reported.

In light of the Duke's close friendship with Epstein and Maxwell, senior Army commanders believe it is not feasible for Andrew to carry on his role as colonel-in-chief of the nine military regiments, units and corps.
Chicago closes out 2021 out as the most violent year in a quarter of a century as the beleaguered city saw almost 800 homicides.

According to police department statistics released on Saturday, there were 795 homicides in 2021 alone - 25 more than 2020, 299 more than 2019, and the most since 1996.

The city also saw 3,561 shootings in 2021, more than 300 than last year and a whopping 1,415 more than in 2019.

With 2021 now in the rear view mirror, other city all across the country have also seen a spike in the number of homicides.

As in previous years, Chicago ended 2021 with more homicides than any other city nationwide, including New York and Los Angeles, both of which had recorded at least 300 fewer homicides than Chicago for the year as of late December, police data reveals from those cities.

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO

Murders in Chicago, from 2017 until 2021

Pictured: murders in Chicago since 1957, showing a spike in recent years

Chicago Police Supt. David Brown, pictured, gives answers questions to address the overnight shooting of two police officers during a traffic stop in West Englewood on August 8

Glen White, Commander of the 5th District for the Chicago Police Department, speaks on the recent violence in Roseland that left an 8th grader, his mother dead in two separate shootings

'We all know this has been a challenging year here in the city of Chicago,' Police Superintendent David Brown told reporters at a news conference earlier this week.

'Too many families are reeling from the loss of (loved) ones due to senseless gun violence.'

Brown added that the majority of the homicides and violent crimes stem from conflicts between rival gangs in the city.

The Police Superintendent provided a number of statistics that place the department in a more positive light, when discussing monthly crime figures and Saturday's end-of-the-year crime figures.

Pictured: total crime in Chicago, showing an increase in 2021 compared to 2020

Crime in Chicago, with shooting incidents up nine percent from 2020 to 2021 and 28 percent spike in criminal sexual assualt in that same time period

Brown countered with the fact that department solved at least 400 homicides in the city  a total that was higher than in any year in nearly two decades.

While the end-of-year statistics released on Saturday did not specify the year of those solved homicides, but did report that this past year's clearance rate for murders was just slight of 50 percent, according to the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, the departments says it has taken more illegal weapons off of the streets than any other local police force nationwide.

A record 12,088 guns were taken off Chicago streets in 2021, with that total coinciding with the creation of a Gun Investigations Team that has focused on intercepting and stopping the flow of illegal guns into the city.

A police car blocks the road after gunshot victims were dropped off in front of the University of Chicago on the South Side, during the deadliest year for homicides since 1996 in Chicago

Elizabeth French, in white, and her son Andrew, left, follow the casket of her daughter, himicide victim and Chicago police officer Ella French, after a funeral service in August

Brown has recently been criticized by members of the City Council as the city's death count continued to mount.

He added that increasing the amount of detectives investigating violent crimes from 1,100 to 1,300 is one way the department hopes to remedy the record-breaking crime figures.

'There will be more officers on the street, not just in patrol cars or behind desks, to interact with all Chicagoans,' he said while noting the department hopes to recruit more new police officers this year.

Brown also said his goal is to reduce each detectives caseload from roughly five cases to three per detective, AP reported.

Meanwhile, Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot pleaded with Attorney General Merrick Garland to send Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents to the city for six months after it saw more than 760 murders this year.
Tasmania has recorded 404 new Covid-19 infections while the number of people in hospital with the virus has grown to three.

The state's health department confirmed the new cases on Sunday morning, as active infections across the state rose to 1219 cases.

The figures represented a slight decrease on Saturday's daily case tally, when 428 were recorded.

Tasmania has thrown open its borders to Australians from other states and territories and scrapped a PCR test requirement as cases grow (pictured: Erith Island, Tasmania)

People arrive at Hobart Airport (pictured) on December 15 as Tasmania reopened to all fully-vaccinated travellers from mainland states and territories

Sixty cases are being cared for at community case management facilities and 316 are being managed at home.

Only one of three cases in the state's hospitals are there due to Covid-19, with the other two admitted to hospital due to unrelated conditions.

There are no Covid-19 cases in intensive care or requiring ventilation.

More than 1500 tests were performed on New Year's Day with another 1200 booked in on Sunday.

Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff said 120 people were released from isolation on Saturday after recovering from Covid-19.

He said a three-year-old child had tested positive for Covid-19 in the state's south, after presenting to Royal Hobart Hospital's emergency department.

'While no doubt distressing for the family, the child was treated by an emergency department medical specialist and was deemed safe for discharge,' Mr Rockliff said in a statement.

He said rapid antigen tests remained available to asymptomatic close contacts or anyone directed to take a test by the health department.

Visitors will be required to take a rapid antigen test before entering Tasmania, Premier Peter Gutwein (pictured) said

'Please contact the Public Health Hotline if you cannot obtain a RAT test and we will direct you to a distribution point in the South, North and North West,' he said.

'While the case numbers will continue to cause some concern in the community - which is completely understandable - it is not unexpected, and the reason we are now able to live with Covid is because of our highly vaccinated population.'

On Saturday Premier Peter Gutwein said, with a highly vaccinated population, Tasmania would not be heading into lockdown or closing its borders.

But he did advise caution to travellers, reminding Tasmanians and visitors if they contracted the virus or became a close contact while away, they would have to isolate at their own cost.
Ghislaine Maxwell learned her young husband had 'moved on' with a pretty yoga instructor in a tense phone call behind bars.

Scott Borgerson, 46, secretly married Maxwell, 60, in 2016 after splitting with his first wife and mother of his two children.

He had initially vowed to stand by Maxwell and even offered to put up millions of pounds of joint assets as part of her $28.5 million bail plea.

But today I can reveal the marriage is over.

A close friend of Maxwell's told me: 'There was a dramatic phone call between them, while she was in jail in solitary confinement. It became confrontational.

'Scott told her he had moved on and was seeing someone else.

Scott Borgerson, 46, secretly married Ghislaine Maxwell (both pictured in 2013), 60, in 2016 after splitting with his first wife and mother of his two children

Borgerson (left) has been seen near his home with new girlfriend Kris McGinn (right), 49, a writer and yoga teacher

'The marriage was past tense there and then. It's over. The marriage was over before the trial started.'

Another source told the MoS: 'He did not attend a single day of her trial. Read into that what you will.'

Borgerson, a tech CEO, had been living with Maxwell at a beachfront home in Manchester-on-Sea, Massachusetts, but when Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in 2019 and charged with child sex crimes, Maxwell fled the home 'to protect her stepchildren'.

The source said: 'Once their home had been discovered she left, mostly to protect the children. They were being teased at school. Anyone associated with Ghislaine finds they become toxic.

'When Epstein died the Maxwell family decided to protect their sister from the media and people who might be out to hurt her. She had a lot of death threats. The Maxwells insisted on sending her away but Scott insisted he could protect her if someone tried to invade their property.

'Scott would fly to see her when she was traveling around.

'Some of Ghislaine's siblings were surprised, at first, to learn she and Scott were secretly married. Though one of the siblings did hit it off with him and developed a cordial relationship.'.'

Maxwell hired a former British special forces soldier, Matt Hellier to guard her and moved from 'safe house' to 'safe house' before eventually buying a home 'Tukedaway' in tiny Bradford, New Hampshire for $1 million cash at the start of 2020.

Borgerson and his children would visit 'most weekends.'

'They continued to live as a family. They were happy. Then it all came crashing down.'

In July 2020, dozens of FBI officers broke down the gates to the property and arrested Maxwell on the child sex charges and sex trafficking charges she was convicted of this week.

She faces a maximum of 65 years in jail.

A source said: 'The relationship with Scott was a real love story. But after Epstein killed himself (in August 2019) and the focus turned to Ghislaine, their relationship became strained.

In July 2020, dozens of FBI officers broke down the gates to the property and arrested Maxwell on the child sex charges and sex trafficking charges she was convicted of this week (court sketch above)

'At first Scott stood by her and wrote letters to the court and offered joint assets to try and get Ghislaine our on bail.

'But she has been behind bars for 549 days now. It put a terrible strain on the marriage.'

Borgerson has been photographed near his home with new girlfriend Kris McGinn, 49, a writer and yoga teacher.

Neither Borgerson nor McGinn have commented on their relationship. When approached by reporters last month, Borgerson snapped: 'Go away!'

Maxwell and Borgerson first met in 2013 at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik.

He is a former coast guard who is works with ocean charities while Maxwell, at the time, ran 'TerraMar', an online site devoted to articles about the ocean.

In 2015, Borgerson's 14-year-marriage to his first wife Rebecca ended in divorce.

Maxwell and Borgerson (pictured) first met in 2013 at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik

Last night a close friend of Rebecca said she would not comment on the end of Borgerson's relationship with Maxwell: 'Rebecca has never spoken about this and she's not about to start now.'

A friend of Maxwell's said the only hope now is that the divorce will be amicable, adding: 'They hope this marriage can be dissolved amicably and quickly.'

Borgerson has been spotted driving an expensive Tesla electric car.

Maxwell's friend said: 'The expensive cars are his. The Mini Cooper was Ghislaine's.'

Maxwell's family remains devoted to her and determined to prove her innocence. They have already hired special appellate lawyers.

The source added: 'She has been disappointed by several former close friends who have abandoned her. An ex-boyfriend was asked to come forward and talk about the woman he loved, to defend her character in court, and he said 'no way!'

'But her siblings remain loyal and united. They believe in her innocence and they believe that one day she will walk free. They have put their own friendships, reputations and business opportunities aside to support their sister. They believe she will prevail.'

Daphne Barak is an author and filmmaker whose past interviews have included the likes of Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Donald Trump, Mariah Carey and Amy Winehouse. Her documentary on Ghislaine Maxwell - to be broadcast on ITV and CBS-Paramount Plus in collaboration with Freemantle - is expected next month. For more on Ghislaine Maxwell go to: www.og2d.com
The chairperson of the FDIC resigned Friday just weeks after she attempted to warn of a 'hostile takeover' of the commission by Democrats.

Jelena McWilliams, 48, wrote an open letter Friday slamming Senate Dems over going around her to suit their own agenda.

'When I immigrated to this country 30 years ago, I did so with a firm belief in the American system of government,' McWilliams, a Serbian immigrant, wrote in the letter.

McWilliams has a decades-long career in law, finance and banking policy before Trump appointed her to the chair.

Her resignation appears to stem from clashes between McWilliams and Democrats over bank merger rules.

Jelena McWilliams, the soon-to-be ex-Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

McWilliams announced her resignation in a letter addressed to President Joe Biden on Friday

Rohit Chopra, a member of the FDIC board and the new director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, complained that McWilliams had refused to recognize their attempts to review rules about bank mergers.

'This approach to governance is unsafe and unsound,' he said. 'It is also an attack on the rule of law.'

At a virtual meeting earlier Tuesday, McWilliams, the board's lone Republican, struck down Chopra's request to record in the minutes a vote on the review. McWilliams said their general counsel had ruled the vote, which had been taken earlier by the Democrats, to be invalid.

'During my tenure at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the United States Senate, and the FDIC, I have developed a deep appreciation for these venerable institutions and their traditions.'

Rohit Chopra, a member of the FDIC board and the new director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, complained that McWilliams had refused to recognize their attempts to review rules about bank mergers

Martin J. Gruenberg served as acting chairman of FDIC and still serves as a board member under McWilliams

McWilliams said that while many senate chambers had faced an FDIC chair from the opposing party, none had ever behaved like the current crop of Democrats.

'Of the 20 chairmen who preceded me at the FDIC, nine faced a majority of the board members from the opposing party, including [Martin J. Gruenberg] as chairman under President Trump until I replaced him as chairman in 2018,' McWilliams wrote in her op-ed. 'Never before has a majority of the board attempted to circumvent the chairman to pursue their own agenda.'

She made it clear that her departure had nothing to do with bank merger disputes.

'This conflict isn't about bank mergers. If it were, board members would have been willing to work with me and the FDIC staff rather than attempt a hostile takeover of the FDIC internal processes, staff and board agenda.'

McWilliams resignation will be effective February 4. Her replacement is not immediately clear.
The stampede at the shrine occurred at 2.15 AM near a relatively narrow passage at gate number 3 outside the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine where devotees usually arrive round the clock after trekking for 13 km from the Katra base camp. (PTI Photo)

Katra: Unfazed by the Saturday stampede that left 12 devotees dead, people were flocking to the Mata Vaishno Devi hill shrine where authorities have deployed security personnel in full strength and are greeting pilgrims with chants of "Darshan Karo, Katra Chalo" to encourage them not to linger on after paying obeisance.

The yatra that registered a footfall of over 55.77 lakh in 2021, compared to 17 lakh the previous year due to the coronavirus pandemic, was going on smoothly, with visitors expressing satisfaction over the arrangements of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board.

Twelve people lost their lives and 16 others were injured in the stampede in the early hours of Saturday after a scuffle between two groups of pilgrims during the New Year rush. Many eyewitnesses said that there was overcrowding as people were staying back on the shrine premises after darshan instead of returning to the base camp at Katra.

It was the first such tragedy at the revered shrine located atop the Trikuta hills in Reasi district, about 50 km from Jammu.

As we entered the sanctum sanctorum of the Mata to offer our prayers, we were greeted by the words 'Darshan Karo Katra Challo' (pay obeisance and leave for Katra) from the deployed policemen, Motiya Rani (58), a resident of Panipat in Haryana, told PTI on Sunday.

Rani, accompanied by her two sons, their wives and five grandchildren, said the yatra was going on smoothly and they did not face any problem.

I have been visiting Mata to seek her blessings on the first day of every year for many years. I reached Katra on December 31 and was scheduled to visit the shrine on Saturday but the unfortunate incident delayed our visit by a day this time, she said.

People were as usual queuing up at the registration counters, eagerly waiting for their turn to offer prayers.

Manoj Kumar (36), a resident of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, said postponing the pilgrimage never came to mind after hearing about the sad incident.

What happened yesterday (Saturday) was an unfortunate incident. We have been waiting for this day for a long time and are happy to reach here to offer our prayers and seek the blessings of the presiding deity," he said.

I have been here many times in the past and know this place very well. I was surprised to hear about the tragic loss in the stampede, Kumar said.

The stampede at the shrine occurred at 2.15 AM near a relatively narrow passage at gate number 3 outside the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine where devotees usually arrive round the clock after trekking for 13 km from the Katra base camp.

A high-level inquiry panel headed by Principal Secretary (Home) Shaleen Kabra, with Divisional Commissioner Jammu Rajiv Langar and Additional Director General of Police Mukesh Singh as its members, has been set up by Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Manoj Sinha and asked to submit a report within a week.

Echoing Rani, 24-year-old Shubam of Laxmi Nagar Delhi said the police and CRPF personnel are managing the yatra and are discouraging people from staying back at the cave shrine after performing darshan'.

We faced no issue and the yatra is going on smoothly, Shubam, who performed the pilgrimage along with his four friends, said.

Dharamveer (54), a resident of Mumbai, said his family was also lucky to have paid obeisance at the shrine without any trouble.

We find nothing wrong with the arrangements. The pilgrims are moving in and out effortlessly. Police and CRPF personnel deployed along the route and at the cave shrine are doing a good job, Dharamveer said.

The National Green Tribunal has put a cap of 50,000 pilgrims per day and keeping in view the COVID-19 pandemic, the shrine board had allowed 35,000 pilgrims to proceed for yatra on 31st December 2021 and for 1st January 2022.

Besides enhancing the security arrangements, authorities have also deployed additional staff to ensure strict adherence of COVID-19 guidelines.

Over a dozen persons who were not carrying the mandatory COVID test report were asked to return this morning, an official manning one of the centres enroute the shrine said.

More than 27,000 pilgrims visited the cave shrine on the first day of January, while over 55.77 lakh pilgrims offered their prayers at the shrine during the last year, officials said.

Only 17 lakh pilgrims, the lowest in over three decades, visited the shrine in 2020 when the shrine, for the first time in its history, remained closed for five months due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and reopened for the pilgrims on August 16, 2020.

From 13.95 lakh in 1986 when the Board took over the affairs of the shrine for better management, there has been a steady increase of pilgrim footfalls with each passing year, touching an all-time high of 1.04 crore in 2012 against 1.01 crore the previous year (2011).

The pilgrim arrivals at the shrine touched 31.15 lakh in 1991 and reached 74.17 lakh in 2007.

However, the number dropped to 67.92 lakh in 2008 which was attributed to the two-month-long Amarnath land row agitation but again went up to 82 lakh in 2009 and 87.2 lakh the next year (2010).

The pilgrim arrivals dropped from 93.24 lakh in 2013 to 78.03 lakh in 2014 and further to 77.76 lakh in 2015 and 77.23 lakh in 2016.

It increased to 81.78 lakhs in 2017 and 85.87 lakhs in 2018 but dropped to 79.40 in 2019  the year when the central government revoked special status under Article 370 of the Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two Union Territories.

In 2021, the officials said the highest number of 7,53,561 pilgrims visited the shrine in October followed by 6,46,415 in November, 6,39,162 in September, 6,27,828 in December, 5,25,198 in March, 5,21,970 in August and 5,00,671 in July.

The lowest number of 45,155 pilgrims in 2021 visited the shrine in May, while January recorded a footfall of 4,08,061 pilgrims, February (3,89,549), April (3,21,735) and June (1,98,490).

While most of the devotees undertake the arduous trek to the shrine, some reach there by helicopter service.
Police in Florida are searching for two men who set a fire next to Key West's famous Southernmost Point buoy early on New Year's Day causing serious damage.

Authorities said two men lit a Christmas tree on fire in front of the buoy around 3:30am on Saturday morning.

The flames charred sections of the colorful, 4-ton cement monument that reads '90 miles to Cuba, Southernmost Point, Continental U.S.A.'

Two man are being hunted by Key West police after they were seen setting fire to a tree that ended up burning the town's Southernmost Point buoy

The incident, which was caught on video, shows two men placing a Christmas tree in front of the concrete buoy and then setting the tree on fire

Police are searching for two people who burned a part of Key West's famous Southernmost Point buoy early on New Year's Day after setting a fire near the landmark tourism icon

The two men could be seen laughing and joking as they filmed the criminal act. 'Extensive damage' was caused to the buoy between 3 and 3:30am on Saturday

#NEW: Two men set a Christmas tree on fire next to the #SouthernmostPoint buoy in #KeyWest overnight, scorching the face of iconic landmark. @2OceansDigital surveillance cameras captured the incident.



Key West police now investigating. #Florida #SouthFlorida @nbc6 pic.twitter.com/N9K6fB8beH  Ryan Nelson (@RyanNelsonTV) January 1, 2022

Surveillance webcam video of the buoy shows two people lighting the tree on fire near the marker as they take photos and selfies.

The flames left a large black burn mark on the monument. The Key West Fire Department were called to extinguish the fire.

Tourists were seen gathering near the damaged buoy for pictures later on Saturday.

'If anyone knows who these two jerks are...please contact the Key West police,' one person wrote on Facebook.

The red, yellow, black and white marker resembles a giant marine navigational buoy.

It proclaims that Key West is 90 miles from Havana. Artists restored the monument after it was damaged during Hurricane Irma in 2017.

Key West police are asking anyone with information to contact them at 305-809-1000.

The men continued to film and take selfies as they deliberately set fire to the free

The two men soon ran off and the tree was left to burn with the Key West fire department left to put out the blaze

Key West police are now looking for help in finding the men who did not realize their every move was being caught on camera

The red, yellow, black and white marker resembles a giant marine navigational buoy. Artists last restored the monument after it was damaged during Hurricane Irma in 2017
Two people have drowned over the New Year's weekend including a seven-year-old boy and a man who died in separate rivers.

Police search and rescue divers pulled the body of the young boy from the Snowy River in Jarrahmond in Victoria's East Gippsland on Sunday.

The seven-year-old disappeared after getting into trouble while swimming with four others about 6pm on New Year's Day.

Police search and rescue divers pulled the body of the young boy from the Snowy River (pictured) at Jarrahmond in Victoria's East Gippsland on Sunday

The State Emergency Service and local police frantically tried to locate the boy on Saturday, leaving the little boy's loved ones to start the new year without him.

A 35-year-old man also lost his life on New Year's weekend after he and two others got into difficulty in the currents of the Gellibrand River.

First responders were called to the river in Princeton, a coastal village located along the Great Ocean Road, about 10.40am on Sunday.

Two men flying in a private helicopter above the river spotted the group struggling and helped to rescue the swimmers from the water.

Once on dry land, one of the rescuers gave CPR to the 35-year-old man but he could not be revived and died at the scene.

Victoria has been rocked by two tragic drownings over the New Year's weekend which saw both a seven-year-old boy and a man drown in separate rivers (stock image)

Paramedics flew a second man to be treated at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne where he remains in a serious but stable condition.

The third swimmer was transported by road to hospital in a stable condition.

The new year drownings were just a week after a three-year-old boy was found face-down in a Gold Coast lagoon on Christmas Eve.

Witnesses, swimmers, and people in kayaks helped in the search to find the boy who was later found lying face down at Ian Dapple Lagoon in Labrador.

He was pulled from the water in a critical condition and rushed to the Gold Coast University Hospital but sadly died despite CPR attempts.
Anthony Albanese has blasted Scott Morrison as 'arrogant and dismissive' in a fiery election campaign speech promoting high-speed rail.

The Labor leader savaged the prime minister for his response to the Covid-19 pandemic as he announced his plan for a high speed rail line connecting Newcastle to Sydney.

He said Mr Morrison failed on vaccines and quarantine and now was failing on testing after wait times for PCR swabs surged to five hours over Christmas.

Directly addressing the residents of the NSW Hunter Valley and Central Coast regions, Mr Albanese said the PM failed to look after their interests.

'Through the response to the pandemic the Hunter and Central Coast were treated with disdain by this arrogant and dismissive government,' he said in Newcastle on Sunday.

'Whether it was the transfer of vaccines meant for this region to Sydney, despite Covid being present in this community or making it impossible for people to access Covid testing, this Government's contempt for the people of this region has been on full display.'

Mr Albanese did not mention that the vaccine transfer was implemented by the state government not the federal government.

The week after then premier Gladys Berejijklian announced the policy, the federal government sent 180,000 Pfizer jabs to regional NSW to make up for the displacements.

Mr Albanese also blasted the PM over the vaccine rollout, which was delayed when the government scrambled to get more Pfizer into the country after changing health advice on the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Scott Morrison pictured with skin cancer campaigner Courtney Mangan on Bribie Island on December 21

'We have five important tools to manage the pandemic response - vaccination, testing, tracing, isolation, and quarantine,' he said.

'On every single measure - from the COVIDSafe App debacle to the vaccine rollout, to boosters and Rapid Antigen Tests - Scott Morrison has been defined by a lack of leadership.

'It all highlights why only a change of government will prioritise the immediate needs of the region and set about creating a better future.'

Mr Albanese also attacked Mr Morrison over the scarcity of rapid Covid tests after the PM said it was the states' responsibility to buy them from overseas suppliers.

'They are not even pretending to play any role in securing a supply of Rapid Antigen Tests,' he said.

The main purpose of Mr Albanese's speech was to announce a first step towards high-speed rail linking major cities.

He wants a trainline that can deliver speeds of more than 250kmh to cut the journey time from Sydney to Newcastle to 45 minutes, down from two-and-a-half hours.

Mr Albanese said Mr Morrison has failed on Covid testing. Pictured: Bondi's testing clinic on New Year's Day

A recent report into high-speed rail found the Sydney to Newcastle route should be the first component of an eventual line to Brisbane.

Mr Albanese said he would set up a new High-Speed Rail Authority and provide $500 million funding in his first budget to begin corridor acquisition, planning and early works.

'Australia is the only inhabited continent on earth not developing high-speed rail,' a Labor statement said.

'Fast and high-speed rail will be an important element of Labor's smart regionalisation plan that recognises that decentralisation is critical for Australia.'

The opposition leader also announced a Labor government would reverse $500,000 of funding cuts to the GP Access After Hours service in the Hunter region.

The move to buy up land in the rail corridor has been welcomed by Sydney's urban policy thinktank and advocacy body.

Committee for Sydney chief executive Gabriel Metcalf said the rail improvements would give people more choice about where they work and where they live.

'Better connections across this region means we would effectively work like a bigger global city, with more economic gravitational pull,' he said.

'As we look to emerge from two years of disruption and lockdown, this is a project that will get people inspired about Sydney's future and kickstart our economic recovery.'

Labor is defending its narrowly held Hunter seat with incumbent Joel Fitzgibbon stepping down at the next election.

The party is also fending off a coalition campaign in the neighbouring Hawkesbury-based seat Macquarie, the Maitland-based seat Paterson and in the Central Coast seat Dobell, and it wants to win the Gosford-based seat of Robertson.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said the high speed rail announcement was an 'election stunt' and urged Mr Albanese to reveal how much the project would cost in total.

He said the Coalition was focusing on infrastructure that Australians actually need.
The US is ringing in the new year with a surge of COVID cases as the Omicron variant continues to sweep through the nation at a rapid rate.

The country saw 497,151 new confirmed cases on Saturday bringing the national total to 54,743,993 as numbers have continued to reach new records in the past month.

In terms of the death toll, 1,235 have been recorded bringing the total to 825,536 - smashing last month's previous record.

This comes after a study by Columbia University revealed that Omicron-fueled cases could peak to around 2.5 million by January 9 with others estimating the surge to go to 5.4 million.

NYC has also continued to shatter records with 85,476 new cases reported in the state, according to Governor Kathy Hochul.

These numbers quadrupled in size which previously recorded a total of 21,027 positive cases only a couple of weeks earlier.

Hospitalizations in the state have also jumped to 8,451 with medical center beds continuing to become scarce as the virus swarms around the city.

The increase in the city's cases have also increased the death rate with 81 recorded as of Saturday.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams, who was sworn in early Saturday morning, is working on ensuring the health and safety of the city's residents in the continuing battle with the virus.

NYC shattered COVID records as the state saw 85,476 new cases on Saturday

The last month has seen a huge spike in cases in the Big Apple

The US continues to see a surge in Omicron cases around the country with 497, 151 new confirmed cases bringing the total to 54,743, 982

NYC Mayor Eric Adams, who was sworn in on January 1, is working on ensuring the health and safety of city residents amid the surge in cases and the presence of the new Omicron variant

After being sworn in as New York City mayor, Eric Adams assured New Yorkers that the city would not be controlled by crises as it grapples with a continuing surge in COVID-19 infections.

'Getting vaccinated is not letting the crisis control you,' Adams said at City Hall.

'Enjoying a Broadway show. Sending your kids to school. Going back to the office. These are declarations of confidence that our city is our own.'

While the new mayor has pledged to keep the city open and stave off any return to shutdowns, he is taking the helm of a city that has seen subway lines, restaurants and even urgent care centers temporarily close because of staffing shortages driven by the virus.

Adams said this week that he plans to keep in place many of the policies of outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio, including vaccine mandates that are among the strictest in the nation.

The wave of the new variant has caused the international public to panic over fears of how it might cripple the economy in the new year as evident during the beginning stages of the pandemic.

Adams said he and advisers are studying whether to expand vaccine mandates and plan to distribute face masks and rapid tests, as well as introduce a color-coded system alerting New Yorkers to the current threat level.

The increasing concern over the surge in COVID cases has caused many to panic over a potential economic shutdown as evident by the effects in the early stages of the pandemic.

So far, the high level of Omicron-based cases has caused thousands of flights to be cancelled, restaurants and shops to close as well as preventing workers from coming into the office.

'Omicron is truly everywhere,' Dr Megan Ranney, a Brown University professor of emergency medicine told CNN.

'What I am so worried about over the next month or so is that our economy is going to shut down, not because of policies from the federal government or from the state governments, but rather because so many of us are ill.'

Since the new variant swept the US, various states have been battered with the effects of the new surge.

States such as New Jersey, California, Texas as well as Florida - which saw a total of 75,900 cases on Friday- have seen recent increase in cases of the virus.

Local testing centers across various states have seen extended waiting periods for COVID tests with lines wrapping around for miles.

The rise in cases has also caused staffing shortages in essential workplaces as more workers are continuing to call out sick.

In NYC, the subway lines B, Z, and W were suspended by the MTA due to the staffing shortage.

In Cincinatti, a state of emergency was declared due to staffing shortages in the city's fire department.

The National Guard employed over a thousand members to the state's hospitals due to staffing shortages in medical centers.

Additionally, emergency crews in Austin have also experienced shortages with the city's EMS Association announcing staff were either on call or worked seven straight days.

Airports have also experienced similar issues as concerns over the variant left thousands of passengers stranded at airports around the country.

In addition, staff members were also calling out sick and testing positive for the virus which left flights delayed or cancelled over the course of the holiday weekend.

According to Flight Aware, there were 2,732 cancellations in the US with 6,201 delays.

The new variant has also presented a growing concern for children as hospitalizations reached a new record over the course of the past week.

In total, 378 children were admitted to hospitals across the country in the past week, according to the CDC.

Due to this concern, public schools have either temporarily closed or gone virtual for the time being.

Colleges and universities have also brought back virtual learning to further ensure the wellbeing of students and staff and prevent a future shutdown.

The surge in new variant cases has been considered 'shocking' by health officials such as epidemiologist Dr Jeffery Shaman.

'Were talking somewhere up to maybe 10 million people,' Shaman said.

'Maybe not all of them are contagious yet. Crazy numbers. Crazy, crazy numbers.'

As part of the predicted peak, health officials are optimistic that cases will begin to dwindle after mid-January.

'My hope is that we get a sharp peak with omicron, and it goes down to a very, very low level, and it just sort of stays there, and we dont have any more really problematic variants,' Anthony Fauci told the Washington Post.

'We are dealing with a virus that has a completely unanticipated level of transmissibility.

'We thought delta was very transmissible. This thing is like something weve never seen before.'
Donald Trump Jr. celebrated his birthday with a hug from father Donald Sr. as the president returned to his tradition New Year's Eve gala celebration at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

Trump Jr. - who turned 44 on Friday - also made a winking reference to his successor as presidential son, Hunter Biden, in an Instagram caption.

'Birthday and New Years celebrations with my big guy. (No 10%),' Trump Jr. wrote to his 5.4million Instagram followers in reference to a rumored 10 percent cut President Joe Biden would get out of a deal Hunter allegedly made with China.

Don Jr. received a hug and pats on the back from father Donald as the two celebrated the son's birthday and the ringing in of 2022.

The eldest Trump son was in attendance with his longtime girlfriend and presidential advisor Kimberly Guilfoyle.

Donald Trump Jr. receives a hug from father Donald Sr. on his birthday as the family rang in 2022 at Trump Sr.'s beloved Mar-a-Lago resort

Don Jr. and longtime girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, an advisor to former President Trump, spent the night with family and friends

Father Donald Trump and his wife Melania returned to the New Year's Eve party at Mar-a-Lago after skipping last year's lavish gala in the wake of his election defeat.

Sources close to the former president had told DailyMail.com Friday that he was expected to attend this year's black-tie gathering and attendees posted shots of the former first couple at the gala before midnight.

Trump was in a tuxedo, with wife Melania in a shimmering silver gown.

Several other Trumpworld favorites were in attendance, including former New York City Mayor and attorney for Trump Rudy Giuliani, Congressman Matt Gaetz - who attended with his new wife Ginger Luckey despite his ongoing sex trafficking investigation - and son Eric, who was with wife Lara and their children.

Donald and Melania Trump returned to the New Year's Eve party at Mar-a-Lago (pictured) after skipping last year's lavish gala in the wake of his election defeat

Former President Trump beams a smile as he greets guests at Mar-a-Lago resort for the gala event

Several other Trumpworld favorites were in attendance, including former New York City Mayor and attorney for Trump Rudy Giuliani

Eric Trump and his wife Lara say goodbye to their children before attending Eric's father's New Year's Eve gala

Matt Gaetz and his new wife Ginger Luckey were in attendance at the gala, despite Gaetz's ongoing sex trafficking investigation

Eric and Lara were enjoying the festivities at Mar-a-Lago New Year's Eve alongside Eric's father

Trump was going to attend last year but changed his mind when he was in Palm Beach for the holiday season and expected to drop by the gala, as he usually does.

Instead, in an unusual move, the former first couple opted to return to Washington D.C. on December 31st and skipped the party, where guests had paid up to $1,000 a ticket.

They returned to the White House where Trump focused on the upcoming certification of Joe Biden's election victory in Congress, which took place on January 6th after the Capitol was cleared of MAGA supporters who stormed the building in an attempt to disrupt the process.

Donald and Melania Trump had Christmas Eve dinner at Mar a Lago last week

The former president and first lady had Christmas Eve dinner with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump

Ivanka Trump has her arm around Jared Kushner (left) as President Trump speaks to a guest

For Christmas dinner, Melania Trump wore the $7,450 Elie Saab dress she wore to a July 2018 NATO meeting in Belgium (above)

Donald and Melania Trump are, in a tradition that predates his presidency, spending the cold weather months at his Palm Beach club with its Atlantic Ocean views.

The Trumps had Christmas Eve dinner at Mar-a-Lago, where they ate with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. The two couples sat alone at a table in the private club's main ballroom.

Photos and video posted to social media show the Trumps got a standing ovation as they walked through the ballroom to the table where Jared and Ivanka waited for them.

Unlike when he was president, the table was not roped off from the rest of the guests.

Former President Trump waved to the crowd as he made his way to his spot. Both Melania and Ivanka wore white dresses for the festive occasion. Melania wore the same $7,450 Elie Saab dress she wore to a July 2018 NATO meeting in Belgium.
Gladys Berejiklian has made good on her promise to quit politics and handed in her resignation as a member of the NSW Parliament.

The former NSW premier was one of five MPs who resigned this week, along with her former deputy and Nationals leader John Barilaro.

Ms Berejiklian quit as premier on October 1 after the Independent Commission Against Corruption announced it was investigating her.

She said that the time she would also step down as MP for Willoughby on Sydney's north shore to give her successor Dominic Perrottet a fresh start without distraction.

Mr Barilaro, ex-transport minister Andrew Constance and former NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay officially resigned alongside the ex-premier.

Months after her shock resignation as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian (pictured) has officially quit Parliament for good months prompting speculation on her next career move

Ms Berejiklian (pictured with Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant) has remained tight-lipped on her next career move but told 2GB radio's Ben Fordham she was going in a different direction

Three candidates will battle for Liberal preselection to fill Ms Berejiklian's seat including Willoughby mayor Gail Giles-Gidney, executive general manager at the Menzies Research Centre Tim James, and executive Kellie Sloane.

Speaker Jonathan O'Dea said the four resignations were effective immediately with by-elections for the electoral districts of Bega, Monaro, Strathfield, and Willoughby likely to be held on February 12.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and other federal Liberals lobbied her for Ms Berejiklian to run for the federal seat of Warringah, in Sydney's Northern Beaches in this year's election, but she turned it down.

She is instead expected to take a high-paying corporate role for at least the next few years, and may never return to politics.

That has not stopped speculation about what job she might take up in the private sector, and whether she may get the itch for public service again.

Ms Berejiklian said she was looking forward to a low-key Christmas with her loved ones she but remained tight-lipped on her next career move.

'I'm looking forward to a much less public life. I won't be contesting the federal seat of Warringah or any other seat for that matter,' she told 2GB radio.

'I'm going in a different direction and I'm looking forward to the opportunities that next year brings.'

Gladys Berejiklian will be spending Christmas with her family in a welcome break from the past two years that saw her deal with bushfires and the Covid-19 pandemic

The former premier revealed she was looking forward to spending a low-key day with her loved ones and relatives on the festive holiday (pictured, Ms Berejiklian with her boyfriend Arthur Moses)

The former leader spent Christmas with her family in a welcome break after the chaos of the last two years saw her handle bushfires and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The toned-down celebration was be a welcome change for Ms Berejiklian who has been forced to spend Christmas away from her family for the past two years.

In 2019, Ms Berejiklian visited towns and regional cities around the state that had been devastated by Black Summer bushfires.

The widespread blazes killed 26 people and razed 5.5 million hectares of land in NSW alone.

Ms Berejiklian followed fire chief Shane Fitzsimmons to visit the devastated communities and offer her support.

The ash from the massive bushfires had only begun to settle when Ms Berejiklian was forced to steer NSW through another disaster: the Covid-19 pandemic.

The former premier immediately threw all the state's resources into tackling the outbreak and fronted media almost every day to provide updates on case numbers.

Her tireless approach earned her praise from prime minister Scott Morrison who referred to Ms Berejiklian as the 'gold standard'.

Ms Berejiklian proved that she was willing to make the tough decisions when it came to combatting the virus - even at the cost of her popularity

Her tireless approach earned her praise from prime minister Scott Morrison who referred to Ms Berejiklian as the 'gold standard'

Ms Berejiklian proved that she was willing to make the tough decisions when it came to combatting the virus - even at the cost of her popularity.

The former premier was forced to plunge Sydney's Northern Beaches into a hard lockdown over Christmas 2020.

The decision was made as cases skyrocketed during an outbreak that was sparked by a Covid-19 positive airport limousine driver.

Ms Berejiklian was among the tens of thousands of families that were forced to spend Christmas alone because of the targeted lockdown.

Her popularity took another downturn following a new outbreak in Sydney's eastern suburbs in June.

Ms Berejiklian waited until cases had grown exponentially before plunging the city into lockdown - a decision that drew strong criticism from media and residents.

Ms Berejiklian waited until cases had grown exponentially before plunging the city into lockdown - a decision that drew strong criticism from media and residents (pictured, Ms Berejiklian with boyfriend Arthur Moses)

She was slammed for enforcing different restrictions around the city with the military deployed and a curfew introduced in parts of western Sydney.

Her hardline tactics proved successful as case numbers slowly declined and Ms Berejiklian was just weeks away from easing restrictions before she announced she would be standing down as premier.

In October, Ms Berejiklian made the unexpected announcement as ICAC carried out an investigation into her relationship with former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire.

The ICAC revealed it was investigating whether she had breached the public's trust or had a conflict of interest during the relationship.

The former state leader has denied any wrongdoing and the anti-corruption body is yet to hand down its findings on the matter.
A pricey Park Avenue triplex townhouse is allegedly being used as a den of iniquity during the pandemic by squatters who were initially subletting the pricey 3,000 sq foot property for $16,000 a month.

According to a newly-filed lawsuit, the Murray Hill townhouse which is said to be worth close to $7 million is now allegedly a venue for people to play poker, hold parties late into the night and has even been a place for prostitution in what has essentially become 'members only' club.

The original tenant, a Brazilian interior designer, Patricia Taub, decided to sublet the five bedroom brownstone on East 36th Street in Manhattan to Ashley Jurman, from November 2020.

Kenyatti Adams, pictured, is allegedly squatting in the Park Avenue townhouse which has been the scene of 'pot smoking, loud parties and prostitution' since the pandemic began

But in court papers seen by the New York Post, Jurman does not appear to be just any other tenant.

Soon after moving into the property, complaints about noise and anti-social behavior began piling up with calls to the city's 311 hotline with the NYPD receiving 14 complaints about loud music in the four months since November 2020 to March 2021.

Nearby residents living along Park Avenue complained about the music, pot smoking and the sheer numbers of people coming and going from the building.

One of the complainants noted how people would wait in line to enter the townhouse before emerging onto a balcony to drink and smoke.

'It appears that they are using an apartment as a club. Loud music, marijuana smell, not following social distancing rules. Not wearing mask. Two men that act as bouncers standing outside. This happens on the weekend,' one complaint to the Department of Buildings in December 2020 notes.

The apartment is owned by Mitch Spaiser who had bought the place in 2012

The original tenant, a Brazilian interior designer, Patricia Taub, pictured, decided to sublet the five bedroom brownstone on East 36th Street in Manhattan to Ashley Jurman, from November 2020, who has in turn now allegedly allowed another tenant to move in

Another bizarre complaint arose from another resident of the building, Shan Haider, that depicted video of a straggler from Jurman's apartment breaking and entering into his own, alongside a woman, with his genitals exposed.

'I complained so many times,' he told The Post nothing that partying would regularly continue until 4am.

The apartment is owned by Mitch Spaiser who had bought the pad in 2012 as an investment. But the calls about incessant partying appeared to begin once Jurman moved in.

'I was getting calls from people in the neighborhood like threatening my life,' he said to the Post.

Upon trying to evict Jurman, he demanded tens of thousands of dollars to pack his bags and leave.

A lawsuit has now been brought against both designer Taub and Jurman in the hope of bringing the unhappy episode to an end.

Another of those named in the lawsuit is Kenyatti Adams who moved in with Jurman in the spring of last year.

One social media posting by Kenyatti Adams, pictured, sees an invite to a poker game that required a $1,000 minimum to play with an event featuring drinks and 'talent' at the home

'Adams is using the premises to host illegal poker games, to host sex trafficking and prostitution activities, and to hold illegal after hours parties. He mainly enters on the weekend and leaves during the weekdays,' court papers allege.

Adams is now said to be the sole occupant of the residence after Jurman moved out.

He has claimed COVID-19 hardship since moving in and has said he is unable to pay rent due to the pandemic.

He has acknowledged that he plays poker but has denied ever doing anything illegal. at the property.

One social media posting included in the papers sees an invite to a poker game that required a $1,000 minimum to play with an event featuring drinks and 'talent.'

Spaiser filed a lawsuit after his tenant, Brazilian interior designer, Patricia Taub, sublet the pad to Ashley Jurman who has since allowed Kenyatti Adams to live there, who is refusing to leave

'This is a case of the most egregious abuse of New York's tenant protection laws being wrongfully used by bad actors to manipulate and take advantage of the system at the expense of the owners,' said Spaiser's lawyer, Victor Feraru.

Adam's lawyer, Lowell Sidney, noted that his client paid rent in the past and was neither a squatter or hosting any kind of activities that might be illegal.

Meanwhile, Jurman's lawyer, Michael Mueller, also 'denies having any part in any alleged drug use or prostitution.'
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has refused to attend 'respectful workplace' training because she's 'too hold to sexually harass anyone'.

The federal government offered voluntary one-hour training courses for politicians after former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins alleged she was raped in Parliament House.

But Senator Hanson, 67, has refused to take part, with her spokesman telling Nine Newspapers 'she's too old to sexually harass anyone.'

Pauline Hanson speaking to crowds during a protest against Queensland's mandatory vaccination laws on the Gold Coast in November

Liberal Senator Gerard Rennick has also refused to sign up, saying the program would not actually help women's safety.

The face-to-face training is mandatory for ministers and their staff but voluntary for the opposition and backbenchers.

In February, Ms Higgins came forward with allegations she was raped by a fellow Liberal Party staffer in 2019.

The Morrison Government has since agreed to adopt an independent complaints mechanism for serious incidents and the one-hour training sessions.

A spokesman for Senator Hanson confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that she would not be doing the training but declined to confirm why.

The One Nation leader made headlines last month when she introduced a bill to override the states and ban all vaccine discrimination.

The bill was supported by five rogue Coalition senators Matt Canavan, Gerard Rennick, Alex Antic, Sam McMahon, and Concetta Fierravanti-Wells.

But it was voted down by the Coalition, Labor, and the Greens.

'I was devastated they didn't want to give the Australian people an opportunity to have their say,' Senator Hanson said.
Michelle Obama shared an adorable New Year's Eve picture of herself and her 'boo' Barack wearing 2022 glasses as she wished everyone a happy New Year's.

The fun post came one day after the former first lady posted a tribute to actress Betty White who passed away that same day.

Michelle, 57, posted a tribute of the late Golden Girls actress on her Instagram page which featured White with the family dog Bo who had passed away in May 2021.

The photo featured the smiling actress holding the family's Portuguese Water Dog in 2012 while she was on a visit to the White House.

The former First Lady reminisced on her memory of White and the time she had spent with the Obama family.

'Betty White broke barriers, defied expectations, served her country, and pushed us all to laugh,' Obama wrote in her post. 'She was also an animal lover and activist, and Bo loved spending time with her.'

'There was no one quite like her, and Barack and I join so many who will miss the joy she brought to the world. I know our Bo is looking forward to seeing her up in heaven.'

Shortly after the post was made, the former first couple rung in the new year as the pair were seen wearing the themed glasses with Michelle's over Barack's shoulder.

'Happy New Year from me and my boo! Wishing you all a year filled with happiness, love, and good health,' Obama said in the Twitter post.

After the tribute was posted, the Obamas took again to social media to commemorate the new year

Former First Lady Michelle Obama paid tribute to late actress Betty White on Friday posing with the family dog Bo who passed away in May 2021

She wrote that Betty was an animal lover and that their dog Bo is 'looking forward to seeing her in heaven'

White, who died at the age of 99 on Friday, was only two and a half weeks away from celebrating her 100th birthday in January.

'Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever,' White's agent and friend Jeff Witjas told PEOPLE.

'I will miss her terribly and so will the animal world that she loved so much.

'I don't think Betty ever feared passing because she always wanted to be with her most beloved husband Allen Ludden. She believed she would be with him again.'

Since the announcement of her death, fans and celebrities took to social media to honor the late Golden Girls actress.

Stars such as Ryan Reynolds, Sandra Bullock, Reese Witherspoon, Viola Davis, Debra Messing and Diane Kruger paid their respects on social media following the news.

Other White House officials such as President Joe Biden paid tribute to the late Golden Girls actress

Former White House photographer posted a photo of White speaking with Barack Obama in the Oval Office

Members of the White House staff also paid tribute to White including President Joe Biden.

'Betty White brought a smile to the lips of generations of Americans,' Biden wrote on Twitter.

'She's a cultural icon who will be sorely missed. Jill and I are thinking of her family and all those who loved her this New Year's Eve.'

Pete Souza, a former White House photographer, also posted a photo of White with Barack with the pair seen laughing in the Oval Office.

'She made us laugh. All of us,' Souza wrote in the post. 'RIP Betty White.'

In addition to her work as an actress, White was also remembered as an avid dog lover.

White poses with her dog Chow as a child as she would often exchange radios for goods which included animals

Betty White, an outspoken animal rights activist poses with her dog in 1972

According to PEOPLE, she told the magazine in 1999 that she had owned 26 dogs and even co-authored two books about guide dogs.

She also had close ties with the Guide Dogs for the Blind to which she generously donated gifts to the organization as well as becoming a celebrity spokesperson for them.

Her undying love for animals began as a child when her father built radios during the Great Depression to make extra money.

Nobody had money for the radios so he would often trade them for other goods, including dogs. At one point, the Whites owned up to 15 'well-loved' dogs.

'Now, radios didn't eat, but the dogs did. So it was not the best business venture,' she added.

White died on December 31, 2021 at the age of 99, only weeks before her 100th birthday

White was best known for her iconic role as Rose Nylund in the NBC series Golden Girls which premiered on September 14, 1985

White also was not shy about revealing her preference to animals over human company. '

Can you blame me?' she said. 'Animals don't lie. Animals don't criticize. If animals have moody days, they handle them better than humans do.'

In addition to real animals, White also had a quirky obsession for stuffed animals - a subject that she risked 'having a net thrown over me' for discussing it in her book.

Two rooms in her Los Angeles and Carmel homes were devoted to her plush pets.

'I especially love the exotic ones  there is an anteater, a rhinoceros, a beluga whale, an armadillo, a bearnot a Teddy, a grizzlythe list goes on.'

'When a new member joins the group, I introduce him to the others. The animals have been collected over the years  I don't actually go out and buy them.'
Prince Andrew's effort to immediately block the progression of a lawsuit by a woman who says he sexually assaulted her when she was 17  on the grounds that she no longer lives in the U.S.  was rejected by a federal judge as oral arguments were set to proceed Monday on the prince's request to dismiss the lawsuit.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, in a written order Friday, told the prince's lawyers they must turn over documents on the schedule that has been set in the lawsuit brought in August by Virginia Giuffre.

Giuffre says she was abused by the prince on multiple occasions in 2001 while she was being sexually abused by financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The prince's attorney, Andrew Brettler, has called the lawsuit 'baseless.'

Prince Andrew's effort to immediately block the progression of a lawsuit by a woman who says he sexually assaulted her when she was 17  on the grounds that she no longer lives in the U.S.  was rejected by a federal judge. Prince Andrew was seen for the first time on Friday since his friend Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of child sex trafficking

The order was filed three days before the scheduled public release Monday of a 2009 settlement agreement between Epstein and Giuffre. Lawyers for Andrew say that the agreement protects the prince from claims like those brought by Giuffre and will be sufficient grounds for the lawsuit's dismissal.

The prince's lawyers had claimed that the evidence was so strong that Giuffre does not reside in the United States that it was pointless to exchange evidence until that question is resolved because it could result in the lawsuit's dismissal.

They argued that Giuffre has lived in Australia all but two of the past 19 years, has an Australian driver's license and lives in a $1.9 million home in Perth, Western Australia, where she has been raising three children with her husband, who is Australian.

In a statement, Giuffre attorney Sigrid McCawley called the request to halt the case 'just another in a series of tired attempts by Prince Andrew to duck and dodge the legal merits of the case Virginia Giuffre has brought against him. All parties in litigation are subject to discovery and Prince Andrew is no exception.'

Virginia Giuffre - the woman who claims she was forced to sleep with Prince Andrew when she was 17 - is pictured with her lawyer, David Boies

Andrew vehemently denies her assertions and says he cannot recall meeting her, despite the picture of them together at the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell - the British socialite convicted of multiple counts of child sex trafficking for her billionaire pedophile boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein - in March 2001

Kaplan, in a one-page order, noted that the prince's lawyers have requested that 'extensive' materials be turned over by Giuffre by January 14, including documents related to where she has lived. And he said the prince's attorneys have not yet formally raised the defense that the lawsuit cannot proceed on the grounds that Giuffre has been living in Australia rather than Colorado, where her lawyers say she is a resident.

In the cover page of a lawsuit in September 2015, Giuffre listed her address as Penrose, Colorado. In the cover letter of an April 2019 lawsuit, she listed her address as Palm Cove, Australia, and marked a box as 'citizen or subject of a foreign country.' But in her lawsuit against the prince, she listed her address as Ocean Reef, Western Australia, but checked a box that said 'citizen of another state.'

Kaplan, in a one-page order, noted that the prince's lawyers have requested that 'extensive' materials be turned over by Giuffre by January 14, including documents related to where she has lived

Kaplan's order expressed no opinion on the merits of the prince's claims that Giuffre should be disqualified from suing because she lives in Australia.

Oral arguments via a video teleconference on the prince's request to dismiss the case are scheduled for Monday morning.

In October, the prince's lawyers attacked the lawsuit on multiple grounds, saying Giuffre had made false claims against Andrew because he 'never sexually abused or assaulted' her.

'Giuffre has initiated this baseless lawsuit against Prince Andrew to achieve another payday at his expense and at the expense of those closest to him. Epstein's abuse of Giuffre does not justify her public campaign against Prince Andrew,' the written arguments said.

Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

His former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, 60, was convicted Wednesday of charges including sex trafficking and conspiracy after a month-long trial.

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they choose to come forward publicly, as Giuffre has.
Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government has planned to offer virtual treatment via home isolation to COVID-19 patients who have received both doses of vaccination and have been affected by the Omicron variant, Health Minister Ma Subramanian said on Sunday.

The virtual treatment would include the Omicron-affected individuals who have not received the vaccination but are 'asymptomatic'.

They would be under constant monitoring by a medical team, the Minister for Health and Family Welfare said here.

Subramanian was talking to reporters after inspecting a medical camp in Chennai as part of the 17th Mega Vaccination Camp being held through 50,000 vaccination camps across the state.

"When there is an increase in Omicron-affected cases (in Tamil Nadu), the vaccinated patients affected by Omicron will be offered treatment under home isolation and those who have not been vaccinated and asymptomatic will be placed under constant monitoring by a team. Virtual treatment will be commenced soon in the state", he said.

Only those who require hospitalisation would be admitted to a hospital for treatment, he said. According to the state health department, Tamil Nadu has officially declared 121 Omicron cases as of Saturday.

Subramanian claimed those infected with the Omicron variant mostly test negative after three days, and require only five days of treatment.

"It has been planned to monitor them under home isolation (after they get discharged from hospital post recovery)," he said.

Noting that the medical infrastructure in Tamil Nadu has been strengthened, he said the department has informed the management of Victoria Hostel in the city, to vacate the premises for setting up beds to treat COVID-19 patients. The hostel was converted into a COVID Care Centre last year when the second wave of the contagion was at its peak in the state.

"Already facilities with 1,000 medical beds each, have been set up in places like Injambakkam, Manjambakkam... Similarly, a 800-bed facility will be set up at the Chennai Trade Centre in Nandambakkam," Subramanian said.

Referring to the sharp rise in new cases in the state, the minister reiterated that people should wear a face mask while going out and unvaccinated ones should get themselves inoculated.

He said the vaccination process for those aged between 15 to 18 will be kicked off from Monday by Chief Minister M K Stalin at a government high school in Saidapet.

The department was also targeting to vaccinate four lakh engineering students studying in various colleges in the state, he said.

"Out of this (four lakh students), only 46 per cent have received the first dose of vaccines, while 12 per cent got the second dose," he said.

The proposal to vaccinate the frontline workers with booster doses would be rolled out from January 10 by setting up camps in the state, he said. "Those who are above 60 years and those frontline workers who have completed nine months after receiving the double vaccination will be targeted during this campaign. It will be inaugurated by Chief Minister M K Stalin", he said.

Health department Principal Secretary J Radhakrishnan said currently 96 lakh individuals are eligible to receive the second dose of vaccination while 70 lakh people are yet to receive the first dose in the state.

Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi said the civic body has collected Rs 105 crore as fines from people who have not adhered to COVID-19 protocols in public.

He said those who want to seek information on COVID-19 may contact the 24x7 call centre facility: 044-2538 4520 and 044-4612 2300.
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A massive fire has completely destroyed South Africa's National Assembly collapsing the roof and gutting an entire floor in one building, as the blaze at the historic legislature continues to rage into the night.

Police arrested a 51-year-old man in the building and an investigation has been opened into the fire.

It started at around 3am on Sunday in the parliament complex's oldest wing, which was completed in 1884 and has wood-panelled rooms.

'The entire chamber where the members sit... has burned down,' parliamentary spokesman Moloto Mothapo said.

He added that the blaze had still not been extinguished and two fires had apparently been sparked in two separate areas of the precinct.

No casualties had been reported but President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters at the scene a man had been held and that sprinkler systems had apparently failed.

Later on Sunday, police said a suspect in his 50s was due in court.

'A man has been arrested inside the parliament, he's still being interrogated. We have opened a criminal case. He has been arrested and will appear in court on Tuesday,' police spokeswoman Thandi Mbambo said.

The historic parliament building houses a collection of rare books and the original copy of the former Afrikaans national anthem Die Stem van Suid-Afrika (The Voice of South Africa), which was already damaged.

'The roof of the Old Assembly building has collapsed and is gone,' Jean-Pierre Smith, Cape Town's mayoral committee member for safety and security, told reporters earlier.

'The entire building has suffered extensively smoke and water damage,' Smith said, adding 'the fire has not been contained'.

After ravaging the older wing of the building, the flames spread to newer parts of the complex which are currently in use.

'Firefighters are currently trying to control the fire in the New Wing, where the fire has affected the National Assembly Chamber,' Mothapo told an online news conference earlier in the day.

The imposing red and white building wsas still shrouded in a thick cloud of black at midday.

Firefighters spray water at South Africa's parliament building in Cape Town after a major fire has broke out earlier this morning

Black smoke and flames were seen rising into the sky after the blaze, which started in the early hours of the morning in the third floor offices, tore through the building

Firefighters use a crane to get to the roof of the National Assembly building in the South African Parliamentary complex

A team of firefighters, who were first to arrive at the scene, battled the flames for several hours before being forced to retreat and call for reinforcements.

Around 70 firefighters were later deployed, some using a crane to spray water on the blaze.

Former Cape Town mayor and current minister Patricia de Lille warned it would still be several hours before the fire was brought under control.

Inside the rooms, fine showers of grey ash fell from the ceiling to the floor, which was already littered with debris.

Emergency services said they feared the fire could spread swiftly through the old rooms, which are decorated with wood, thick carpets and curtains.

Images broadcast on television had earlier shown giant flames leaping from the roof.

The area around the fire in the upmarket neighbourhood was quickly cordoned off.

The cordon stretched to a square where flowers were still displayed in front of the nearby St. George's Cathedral, where anti-apartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu's funeral took place on Saturday.

After a simple, no-frills mass, with a cheap coffin - according to the famously modest Tutu's instructions - his ashes were interred in the cathedral on Sunday.

Flames rip through the building as emergency crews spray water on the fire and try to tackle the blaze today

Emergency crews at the scene at the South African Parliament building in Cape Town after a fire broke out

Plumes of smoke rose into the air after a major fire broke out at South Africa's Houses of Parliament in Cape Town today.

Firefighters rushed to the scene as large flames tore through the building and a huge column of smoke was seen rising into the sky at around 5.30am local time.

The blaze started on the third floor of an old building that houses offices and spread to the National Assembly building, where South Africa's Parliament now sits, Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Patricia de Lille said.

No one has been injured and the cause of the fire has not yet been confirmed by police.

Ms De Lille told local media: 'The fire is currently in the National Assembly chambers. This is a very sad day for democracy for Parliament is the home of our democracy.'

A spokesperson for the city's emergency services said: 'The roof has caught fire and the National Assembly building is also on fire.

'The fire is not under control and cracks in the walls of the building have been reported.'

Today, images showed a mass of flames ripping through what appeared to be the roof of the building.

A giant crane was also used by firefighters to spray water over the burning building as they tackled the ferocious blaze.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was briefed on the fire, Ms De Lille said, but it was too early to speculate on a cause.

Today parliament speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula cautioned against speculation that it was a deliberate attack.

'Until such a time that a report has been furnished that there was arson, we have to be careful not to make suggestions that there was an attack,' she said.

A cordon which stretches to St. George's Cathedral, where Archbishop Desmond Tutu's funeral took place on Saturday, is now in place in the region.

The Houses of Parliament in Cape Town consist of three sections, including the original and oldest building that was completed in 1884.

The newer additions - constructed in the 1920s and 1980s - house the National Assembly.

Streets appear empty as the fire continues to rip through the Houses of Parliament in Cape Town today

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa briefs reporters after visiting South Africa's Parliament following a large fire in Cape Town

Firefighters spray water on the flames erupting from a building at South Africa's Parliament in Cape Town

Plumes of smoke rise into the air after a fire began to tear through parliament building in South Africa's Cape Town this morning

Firefighters and emergency vehicles as the scene after the blaze started in the early hours of the morning in the third floor offices before spreading to the National Assembly chamber

A firefighter walks past as crews try to stop the spread of the fire which began in the early hours of today

Smoke rising into the air from the roof of the building as firefighter try to tackle the blaze which began this morning

A column of black smoke rises into the air as the blaze rips through the Houses of Parliament in South Africa

In April last year, a fire ravaged part of The University of Cape Town's library housing a unique collection of African archives.

The scenes come just a day after Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died at the end of last week aged 90, was laid to rest following a touching ceremony at St George's Cathedral in Cape Town.

A hero of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, the state funeral for the Nobel Peace Prize winner was held at the cathedral where for years he preached against racial injustice.

Delivering the main eulogy, President Cyril Ramaphosa lauded the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu as 'our moral compass and national conscience' as South Africa bade farewell at a state funeral to a hero of the struggle against apartheid.

Mr Ramaphosa accorded Tutu a special category funeral, usually designated for presidents and very important people.

He also handed South Africa's multicoloured flag to Tutu's widow, Leah - a reminder of her husband's description of the post-apartheid country as the 'Rainbow Nation'.
Only Australia's rich could be able to buy rapid antigen tests unless federal and state governments step in to make them free for everyone, a leading epidemiologist has warned.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has come under heavy fire over his decision to leave the rollout of rapid test kits to the private market and not make them free, which have sparked skyrocketing prices and heavily restricted access to the in-demand product.

Pharmacy and supermarket shelves have been stripped bare of rapid antigen tests in recent weeks with some stores now charging up to $20 for a single test as the Omicron crisis worsens.

Demand soared exponentially after NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet last week pleaded with Australians to refrain from getting a PCR test unless advised by health officials or are symptomatic to relieve the enormous strain on testing clinics and waiting times for results.

University of NSW Professor of epidemiology Mary-Louise McLaws has called for testing clinics to use PCR tests on symptomatic people, with rapid tests to be made free so more people can access them.

Overseas, rapid tests are plentiful and used regularly by healthy people to ensure they're not carrying the virus asymptomatically before visiting friends and loved ones.

There are growing calls for rapid antigen tests to befree to ease the demand on Covid testing sites (pictured in Sydney)

Poll SHOULD RAPID ANTIGEN TESTS REPLACE PCRs? Yes - they are cheap and easy Yes - but only in some circumstances No - they are not as accurate SHOULD RAPID ANTIGEN TESTS REPLACE PCRs? Yes - they are cheap and easy 180 votes

Yes - but only in some circumstances 185 votes

No - they are not as accurate 106 votes Now share your opinion





The World Health Organisation adviser warned in a series of tweets that rapid tests are becoming reserved for the 'privileged and wealthy', saying governments need to rethink their current stance.

'To reduce cost, test hubs could use PCR on those with symptoms & rapid antigen test (RATs) on all others. Cheaper but still effective,' Professor McLaws tweeted on Sunday.

'Without providing free RATs to households, only privileged & wealthy will be able to protect themselves & reduce wider risk of spread.

'Real leaders can be honest, here is what a real leader could say: case numbers & testing are important, COVID infects within minutes & travels more than 1.5m, long-covid is real & hospital numbers only part of story, gov can supply free RATs & better than PCR three days ago.'

She estimated governments have spent $3.7billion on 54 million PCR tests since early 2020 and called for health workers to take daily RATs before entering hospitals to reduce spread to patients.

A plea to refrain from getting a PCR test unless advised by health officials or are symptomatic has sparked a critical shortage of raid antigen tests (pictured a sign on a Sydney chemist)

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Professor McLaws' comments were flooded with comments as many Australians shared their own horror stories of trying to track down RAT tests.

'Covid doesnt discriminate the rich and the poor. If the poor are going to get sick than the privileged & wealthy are also going get infected. However when resources run out itll be a battle of the rich vs poor .. young vs elderly,' one wrote.

Professor McLaws isn't the only health expert to weigh in on the widespread debate.

Australian Medical Association vice president Dr Chris Moy believes the recent price gouging on RAT tests could have been avoided by the federal government.

'Response to query re RAT STRATEGY was essentially that they did not feel need to intervene where private market could provide. Now Fed/State/Private blame game over market failure in providing critical tool. So no RAT strategy. Or can I say #noRATegy,' he tweeted.

Dr Moy agrees with Professor McLaws in that increasing the availability of RAT tests for frontline health workers is critical.

Professor Mary-Louise McLaws (pictured) fears rapid antigen tests could soon only be accessible to the 'privileged and wealthy' unless governments rethink their current stance.

She also called on called for testing clinics to use PCR tests on people with Covid symptoms and rapid tests on others.

Three months ago, Dr Moy spoke about how critical RAT tests would be as Australia transitioned to 'living with Covid'.

'The tests will have a role in how businesses, workplaces and other public environments manage after borders are lifted. Rapid antigen testing is not as accurate as polymerase chain reaction  it generally picks up people when they are most infectious,' he previously told The Advertiser.

Meanwhile, Grattan Institute's Health Program Director Stephen Duckett has called for RAT tests to be free.

'The benefits of my using a RAT fall mostly on others. Economic theory would suggest that the test should be fully subsidised,' he tweeted.

He added in a follow-up tweet: 'Increased mixing over Christmas and New Year, more transmissible variant, who could have predicted more tests might be needed?'

Australian Medical Association vice president Dr Chris Moy has slammed the federal government on its stance regarding the rollout of RAT tests

Lucy Turnbull, the wife of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull also believes they should be free.

'I don't see a functional difference between PCR test (which are fully subsidised ) and RAT tests. Especially in a major pandemic. Test Trace Isolate and Q needs a robust and widely used testing system. Some highly tests are $12 now. That is a big burden on many,' she commented on Dr Duckett's tweet.

NSW and Victoria have each secured millions of free rapid tests, which will be distributed to the public by the end of January.

NSW recorded 18,278 new infections on Sunday as Victoria reported 7172 more cases.
The computer programming flaw known as the Millennium bug which plagued PCs in 2000 is back, with Microsoft Exchange users reporting similar problems accessing emails 22 years later.

The issue taking down exchange servers worldwide began as the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve.

System administrators at Microsoft have dubbed the glitch Y2K22 in reference to the Y2K bug, a computer programming issue which affected some computers at the turn of the millennium 22 years ago.

As the new millennium approached, computer programmers realised that their software might not interpret 00 as 2000, but as 1900 - a glitch that many feared would spell disaster for governments, corporations, banks and industries worldwide.

Many economists predicted a worldwide recession, and doomsday flyers warning of an apocalyptic fallout as a result of computer malfunctions were published en-masse in the late 1990s.

Fortunately, the computer apocalypse never came to pass, with only minimal disruptions recorded, but the issue has come back to plague some Microsoft Exchange servers 22 years later.

The issue taking down exchange servers worldwide began as the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve

Microsoft is yet to confirm the technical details of the failure, but has said that engineers are 'working around the clock on a fix' which will 'require several days to develop and deploy'

The UK Government published flyers about the bug in the late 1990s. As the new millennium approached, computer programmers realised that their software might not interpret 00 as 2000, but as 1900 - a glitch that many feared would spell disaster for governments, corporations, banks and industries worldwide.

The issue stems from the way that Microsoft names updates for its malware-scanning engine, which uses the year, month and date before another four-digit number, known as a update number.

For example, in this case the update number would be 220101, followed by 0001.

This system is used to keep track of updates, with the most recent update being assigned a higher value.

But the field in which the update number is stored appears to have a limit of 31 bit, meaning the maximum value that can be inputted is two to the power of 31, or 2,147,483,648.

When the calendar ticked over to 2022, the naming system exceeded the maximum value and failed.

As a result, Microsoft's anti-malware scanning software, which queues and checks messages before they are delivered to the recipient, is queueing emails and not sending them on.

Microsoft is yet to confirm the technical details of the failure, but has said that engineers are 'working around the clock on a fix' so that customers can avoid fiddling with their on-site servers to allow employees to access their emails again.

Don Cruickshank, Chairman of the Action 2000 Group, with his 'Last chance guide 'responsible for anticipating YK2 problems

Many economists predicted a worldwide recession, and doomsday flyers warning of an apocalyptic fallout as a result of computer malfunctions were published en-masse in the late 1990s.

Microsoft has said the fix will 'require several days to develop and deploy' and that engineers are working on a different update which will require customer action, but will also offer 'the quickest time to resolution.'

The company added: 'The version checking performed against the signature file is causing the malware engine to crash, resulting in messages being stuck in transport queues.'

System administrators have taken to social media to share workarounds, which involves disabling anti-malware scanning, leaving systems open to attack.

'Don't wait for the Microsoft patch if you are not sure your Exchange Server storage has the capacity to hold all queued messages without filling up disks and crashing,' they wrote.

'Apply the workaround now to release the messages sooner than later.'

However, Microsoft have warned the workarounds should only be used 'if you have an existing malware scanner for email other than the engine in Exchange Server.'

System administrators have taken to social media to share workarounds, which involves disabling anti-malware scanning, leaving systems open to attack

The Microsoft Exchange team added: 'We expect to have this update to you shortly along with the actions required by you. We are sorry for any inconvenience that this issue has caused.'

The issue will be familiar to those who remember the Millennium bug which became known as the Y2K scare by the general public in the years leading up to 2000.

As the new millennium approached, computer programmers realised that their software might not interpret 00 as 2000, but as 1900 - a glitch that many feared would spell disaster for governments, corporations, banks and industries worldwide.

Some forecasters predicted the potential consequences of the bug would require between $400m and $600b to fix, leading to panic buying among the public.

People stocked up on food and water, withdrew large sums of money and purchased backup generators in anticipation of a computer programmed apocalypse when the clock struck midnight in 2000.

But, contrary to popular opinion at the time, few major errors occurred, mostly due to the pre-emptive action of computer programmers and tech experts. By 2000, companies in most countries had checked, fixed and upgraded their systems to address the issue.

It was feared the Y2K bug could cause computer shutdowns at the turn of the millennium

People across the world stocked up on food and water, withdrew large sums of money and purchased backup generators in anticipation of the potential issues caused by Y2K

Some problems did still crop up on January 1, 2000, however.

In Sheffield, the bug caused a miscalculation of the ages of several expecting mothers, and sent incorrect risk assessments for Down Syndrome to 154 pregnant women.

As a direct result, two abortions were carried out and four babies with the syndrome were born to mothers who had previously been told they were in a low risk group.

In Ishikawa, Japan, radiation monitoring equipment failed at midnight, but officials insisted there was no risk to the public and backup system worked without issue, save for an alarm which sounded at a nuclear power plant at 00:02 in Onagawa.

In the US, computers at ground control station stopped processing information from an unspecified number of spy satellites at midnight, but normal functionality was restored within days.
Priti Patel has vowed to slow down visa applications from nations who are refusing to take back criminals and asylum seekers from the UK.

The Home Secretary plans to 'impose visa penalties' on countries who don't 'cooperate' on deportations in a fresh crackdown on those who are 'abusing our hospitality'.

She revealed Gambia will be first for the stricter measures after they 'ignored' calls and 'only took four criminals' back last year.

Meanwhile, Sierra Leone, Eritrea, Cambodia and Vietnam are also under consideration for visa penalties after their records for taking back deportations were also low.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has vowed to slow down visa applications from nations who are refusing to take back criminals and asylum seekers from the UK

She revealed Gambia will be first for the stricter measures after they 'ignored' calls and 'only took four criminals' back last year. Meanwhile, Sierra Leone, Eritrea, Cambodia and Vietnam are also under consideration for visa penalties after their records for taking back deportations were also low

Speaking to the The Sun on Sunday, she said: 'Some countries do not cooperate on returns and so we will impose visa penalties on countries who refuse to take criminals back.

'We rightly take back British citizens who commit crimes abroad and other countries do the same.'

The number of foreign criminals released from prison on to the streets reached a record high of almost 11,000.

Official figures show that at the end of June there were 10,882 foreign national offenders who had been released from jail but not deported.

All are subject to deportation because they were handed prison sentences of at least 12 months.

This comes as Ms Patel will be granted new powers to impose visa penalties on countries that do not cooperate on deportations, under new reforms in the Nationality and Borders Bill.

She will be able to suspend visas entirely, impose a 190 surcharge on applications to come to the UK or increase visa processing times - and aims to encourage other countries to cooperate with the UK government.

Meanwhile, Ministers are plotting to ease immigration restrictions that could help thousands of Indian citizens both live and work in the UK more easily in 2022.

The move is said to be a key point that could dominate trade talks that are due to commence between the two countries in Delhi later this month.

International trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan is primed to dangle the offer in front of Indian representatives as part of a Government plan to curb China's growing influence in the region.

One senior government insider explained that ministers generally accepted that a 'generous' visa offer would be the necessary counterbalance in any trade talks.

Ms Trevelyan is said to be backed by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, but will likely face pressure from Home Secretary Priti Patel who does not support the move, reports the Times.

As part of trade talks between the UK and India immigration restrictions could be eased that would see thousands more Indian citizens more easily live and work in Britain. Pictured: Residents pictured in Katra, India

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (above) is said to back the plans that would see immigration curbs on Indians relaxed

India-UK: As trade talks heat up, are the pair closer than before? As talk of a potential historic free trade deal between India and the UK continues, 2021 saw plenty of moves that brought the two nations closer together. At the turn of 2021, the PM had been due to visit India but his plans were cancelled because of Covid-19. The trip was then rescheduled for April but the coronavirus crisis again wreaked havoc with Mr Johnson's plans. But in the May, the two countries agreed on a 1billion trade and investment deal that would see 6,000 new jobs created in the UK. The partnership contains more than 533million of new investment from India, said Downing Street. This includes 240million from the Serum Institute of India to support clinical trials, research and potential vaccine production. Both Mr Johnson and his counterpart Narendra Modi agreed to a '2030 Roadmap' which they said will deliver a 'quantum leap' in relations during a virtual-meeting last Spring. Speaking of their partnership, the PM said that the relationship between the UK and India is of 'huge importance'. Advertisement

As part of the plans, Indian citizens could be offered similar visa deal to those given to Australians - allowing young workers the right to live and work in Britain for up to three years.

Other mooted options include slashing visa fees for Indian students, and allowing them a temporary stay in the country after graduation.

Work and tourism visas - which at present can cost up to 1,400 - could also be cheapened in a move to sweeten the Delhi representatives.

A free trade agreement between both India and the UK would solidify a closer economic relationship between the pair, which began last May when a 1billion trade and investment deal was announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

No 10 had said UK businesses had secured export deals worth more than 446million and was expected to create more than 400 jobs.

At the time, Mr Johnson said: 'Each and every one of the more than 6,500 jobs announced today will help families and communities build back from coronavirus and boost the British and Indian economies.'

Both Mr Johnson and his counterpart Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to a '2030 Roadmap' which they said will deliver a 'quantum leap' in relations during a virtual-meeting last Spring.

As an emerging market and one of the world's most populous nations, India's GDP (gross domestic product) stands at around 2 trillion despite not having a bilateral trade deal with the US or the EU.

Britain will be hoping its close ties with India could see it trump the rest of the world and secure an historic trade deal, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson promises to go 'further and faster' to push Britain ahead in a post-Brexit world.

Ministers agree that any agreement with Delhi would provide British businesses with a huge head start in what is anticipated to be the world's third largest economy by 2050.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be hoping his efforts to charm Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (left) at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in November will help them on their way to positive trade talks

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to lead post-Brexit trade talks Liz Truss will take direct responsibility for post-Brexit trade talks following the dramatic resignation of Lord Frost. The Foreign Secretary, a favourite of Tory grassroots activists, will take on the role of lead negotiator despite having campaigned on the Remain side during the referendum campaign. The work will be on top of her present job  and her role as minister for women and equalities. During her stint as International Trade Secretary, Miss Truss received praise for reaching deals with countries including Japan, and Australia. And despite having supported Remain in 2016, she says she would now vote for Brexit if the chance came again. Advertisement

India, largely a protectionist economy that imposes significant tariffs on imports, has discussed the possibility to loosening those restrictions for British products, including whisky which can face import duties of up to 150 per cent.

However, the UK's trade arm is said to view a more ambitious free-trade agreement that includes access to India's burgeoning technology sector as its end goal.

A Department for International Trade spokesman said in a statement: 'A free-trade agreement [with India] will open up huge opportunities for UK businesses.'

Mrs Truss is now taking over direct responsibility for post-Brexit trade talks following the dramatic resignation of Lord Frost.

The Foreign Secretary, a favourite of Tory grassroots activists, will take on the role of lead negotiator despite having campaigned on the Remain side during the referendum campaign.

The work will be on top of her present job  and her role as minister for women and equalities.

During her stint as International Trade Secretary, Miss Truss received praise for reaching deals with countries including Japan, and Australia. And despite having supported Remain in 2016, she says she would now vote for Brexit if the chance came again.
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The UK is set to face bitterly cold conditions as low as 3C (37F) from Tuesday after officially recording its warmest New Year's Day in history.

Temperatures are set to plummet to around 7C (44.6F) in London and Cardiff and a chilly 3C in Edinburgh as an Arctic chill begins to make its way across the nation.

Forecasters have now issued yellow weather warning for wind and snow for northern Scotland for Tuesday and Wednesday, with gusts of up to 70mph and 'blizzard conditions' expected to hit the region.

A weather warning for thunderstorms has also been issued for the south of England today as a band of stormy weather makes its way from Exeter to Norwich.

The chilly forecast comes just a day after Britain officially recorded its warmest New Year's Day in history as the Met Office confirmed temperatures nudged over 16C (61F) in the capital yesterday.

Waves crash against the harbour wall on a beach in Folkestone, Kent, today as parts of the country prepare for strong winds and snow

A group of daredevil swimmers plunge into the rough seas at West Bay in Dorset as the region was left windy and overcast today

A young girl flies her kite during strong winds on the beach in Folkestone, Kent, as storm clouds gather in the region today

A group of people take a walk along the Thames path on New Year's day as the nation prepares for temperatures to plummet

People take their dogs for a walk along the Thames as the country enjoyed mild temperatures this weekend

Water covers the Welney wash area as the water levels of The Old Bedford river and River Delph continue to rise

Today showers will clear away for most areas of the UK, apart from Northern Ireland and western parts of England and Wales, where it will remain wet for most of the night.

However thunderstorms are expected in southern parts of England from 12pm until around 6pm today.

A dry and bright start is forecast for many tomorrow but with showers for north-west England, Northern Ireland, Wales and southern Scotland.

The showers will persist for north-west England with sunny intervals expected for the Midlands and parts of Scotland.

However by Tuesday cooler temperatures will kick in, with the odd shower for Northern Ireland and Wales.

Yesterday meteorologists confirmed temperatures officially hit a record-breaking new high of 61F (16.2C) St James's Park in London on Saturday.

That provisional figure beat the previous high of 15.6C (60F), despite much of the country continuing to endure an 'exceptionally mild' start to the New Year.

Friday also saw temperatures peak at nearly 16C (61F) in Merryfield in Somerset and in Nantwich in Cheshire, which beat the previous record of 15C (59F).

The Met Office said two new all-time highs for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day had created the 'unusual situation of one weather system perhaps breaking weather records for two days in separate calendar years'.

The balmier-than-usual start to the year saw people happily take part in traditional New Year's Day swims across the country, including at Derby Pool, New Brighton, Wirral and West Sussex.

Speaking before the record was broken, forecaster Craig Snell said: 'It's not out of the realms of possibility.

'It is the first time since December 2016 that we have had three consecutive days reach 15C (59F). It has been a prolonged mild spell.

'It may break records, but I was much more confident we would see record-breaking temperatures on New Year's Eve because the record for New Year's Day is a bit higher. It will still be an exceptionally mild start to 2022.'

Mr Snell added that the average temperature in December and the beginning of January is usually around 7C or 8C, and this year's warmer temperatures have been due to a south-westerly wind making its way across the country.

He added that the higher temperatures are usually localised, but 'plenty of places' have seen highs of 15C over December. However, he said January could see a drop in temperatures.

Somerset House in London yesterday confirmed it would be closing its ice rink on New Year's Day due to warmer temperatures.

A woman runs past a cherry blossom tree already in bloom in St James's Park, as the British Meteorological Office recorded the highest UK temperature on New Year's Day

A woman throws seaweed for her dog on Padstow Beach as the UK enjoys the warmest New Year on record

The sun sets over Blackpool beach on New Year's Days as the country enjoyed its warmest New Year on record

Temperatures are set to plummet to around 7C (44.6F) in London and Cardiff and a chilly 3C in Edinburgh as an Arctic chill begins to make its way across the nation

A weather warning for thunderstorms has also been issued for the south of England today as a band of stormy weather makes its way to Norwich

Forecasters have issued yellow weather warning for wind and snow for northern Scotland for Tuesday and Wednesday

A spokesperson for Somerset House tweeted: 'Skate update: Due to the effect of the on-going warm temperatures on the quality of the ice, we have had to make the difficult decision to also close our ice rink on 1 January. All customers are being contacted directly and given a full refund.

'We are currently dealing with very high level of customer enquiries so it may take us longer than usual to respond. We are very sorry for this inconvenience and are working hard to ensure we can re-open asap. We will update asap if there is any further impact on future dates.'

It came after Mayor of London Sadiq Khan cancelled the city's traditional firework display because of the threat of Covid-19.

This week Boris Johnson urged people to get tested before meeting up for the New Year's Eve festivities.

He said: 'Everybody should enjoy New Year but in a cautious and sensible way - take a test, ventilation, think about others but, above all, get a booster.'

The Prime Minister will decide next week whether to impose new coronavirus restrictions to limit indoor socialising.

Mr Johnson opted not to impose new curbs between Christmas and New Year's Eve but rising Covid case numbers could see new measures implemented.

It comes as NHS bosses warned that the Government 'needs to be ready to introduce tighter restrictions at real speed should they be needed'.

Chris Hopson, the head of NHS Providers, said new curbs 'may be needed at pace if the evidence warrants it' as he said health bosses 'still don't know' if there will be a surge in elderly hospitalisations which could trigger Mr Johnson to act.
Prince Andrew has been pictured driving a brand new Range Rover as his multi-million legal battle with Virginia Roberts heats up.

The Duke of York has taken the 80,000 Sport PHEV around the grounds of Windsor Castle since it was issued last month.

The royal opted for a green hybrid model with a 2L engine and 25 miles of range on the electric plug-in - about the distance from his home to Buckingham Palace.

It comes as his legal fight with Ms Roberts hots up as a judge denied a motion from his lawyers to halt the case while an issue of where his accuser lives is dealt with.

Judge Lewis Kaplan denied Andrew's lawyers' request, stating Ms Giuffre's legal team are due to respond to request for documents on her domicile by January 14.

Meanwhile the Prince is facing calls to step away from his military titles and charities amid the furore of the lawsuit.

Other ideas allegedly being considered by the Royal household include sending the Duke into some form of 'internal exile'.

MailOnline has asked Jaguar Land Rover whether the new vehicle was a gift.

The Duke of York has been driving the 80,000 Sport PHEV around the grounds of Windsor Castle since it was issued last month

The royal opted for a green hybrid model with a 2L engine and 25 miles of range on the electric plug-in - about the distance from his home to Buckingham Palace

The Royal, who usually drives while his security sit in the passenger seats, last took a trip in it on New Year's Eve

Range Rover Sport PHEV in numbers: Price: 78,035

Power: 398bhp @ 5,500rpm

Torque 472 lb ft @ 1,500-4,000rpm

Kerb weight: 2,539kg

Max trailer weight: 2,500kg

Max boot capacity: 1,413 litres

Top speed: 137mph

Acceleration: 0-62mph - 6.3sec

Electric range: 25 miles

Official consumption: 73.0-88.3mpg

CO2 emissions 72-87g/km Advertisement

The Prince has been spotted parading his new Range Rover around the grounds of Windsor Castle over the last few weeks.

The Royal, who usually drives while his security sit in the passenger seats, last took a trip in it on New Year's Eve.

He led a two-car convoy of his car and a Land Rover Discovery from his home at Royal Lodge to see the Queen at Windsor Castle for lunch.

The Range Rover, which has a private number plate based on his Royal title, is dark green with tinted windows.

It was first issued in December, it was insured in the same month and was built earlier in the year.

The luxury car is worth about 80,000 but his may have been more depending on the extras included.

They can reach speeds of up to 137mph and also accelerate from 0mph to 60mph in just 6.3 seconds.

The off-roader has a combined electric and fuel engine, meaning it can switch to petrol when the electric motor runs out of charge.

Using both of these will give the vehicle about 73 miles per gallon before he would need to top up.

But the cars take a while to charge, with a normal home cable that comes with it taking 7.5 hours to recharge. The Duke's team has been approached for comment.

He led a two-car convoy of his car and a Land Rover Discovery from his home at Royal Lodge to see the Queen at Windsor Castle for lunch

The Range Rover, which has a private number plate based on his Royal title, is dark green with tinted windows

Pictured: Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001

Q&A: What is Andrew accused of? The formal allegations are battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Bringing the New York case under her married name of Giuffre, Virginia Roberts alleges she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17 and a 'sex slave' to his friend, paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Unlike the Ghislaine Maxwell trial in Manhattan this is a civil case. Miss Roberts is seeking damages, probably totalling millions of pounds. Andrew cannot be jailed. Where are we at? The case was filed in August and is still at the early stages. On Tuesday, the judge will rule on a new Andrew application to dismiss it. If it continues there will be the taking of depositions  formal statement given under oath. Who could be deposed? Miss Roberts' lawyer David Boies has said he will seek to depose the duke and possibly his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, among others. Andrew's side will depose his accuser and her associates, and perhaps her lawyers. And then? Judge Lewis Kaplan has set a tentative trial date for September, with the case to be decided by a jury made up of a dozen members of the public. Will Andrew testify? He can refuse to give a deposition but it could result in a default judgment against him. If he attends the trial, he can decline to give evidence in person, or 'take the fifth', refusing to answer questions in order to avoid incriminating himself. What evidence will be heard? Miss Roberts will tell her account and bring witnesses she says back up her claims. It is thought she will use flight logs from Epstein's private jets showing her being flown to locations she claims to have had sex with the duke. Evidence from Maxwell's trial could also play a part, including testimony from the victim known only as Carolyn, who says she was pulled into Epstein's sphere by Roberts herself. What about the FBI wanting to speak to Andrew? That is separate from this case. The FBI have been looking to speak to Andrew as a possible witness for at least the last two years as they continue to investigate Epstein's global sex ring. A request filed with the Home Office under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty is currently gathering dust and has not been actioned. Advertisement

Earlier this week Andrew's lawyers called for the case against the royal in the US to be stopped because Ms Roberts is 'actually domiciled in Australia'.

Ms Roberts is suing Andrew for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager.

But Judge Lewis Kaplan, in a ruling in New York dated December 31, denied Andrew's lawyers' request, stating that Ms Giuffre's legal team has previously received 'at least one comprehensive request for documents relating to her domicile, to which responses are due, and have been promised, by January 14'.

The judge added his ruling was being made 'without determining the merit, or lack of merit' of an assertion by Ms Giuffre's team that Andrew's lawyers' motion was 'a transparent attempt to delay discovery into his own documents and testimony'.

Ms Giuffre claims she was trafficked by disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with Andrew.

She was pictured with the royal and his friend Ghislaine Maxwell during the period the alleged intercourse took place.

Ms Giuffre has alleged in the past she had sex with Andrew in London and New York when she was aged 17, a minor under US law, and again aged 18 on a private Caribbean island owned by Epstein where an orgy took place.

Andrew has denied all the allegations.

Oral arguments via a video teleconference on the prince's request to dismiss the case are scheduled for Monday in the US.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted in the US on Wednesday of helping to entice vulnerable teenagers to the properties of Epstein, her former boyfriend, for him to sexually abuse between 1994 and 2004.

She was labelled 'dangerous' by the prosecution and faces the rest of her life in jail.

Her friendship with Andrew has seen renewed scrutiny of Ms Giuffre's civil claim for damages against the duke.

Andrew was photographed, for the first time since Maxwell's conviction, driving himself in a Range Rover towards Windsor Castle at lunchtime on Friday.

But on Sunday he faced fresh pressure to cut his ties with the military and charities amid the sex assault saga.

The Duke stepped down from public duties in November 2019 'for the foreseeable future' over his friendship with Epstein.

A source said: 'If [Prince Andrew] loses the case, the question is what do you do with him?

'You can't make him resign like you would a normal person but he would be asked to put his dukedom into abeyance.'

Royal insiders said it would be difficult to persuade the Queen to remove the title of Duke of York as 'it was held by her father, George VI, before he became king.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said with regard to claims the Duke might lose his title: 'This is speculation and the comments are without foundation. We would not comment on an ongoing legal matter.'

Royal courtiers are said to be discussing plans to strip Prince Andrew of his Duke of York title if he loses the lawsuit brought by sex abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre. Other ideas allegedly being considered by the Royal household include sending the Duke into some form of 'internal exile' and asking him to relinquish any links he still has to charities. And in a further blow, the Duke is said to be under pressure to give up his nine military roles, according to defence sources

The decision to remove the military titles would need come from the Queen and Buckingham Palace officials but defence sources said 'there would be no objection from the armed forces'. (Above, members of the Royal Family in 2019)

What military titles does Andrew hold? Vice-Admiral - Personal Aide-de-Camp to the Queen

Colonel - Grenadier Guards

Colonel-in-Chief - 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's); Royal Irish Regiment (27th (Inniskilling) 83rd and 87th and Ulster Defence Regiment); Small Arms School Corps; and Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th Foot)

Royal Colonel - Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland

Honorary Air Commodore - Royal Air Force Lossiemouth

Commodore-in-Chief - Fleet Air Arm Advertisement

And in a further blow, the Duke is said to be under pressure to give up his nine military roles, according to defence sources.

Military chiefs hope he will resign so the Queen doesn't have to strip him of his honorary titles, the Sunday People reported.

In light of the Duke's close friendship with Epstein and Maxwell, senior Army commanders believe it is not feasible for Andrew to carry on his role as colonel-in-chief of the nine military regiments, units and corps.

Those roles are: Vice-Admiral - Personal Aide-de-Camp to the Queen; Colonel - Grenadier Guards; Colonel-in-Chief - 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's); Royal Irish Regiment (27th (Inniskilling) 83rd and 87th and Ulster Defence Regiment); Small Arms School Corps; and Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th Foot); Royal Colonel - Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland; Honorary Air Commodore - Royal Air Force Lossiemouth; and Commodore-in-Chief - Fleet Air Arm.

Senior military chiefs privately labelled Andrew as 'toxic' - with a source saying: 'Even if Andrew is completely exonerated from any wrongdoing he is now regarded as toxic. It is expected he will do the decent thing and resign.'

The decision to remove the titles would need come from the Queen and Buckingham Palace officials but defence sources told the Sunday People that there would be no objection from the armed forces.

Duke's security needs to be urgently reviewed as people could become fixated on him in wake of Maxwell conviction, says ex-royal protection expert

Prince Andrew's security should be urgently reviewed because people could become fixated on him after Ghislaine Maxwell's conviction, a former protection chief for the Queen and Royal Family said.

Dai Davies told the Sun: 'Prince Andrew has not been convicted of anything  but the Maxwell verdict is a game-changer.'

His comments follow a recent security scare for the Duke.

Prince Andrew was given a shock in early December after a woman ran up to his Range Rover and shouted 'Andrew, Andrew!' through the window

On December 17, Prince Andrew was given a shock after a woman ran up to his Range Rover and shouted 'Andrew, Andrew!' through his car window.

The Duke of York was doing his regular short drive from his Royal Lodge home to Windsor Castle to go horse riding when, at a public road junction, the woman appeared at his car window.

Photos showed her hammering on the glass and appearing to shout at the Prince, who sat awkwardly in his car seat. She was later questioned by police nearby.
An environmentalist has said that the children's fable, Three Little Pigs, mocks eco-friendly materials.

James Drinkwater said the Big Bad Wolf, who blows down two of the three houses which are made from straw and sticks, sends the message that natural materials aren't fit for construction.

In the childhood classic first printed as far back as the 1840s, only the house built from bricks stays standing.

An environmentalist has said that the children's fable Three Little Pigs mocks eco-friendly materials (file photo used)

At a talk hosted by Dezeen last month, Mr Drinkwater, Head of Built Environment at philanthropic organisation Laudes Foundation, said: 'There's a classic story in England called the Three Little Pigs.

'The first made its house of straw and that natural material was terrible.

'There's a need to change perceptions to show what's possible.'

The Laudes Foundation has projects working towards the construction of zero carbon buildings with a focus on using timber, thought to be one of the most eco-friendly building materials.

James Drinkwater (pictured) said the Big Bad Wolf, who blows down two of the three houses, which are made from straw and sticks sends the message that natural materials aren't fit for construction

In October it announced a new fund called Built by Nature, described by the organisation as 'a multi-million euro grant-making fund to accelerate the timber building transformation across Europe'.

Mr Drinkwater added during the talk: 'We really now need to work with nature, which is our strongest tool to get on that negative emissions track.

'We know the science says that forests offer our best hope.'
The Government is relying on Chinese suppliers for lateral flow testing kits because most British manufacturers have failed to be cleared for use in the UK, it has been claimed.

Despite millions of pounds of investment to create a world-leading testing programme in the UK, only one British manufacturer has produced a rapid test that meets UK requirements, reports suggest.

It comes as the Government faced widespread criticism over the shortage of lateral flow testing kits over the festive period.

As ministers urged families and friends to test before socialising at Christmas and New Year's events, people were unable to get their hands on kits because they were unavailable.

Pharmacists urged the Government to increase its supply as they said they were forced to send people away empty handed while the Government website frequently said home delivery was unavailable.

Meanwhile, official figures revealed nearly one in 10 NHS workers were off sick over New Year's Eve as coronavirus continued to hit the health service.

According to the Sunday Times, several British companies are frustrated that despite their tests being certified for use in Europe, they have not passed checks in the UK.

The newspaper reports that Omega Diagnostics, based in Stirling, and Global Access Diagnostics, a Bedford-based firm, have produced testing kits that did not pass regulation and so the Government has not placed any orders with them.

Both companies were in receipt of government funding after signing contracts in March 2021, the Sunday Times reports, and it is understood the Government is now asking for 2.5million to be repaid by Omega.

The Government is relying on Chinese suppliers for lateral flow testing kits because most British manufacturers have failed to be cleared for use in the UK, it has been claimed

Flowflex, made by Chinese manufacturer Acon Biotech, is one of the approved tests in the UK

The delays in approval comes after new regulations were introduced in November which require tests in the UK to pass the Coronavirus Test Device Approvals.

Tim Peto is a professor of medicine at Oxford University, is on the committee that checks Porton Downs assessments of tests.

He told the Times: 'Some of the English manufacturers are very unhappy their kits have failed and some of them think that theyve been unfairly tested. I dont know on what grounds they think its unfair other than it came out negative.'

British-made tests are now being sold abroad because they are unable to get certification for use in this country.

The main suppliers of NHS lateral flow tests are Chinese brands Orient Gene, made by Zhejiang Orient Gene Biotech, and FlowFlex, made by Acon Biotech, according to the Times, who reports that both companies are more experienced in manufacturing lateral flow testing kits on a large scale compared to British companies.

It comes after the Government came under fire for a widespread shortage of testing kits over the Christmas period.

Despite ministers urging friends and families to get tested before socialising over Christmas and New Year, people struggled to get hold of kits.

People were scrambling to get tested in a bid to ensure they stayed Covid free ahead of Christmas and New Year's celebrations but were unable to get kits anywhere.

The Government's website frequently suspended the delivery of home tests while walk-in appointments for PCR tests were regularly booked up.

Only one British firm - SureScreen (pictured) - has had its tests approved for use in the UK

Orient Gene Biotech, a Chinese firm, is one of two major approved manufacturers in the UK

The Government website continues to frequently tell users there are no home deliveries available for lateral flows, but officials have insisted people check the site every few hours

Pharmacists called on the Government to increase its supply as they said they were being forced to turn customers away empty-handed due to a lack of stock.

As of this afternoon, the website is still telling users it is not possible to order a lateral flow home testing kit for delivery but the UK Health Security Agency has insisted people check the site regularly.

In response to the backlash, the UKHSA insisted it had increased its capacity to enable the delivery of 900,000 testing kits a day.

Meanwhile, Sir Roger Gale, Conservative MP for North Thanet, said he had been told by the Health Secretary there was a 'world shortage' of testing supplies.

He told MailOnline last week: 'Originally it was a delivery problem, now it's a supply and delivery problem.

'[Sajid Javid] was very upfront and straight about it. He said there is a world shortage of lateral flow tests.'

The MP for North Thanet added: 'The British company making them has cranked up its production by four times and is now producing 20million a week instead of five million. We the Brits are buying all those, plus anything else we can get our hands on, but we are competing with everybody else on a worldwide market.'

Pharmacists last week urged the Government to increase its supply of lateral flow testing kits as they said they were being forced to send people away empty-handed due to a shortage

The only approved British supplier of lateral flow devices is Derby-based SureScreen Diagnostics who were officially announced in September.

The Government championed the company, saying it had created more than 370 jobs in the Midlands and that it has the capacity to manufacture 7million tests per week with plans to increase this to 14million by the end of December.

The UKHSA said: 'In building the largest diagnostic industry in UK history, we have delivered 400 million tests since the start of the pandemic, playing a vital role in tackling the spread of Covid-19.

'NHS Test and Trace has drawn on expertise from across the public and private sectors and all contracts are awarded in line with procurement regulations and transparency guidelines.

'SureScreen, a British manufacturer, has committed to supplying 20 million lateral flow tests.'

It comes as official figures revealed nearly one in 10 NHS workers were off sick over New Year's Eve as coronavirus continued to hit the health service.

More than 110,000 of the service's 983,000 staff in England missed the turn of the year due to illness, its dashboard shows.

Almost 50,000 of these employees were self-isolating after testing positive for Covid-19.

Compared to pre-pandemic levels, the figures for New Years Eve showed a five percentage point rise, with December 2019 only having 4.69 per cent of staff off ill in total.

The figure was also higher than those off over Boxing Day, when fewer than 25,000 were out of work due to the virus.

Meanwhile patients faced 40-hour waits at A&E, delayed operations and long waits for ambulances as the health service creaked.



One NHS boss warned operations could start being cancelled from next week if hospitalisations surge and said the country will need to bring in more restrictions.

The chief executive of NHS Providers said 'the next few days are crucial' and the health service was under 'arguably more pressure' than this time last year.

It comes as the Omicron variant continues to wreak havoc across the country as infections continue to rise, forcing people to lock themselves away for a week.

England's Covid cases breached 160,000 for the second time in as many days yesterday as ministers continued to avoid enforcing new restrictions.
Farmers will be given funds to restore natural habitats and rewild Britain in new government schemes, but industry figures fear it could result in the 'morally incomprehensible' reduction of food production on British Isles.

Environment Secretary George Eustice will unveil plans for two environmental land management schemes next week, which will pay farmers to create new habitats in a bid to reduce biodiversity decline.

Farmers and landowners with 500 to 5,000 hectares will be able to apply for funding to plant trees, and restore peat and wetland areas as part of the new Local Nature Recovery Scheme.

Ministers believe the reforms will play a big role in the Government's drive to increase biodiversity on UK shores, decrease the decline in British species by 2030, and restore up to 300,000 hectares of habitat by the 2040s.

There are concerns that the plans focus too much on freeing up land for rewilding instead of supporting British food production

Mr Eustice will also set out details for a Landscape Recovery Scheme, aimed at supporting larger projects which look at rewilding the British countryside, at the Oxford Farming Conference on Thursday.

But, there are concerns that the plans focus too much on freeing up land for rewilding instead of supporting British food production.

National Farming Union Vice President Tom Bradshaw said: 'We have always cautiously welcomed the policy of public money for public goods but it shouldn't focus on environmental delivery alone and must underpin truly sustainable food production.

'My biggest fear would be that if this policy results in reduced food production in the UK and we simply import from countries with lower standards, then we may end up living in a green oasis here, but we have simply off-shored our production and any environmental impacts that go with it  this is morally incomprehensible.'

The new schemes follow on from the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), which will pay farmers for using sustainable land management methods, such as planting and managing hedgerows to provide food and shelter for birds and insects year-round.

Environment Secretary George Eustice (pictured) will unveil plans for two environmental land management schemes

The reforms, which mark the biggest changes to farming and land management in 50 years, are being tested by a selection of more than 3,000 farmers and are due to be rolled out this year.

The plans are part of wider Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes, which pay farmers for work which enhances the environment.

'In the government's recent net-zero strategy, ELMs was identified as a key delivery mechanism so we hope that the schemes unveiled by the Secretary of State this week will have net-zero aspirations at their heart  policies that are underpinned by scientific evidence rather than populism,' Mr Bradshaw added.

'The schemes must properly reward farmers and truly incentivise our members for taking part and must be accessible right across the country, from upland to lowland and tenants as well as land owners.'

Mr Eustice previously said the plans were put in place to 'ensure a vibrant and profitable food and farming industry'.

A senior figure in the farming industry told The Telegraph the new scheme could also be of more benefit to wealthy land owners, and said a lack of safeguarding means investors from abroad could buy up agricultural land for their own gain.

Mr Eustice previously said the plans were put in place to 'ensure a vibrant and profitable food and farming industry' in the UK

'I think it's disappointing that the Government continues to talk about land sparing,' they said. 'We believe it must be about land sharing  food production and the environment working together.'

Speaking ahead of the conference next week, Mr Eustice said: 'Successful and profitable agricultural production is crucial to our food security.

'We are facing challenges on issues like biodiversity loss and climate change, so we must use our freedom from the EU's Common Agricultural Policy [CAP] to establish a new system of rewards and incentives in agriculture.

'Our new policies will support the choices that individual farmers make, with freedom to choose which elements work for them.

'I have already set out more detail on our new Sustainable Farming Incentive, with a focus on soil health. This week I will say more about Local Nature Recovery and making space for nature in the farmed landscape, and Landscape Recovery  which will pay landowners who want to produce environmental outcomes through land use change.'

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said they were unable to comment until further details of the scheme are released.
The hit Netflix show Emily in Paris has come under fire for its 'offensive' portrayal of Ukrainians.

Oleksandr Tkachenko, Ukraine's Minister of Culture, has lodged a complaint with the streaming service giant about the stereotypes in the show, calling it 'unacceptable'.

The second series of the show features Kyiv-native Petra, an uneducated thief with poor fashion sense portrayed by Ukrainian actress Daria Panchenko.

But the addition to the cast has not gone down well with Ukrainians, who Mr Tkachenko has said find the stereotypes offensive.

The first series of the show, which stars Lily Collins was also hit by claims of stereotyping

Oleksandr Tkachenko claims the show does not depict Ukrainians how they want to be seen abroad calling it 'unacceptable'

'In the 1990s and 2000s, Ukrainian guys were portrayed mainly as gangsters,' he said. 'Over time this has changed. However, not in this case.

'In Emily in Paris, we have a caricature of a Ukrainian woman which is unacceptable. It is also offensive.

'Is this how Ukrainians will be seen abroad? Who steal, want to get everything for free, be afraid of deportation? This should not be so.'

His comments have been backed by the likes of Ukrainian influencer Eugenie Hawrylko who questioned if there is 'still a place for such ignorance and intolerance' in the 21st century.

Researcher Olga Matveieva added: 'Nationality-based stereotyping not only provokes disbalance but maintains aggressions. Let's make peace, not offensive jokes.'

Mr Tkachenko addressed his concerns with Netflix, who he said has agreed to maintain 'close contact' with him to prevent future cases of stereotyping in the show.

'They thanked me for the feedback,' he said. 'But they heard about the concern of Ukrainian viewers with the image of a Ukrainian woman.

The second series of the show features Kyiv-native Petra, an uneducated thief with poor fashion sense portrayed by Ukrainian actress Daria Panchenko

Despite negative reviews from the critics, the show has become a firm favourite with a large fan base who found it to be a light-hearted antidote to the covid pandemic.

'We agreed that in 2022, we will be in close contact to prevent such cases.

'Such an active public position will help ensure the attitude of Ukrainians is taken into account in future filming.'

The first series of the show, which stars Lily Collins, daughter of frontman of Genesis 2.0, Phil Collins, was also hit by claims of stereotyping after French people were dubbed rude waiters, philanderers and mistresses.

Name a cliche about the French, youll find it in Emily In Paris, fumed French newspaper 20 Minutes.

And magazine Madmoizelle raged: It reduces the capitals inhabitants to vile snobs sporting Birkin handbags who light up a cigarette the minute theyre out of the gym.

Despite negative reviews from the critics, it has become a firm favourite with a large fan base who found it to be a light-hearted antidote to the covid pandemic.

Many viewers said they recognised many of the well-worn themes about Parisians included in the series, whether the subject is long lunches, arriving late at the office, or the French belief that the Americans live to work  while they themselves work to live.

Back again? Emily In Paris' Lily Collins sends fans wild as she appears to CONFIRM a third season

Elaine Sciolino, 71, tweeted about the series, created by Sex and the City producer Darren Star: Within the cliches were grains of truth.

The world is dangerous, and covid is resurging in France. Lets allow ourselves to enjoy the pleasures of everyday life.

Earlier this week, Lily Collins sent fans into a frenzy after appearing to confirm there will be a third season of her hit show as she toyed with fans that the show could take place in Berlin.

Fans got excited after Lily reposted a picture of herself modelling for Vogue Hong Kong alongside a comment from a fan suggesting the style was more 'Emily In Berlin' and she teased in response: 'Season 3 pivot??? Who's with me?'

Lily Collins produced the second season and starred as Chicago native Emily Cooper, who works as Savoir social media strategist despite never learning to speak or write French - much to some of her colleagues' annoyance.
With the pandemic in 2019 came travel restrictions and work from home policies that transformed our lives. Besides, our daily help, an immigrant, had to go home, leaving us to fend for ourselves. With all this, Id been deprived of the long, relaxing motorcycle rides that I loved. But in October, following the early death of a cousin, I wanted to visit her father and sister in Thrissur, some 350 kilometres from home. Here was a chance to ride down.

My last such ride had been in 2018, before the pandemic. I had since crossed the age of sixty, been through several eye operations and accumulated many age-related niggles, so I wasnt sure Id be able to make it. Here, I thought, was a chance to find out.

Also, I was fed up with the bike. Three years in our home by the seashore had turned it into a rust-bucket, and the Chennai-based manufacturers didnt honour the guarantee. It was time for a change. I decided Id take a long ride, and, if it was fun, Id replace the bike with a comparable one. Otherwise Id replace it with a little runabout for errands and shopping trips.

Early one morning in late October, I set out, full of fear and hope. Over the next four days, I covered a thousand kilometres, mostly in Kerala, through territory that had changed dramatically. I got back home tired and discouraged, because although Id managed that long trip, the aches and pains and niggles had taken away most of the fun.

So, no more daylong rides to faraway places. No more thumping around magical misty hillsides on chill mornings, fingers frozen and heart aflame. There was a gap in my life that I didnt know how to fill.

For the time being, though, there was work to be done, because the bike had to be sold. I had to sell it at the best possible price, and decide what to replace the damn thing with. Being bone lazy in matters of money, I decided to combine the two, and to decide first what to buy. After that it was a matter of leaving it to the guy who sold me the new vehicle to get the best price for the old one.

I tried lots of popular scooters, and they all seemed the same: small and light and cramped, with my knees hitting the apron if you braked hard. They all even sounded the same, like an angry sewing machine.

But they were simple: you sat on them and pointed them and twisted the throttle and off you went. You turned by shifting your bottom on the seat, and if you wanted to swerve to avoid a pothole or something you wiggled your bottom instead. When you wanted to stop, you just hit the brake: a single lever that operated both front and rear brakes. That was it. None of this business of gearshifts and clutches and using the brakes separately and so on.

There were, of course, disadvantages. If you opened the throttle wide the engine sounded like a sewing machine throwing a tantrum but the scooter didnt seem to move any faster. On the few kilometres of highway between home and town you were surrounded by vehicles fifty times heavier and at least as fast as your own, which was terrifying at first.

And then I happened upon a scooter that didnt seem too bad. Like the rest, it sounded like a sewing machine and didnt understand how to hurry, but the seat was large and my knees didnt keep hitting the apron, and so I bought it. But I didnt stop complaining until my wife got fed up. You havent done your scooter justice, she said, Take it for a long ride in the hills, and, if you happen to like it, stop whining about it!

And so I set out for the Subramanya temple at Kukke, a little over a hundred kilometres away. I hadnt been that way for over a decade, and had no idea how the roads had changed, but Google Maps found me a route that kept me off the highways two-thirds the distance.

I left home at half-past-seven, hoping to beat the traffic, and, on the empty roads, found the scooter frustratingly slow. Then came a stretch of highway where I was stuck behind convoys of slow-moving lorries, suffering noise and heat and dust and exhaust fumes. When I stopped for a coffee-break ninety minutes out, I seethed at my own stupidity at having set out on this trip.

And then, two-thirds of the way, some kilometres off the highway, everything changed. The road wound through forested hills, with not another vehicle in sight. Riding slowly though the forests, I became suddenly aware of the breeze in the trees and the birdsong and the sunlight glinting off water in a pond and an egret standing meditatively on a bank of a river as I crossed the bridge spanning it. Id have noticed most of this on the bike, but, because the scooter forced me to slow down, I noticed more of it, and at greater depth.

Time slowed, and the frustration disappeared. This was the temple I was looking for, I thought, not the beautiful stone structure where devotees lined up to pray. I noticed a cloud of butterflies about a thicket on the riverbank, and stopped, knowing I needed go no further. Then it struck me that the real temple was this place in my heart, and not the riverbank on a pleasant morning, or even a misty hillside. As I watched, the egret flew off, and I, too, moved on, at peace with the world, and with the scooter.
ITV News journalist Gary Burgess has died of cancer aged 46 on New Year's Day at a hospice, it has been confirmed.

He died peacefully in his sleep at a hospice in Jersey on January 1 after doctors found tumours on his lungs and told him they were inoperable.

Burgess told fans that he had six to twelve months left to live in November 2020 and documented his cancer journey on his blog after receiving the terminal diagnosis.

He was first diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1999, and treated for further tumours in 2015 and 2016.

In a final message released by ITV following the news of his death, Burgess praised his 'soul mate' Alan and said he had 'great sadness' at the prospect of leaving his friends and family behind.

ITV News journalist Gary Burgess has died of cancer aged 46 on New Year's Day at a hospice, it has been confirmed

He died peacefully in his sleep at a hospice in Jersey on January 1 after doctors found tumours on his lungs and told him they were inoperable

Burgess told fans that he had six to twelve months left to live in November 2020 and documented his cancer journey on his blog after receiving the terminal diagnosis

He said: 'I've had the best life. I've had the luckiest life. I met my soul mate and the love of my life who went on to become my husband. I got to work with some of the most amazing people in newsrooms and studios doing the job I absolutely adore.

'And I've been able to share my own relatively short time on this planet surrounded by friends and loved ones who have enriched my life in ways they may never truly understand.

'My greatest sadness is the prospect of leaving all of that and all of them behind. The thought of doing that to Alan is unfathomable to process, but I also know the very people who've shown me love and support will now wrap up those feelings around him in the coming days.

'It's time for me to hand over my microphone and keyboard for others to do the talking about me, so let my final words simply be 'thank you'. Every person in my life has, in their own way, helped me live my best life. That'll do.'

Burgess's husband Alan took to social media to praise the star and thank fans for the 'overwhelming' support they both received in a heartbreaking tribute to the journalist.

He wrote: 'It is with great sadness that I need to announce the death of my wonderful husband Gary on Saturday 1 January. After many years of fighting cancer, Gary died peacefully in his sleep in Jersey Hospice.

'I would like to publicly thank all of the many people and services within Jersey, and also at Southampton General Hospital, who have cared for Gary so well over the last 7 years through all of the different stages of this disease.

Burgess's husband Alan took to social media to praise the star and thank fans for the 'overwhelming' support they both received

'I have to say a special thank you to Jersey Hospice and the Clinical Investigations team from Jersey's hospital, who together enabled Gary to stay safely and comfortably at home for as long as possible in accordance with his wishes. He was even able to continue making occasional trips to his favourite breakfast spots on the island with his oxygen tank in hand.

'And I also have to say thank you to the many well-wishers, be they friends, family, colleagues, ex-colleagues, viewers, radio listeners, blog readers or complete strangers, who have sent us their love and kind words since Gary received his terminal diagnosis in November 2020. At times we have both found the volume of messages to be almost overwhelming, but we were always thankful for the positivity, warmth and support shown to us both.

'I expect there will be many tributes made to Gary in the coming hours and days and I want to keep my words about him now as simple as I can. Through his career in journalism and broadcasting, Gary would have seen every variation of words describing someone's strength and bravery, their wit and humour, their kindness and generosity, their stubbornness and determination, their sense of mischief and their joy in life's simple pleasures.

'So, in an attempt to avoid cliche, I am just going to misquote a line of dialogue from the final episode of The West Wing, being one of Gary's favourite programmes and something said with love and pride by one spouse to the other. You did a lot of good, Gary. A lot of good.'

Tributes have poured in the for the reporter, who has been described by friends and colleagues as 'brilliant journalist', 'friend' and 'wonderful colleague'.

Guernsey's former Chief Minister, Deputy Gavin St Pier wrote on Twitter: 'Receiving this news was no less sad for its inevitability.

'It was an honour to have known Gary and to have called him a friend. Among his many attributes, some - kindness, tolerance and optimism - many of us aspire to show more often but he carried with ease.'

The late star revealed that a CT scan in October 2019 had found five more tumours which were treated with chemotherapy

Head of ITV Regional News, Guy Phillips, wrote on Twitter: 'Gary was a brilliant journalist and wonderful colleague who cared deeply about his work and all those around him. He had many special qualities - his enthusiasm, determination and courage. A very sad loss. My thoughts are with Alan, his family and his many friends and colleagues.'

Head of News at ITV Channel TV, Karen Rankine wrote: 'We are all devastated by the loss of our dear friend and colleague Gary. Our thoughts and prayers are with Gary's husband Alan and his family.'

In 2015, new tumours were found in his lungs before being surgically removed, with more tumours taken out the same way a year later.

The late star revealed that a CT scan in October 2019 had found five more tumours which were treated with chemotherapy.

But on November 3, his oncologist told him his cancer was terminal.

Burgess presented news reports, wrote a column for the Jersey Evening Post and hosted the local radio station Channel 103.

He wrote on Twitter last year: 'Hello friends. This is a difficult post. I've always tried to be an open book about my health. Today some news I never expected to be sharing.'

Following it up on his popular blog, he penned: 'Hearing you're going to die is odd.

'The nasties growing between my heart and lung that three months of 'salvage chemotherapy' had shrunk earlier this year have come back to life... They're inoperable. There isn't a treatment left to get rid of them.

'I'm apparently unusual (I knew that!), with my oncologist seeing only one such case of this rare cancer each year.

'There is a chemotherapy treatment that has the potential to add a few extra weeks, maybe months, to my life, but the trade off is the loss of quality of life due to the side effects of that chemo. Right now, I'm yet to decide whether to go for it or not.'

He said: 'It immediately washed over me like the most overwhelming sea of guilt to think that my husband is likely going to be alone at home without me. Our holidays. Our watching telly on the sofa. Our weekend breakfasts.

'It just feels totally unfair. For him. For me. And I know that makes me sound selfish. I don't mean it like that.

'The weirdest bit is that, deep down, I've sensed I am dying for around three months now. I just kept hoping I'd be wrong.

'The doctors didn't know as I only had the scan and other tests last week, but I knew I was dying.

'I just didn't have the words to describe it and I was determined to keep my best game face on as each day had become ever so slightly more difficult than the previous day.

'It's tiny stuff. I'm just a shade slower. I'm just a shade tireder. My skin is just a shade drier. My pain is just a shade sorer. And on it goes. Incremental, but over time it adds up. I don't feel good.

'But I smile my smile. I do my work thing. And when wonderfully kind people say nice things, especially 'you look so well', I cry a little inside, and outwardly I smile, thank them, and say 'I'm plodding on'. It's my way of trying not to lie to them while not burdening them with my woes.

'Do I transfer my savings to my husband's bank account? What happens to those flight loyalty points I've got? Do I need to ring the tax office and let them know I'm dying?

'Should I plan my funeral now? Do I want to be buried or cremated? What will dying feel like? How can I not exist any more?

'I've Googled 'what happens when you're told you're dying of cancer' and I now know the results are rubbish.

'Now my heart breaks at the prospect of the person I love more than any other in this world being cut adrift. It's not fair on him. I feel like the worst husband ever, even though I know that's just self-serving self-pitying silly talk.'
The Metropolitan Police must probe any links Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell had with the UK even if that includes Prince Andrew, legal experts have claimed.

The force should look into all alleged offences committed in Britain 'without fear or favour', former officers and prosecutors said.

They claimed Maxwell's conviction meant cops could no longer dodge launching an investigation into allegations centred in the country.

But the Met has so far maintained it continues 'to liaise with other law enforcement agencies who lead the investigation into matters related to Jeffrey Epstein'.

It comes amid claims Prince Andrew still socialised with Maxwell long after Epstein was known to the police for being a paedophile.

The Duke was even reportedly guest of honour for her birthday party at Dorchester Hotel in London as late as December 2012.

The force should look into all alleged offences committed in Britain 'without fear or favour', former officers and prosecutors said. Pictured: Commissioner Cressida Dick

Former Chief Crown Prosecutor for the north west of England Nazir Afzal (pictured), ex-police detective constable Maggie Oliver and retired Met detective sergeant Steve Morris are calling for the Met to launch a probe

It comes amid claims Prince Andrew (pictured with Maxwell and Virginia Roberts in 2001) still socialised with Maxwell long after Epstein was known to the police for being a paedophile

Former Chief Crown Prosecutor for the north west of England Nazir Afzal, ex-police detective constable Maggie Oliver and retired Met detective sergeant Steve Morris are calling for the Met to launch a probe.

Mr Afzal, who spearheaded the Rochdale child grooming case in 2012, told the Express: 'The Met has previously said there is not enough evidence but that is because it has not been investigated.

'It must now properly investigate and see where it takes them and if that involves interviewing His Royal Highness then it must do that, as what it is meant to do is investigate without fear or favour.'

Ms Oliver said: 'My fear is with these decisions based on people in high places that there is a reluctance by the authorities to dig deep for fear of upsetting the apple cart.'

And Mr Morris added the Duke of York should at least be interviewer under caution over any links he had to the former couple.

One of the claims centred on the UK is that Virginia Roberts was trafficked to the country to have sex with Prince Andrew in 2001, which he denies.

He reportedly sat opposite her at her 51st birthday party at the China Tang restaurant in the Dorchester (file photo) two years after he went to New York to cut ties with Epstein

Meanwhile it was claimed the Royal continued to socialise with Maxwell for years after the depravity of her then boyfriend Epstein emerged.

He reportedly sat opposite her at her 51st birthday party at the China Tang restaurant in the Dorchester two years after he went to New York to cut ties with Epstein.

A source told the Sunday Times: 'The guest list was top notch. There were many very interesting people there who clearly liked her [Maxwell].' Epstein was not there.

Andrew first met him via Maxwell in 1999 and he invited them to stay at Balmoral later that year.

They were invited to Windsor Castle in 2000 for his 40th birthday party as well as three others.

US police first probed Epstein's abuses in Florida in 2005 and he was jailed for 13 months after a plea deal in 2008.

Prince Andrew was pictured with the paedophile again in New York in December 2010.

He told Newsnight in 2020 that he had only been there to tell the financier he was severing ties.

He also told the programme his last contact with Maxwell had been earlier that year at a rally.

He said he had seen her before the July, insisting it was before Epstein was arrested and charged with sex trafficking.

Virginia Giuffre - the woman who claims she was forced to sleep with Prince Andrew when she was 17 - could be set to give a victim impact statement to a New York judge for the sentencing of Ghislaine Maxwell. She is pictured with her lawyer, David Boies

The prince was seen in public yesterday for the first time since his friend, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted of multiple counts of child sex trafficking for her boyfriend Epstein, driving himself to Windsor Castle. Pictured: Prince Andrew and Maxwell in 2000 at Ascot

Q&A What is Andrew accused of? The formal allegations are battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Bringing the New York case under her married name of Giuffre, Virginia Roberts alleges she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17 and a 'sex slave' to his friend, paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Unlike the Ghislaine Maxwell trial in Manhattan this is a civil case. Miss Roberts is seeking damages, probably totalling millions of pounds. Andrew cannot be jailed. Where are we at? The case was filed in August and is still at the early stages. On Tuesday, the judge will rule on a new Andrew application to dismiss it. If it continues there will be the taking of depositions  formal statement given under oath. Who could be deposed? Miss Roberts' lawyer David Boies has said he will seek to depose the duke and possibly his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, among others. Andrew's side will depose his accuser and her associates, and perhaps her lawyers. And then? Judge Lewis Kaplan has set a tentative trial date for September, with the case to be decided by a jury made up of a dozen members of the public. Will Andrew testify? He can refuse to give a deposition but it could result in a default judgment against him. If he attends the trial, he can decline to give evidence in person, or 'take the fifth', refusing to answer questions in order to avoid incriminating himself. What evidence will be heard? Miss Roberts will tell her account and bring witnesses she says back up her claims. It is thought she will use flight logs from Epstein's private jets showing her being flown to locations she claims to have had sex with the duke. Evidence from Maxwell's trial could also play a part, including testimony from the victim known only as Carolyn, who says she was pulled into Epstein's sphere by Roberts herself. What about the FBI wanting to speak to Andrew? That is separate from this case. The FBI have been looking to speak to Andrew as a possible witness for at least the last two years as they continue to investigate Epstein's global sex ring. A request filed with the Home Office under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty is currently gathering dust and has not been actioned. Advertisement

Last week the Duke was asked to produce key documents in support of his alibi he did not have sex with his American accuser - including confirmation he did not sweat.

Virginia Giuffre's legal team requested a wealth of information from Andrew's lawyers as they probe his BBC Newsnight interview when he said he was visiting a Pizza Express on the day of the claimed sexual encounter.

Ms Giuffre is suing the Queen's son for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager and claims she was trafficked by disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with the duke, and was pictured with the royal and his friend Ghislaine Maxwell during the period the alleged intercourse took place.

Andrew has denied all the allegations.

Her lawyers have also requested travel documents detailing Andrew's movements on Epstein's planes and to his various homes, the duke's visit to Pizza Express in Woking and London's Tramp nightclub where Ms Giuffre alleges she danced with a heavily sweating Andrew before they had sex.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted in America on Wednesday of helping to entice vulnerable teenagers to the properties of Epstein, her former boyfriend, for him to sexually abuse between 1994 and 2004.

She was labelled 'dangerous' by the prosecution and faces the rest of her life in jail, and her friendship with Andrew has seen renewed scrutiny of Ms Giuffre's civil claim for damages against the duke.

Andrew's legal team have rejected the requests for the documents citing various reasons, including the information is protected from disclosure by rights of privacy under the US constitution and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

His lawyers also state in papers filed to a New York court, the documents requested are already publicly available or the requests are 'unduly burdensome, oppressive... duplicative and over broad'.

Andrew's much anticipated appearance on BBC's Newsnight in November 2019 was an attempt to defend his reputation in the wake of the Epstein sex scandal, but he opened himself up to further accusations with critics saying he failed to show remorse for the financier's victims.

The duke denied he slept with Ms Giuffre on three separate occasions when questioned by Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis, saying one encounter did not happen as he had taken his daughter Princess Beatrice to Pizza Express in Woking for a party and they spent the rest of the day together.

The same sexual encounter, which the American said began with the royal sweating heavily as they danced at Tramp nightclub, was factually wrong, the duke said, as he had a medical condition at the time which meant he did not sweat.

Ms Giuffre has alleged in the past she had sex with Andrew in London and New York when she was aged 17, a minor under US law, and again aged 18 on a private Caribbean island owned by Epstein where an orgy took place.

In response to the decision not to provide information, Ms Giuffre's legal team said in court documents: 'If Prince Andrew truly has no documents concerning his communications with Maxwell or Epstein, his travel to Florida, New York, or various locations in London, his alleged medical inability to sweat, or anything that would support the alibis he gave during his BBC interview, then continuing with discovery will not be burdensome to him at all.'

Maxwell's brother Ian Maxwell told BBC Radio 4's Today programme his sibling's trial was not fair and he thinks her appeal against the verdict will succeed.

Pressed on whether the women who testified against his sister were lying, he replied: 'Of course, the prosecution didn't put into evidence the prior interviews they had with these accusers, which showed a completely different case.

'Memory is faulty, and so, in my view, the trial that has occurred was not a fair trial from Ghislaine's perspective. And that is why she's going to appeal, and I think she'll be successful.'
A huge increase in foreign workers could help boost Australia's economy after nearly two years without an influx of overseas arrivals due to border closures, one of the world's biggest firms has said.

Accounting giant KPMG has suggested bumping net migration levels beyond 350,000 per year as a means to reverse a population decline and stimulate demand, increasing the size of the labour pool.

The report says pushing migration to 350,000 people per year - equivalent to adding a city the size of Brisbane every seven years - would boost GDP by 4.4 per cent.

However with Australia's house prices becoming increasingly unaffordable for average workers, a sharp spike in population and demand would not be without its downside.

The Grattan Institute said numbers alone would be counter-productive and the migration policy must tilt toward skilled workers.

Experts are calling for a mass increase in foreign workers to help lift Australia's economy after the pandemic (pictured, East Timorese workers board a plane for Australia)

Poll SHOULD AUSTRALIA LET IN MORE MIGRANTS? Yes No SHOULD AUSTRALIA LET IN MORE MIGRANTS? Yes 85 votes

No 408 votes Now share your opinion





The Big Australia population policy has been severely stifled throughout the pandemic, with borders closed to overseas arrivals since March 2020.

Those rules were recently relaxed for short time visa holders, but that did not stop Australia's population dipping by 40,000 this year.

'I am absolutely a supporter of increasing migration to Australia and at levels above what is in the Population Statement to ensure not only that we get the economic benefits, (but also) the social and cultural benefits you get from opening your borders and allowing a truly multicultural society,' chief economist Brendan Rynne told The Australian.

Business groups are demanding the nation's cap on permanent skilled migration to be bumped up to 200,000 per year, rather than the current 160,000.

Australia's migrant population accounts for 10 per cent of its entire residents, but KPMG says more can be done.

The group says bringing in 350,000 skilled overseas workers per year would not only be worth more than $100billion for the economy but also see GDP raise 4.4 per cent.

The federal government have consistently refused to increase caps on migrants entering Australia, with the country set to fall below the population increases experienced for the decade to 2019.

KPMG's data says there would be a negative net drop of migration in 2021 of 40,000.

Business groups are calling for more foreign workers to come to Australia, claiming it was create a huge boost for the economy (pictured, Melbourne Airport)

Over the next year 10 years the firm say there would be 540,000 less migrants entering Australia, 900,000 below the number needed to retain their 10 per cent population share.

Dr Brendan Coates from Grattan Institute's economy policy program told the publication while migrant work boosts did aid the economy, the changes in GDP largely come from the workers.

He said while overseas employees certainly aided Australia, they have to be much higher skilled to move the needle.

'Who comes matters as much, if not more, than the number of migrants that do come. Migrants, especially skilled migrants, boost Australian GDP per person,' he said.

'The big benefit from migration, especially skilled migration, is the fiscal dividend they generate for the Australian community because they pay more in taxes than they receive in public services and benefits over their lifetimes.'
A mother-of-three and self-proclaimed 'anti-vaxxer' has changed her views on vaccinations after contracting coronavirus twice, and after the virus hospitalised her father.

Saja Ali, 31, was severely ill with the virus in February last year, leaving her bed bound at her home in Didsbury, south Manchester for four weeks.

Meanwhile her father also contracted the virus and spent 11 days in hospital.

She admitted that she had not taken up the offer to receive her vaccination at the time because she had been wary of it due to what she had heard and read.

'For me, it was all because it was new. It was a new vaccine and I was hearing a lot of conspiracy theories,' she said.

Saja Ali, 31, was severely ill with the virus in February last year

'At the time my husband was also really against it. I did not think twice about not having a jab.

'Then I got it. It totally changed my mind. A week later my dad caught Covid and needed hospital treatment. We were prepared for the worst with him. He was in hospital for 11 days and needed help.

'It made me think. I have three kids and it just made me realise.'

After recovering, she got her jabs and is now speaking out to encourage others to get theirs.

She now credits the vaccination programme with keeping her safe and preventing severe illness once again after she tested positive for the virus a second time before Christmas.

'A lot of people are still claiming the vaccine doesn't work,' she said. 'I think those who have caught Covid more than once should speak out to raise awareness.

'The vaccine does work and does prevent worse symptoms.

'I was a complete anti-vaxxer until I got Covid-19 really, really badly back in February.

'I had it again and I honestly felt fine. I believe that it was purely down to the vaccine.

After recovering, Saja got her jabs and is now speaking out to encourage others to get theirs (Stock Image)

'I felt a bit tired but nothing to stop me doing what I would normally do in a day. It was nothing like it was back in February.

'I believe the vaccine won't stop people from being poorly, but it will help prevent you from falling really ill and needing hospital treatment.'

Britain is currently considering giving out fourth Covid vaccines in a bid to stop the surge of Omicron cases, following the lead of Germany and Israel.

The rollout of a second set of boosters is being examined by experts on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

Those with weakened immune systems are already entitled to a fourth job but the elderly and other vulnerable groups could soon be included.

The fourth jab would likely come four months after the third if it gets the green light.
Hundreds of patients counted in NSW's daily Covid hospitalisation tally are not in hospital because of the virus, with some simply testing positive in routine checks while being admitted for broken bones or labour pains.

The revelation comes amid warnings infections in Victoria and NSW could soar to up to 100,000 daily cases within weeks if current trends continue.

Victoria recorded 7,172 cases on Sunday - jumping from 1,980 just seven days ago - and with infection numbers doubling every four days this could easily reach 100,000 by the end of January.

Over in NSW, which saw more than 18,000 new cases for a third consecutive day and has also been predicted to reach six figures, hospital admissions have topped 1,000.

But data shows as many as 50 per cent of 'Covid patients' in the state's hospitals were actually admitted for other reasons - such as a broken leg, labour pains or even mental health issues - and later tested positive to the virus during routine tests.

There are fears Victoria and NSW could record up to 100,000 cases a day within the next four weeks (pictured, masked shoppers in Melbourne)

Victoria recorded 7,172 new cases on Sunday, a day after the state rang in 2022 with a record daily total (pictured New Year's Eve revellers in Melbourne)

AUSTRALIA'S NEW COVID RULES Who should get a PCR test? Anyone who has symptoms or who has got a positive rapid antigen test New definition of close contact: Someone who has spent at least four hours in a household or a care facility with a positive case. Workplaces do not count. New isolation period: Positive people and close contacts must isolate for seven days or 10 in SA. This is regardless of whether the close contacts test negative or not Timing: NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT implemented the new rules on New Year's Eve. Tasmania followed on January 1 while the Northern Territory and Western Australia will not adopt the scheme until they get more Covid cases in the weeks ahead. Advertisement

As of Sunday morning, there were 1,066 people with Covid in hospital in NSW, with 83 in ICU.

Brad Hazzard has admitted that over two days during the week, up to half of those cases were in hospital for something else entirely - raising questions about how hospitalisation figures are reported.

'A reasonable proportion of cases being classified as Covid hospitalisations are actually people with other reasons for admission,' NSW health minister Brad Hazzard said.

'Heart attacks, births, falls, none of that stops just because there is Covid. They come into hospital, they have a swab taken and it confirms Covid.

'This shows us its out in the community, but we aren't necessarily seeing that as the primary reason for all of the admissions.'

NSW hospitalisations of Covid cases reached four digits for the first time since October (pictured, ICU staff at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital) - but it has emerged not all the patients are in hospital for Covid-related reasons

COVID HOSPITAL RATES IN AUSTRALIA NSW: 1,066 Victoria: 472 Queensland: 112 South Australia: 82 Tasmania: 4 Northern Territory: 21 Western Australia: 0 ACT: 9 Advertisement

The most ever recorded in NSW hospitals was 1,268 on September 21.

While Mr Hazzard admitted hospitals are under increasing strain, preliminary analysis shows that Omicron so far has proved to be a much milder illness for many.

The 1,066 patients in hospital are among 124,624 active Covid across the state.

On September 6, there were 1,071 hospitalisations from 29,253 cases, including 177 cases in ICU, more than double of the 83 reported on Sunday.

The revelation could provide some comfort to citizens in both NSW and Victoria who are watching daily Covid cases explode and hospital admissions creep up.

Melbourne University head of population and global health Nancy Baxter believes the southern state could see 100,000 cases by the end of January if current trends persist.

'We are likely to get to the point  and are already starting to get to the point  where there are tents in front of emergency departments,' she told the Herald Sun.

It's estimated around 70 per cent of Victoria's daily infections are of the Omicron variant as the state continues to also battle the more ferocious Delta variant.

Government data of NSW cases in hospital has revealed many admissions were for non-related Covid illnesses and conditions such as broken limbs and labour pains

Queenslanders have also been put on alert with face masks reimposed in all indoor settings (pictured, a Gold Coast shopper)

Hospitalisations are also on the rise in Victoria with 472 cases currently admitted.

However, only 52 are in ICU compared to 83 just before the new Omicron variant hit Australia's shores.

Testing clinics are also under enormous strain as frustrated Melburnians face lengthy delays to be swabbed and wait up to four days to get their results.

Many testing centres across Melbourne closed within an hour of opening on Sunday due to the city's heatwave.

Professor Adrian Esterman, the chair of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of South Australia, holds similar fears for NSW.

Based on current trends of daily case numbers, Victoria could soon overtake NSW in terms of daily case numbers (pictured, New Year's Eve revellers at Melbourne's Sidney Myer Bowl)

'In four days time that is about 40,000 cases, and four days after that 80,000 cases, so you can see how easily it can reach 100,000 cases,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

The professor called for the government should reintroduce more Covid restrictions to stop hospitals becoming overwhelmed before the outbreak peaked.

'The health system is creaking at the seams,' he said.

'Just suppose five per cent have it bad enough to go to hospital  that's 1,000 patients going into the system every day.

'How are they going to cope with that? The answer is they can't. Something has to change.'

Australian Medical Association vice-president Chris Moy has been inundated with calls from concerned doctors and medical administrators 'struggling' with staff shortages as case numbers rise.

'People look at the numbers and see the 1,066 in hospitals but the health system doesn't just look after COVID and people are having critical surgery delayed,' he said.

Demand at Covid testing centres across Melbourne and Sydney has soared over the Christmas-New Year period as cases continue to rise (pictured, New Year's Day queues at Bondi)

Dr Moy told the ABC: 'What's happening there is that the staffing situation is becoming pretty critical.

'I'm hearing about teams getting completely wiped out essentially because they are either contacts or they are positive.'

A NSW Health spokesperson said as of December 30, 2,510 healthcare workers were in isolation after being exposed to COVID-19.

In Queensland, 3,587 cases were reported on Sunday as restrictions were reintroduced, including mandatory mask wearing in all indoor spaces.

Elective surgery has been cancelled in the state's hospitals as a surging number of staff are forced into isolation.

South Australia saw 2,298 cases while the Northern Territory recorded 94 new infections.

Frustrated Melburnians are facing lengthy delays to be swabbed and waiting up to four days to receive their Covid test results (pictured, a long queue of motorists at the Albert Park drive-through testing clinic)

Covid hospitalisations are on the rise in Victoria but health officials remain hopeful admissions won't place an unprecedented strain on staff (pictured, Melbournians ringing in 2022)

NSW reported a record-breaking 22,577 new infections on Saturday, which is believed to be the result of backlogs in testing centres over the Christmas period.

One expert is hopeful the surge of Omicron cases across the state won't place unprecedented strain on the hospital system.

'The story of Omicron is playing in what we see as case numbers (but) we have Delta which is still most visible in hospital numbers,' Professor Catherine Bennett said.

'We had 83 people in ICU by mid-December before we had any Omicron.

'Hospitalisations are probably telling us that Delta is still circulating in the community.'

Early Childhood Minister Ingrid Stitt is also encouraged by current ICU figures.

'My understanding is that over the last two or three days, the ICU numbers have remained fairly stable and that's a good thing,' she said.

'But we can't take anything for granted.'
Vulnerable women who are walking home at night could be protected from predators by high-tech drones under plans to be submitted to the Government.

The AeroGuard drones would use AI technology and be fitted with a powerful spotlight and thermal cameras in order to scare off would-be attackers.

According to the Sunday Telegraph, a woman who is in fear of an attack would be able to use an app to summon the drone which would then arrive within four minutes.

The design has been put together by a team of former police officers and Civil Aviation Authority experts and will be submitted as part of an application for funding as part of the Government's Innovate research programme.

Drone Defence, the company behind the technology, said the drones, which will cost 35,000, will be trialled at Nottingham University to protect students and staff on campus.

The company, which is preparing plans to submit to the Home Office, says the solution would be much more cost-effective than using police helicopters and could do 80 per cent of the same tasks.

A drone company is preparing plans to submit to the Government which would see the development of a drone designed to protect vulnerable women walking at night (file image)

In a promotional video for the technology, the company says it is estimated 50 per cent of women and one in seven men feel unsafe walking alone at night in a quiet street near their home.

A voiceover adds: 'To tackle antisocial behaviour, sexual and violent crimes on our streets, we are looking to develop an automated emergency response capability using drones.

'These drones could be placed on the roof of a police station and could be called to an incident by a mobile phone app.

'We have the technology which would safely deploy a drone with a thermal camera over a vulnerable person within minutes of being called.

'This drone would then flood lights and record the scene, streaming the footage to a control room and act as a deterrent to an opportunistic attacker.'

It adds that this kind of technology has not been deployed 'anywhere in the world' and that there are regulatory hurdles to overcome.

The firm says drones could be used tackle antisocial behaviour, sexual and violent crimes by allowing users to raise an alert via an phone app which would trigger an emergency response

Once the alert is received, a drone could be in the area 'in minutes', Drone Defence has said

Company founder Richard Gill said the use of drones could ultimately take over up to 80 per cent of the functions currently performed by police helicopters.

Former army intelligence officer Mr Gill told the Telegraph: 'We aim to get a prototype off the ground in Nottingham for 500,000.

'It is a high capability drone that costs just 100 an hour but can do 80 per cent of what a police helicopter can do.

'It cannot do high speed pursuits but it can do the other tasks such as searching for people and ground surveillance.

'It will take about a year to put together as a proof of concept that drones can provide support for people at a fraction of the cost in minutes rather than tens of minutes.'

The drone will also be equipped with artificial intelligence which will automatically track the phone signal from 200ft in the air.

The company behind the idea, Drone Defence, believes their design and concept could be more efficient and cost-effective for police forces than using a police helicopter (file image)

It will be monitored from a control room by a qualified pilot who will be ready to take over if needed.

The team came up with the idea following widespread public outcry over the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by then serving police officer Wayne Couzens.

Couzens abducted Ms Everard as she walked home from a friend's house in Clapham, south London, on the evening of March 3.

The killer used Covid powers to conduct a fake arrest of the 33-year-old marketing executive as she walked home, before committing crimes so horrific they shocked the nation and undermined confidence in the police.

The 48-year-old, who used his warrant card and handcuffs to carry out the crime, had been planning for at least a month before he targeted Ms Everard.

He was handed a whole-life prison sentence in September and is currently behind bars at at Frankland prison in County Durham.

Police forces across the UK have started to use drones to carry out operations including helping to search for missing people and identifying cannabis factories.

Richard Gill, founder of Drone Defence, said the idea came to fruition after the outcry over the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard (pictured) by Wayne Couzens in south London last year

Cambridge Police invested in three drones in 2020 and the force said they had been deployed to assist with 225 incidents in about a 12 month period.

In October, Norfolk police said they planned to expand their drone fleet after successfully using them to assist on 1,500 incidents throughout the year.

Drones were also deployed to catch burglars, fly over firearms incidents and to monitor illegal camps and unlicensed music gatherings.

In London, the Metropolitan Police have been using drones since a trial was launched in 2017.

The drones have been deployed for coverage of crime scenes, providing aerial support for pre-planned operations, surveying premises and providing live footage of operational deployments at public order events.

Mr Gill said using drones could prove to be more efficient than using police helicopters, reaching a target area within four minutes compared to 20 minutes for a chopper.

He told the Telegraph: 'London on average has a police helicopter above it for eight hours a day.

'For the same price as they currently pay for the helicopter, you could have 25 drones offering 250 flying hours per day. This would need five base locations across the city.'
CNN host Don Lemon drunkenly ranted about his 'haters' during the network's live New Year's Eve celebration stream.

Lemon, 55, a veteran of CNN's New Year's Eve Live, rang in 2022 for the central time zone on Friday, hosting from New Orleans with fellow anchor Alisyn Camerota and comedian Dulce Sloan.

As the clock approached midnight, Lemon, who appeared boisterous and more outspoken than usual, ranted: 'I don't give a  what you think about me, what do you think about that.'

He went on to claim that people dislike him because he is a 'successful black man'.

'I am who I am. I'm a grown, successful black man who a lot of people hate because they're not used to people seeing me - and people like me - in the position that I am,' Lemon continued.

CNN host Don Lemon drunkenly ranted to his 'haters' during the network's live New Year's Eve celebration stream and claimed that people don't like him because he is 'a successful black man'

When the clock struck midnight Lemon popped out of a lemon cake

'To be able to share what I...my point of view on television, it freaks people out. And you know what? You can kiss my behind. I do not care.

'I don't care. I really don't care. I have one life and this is who I am and I feel very, um...,' at which point Sloan finished his sentence with the word 'blessed'.

'To be able to do this. So all the hate I get? It's motivation to me. Bring it, I don't care,' Lemon, who joined CNN in September of 2006, concluded.

The rant has since been viewed hundreds of thousands of times but it's not the first time the TV host's comments have drawn attention.

It was revealed that Lemon (right) allegedly tipped off disgraced Empire star Jussie Smollett (left) about Chicago detectives doubting the actor's story of being beaten in a homophobic attack

Last month, Lemon threw his old pal Jussie Smollett to the wolves hours after his conviction for faking a hate crime, and avoided claims that he's offered the actor inside information about the police probe into his claims.

Lemon said on December 9 just hours after Smollett was convicted: 'He had to make up too many lies as to why he didn't want to do certain things.

'To cover. Like another lie - and I guess he got caught up in that because he took the stand himself. He got angry with the prosecutor as the prosecutor poked holes in his story - calling the only other witnesses liars.'

Lemon also blasted Smollett for making it harder for real victims of hate attacks to be taken seriously, and he listened intently while his legal analyst Joey Jackson called for Smollett to face jail

The public called for CNN to dismiss Lemon following the accusations that he helped Smollett 'obstruct justice'

Asked by Lemon what he thought of the verdict, Jackson said: 'I think it's the proper result.'

However, days earlier, CNN came under pressure to fire Lemon after it was revealed he contacted the former Empire star to tell him that the Chicago police didn't believe his story.

Smollett, who is gay, testified in court on December 6 that the CNN anchor sent him a text message warning the 39-year-old actor that detectives didn't believe his tale of being been beaten in the middle of the night by two white men wearing MAGA hats during a homophobic attack in 2019.

Lemon, who is also gay, did not respond to a DailyMail.com request for comment.

The network star is no stranger to scandal. Two years prior, Lemon was sued by a Hamptons bartender for sexual assault after claiming the television journalist jammed his finger in his face after rubbing his own genitals. He vehemently denies those allegations.

Dustin Hice, 41, spoke out about the alleged assault in the wake of Chris Cuomo's termination from CNN after a sexual misconduct allegation was leveled at him last week, in the wake of another scandal involving his ties to his alleged sex pest brother Andrew.

In August 2019 Lemon was sued by Dustin Hice (left with his sister), 41, for sexual assault after claiming the television journalist jammed his finger in his face after rubbing his own genitals

Hice claims that he was out with co-workers at Murf's Backstreet Tavern (pictured) in Sag Harbor on or around July 15, 2018 when Lemon approached him and sexually assaulted him

Hice filed a suit against Lemon in August 2019 alleging that he assaulted him at Murf's Backstreet Tavern in Sag Harbor in July 2018. Lemon denied the allegations.

Hice said the network was 'a predator protecting machine' that's 'rife with perverts'.

As of early December, CNN was standing by Lemon, similar to how the network backed its former anchor Chris Cuomo until revelations from the New York Attorney General's office forced them to take action.

'This is who they are. They're a predator-protecting machine, they slander and smear victims with impunity,' Hice added.

Hice, who has spoken about the alleged assault several times in the past also revealed that he was offered a $500,000 settlement by Lemon before negotiations broke down and a formal complaint was filed.
The woman considered to be the oldest person alive has today celebrated her 119th birthday.

Kane Tanaka, from Japan, greeted the festivities in the Fukuoka Prefecture.

Her family members say Ms Tanaka who was born on January 2 in 1903, 11 years before World War I began, hopes to live until 120.

Kane Tanaka (pictured) was recognised as the world's oldest living person by the Guinness World Records when she was 116 in 2019

She currently resides at a nursing home in Fukuoka and while the centenarian is unable to speak, she communicates with staff using gestures and enjoys chocolate and fizzy drinks.

Ms Tanaka also likes to solve number puzzles to challenge herself, The Japan Times reports.

The Russo-Japanese War began only a year after Ms Tanaka was born, and in her childhood lived through the final year's of Japan's Meiji era, considered to be a transformative period of modernisation.

Ms Tanaka pictured on her 117th birthday. Her family members say she hopes to live until 120

She was recognised as the world's oldest living person by the Guinness World Records when she was 116 in 2019.

In 2020 she became the oldest person in Japan at 117 and 261 days old.

According to the Guinness World Records website Ms Tanaka got married to her cousin aged 19 in 1922 and the couple ran a noodle shop called Tanaka Mochiya which sold udon, rice cakes and zenzai.

Her husband and eldest son fought in the second Sino-Japanese War which began in 1937.

Ms Tanaka in 2018. She currently resides at a nursing home in Fukuoka and communicates with staff using gestures

Ms Tanaka, pictured in 2019, likes to solve number puzzles to challenge herself and enjoys chocolate and fizzy drinks

Aged 90, Ms Tanaka had cataract surgery. The record-holder also underwent colorectal cancer surgery when she was 103.

As of 2020, Ms Tanaka has five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, The Times reported last year.

Her 62-year-old grandson Eiji told the Japan Times: 'I would like to personally congratulate her soon.

'I hope she remains healthy and has fun everyday as she grows older.'

Previously other people have been said to be older than Ms Tanaka.

Last month China's oldest person, who is also claimed to be the oldest person ever, died aged of 135.

Alimihan Seyiti, from Komuxerik in Shule County in the north-western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, was born on June 25, 1886, during the imperial Qing dynasty.

However this has not been internationally confirmed.

Last summer a woman in Turkey also claims to have celebrated her 119th birthday, which would make her older than Ms Tanaka.

Turkish media reported that Seker Arslan had celebrated the astonishing milestone surrounded by her family in the northern city of Amasya.

According to her driving license, she was born on June 27, 1902, making her 119.
Baltimore's woke mayor's calls to defund the police have come back to haunt him after the city's notoriously high murder rate climbed again in 2021.

Charm City saw 337 homicides last year, up from 334 in 2020, and well above the 290 that the city's Mayor Brandon Scott had hoped his new 'violence reduction' strategies would bring the homicide rate down to in 2021.

'We can't accept that this life loss is normal,' Scott, who last year led efforts to cut police funding by $22 million as a city councilman before pleading over the spring for $27 million more for the police department, told the Baltimore Sun Times.

Meanwhile, non-fatal shootings increased from 721 in 2020, to 726 in 2021.

Scott had laid out a plan to reduce murders by 15 percent every year. But instead of lowering murders to less than 290 deaths, the city reported 337 killings involving shooting incidents.

Among the victims were a 69-year-old woman who was killed in church by a man 'fresh off parole,' and a female police officer who was ambushed by her two assailants while she patrolled, and who died after being shot in the head.

The violent streak of shootings has kept increasing steadily since 2015. Democrat-led cities with mayors who have pushed to defund police - and later asked to 'refund' police departments - like Philadelphia, Chicago and Washington, D.C, now account for America's most violent cities.

The Charm City saw a slight increase in murders from 334 in 2020

Meanwhile, Baltimore's police department has pointed out that murder clearance has gone up from 32 percent in 2019, to 39 percent in 2020, and 42 percent in 2021.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison, said it would take monumental efforts to root out the culture of violence in the city.

'It's not just what the Police Department can do, it's how we change the way people think,' Harrison said. 'We have to change culture, and that's a hard thing to do. That takes longer.'

Only 90 minutes into the New Year, Baltimore saw its first two homicides of the year.

Nonfatal shootings increased from 721 in 2020, to 726 in 2021 - roughly a 1percent increase

Meanwhile, Baltimore's police department has pointed out that murder clearance has gone up from 32percent in 2019, to 39percent in 2020, and 42percent in 2021

'We can't accept that this life loss is normal,' Mayor Brandon Scott, who last year led efforts to cut police funding by $22 million as a city councilman before pleading over the spring for $27 million more for the police department, said

Mayor Brandon Scott, who last year led efforts to cut police funding by $22 million as a city councilman, pleaded last year for $27 million more for the police department.

Then in October, Gov. Larry Hogan announced that Maryland would invest an additional $150 million in law enforcement as part of his 'refund the police' initiative.

He said that public officials need to steer more funding to law enforcement to maintain public safety, CBS Baltimore reported.

'Thinking you can improve law enforcement by defunding the police is like saying that you want to improve education by defunding the schools,' Hogan said. 'It's absurd and ridiculous.'

The mayor's anti-violence program, which tripled the city's violence intervention programs, and increased efforts to seize trafficked guns, did not slow down the yearly increase in murders as expected.

Police Commissioner Harris highlighted the need to change the culture, in order to combat the rise in murders, which are overwhelmingly violent in nature.

November kicked off to a grisly start for Baltimore when 69-year-old grandmother Evelyn Player was brutally stabbed at her east Baltimore church.

Player was found stabbed in a bathroom of the Southern Baptist Church, an hour after she had let contractors and her suspected killer into the building for church renovations.

Manzie Smith Jr., 62, was arrested in December and charged with first-degree murder after he was identified with DNA evidence collected at the scene.

Smith, who reportedly has mental health issues and is said not to remember the day of the killing, had been contracted as a laborer.

Officer Keona Holley was shot in the head while she sat inside her police car. Holley, who was working an overtime shift in Bay City, was ambushed by two assailants without an apparent motive, police said.

The 39-year-old mother-of-four had been in the force for just two yers. She was taken off life support shortly after she was shot in December

'The murder of a 69-year-old grandmother inside a church in East Baltimore has shaken city residents and community leaders to the core,' Governor Hogan said in a statement in December. 'This heartbreaking violence is tearing the city apart. Enough is enough. We need immediate action.'

State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby went on to say that Smith was 'fresh off parole and not given adequate state supervision' at the time of the killing.

Player's alleged killer was arrested just days before another violent murder shook the city.

On December 16, Baltimore police officer Keona Holley was shot in the head while she sat inside her police car.

Holley, who was working an overtime shift in Bay City, was ambushed by two assailants without an apparent motive, police said.

The suspects were later arrested.

The 39-year-old mother-of-four had been in the force for just two yers. She was taken off life support shortly after she was shot.

'Her health has been deteriorating over the last couple of days and her family, in consultation with her doctors, has had to make the most difficult decision,' said Commissioner Harrison.

'Our prayers are with Officer Holley's family and loved ones, co-workers and the entire community. I thank her and the entire BPD community for their commitment, service and sacrifice. We mourn Officer Holley's death together and we will heal together,' he added.

Harrison seemed to be more hopeful of the department's goals for 2022, pointing out at the increase in murder clearance.

'When you put it all together, we have made improvements,' he said.

November kicked off to a grisly start for Baltimore when 69-year-old grandmother Evelyn Player was brutal stabbed at her east Baltimore church

'We're just getting started,' Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said. 'It is frustrating, but we're changing the culture of a city'

'We're just getting started,' Harrison said. 'It is frustrating, but we're changing the culture of a city.'

Meanwhile, mayor Scott did not backpedal from his initial plan to reduce violent crimes, assuring residents that they will see results in 2022.

'We all know that this is always going to be a long road. But I believe in my heart that we can transform what's going on in the city by keeping to this approach,' told the Sun.

But only 90 minutes into the New Year, Baltimore saw its first two homicides of the year.

In Southwest Baltimore, two men were killed and a 16-year-old was injured in a shooting around 1.30am on Saturday.

Roughly 15 minutes later, an 18-year-old was injured in a separate shooting while he walked in the Fells Point area.

Southwest Baltimore neighborhoods Councilman John Bullock told the Sun it would take more than a plan to combat the violent reality of the city.

'It's one thing to have a great and well-crafted plan,' Bullock said. 'At the same time, you're dealing with the reality that violence and crime is still at a high level.'
A new study has found that those who are worried about the COVID-19 pandemic are slower at processing information, worse at retaining information and more likely to overestimate negative odds than their less anxious counterparts.

The study, conducted by McGill University and the Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital, surveyed 1,500 Americans online from April to June 2020.

The authors concluded that people more worried about coronavirus and its effects performed worse at information processing tests and had a distorted view of risk levels.

Regardless of worry, researchers found that people surveyed in June 2020 - by the time governments had taken strict lockdown measures and news coverage of the pandemic was constant - performed worse than pre-pandemic groups and exhibited 'slower processing speed, lower task-switching accuracy, and were more sensitive to risk.'

The study surveyed 1,500 Americans between April and June of 2020

A recent study found that people who are more worried about COVID-19 had 'reduced information processing speed' and were more sensitive to negative odds

'The basic cognitive abilities measured here are crucial for healthy daily living and decision-making,' said study author and McGill graduate student Kevin da Silva Castanheira in a statement released by the Canadian university.

'The impairments associated with worry observed here suggest that under periods of high stress, like a global pandemic, our ability to think, plan, an evaluate risks is altered. Understanding these changes are critical as managing stressful situations often relies on these abilities.'

The study was published in the open access journal PLOS ONE on November 18.

Participants were asked to rate their own level of worry and complete an information processing test where they had to match pairs of digits and symbols according to a fixed rule.

To measure risk preferences, researchers used a 'classic economic choice task' in which participants had to make a series of hypothetical choices between a 'certain' option, like winning $75, and a risky option, like a 25 percent chance of winning $0 and a 75 percent chance of winning $100.

The study was conducted by McGill University and the Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital, or 'The Neuro,' above

'Individuals reporting greater pandemic-related worry appeared more sensitive to described risk level,' the authors say.

'As with the analysis of cognitive task performance, this relationship between sensitivity to outcome probabilities and individual worry remained after controlling for demographic variables, and perceived risk of contracting COVID-19.'

The study added: 'However, we failed to find any evidence that greater worry was associated with risk aversion, nor loss aversion. Instead, we found that pandemic worry predicted individuals' tendency to distort described risk levels: underweighting likely probabilities and overweighting unlikely probabilities regardless or valence.'

The authors proposed that the more anxious respondents may be more sensitive to risk because they're more likely to seek out information, resulting in greater exposure to the media, which often discusses risk.

The data collected during the pandemic was compared to results from the same tests completed by different people before the pandemic.

'The impairments associated with worry observed here suggest that under periods of high stress, like a global pandemic, our ability to think, plan, an evaluate risks is altered,' said study author Kevin Da Silva Castanheira, a psychology grad student at McGill

As the pandemic progressed, test takers in the third wave - around June 2020 - showed slower processing speeds, a lower ability to maintain goals in mind, and were more sensitive to risk than those in the first wave, according to McGill.

'The persistently impaired task performance may reflect the impact of prolonged (i.e. chronic) exposure to stress or a shift in the sources of worry,' according to the study.

Study author Dr. Madeleine Sharp says the next step would be to examine why 'some pepple are more sensitive than others to stress'

The study's authors note that previous accounts say that worry impairs executive functioning and displaces cognitive resources, but that it can also improve it temporarily.

'The impact of stress and of worry on cognitive function are well known, but are typically studied in the laboratory setting,' said study author Dr. Madeleine Sharp, a researcher and neurologist at the Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital, or 'The Neuro.'

'Here, were able to extend these findings by studying the effects of a real-world stressor in a large sample.

'An important future direction will be to examine why some people are more sensitive than others to stress and to identify coping strategies that help to protect from the effects of stress.'
Trump hailed Dunleavy as a 'great' governor when he accepted the endorsement

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy thanked Donald Trump for endorsing his re-election bid on Friday, implying he also accepts the ex-president's request to not support his fellow Republican, Senator Lisa Murkowski, to keep her seat in 2022.

A statement released by Trump's Save America PAC hours before midnight of the near year featured the GOP governor saying there was 'nothing to worry about' regarding Murkowski.

'Please tell the President thank you for the endorsement. With regard to the other issue, please tell the President he has nothing to worry about. I appreciate all 45 has done for Alaska and this country,' Dunleavy said.

Trump endorsed Alaska's incumbent governor earlier last week - subject to his 'non-endorsement of Murkowski,' one of the former president's strongest opponents, who he said has been 'very bad for Alaska.'

He echoed the same sentiment on Friday, praising Dunleavy while calling the Republican senator a 'disaster.'

Murkowski was one of seven Senate Republicans who crossed the aisle to vote for Trump's conviction in his February impeachment trial for his role in the January 6 riot at the Capitol.

Dunleavy's apparent acceptance of Trump's request to shun Murkowski is emblematic of the growing divide within the Republican Party, less than a year until the 2022 elections.

'This is why Mike Dunleavy of Alaska has been, and will be, a great Governor. He has the courage of his convictions,' Trump said.

Dunleavy agreeing to shun Murkowski is emblematic of the divide Trump has caused within the Republican Party

Trump's New Years Eve statement included comments from both himself and Dunleavy

'Lisa Murkowski is the disaster from Alaska who single-handedly blew ANWR, one of the largest energy sites in the world, and an incredible economic development opportunity for the Great State of Alaska!'

DailyMail.com has reached out to Murkowski's office for comment.

On Tuesday Trump said that should Dunleavy support Murkowski, his endorsement of the Republican governor 'is null and void, and of no further force or effect.'

Otherwise, the candidate has his 'Complete and Total Endorsement.'

'Mike Dunleavy has been a strong and consistent Conservative since his time in the Alaska State Senate,' Trump said in the statement.

'I was proud to endorse his first run for Governor, and I am proud to support his reelection, too. Alaska needs Mike Dunleavy as Governor now more than ever.'

Donald Trump (right) endorsed Alaska's incumbent Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy (left) on Tuesday - subject to his 'non-endorsement of Senator Lisa Murkowski'

Should Dunleavy support Murkowski, Trump wrote his press release through his Save America PAC, his endorsement of the Republican governor 'is null and void, and of no further force or effect'

In June, the Biden administration halted all oil and natural gas drilling on the non-wilderness Coastal Plain (1002 Area) of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) pending an environmental review.

Murkowski joined Senator Dan Sullivan, Congressman Don Young, and Dunleavy in criticizing the administration for doing so.

But Trump blamed Murkowski for the loss, citing her support of 'Radical Left Biden appointees, which in turn led to the revocation of ANWR drilling, which Alaskans have been fighting to see happen for six decades,' costing the state 'billions and billions of dollars,' according to Alaska Public.

'I think she will be met very harshly by the Alaska voters in 15 months, and I will be there to campaign against her!' Trump wrote in a June 7 statement.

Dunleavy is facing a primary challenge from state Representative Christopher Kurka as he runs for his second gubernatorial term.

Dunleavy (pictured) is facing a primary challenge from state Representative Christopher Kurka as he runs for his second gubernatorial term

Murkowski is the only one among the seven Republicans who voted to impeach Trump who is running for reelection in the 2022 midterm elections.

The moderate Republican with a history of working across the aisle to reach bipartisan agreements announced her reelection campaign in November. But winning over Alaska's Republicans will prove difficult after her handling of Trump's impeachment trial.

She earned Trump's ire and distanced herself from his base after she opposed the confirmation of Trump-nominated Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. She also voted against a Republican-backed plan to repeal Obamacare in 2017.

Dunleavy, on the other hand, has aligned himself with the Trump agenda, supporting the former president when he refused to concede the 2020 election.

'I, for one, will support our president's efforts to ensure that the election is completed with integrity. Let us hope and pray that it is,' Dunleavy wrote in a statement last November.

Dunleavy has aligned himself with the Trump agenda, supporting the former president when he refused to concede the 2020 election

Murkowski was appointed to the U.S. Senate in 2002 after her father, Frank, resigned from his seat after he was elected governor.

Trump endorsed her challenger, former Alaska commissioner of administration Kelly Tshibaka, earlier this year.

He is scheduled to hold a fundraiser for Murkowski's opponent at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida in February, and several leading members of Trump's 2020 presidential reelection campaign are working for Tshibaka's campaign as advisers.

'Murkowski has got to go!,' Trump wrote in June. 'Kelly Tshibaka is the candidate who can beat Murkowski  and she will. Kelly is a fighter who stands for Alaska values and America First. She is MAGA all the way, pro-energy, strong on the Border, tough on Crime and totally supports our Military and our great Vets.'
Republican Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan said in a Sunday interview that members of his party who stormed the Capitol on January 6 had 'riot envy' for left-wing Black Lives Matter activists protesting across the country the summer before.

In turn, he said, Democrats were feeling envious of Republican efforts to delegitimize the American political system and accused them of working to do so in 'less dramatic ways.'

He also ascribed Republicans' continued support of Donald Trump to simply having 'no other options' in an interview with Meet the Press.

'You've got one party that's being led by Trump here that seems to be trying to delegitimize our democracy. Does that concern you?' asked host Chuck Todd.

Meijer said it did.

'But I also see another party that's trying to delegitimize our democracy in far less dramatic ways. At least, you know, not guys with Viking hats, you know, bare-chested, running into the Capitol, but calling for packing the Supreme Court, calling for abolishing the Senate,' the Michigan Republican said.

'And frankly, doing the same thing, the same justifications that I saw from some members of my party after the riots last summer. They say, "Well, why is it so bad that we stormed the Capitol? You know, they were the ones burning down these cities." The sense of riot envy.

'Now we have this delegitimizing envy where, again, it is creating a reciprocal reaction.'

Rep. Peter Meijer is one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over his role in the Capitol riot last year

A wave of demonstrations against racism and police violence wracked the United States during the summer of 2020, after video of black Minneapolis resident George Floyd's killing at the hands of white police officer Derek Chauvin sparked a global outcry.

While the majority of these demonstrations were peaceful, after-dark rioting and looting across US cities caused millions of dollars in damage. The unrest also saw a police precinct in Minneapolis and law enforcement vehicles across multiple cities set ablaze.

Meijer said the country is in an 'incredibly dangerous' position and warned that both parties were capable of causing harm.

'I think the threat of violence is probably more pronounced on the right today. But that does not mean the left is not capable as well. And that is what we need to cease,' he said.

Meijer was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump following the Capitol riot. In a bid to unseat him, the former president endorsed a primary challenger for Meijer's seat in November.

Trump has managed to retain kingmaker status among the GOP despite multiple prominent Republicans condemning his role on January 6 in the riot's immediate aftermath. Senator Lindsey Graham and House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy are among the lawmakers who've since walked back their anger and have since stood firmly behind Trump.

Meijer chalked it up to there being 'no other path.'

He also seemed to blame President Joe Biden and his progressive policies for pushing Republicans closer to Trump.

'There was no alternative. There was no other path. And given how President Biden when he was elected into office, you know, said he would be moderate and look for bipartisan solutions... it became an exercise in trying to be an LBJ or FDR-style presidency and enact transformational change in the absence of any compelling mandate from the American people to do so,' Meijer said.

He said angry Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol had 'riot envy' for anti-police protests that Democrats were staging in 2020

Millions of left-wing activists across the country protested against racism and police violence in summer of 2020

'So that gave the rallying signal, that created a very steep divide. And at the end of the day, there's no other option right now in the Republican Party. And that's a sad test.'

He didn't support House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's creation of a select committee to investigate the Capitol riot, instead favoring a more bipartisan approach. Meijer has since appeared to support the panel's investigation when he voted in favor of criminal charges for Steve Bannon, after the ex-Trump adviser refused to cooperate with the committee.

'I think the ultimate thing to look at here is what precedent is being set and how that could be used in the future. With Steve Bannon, it was very clear: Congress has the prerogative to issue subpoenas and it has to have the contempt power in order for that subpoena to have any weight. And Steve Bannon flat out rejected any cooperation and told Congress to pound sand,' Meijer explained.

But when it came to Mark Meadows, the North Carolina representative-turned-White House Chief of Staff, Meijer said he 'was cooperating at least to some degree' before he abruptly severed ties with the Democrat-led panel.

So far the committee's investigation has produced House-wide contempt votes for Meadows and Bannon. The latter was indicted in November and could face up to a year in jail and a fine of as much as $100,000.

Whereas support for Bannon's conviction saw nine Republicans break ranks, just two Republicans -- committee members Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger -- voted for Meadows'. It's now up to Attorney General Merrick Garland on whether he charges the former chief of staff.
Two Cape Cod children, aged just one and six, have been left orphaned after their parents both died suddenly just days after Christmas due to 'medical conditions'.

Chris and Michele King, from South Sagamore, both passed away the week of December 27 and are survived by their two children: Six-year-old Josephina - JoJo - and one-year-old Miles.

Chris's sister Nicole announced the couple's death on the Bourne Residents Facebook page. 'Our big brother, Christopher, and his wife, Michele, both passed away this week.

'Their young, beautiful family has been so tragically and suddenly torn apart,' the post read, according to The Enterprise.

Six-year-old Josephine - JoJo (right) - and one-year-old Miles (left) have been left orphaned after their parents' sudden death just days after Christmas

Chris and Michele King (pictured together), from South Sagamore, both passed away the week of December 27 from 'medical conditions,' according to their relatives, although it remains unclear what illness they suffered from

No further information on the couple's medical conditions have been given, and it is unclear if they'd been ill in the run-up to their deaths.

It also remains unclear which day of the week Chris and Michele died, or if they passed on the same day.

Bourne Police Lieutenant Brandon M Esip told The Enterprise that neither death was the result of a crime, but did not comment further.

Lt Esip said that there is no ongoing investigation and called the event 'a tragic set of circumstances'.

Massachusetts State Police, Bourne police and the medical examiner's office reportedly responded to the scene. A cause of death has not been announced and although the family has said they died of 'medical conditions' it is unclear what illness the couple had.

Chris worked as a senior project manager at Atlantic Design Engineers in Sagamore

Michele had been a mathematics teacher at Sturgis Charter Public School in Hyannis for nine years before her sudden passing

Chris was a senior project manager at Atlantic Design Engineers in Sagamore and his wife Michele was a mathematics teacher at Sturgis Charter Public School in nearby Hyannis.

School executive Paul Marble described Michele as someone 'who has built excellent relationships with her students and colleagues over the past nine years,' The Enterprise reported.

Nicole created a GoFundMe on New Year's Eve for the couple's young children and said that she 'intends to set up an ITF account in trust for JoJo & Miles to hold the funds for their future needs including care and educational needs and future financial planning for their long term well being'.

The grieving sister added: 'For those who knew Chris & Michele, you know their love for one another was immeasurable and their love for their children, infinite.

'This is such a tragic and irreparable loss for these two little ones to lose both mom and dad suddenly and at such a young age. Their road will be long and rocky, but they are surrounded by so many family members who love them.'

As of Sunday morning, the support for the King children raised more than $71,000.
Virginia Roberts' ex-boyfriend has claimed Prince Andrew destroyed their relationship.

Anthony Figueroa, 39, said Jeffrey Epstein's former 'sex slave' told him about her alleged experiences with the royal.

He claimed Ms Roberts, who was 17 at the time of the supposed encounter and was seeing him, said she 'didn't want to do it'.

She alleges Prince Andrew sexually assaulted her three times when she was 17, which he denies, and is suing for unspecified damages.

Anthony Figueroa (pictured with Ms Roberts in around 2000), 39, said Jeffrey Epstein's former 'sex slave' told him about her alleged experiences with the royal

He claimed Ms Roberts, who was 17 at the time of the supposed encounter and was seeing him, said she 'didn't want to do it'

Ms Roberts and Mr Figueroa were childhood sweethearts but only got together three years later and moved to a flat in Palm Beach, Florida.

But he claims Ghislaine Maxwell and Epstein manipulated them and pushed his ex into a 'bad place'.

He claimed she would jet off on the Lolita Express to his island Little St James and he would not see her for up to two weeks.

Ms Roberts and Mr Figueroa were childhood sweethearts but only got together three years later and moved to a flat in Florida

Mr Figueroa also said he went to the 'house of horrors' in Palm Beach, where he saw women he now believes were the financier's victims.

But he pointed the finger at Prince Andrew for what ruined his relationship with the accuser.

He said a photograph of the royal with his arm around her at Maxwell's house in Kensington still haunted him.

He told the Mirror: 'I didn't see the photo of her with Andrew until after we split. It still p***** me off to think about it because from the times she got back from seeing him, things were different. That was what ended us.'

He went on: 'I'm not in contact with her, but I'm proud of what Virginia is doing. Andrew needs to be questioned by the authorities here. He should face up to it.'

The restaurant worker, who now lives in Atlanta, Georgia, added: 'Being royal makes no difference. Andrew has to face up to the case.'

Prince Andrew's team has been contacted for comment on the latest claims by Mr Figueroa.

It comes as Prince Andrew's effort to block the progression of the lawsuit on the grounds that she no longer lives in the US - was rejected by a federal judge.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, in a written order Friday, told the prince's lawyers they must turn over documents on the schedule that has been set in the lawsuit brought in August by Ms Roberts.

She says she was abused by the prince on multiple occasions in 2001 while she was being sexually abused by financier Jeffrey Epstein. The prince's attorney, Andrew Brettler, has called the lawsuit 'baseless.'

The order was filed three days before the scheduled public release Monday of a 2009 settlement agreement between Epstein and Giuffre.

Lawyers for Andrew say that the agreement protects the prince from claims like those brought by Giuffre and will be sufficient grounds for the lawsuit's dismissal.

Prince Andrew was seen for the first time on Friday since his friend Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of child sex trafficking

Virginia Giuffre - the woman who claims she was forced to sleep with Prince Andrew when she was 17 - could be set to give a victim impact statement to a New York judge for the sentencing of Ghislaine Maxwell. She is pictured with her lawyer, David Boies

The prince's lawyers had claimed that the evidence was so strong that Giuffre does not reside in the US that it was pointless to exchange evidence until that question is resolved because it could result in the lawsuit's dismissal.

They argued that Giuffre has lived in Australia all but two of the past 19 years, has an Australian driver's license and lives in a $1.9 million home in Perth, Western Australia, where she has been raising three children with her husband, who is Australian.

In a statement, Giuffre attorney Sigrid McCawley called the request to halt the case 'just another in a series of tired attempts by Prince Andrew to duck and dodge the legal merits of the case Virginia Giuffre has brought against him.

Andrew admits he has no proof over infamous claim he can't sweat Prince Andrew suffered a setback in his US sex case, after admitting he has no proof over his infamous claim he cannot sweat and also seeing the judge throw out an attempt to stall the case. Lawyers for his accuser, who is suing the prince for damages in a New York civil case, have demanded he hand over evidence he does not perspire, as he said in a car crash Newsnight interview two years ago when denying her allegations. But his legal team said 'no documents exist in his possession, custody or control' to back the claim. Advertisement

All parties in litigation are subject to discovery and Prince Andrew is no exception.'

Kaplan, in a one-page order, noted that the prince's lawyers have requested that 'extensive' materials be turned over by Giuffre by January 14, including documents related to where she has lived.

And he said the prince's attorneys have not yet formally raised the defense that the lawsuit cannot proceed on the grounds that Giuffre has been living in Australia rather than Colorado, where her lawyers say she is a resident.

In the cover page of a lawsuit in September 2015, Giuffre listed her address as Penrose, Colorado.

In the cover letter of an April 2019 lawsuit, she listed her address as Palm Cove, Australia, and marked a box as 'citizen or subject of a foreign country.'

But in her lawsuit against the prince, she listed her address as Ocean Reef, Western Australia, but checked a box that said 'citizen of another state.'

Kaplan's order expressed no opinion on the merits of the prince's claims that Giuffre should be disqualified from suing because she lives in Australia.

Oral arguments via a video teleconference on the prince's request to dismiss the case are scheduled for Monday morning.

In October, the prince's lawyers attacked the lawsuit on multiple grounds, saying Giuffre had made false claims against Andrew because he 'never sexually abused or assaulted' her.

'Giuffre has initiated this baseless lawsuit against Prince Andrew to achieve another payday at his expense and at the expense of those closest to him.

Epstein's abuse of Giuffre does not justify her public campaign against Prince Andrew,' the written arguments said.

Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

His former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, 60, was convicted Wednesday of charges including sex trafficking and conspiracy after a month-long trial.
A devastated mother who was forced to listen over the phone as her 32-year-old daughter was brutally murdered by her cage fighter ex-lover says she hopes he 'rots in jail'.

Andrew Wadsworth, 37, stabbed his partner Melissa Belshaw to death at her Billinge, Wigan home, two months after he came out of prison on licence.

A jury found him guilty of murder following a two day deliberation at Manchester Crown Court in December 2020 and Wadsworth was also found guilty of attempting to murder heroic neighbour, Gerard Bristow, in the street.

Ms Belshaw's mother, Jean Mulvaney, 59, said Wadsworth needs to 'go to the deepest, darkest parts of hell' and admitted the killer's name has since been banned in her house.

The devastated mother of murdered Melissa Belshaw (above) says she hopes her cage fighter ex-lover Andrew Wadsworth 'rots in jail'

The 37-year-old (pictured) stabbed the beautician to death at her Billinge, Wigan home, two months after he came out of prison on licence

Ms Mulvaney, who described Wadsworth as 'the devil itself', was forced to helplessly listen to the attack over the phone.

She told the Liverpool Echo: 'I hope he rots in jail and he needs to go to the deepest, darkest parts of hell.

'I never knew what hate was until all of this occurred. I never knew what hate meant, but I do now.

'I hope he never sees the light of day again he took away everything from us.'

During the trial, it was heard after the cocaine and alcohol-fuelled attack, Wadsworth then went out on to the street armed with the same knife and repeatedly stabbed a concerned neighbour

Ms Mulvaney, who described Wadsworth as 'the devil itself', was forced to helplessly listen to the attack

During the trial, it was heard that after the cocaine and alcohol-fuelled attack, Wadsworth then went out on to the street armed with the same knife and repeatedly stabbed a concerned neighbour who heard the screams coming from the property.

He then delivered a roundhouse kick to the head of a police constable at the scene where he was arrested and then later punched another officer in the face in a police cell, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Wadsworth came out of prison on licence in November 2017 following a five-year jail sentence imposed in 2010 for two offences of robbery involving imitation firearms and a 10-year custodial term in 2011 with an extended licence of two years for aggravated burglary and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

Now, Ms Mulvaney is determined to do everything she can to keep her daughter's 'beautiful soul' alive

Now, Ms Mulvaney is urging anyone who feels unsafe in their relationship to take action and 'get help'.

She said: 'They need to get out, they need to seek help as soon as possible.'

She also revealed that she plans on keeping her daughter's 'beautiful soul' alive despite finding the past 18 months of her death 'very hard'.
A Cleveland-area prosecutor has lashed out against armed auto thieves after an off-duty officer was fatally shot in an apparent carjacking on New Year's Eve.

'These carjackers have declared war on our community,' Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley told Cleveland.com, 'and this community and law enforcement need to come together to put an end to this violence.

'These carjackings are happening almost every day throughout this county,' he said.

His remarks come just one day after off-duty officer Shane Bartek was killed in an apparent carjacking at around 6pm Friday in the city's Kamm's Corner neighborhood. Anthony Butler Jr, 28, and an unnamed 18 year-old woman have been arrested on suspicion of the murder.

The death occurred near the same place where a 27-year-old man was robbed at gunpoint on Christmas Day.

DailyMail.com has reached out to the Cleveland Police Department for statistics on the city's carjacking spree, as Cleveland 19 News reports there have been at least 165 people murdered in the city in 2021.

That is the second highest murder rate the city has seen over the last decade, according to the news station.

Anthony Butler Jr., 28, left, was arrested on Friday for the shooting death of off-duty officer Shane Bartek, 25, right, who was shot twice in the back in an apparent carjacking

Authorities say Butler stole Bartek's car after shooting him and fled with it

Authorities remained on the scene of the crime in the city's Kamm's Corner neighborhood

Bartek, 25, had been a patrolman in the city's Fifth District - which makes up the northeast corner of the city, since 2019.

At around 6pm on Friday, a person with a gun approached him with a gun in the parking lot of an apartment building.

A struggle ensued, Cleveland.com reports, and Bartek was shot twice in the back.

He was then brought to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley (pictured) claimed on Saturday that carjackers have 'declared war' on the city

The alleged suspect, Anthony Butler Jr., 28, then fled the scene, leading the Cleveland police on a chase in the car he stole from Bartek.

Authorities say Butler eventually crashed the car and tried to flee on foot before he was arrested Friday night in Euclid, Ohio.

Butler was charged with fleeing and eluding, receiving stolen property and various traffic-related offenses. He is expected to face additional charges in the coming days, according to Cleveland.com.

He has had seven prior convictions over the past four ears on auto-theft related charges, and on Saturday, his bond was set at $5 million.

An 18-year-old female suspect, who has not been publicly identified, was also being held on suspicion of aggravated murder, but has not yet been formally charged.

She was already under investigation for alleged roles in past robberies, Cleveland.com reports.

Following the news of Bartek's death, Mayor-elect Justin Bibb vowed 'senseless crimes won't be tolerated' when he is sworn in next week

Following the news of Bartek's passing, Cleveland Mayor-elect Justin Bibb, who takes office next week tweeted his condolences to Bartek's family and expressed his frustration with crime in the city.

'These type of senseless crimes won't be tolerated,' he vowed. 'Together, we will fight or a safer city and support law enforcement in their efforts to keep our neighborhoods secure.'

Cleveland's incoming interim police chief Wayne Drummond also said: 'My heart is aching or his family, for our officers.

'It's senseless,' Drummond said of Bartek's death. 'It just doesn't make sense.'
US President Joe Biden and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky spoke by phone on Sunday amid growing fears that a Russian military buildup near the border with its pro-Western neighbor heralds an invasion.

The show of US support for Ukraine comes days after Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin of severe consequences if Moscow invades the former Soviet country in a separate phone call earlier last week.

'President Biden made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine,' White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement after the call.

She added that both Biden and Zelensky expressed support for continued efforts between Russia and the US and its allies to find a diplomatic resolution.

'President Biden underscored the commitment of the United States and its allies and partners to the principle of nothing about you without you. He reaffirmed the United States commitment to Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity,' Psaki said.

'He also expressed support for confidence-building measures to de-escalate tensions in Donbas and active diplomacy to advance the implementation of the Minsk Agreements, in support of the Normandy Format.'

Biden and Zelensky are due to speak at 3 p.m. today, days after the US president's phone call with Vladimir Putin

The Minsk resolutions were brought about as ways to end the conflict in Ukraine's Donbas region, though they failed to cause any meaningful progress.

Meanwhile some 100,000 Russian troops are massed near the eastern border of the country, where Putin already seized the Crimea region in 2014.

The Russian president is accused of fomenting a pro-Russian separatist war which erupted that same year in the east, following Ukraine's democratic revolution.

Ukrainian officials have begged the United States and other Western government for stronger action to deter what they fear is a certain Russian invasion.

Using some of his most direct language yet, Biden said Friday, 'I'm not going to negotiate here in public, but we made it clear he cannot -- I'll emphasize, cannot -- invade Ukraine.'

Vladimir Putin's aggressive military buildup on Ukraine's border has alarmed officials in Kyiv and much of the global community

The US leader added, in remarks to reporters during a holiday stay in Delaware, that he had 'made it clear to President Putin that we will have severe sanctions, we will increase our presence in Europe, with NATO allies' if Russia invades Ukraine.

The White House said ahead of the Sunday phone call that Biden will 'reaffirm US support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, discuss Russia's military build-up on Ukraine's borders, and review preparations for upcoming diplomatic engagements to help de-escalate the situation in the region.'

Zelensky tweeted on Friday that he was 'looking forward' to speaking with Biden and reiterated the president's previous promise to keep Ukraine at the negotiating table for any decisions regarding its sovereignty and wellbeing.

'As we have agreed with our Strategic Partner [the United States], nothing about [Ukraine] without [Ukraine]. Look forward to talking again with @POTUS this Sunday to coordinate our steps for the sake of peace in Ukraine and security in Europe,' Zelensky wrote.

Biden warned Putin on Thursday against invading Ukraine, while the Kremlin leader said anti-Moscow sanctions would be a 'colossal mistake.'

After a 50-minute phone call -- their second in just over three weeks -- both presidents indicated support for further diplomacy.

Zelensky said he was looking forward to speaking with Biden on Friday

President Biden spoke to President Putin of Russia for 50 minutes on Thursday afternoon. White House officials said the conversation was requested by Putin

An image released by the Russian Ministry of Defense shows units of the anti-aircraft missile brigade during an exercise in the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine, at the end of December

America has been warning for weeks that Putin appears to be readying tens of thousands of troops, tanks and artillery pieces to invade Ukraine, but the Kremlin has insisted it is merely a defense force - until now (pictured, Russian forces currently massed in border regions)

Putin was 'pleased' overall with the talks, foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov told reporters.

A senior US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the tone 'was serious and substantive.'

But there was no disguising the depth of disagreement -- or the dangerously high stakes on the fringes of eastern Europe.

Washington and its European allies accuse Russia of threatening Ukraine with a new invasion.

Moscow describes the troop presence as protection against the expansion of NATO, although Ukraine has not been offered membership in the military alliance.

High-ranking US and Russian officials are due to sit down on January 9 and 10 in Geneva to discuss the crisis.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Friday with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg; afterwards, Blinken urged Russia to 'engage meaningfully' in the upcoming talks on the tense standoff between Moscow and Kiev.

Stoltenberg said that NATO was 'united' and 'prepared for dialogue.'
White House COVID tsar Dr Anthony Fauci has suggested that Americans could be forced to test negative before exiting the newly-shortened virus isolation of five days, as the country braces itself for mass staff shortages.

Fauci made his remarks in an ABC News interview on Sunday, days after the CDC halved the isolation time for infected people from 10 days to five, for anyone who is asymptomatic or has not had a fever for 24 hours.

He said: 'You're right there has been some concern about why we don't ask people at that five-day period to get tested. That is something that is now under consideration.

'The CDC is very well aware that there has been some pushback about that. Looking at it again, there may be an option in that, that testing could be a part of that. And I think we're going to be hearing more about that in the next day or so from the CDC, Fauci said.

Fauci's latest remarks have seen him accused of flip-flopping on COVID yet again, with Americans given conflicting advice as cases surge and lines for tests lengthen. Travelers also endured another day of chaos at US airports, with 2,409 flights canceled across the country on Sunday afternoon, and another 4,758 delayed.

Dr. Anthony Fauci warned on ABC News that Americans may soon need to produce a negative COVID test to leave quarantine

Following Faucis remarks, people took to social media to express their frustrations over such consistently changing guidance, with many taking issue that the CDC would only change its advisory after receiving pushback.

Twitter user Ferd Berfle wrote, If the CDC amends their positions because of *pressure* it tells you everything you need to know about the voracity of the CDC. Even under Biden the CDC is a politically driven joke.

Rook0914 wrote, I mean. Come on already (this coming from someone who supports Fauci for the most part).

User Jerry Watkinds wrote, So they change the Protocols because of facted based science and research but now want to add a negative test because of push back? Wow.

And a user named BirdJunkie wrote, Just one of the many reasons humanity is failing this. The only consistent guidance weve received has been the consistantly inconsistent guidance.

Experts think the latest surge of the virus will peak in the US mid-January, and hope numbers will fall as rapidly as they have in South Africa, where Omicron was first identified.

The latest figures from Johns Hopkins University published Sunday show 115,984 new cases and 280 deaths in the last 24 hours, a lull on previous days caused by slower weekend reporting of figures.

The US reached a seven-day average of 402,998 cases on Sunday, as Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that Americans may soon need to produce a negative COVID test to leave quarantine after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cut the isolation period from 10 days to five for the asymptomatic.

The CDC decision to slash the quarantine period in half for patients without symptoms came last Tuesday in an effort to prevent another devastating blow to the economy amid the spike in workers testing positive, sparking fears of lengthy shutdowns that could further decimate the economy.

Thousands of businesses across the US have had to close their doors temporarily aid staffing shortages caused by the latest COVID-19 surge. The above sign was seen on on Asian Korean and Japanese restaurant in Racine, Wisconsin

Fauci's interview came amid an influx of businesses closing their doors because of staffing shortages caused by COVID infections, with most businesses not having a specific reopening date in sight.

Last week, Oak Steakhouse in Charlotte, North Carolina, joined the growing list of businesses forced into shutdown.

We apologize for the late notice, but due to staffing concerns with the rise of COVID cases, we will be closing the restaurant this evening, the restaurant wrote on its Facebook page.

All reservations will be contacted directly through OpenTable or via phone call. We will post updates here as we have them. Thank you for understanding, the post added.

Charlotte has been particularly impacted by the shutdowns as its COVID average case count multiplied tenfold within the week, going from 152 cases to 1,654.

Noda Bodega is another Charlotte restaurant impacted by the surge and has already closed for five days, giving guests updates on Instagram for when it believes it can reopen.

We have now had a couple positive test results and will remained closed today to clean. We have tested everyone and since we have been closed for 5 days now, feel confident that we can reopen tomorrow. We thank you for your patience and understanding in the unchartered territory. The restaurant wrote in an Instagram post.

As described in its post, Noda Bodega is taking things day by day as opposed to closing for an indefinite amount of time. In this surge, as opposed to the beginning of the pandemic, everyone from local leaders to President Joe Biden are against enforcing blanket shutdowns. Instead, all decisions about closing are left to the businesses.

All of the decision making is put on the small-business owners, Brent Young, who runs a butcher shop and two restaurants in Brooklyn, told The Atlantic.

Young said that two weeks ago one of his employees tested positive for COVID and, since then, its more or less decimated our workforce.

One of his restaurants had a packed schedule for a week leading up to Christmas, which is usually his busiest time of year, but people began cancelling their plans. Young said it became financially illogical to stay open because the anxietys so high no ones wanting to eat [out].

Although Omicron is much more mild than previous strains, even mild infections could disrupt a city when spread widely enough.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who was sworn in at midnight on New Years Eve, confirmed his opposition to shutting down in an interview with ABC News this morning, instead saying that we must evolve with the virus.

Well, COVID is a formidable opponent, and it continues to evolve. We must pivot and evolve with it, but you can't do it viewing yourself from in the crisis. We have to see ourselves past the crises. If we close down our city, it is as dangerous as COVID. That's what our focus must be. The proper balance of safety, keeping our economy operating is going to allow us to get through this, he said.

Nobody wants to close down, but we're operating at half speed. Subway lines are closed, and testing centers are short on staff as well. How do we get back to normal? Can we get back to normal with all these shortages?'

In addition to seeing restaurants, subway lines and even urgent care centers closing, Adams said that the NYPD is also facing a blow from the COVID-19 surge with a 20% sick rate.

Because of all of the closures, the CDC announced last week that those who test positive for COVID-19, but are asymptomatic, need only quarantine for five days instead of 10 as long as they wear a mask in all public spaces for an additional five days. But a number of top health experts and the nation's largest nurses' union criticized the change for not requiring people to test negative of the virus before returning to the public.

Regardless of what CDC says, you really should try to obtain an antigen test (I know - easier said than done) and confirm it's negative prior to leaving isolation and quarantine. There's not a scientist or doctor I've met yet who wouldn't do this for themselves/their family, said former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams tweeted last week.

Faucis comments come as South Africa, where the Omicron virus was first reported, passed the peak of its coronavirus cases caused by the variant, prompting scientists to project that the U.S. will hit its own Omicron peak by the middle of January.

The U.S. may reach the peak by January 9, which would see from 2.5 million cases to 5.4 million cases per week, according to researchers from Columbia University, the New York Times reported.

We are realizing right now monitoring the data that the peak is going to come much faster. My guess is it will happen before mid-January, Ali Mokdad, a public health researcher at the University of Washington, also told the news outlet.

The US reached a seven-day average of 402,998 cases on Sunday and 115,984 new cases. Above, people waited on line at a pop-up testing site in Houston, Texas, on December 30

Meanwhile, a number of elected officials have had to quarantine after experiencing breakthrough COVID-19 cases.

Most recently, Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley announced she tested positive for the coronavirus in a breakthrough case.

" After experiencing COVID-like symptoms, this morning I received a positive, breakthrough COVID-19 test result. Thankfully, my symptoms are relatively mild, and I am grateful to be fully vaccinated and boosted. I am currently isolating and following all health protocols in order to mitigate further spread and keep my loved ones and community safe, Pressley said in a statement Friday.

I encourage everyone to do their part by getting vaccinated, boosted and masking up. I wish everyone a safe and happy new year and look forward to continuing to fight for the robust relief our communities in the Massachusetts 7th need and deserve, she added.

In addition to Pressley, other lawmakers who have come down with COVID-19 in the past few weeks include Democrats Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. Antonio Delgado, Rep. James E. Clyburn, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Sen. Chris Coons, Rep. Kaialii Kahele, Rep. Bobby L. Rush, Rep. Doris Matsui, Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. and Republican New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis.
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Riot police tried to break up thousands of Dutch protesters as crowds gathered in Amsterdam to protest Covid lockdown and vaccination measures in the Netherlands today.

Demonstrators, most of whom were mask-less and ignored social distancing guidelines, defied the local government's outlawing of the protest due to fears some demonstrators might be planning to attend 'prepared for violence'.

Videos on social media showed one man try and escape a police dog biting his hand and in other clips showed chaos unfold as crowds ran around the city.

The demonstration came on the same day Dutch police said they would take action to protest the increasing demands of their work, but union representatives said riot police would continue to work if necessary.

At least 30 people were detained after scuffles, during which four officers were injured, police said in a statement.

Coronavirus infection rates have been gradually decreasing for weeks in the Netherlands, which re-introduced lockdown measures in November and tightened them further during the holiday season.

The 7-day rolling average of new daily cases edged slightly lower over the past week to 85.55 new cases per 100,000 people even as the omicron mutation became the nation's dominant variant.

Under the lockdown, all non-essential shops are closed along with bars, restaurants and venues such as museums, theatres and cinemas.

Clashes erupt between police anti-riot officers and protestors near Museumplein on January 2, 2022 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Police dogs were used to contain the crowds

Demonstrators, most of whom didn't wear masks and ignored social distancing guidelines, defied the local government's outlawing of the protest due to fears some demonstrators might be planning to attend 'prepared for violence'.

Thousands gathered in Amsterdam today to march in protest of the Netherlands' Covid restrictions. The country went into a sudden lockdown on December 19

As crowds marched, they played music and holding yellow umbrellas in a sign of opposition to the government measures, while others carried placards and chanted slogans

Dutch riot police beat a protestor during small clashes as thousands of people defied a ban to gather and marched in Amsterdam to demonstrate against Covid lockdown and vaccination measures in the Netherlands today

Some people could also be seen being hit with batons as authorities tried to break up the march.

Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema issued an emergency ordinance, empowering police to clear the central Museum Square.

As crowds marched, they played music and holding yellow umbrellas in a sign of opposition to the government measures before being pushed away from the square as riot police marched across the grass to clear the area, sending the demonstrators into nearby streets after the municipality later issued an emergency order for people to leave.

A man holds up a placard in a prohibited demonstration marching from the square to a park where populist party Forum for Democracy planned a campaign to protest against the Covid measures

Crowds gathered to protest Covid measures in the Netherlands after the government ordered the closure of all but essential stores, as well as restaurants, hairdressers, gyms, museums and other public places until at least January 14

Ignoring the government's ban of the demonstration, people in Amsterdam protest against the government-imposed lockdown measures in the city's Museum Square

Riot police pictured with demonstrators, one holding up sign a sign that reads 'Vrijheid' which translates to 'Freedom'. The protests took place on the same day Dutch police said they would take action to protest against the increasing demands of their work

There was a heavy police presence in the square and nearby streets as the municipality designated the area as a security risk region, giving police the authority to search people preventatively.

Before officers moved in, some protesters unfurled a banner that said 'Less repression, more care' near the Van Gogh Museum.

A group of people in white overalls and masks held up signs, including one that read on one side: 'It's not about a virus, it's about control' and on the other 'Freedom'.

One protester tries to flee from a police dog which mauls his hand as a heavy police presence mans the streets following the outlawed demonstration

The officer pulls the dog away from the man as police push away gathering crowds after thousands ignored the government's ban on a protest

After marching through the city, demonstrators began gathering at a western Amsterdam park for a rally of the populist Forum for Democracy party.

The Netherlands went into a sudden lockdown on December 19. The government ordered the closure of all but essential stores, as well as restaurants, hairdressers, gyms, museums and other public places until at least January 14.

Public gatherings of more than two people are also currently prohibited under the current set of restrictions.

Coronavirus infection rates have been gradually decreasing for several weeks in the country.

A protester dressed in white holds up a sign that reads 'Just be...Free!' in Amsterdam earlier today. Coronavirus infection rates have been gradually decreasing for several weeks in the country

A group of people in white overalls and masks held up signs, including one that read on one side: 'It's not about a virus, it's about control' and on the other 'Freedom'

Police push back protesters. There was a heavy police presence in the square and nearby streets as the municipality designated the area as a security risk region, giving police the authority to search people preventatively

The seven-day rolling average of new daily cases edged slightly lower over the past week to 85.55 new cases per 100,000 people even as the Omicron mutation became the nation's dominant variant.

The demonstration took place on the same day Dutch police said they would take action to protest against the increasing demands of their work.

But union representatives have said that riot police would continue to work if necessary.

In November, a coronavirus demonstration erupted into violent rioting in Rotterdam and demonstrations in Museum Square have ended in confrontations between police and protesters who ignored orders to leave the area.

A man wearing a prisoner's suit joined hundreds of people who defied a ban Sunday to gather and protest the Dutch government's coronavirus lockdown measures, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. The municipality of the Dutch capital banned the protest, saying police had indications some demonstrators could be attending 'prepared for violence.'
If the authorities are there, there'll be no reluctance on our part,' he said

House January 6 Committee Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming revealed on Sunday that the panel now has 'firsthand testimony' confirming that Donald Trump watched the Capitol riot unfold on television as his allies frantically begged him to call off his supporters.

'The president could have at any moment, walked those very few steps into the briefing room, gone on live television, and told his supporters who were assaulting the Capitol to stop,' Cheney said on ABC's This Week.

She and Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson appeared on multiple news programs Sunday where they further clarified the emerging picture of the ex-president's movements as his supporters shattered windows and beat back law enforcement to enter the US Capitol building.

Thompson told NBC's Meet The Press that his panel is looking at a timeline of 'about 187 minutes' during which Trump sat at the White House shunning appeals to stop the violence.

He added that the committee is weighing whether it can subpoena sitting members of Congress linked to the riot as well.

'We've determined that a number of people made attempts to contact him through his chief of staff ... We also have information of other individuals who made calls trying to get some semblance of response out of the White House. But for that 187 minutes, nothing happened,' Thompson said.

Cheney also confirmed that Ivanka Trump personally appealed to her father 'at least twice' to call off his supporters on January 6

"The president could have at any moment, walked those very few steps into the briefing room, gone on live television, and told his supporters who were assaulting the Capitol to stop," Rep. Liz Cheney says of former Pres. Trump's actions on Jan. 6. https://t.co/zo7wSq6hc1 pic.twitter.com/sUYg0wGKsi  This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 2, 2022

'We do know now that several videos were made, we don't have them yet, before the right one was released.'

He didn't elaborate on what those videos contained but said they were part of the committee's sweeping records requests to the National Archives.

'So, he - the president was told, "You need to say directly to your people to go home. Leave the Capitol." And so it took over 187 minutes to make that simple statement. Somethings wrong with that,' Thompson said.

Cheney accused Trump of a 'dereliction of duty'

Of those 187 minutes, Cheney said on ABC: 'The committee has firsthand testimony now that he was sitting in the dining room next to the Oval Office watching the attack on television as the assault on the Capitol occurred.'

She added that the White House briefing room was a 'mere few steps' away.

'He could have told them to go home, and he failed to do so. It's hard to imagine a more significant and more serious dereliction of duty than that,' Cheney said.

Multiple reports have cited Trump as watching the riot unfold on television, but Sunday marks the first time those reports were confirmed by a member of the committee.

During the interview Cheney also confirmed for the first time a June report that Ivanka Trump had personally appealed to her father 'at least twice' to stop the violence.

'We have firsthand testimony that his daughter Ivanka went in at least twice to ask him to please stop this violence,' Cheney said.

Thompson told NBC that the committee is actively exploring whether it can subpoena sitting members of Congress

Ivanka reportedly referred to the insurrection as an 'optics issue' as it was taking place, according to Michael Wolff's latest Trump book Landslide.

Cheney said Trump's inaction that day proves he is 'clearly unfit for future office and clearly cannot be anywhere near the Oval Office ever again.'

Asked about whether that inaction amounted to criminal negligence, Cheney said there are a 'number' of 'potential criminal statutes at issue here.'

'I think there is absolutely no question it was a dereliction of duty, and I think one of the things the committee needs to look at is... whether we need enhanced penalties for that kind of dereliction of duty,' the Wyoming lawmaker said.

The Wyoming Republican Party ousted Cheney in November for her continued opposition to Trump and her work on the committee.

On Sunday she issued an ultimatum for her fellow Republicans: 'The Republican Party has to make a choice. We can either be loyal to our Constitution or loyal to Donald Trump, but we cannot be both.'

Thompson told Meet The Press host Chuck Todd that he believes Trump 'weaponized' his supporters on January 6 -- suggesting that some with no intention of storming the Capitol only did so after his Stop the Steal rally speech.

The committee has 'firsthand testimony' of Trump's inaction on January 6, Cheney said, and Thompson said the inaction lasted 'about 187 minutes'

'I think a lot of people got caught up in the moment, had no intentions of going, but when the president said, "They are up there now taking your rights away from you. You need to go there. They need to hear from you. And I'll be there." Well, you know, that kind of weaponized the entire crowd to go to the Capitol,' he said.

He also said the committee could also step up consequences for lawmakers in Trump's orbit who are somehow linked to the riot but refuse to cooperate.

'I think there are some questions of whether we have the authority to do it. We're looking at it. If the authorities are there, there'll be no reluctance on our part,' he said.

Republican Reps. Scott Perry and Jim Jordan are currently under the panel's microscope.

The committee said it was interested in Perry's links to ex-DOJ lawyer Jeffrey Clark, who allegedly had Trump's support in trying to oust Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen over his refusal to participate in efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Perry refused to voluntarily cooperate.

Jordan recently told Fox he had 'real concerns' about the committee's credibility, but was reviewing its December 22 letter to him.
A law enforcement operation in New Orleans found five missing teenage girls, some of whom may have been trafficked, and led to the arrest of 17 people for felony sex offender registration violations.

'Operation Boo Dat' - conducted by the US Marshals Service's New Orleans Task Force in partnership with state, county and local authorities - lasted from mid-October to December 24.

The rescued teens range in age from 14 to 17.

One of them is a 16-year-old girl who ran away from home after allegedly stealing a relative's car and a handgun. She was found living in a house with several adults, including an 'adult female strip club dancer.'

One of the suspects, Lorenzo Oliver, will have to register as a sex offender for life after he was arrested on December 10 for allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl in an abandoned home on the West Bank of New Orleans.

Oliver was previously convicted of attempted forcible rape and sexual battery in 2015 after he followed a woman into a library bathroom and tried to rape her, according to the Marshals Service.

US Marshals, in partnership with various law enforcement agencies, found five teen girls and arrested 30 people as part of their annual 'Operation Boo Dat'

Lamonte Versill Morris, 38, was arrested in October at a home in New Orleans on a June 2021 warrant from Texas for the alleged aggravated sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl

A 16-year-old girl was found in the 7900 block of Benson Street, above, in New Orleans. She was living with several adults, including an 'adult female strip club dancer,' deputies say

The rescued girls and those arrested were found in separate locations and under different circumstances as part of the annual operation.

Three teen girls, aged 14, 15 and 17, were found in a motel room that 'smelled of marijuana and alcohol' on Read Boulevard in New Orleans East.

The girls told law enforcement that they were previously in another motel room with adult men from Baton Rouge, but the men left them after one of their cousin's was shot.

Separately, a 15-year-old runaway with 'prior human sex trafficking issues' whose pimp was recently murdered was found living in an apartment with her 17-year-old boyfriend and one of his relatives.

'Information was also developed that the female was regularly leaving the apartment to meet with adult males in New Orleans East,' Marshals say.

Two sisters ages 15 and 16 were also found in an apartment in Baton Rouge, with Marshals believing they may be victims of felony criminal sexual activities.

Overall, 30 people were arrested as a result of the months-long operation.

A 17-year-old girl was arrested on a felony warrant for human trafficking from a Louisiana county and a warrant for stealing a car from Mississippi.

She is known to have prior ties to several female runaways from New Orleans and to organized gang activities, Marshals say.

As part of the operation, Lamonte Versill Morris, 38, was arrested at a home in New Orleans on October 29. His apprehension was previously reported by Corpus Christi, Texas TV station KIII-TV.

He was wanted on a June 2021 warrant from San Patricio County, Texas for the alleged aggravated sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl, authorities say.

James E. Muse was arrested on November 8 after he failed to report to the probation and parole board for 'a considerable amount of time' amid reoccurring allegations that he was involved in sex trafficking, according to the Marshals.

He was on parole for 'Enticing Persons Under 17 into Prostitution' in New Orleans.

Seventeen people were arrested for failing to register as a sex offender, which may restrict where a person convicted of sex crimes can live depending on the area.

On October 26, officers arrested David Douglas Smith for failing to register as a sex offender. He was convicted in 1996 in East Baton Rouge Parish for molesting a 9-year-old girl and had been living in Tangipahoa Parish in eastern Louisiana for over two years without registering.

A day earlier, James Sorrell was found at a homeless shelter in New Orleans under a false name. He was wanted on multiple warrants from Texas and Wisconsin for failing to register as a sex offender.

His original 1987 conviction in Idaho involved a 7-year-old female victim.

US Marshals, above in San Antonio, Texas in 2017, arrested a total of 17 people in the New Orleans area for failing to register as sex offenders

Kuimar Stephens was arrested on December 22 as he tried to run away through the window of a home on the 6900 block of Yorktown Drive in New Orleans, above. He was wanted for failing to appear in court on a pending charge of failing to register a sex offender

Most recently, Kuimar Stephens was arrested on December 22 as he tried to run away through the window of a home on the 6900 block of Yorktown Drive in New Orleans.

He was wanted on an August 2020 warrant for failure to appear in court on a pending felony failure to register as a sex offender charge, US Marshals say.

He had not updated his registration since at least 2020 and was also wanted on a separate warrant from the New Orleans Police Department alleging that he was in possession of a rifle.

'This stems from a November 21st, 2021, shooting incident in the 3400 block of Pleasure Street where it is alleged that person(s) shot at Stephens over one hundred times and an AK-47 variant rifle was recovered by New Orleans Police Department at the scene of the shooting,' US Marshals said in a press release.

'During Operation Boo Dat over one hundred sex offender compliance checks were also attempted or completed in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes,' Marshals said.

'Sex Offender compliance checks require law enforcement officers to go to the sex offenders reported address of residence to verify that the person still lives at the provided address. Often countless hours of follow up investigative work are required during and after a compliance check.'

The Marshals Service partnered with the New Orleans Police Department, the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office and Louisiana State Police in the effort.
Newly-inaugurated New York City Mayor Eric Adams says he'll mull a COVID-19 booster mandate for civic employees, but says Americans must ultimately learn to live with the shapeshifting virus.

Adams previously said he'll keep former mayor Bill de Blasio's vaccine mandate for private employers, which sand on Sunday said his team will also consider requiring boosters for city workers such as cops and teachers.

'It's our next moving decision,' Adams, who took a CitiBike from Gracie Mansion to the Midtown Manhattan studios on Sunday, told ABC This Week's George Stephanopoulos.

'We're going to examine the numbers. If we feel we have to get to the place of making that mandatory, we're willing to do that, but we're encouraging them to do that now.'

Adams is stepping into his new role as New York City grapples with unprecedented levels of Covid cases, which are crippling parts of the economy and straining the healthcare system.

Despite advocating booster shots, he said it's not the only strategy he has up his sleeve as he seeks to keep America's most populous city moving.

Adams, 61, said his administration is working to balance public safety and the economy as it faces the highly-contagious Omicron variant

Adams, 61, is seen riding his Citi Bike from Gracie Mansion to events January 2

Newly-inaugurated New York City Mayor Eric Adams says he'll mull a vaccine mandate for city employees, but noted it's not the only strategy up his sleeve for combating the virus

Adams, 61, said his administration is working to balance public safety and the economy as it faces the highly-contagious Omicron variant.

'Covid is a formidable opponent, and it continues to evolve,' he said. 'We must pivot and evolve with it, but you can't do it viewing yourself from in the crisis.

'We have to see ourselves past the crises. If we close down our city, it is as dangerous as Covid.'

If we close down our city, it is as dangerous as Covid NYC Mayor Eric Adams

New York shattered a new record Saturday with 85,476 new cases reported in the state, according to Governor Kathy Hochul.

These numbers quadrupled in size which previously recorded a total of 21,027 positive cases only a couple of weeks earlier.

Hospitalizations in the state have also jumped to 8,451 with medical center beds continuing to become scarce as the virus swarms around the city.

The increase in the city's cases have also increased the death rate with 81 recorded as of Saturday.

Pictured: A man receives a COVID-19 test during the coronavirus disease pandemic in Manhattan on December 17, 2021

Adams said it's time for New York to figure out how to adjust to its current reality, and called upon vaccine holdouts to stop resisting the jab.

'We can't live through variants,' he said. 'We've spent $11 trillion on Covid and we don't have another $11 trillion. So our lives can't be based on what's the new variant.

'Those who are not vaccinated, stop it. It's time to get vaccinated. It's of time to have the booster shots. You're endangering yourself and you're endangering the public and your family as well.'

Right now, he said there's a 20 percent sick rate at the NYPD and officers are returning to work after five days after the quarantine period was shortened.

The CDC last week slashed its recommended quarantine for asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers from 10 days to five, which could help New York City rebound after mass illnesses shut down parts of the Big Apple last month.

But on Sunday, White House COVID tsar said people could be made to test negative before ending quarantine on day five, amid fears they may still be infectious.

New York shattered COVID records as the state saw 85,476 new cases on Saturday

The last month has seen a huge spike in cases in the Big Apple

New York shattered a new record Saturday with 85,476 new cases reported in the state, according to Governor Kathy Hochul. New Yorkers are pictured queuing in line for a test at Times Square on December 26, 2021

Despite the latest surge in cases, Adams said parents shouldn't worry about sending their children back to school following winter break.

'I say fear not sending them back,' he said. 'The stats are clear. The safest place for children is inside a school.

'The numbers of transmissions are low; your children is in a safe space to learn and continue to thrive. We've lost almost two years of education. We can't do it again.'

He said the city will focus on creating a safe environment with frequent testing that will quickly identify children who've been exposed.

Adams wouldn't say whether New York City will require students to be tested before returning to classrooms, such is the case in other metropolitans such as Boston.

It's a good idea, and I believe the governor has the power to do mandatory testing,' he said.

'We just have to be smarter and thoughtful to keep our cities in operation.'

New York's 110th mayor also said he's taking a more personable approach to leading the city.

He's been spotted calling 911 to report a subway scuffle, interacting with New Yorkers on the streets, and riding public transit and his bike to appointments.

'Generals don't lead their troops from the back,' he said. 'They lead their troops from the front. I'm going to lead my city into this victory from the front.

'And people tell me this is a difficult job. I want it to be a difficult job.'

New York's 110th mayor also said he's taking a more personable approach to leading the city. He's been spotted calling 911 to report a subway scuffle, interacting with New Yorkers on the streets, and riding public transit and his bike to appointments

Of course, the pandemic isn't the only crisis Adam is tasked with addressing.

Crime in the Big Apple shot up during 2020, when 485 murders were reported.

The city's crime wave appears to be continuing into 2022 after a woman in her 40s became the first homicide of the year.

Adams said he and Commissioner Keechant Sewell have a plan to address the crime surge by zeroing in on gangs and gun violence.

The woman, who has not been identified, was found lying on the sidewalk in Astoria, Queens, just before 9pm on Saturday.

She had been stabbed multiple times. The woman later died at Astoria General Hospital.

Adams said he and Commissioner Keechant Sewell have a plan to address the surge by zeroing in on gangs and gun violence.

'We're going to take down some of the large gangs in our city,' he said. 'We're going to refocus on those who are carrying guns and violent crimes in our city and turn around this city. It's going to be a safe place. The prerequisite to prosperity is public safety and justice. My city is going to be safe.'
Little Rock's police chief has been suspended after he accidentally shot and critically injured a woman while aiming at another woman filmed shooting a gun on New Years Eve.

Police Chief Keith Humphrey was put on leave in accordance with the Little Rock Police Department guidelines for officer-involved shootings on Saturday, one day after he shot and critically injured 22-year-old Kelecia Mayo as he tried to take down suspected shooter Taz Hayes, 29.

Dramatic video showed a woman arguing with a man before smashing the window of a car with a phone. A second woman - said to be Hayes - then runs into shot and opens fire, but doesn't hit anyone.

Humphrey, who was out on patrol as part of an 'all hands on deck' initiative, is said to have struck Mayo moments later.

'On New Year's Eve, Little Rock Police Chief Keith Humphrey initiated an all-hands-on-deck approach to patrol just as he's don in the past and required command staff to patrol the city,' Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. tweeted Saturday afternoon.

'While patrolling, Chief Humphrey saw a disturbance that, unfortunately, led to a shooting,' Scott confirmed.

'Chief Humphrey also fired his weapon at the suspected shooter, and as is customary practice in an officer-involved shooting, he has been put on administrative leave.

'This is an unprecedented situation because it involves our chief of police,' he added, noting that the Arkansas State Police are now investigating the incident.

Little Rock Police Chief Keith Humphrey has been suspended after he shot and injured a 22-year-old woman while trying to take down a suspected shooter on Friday

Taz Hayes, 29, was arrested over footage said to show her shooting a gun on New Year's Eve. Little Rock's police chief Keith Humphrey has been suspended from his job after opening fire on Hayes and striking another woman instead

A woman was filmed arguing with a man in Little Rock just before the shooting, before smashing the window of a white sedan

Moments later a woman who cops say is suspect Taz Hayes, 29, was filmed opening fire. Police Chief Humphries aimed at her, but ended up shooting Kelecia Mayo, 22, instead, it is claimed

Humphrey was on patrol around the city on Friday when he saw a fight break out in a gas station parking lot just before 9pm, according to Arkansas State Police.

As he got out of his patrol car, authorities say, a woman fired her weapon into the group. Humphrey then reportedly fired his gun at the suspected shooter, 29-year-old Taz Hayes, but missed her - instead hitting bystander Kelecia Mayo, 22.

Mayo was then rushed to a Little Rock hospital, where she was listed in critical condition as of Saturday morning.

Hayes, meanwhile, fled the scene but was later taken into custody and charged with first-degree battery.

Kelecia Mayo, 22, was listed in critical condition following the shooting

Mayor Frank Scott Jr. confirmed Humphrey's suspension in a statement on Twitter

The city has now asked the state police to investigate both the initial fight and Humphrey's response in an effort to remain 'accountable, clear and transparent,' Scott tweeted.

The state police investigators have already recovered a bullet from a vehicle in the parking lot and will examine it to determine if it was fired by Humphrey, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.

Once the investigation is complete, state police investigators will submit their findings to a state prosecutor who will determine if Humphrey's use of force was consistent with Arkansas law.

In the meantime, Assistant Chief Crystal Haskins will temporarily serve as the city's chief of police.
Officials today removed an EU flag installation from the Arc de Triomphe in Paris after political rivals of Macron accused him of 'erasing' French identity.

The European Union flag was raised in place of the tricolore temporarily on New Year's Eve at the monument.

It marks France's turn at the rotating presidency of the EU Council, which it will hold for the next six months.

Blue lights will also illuminate the arch, a war monument and other landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower for the rest of this week.

However, President Emmanuel Macron's right-wing political rivals for spring elections reacted with fury to the removal of the tricolore flag at the Arc de Triomphe to make way for the EU flag.

They called it an 'affront' to France's heritage and its veterans.

But an official at the French presidency today said that the EU flag was meant to only be at the Arc for two days and the removal was 'in line with the planned schedule.'

The European Union flag was raised in place of the Tricolore temporarily on New Year's Eve at the monument (pictured)

Valerie Pecresse, conservative candidate, who could be Macron's main challenger in the upcoming election, tweeted in opposition to the EU flag: 'Preside over Europe yes, erase French identity no!'

Macron was urged to restore the French flag at the Arc by the candidate, who said: 'We owe it to our soldiers who spilled their blood for it.'

The far-right candidate Marine Le Pen called the removal of the EU flag a victory for patriotism.

An official at the French presidency today said that the EU flag (pictured) was meant to only be at the Arc for two days and the removal was 'in line with the planned schedule'

When the EU flag was first installed at the Arc, she had vowed to file a complaint with the State Council, the highest court in France for administrative matters.

She claimed on Twitter that a 'massive mobilisation' had meant Macron had to backtrack.

Clement Beaune, Europe Minister, said on Saturday that the right were 'desperately chasing after the sterile controversies of the far right.'
One of President Joe Biden's recent judicial nominees once compared laws prohibiting convicts from casting a ballot to 'slavery' and denounced certain election security measures as 'voter suppression.'

Nancy Gbana Abudu, a progressive attorney from Georgia, is the deputy legal director for strategic litigation at the Southern Poverty Law Center, where she focuses on voting rights.

She was previously at the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, and also worked at the ACLU's Voting Rights Project.

Abudu was nominated by Biden on December 23 to serve on the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, covering Alabama, Florida and Georgia. If confirmed she would be the first black female judge to serve on that bench.

'As we've seen in the cases of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and countless others, [the US criminal justice system is] a criminal justice system that can literally kill you,' Abudu once wrote in a post on the ACLU's website.

'When you add laws that prohibit people with a criminal conviction from voting, it's practically the same system as during slavery  Black people who have lost their freedom and cannot vote.'

She wrote on June 12, 2020, 'And without access to the ballot, a victim of the system cannot elect the very officials pulling the levers to hire the police, determine which cases are prosecuted and what sentences are imposed.'

Adubu is currently the deputy legal director for strategic litigation at the Southern Poverty Law Center, where she focuses on voting rights

The post was resurfaced by the Daily Wire on Saturday. The outlet also rediscovered a 2011 interview in which Abudu said '95 percent' of her work had to do with voting rights.

'Obviously, we do a lot when it comes to voter suppression, which includes five priority areas: photo ID, proof of citizenship, restrictions we see when it comes to registration,' Abudu told The Post and Courier.

She added that she was focused on 'early voting as well as absentee voting and the restrictions we see when it comes to criminal convictions.'

Many of the measures she listed have been part of election security laws passed by Republican-controlled legislatures across the country.

Biden has had 45 judicial nominees confirmed to the bench so far - more than any president since Reagan

She took issue with Georgia's election laws in particular when asked about her 'biggest' concerns regarding voter suppression.

Georgia passed an election security law that went into effect this past April after the state narrowly went to Biden in the 2020 election. It's been condemned by both voting rights activists as well as Republicans, the latter of whom believe it's too weak.

In 2019 Abudu decried 'discriminatory' voting laws and said they were proof that the Jim Crow system of racial segregation was still prevalent.

'We believe that voting is a human right, but we know full well that our nation's history is inextricably linked with generations of struggle to expand voting rights,' she said in a video for the SPLC's Voting Rights Practice Group.

'Communities of color, young people and people experiencing material poverty are routinely disenfranchised by discriminatory laws and partisan gerrymandering.'

The 11th circuit covering parts of the deep South is home to 8.5 million black residents. However there is only one black judge on the 12-person panel, Charles Wilson, and he was nominated by former President Bill Clinton.

Abudu's deep experience in voting rights will be extremely relevant, White House officials and advocates say

Biden's record 40 judicial confirmations this year is the most any president's successfully gotten onto the bench since Ronald Reagan, with 75 total nominations so far.

Of the confirmed nominees, 80 percent are women, with 53 percent being people of color, according to the White House.

Abudu's deep experience in voting rights will be extremely relevant, White House officials and advocates say, especially considering the increasing challenges facing voters this year following a slew of GOP-led measures. She would also be the first judge of color to sit on the court from Georgia.

'This is an extraordinary appointment,' said Leslie Proll, senior adviser on judicial nominations for NAACP. 'Nancy Abudus nomination addresses a breathtaking gap in representation on this Southern appellate bench.'

'Her substantial voting rights expertise will be a welcome addition to this court, which has an outsized voting rights docket and is pivotal to protecting our democracy.'
Cleveland Police in Yorkshire is dealing with higher crime rates than anywhere else in the country, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The ONS compiled crime figures per 100,000 people in the year leading to June 2021 for force areas across England and Wales.

It found Cleveland Police emerged with the highest figure at 114.9 recorded crimes per 100,000 people, The Sun reports.

A map showing police forces in England and Wales, coloured by their respective crime rates. Cleveland in Yorkshire merged in top spot, followed by West Yorkshire.

The force found itself caught up in media attention on May 15, 2020, when James Stokoe, 40, was stabbed by a stranger while sitting in his BMW in Thornaby-on-Tees in front of his four-year-old son.

Alexander Layton, 34, was jailed for life at Teeside Crown Court on December 9, to serve a minimum term of 23 years.

Home Office figures reveal 8.3 per cent of investigations by Cleveland Police concluded from April to June led to a charge or summons.

40-year-oild James Stokoe was stabbed to death in his BMW in Thornaby-on-Tees by stranger Alexander Layton on May 15, 2020. The stabbing followed an argument after Mr Stokoe was forced to carry out an emergency stop when Layton walked in front of his car

A total of 16,539 investigations concluded in that time, with just 1,376 progressed to further action.

West Yorkshire Police was in second place on the list for overall crime in England and Wales, with 111.6 crimes per 1,000 people.

It was followed by Greater Manchester with 107.9 crimes, West Midland at 102.9 crimes and Merseyside at 96.7 crimes.

West Yorkshire Police also emerged as the force dealing with the highest rate of violent crime in the country, at 47.4 per 100,00 people.

West Yorkshire emerged as the top spot for violent crime in the country, followed closely by the West Midlands and Cleveland

16-month-old Star Hobson died at her home in Keighley, West Yorkshire, in September 2020 following a brutal attack by her mother's girlfriend, Savannah Brockhill, 28

Parents up and down the country were horrified in September 2020, when 16-month-old Star Hobson was murdered by her mother's girlfriend at her home in Keighley, near Bradford.

Savannah Brockhill, 28, was later convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 25 years, after inflicting 'catastrophic' injuries on the little girl.

West Midlands, Cleveland, Kent and Greater Manchester police forces rounded off the rest of the top five places for violent crime.

Kent is the only southern police force area in the top ten list for violent crime.

It was notably the location where Sarah Everard was taken to and murdered by serving Met Police officer Wayne Couzens on March 4 last year, following her kidnap in south London.

And on April 27 last year, 53-year-old Julia James - a PCSO with Kent Police - was found dead in Akholt Wood near her home in Snowdown, with her Jack Russell Toby at her side. Callum Wheeler, 21, is charged with allegedly killing the mum-of-two by inflicting serious head injuries

Marketing executive Sarah Everard, 33, was kidnapped by serving Met Police officer Wayne Couzens on March 3 last year. Her body was later found in remote woodland in Kent

Cleveland Police was not among the 18 police forces with 'violence hotspots' given extra funding in March last year to deal with gang and knife crime, although it is continuing to lobby the government to increase its core grant.

A force spokesperson said: 'Cleveland Police is the smallest geographical area of all police forces in England and Wales but high levels of deprivation, unemployment and health-related issues (such as drug and alcohol dependency) and other socio-demographic and economic factors mean our challenges are more in keeping with those faced by the larger metropolitan forces.

'Cleveland Police is working hard to address these challenges by protecting the vulnerable and preventing and detecting crime. HMICFRS have noted significant improvements since 2019.

'We are particularly focused on addressing serious violence and will continue to bid for additional funding in this area.'
Mr Jingwei met his mum on New Year's Day after more than three decades away

Li Jingwei, 37, grew up in Henan, 1,200 miles from his original home in Yunnan

A married father who was kidnapped when he was just four years old by a child-trafficking gang was reunited with his family after 33 years when he drew a map of his original home from memory.

Li Jingwei, 37, was lured by a villager and moved over 1,200 miles away from his birth home in Yunnan province, southwest China.

Mr Jingwei was adopted and grew up in Henan, north-central China, but said he had 'countless nights of yearning' and was 'homesick since I was little'.

When he learnt about other abducted children that were reunited with relatives, Mr Jingwei decided to trace his birth parents, CNN reports.

'So many years have passed, I don't know if anyone in my family is looking for me,' Mr Jingwei said in a video posted to Chinese video platform Douyin. 'I want to be able to see my parents again while they are still here.'

Li Jingwei, 37, (left) was reunited with his birth mother (right) 33 years after he was abducted from Yunnan, southwest China

Despite his young age when he was abducted, Mr Jingwei remembered startling details about his home village - including where trees grew and cows grazed, as well as the location of roads and nearby rivers.

He remembered rice paddies and ponds near his parents' home. As a homesick child, he regularly sketched his remaining memories of the village on to a map, he told The Paper.

The map, which included the appearance of certain homes as well as the utensils used by villagers to cook rice, was all Mr Jingwei had to go on, as he could not remember his parents' names or the name of his village.

Against all odds, police matched the layout to a settlement near Zhaotong, a city in the mountains of Yunnan.

DNA tests confirmed Mr Jingwei was the missing son of a woman from the village and after an emotional phone call, the pair were reunited at Henan police station on New Year's Day.

'I've finally found my baby,' the woman was heard to have said.

Mr Jingwei was abducted when he was four years old but drew maps of his village every day to make sure he didn't forget his home

Sadly, Mr Jingwei's birth father had already died at the time of the reunion. He now plans to spend the Lunar New Year with his mother and visit his father's grave in Yunnan.

Mr Jingwei said that as a child in 1989, he was taken by a bald neighbour who tempted him with a toy, he told China's The Paper.

He was handed over by a trafficking gang to a family in Lankao, around 1,200 miles from his original home.

He said he drew pictures of his home at least once a day to remember his birthplace.

Police used the maps Mr Jingwei (pictured) made to connect him with his mother, and verified the match with DNA tests

Mr Jingwei had been inspired by the story of Guo Gangtang (pictured) and his son Guo Xinzhen, who was snatched aged two in front of the family's home in Shandong province in 1997

China's one child policy between 1980 and 2015 is thought to have exacerbated the problem of child abduction, with many wealthy families clamouring for a son.

A high profile case was that of Guo Xinzhen, who was abducted as a two-year-old by a woman in Shandong province, eastern China, in 1997. His father Guo Gangtang never gave up hope of finding him and the family's nationwide search inspired a movie in 2015.

The discovery of Guo Xinzhen last summer, now a young man aged 26, led to an emotional reunion that made national headlines.

Many children who are reunited with their original family after being abducted are reluctant to bring legal action against their foster parents because they have grown to love them.

Mr Jingwei, who is married with children, said the family that adopted him taught him 'the principles of being a human'.

He said this was 'so that I could study hard and become a talent in the future'.
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Photos of the cast of The Great Escape letting their hair down at Oktoberfest have come to light 59 years on.

The pictures show James Garner and Charles Bronson, who both starred in the film sipping from traditional tankards at the Bavarian beer festival alongside other friends.

James Garner (left) and Charles Bronson (right) enjoying themselves with friends at an Oktoberfest event with tankards of beer

Another image shows him merrily impersonating a conductor at the popular Bavarian beer festival.

The snaps have surfaced as part of Garner's personal archive which is expect to fetch 370,000 ($500,000) when it is auctioned off in June.

Garner played Flight Lieutenant Robert Hendley in the classic 1963 film about Allied prisoners of war attempting to escape a Nazi POW camp.

Other photos taken on set capture the American actor reading a book about the Third Reich to research the role.

Garner (pictured) also is pictured pretending to be a conductor at the event which has come to light as part of the sale of the late Hollywood legend's personal archive by Julien's Auctions

Garner seems to be in high spirits in the photos taken from the Bavarian beer festival event and released to publicise the sale

Another photo which is found in the archive is Garner reading a book about the Third Reich on the set of the 1964 film The Great Escape

There is a signed picture of him on the back of a topless Steve McQueen's motorbike, and another of the pair mucking about playing musical instruments.

Garner, known for his roles in The Great Escape, Maverick, The Rockford Files and The Notebook, died in 2014 and now his estate has made available some of the prized possessions from his major roles.

The archive, which boasts a signed Great Escape poster, is tipped to sell for It also includes the entire Western costume Garner wore as Bret Maverick in the hit TV series 'Maverick' that ran from 1957 to 1962.

The outfit comprises of a black wool coat, a white cotton shirt with ruffles down the front, a beige silk vest, a dark blue silk string tie and a pair of gray wool trousers. It is valued at 15,000.

A signed photo of Garner on the iconic motorcycle from The Great Escape alongside Steve McQueen who plays Captain Virgil Hilts in the beloved film

McQueen also features in this picture with Garner from the set of The Great Escape with the actors in costume

Another signed photograph featuring McQueen and Garner in the

And two classic black felt wool cowboy hats he wore as Maverick are tipped to fetch 3,000 each.

A circular pendant engraved with the initials 'JG' with a small horseshoe charm affixed by a chain that was probably gifted to the actor during his time filming Maverick is worth 400.

Elsewhere in the sale, there is the 'Best Actor' Golden Globe award presented to James Garner in 1993 for his role in the comedy-drama mini series Barbarians at the Gate. The award is valued at 4,000.

The pair of hats Garner wore for his role in Maverick are expected to fetch 3,000 each at the auction which has been sanctioned by his estate

Several costumes that the late actor kept from his roles over the years will also feature in the Julien's Auction sale

Other items included in the sale are a safety helmet customised for Garner after he became an avid driver and a Golden Globe for Best Actor that he received for starring in Barbarians at the Gate

Garner became an avid race-car driver thanks to his acting role in the 1966 movie Grand Prix and a safety helmet customised for him in the late 1960s with his name on the back is expected to sell for 2,000.

There is also a 1980s blue racing jacket with 'Goodyear' written on the left breast and his name 'Jim Garner' stitched in white thread on the right breast has an estimate of 300.

Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles, US, said: 'This special auction presentation offers some of the most cherished professional and personal items from James Garner, one of Hollywood's acting greats.

A 1980s blue racing jacket with 'Goodyear' written on the left breast and his name 'Jim Garner' stitched in white thread on the right breast has an estimate of 300

An award presented to Garner circa 1975 by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for 'the placement of his star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame' has an estimate of 450

'His acclaimed and popular portrayals of television's classic characters, Bret Maverick and Jim Rockford, and roles on the big screen epic of The Great Escape to the universally beloved The Notebook have delighted audiences worldwide.

'We are honoured to present this incredible collection representing a lifetime of outstanding performances by this incredible man, humanitarian, daredevil racer and iconoclast who broke all the rules.'
Days before the country marks one year since the deadly events of January 6, new polls released Sunday show the extent to which Americans' confidence in their own democracy and institutions has deteriorated since Donald Trump's supporters stormed the United States Capitol.

Roughly one-third of American voters believe that violence against the government could be justified, according to the Washington Post- University of Maryland's survey.

And according to CBS/YouGov polling, a majority of people think the violence seen on January 6th was just the beginning.

WaPo's poll, taken between December 19 and December 19, asks US adults: 'Do you think it is ever justified for citizens to take violent action against the government, or is it never justified?'

Thirty-four percent of respondents said it could be, while 62 percent believe it's never justified.

Among Republicans, the inclination toward violence is slightly higher with 40 percent -- or four in 10 GOP voters -- believing violent action against the government could be within reason.

But the notion was strongest among Independent voters, 41 percent of whom said it was justified.

Slightly more Republicans than Independents said violence against the government is never okay, while 74 percent of Democrats answered the same.

The Washington Post surveyed 1,101 American adults between December 17 and December 19

CBS also released a poll reflecting on the Capitol riot, finding that a majority of Americans think there is more to come

There was also a significant racial gap in responses, with 40 percent of white Americans compared to just 18 percent of black Americans believing aggressive tactics could be justified.

Among those who agree, some of the situations that could call for violence is government takeover of rights and freedoms, turning into a dictatorship or a military coup.

Another survey released today shows that two-thirds of Americans think the Capitol riot is a harbinger of future politically-charged violence.

A whopping sixty-eight percent of respondents to a CBS/YouGov poll taken December 27 through December 30 said the insurrection was a sign of 'increasing' hyper-partisan aggression.

Just 32 percent believe it's an 'isolated incident.'

Many of those same Americans now associate such eruptions with elections, yet another devastating blow to the US's image as President Joe Biden attempts to project the US as a leading global force for democracy in an increasingly autocratic world.

It also casts a bleak shadow over the 2022 midterm elections, now less than a year away.

Sixty-two percent of CBS poll respondents said they expect violence from the losing side in the next presidential election, compared to 38 percent who believe the losers will 'concede peacefully.'

Sixty-two percent of Americans now appear to associate presidential elections with political violence

While overall perception of those who stormed the Capitol is negative, Republican voters were found to have a softer view compared to Democrats' near-universal condemnation

Similarly, 66 percent of voters surveyed said they believe US democracy is under threat.

Fallout from the Capitol riot has driven a wedge within the Republican Party. Those who have dismissed the insurrectionists as 'tourists' or otherwise downplayed the day's events are more often allied with Trump while those seeking to hold him accountable for it are increasingly isolated from their peers.

The two GOP lawmakers on the House January 6 committee, Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, have been under constant attack by the president and his supporters in Congress. Kinzinger announced this year that he won't seek re-election, and last month the Wyoming State GOP formally gave Cheney the boot.

Those partisan views are prevalent among voters as well, though a majority of Americans still view the riot in a negative light.

Asked about their perceptions of those who forced their way into the Capitol a year later, a majority of Republican respondents -- 42 percent -- only 'somewhat disapprove.'

Eighty-one percent of Democrat voters 'strongly disapprove.'

In addition, just nine percent of Democrats 'somewhat approve' of the rioters while 18 percent, or double, the number of GOP voters feel the same.
Newsreader George Alagiah has spoken of how his battle with cancer has brought him closer than ever to his wife and made him 'content'.

Weeping openly, Alagiah, who is on a break from presenting the BBC TV News after his cancer returned in October, said his marriage had become more 'intimate' since he was initially diagnosed in 2014.

He added that his bowel cancer would 'probably get him in the end' but, while he regretted having the disease, he reckoned it had taught him so much about himself and life he was uncertain whether he would 'give the last seven years back'.

Alagiah, 66, has been married to wife Frances, an executive with the Fairtrade Foundation charity, for 36 years. The couple, who have two sons in their thirties, met at university.

Recalling the moment he was told he had cancer, he said: 'Ah! I remember thinking about Fran. I just I couldn't bear the thought of leaving her.'

Struggling to maintain his composure, he continued: 'To sit opposite the woman you love and to find a way of telling her that you might not make the end of the journey with her, is a form of intimacy. You have to be so honest with each other, and say, 'Look, this thing that we envisioned together may not happen'.

'It got us to a place where we thought we had a great relationship, and we got a better one.

'Obviously, I wish I'd never ever had cancer, but I'm not 100 per cent sure that I'd give the last seven years back because I have learnt stuff about myself and think about life differently.'

Alagiah, 66, has been married to wife Frances, an executive with the Fairtrade Foundation charity, for 36 years. The couple, who have two sons in their thirties, met at university

Alagiah, who was born in Sri Lanka and came to England as a boy, was first diagnosed with cancer in 2014 and again in 2017.

His agent announced three months ago that the popular presenter was taking another break from work after a 'further spread of cancer' had been discovered.

Alagiah told BBC colleagues at the time that doctors planned chemotherapy and radiotherapy to hit the new tumour 'hard and fast' and he was 'determined to come back' to work.

In an interview for a new podcast, 'Desperately Seeking Wisdom', in which celebrities and public figures discuss their mental health, Alagiah said: 'I don't think I'm going to be able to get rid of this thing. The whole point about cancer is it bloody finds a way through and gets you in the end. Probably, it will get me in the end.'

His first reaction on being told he had cancer was that he was being 'cheated and robbed'.

But when he thought about his 'great good fortune to meet Fran, my wife and lover for all these years' he no longer felt like 'a failure'. His life was now 'divided into pre-cancer, and post-cancer' phases, he said. The difference between the two was his 'post-cancer' life involves greater 'intimacy' with friends and family. 'I loved my dad, but I don't know how intimate we were,' he added.

'I've become wiser and life's richer. The most important thing in my life is to enjoy the relationships I have, to enrich and nurture them. I've learnt it is OK to be vulnerable and to tell people that you're feeling vulnerable.'

The most important relationship of all was with his wife.

Asked if he 'accepted' his cancer, Alagiah replied: 'I'm content that if it all had to stop now, it's been a good run. I've got to contentment, acceptance. I see life as a gift rather than worry about when it's going to end.'

He recites several 'mantras' to keep his spirits up. 'Every night I say to myself, 'Georgie boy, are you gonna be here tomorrow morning?' And every day for the last seven years, the answer has been, 'Yeah, George, you are gonna be here in the morning'. I think, 'F*** me, what a gift'.'

Alagiah said it was easy to feel anger at having cancer. But he felt he had found 'wisdom'  though he regretted it had taken a terminal illness to make him 'stop and think' about what really mattered.

'We shouldn't need to have trauma to build thoughtfulness and be in the present,' he added.

 Desperately Seeking Wisdom is a new podcast hosted by Sir Craig Oliver, Downing Street director of communications in David Cameron's administration.
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A New York woman with no medical qualifications was arrested after she allegedly administered the COVID-19 vaccine to a 17-year-old boy without his family's permission.

Laura Parker Russo, 54, was arrested by Nassau County Police after the incident happened on New Year's eve at her home in Sea Cliff, Long Island.

The boy reportedly received the vaccine and went home to tell his mother, who alerted police, Abc 7 reported. It is unclear how Russo knew the boy.

After an investigation, officials discovered that Russo is not a medical professional or authorized to administer vaccines. It is unclear how she had obtained the vaccine, and which brand it was.

Russo was then charged with unauthorized practice of a profession.

Her next court appearance is scheduled for January 21.

A New York woman with no medical qualifications was arrested after she allegedly administered the COVID-19 vaccine to a 17-year-old boy without his parent's permission (File photo)

The boy reportedly received the vaccine and went home to tell his mother, who alerted police. It is unclear how Russo knew the boy (File photo)

There have been several reported incidents across the country in which minors have been vaccinated without their parents' consent.

In early December, a Los Angeles mother claimed that her 13-year-old son, who has asthma, received the vaccine shot without her knowledge, NBC reported.

Maribel Duarte said that her son returned home from the Barack Obama Global Prep Academy in South Los Angeles with a vaccination card after he accepted the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in exchange for pizza.

'I should have been involved,' Duarte told NBC Los Angeles.' The lady that gave him the shot and signed the paper told my son, 'Please don't say anything. I don't want to get in trouble.''

The card showed that the unidentified boy had two doses of his Pfizer vaccine, on October 28 and November 18. It is unclear when he told his mother about what had happened after the first or second shot.

'It hurt to know he got a shot without my permission, without knowing and without signing any papers for him to get the shot,' Duarte added.

Duarte is herself vaccinated against COVID, but said she did not want her son to receive the shot because he is asthmatic and suffers from allergies, which she fears puts him at greater risk of rare but potentially-serious side effects.

Maribel Duarte (pictured) claimed last month that her son returned home from the Barack Obama Global Prep Academy with a vaccination card without her consent

Duarte claims her son got two shots of the Pfizer vaccine without her consent (vaccination card pictured)

Ariana Fraser, a Florida mother, also said in December that her 5-year-old daughter was given a flu vaccination at her Lake Worth Beach school without her permission.

'We took the band-aid off and she had an injection mark, and on the paper it says she received a vaccination for a flu shot that we didn't approve of and the paper is not her name,' Fraser told CBS news.

'I was really upset and frustrated because if something bad would have happened to her, if she would have got sick,' Fraser added.

Fraser's daughter, a kindergartner at North Grade Elementary, had reacted badly to inoculations before, despite having all of her required vaccinations.

Health Hero, the private company that administered the vaccine at North Grade, had been accused before of giving the shot to a wrong kindergartner in Jacksonville, because his name was similar to another boy whose parents consented to the vaccine.

Ariana Fraser, a Florida mother, also said in December that her 5-year-old daughter was given a flu vaccination at her Lake Worth Beach school without her permission

Fraser's daughter, a kindergartner at North Grade Elementary, had reacted badly to inoculations before, despite having all of her required vaccinations

The United States has reported more than 825,000 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic

California became the first state in the country to announce plans to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for children in schools.

In the United states, more than 14.7percent of children 5-11 have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while 53.4 of minors 12-17 people have been fully vaccinated.

The United States has reported more than 825,000 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

Pfizer said last month it would test three doses of its COVID vaccine in young children under five years old, after two jabs failed to produce the expected immunity in babies and preschoolers.

Two doses didn't appear strong enough in some of the kids, the company said, saying that a preliminary analysis found 2- to 4-year-olds' immune response wasn't as strong as expected to the lose-dose jabs for younger children.

If three doses proves successful, Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said they would apply for emergency authorization sometime in the first half of 2022.

The company already has a 'kid-sized' vaccine for 5- to 11-year-olds, which is one-third the dosage given to adults and children 12 and older.

The United States has reported more than 825,000 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

Just 790 children aged 0-18 have lost their lives to COVID since the beginning of the pandemic and December 22, according to the most recent figures supplied by the CDC.

There are more than 54 million active COVID-19 infections in the country.
The world's population is now estimated at 7.8 billion people, with the US growing by 707,000 people over the past year as the country adds one new person from international migration every 130 seconds.

The world grew by 74 million people - or 0.9 percent - since New Year's Day 2021, according to the US Census Bureau.

The US is population is now estimated at 332.4 million people as Customs and Border Protection battles record high numbers of illegal crossings at the southern border.

CBP saw 173,620 illegal crossers at the southern border in November, a 140 percent uptick compared to November 2020.

US population grew by 707,000 people last year, or a growth rate of 0.2 percent. The Census Bureau previously said the country hit a record low population growth during the pandemic

Border crossings have also hit record highs in 2021, going up by 140 percent in November 2021 compared to a year earlier. Above, Haitian families cross the Rio Bravo on December 23

Customs and Border Protection saw 173,620 illegal crossers at the southern border in November . Above, migrants wait in Mexico City hoping to get humanitarian visas

The US is expected to experience a birth every nine seconds and a death every 11 seconds this year.

Worldwide, 4.3 births and two deaths are expected every second, the Census Bureau estimated.

The agency's US numbers represent a 0.2 percent growth rate from New Year's Day 2021 to New Year's Day 2022. The agency had previously said the country hit its lowest population growth rate since its founding during the pandemic.

Customs and Border Protection is battling record high numbers of illegal crossings at the southern border

This year, the US is expected to grow by one person every 40 seconds from births, minus deaths, as well as net international migration.

Last month, the Biden administration said it was resuming former President Trump's Remain-in-Mexico policy by court order.

Two bids by the Biden administration to end the policy, which requires those seeking asylum to wait in Mexico while their claims are being processed, were overruled in court.

107 migrants were reportedly packed in a cargo truck used to transport perishable goods that rolled over and crashed into a pedestrian bridge over a highway in Mexico on December 9

The deceased were believed to be Central American migrants, some from Guatemala and Honduras, who were packed in a cargo truck

On December 9, at least 54 US-bound migrants died when the container truck they were in crashed in Mexico. One official blamed the speed of the vehicle and the weight of its human cargo for the tragedy.

Dozens of bodies arranged in rows covered in white sheets were photographed laid across a roadway in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.

At least 54 further people were wounded, 21 seriously, in the horror smash.

The deceased were believed to be Central American migrants, some from Guatemala and Honduras.

As many as 200 migrants were packed in the cargo truck, used to transport perishable goods, that rolled over and crashed into a pedestrian bridge over a highway, causing dozens of deaths and serious injuries.

The trailer broke open and spilled out migrants when the truck crashed on a sharp curve outside the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez in the state of Chiapas, according to video footage of the aftermath and civil protection authorities.

The world's population grew by 74 million people - or 0.9 percent - since New Year's Day 2021. Above, people enjoy the sunset on December 21 in Sydney, Australia

The Census Bureau had previously said that US population growth had dipped to its lowest rate since the nation's founding, though those numbers only looked at growth from July 2020 to July 2021.

The US has been experiencing slow population growth for years, but the pandemic exacerbated that trend. This past year was the first time since 1937 that the nation's population grew by less than 1 million people.

'I was expecting low growth but nothing this low,' said William Frey, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's metropolitan policy program, Brookings Metro.

GOP Rep. Dan Meuser is demanding answers after the administration sent flights of migrants to Pennsylvania in December

'It tells us that this pandemic has had a huge impact on us in all kinds of ways, and now demography.'

Once there's a handle on the pandemic, the US may eventually see a decrease in deaths, but population growth likely won't bounce back to what it has been in years past because of fewer births.

That will increase the need for immigration by younger workers whose taxes can support programs such as Social Security, Frey said.

'We have an aging population and that means fewer women in child-bearing ages,' Frey said. 'We see younger people putting off having children and they're going to have fewer children.'

The US population increase, however small, comes as the amount of illegal border crossings in the US continues to rise.

Congressman Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania is demanding answers from the Biden administration after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) chartered flights to send at least 130 migrants to Joe Biden's hometown of Scranton.

'I am extremely concerned by recent reports that the federal government has flown illegal immigrants to the Wilkes Barre-Scranton International Airport (AVP),' Rep. Meuser wrote to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and ICE Acting Director Tae Johnson.

'Pennsylvanians deserve to know about these decisions affecting their community, and I expect immediate answers,' Meuser wrote to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Acting ICE Director Tae Johnson

'It is my understanding that a total of 130 immigrants, 118 minors and 12 adults, arrived aboard an iAero charter flight on Friday, December 17 and were subsequently transported on buses from a private hangar,' the Republican congressman added in his letter on December 27.

'This flight seems to have occurred without airport officials receiving notice or a passenger manifest.'

A former Pennsylvania lawmaker now running for governor, Lou Barletta, suggested the December 17 chartered flight could have carried as many as 180 illegal immigrants.

Barletta said Sunday that there were two more 'secret planes' from El Paso, Texas that landed in Scranton on Christmas with even more migrants.

The transportation of migrants has been described as 'ghost flights' due to the secrecy surrounding them, including impromptu flights arriving in the middle of the night without a public manifest of passengers.
A 52-year-old nanny is being hailed a hero after she pushed a stroller carrying a one-year-old boy out of harm's way in Brooklyn before an oncoming truck struck her.

Arcellie 'Celi' Muschamp died December 31 after being hit December 20 in the Park Slope neighborhood, the baby's dad said.

'Our son Rowan was amazingly unscathed in the incident and based on eyewitness accounts Celi helped save him from almost-certain serious injury or death by pushing his stroller out of harm's way as the vehicle approached,' Patrick Mullen wrote on a GoFundMe page.

'The doctors have called it a miracle and Celi is truly our hero.'

Muschamp, originally from Belize, was struck at Union Street and Fifth Avenue and went into an induced coma shortly after the crash.

Arcellie 'Celi' Muschamp, 52, died December 31 after being hit December 20 in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. She pushed the baby she was nannying out of harm's way before the truck struck

Muschamp, originally from Belize, was struck at Union Street and Fifth Avenue and went into an induced coma shortly after the crash

It's not clear whether she was passing through one of the intersection's marked cross walks, or if the truck driver faces charges; police told DailyMail.com only that 'the investigation is ongoing.

The married mother died surrounded by loved ones 11 days after being injured, Mullen said.

'My wife and I will forever consider her the guardian angel of our son Rowan, whom she saved through her actions and sacrifice,' he said. 'Our thoughts remain with her family and children during this time. Bless her soul.'

The parents of the boy she saved launched a Gofundme for Muschamp's family which raised more than $80,000 as of Sunday afternoon

Her daughter, Rahzel Muschamp, described her as 'the most selfless person ever' and someone who adored looking after children.

'I had a chance to look at her cellphone recently and I looked at her pictures and 60% of them were of the child she was caring for,' she told The New York Daily News. 'That shows she loved these kids so much.'

New York Senator Chuck Schumer praised Muschamp's actions Sunday after learning of her death.

'Celi Muschamp is a hero,' he said in a Facebook post.

'She was brave, selflessly saving the life of a 1-year-old she cared for.

'Im praying for her family and her loved ones. And we will keep working to make our streets safer from traffic violence.'

The victim was described by her daughter as 'the most selfless person ever' and someone who adored looking after children

Muschamp's relatives turned to social media to pay tribute to the 'beautiful' woman

New York Senator Chuck Schumer praised Muschamp's actions Sunday after learning of her death.

The nanny died less than two months after her mother's November 11 death. Her sister was among those to mourn the loss online.

'[I'm] sitting down here just thinking about the beautiful relationship I had with my beautiful Sister,' Yolz Aleman said on Facebook. 'We would just talk and laugh giving each other jokes telling me about her kids and how much she love me and will always be here for me.

'...I will forever love you sleep in perfect peace little Sister our Hero till we meet again.'

A GoFundMe for her family raised more than $80,000 as of Sunday afternoon.
Americans returning home from holiday travel had to battle another day of airport chaos Sunday, with more than 2,400 flights cancelled due to bad weather or airline staffing woes sparked by a surge in Covid cases.

Further disruptions are predicted for Monday, as a winter storm blows eastward.

As of Sunday afternoon, 2,462 domestic flights or international ones starting or finishing in the United States had been canceled - almost as many as the 2,749 scrapped over the course of Saturday, said the flight-tracking service FlightAware.

That midday figure represented well more than half of the 4,120 flights canceled around the world.

Additionally, another 5,489 US flights were delayed.

Americans returning home from holiday travel had to battle another day of airport chaos Sunday, with 2,462 flights cancelled due to bad weather or airline staffing woes sparked by a surge in Covid cases. Additionally, another 5,489 US flights were delayed

SkyWest, which operates more than 200 American cities on behalf of Delta, United, American Eagle and Alaska, was hit the hardest and cancelled 517 of their flights on Sunday

SkyWest, which operates more than 200 American cities on behalf of Delta, United, American Eagle and Alaska, cancelled 517 of their flights on Sunday - the most of any airline worldwide.

Twenty-one percent of the airline's scheduled flights were cancelled to cities including Albuquerque, Boise, Burbank, Fresno, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Reno, Milwaukee, Omaha and Tuscon.

Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines halted 419 and a spokesperson said that they were expecting the figure to increase by the end of the day.

Other popular airlines weren't hit as hard: Delta called off 175, JetBlue cancelled 169, American Airlines 153 and Spirit 81.

The cancellations resulted in intense frustration for many travelers, who took to Twitter to express their woes about cancelled flights and connections.

Travelers took to Twitter to express their woes about cancelled flights and connections

One user tweeted: 'My flight got cancelled today, should I take it as a sign to just stay in San Diego and abandon my former life for 2022?'

Another wrote: 'One more cancelled flight and imma take a flight from the roof of this b****.'

On Saturday, many cancellations were caused by poor weather - much of it linked to Winter Storm Frida, which hit the southern Great Plains and the Great Lakes regions with heavy snowfall, ice and freezing temperatures.

The storm forced Southwest to cancel 490 flights after they issued a statement ahead of the weekend stating services would be interrupted in Denver, Chicago and Milwaukee.

Airports in Chicago - a major transit hub - were the most affected Saturday, but by Sunday the airports in Atlanta, Denver, Detroit, Houston and Newark were also hard hit.

Around the world, air traffic has suffered snarls since Christmas because of airline staffing issues linked to the spread of the highly contagious Covid-19 Omicron variant.

Many pilots and flight attendants have called in sick after testing positive for the virus or being forced to quarantine due to contact with someone who has the virus.

This has left carriers with staffing shortages and forced them to delay or cancel flights.

As of Sunday, the US reached a seven-day average of 402,998 cases. Dr Anthony Fauci also warned today that Americans may soon need to produce a negative Covid test to leave quarantine after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cut the isolation period from 10 days to five for the asymptomatic.

The CDC decision to slash the quarantine period in half for patients without symptoms came last Tuesday in an effort to prevent another devastating blow to the economy amid the spike in workers testing positive, sparking fears of lengthy shutdowns that could further decimate the economy.

Faucis comments come as South Africa, where the Omicron virus was first reported, passed the peak of its coronavirus cases caused by the variant, prompting scientists to project that the US will hit its own Omicron peak by early January.

The US is predicted to reach a peak in cases by January 9, which would see somewhere between 2.5million to 5.4million new cases per week, according to researchers from Columbia University, The New York Times reported.

Dr Anthony Fauci also warned today that Americans may soon need to produce a negative Covid test to leave quarantine after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cut the isolation period from 10 days to five for the asymptomatic (Pictured: People waited on line at a pop-up testing site in Houston, Texas, on December 30)

'We are realizing right now monitoring the data that the peak is going to come much faster. My guess is it will happen before mid-January, Ali Mokdad, a public health researcher at the University of Washington, also told the news outlet.

The latest travel chaos carried echoes of a frustrating Christmas weekend, when around 7,500 flights around the world were scrapped.

And rebooking canceled flights has been a major challenge for many.

One traveler, Eric Crawford, described his frustration at trying to call a Delta Airline agent to reschedule.

'An estimated wait time of 22+ hours to speak with a rep about a cancelled flight,' he said on Twitter, adding that it's 'not the best look for starting 2022'.

Kowshick Boddu offered his account of the chaos with Alaska Air on the social media site: 'We were supposed to fly out from Fairbanks to San Jose on Dec 30, but our flights got rescheduled to today which is eventually cancelled again??? Long customer call wait hours, no response and flights not been rebooked? Need help!!'

Travel woes are expected to continue into Monday, the first working day of 2022.

Nearly 575 Monday flights have already been canceled within, into or out of the United States.
NSW has recorded 20,794 new cases and four deaths but patients in hospital and ICU are starting to rise.

Hospital admissions rose to 1,204, up from 1,066 on Sunday, and another 12 people were put into ICU, rising to 95.

Sunday marked the first time there were more than 1,000 Covid patients in NSW hospitals since October 2. The most ever recorded was 1,268 on September 21.

Victoria recorded three deaths and 8,577 new infections on Monday - jumping from 1,999 just seven days ago and 7,172 cases on Sunday.

There are 491 patients in Victorian hospitals - up from 472 on Sunday - with 56 people in ICU and 24 on ventilators, both of which are stable.

Despite surging case numbers in both states, Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared 'the days of lockdown are over' because the number of new infections is irrelevant.

NSW has recorded 20,794 new cases with in 1,204 in hospital and four deaths on Monday as Scott Morrison vows lockdowns are over (pictured, concert-goers in Melbourne)

Despite surging case numbers in both states the prime minister (pictured) has declared 'the days of lockdown are over' because the number of infections is irrelevant

He said the variant was 75 per cent less severe than the Delta strain and could be publicly managed like other infectious diseases such as flu.

Australia detected 32,216 new Covid cases on Sunday after a record 35,208 on Saturday but only 148 people are in ICU with the disease.

But when asked if Australia would need a 'circuit-breaker' lockdown to stop the surge, Mr Morrison told the Today Show: 'No. Because it is not about numbers.

'I keep making this point. This is a different type of variant which requires an evolution of our response.

'The days of lockdown are gone. We're going forward. We're not going back. That's not how you manage this virus.

'There will be high case numbers but the severity is a lot less so you focus on your hospital system.

'I think you're seeing that. We've got 51 people on ventilators around the country. 148 people in ICU.'

Mr Morrison said the vast majority of people who catch the Omicron strain, which was discovered in November in South Africa, have a mild illness that can be managed at home.

'If you are in hospital at the moment, the primary reason for that is you weren't vaccinated. The second reason is you've got Delta, not Omicron.

'With Omicron, there is only a very small number of cases that are in hospital,' he said.

'We're now dealing with a very different virus. We've really got to change the way we think about it and that's why talking about case numbers now is really not the point.'

Last week state premiers agreed that only household contacts of a positive case must isolate for seven days in a bid to stop employees including nurses and supermarket workers from being unable to work.

PCRs tests, which have seen thousands queueing for hours at overwhelmed testing centres, are now only for people who are symptomatic, or who have tested positive to a rapid antigen test.

'The issue is how we're managing the impacts on the health system and that's why ensuring we have sensible rules that allow people to go back to work,' the PM said.

There are currently 95 patients in ICU in NSW hospitals - up from 83 people on Sunday (pictured, Sydneysiders celebrate during the festive season)

Australia detected 32,216 new Covid cases on Sunday after a record 35,208 on Saturday (pictured, a woman walks along Flinders Street in Melbourne)

Monday's numbers come after it was revealed hundreds of patients counted in NSW's daily Covid hospitalisation tally are not in hospital because of the virus.

Some have simply testing positive for Covid following routine checks after being admitted for broken bones or labour pains.

The revelation comes amid warnings infections in Victoria and NSW could soar to up to 100,000 daily cases within weeks if current trends continue.

If infection numbers continue to double every four days case numbers could easily reach 100,000 by the end of January.

Over in NSW, which saw more than 18,000 new cases for a third consecutive day and has also been predicted to reach six figures, hospital admissions have topped 1,000.

But data shows as many as 50 per cent of 'Covid patients' in the state's hospitals were actually admitted for other reasons - such as a broken leg, labour pains or even mental health issues - and later tested positive to the virus during routine tests.

Victoria recorded three deaths and 8,577 new infections on Monday - jumping from 1,999 just seven days ago and 7,172 cases on Sunday (pictured, residents queue for a test in Sydney)

If infection numbers continue to double every four days case numbers could easily reach 100,000 by the end of January (pictured, a woman in a department store in Melbourne)

Monday's 20, 794 cases comes amid warnings infections in Victoria and NSW could soar to up to 100,000 daily cases within weeks if current trends continue (pictured, Bondi beach-goers)

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard has admitted that over two days during the week, up to half of those cases were in hospital for something else entirely - raising questions about how hospitalisation figures are reported.

'A reasonable proportion of cases being classified as Covid hospitalisations are actually people with other reasons for admission,' Mr Hazzard said.

'Heart attacks, births, falls, none of that stops just because there is Covid. They come into hospital, they have a swab taken and it confirms Covid.

Covid hospital rates in Australia: NSW: 1,066 Victoria: 472 Queensland: 112 South Australia: 82 Tasmania: 4 Northern Territory: 21 Western Australia: 0 ACT: 9 Data from Sunday 2 January Advertisement

'This shows us its out in the community, but we aren't necessarily seeing that as the primary reason for all of the admissions.'

While Mr Hazzard admitted hospitals are under increasing strain, preliminary analysis shows that Omicron so far has proved to be a much milder illness for many.

Scott Morrison revealed on Monday he will talk to the premiers this week about agreeing on a definition of Covid hospitalisation amid fears the numbers are artificially high and giving a false picture.

'There are people being counted as being in hospital for Covid when they didn't go there for Covid, they went there for some other reason,' the prime minister said.

'They've been tested when there and been found to have Covid. We need to get a standard definition on that because these are the key things we have to track.'

The 1,204 people in NSW hospitals are among 145,418 active Covid across the state.

On September 6, there were 1,071 hospitalisations from 29,253 cases, including 177 cases in ICU, more than double of the 95 reported on Monday.

Testing rates continue to remain under 100,000, with 96,765 people coming forward for testing in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday night.

Of the population aged 16 and over, 95 per cent of NSW residents have received their first dose of a Covid vaccine while 93.6 per cent have received both.

On September 6, there were 1,071 hospitalisations from 29,253 cases, including 177 cases in ICU, more than double of the 95 reported on Monday (pictured, Coogee beach-goers)

The 1,204 people in NSW hospitals are among 145,418 active Covid across the state (pictured, Melbourne revellers on New Year's Eve)

It's estimated around 70 per cent of Victoria's daily infections are of the Omicron variant (pictured, Sydney residents queue for a Covid test in Rose Bay)

The revelation could provide some comfort to citizens in both NSW and Victoria who are watching daily Covid cases explode and hospital admissions creep up.

Meanwhile, it's estimated around 70 per cent of Victoria's daily infections are of the Omicron variant as the state continues to also battle the more severe Delta variant.

Melbourne University head of population and global health Nancy Baxter believes the southern state could see 100,000 cases by the end of January if current trends persist.

'We are likely to get to the point  and are already starting to get to the point  where there are tents in front of emergency departments,' she told the Herald Sun.

Hospitalisations are also on the rise in Victoria with 491 cases currently admitted.

However, only 56 are in ICU compared to 83 just before the new Omicron variant hit Australia's shores.

Testing clinics are also under enormous strain as frustrated Melburnians face lengthy delays to be swabbed and wait up to four days to get their results.

Many testing centres across Melbourne closed within an hour of opening on Sunday due to the city's heatwave (pictured, ambulances arrive at St Vincent's Hospital)

Australia's new Covid rules: Who should get a PCR test? Anyone who has symptoms or who has got a positive rapid antigen test New definition of close contact: Someone who has spent at least four hours in a household or a care facility with a positive case. Workplaces do not count. New isolation period: Positive people and close contacts must isolate for seven days or 10 in SA. This is regardless of whether the close contacts test negative or not Timing: NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT implemented the new rules on New Year's Eve. Tasmania followed on January 1 while the Northern Territory and Western Australia will not adopt the scheme until they get more Covid cases in the weeks ahead. Advertisement

Many testing centres across Melbourne closed within an hour of opening on Sunday due to the city's heatwave.

Professor Adrian Esterman, the chair of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of South Australia, holds similar fears for NSW.

'In four days time that is about 40,000 cases, and four days after that 80,000 cases, so you can see how easily it can reach 100,000 cases,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

The professor called for the government should reintroduce more Covid restrictions to stop hospitals becoming overwhelmed before the outbreak peaked.

Australian Medical Association vice-president Chris Moy has been inundated with calls from concerned doctors and medical administrators 'struggling' with staff shortages as case numbers rise.

'People look at the numbers and see the 1,066 in hospitals but the health system doesn't just look after Covid and people are having critical surgery delayed,' he said.

A NSW Health spokesperson said as of December 30, 2,510 healthcare workers were in isolation after being exposed to Covid-19 (pictured, ICU staff in Sydney)

Dr Moy told the ABC: 'What's happening there is that the staffing situation is becoming pretty critical.

'I'm hearing about teams getting completely wiped out essentially because they are either contacts or they are positive.'

A NSW Health spokesperson said as of December 30, 2,510 healthcare workers were in isolation after being exposed to Covid-19.

NSW reported a record-breaking 22,577 new infections on Saturday, which is believed to be the result of backlogs in testing centres over the Christmas period.

Tasmania recorded 466 new Covid cases on Monday taking the number of active infections in the state to 1,691. Two patients are in hospital.
Scott Morrison has declared 'the days of lockdown are over' even with Australia detecting record Covid case numbers.

The Prime Minister said the dominant Omicron variant was 75 per cent less severe than the Delta strain and could be publicly managed like other infectious diseases such as flu.

Australia detected 32,216 new Covid cases on Sunday after a record 35,208 on Saturday but only 148 people are in ICU with the disease.

Asked if Australia would need a 'circuit-breaker' lockdown to stop the surge, Mr Morrison told the Today Show: 'No. Because it is not about numbers.

'I keep making this point. This is a different type of variant which requires an evolution of our response.'

'The days of lockdown are gone. We're going forward. We're not going back. That's not how you manage this virus.

'There will be high case numbers but the severity is a lot less so you focus on your hospital system.

'I think you're seeing that. We've got 51 people on ventilators around the country. 148 people in ICU.'

Mr Morrison said the vast majority of people who catch the Omicron strain, which was discovered in November in South Africa, have a mild illness that can be managed at home.

'If you are in hospital at the moment, the primary reason for that is you weren't vaccinated. The second reason is you've got Delta, not Omicron.

'With Omicron, there is only a very small number of cases that are in hospital,' he said.

'We're now dealing with a very different virus. We've really got to change the way we think about it and that's why talking about case numbers now is really not the point.'

NSW hospitalisations of Covid cases reached four digits for the first time since October (pictured, ICU staff at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital) - but it has emerged not all the patients are in hospital for Covid-related reasons

Last week state premiers agreed that only household contacts of a positive case must isolate for seven days in a bid to stop employees including nurses and supermarket workers from being unable to work.

'The issue is how we're managing the impacts on the health system and that's why ensuring we have sensible rules that allow people to go back to work,' Mr Morrison said.

The Prime Minister also revealed he will talk to the premiers this week about agreeing on a definition of Covid hospitalisation amid fears the numbers are artificially high and giving a false picture.

'There are people being counted as being in hospital for Covid when they didn't go there for Covid, they went there for some other reason,' Mr Morrison said.

'They've been tested when there and been found to have Covid. We need to get a standard definition on that because these are the key things we have to track.'

Mr Morrison took a swipe at Labor leader Anthony Albanese who has accused him of failing on testing as queues for PCR swabs stretched to five hours over Christmas.

'He is always full of complaints after the fact,' Mr Morrison said.

'We're just getting on with it, working with everybody. We have one of the lowest death rates of Covid in the world. We have one of the strongest economies coming out of Covid.'

Scott Morrison has declared 'the days of lockdown are over' even with Australia recording record Covid case numbers

COVID HOSPITAL RATES IN AUSTRALIA NSW: 1,066 Victoria: 472 Queensland: 112 South Australia: 82 Tasmania: 4 Northern Territory: 21 Western Australia: 0 ACT: 9 Data from Sunday 2 January Advertisement

He concluded by saying Covid will eventually be treated like flu and Australians can move on with their lives.

'We can ultimately manage this like any other infectious disease. That's the pathway out,' he said.

Data shows as many as 50 per cent of 'Covid patients' in NSW hospitals were actually admitted for other reasons - such as a broken leg, labour pains or even mental health issues - and later tested positive to the virus during routine tests.

As of Sunday morning, there were 1,066 people with Covid in hospital in NSW, with 83 in ICU.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard has admitted that over two days during the week, up to half of those cases were in hospital for something else entirely - raising questions about how hospitalisation figures are reported.

'A reasonable proportion of cases being classified as Covid hospitalisations are actually people with other reasons for admission,' Mr Hazzard said.

'Heart attacks, births, falls, none of that stops just because there is Covid. They come into hospital, they have a swab taken and it confirms Covid.

'This shows us its out in the community, but we aren't necessarily seeing that as the primary reason for all of the admissions.'

In NSW 1,066 patients in hospital are among 124,624 active Covid across the state.

Queensland and NSW officials say about 80 per cent of cases are the Omicron variant while in Victoria the figure is about 70 per cent.

Hospitalisations are also on the rise in Victoria with 472 cases currently admitted.

However, only 52 are in ICU compared to 83 just before the new Omicron variant hit Australia's shores.
Many stressed-out workaholics are slaves to their endlessly ticking watch telling them there just arent enough hours in the day to get everything done.

Now a high-tech device that straps on to your wrist can predict when youre about to become too stressed  an hour before you even notice anxiety levels rising.

The gadget is eerily similar to the app invented to monitor stress levels by tech tycoon Peter Isherwell  played by British actor Mark Rylance  in Netflixs new hit film Dont Look Up.

The Nowatch is the first device on the market to monitor a persons cortisol levels, the primary stress hormone.

Now a high-tech device that straps on to your wrist can predict when youre about to become too stressed  an hour before you even notice anxiety levels rising

Higher levels of cortisol are associated with concentration problems, weight gain, insomnia, and heart disease.

The app senses electrodermal activity  the electrical current the skin conducts which depends on the state of our sweat glands, with even a tiny difference reflecting a change in our emotional state. An algorithm then analyses the data and alerts the wearer via a subtle vibration to warn them that they might need to relax.

But despite its appearance, the one thing the 570 device will not do is tell you the time  because its inventors believe a screen only adds to the users stress.

The watch face is actually a hand-carved gemstone, with the technology hidden beneath connecting to an app on the users smartphone.

The gadget is eerily similar to the app invented to monitor stress levels by tech tycoon Peter Isherwell  played by British actor Mark Rylance  in Netflixs new hit film Dont Look Up

It is just one of thousands of new gadgets on display at the annual CES conference in Las Vegas, which shows off the future in technology.

However, a sudden surge in Omicron cases in America has led to many of the biggest exhibitors  such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon  to attend virtually.

Similar to other health wearables on the market, the Nowatch will also monitor heart rate, temperature, blood oxygen levels and respiration rate. Developed over 15 years with electronics firm Philips, the Nowatch  which boasts up to two weeks of battery life  will give the user advance warning of stress in order to catch a breath, take a walk, reconnect to the now.

A spokesman for the Amsterdam-based firm said: Measuring cortisol contribution through skin conductance in this way is unique and has never been done before.

The firm plans to use the patented technology in cars, with a 3D dashboard designed to hover in front of motorists as they drive

It registers the same response to cortisol contribution when subjected to identical stressors, offering more robust and cleaner measurements and predictions.

The Nowatch will be available to buy from March next year.

Coronavirus appears to have influenced many of the products being unveiled at CES this year, including a clever way to help those fearful of germ-ridden surfaces.

A Japanese nanotech company is unveiling a floating 3D display system that may mean we no longer need to press buttons in public spaces such as lifts.

Instead, Imuzak said, the buttons will take the form of touch-sensitive holograms a few centimetres away from the wall.

The firm plans to use the patented technology in cars, with a 3D dashboard designed to hover in front of motorists as they drive.

A microlens will sit in the steering wheel and beam out a floating display, which can show incoming calls or warning messages.

The company is already in talks with a major Japanese car manufacturer and hopes to bring the device to market in 2024.

More than 2,200 exhibitors are confirmed to host in-person showcases at the CES event, which runs from Wednesday until Saturday.
Boots is set to become the target of a bidding war later this year as several private equity sharks circle the firm.

The 173-year-old pharmacy chain is thought to be in the crosshairs of Bain Capital, the US private equity giant that was recently wounded when its attempted takeover of mutual insurer LV was thwarted last month after a campaign by the Daily Mail.

However, after licking its wounds Bain is continuing its assault on the UK business world and is positioning itself as the frontrunner in an upcoming auction for Boots.

Bain also made a bid for Boots last year, which kicked off the process to find a possible buyer, according to The Times.

If it is sold, the company is expected to achieve a price tag of between 6billion and 7billion.

Boots is set to become the target of a bidding war later this year as several private equity sharks circle the firm

Other groups said to be interested include a swathe of private equity giants including CVC, Carlyle, KKR, Blackstone and Advent.

Also rumoured to be mulling a bid is Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, the New York-based firm that took over supermarket giant Morrisons in October in a 7billion deal spearheaded by former Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy.

But there could be interest closer to home, with Sainsburys and Tesco considered to be potential buyers due to sharing many customers with Boots.

It is thought the interest in the chain comes from its potential as a provider of healthcare, with the firm having played a key role in the Covid vaccine rollout by allowing people to receive jabs at its pharmacies.

Speculation over a possible sale was sparked last month after reports that Boots current owner, US giant Walgreens Boots Alliance, had hired bankers Goldman Sachs to advise it on possible options for the business.

Aside from a sale, it is also rumoured that the company could list on the stock market.

Boots traces its origins back to a shop selling herbal remedies which was opened by Quaker John Boot in Nottingham in 1849.

Since then, it has grown into one of the largest pharmacy chains in Britain with a network of more than 2,200 shops and 550 opticians employing around 51,000 staff.

The 173-year-old pharmacy chain is thought to be in the crosshairs of Bain Capital

It is one of Britains biggest employers in the private sector. Boots merged with European pharma firm Alliance Unichem in 2006 to become Alliance Boots.

It was then taken over in 2007 after private equity group KKR beat a bid from a rival firm, Terra Firma Capital.

Five years later, Walgreens, the largest chemist chain in the US, bought a stake in the group before fully merging to create Walgreens Boots Alliance in 2014.

A sale of Boots to Bain or another private equity shark would mark the next step in an ongoing pandemic plundering of British businesses, many of which are considered to be going cheap.

Since the pandemic hit in 2020, 1,206 firms worth 92billion have been snapped up by the buyout barons.

Furthermore, around 773 deals were done last year alone, worth a total of 63billion, up from 461 in 2019.

Such takeovers have been criticised because most private equity firms are only interested in maximising profits over the time they hold the companies, usually by cutting jobs and loading firms up with debt.

The buying spree has also caused a backlash among MPs, bosses and investors, who claim overseas predators are robbing Britain of some of its best companies.
France yesterday became the latest country to introduce a five-day isolation period for those with Covid, as pressure grew on UK ministers to follow suit.

Despite cases surging in Europe, French authorities cut the isolation period from ten days to five for those who are double-vaccinated and produce a negative test.

It came as anti-lockdown protests in Amsterdam turned violent. Demonstrators were mauled by police dogs and hit with batons by officers who were trying to disband a march yesterday.

While Englands quarantine rules remain in place  negative tests on days six and seven mean you can leave the house  the number of NHS staff off sick or isolating continues to rocket.

France yesterday became the latest country to introduce a five-day isolation period for those with Covid, as pressure grew on UK ministers to follow suit

In recent days the number of NHS workers staying at home for Covid reasons has doubled.

NHS figures show that on December 12, NHS England recorded 12,240 staff absent due to Covid sickness or self-isolation.

Two weeks later, on December 26, this had doubled to 24,632, and by New Years Eve it had doubled again to almost 50,000  accounting for nearly half of all staff absences, The Sunday Times reported.

Chris Hopson, chairman of NHS Providers, said staff absences were having a greater impact than during last Januarys Covid wave.

He tweeted: Staff flat out, especially given level of staff absences. We will need to ask them to perform flexible heroics again if hospital Covid numbers continue to rise. We cant keep doing this.

America was the first country to shorten the isolation period, followed by Greece and France.

It came as anti-lockdown protests in Amsterdam turned violent. Demonstrators were mauled by police dogs and hit with batons by officers who were trying to disband a march yesterday

Professor Tim Spector, who leads the Zoe Covid Study at Kings College London, has described the five-day period as sensible as long as the individual has had two negative lateral flow tests.

A reduction in isolation days would help many frontline services by allowing low-risk staff to go into work and avoid people staying home unnecessarily, Professor Spector said.

But allowing people to stop isolating five days after they experience Covid symptoms could actually spread the virus and worsen NHS staff shortages, the UK Health Security Agency said.

It said that between 10 and 30 per cent of people would still be infectious after five days, compared with 5 per cent under the seven-day rule.

Health minister Ed Argar said the Government had not yet received scientific advice on cutting the isolation period.
Romelu Lukaku could reportedly be dropped from Chelsea's squad as punishment for his bombshell interview released by Sky in Italy this week.

The Belgian striker, who only returned to Chelsea this summer in a 98million move, gave an interview three weeks ago but following publication on Thursday night there was a huge reaction to his comments that he was unhappy with life under Tuchel.

'Physically I am fine. But I'm not happy with the situation at Chelsea,' Lukaku told Sky in Italy. 'Tuchel has chosen to play with another system  I won't give up, I'll be professional. I am not happy with the situation but I am professional  and I can't give up now.'

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel is less than impressed by Romelu Lukaku's bombshell interview

The club's record signing is now reportedly at risk of being left out of the squad vs Liverpool

Lukaku gave an interview at home to Sky Italia which upset supporters and staff at Chelsea

Tuchel was less than impressed at his press conference on Friday and the Telegraph report that the German boss is mulling over punishment to serve Lukaku for his comments in the TV interview.

Chelsea's record signing has scored in his last two games having returned to the side but the reaction to his interview has reportedly left him sweating on his place in the side against Liverpool on Sunday.

The report goes on to add that while he has been frustrated since returning to Stamford Bridge, Lukaku is not looking to force an early exit and he has spoken to Tuchel in recent days about the interview in question.

Tuchel was quizzed on Lukaku's comments in his pre-match press conference on Friday

Sunday's line-up will be telling in whether Lukaku has been handed a punishment akin to a one-game ban or whether Tuchel elects to go for a behind-closed-doors dressing down, before using his star striker against Liverpool.

The interview with Sky Italia was taken at Lukaku's property and Chelsea are said to have not had prior knowledge of it, leaving them fuming.

As well as talking up his unhappiness in Tuchel's system, Lukaku also gushed about the prospect of one day returning to Inter Milan.

He added: 'I really, genuinely from the bottom of my heart hope to come back to Inter, not at the end of my career, but while I am still at the level to win more trophies.'

Speaking at his press conference on Friday when asked about Lukaku's comments, Tuchel said: 'I don't like it because it brings noise we don't need. We need a calm environment and focus, and it does not help. On the other side we don't want to make it more than it actually is.

'This is today's world, and everything you say is out there in public if you are such a big player like Romelu,  he is an experienced player and should know what kind of value it has when he speaks out like this.'

Lukaku rejoined Chelsea for 98million in the summer after winning Serie A with Inter Milan

Tuchel is reportedly weighing up a punishment for Lukaku for his comments in the interview

The Chelsea boss added: 'You will find not a lot of system changes, if any.

'Romelu played when he came, he got injured, caught Covid and he played with no training.

'That's why I'm surprised. I don't enter in these discussions like there's something going on because there is absolutely zero going on.'

Sunday's match-up at Stamford Bridge is a huge game for both Chelsea and Liverpool in the make-up of the Premier League title race.

Manchester City's dramatic late win at Arsenal saw Pep Guardiola's side stretch their lead at the top to 11 points.

Both Chelsea and Liverpool know defeat on Sunday would all but extinguish any hopes of going stride for stride with City, even at this stage.
Romelu Lukaku has discussed his future at Chelsea with his former Everton team-mate Tim Howard after the striker was exiled at Stamford Bridge.

Lukaku was dropped from the Chelsea squad to face Liverpool on Sunday following his controversial interview with Sky Sport Italia.

The 28-year-old said he was 'not happy' with his place in the Chelsea first-team during the interview at Stamford Bridge.

Romelu Lukaku has discussed his future at Chelsea with ex-Everton team-mate Tim Howard

The striker has reportedly told Howard (right) that the situation is 'very hot' ahead of further talks on Monday

Lukaku has reportedly said he cannot talk too much about his situation at the club, claiming it is 'very hot' at the moment but revealed another meeting will be held on Monday.

In the interview with Sky Sport Italia, the Belgium international said: 'Physically I am fine. But I'm not happy with the situation at Chelsea. Tuchel has chosen to play with another system.

'I won't give up, I'll be professional. I am not happy with the situation but I am professional - and I can't give up now.'

Lukaku gave an interview at home to Sky Italia which upset supporters and staff at Chelsea

As well as talking up his unhappiness in Tuchel's system, Lukaku also spoke about the prospect of one day returning to Inter Milan.

He added: 'I really, genuinely from the bottom of my heart hope to come back to Inter, not at the end of my career, but while I am still at the level to win more trophies.'

The Belgium international has since been texting with his former team-mate Howard about his Chelsea exile, according to a report from NBC Sport.

'I can't talk too much about it. It is very hot. There is another meeting on Monday. I have another meeting on Monday, I can talk more after that,' Lukaku told Howard.

The 28-year-old was dropped by Thomas Tuchel (right) from the squad to face Liverpool

Earlier this week, Howard, who played alongside Lukaku for three years at Goodison Park, said that his former team-mate was frustrated but explained he was not a 'venomous character'.

'I think he's frustrated, absolutely,' the American told NBC Sports, via the Chelsea Chronicle.

'The things happened at Inter, the way he left, the way he had to be sold for them to recoup some money for the club.

'He didn't get an opportunity to speak to the and the way he wanted to and leave on his own terms.

The Belgian faced a spell on the sidelines after sustaining an injury against Malmo in October

'Even though when I spoke to him a few weeks ago, he spoke about unfinished business at Chelsea, I think that was also real, but I think it was a brave face to say 'I'm here now, I have to come back and hopefully win some trophies.'

'But this does seem out of character for him to speak in this way.'

Lukaku has netted five times in 13 Premier League appearances so far this season after his campaign was disrupted by an ankle injury and Covid.

He found himself out of the team for four games on his return from the sidelines and is said to be disappointed with his role in the side.
Paris Saint-Germain star Lionel Messi has suggested that he could play in the United States in the future.

At one stage it appeared that Messi could spend his entire senior career at Barcelona, but his lengthy spell at the Nou Camp came to an end last summer.

Messi subsequently signed for PSG, where his contract runs until the summer of 2023.

Lionel Messi has suggested he could finish his playing career in the United States

It remains to see whether the 34-year-old will stay at PSG beyond then, but he has hinted that the United States is a possible destination for him to finish his career.

As reported by The Mirror, Messi said: 'I always have had the illusion of being able to enjoy and live the experience of living in the United States, of finding out how that league is, what life is like there.

'I would like to later in my career but if it happens or not, I don't know.'

Messi's spell at PSG hasn't gone entirely to plan so far - he has scored just one goal in eleven league appearances.

Messi's current contract at Paris Saint-Germain is set to expire at the end of next season

David Beckham's Inter Miami could be a potential destination for Messi in the future

However, he has netted five goals in five Champions League games and will hope to help PSG secure glory in that competition.

The prospect of Messi eventually playing in the United States is intriguing, and if he did pursue that option then Inter Miami, owned by David Beckham, could look to sign him. New York City FC may also consider a move.

Prior to joining PSG there had been talk of a possible switch to Manchester City, but it remains to be seen if he will ever play in the Premier League.

Another possible choice for Messi is a return to his native Argentina, and he previously suggested that he could head back to Newell's Old Boys, who he played for as a youngster.
The Strictly Come Dancing glitterball trophy has been packed away for another year  but theres no need to wait until the show returns to see the best in action.

Fresh from his first term as a judge, Anton Du Beke and his longterm dance partner and fellow Strictly favourite Erin Boag will join you on our fabulous and exclusive eight-day Danube river cruise.

After flying to Budapest, you will board Emerald Star with stops at Linz in Austria and at the Unesco World Heritage-listed town of Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic.

Highlight: Visit magnificent Budapest during our exclusive tour

MEET OUR SPECIAL GUESTS You will be joined by Anton Du Beke and Erin Boag Anton Du Beke and Erin Boag have been dancing together for two decades and are two of the nations all-time favourite ballroom stars. Their charisma, chemistry and dazzling choreography have wowed audiences around the world. Before becoming a Strictly Come Dancing judge, Anton, known affectionately as the king of ballroom, was the shows longest-serving professional dancer. Advertisement

Youll visit three of Europes great capitals, Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest, and watch Anton and Erin perform at an intimate and historic venue in Vienna.

The pair will also take part in a special interactive dance masterclass on board the ship.

During this memorable holiday, youll sail past terraced vineyards and apricot orchards en route to Melk and Durnstein in Austria.

Anton and Erin will host an entertaining question-and-answer session, during which you will be able to ask them about their lives and careers and find out what really goes on behind the scenes on Strictly. One reader said of a previous trip: Its been such a wonderful experience seeing Anton and Erin perform. I cannot imagine anything better.

REASONS TO BOOK

Sail in style: Youll travel on an elegant Emerald Cruises Star-Ship which has an indoor pool with retractable roof, an open-air terrace, a cinema and a putting green as well as beautiful staterooms and suites. You can choose indoor or outdoor dining. Your cruise will include EmeraldPLUS and EmeraldACTIVE excursions in each city, such as visiting a Hungarian folklore show in Budapest or taking part in a guided biking tour from Melk.

See Anton and Erin dance: Anton Du Beke and Erin Boag will give an unforgettable one-off performance in the unique setting of Vienna, home of the Viennese waltz. You will join the stars for a cocktail reception and photo opportunity.

Join a dance masterclass: Work on your waltz and finesse your foxtrot during a fun dance class on board the ship with Anton and Erin. You will also have the chance to hear them talk about their long-term partnership and love of dance during a private Q&A session.

Flexible booking policy: Book with confidence knowing that Emerald Cruises allows you to transfer to an alternate date or cancel up to 60 days prior to your cruise with no fees.
It's not the Oscar judges Olivia Colman owes for her Best Actress victory in The Favourite  it's her co-stars Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz.

The pair gave up their own chances of success for their roles in the historical drama by allowing Olivia to take the nomination, as they had already picked up Academy Awards before.

Olivia says: 'I have never said this out loud before but for the Oscars you have to choose what you go up for.

'I refused to do it as we were equal.

Olivia Colman with her Oscar after winning Best Actress for her role in The Favourite in 2019

Rachel Weisz as Lady Sarah in The Favourite

Emma Stone (pictured in The Favourite) chose to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress to boost co-star Olivia Colman's chances of winning the Best Actress category

'Em and Rachel then went quietly to each other, 'You have got one and you have got one so we will make her do that.'

'So they said they wanted to go into the Best Supporting Actress category.

'That is friends above and beyond.'

Hats off to Carole Bamford, who shows no signs of slowing down at 75.

While others of a similar age are retired or at least winding down, the wife of JCB tycoon Lord Bamford has just bought a third pub, the 17th Century Maytime Inn in Astall, Oxfordshire.

Last year she snapped up The Fox in Lower Oddington, Gloucestershire, and she already owns The Wild Rabbit in Kingham, Oxfordshire, not to mention Daylesford Organic, the farm shop empire she established in 1999.

What will be left for Carole to conquer by the time she hits her 80s? Space?

Rob Brydon's attempt at a romantic birthday treat for his wife Claire somehow managed to put HIM centre-stage.

The Welsh comic had booked a table at a plush riverside restaurant in Hampton Court and arranged for a boat to pick them up afterwards to whisk them home back down the Thames in style.

But as they left their table, fellow diners bombarded Rob with requests for selfies.

Rob, 56, says: 'As we leave, everybody applauds me  the whole restaurant is applauding as we walk down the steps and step on the boat.'

I just hope Claire is an understanding woman.
The spat between Baroness Bra Michelle Mone and Monaco-based wealth manager Richard Lynton-Jones is heading to the High Court.

He is appalled by what he claims was a racist attack on him by the lingerie tycoon in the aftermath of a yachting accident in 2019, when she allegedly called him a 'waste of a man's white skin'.

The spat between Baroness Bra Michelle Mone (pictured) and Monaco-based wealth manager Richard Lynton-Jones is heading to the High Court

Richard Lynton-Jones (pictured), 42, who is of Indian heritage, has started legal proceedings against the baroness

Lynton-Jones, 42, who is of Indian heritage, has now started legal proceedings, claiming to be a victim of defamation, libel and slander.

Mone, 50, posted this defiant-looking photo on Instagram last week, and a friend of hers tells me she will vigorously defend any action.

Both parties declined to comment.

Emma loves bees, actually

I know the best-laid plans often go awry, but Emma Freud headed across the Atlantic to write a book  and ended up a beekeeper!

The 59-year-old made the switch to Los Angeles with her husband, Love Actually writer Richard Curtis, last September.

But instead of putting pen to paper for a new novel, the broadcaster, left, enrolled at college and says: 'I am studying everything I should understand better, but don't.

Broadcaster Emma Freud dons a beekeeping suit in a photo shared to Instagram

'Climate change, sustainable agriculture, critical race theory and American politics.

'Also how to use power tools, and beekeeping. Unexpected but fascinating.'

I hear Richard is working on a project he describes as 'Love Actually for kids'. Here's hoping it's the bee's knees.

Sophie feels the magic

Here is Sophie Rundle displaying some top-notch acting skills  keeping a straight face while striking a dramatic pose with an inflatable unicorn as she celebrates the New Year.

Sophie Rundle poses with huge inflatable unicorn while ringing in the New Year

The Peaky Blinders star saw in 2022 at her home with her fiance Matt Stokoe, whom she met on the set of Sky series Jamestown, and their eight-month-old son, whose name they have not yet revealed.

Sophie, 33, joked: 'Bafflingly, the boys weren't interested in having their photo taken with the giant inflatable unicorn!'

I wonder why?
Sunrise's longtime executive producer Michael Pell and his partner Daniel Burgess-Wise have reportedly contracted Covid-19.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the pair tested positive to the virus after recently arriving to the US.

Michael and Daniel were set to return back to Sydney to host a New Year's Eve party at their Vaucluse mansion but their plans were cancelled.

Positive: Sunrise's executive producer Michael Pell and his partner Daniel Burgess-Wise have 'tested positive to Covid-19' during their trip to the US

They have completed their isolation and are believed to be travelling to Australia on Monday after testing negative for the virus twice.

They are both double vaccinated.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Michael Pell for comment.

Delay: Michael and Daniel were set to return back to Sydney to host a New Year's Eve party at their Vaucluse mansion but their plans were cancelled

It comes amid rumours Michael may be stepping away from the Channel Seven morning show.

According to Private Sydney, the 38-year-old is currently eyeing potential offers in the U.S.

However, no decision has been made yet, with Pell confirming his current contract with Seven is 'in negotiation'.

Moving on? It comes amid rumours Michael may be stepping away from the Channel Seven morning show

This isn't the first time that the talented producer has almost headed over to the States.

In 2019, the Herald Sun reported that Pell had 'expressed interest' in relocating to America, prompting Seven bosses to offer him an annual salary of over $1million to stay at the network.

Pell is rumoured to be one of the top paid executives at Seven and produces up to 24 hours of live television every week.
SNL is paying tribute to the late, great Betty White by airing her iconic 2010 episode as host of the sketch show just one day after the actress died.

On Saturday afternoon, SNL tweeted out that tonight's episode would be a rerun of the 99-year-old's one and only time hosting which earned her an Emmy award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.

'Rest in Peace, Betty White. Watch Betty's episode of SNL tonight on NBC,' the social media message read.

Legend: SNL will air the iconic 2010 episode with Betty White as host, one day after her death, the show announced on Saturday

White's season 35 episode as host is the stuff of Saturday Night Live legend. She had historically rejected multiple offers over the years to helm the long-running comedy series.

However, after a resurgence in popularity in the mid-2000s, a Facebook campaign to get Betty signed on as an SNL host went viral.

'When I first heard about the campaign to get me to host Saturday Night Live, I didn't know what Facebook was,' Betty dead panned in her opening monologue.

'And, now that I do know what it is, I have to say it sounds like a huge waste of time,' she continued to laugher and applause. 'I would never say that people on it are losers but that's only because I'm polite.'

Tune in: On Saturday afternoon, SNL tweeted out that tonight's episode would be a rerun of the 99-year-old's one and only time hosting which earned her an Emmy award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series

Iconic: White hosted one time in season 35 and she had historically rejected multiple offers over the years to helm the long-running comedy series

At the time, the actress was 88-years-old and positively owned each and every sketch during the episode, which saw the return of stars like Tina Fey.

'After three rejections, I stopped asking,' executive producer Lorne Michaels told EW at the time. 'But it seemed amusing to me as the Facebook thing started.'

Betty died peacefully at her Brentwood, California home on Friday, January 31 at the age of 99 - she was just shy of a milestone 100th birthday on January 17.

SNL alum Seth Meyers tweeted out his sadness at her passing and recalled the overwhelmingly positive response to her hosting stint.

Give the people what they want: After her big resurgence in popularity in the mid-2000s, a Facebook campaign to get Betty signed on as an SNL host went viral

'When I first heard about the campaign to get me to host Saturday Night Live, I didn't know what Facebook was,' Betty dead panned in her opening monologue. 'And, now that I do know what it is, I have to say it sounds like a huge waste of time.'

'RIP Betty White, the only SNL host I ever saw get a standing ovation at the after party. A party at which she ordered a vodka and a hotdog and stayed til the bitter end,' he wrote.

The commemorative re-airing of the episode is one of many tributes that are planned for White.

Prior to her passing, Betty had participated in a film celebrating her 100th birthday that was set to hit a handful of theaters on January 17.

The producers of Betty White: 100 Years Young said in a statement after her passing, however, that they 'will go forward' with plans to release the movie special on what would have been her 100th birthday.

Beloved: SNL alum Seth Meyers tweeted out his sadness at her passing and recalled the overwhelmingly positive response to her hosting stint.

Producers Steve Boettcher and Mike Trinklein explained, as reported by People: 'Our hearts mourn today with the passing of Betty White. During the many years we worked with her, we developed a great love and admiration for Betty as a person, and as an accomplished entertainer.

'We are thankful for the many decades of delight she brought to everyone. Betty always said she was the 'luckiest broad on two feet' to have had a career as long as she did. And honestly, we were the lucky ones to have had her for so long.'

In conclusion, Boettcher and Trinklein stated: 'We will go forward with our plans to show the film on January 17 in hopes our film will provide a way for all who loved her to celebrate her life  and experience what made her such a national treasure.'

White appears in the film along with the likes of Ryan Reynolds, Tina Fey, Robert Redford, Lin Manuel- Miranda, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Jay Leno, Carol Burnett, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel, Valerie Bertinelli, James Corden, Wendy Malick and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Heartbreak: Betty died peacefully at her Brentwood, California home on Friday, January 31 at the age of 99 - she was just shy of a milestone 100th birthday on January 17

It includes highlights of her most famous roles as well as stories about her life and her long career in Hollywood.

White made her name on The Mary Tyler Moore Show as Sue Ann Nivens and cemented her star status with TV's The Golden Girls and Hot In Cleveland.

Her death was confirmed by her longtime agent Jeff Witjas, who told The Associated Press that she had passed away at her home in Los Angeles. He added that she had not been suffering from any diagnosed illness.

'I truly never thought she was going to pass away,' Witjas said. 'She meant the world to me as a friend. She was the most positive person I've ever known.'
Tori Spelling welcomed 2022 with the help of her five children.

The 48-year-old actress and her brood - Stella, 13, Hattie, 10, Finn, nine, and Beau, four - happily posed in front of a stunning Christmas tree at Lake Arrowhead Resort and Spa, in photo taken by eldest son Liam, 14.

'Happy New Year's Eve 2021,' Spelling wrote in her Instagram caption.

With the kids: Tori Spelling, 48, welcomed 2022 at Lake Arrowhead Resort and Spa with the help of her five kids Stella, 13, Hattie, 10, Finn, nine, and Beau, four (not pictured son Liam, 14)

Spelling went on to say that the outing was a family tradition that her parents passed on to her.

'The kiddos and I were so excited to continue our family tradition since my oldest were babies. Love you @lakearrowheadresortandspa! My parents used to bring my brother and I here growing up. I wanted my kids to continue that tradition.'

She continued, 'I can't wait for my kids to bring their kids here one day! Thx @liammcdermott2007 for taking an awesome pic.'

There was one person missing from the celebrations - Tori's husband and the children's father, Dean McDermott, 55.

The reason for his absence turned out to be a bad case of pneumonia.

Absent: Tori's husband and the children's father, Dean McDermott, 55, was missing from the celebrations as he recovered from pneumonia in bed

Fighting spirit: 'I am sick as a dog with pneumonia, but I am not going to let that dampen my spirits. 2022 is going to be awesome,' McDermott said in an Instagram video

'I am sick as a dog with pneumonia,' McDermott said in an Instagram video shot in his bed. 'I am not going to let that dampen my spirits. 2022 is going to be awesome. 2022, we're going to get through.'

'Wishing everybody much much love and happiness and success in the new year,' he said, adding, 'Health, wealth and prosperity.'

The couple have been at the center of divorce rumors since November, when a source close to Spelling told E! News that she was reportedly preparing to file for divorce from her husband.

The insider claimed that there was no way back for the couple, who have been married since 2006, but that the 90210 star wanted to make sure she is 'financially' stable before submitting divorce papers.

Divorce rumors: The couple have been at the center of divorce rumors since November, when a source close to Spelling told E! News that she was reportedly preparing to file for divorce; Pictured on Oct 17, 2019 in Culver City

'The marriage is over and has been for a very long time now,' the source said, adding that the couple 'truly do not get along' and 'have been sleeping in different rooms for months.'

It's been alleged that a major source of strife between the couple is trust issues stemming from Dean's infidelity, which he admitted to in 2014, on the reality show True Tori.

A source told People: 'Tori still has major trust issues. Part of their relationship was never fully repaired after he was unfaithful.'

The insider revealed that the couple's outings together are purely for the sake of their children.

'They've been living separate lives. They will still have family meals and occasional outings, but it's for the kids.'
Siesta Key's Madisson Hausburg honored here stillborn son on what would have been his due date with a touching tribute on social media Saturday.

The 27-year-old reality TV personality also revealed that she had the baby's first name, Elliot, tattooed on her forearm in delicate script.

Shortly before Christmas, Hausburg and her co-star husband, Ish Soto, shared that the star had delivered her son two months early but that the baby did not survive.

Tribute: Siesta Key's Madisson Hausburg honored here stillborn son on what would have been his due date with a touching tribute on social media Saturday

'Today is Elliot's due date,' Madisson penned in the heartbreaking post. 'The day we were supposed to bring our baby home to snuggle and pass around the family.

'The day he would meet all his aunts and uncles and grandparents. The very first grandchild of my family. Instead, today marks 3 weeks since I gave birth to my sleeping little Angel,' she continued.

'Three weeks since I last held him in my arms and kissed his perfect precious cheeks.'

Along with the sad caption, the reality star shared a black and white image of her arm revealing the name Elliot, tattooed in script.

'Today is Elliot's due date,' Madisson penned in the heartbreaking post. 'The day we were supposed to bring our baby home to snuggle and pass around the family. The day he would meet all his aunts and uncles and grandparents. The very first grandchild of my family. Instead, today marks 3 weeks since I gave birth to my sleeping little Angel,'

Madisson described her emotional and physical 'limbo' in the wake of losing the baby.

'My body still physically aches to feed my baby boy. My heart and mind still can't process that he's gone, she wrote. 'Everything triggers mefinding his pajamas in the laundry or just walking through the grocery store as I did a hundred times when he was in my tummy.

'I feel so broken and lost without my son. They say 'grief is just love with no place to go.' I feel that so deeply right now,' she said.

In late December, the Siesta Key couple revealed the heartbreaking news that Elliot was come into the world at 37 weeks stillborn earlier that month.

'Instead of leaving the hospital with our beautiful baby boy, I was wheeled out with just this memory box,' Madisson wrote at the time in an Instagram post.

Loss: Shortly before Christmas, Hausburg and her co-star husband, Ish Soto, shared that the star had delivered her son two months early but that the baby did not survive

'It's true what they say about there being no greater love than a mother's love. And there is no deeper pain than losing a child.

'Everyday I wake up to the agonizing reality that I will never again get to hold him or kiss him in this lifetime. I am completely and utterly heartbroken. I love you, I miss you, my perfect little Elliot.'

The sad caption came alongside a photo of Elliot's baby box with his hat from the hospital and two photos, one blurred to obscure his face.

Ish shared a similar post on his Instagram account, and many friends and castmates offered their condolences.

'This was the hardest thing I've ever had to go through,' he wrote.

'The pain of losing a child and the agony of watching my beautiful wife suffer, will haunt me for the rest of my days. I take comfort in knowing that one day we will be united and until then I will carry you in my heart. I love you, baby Eli, my little champion.'

Hausburg originally met Soto while shooting the first season of her MTV reality show between 2017-2018 when he was employed as a co-executive producer.
Ice-T and Coco had more than just 2022 to celebrate on New Year's Eve.

The power couple were also toasting to 21 years together as they partied at a rooftop bash hosted by the MJM and the Marijuana Industry Trade Association.

The model, 42, posted a photo of herself as she sat on her husband's lap, captioning the snap, 'Can you believe we been together for 21 years!! Today is our Anniversary!'

21-years-strong: Ice-T, 63, and Coco, 42, celebrated their 21st anniversary at the Havana Nights themed New Years Eve party at The Clarendon Hotel

She added, 'Its been a great Adventure with you honey. The love is indescribable. Cheers to a lifetime with you! I love you my boo boo.'

Ice-T, 63, made his own tribute by sharing the same photo to Instagram.

'Today is @Coco and my 21st Anniversary. Zero complaints! Love is Love,' he wrote.

Still got the spark: Later in the night the couple looked very much in love as they enjoyed a sweet kiss while ringing in 2022

Partying it up! The wild bash had music by DJ Hazardous, as well as performances with sultry Samba and Fire dancers and a Phoenix Art Collective Flamenco guitarist and dancer

Later in the night the couple looked very much in love as they enjoyed a sweet kiss while ringing in 2022 at the Havana Nights themed New Years Eve party at The Clarendon Hotel.

The wild bash had music by DJ Hazardous, as long as performances with sultry Samba and Fire dancers and a Phoenix Art Collective Flamenco guitarist and dancer.

They were also joined by family and friends, including Coco's mom, Tina Austin.

A dynamic duo: The pair met in December of 2001 and dated for two months before getting married in Las Vegas; Pictured on Sep 17, 2003 in New York City

Matching: The in-sync couple often like to match their outfits together; Pictured Aug 31, 2006

The couple met in December of 2001 and dated for two months before getting married in Las Vegas.

Despite the 21-year age difference between them, they have defied Hollywood odds with their lasting union.

The two have a 5-year-old daughter together, Chanel Nicole, whom they welcomed in 2015.

Ice-T also has two children from previous relationships.

Defying the odds: Despite the 21-year age difference between them, they have defied Hollywood odds with their lasting union; Pictured on Aug 26, 2019 in Newark, New Jersey

In March the rapper spoke about the secret to his happy marriage in an interview with In Touch praising his wife for being a great partner.

'I couldnt have picked a better partner. She pulls her weight and kills it in every department,' he said.

When asked about his recipe for making things work he revealed, 'We address problems quickly. She doesnt say, "Im mad at you from last month." How am I supposed to fix something if I didnt know it was broken?'

He also added that compromise was an important ingredient to a healthy relationship. 'We compromise. If you want to win every argument and do whatever you want to do, theres a name for that  its called being single!'
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Hollywood actress Margot Robbie has revealed her husband Tom Ackerley was in 2004's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

The I, Tonya star made the admission on The Graham Norton Show, where she revealed he was in the film.

'My husband is in the Harry Potter movies,' she told the veteran host Norton.

Past: Hollywood star Margot Robbie has reveals husband Tom Ackerley's secret past in the Harry Potter films where he was an extra in Prisoner of Azkaban. Here: Beverly Hills, 2018

'I know, I was like, 'Had you told me sooner we would've been married very quickly.'

Tom starred as an extra in the film with him a student at beloved Hogwarts. He was ruthlessly pushed out of the way by Draco in blink-and-you'll-miss-it-scenes.

Margot went on to explain: 'He was an extra. When he was a little kid, he was one of the Slytherin extras. When Draco pushes some kids out of the way to see Buckbeak in the third book, he pushes my husband out of the way.'

That's him! Tom was pushed aside by Draco Malfoy, played by Tom Felton, during one scene, with the UK star just a kid in the film

Margot has been open about her obsession with the Harry Potter franchise.

In 2016, the two-time Oscar nominee revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! she once got a pair of glasses to look like The Boy Who Lived.

She shared an old photo of herself as a 13-year-old, tucked into bed while reading Harry Potter, and admitted she'd lied about her vision to get the spectacles.

Super fan: In 2016, the two-time Oscar nominee revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! she once got a pair of glasses to look like The Boy Who Lived

'I'm drinking a cup of tea, I'm in bed, I'm really enjoying myself reading Harry Potter, I have braces, which I had for two years, I was really into slicking my hair back - God knows why - and I'm wearing glasses, which I didn't actually need.'

'I have 20/20 vision, and I lied to get glasses!' she added.

'Really, why?' Jimmy asked in amazement, to which Margot replied: 'So I could look like Harry Potter!'
Hilaria Baldwin is pleading for kindness in the new year and vowing to practice what she preaches in a new Instagram post on Saturday.

The mother of six rang in 2022 with a lengthy post about practicing kindness after 'so much awfulness lately' and shared a snap of her large brood together with husband Alec Baldwin.

Her post comes in the wake of the fallout from the fatal shooting on the set of Rust when the weapon Alec was holding discharged, shooting and killing the cinematographer.

A kinder new year: Hilaria Baldwin is pleading for kindness in the new year and vowing to practice what she preaches in a new Instagram post on Saturday

'Apparently 2022 is going to be flawless. We have dealt with so much awfulness lately, so it must be about time, right?' the 37-year-old began in her long caption.

Hilaria's slightly self-aggrandizing message went on to say that she'd been ready to post about a positive new year but worried what would happen if she 'cant make it all good for everyone?'

'Then I realized that this thinking is the problem. Life is naturally flawed,' she wrote. 'Its beautiful & tragic, happy & sad.'

The yoga guru went on to implore people to follow her lead and 'dedicate this year to kindness.'

Kind Warriors 2022: The mother of six rang in 2022 with a lengthy post about practicing kindness after 'so much awfulness lately' and shared a snap of her large brood together with husband Alec Baldwin

'Kindness nurtures others and the world we inhabit and leave to our children. Kind also just feels good,' she said. 'This isnt Darwinism, the kindness well is never empty-IF we continue to fill it with our will, action and determination.'

Recently, Hilaria has spoken out about she and her husband being victimized by online trolls and the paparazzi following the fatal Rust shooting.

'We have been talking a lot about bullying, particularly online,' she wrote. 'Ive been given good info that there are actually very few trollsthey are just loud, create many accounts, and go out of their way to be mean. We have all experienced it.

'No one creates fake accounts to spread kindness-obviously because we stand by the nice things that we say,' she said.

'Kindness nurtures others and the world we inhabit and leave to our children. Kind also just feels good,' she said. 'This isnt Darwinism, the kindness well is never empty-IF we continue to fill it with our will, action and determination.'

Hilaria, who had previously faced quite a bit of online backlash in 2020 during her Spanish heritage scandal, suggested people spend more time this year doing 'random acts of kindness.'

'When I hear something kind, it makes my heart so full & helps so much to dissolve negativity. Remember Care Bears? The 80s child that I am goes back to blasting a rainbow at negativity. So join me & be a care bear,' she wrote.

Adding: 'Taking action is the only way to tip the scale back into a positive place. We have to add more of the kind ingredient to drown out negativity.

'Silence will make us weak & give more space to the very few who want to spread negativity. Lets be vocal for us now, our future, & the environment we leave our children.'

While she didn't mention the death of Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico set of her actor husband's latest Western, she was no doubt referring to the turmoil her family has been experiencing since the October incident.

Sante Fe sheriffs have since issued a search warrant for Baldwin's iPhone in regards to the fatal shooting.

No more trolls: Hilaria, who had previously faced quite a bit of online backlash in 2020 during her Spanish heritage scandal, suggested people spend more time this year doing 'random acts of kindness'

The warrant authorizes police to review all text messages and photos on the actor's cellphone, as well as any stored location data, as part of their investigation.

Baldwin was seen on his phone making a call shortly after the shooting.

According to the search warrant, Baldwin told police that he exchanged emails with the film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, regarding what style of gun to use in the film. They ultimately decided on a Colt .45 pistol.

Alec - who was also an executive producer - claimed to ABC News on December 2 that he never pulled the trigger on the antique revolver that discharged a live bullet into both Hutchins and Souza.

'I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them, never,' Baldwin told George Stephanopoulos.

'Someone put a live bullet in a gun, a bullet that wasn't even supposed to be on the property.'

The incident is being investigated by the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau, the New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney, as well as the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office.
She does not shy away from showing off her incredible physique.

And Kate Beckinsale has put on another saucy display as she shared a racy snap to her Instagram page to commemorate New Year's Eve.

The actress, 48, showcased her sensational figure as she struck a pose in a sheer black corset and black mini skirt, while she flaunted her toned pegs in knee-high boots.

Sexy: Kate Beckinsale put on a saucy display as she posed in a black corset and knee-high boots in a snap to her Instagram page to commemorate New Year's Eve

She accentuated her natural good looks with a dusting of bronzed make-up and a slick of pink lipstick as she glanced away from the camera.

Age-defying Kate let her golden tresses fall in a natural wave around her shoulders as she lay on a tartan bedspread with 'Canada' written across it.

The model posted the picture as part of a montage looking back at the last 12 months, which she simply captioned '2021' with a series of love heart emojis.

Kate has been documenting her festive activities throughout the holidays.

A catwalk: Kate has been documenting her festive activities throughout the holidays. On Wednesday, Kate wore a strapless bra top and leather leggings in a video she shared

On Wednesday, Kate wore a strapless bra top and leather leggings in a video she shared with fans.

The Underworld star posted a video and a picture of her cat, Clive, to her 5 million Instagram followers.

Her cat doesn't look too happy as she rests on top of Kate's legs; the actress is wearing 'F**k off' slippers.

In the video, the Pearl Harbour actress was walking towards the camera, holding her cat and dancing to music.

Stunning: It appears the video is from a night out in November, when she posted pictures in the same outfit, just throwing a black coat on top

Kate had her hair pulled up in a high ponytail, which was fastened with a black bow.

She paired the all black look with long, silver earrings and tall Christian Louboutin heels. Her cat was also dressed up and she wore a pumpkin costume.

It appears the video is from a night out in November, when she posted pictures in the same outfit, just throwing a black coat on top.

On Christmas Day, she shared a picture of her and her 22-year-old daughter Lily, who she shares with Michael Sheen, icing a gingerbread house.
Harrison Ford's Han Solo is reportedly making a return to the Star Wars universe.

The 79-year-old actor was rumored to be on set of the Disney+ spin-off series The Book of Boba Fett in London for three days, according to The Sun.

The outlet claims that Ford took a few days off from shooting the fifth Indiana Jones installment to step back into the role of Han Solo, who will reportedly be seen in the series' final episode.

Returning to a big role: Harrison Ford will reportedly reprise his role as Han Solo in The Book of Boba Fett on Disney+; Harrison pictured in 2020

While some fans may be surprised to hear the news since Ford's Han Solo died in the 2015 movie The Force Awakens, the events of The Book of Boba Fett take place long before that movie begins.

The Blade Runner star will be de-aged through the use of computer generated imaging for the part.

The series centers around the famous bounty hunter Boba Fett as he takes over the criminal underworld on Tatooine.

Getting power back: The series centers around the famous bounty hunter Boba Fett as he takes over the criminal underworld on Tatooine

The Book of Boba Fett stars Temuera Morrison as the eponymous character, Mulan actress Ming-Na Wen as his loyal associate Fennec Shand and The IT Crowd actor Matt Berry in the role of a droid.

New episodes will be released on Disney+ every Wednesday.

It's a bit shocking Ford decided to come back to the series given his ambivalence toward the Star Wars franchise.

Looking like his younger self: Ford, pictured 1977, will be de-aged through the use of computer generated imaging for the part

Quite the cast: The Book of Boba Fett stars Temuera Morrison as the eponymous character, Mulan actress Ming-Na Wen as his loyal associate Fennec Shand

Going back to another iconic role: As previously mentioned, the other major project Ford is working on is the fifth Indiana Jones movie (pictured 2020)

When asked about one particular question related to his cameo in The Rise of Skywalker, released in 2019, and whether or not he was a Force Ghost, Ford responded, 'I have no f****** idea what a Force ghost is. And I dont care.'

As previously mentioned, the other major project Ford is working on is the fifth Indiana Jones movie.

He will reprise his role as the title character in that franchise, a role he originated in 1981. Mads Mikkelsen, Antonio Banderas and Phoebe Waller-Bridge will also appear in the movie.
Home and Away actress Sam Frost went out partying with a co-star on Saturday, just weeks after news broke she was leaving the Channel Seven soap after four years.

Sam, who has played nurse Jasmine Delaney since 2017, quit the series after copping backlash in October when she revealed she hadn't had the Covid vaccine.

The actress, 32, was seen celebrating New Year's Day with her friends including her co-star Sarah Roberts in Sydney, just weeks after her exit made headlines.

Celebration: Sam Frost looked chic in a floral dress as she celebrated New Year's Day with her Home and Away co-star Sarah Roberts in Sydney on Saturday

Sam looked effortlessly chic in a strapless floral dress, which featured a high slit, as she arrived to the establishment with her friends.

She teamed her ensemble with a pair of brown sandals and kept a low profile with sunglasses.

Meanwhile, Sarah dressed to impress in a stylish white jumpsuit and brown heels.

Out and about: The actress, 32, was seen celebrating New Year's Day with her friends including Sarah

Stylish: Sam looked effortlessly chic in a strapless floral dress, which featured a high slit, as she arrived to the establishment with her friends

It comes after Sam, a former Bachelorette, filmed her last scenes for Home and Away last month at Sydney's Eveleigh Studios, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The actress will then move to Melbourne to be closer to her friends and family.

Sam also recently called restrictions on the unvaccinated 'segregation' after revealing she was unvaccinated.

In an emotional video posted to Instagram in October, Sam said: 'I was really hesitant about doing a video or even speaking up about this sort of thing, but I feel like it's getting to a point now in the world where there's a lot of segregation.'

Accessories: She teamed her ensemble with a pair of brown sandals and kept a low profile with sunglasses

White on the mark! Meanwhile, Sarah dressed to impress in a stylish white jumpsuit and brown heels

Final scenes: It comes after Sam, a former Bachelorette, filmed her last scenes for Home and Away last month at Sydney's Eveleigh Studios

'There's a lot of harsh judgement and opinions being thrown around a lot and it's taking its toll on my mental health for sure, and I know people around me are struggling - particularly if they're on the side of they don't want to get vaccinated, for whatever reason.'

'There are lots of different reasons why people are not getting vaccinated and it might be because of their medical history, their concerns, they might have family history, it could be religious reasons.'

Sam then said she hadn't been vaccinated, but claimed she had spoken to her medical doctor as well as a psychologist about her decision.

She added tearfully: 'It's a really hard time to be in society right now and you feel like you are less of a human and you feel like people judge you.

Moving on: The actress will then move to Melbourne to be closer to her friends and family

Comments: Sam also recently called restrictions on the unvaccinated 'segregation' after revealing she was unvaccinated

Decision: Sam then said she hadn't been vaccinated, but claimed she had spoken to her medical doctor as well as a psychologist about her decision

'And you're too scared to talk about your opinion or your feelings and part of you wants to go, "Well it's none of your damn business why I'm not! And there's good reasons why I'm not and I don't want you to judge me".'

She explained it was important for the unvaccinated to look after their mental health, especially as freedoms return for fully vaccinated Australians.

After facing widespread criticism for her video, Sam deactivated her main Instagram account and blocked all comments on the account for her mental health charity Believe By Sam Frost.

Post: She explained it was important for the unvaccinated to look after their mental health, especially as freedoms return for fully vaccinated Australians

Taking a break: After facing widespread criticism for her video, Sam deactivated her main Instagram account and blocked all comments on the account for her mental health charity Believe By Sam Frost
Nicole Kidman and her husband Keith Urban celebrated New Year's Eve in style with their celebrity friends on Friday.

The A-list couple hosted a star-studded party at their Sydney Harbourside apartment with guests including Channel Nine newsreader Peter Overton.

Nicole, 54, dressed to impress in a long figure-hugging floral dress as she chatted to friends on the balcony.

Celebration: Nicole Kidman cut a stylish figure in a floral dress as celebrated New Year's Eve with husband Keith Urban and their celebrity friends at their Sydney Harbourside apartment on Friday

The actress tied her long red hair back and was all smiles as she relaxed with guests and watched the sun set.

Meanwhile, Keith kept it cool in a printed T-shirt, black blazer and matching coloured pants.

Nicole returned to Australia from a trip to the US with her two daughters, Sunday, 13, and Faith, 10, last month where she was promoting her new film Being the Ricardos.

Party time: The A-list couple hosted a star-studded party at their Sydney Harbourside apartment

Star-studded guests: Guests included Channel Nine newsreader Peter Overton (pictured)

Stylish: Nicole dressed to impress in a long figure-hugging floral dress as she chatted to friends on the balcony

Beauty: The actress tied her long red hair back and was all smiles as she relaxed with guests and watched the sun set

Looking good! Keith kept it cool in a printed T-shirt, black blazer and matching coloured pants

She and Keith married in 2006, five years after her split from actor Tom Cruise, with whom she shares two adopted children, Isabella, 28, and Connor, 26.

Nicole recently revealed the secret behind her marriage to Keith and said the couple are 'pretty normal' and prefer to keep out of the spotlight.

Speaking to The Australian Women's Weekly about her relationship, the Oscar winner said keeping focused on family is one of the keys to her successful marriage.

Back home: Nicole returned to Australia from a trip to the US with her two daughters, Sunday, 13, and Faith, 10, last month where she was promoting her new film Being the Ricardos

Going strong: She and Keith married in 2006, five years after her split from actor Tom Cruise, with whom she shares two adopted children, Isabella, 28, and Connor, 26

Success: Nicole recently revealed the secret behind her marriage to Keith and said the couple are 'pretty normal' and prefer to keep out of the spotlight

'I live a portion of my life in the public eye. Only a small portion of it,' the 54-year-old told the publication.

'I have my work, but my actual life is pretty private,' she continued.

'I'm very fortunate that I have a family that is very tight. We're very close. I had a fantastic papa and I have a fantastic husband, and as much as we have all of this, Keith and I are pretty normal.'

Key: Speaking to The Australian Women's Weekly about her relationship, the Oscar winner said keeping focused on family is one of the keys to her successful marriage

'I'm very fortunate that I have a family that is very tight. We're very close. I had a fantastic papa and I have a fantastic husband, and as much as we have all of this, Keith and I are pretty normal,' she said
She was seen bundled up as she headed out of Los Angeles on Christmas Day with her three children.

And Jennifer Garner and her family were seen unpacking their vehicle as they returned to LA on New Year's Day.

The 49-year-old actress and her children had been enjoying the winter weather in snowier locales during the holidays while her ex-husband Ben Affleck had stayed in Los Angeles to celebrate with his former fiancee Jennifer Lopez.

Home at last: Jennifer Garner, 49, looked cool and casual in a sweater as she returned home to Los Angeles from a wintry holiday trip with her three children on Saturday

Jennifer looked casual and comfortable in a black turtleneck sweater with a powder blue stripe over her chest.

She wore it tucked into distressed high-waisted jeans and stayed toasty with fleece-lined black suede boots.

The 13 Going On 30 star wore her brunette locks parted down the middle and cascading down her shoulders, and she completed her look with a smart watch and thick black-frame glasses.

Her mini-me daughter Violet, 16, was seen helping her to unload their car.

No fuss: She wore a low-key black turtleneck sweater with a powder blue stripe over her chest, plus high-waisted distressed jeans and fleece-lined black suede boots

She wore a gray shirt with a rainbow stripe and jeans, and she covered her bobbed hair with a pale pink ski cap.

Jennifer's middle daughter Seraphina, 12, wasn't pictured as they unloaded, but her nine-year-old son Samuel was seen doing his part.

He had on a white T-shirt and carried a rolled-up blue plaid shirt while he wore a backpack.

Mirror image: Her lookalike daughter Violet, 16, wore a gray shirt with a rainbow stripe and jeans, and she covered her bobbed hair with a pale pink ski cap

Doing his part: Seraphina, 12, wasn't pictured, but Jen's son Samuel, nine, helped unpack the family's bags

While Jennifer and her children were enjoying some snowy weather for the holidays, she shared a video that appeared to have been filmed earlier in which she nearly burned her house down after adding too much cognac to an Ina Garten recipe.

The Juno actress filmed herself making Ina's beef bourguignon stew, which she said was a regular 'family Christmas tradition.'

She decided to depart from the standard recipe for a stronger flavor with double the cognac, which is supposed to be lit on fire to burn off some of the alcohol.

However, the double serving of booze caused a fireball to erupt from the pot when she set it aflame, and the blaze nearly reached the top of the hood above her stovetop, though it subsided within seconds.

'Don't double the cognac!' she emphatically told her 11.8 million Instagram followers, adding, 'That was wild!'

Whoops! Over the holidays, Jennifer shared a video in which she nearly burned her house down after adding too much cognac to an Ina Garten recipe

A blazing miscalculation: 'Don't double the cognac!' she said emphatically as the flames nearly reached the top of the hood over the stove, though they quickly subsided

While Jen and the kids were on vacation, her ex-husband Ben Affleck stayed behind in LA to spend some quality time with his girlfriend Jennifer Lopez.

The lovebirds were spotted leaving a lunch date with her twins Max and Emme, 13, on Wednesday at the Hotel Bel-Air, which has special significance for the couple.

As the two revived their relationship earlier in 2021, Ben would allegedly drive to the hotel and drop his car off there before being picked up in Jennifer's white Cadillac Escalade and chauffeured to her LA home.

The Last Duel star recently got himself into hot water after he told Howard Stern that he feeling 'trapped' in his marriage to Jennifer let him to drink..

However, he didn't explicitly blame her, and elsewhere in the interview he was effusive about her parenting skills.
The Umbrella Academy will be back in session soon.

Netflix released a series of promotional photos for the upcoming third season of the hit television show - which stars Elliot Page, Tom Hopper and Robert Sheehan.

The pictures showed glimpses of each of the Sparrow Academy characters making their debut in season three. The images showed just their faces from just above the mouth to the top of their heads.

The Sparrow Academy is a different subset of children in an alternate timeline from the original Umbrella Academy that the creator of the group considers to be an improved version of the team.

Season 3 on the way: The Umbrella Academy will be back in session soon with the third season of the program coming soon

Each picture had a number corresponding to the number the character in the show was given as a child. The photos were posted to Twitter in a way that counted down from seven to one.

The new actors include Justin Michael Cornwell as Marcus Hargreeves, Jake Epstein as Alphonso Hargreeves and Cazzie David as Jaymee Hargreeves.

The Umbrella Academy is based on the comic book created by Gerard Way. It centers around a family of childhood heroes who, now grown up, must come back together to save the world.

Countdown is on: Netflix released a series of promotional photos for the upcoming third season of the hit television show - including Justin Michael Cornwell as Marcus Hargreeves

Mystery for a new team: The pictures showed glimpses of each of the Sparrow Academy characters

Rich source material: The Umbrella Academy is based on the comic book created by Gerard Way

The show features a star-studded cast including Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, Kate Walsh and many others.

The Umbrella Academy has been nominated for six Emmy Awards but doesn't have any wins as of yet.

There is no season three release date yet, but it is expected to land on Netflix some time in 2022.

Star studded cast: The show features a star-studded cast including Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, Kate Walsh and many others (above Jake Epstein as Alphonso Hargreeves)

No wins yet: The Umbrella Academy has been nominated for six Emmy Awards but doesn't have any wins as of yet (above Genesis Rodriguez as Sloane Hargreeves)

Wow: Cazzie David is pictured as Jaymee Hargreeves in the snap

Chilling: The promo shots are sure to build anticipation for the series

Many of the stars in the show have had productive careers in recent years.

Page currently has two films in post-production. Both are animated movies, one titled Naya Legend of the Golden Dolphin and the other titled Robodog.

Hopper is currently filming a project titled Love in the Villa. He will also appear in Climber, a movie about American mountaineer Gary Hemming.
Getaway host Catriona Rowntree has graced Australian television for over 25 years.

And while many people would think that being paid to travel and talk about exotic destinations is a dream job for any reporter, think again.

An outtake from the Channel Nine travel show, shows the 50-year-old presenter freaking out before she swims with stingrays in Tahiti.

Memories: Getaway presenter Catriona Rowntree, 50, (pictured) has revealed how she was able to face her fears and swam with stingrays in unseen outtake from travel series

Catriona explained her fear came from growing up with the knowledge their tail can sting.

'I didn't know, which I have since heard, is if they don't have any predators they will lose the need to sting,' she said.

'And my brain couldn't compute what was going on, and it was an extraordinary situation.'

Fears: Catriona said her fear came from growing up with the knowledge their tail can sting

Scared: 'I didn't know, which I have since heard, is if they don't have any predators they will lose the need to sting,' she said in the clip

Catriona said while she was able to relax and enjoy the experience the first time, she found it a lot harder to let go the second time.

'Just be as authentic as you possibly can be,' she then said of her role as a presenter.

'If you're freaking out, just freak out, it doesn't matter, no one cares.'

'I can't do it!' Catriona said while she was able to relax and enjoy the experience the first time, she found it a lot harder to let go the second time

Speaking to TV Tonight, the long-running television host recently revealed that the gig isn't all it's cracked up to be.

'A lot of people look at the life of a travel reporter and think "Thats the dream job" but its not for everyone, (evidenced by) the fact that weve had so many guest reporters over the years,' she explained.

'We work with a tiny crew. I do all my own hair, make-up, wardrobe and I write my own stuff - youve got to be pretty multi-skilled,' she continued.

'It's not for everyone': Catriona recently said that the life of a travel reporter isn't all it's cracked up to be

'You have to be a people person with the patience of a saint. And regardless of whats happening off-camera, you have to deliver to the best of your ability, then forget about it and move on. You are not going to be back next week to reshoot.'

After Catriona got engaged to farmer James Pettit in 2007, she relocated from Sydney to rural Victoria to start a family.

The move made things difficult for her job, with long trips to the airport and half-day trips into Nine's GTV station to record voiceovers for Getaway.

Fortunately, things have become easier now with technology, and Catriona is able to record all her voiceovers from home.
Brittany Hockley and Rebel Wilson have become firm friends over the past year, often sharing their get togethers to social media.

On Saturday, the former Bachelor star gave fans a glimpse at the lavish party she attended at a mansion on Sydney Harbour, where Rebel has been staying while in Australia.

The podcaster, 34, and her Pitch Perfect star buddy, 41, posed together in photos shared to Instagram.

Party pals: On New Year's Even, Brittany Hockley (right) and Rebel Wilson (left) attended a lavish party at a mansion on Sydney Harbour, where Rebel has been staying while in Australia

The pals cuddled up as fireworks exploded overhead, with Brittany captioning the image: 'Isn't it romantic. Sydney does it best'.

Brittany and Rebel also showed off their glamorous metallic outfits earlier in the night, both opting for eye-catching bronze tones.

The friends also spent some time on a nearby beach with pals as well as watching the sunset from a wharf.

The pals cuddled up as fireworks exploded overhead, with Brittany captioning the image: 'Isn't it romantic. Sydney does it best'

Beach babes: The friends also spent some time on a nearby beach with a group of pals

Chill: Rebel was pictured relaxing on a deck, while laying about on outdoor furniture

Rebel was pictured relaxing on a deck, while laying about on outdoor furniture, with a male friend next to her.

She had shared some photos from the event to her own social media, showing off her dress.

The Fat Pizza star was the picture of elegance in the sequinned Burberry number, which sparkled under the lights as she posed in front of a swimming pool.

Lovely day for it: They spent some time on a wharf as the sun set

Wow! The Fat Pizza star was the picture of elegance in a sequinned Burberry number

Her sheer outfit showed a peek of her ample cleavage through the gauzy material and was cut above the knee to show a flash of her sculpted legs.

Captioning the stunning pictures, Rebel wrote: 'Starting the New Year off strong! HAPPY NEW YEAR you legends, love from downunder!'

She later posted to her Instagram Stories to film the Sydney fireworks on the harbour, which she watched with a group of friends.
Chinese astronauts, students in space-Earth talk on New Year's Day

Xinhua) 09:26, January 02, 2022

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

BEIJING, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Three Chinese astronauts in space station Tiangong held a video chat with students in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao Saturday afternoon, the first day of 2022.

The live space-Earth talk was attended by around 500 young students at the three venues. The astronauts shared their space dream and aspirations.

Astronaut Zhai Zhigang, commander of the Shenzhou-13 mission, shared his experience with the young people and encouraged them to overcome difficulties and dangers.

"No matter how far we fly, the motherland is forever our strongest supporter. Love for the country always inspires us in space flights," Zhai said.

Astronaut Wang Yaping expressed hope that the live class from Tiangong could guide more young people to look up at the stars and plant the seeds of "loving science, pursuing dreams and exploring the unknown" in their hearts.

Wang earned the title of China's first space teacher after delivering a televised science lecture during the Shenzhou-10 space mission in June 2013. While in the Shenzhou-13 mission, she and the other two crew members also gave a lecture in Tiangong in December 2021.

As China's national space laboratory, the space station Tiangong is expected to play a unique role in encouraging the public, especially the youth, to explore space and carry forward the scientific spirit.

"Despite being weightless in space, we feel firmly grounded at heart," said astronaut Ye Guangfu, a newcomer to space.

With the support of space professionals, painstaking trainings, and valuable experience from aerospace predecessors, Ye said that they have the confidence, determination and ability to accomplish the mission.

Tan Zuwei, student of the School of Aerospace Engineering of Tsinghua University, felt deeply impressed by the astronauts' passion for their dreams and the space cause. He said he was inspired by their spirit and would contribute to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Zhou Ting, a medical student from the University of Hong Kong (HKU), felt lucky to pose her question to the astronauts. "As a would-be doctor, I have been confronted with harsh study and work, and I sometimes thought of giving up. But the astronauts have given me the courage to carry on."

Qian Chunzheng, a freshman from the Macao University of Science and Technology (MUST), said that he felt the care of the motherland for students in Hong Kong and Macao, and the development and progress of the country's space cause. All this has enhanced their sense of pride and duty to the country.

"As we have our own space station right now, I believe that in the future, Chinese people will surely step further into deep space. As a student in Macao, I hope to contribute to the country's space cause one day," Qian added.

"Today's event is a great gift sent to Hong Kong by our motherland. We are cheered up!" said Yeung Wai-Kwok, an HKU professor, adding that Hong Kong youth are expected to be down to earth, study hard, innovate and pursue dreams bravely, so as to become "stars" in the country's space exploration.

A series of activities held in Hong Kong and Macao fully demonstrated the care from the central government. Young people in Hong Kong and Macao have realized that there is a vast space for them to bring their talents into full play, said Zhang Keke, head of the State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences based at the MUST.

During the video talk, the trio also showed the people on the ground around a painting exhibition in the space station. Around 20 paintings drawn by teenagers from central and western China were displayed in the exhibition.

Prior to the talk, Cheng Tangming, chief designer of the Long March-7 carrier rocket system, answered questions from the students, and shared with them touching stories of how scientific researchers defeated difficulties and pioneered innovations.

"I feel very honored to be able to participate in this event, and I hope to do my part to contribute to students' space dream and help them build up confidence in the country's self-reliance in innovation," said Cheng.

The activity, co-hosted by the Hong Kong SAR government, the Macao SAR government, the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong SAR, the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Macao SAR, the China Manned Space Agency and the China Media Group, was broadcast live.

The three astronauts went into space onboard the Shenzhou-13 spaceship and entered the space station on Oct. 16, embarking on the country's longest crewed mission for space station construction.

According to the plan, China will complete by 2022 construction of the country's space station, which is expected to support long-term and consecutive manned stay. Crew rotation will be done in-orbit.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Bianji)
This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
Jade Thirlwall joined the slew of celebrities taking to social media with highlights from their New Year's Eve on Saturday.

The Little Mix pop star, 29, shared a fun-filled album with her Instagram followers which encompassed cosy photos of her and Rizzle Kicks beau Jordan Stephens, also 29.

Keeping cosy in a white tracksuit, smitten Jade was captured wrapping her arms around Jordan as he kissed her cheek.

'Off you f*** 2021!': Jade Thirlwall delighted fans by sharing a series of cosy Instagram snaps with beau Jordan Stephens on Saturday as they rung in the New Year

Other snaps of the pair, who have been dating for over a year and a half, showed the Rogue One actor scooping his gorgeous girlfriend off the ground for a candid feature, as well as a balcony shot of them caught in the moment.

The Black Magic songstress also gave her 8.5million followers snippets of the impressive fireworks, where, in one video, she was the focus, putting on an animated display as she flicked her hair back and forth and threw a peace sign.

Photos with her nearest and dearest also crept up in the album, which she captioned: 'Off you f*** 2021'.

Happy New Year! The Little Mix pop star, 29, shared a fun-filled album with her Instagram followers which encompassed candid snaps of her and Rizzle Kicks beau Jordan Stephens, also 29

Animated: Other snaps of the pair, who have been dating for over a year and a half, showed the Rogue One actor and his gorgeous girlfriend on the balcony sharing a moment

Entertaining: The Black Magic songstress also gave her 8.5million followers snippets of the impressive fireworks, where, in one video, she was the focus, putting on an animated display as she flicked her hair back and forth and threw a peace sign

The gang: Photos with her nearest and dearest also crept up in the album, which she captioned: 'Off you f*** 2021'

The celebratory post garnered thrilled comments from Jade and Jordan enthusiasts.

One enthused: 'you and jordan i CANNOT COPE,' while another penned: 'you + jordan = couple goals'.

Jade and Jordan celebrated their one-year anniversary in May, with Jade marking the day by telling her social media followers she 'slid in the DMs' before they grew close.

Couple goals: The celebratory post garnered thrilled comments from Jade and Jordan enthusiasts

Jade moved in with her beau in October 2020 and she revealed at the time she thought they were perfectly suited.

She previously told the Metro: 'Anyone who has supported you through hard times is really important.

'Its quite special seeing that. Its the one positive to come out of this. Me and Jordan we are a good match. We are so chilled out, we are horizontal!'
Alessandra Ambrosio looked on cloud nine as she frolicked on the beach with her boyfriend Richard Lee during a trip to her native Brazil on Saturday.

The model, 40, put on a loved-up display as she shared a kiss with her beau as they watched the sunrise on New Year's Day.

The Victoria's Secret Angel wrapped her arms around fellow model Richard as they posed for a selfie in front of the shoreline.

Couple: Alessandra Ambrosio looked on cloud nine as she frolicked on the beach with her boyfriend Richard Lee during a trip to her native Brazil on Saturday

Alessandra looked sensational as she donned a white mini dress with a frilled detail along with a pair of silver earrings.

Styling her brunette locks into an updo, the star also displayed her sun-kissed tan as she went for a dip in the ocean.

Richard cut a casual figure in a white shirt and a pair of navy shorts.

Alessandra confirmed her romance with Richard when they were spotted on a romantic dinner date in February.

Smooch: The model, 40, put on a loved-up display as she shared a kiss with her beau as they watched the sunrise on New Year's Day

She was previously involved with Italian fashion designer Nicolo Oddi who founded the brand Alanui with his sister Carlotta.

Alessandra shares her two children Anja, 13, and Noah, nine, with her ex-fiance Jamie Mazur who co-founded RE/DONE.

During her New Year's Eve updates on her Insta Stories the mother-of-two shared a heartwarming selfie with Anja whom she called 'My Bestie.'

Stunning: Alessandra looked sensational as she donned a white mini dress with a frilled detail along with a pair of silver earrings

Alessandra shared a selfie with Richard for a post in which she wished a 'HAPPY NEW YEAR 2022' to her 10.7 million Instagram followers.

For her evening festivities she decked herself in a long sequined silver gown reminiscent of Old Hollywood and drew both children close for a picture.

She had made sure Anja and Noah would also be able to enjoy the New Year's bash as plenty of other children were invited.
Nina Agdal's New Year has kickstarted in luxury as she treated her fans to bikini pictures in the Caribbean.

The Danish model, 29, used her Instagram profile on Saturday to flaunt her slender frame in vibrant Indika swimwear - a neon pink top and purple, high-waist bottoms.

Exhibiting her expertise in the modelling industry, Nina candidly posed while holding onto the boat's rails - shades on, cocktail in hand - as the sun set over Saint Barthelemy.

'My blood is basically 50% Aperol at this point!': Nina Agdal flaunted her slender frame in a vibrant bikini as she enjoyed cocktails on her luxe Caribbean getaway on Saturday

The bikini highlighted the fashionista's washboard abs and toned pins as she switched up the angles for the getaway snaps.

An accompanying caption quipped: 'My blood is basically 50% aperol at this point.'

Despite indulging on cocktails, soft beverages were also on the agenda for Nina, who snapped up a table full of different drinks.

Stunning: Exhibiting her expertise in the modelling industry, the Danish model, 29, candidly posed while holding onto the boat's rails - shades on, cocktail in hand - as the sun set over Saint Barthelemy

New year goals: Taking to her Instagram story on Saturday, Nina - a keen health and fitness advocate - encouraged her fans to embark on her Agdal Method challenge

Scenic: Despite indulging on cocktails, soft beverages were also on the agenda for Nina, who snapped up a table full of different drinks

'Just me and my 1000 different drinks. Lol,' she wrote.

Elsewhere, taking to her Instagram story on Saturday, Nina - a keen health and fitness advocate - encouraged her fans to embark on her Agdal Method challenge.

'Who's ready to detox? We start Monday team,' she said.

On Wednesday, Nina continued to show her fit physique as she attended the LuisaViaRoma for Unicef Party in St. Barts.

She stole the show in a colourful sleeveless dress that showed her midsection and toned legs.

Nina blended in with a jungle-like background in the floral dress that included a yellow shoulder strap and matching beltline.
Real Housewives of Melbourne star Jackie Gillies and her husband Ben welcomed twin boys in October after a long IVF journey.

And on Sunday, the proud mother shared an adorable new photo of one of her twin boys asleep on her chest.

The photo shared to the 41-year-old's Instagram account shows the tiny tot sleeping with a dummy in his mouth alongside a large heart emoji.

Sound asleep: Real Housewives of Melbourne star Jackie Gillies took to Instagram on Sunday to share an adorable picture of one of her baby boys asleep on her chest

It comes just days after Jackie and Ben shared the first photo of Bonham and Rocco with fans.

The tiny tots were seen dressed in Christmas-themed onesies.

'Merry Christmas. Love from Bonham, Rocco, Jackie & Ben. We love you!' she captioned the sweet image.

Baby joy: Jackie and her rocker husband Ben Gillies welcomed twin boys in October after a long IVF journey. Pictured, Jackie (left) with her husband Ben (right)

First Christmas! It comes just days after the couple marked their first Christmas as parents, and shared the first photo of their newborn twin sons Bonham and Rocco

The reality star recently admitted that she's been struggling with 'the baby blues' since welcoming the little ones.

'I didn't know what to expect becoming a new mother. I just thought, "It's gonna be okay, it's gonna be easy," and it's been far from it,' she said on her Shine It Up podcast in November.

'There's moments that I didn't expect and that is, I think you'd probably call it the baby blues,' she continued.

Struggles: In November, new mum Jackie admitted she'd been struggling with 'the baby blues'

'There would be times where I would cry uncontrollably and I wouldn't even know why. I thought, "Is it the hormones?"

'I've tried so long to have these beautiful babies but now I was starting to suffer a little bit with the baby blues.'

Jackie also said breastfeeding has become a source of anxiety because she's found it 'very challenging', not to mention the 'sleep deprivation' that comes with being a new mum.

Hard: 'I didn't know what to expect becoming a new mother. I just thought, "It's gonna be okay, it's gonna be easy," and it's been far from it,' she said on her Shine It Up podcast in November

This isn't the first time the reality star and psychic medium has opened up about struggling with breastfeeding.

Earlier in the same month, she said it was 'one of the hardest things' she's ever had to do.

She also revealed she found it difficult to shower and move around after having a C-section, and needs her husband Ben to help her.

But despite the challenges, she professed her 'unconditional love' for her two babies.

'I just kept thinking these babies are so cute,' she said. 'Are they actually mine?'

Feeling blue: 'I've tried so long to have these beautiful babies but now I was starting to suffer a little bit with the baby blues,' Jackie said

Elsewhere, Jackie revealed she had suffered a miscarriage in the past, which is why she was so private about her IVF journey.

The celebrity fortune teller took to Instagram in November to share the happy news of the twins' birth, sharing a photo of the babies' feet.

'They're here. OMG they are so cute. My heart is full,' she wrote in the caption.

Jackie and Ben, the former drummer for rock band Silverchair, married in 2010 and announced they were expecting in May.
Charley Webb and her husband Matthew Wolfenden celebrated New Year's Eve with some of their Emmerdale co-stars, following reports of his involvement in an alleged racism bullying row.

The soap star couple, 33 and 41 respectively, were joined by Lucy Pargeter (Chas Dingle) Emma Atkins (Charity Dingle) Cain Dingle actor Jeff Hordley and his wife Zoe Henry, who's had stints in both Emmerdale and EastEnders.

In photos shared to Charley's Instagram, the soap clan looked closer than ever, as they posed for a snap captioned: 'My New Years Eve Crew. Best night with some of my favouritests,' followed by a heart.

Soap gang: Emmerdale's Charley Webb and Matthew Wolfenden reunited with their co-stars for a New Year's Eve bash - following his 'race row embroilment' (from L-R: Matthew, Jeff Hordley, his wife Zoe Henry - with Charley (r) pictured with Emma Atkins (l) in the bottom left snap and Lucy Pargeter in the right)

In a second photo, the Debbie Dingle actress and her onscreen mother Emma posed for a selfie as they embraced the lead-up to 2022.

MailOnline has contacted Emmerdale and representatives for the pair for comment.

A few days before Christmas, it was reported that Charley, who shares Buster, 11, six-year-old Bowie and Ace, two, with Matthew, is quitting Emmerdale following an alleged racism row involving her husband.

The soap star, who has played Debbie for 19 years, is said to be quitting the popular ITV soap 'for good'.

Having fun: In photos shared to Charley's Instagram, the soap clan looked closer than ever as they posed for snaps

An insider claimed that husband Matthew's involvement in an alleged racism bullying row on set 'fuelled her decision'.

Charley's character Debbie, who is living in Scotland, has been absent from the show since the start of 2021.

A spokeswoman for Emmerdale told MailOnline at the time: 'There are no current plans for Debbie Dingle to return.'

Goodbye! A few days before Christmas, it was reported that Charley, who shares Buster, 11, six-year-old Bowie and Ace, two, with Matthew, is quitting Emmerdale following an alleged racism row involving her husband

Long time: The actress has played Debbie Dingle on the soap opera for almost 20 years (pictured on the show in 2005)

'Charley is closing the door on Emmerdale for good and won't be going back,' they told The Sun.

'The past few months have given her time to think about the future and it is one that doesn't involve Emmerdale. Matthew being caught up in the row on set fuelled her decision to step away'.

In October, Matthew was accused of making an inappropriate comment to a mixed-race female cast member on set.

He and Isabel Hodgins, who plays Victoria Sugden, were also facing claims that the mixed-race actress's accent was 'mimicked'. They have both denied the allegations.

It was later alleged that he had also had a row with Aaron Anthony, who plays Ellis Chapman.

Anthony, 28, has reportedly told Emmerdale bosses that he will quit the show when his contract expires.
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Kanye West is moving on from his ex-wife Kim Kardashian.

The rapper, 44, was spotted hanging out with an ab-baring mystery girl on a hotel balcony in Miami on New Year's Day, before another scantily-clad woman emerged for some fresh air.

Kanye was initially spotted with a brunette beauty in a crop top, though the two kept their distance as they leaned against the balcony railing with their attention elsewhere.

Newly single! Kanye West was spotted hanging out with a mystery girl on a hotel balcony in Miami on New Year's Day

Va va voom: Another scantily-clad woman emerged for some fresh air

The looker flashed her abs in a white crop top, jeans, and slicked her hair back in a ponytail as she gazed into the distance.

She folded her arms across her chest as she leaned against the railing, her ponytail billowing with the breeze.

Kanye's attention was off his female friend as he stood out in the sunshine wearing a black Balenciaga T-shirt and jeans.

The Stronger rapper appeared contemplative as he stood against the railing with his cell phone in his hands.

Tuned in: The rapper was also spotted listening to his headphones

Skin is in! The brunette beauty was spotted wandering outside wearing a plunging floral outfit

Taking it easy: Kanye's attention was off his female friend as he stood out in the sunshine wearing a black Balenciaga T-shirt and jeans

Meanwhile, later a scantily-clad woman stepped out wearing a perilously plunging top which left little to the imagination.

The brunette beauty flashed her abs and cleavage as she stepped out running her hands through her raven hair.

The sighting comes not long before Kanye was spotted on a date with actress Julia Fox in Miami.

In photos obtained by TMZ, the rapper was spotted enjoying a night out at Carbone restaurant with Julia.

Eligible bachelor: West split up from his wife Kim Kardashian earlier this year

Simply stunning: The brunette beauty flashed her abs and cleavage as she stepped out running her hands through her raven hair

Meanwhile: The sighting comes not long before Kanye was spotted on a date with actress Julia Fox in Miami

Single and ready to mingle: In photos obtained by TMZ , the rapper was spotted enjoying a night out at Carbone restaurant with Julia

Taking five: The woman stepped out for some fresh air as she wandered across the balcony with her arms crossed

Sources told the website the date was 'nothing serious', rather he was embracing life as a single guy following his split from Kim Kardashian.

Kim filed for divorce from Kanye in early 2021 following six years of marriage and four children together, and the reality star has already begun moving on with SNL star Pete Davidson.

Interestingly, both Pete and Kanye were ringing in 2022 in Miami.

Pete was cohosting a New Year's Eve special with Miley Cyrus, while Kanye announced a surprise, last-minute show in Miami on December 31.

Breathtaking: She showed some serious skin as she ran her fingers through her hair

Matters of the heart: Kim filed for divorce from Kanye in early 2021 following six years of marriage and four children together, and the reality star has already begun moving on with SNL star Pete Davidson

He's got company! Two women were spotted hanging out on West's hotel balcony

Low-key: The brunette beauty appeared calm and at ease as she took five outside

Kanye ended up spending New Year's Eve at Game Changer Lounge, and though TMZ reported the rapper did perform a set, Page Six claims West ended up just hanging out with Future, Quavo, and French Montana at the club after a failed attempt at finding a venue to perform at.

Kim and Pete were first spotted holding hands at Knott's Scary Farm in October though an insider told People at the time that the two were just friends.

'Kim is so into him. [Kim and Pete] are both really cuddly and affectionate with each other,' a source told People as another insider shared with Us Weekly that the unlikely pair are getting 'serious' with one another.

The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star's friends think he's 'exactly what [ Kim] needed' after her split from Kanye.

Back on the market: Sources told the website Kanye and Julia's date was 'nothing serious', rather he was embracing life as a single guy following his split from Kim Kardashian

Date night: West was spotted hanging out with Julia Fox, pictured November 2021 at the CFDA Fashion Awards, at Carbone in Miami

The comedian - who has previously dated the Kate Beckinsale and Kaia Gerber - is helping the TV star to move on from her marriage.

An insider recently said: 'He's exactly what Kim needed after her divorce - someone to make her laugh and just have a fun time with.

'The end of her marriage was a very dark time for her and Pete has been the best antidote.'

Since Kim filed for divorce in February Kanye has been briefly linked to Russian model Irina Shayk and model Vinetria, 22.

Moving on! Kim has begun moving on from her marriage with Kanye with SNL star Pete Davidson

They have chemistry! The duo shared a kiss during a sketch on Saturday Night Live last year
Brazilian model Alessandra Ambrosio looked completely smitten as she packed on a serious amount of PDA with boyfriend Richard Lee on Sunday.

The Victoria's Secret Angel, 40, looked sensational as she shared a passionate embrace with Lee on a sun kissed beach in Brazil, where they were joined by close friends Ludi Delfino and Eric Chambers.

Wearing a white spaghetti strapped playsuit that showcased her long legs Alessandra started the new year as she appeared to go on with the romantic gesture.

Two's company: Alessandra Ambrosio packed on the PDA with current beau Richard Lee as they joined close friends Ludi Delfino and Eric Chambers on a beach in Brazil on Sunday

The couple could barely keep their hands off of each other in the shots as they shared a passionate kiss in the Brazilian sun.

The pair celebrated welcoming 2022 in style and Alessandro shared the loved up images to her 10.7M followers on Instagram.

She captioned the Image, with the stars emoji's and the numbers 2022.

Friends and fans flocked to her page to comment on the loved up snap to wish the couple a Happy New Year, writing in both English and Portuguese.

Happy couple: The pair are rumoured to have started dating last February

One fan wrote: 'Beautiful couple.' followed a by a string of love hearts and a fire emoji

With others commented 'Happy New Year, ' with a series of love heart, fire, thumb up and a camera emoji.'

Richard and Alessandra have been romantically linked since February.

Happy: The couple shared the beautiful images of them in a loved up embrace on the beach in Brazil

All love: Friends and fans flocked to her page to comment on the images the supermodel shared in Instagram

And the couple put on an amorous display when they were spotted at her house in Florianopolis, Brazil, on Friday.

The supermodel stunned in a silver sequin maxi dress which showed off every inch of her frame as she put on a PDA packed display with her love.

Alessandra flashed her bronzed legs in the glitzy number that featured a dramatic thigh-high leg slit and plunging neckline.

Stunning: Alessandra , flashed her bronzed legs in a thigh split sequin dress as she rang in the New Year with a kiss for her beau Richard Lee in Brazil

She added a pair of matching metallic sandals and carried a basket style bag with circular handles to perfect the elegant evening look.

Her brunette tresses cascaded down in a loose wave for the ultimate effortless beachy hair style.

The Victoria's Secret angel gave a glimpse of her pert derriere as she turned around and worked her best angles for the camera.

She accessorised with a selection of bangles and a drop diamante earrings.

The couple put on a amorous display as they stopped for a smooch and Alessandra held her lover's face.

They reportedly arrived in Brazil on Monday after celebrating the holidays in California. Alessandra hosted a family gathering at her Los Angeles home along with her two children, daughter Anja, 13, and son Noah, nine.

Wow! The Victoria's Secret angel gave a glimpse of her pert derriere as she turned around and worked her best angles for the camera

Glowing: The supermodel stunned in a silver sequin maxi dress as she put on a PDA packed display with her love

Sweet: The couple stopped for a smooch and Alessandra held her lovers face

'Feliz Natal Wishing you all a Merry Christmas' wrote the Brazilian beauty, who shared several smile-filled snaps for the get together on her Instagram.

She posed lovingly between Anja and Noah before getting her entire family in on the photo fun by the towering Christmas tree.

The GAL Floripa swimwear founder shares her two kids with ex Jamie Mazur, 40.
Britney Spears is no longer following her younger sister Jamie Lynn Spears on Instagram.

Meanwhile, the 30-year-old former Nickelodeon star was still following her famous 40-year-old sibling as of Sunday afternoon.

Britney's bombshell court testimony on June 23 revealed she wanted 'to sue' her family members for 'living off my conservatorship for 13 years.'

Estranged: Britney Spears is no longer following her younger sister Jamie Lynn Spears on Instagram (pictured together in 2017)

Britney currently follows 46 Instagram accounts including her fiance Sam Asghari and numerous pop legends including Paul McCartney, Elton John, Janet Jackson, Beyonce and Adele.

Among the quirkier accounts Spears follows includes Tito the Raccoon, @cutecatsfu, and the Southwestern sandwich chain Schlotzsky's.

The singer even follows the official Britney Army @britneyarmyfanclub, which hasn't posted since 2019.

Britney's conservatorship ended on November 12, with the star criticising her family for not supporting her.

Sisters: Meanwhile, the 30-year-old former Nickelodeon star was still following her famous 40-year-old sibling as of Sunday afternoon

'Not only did my family not do a godda** thing, my dad [Jamie] was all for it. Anything that happened to me had to be approved by my dad,' said Spears.

'And my dad acted like he didn't know that I was told I had to be tested over the Christmas holidays before they sent me away, when my kids went to home to Louisiana. He was the one who approved all of it. My whole family did nothing.'

Shortly after, Jamie Lynn broke her silence with a since-deleted video where she claimed to have 'only loved, adored, and supported my sister.'

'I don't care if she wants to run away to a rainforest and have zillion babies in the middle of nowhere, or if she wants to come back and dominate the world the way she has so many times before,' a visibly angry Spears said.

'My whole family did nothing': Britney's bombshell court testimony on June 23 revealed she wanted 'to sue' her family members for 'living off my conservatorship for 13 years' (pictured Saturday)

'I'm only concerned about her happiness': Shortly after, Jamie Lynn broke her silence with a petulant, since-deleted video where she claimed to have 'only loved, adored, and supported my sister'

'Because I have nothing to gain or lose either way. This situation does not affect me either way, because I'm only her sister who's only concerned about her happiness.'

On July 17, the former Mouseketeer took Jamie Lynn to task again over covering a remix of her 2011 song Till the World Ends at the 2017 Radio Disney Music Awards where she was honored.

'I don't like that my sister showed up at an awards show and performed my songs to remixes!' Britney wrote. 'My so-called support system hurt me deeply!'

On July 19, Spears blasted Jamie Lynn in a thinly-veiled, since-deleted post calling her a 'mean a**' for not being more supportive and standing up to their 69-year-old estranged father.

'My so-called support system hurt me deeply!' On July 17, Spears took Jamie Lynn to task again over covering a remix of her 2011 song Till the World Ends at the 2017 Radio Disney Music Awards where she was honored

Seeing red: On July 19, the former Mouseketeer blasted Jamie Lynn in a thinly-veiled, since-deleted post calling her a 'mean a**' for not being more supportive and standing up to their 69-year-old estranged father

Last sighting: The Mississippi-born blondes have not been pictured together since 2018 when their families vacationed together

Fangirling: Britney currently follows 46 Instagram accounts including her fiance Sam Asghari and numerous pop legends including Paul McCartney (L), Elton John (M), Janet Jackson (R), Beyonce, Adele - but not Madonna

'I thought maybe we could make gingerbread houses': Among the quirkier accounts Spears follows includes Tito the Raccoon (pictured December 25), @cutecatsfu, and the Southwestern sandwich chain Schlotzsky's

Dormant: The Matches singer even follows the official Britney Army @britneyarmyfanclub, which hasn't posted since 2019

The Mississippi-born blondes have not been pictured together since 2018 when their families vacationed together.

Jamie Lynn is preparing to promote her 240-page memoir, which was originally titled I Must Confess: Family, Fame, and Figuring it Out referencing lyrics in Britney's 1998 hit Baby One More Time.

After backlash, Spears changed the name of her tell-all to Things I Should Have Said, which Worthy Books will publish on January 18.

'Dear 2021, you tried your da**dest... bless your heart!' As for Jamie Lynn, she'll soon promote her 240-page memoir, which was originally titled I Must Confess: Family, Fame, and Figuring it Out referencing lyrics in Britney's 1998 hit Baby One More Time
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Mark Wahlberg looked hunky as ever as he enjoyed a Barbados holiday with his wife Rhea Durham and their four children.

The 50-year-old actor was pictured hitting the beach on New Year's Day where he showed off his buff physique in a pair of eye-catching green swim trunks.

During the course of the Caribbean holiday, the Boogie Nights star put on an amorous display with Rhea, 43, who also showed off her fit frame in a yellow thong bikini.

Hunky holiday! Mark Wahlberg, 50, was pictured enjoying New Year's Day on the beach in Barbados with his wife Rhea Durham, 43, and their four children

Mark seemed to splash his way into 2022 during a luxury vacation alongside his wife and their four kids: Ella, 18, Michael, 15, Brendan, 13, and Grace, 11.

The family spared no expense as they shelled big bucks to to stay at the exclusive Sandy Lane Hotel ahead of the new year. A one night stay can exceed over $2,000.

The Hollywood heavyweight looked bronzed as he walked along the shore with his bulging muscles and abs front and center.

The family was seen putting their belongings on a few lounge chairs before dipping in the water as a unit before peeling off to do their own things.

Sweet smooch: They shared a smooch while out in the ocean

Day at the beach: The Hollywood heavyweight looked bronzed as he walked along the shore with his bulging muscles and abs front and center

Sunkissed: Rhea, 43, showed off her fit physique in a yellow bikini as she reapplied sunscreen

Stripping down: The family was seen putting their belongings on a few lounge chairs before dipping in the water

Family dip: The pair of 13 years were joined by two of their kids Ella, 18, and Michael, 15

Dad mode: The Ted actor was also pictured having a conversation with what looked to be daughter Grace

Helping hand: She looked to reach out to her husband for a bit of balance

Later he was pictured taking a dip in the Caribbean sea where he enjoyed some quality time with his kids before sharing some tender moments with Rhea.

The couple looked loved up as ever as they shared a few embraces in the ocean.

The former model wrapped her arms around him before they kissed, at which point she continued to cling on as they shared an intimate conversation.

Mark and Rhea have been together for 21 years and married for 12 of them. They started a family before tying the knot in 2009.

Cuddled up: The bathing suit clad pair floated in the water together

Loved up: The couple of 12 years looked loved up as ever as they shared a few embraces in the ocean

Lasting love: In a 2018 interview he gushed: 'I owe a lot to my wife. She has helped me become the man that I am and created a beautiful life for me and our children'

Lots of love: Rhea looked smitten with her husband as she lovingly gazed at him and held him close

In a 2018 interview he gushed: 'I owe a lot to my wife. She has helped me become the man that I am and created a beautiful life for me and our children.'

'I also knew that she loved me for who I am and that she was someone I could trust. Until I met her, I wasn't ready to have a family,' he told The Sun.

The luxury vacation looked equal parts fun and relaxing and they seemed to ring in the New Year before extending for a few days.

Wading in the water: The Boston native cooled off in the ocean

Tapping out: After a bit of ocean time the Golden Globe nominee was seen heading back to home base

Jacked: A salty skinned Mark was seen retreating back to a lounge chair

Wow! Mark looked like a beach beefcake on the outing

Shining like the sun: The ex lingerie model enjoyed some solo time as she emerged from the ocean before sunbathing

Sizzling: Rhea looked every inch the bronzed beach babe as she walked out of the water with soaking brown locks

Picturesque waters: The Caribbean waters looked the perfect place for the family to ring in 2022

After a bit of ocean time the Golden Globe nominee was seen heading back to home base, while his wife got in some solo sunbathing while reading a book.

She re-upped on her sunscreen before sprawling out on a pink towel at which point she cracked open the book Not A Happy Family by author Shari Lapena.

Later Rhea went for a solo beach walk with her headphones in as she chilled out during the vacation.

Protection: Making sure to not get burned under the scorching sun she re-upped on her sunscreen

Settling in: Rhea was pictured making herself comfortable on a pink beach towel

Good read? She cracked open the pages of Not A Happy Family

Beach nap: Following a walk Rhea was seen taking a snooze in the sun

Their kids looked to enjoy each other's company as Ella and Brendan were pictured sharing a few laughs while soaking up the sun.

This week it was reported that Mark was being sued for $350,000 in damages by the property owners of his burger joint Wahlburgers in Los Angeles.

Montgomery Management Company filed documents claiming that the actor/entrepreneur brought a crew into the restaurant and removed 'every booth' and 'every light fixture' following the ending of his lease.

Trouble in paradise? This week it was reported that Wahlberg was being sued for $350,000 for an incident at his Wahlburgers restaurant in Los Angeles

Lots of smiles: Rhea, Ella and Michael were all seen sharing a laugh

Fun: Rhea larked around with her daughter in the surf as they enjoyed the day

Bond: Rhea was seen putting on a fun display with son Michael, 15, in the water

Stylish: He flashed a salmon pink tee and Louis Vuitton slides for the beach day

Family man: Mark and his kids all rocked colorful swimsuits for the tropical vacation

Packing up: After a long beach day the family packed up their stuff and slipped on some cover-ups

'[Wahlberg] interfered with performance by removing the fixtured property which would leave the premises a mere shell causing them to have to purchase and install new booths, light fixtures, walk-in cooler, walk-in freezer, sinks, and other items, the delivery and installation of time for which required long lead times,' MMC claimed in the lawsuit.

They added that he 'acted willfully, maliciously, and oppressively with full knowledge of the adverse effect of their actions.'

The lawsuit also alleges that the owners of the property's new tenant, Saltie Girl LA, contacted Wahlburgers management to purchase their liquor license, but they 'threatened to remove more fixtured property and refused to sell the liquor license unless they paid exorbitant sums of money' allegedly.

Though MMC is suing Wahlberg over the matter personally, the lawsuit does not claim whether or not he was physically responsible for ransacking the restaurant.

Under fire? Montgomery Management Company filed documents claiming that the actor/entrepreneur brought a crew into the his burger joint and removed 'every booth' and 'every light fixture' following the ending of his lease

Overjoyed? At one point the devout actor was seen throwing his hands up and tipping his head back

Making herself at home: Rhea was seen lugging a bunch of beach supplies including a raft from the resort and several beach bags
Betty White 'knew' she was loved by millions of fans all around the world.

The legendary actress passed away on New Year's Eve at the age of 99, and Jeff Witjas - her agent and long-time friend - has revealed that he always reminded Betty of her popularity among fans.

He told People: 'She knew it, but I would tell her often. Even when she wasn't working, I said, "Betty, millions of people out there are still asking for you. You're getting your fan letters, I'm getting offers for you."'

'She knew it': Betty White's agent Jeff Witjas frequently reminded the icon how beloved she was; pictured 2015

Jeff always wanted Betty to know just how much people loved and admired her.

He told People: 'I don't know if she ever embraced it, [or] really, really felt it. The extent of it. I really don't.

'I would always reinforce it with her because I always felt she should know that. I never wanted her to think while she was sitting at home, that the world has passed her by. It never did.'

Jeff is also glad that Betty - who died at her home in Los Angeles on Friday - was able to achieve her life ambitions.

Rest in peace: White, who died at the age of 99 on Friday, was only two and a half weeks away from celebrating her 100th birthday in January

He added that her popularity went 'beyond love'.

He said: 'Betty lived a great life and she lived a life that she chose. She was happy.

'Every time I told her, "Betty, you're loved," she would look at me with a wry smile and say, "Really?" I hope she knew. I think she did. It was something beyond love.'

Jeff was Betty's agent - but their relationship extended well beyond that.

'Betty lived a great life': Jeff is also glad that Betty - who died at her home in Los Angeles on Friday - was able to achieve her life ambitions

He explained: 'She was an incredible lady. Hard to put into words. We had a special relationship, far more than just a client.'

White, who died at the age of 99 on Friday, was only two and a half weeks away from celebrating her 100th birthday in January.

'Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever,' Witjas told PEOPLE.

'I will miss her terribly and so will the animal world that she loved so much.

'I don't think Betty ever feared passing because she always wanted to be with her most beloved husband Allen Ludden. She believed she would be with him again.'

Since the announcement of her death, fans and celebrities took to social media to honor the late Golden Girls actress.

Stars such as Ryan Reynolds, Sandra Bullock, Reese Witherspoon, Viola Davis, Debra Messing and Diane Kruger paid their respects on social media following the news.
Prince Philip's death in April was one of the saddest events that the royal family had to deal with. However, the Duke of Edinburgh's passing didn't come as a surprise to his loved ones.

The dad of four was already 99 years old when he passed away. Prior to his death, he suffered some health issues and was last seen in public in July 2020 when he attended a royal engagement with his daughter-in-law, Camilla Parker Bowles, according to Express.

Since then, Prince Philip has stayed at Windsor Castle, where he passed away.

Prince Philip's will is kept private

One of the biggest questions following Queen Elizabeth's husband's death has to do with his will. After all, no one has any information regarding its contents.

According to reports, Prince Philip's will is private, and it will stay as such for the next 90 years. This has always been a precedent for the wills of the royal family members not to be disclosed to the public.

Even though royal fans are dying to know who will receive an inheritance from the late royal and when the British clan doesn't think this information is of public interest.

Like other non-royal families, details of a deceased person's will are not disclosed to the entire world after their death.

Sir Andrew McFarlane held a meeting regarding Prince Philip's will

In July, a hearing into the application to seal Prince Philip's will was held privately and led by Sir Andrew McFarlane, the most senior judge in the family courts.

During the private meeting, McFarlane came up with a process by which the wills of the late royals could be made public. However, he insisted that there should be a certain level of protection for those left behind.

Read Also: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle May Not Be Recipients Of Clarence House; Prince Charles Could Leave Million-Dollar Property To Grandkids Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis

"I have held that, because of the constitutional position of the Sovereign, it is appropriate to have a special practice in relation to royal wills. There is a need to enhance the protection afforded to truly private aspects of the lives of this limited group of individuals in order to maintain the dignity of the Sovereign and close members of her family," McFarlane said via the BBC.

Other reports claimed to know details regarding Prince Philip's will.

Three men will receive inheritance from Prince Philip

According to Page Six, the Duke of Edinburgh left a generous sum to the three people that looked after him during his final years. This includes his former private secretary Brigadier Archie Miller Bakewell, his page William Henderson, and valet Stephen Niedojadlo.

Prince Philip's grandchildren will also, reportedly, receive a hefty sum from his will, and this includes Prince Harry even though he was regarded as a disgrace following his and Meghan Markle's Megxit.

Prince Harry included in his grandfather's will

According to reports, Prince Philip and Prince Harry shared a special bond because of their similarities. When the queen's husband was much younger, he also resembled his grandson.

Prince Philip and Prince Harry also had a similar sense of humor because they are both goofy. And shortly after the queen and her husband met, the monarch received a hilariously warning not to wed Prince Philip because he always cracks jokes, according to Good Housekeeping.

Related Article: British Royal Family's Christmas Traditions To Continue Without Prince Philip; Duke of Edinburgh Played Key Role Before

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Braunwyn Windham-Burke and Victoria Brito's new romance appears to be going strong.

The couple were spotted enjoying a New Year's Eve stroll with Braunwyn's mother Dr. Deb.

The former Real Housewives Of Orange County star, 44, was spotted holding hands with her girlfriend as they strolled through Palm Springs on Saturday.

Getting closer: Braunwyn Windham-Burke and Victoria Brito's new romance appears to be going strong

For their outing, Braunwyn donned a black long-sleeved wrap top over a white tank top and dark wash ripped blue jeans that were cuffed above the ankles.

The reality star sported neon green, black and white Nike sneakers and carried a Louis Vuitton tote bag.

The blonde beauty wore her long locks down in loose waves and accessorized with dangly earrings.

Happy: The 44-year-old former Real Housewives of Orange County star and the model were all smiles when they were spotted holding hands in Palm Springs on New Year's Eve

Victoria was similarly casually attired in ripped light wash blue jeans and colorful Nike sneakers.

The stunning dancer completed her ensemble with a black turtleneck underneath a navy blue and red patterned jacket with striped trim.

Victoria shielded her eyes from the sun with oversized black shades and accessorized with silver earrings and a silver necklace that had multiple pendants.

Big step: The pair took the next step in their relationship with Victoria meeting Braunwyn's seven children and her mother Deborah 'Dr. Deb' Windham over the holiday weekend as they all rang in the new year together

Braunwyn's mother Dr. Deb was seen wearing dark gray sweatpants, a black graphic t-shirt and a lavender and pink coat as she strolled with her daughter and Victoria through the parking lot.

Her colorfully-dyed and braided blonde hair was pulled into a half-updo that was bound with a black band.

Dr. Deb also wore pink sandals and white socks along with an olive green fanny pack.

According to TMZ, Victoria was spending the holidays with Braunwyn and her family.

Braunwyn and Victoria both shared photos and videos from their New Year's Eve celebration on their Instagram Story.

Holiday: In one photo and Boomerang that Victoria shared, she and Braunwyn beamed as they posed together with a group of family and friends that included Dr. Deb

Fun: Victoria was seen sitting by a fireplace with Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Sutton Stracke in an image posted by both Braunwyn and Victoria

In one photo and Boomerang that Victoria shared, she and Braunwyn beamed as they posed together with a group of family and friends that included Dr. Deb.

Victoria was seen sitting by a fireplace with Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Sutton Stracke in an image posted by both Braunwyn and Victoria.

Braunwyn and Victoria have only dated for a few months after meeting on a dating app in September.

The television personality  who came out as a lesbian last year and opted to stay married to husband Sean Burke  went public with her new relationship earlier this month when they were spotted making out on the beach in Miami.

Victoria already met Sean in November, according to TMZ, where they chatted about NFT's and the tech world.

New romance: The television personality  who came out as a lesbian last year and opted to stay married to husband Sean Burke  went public with her new relationship earlier this month when they were spotted making out on the beach in Miami.

Family forever: Braunwyn came out as a lesbian last year, and shares seven children with her husband of 21 years, Sean Burke

Still together: And Braunwyn's unconventional relationship with Sean seems to be going well, too, as she took to Instagram on Christmas Eve with a post dedicated to her husband.

And Braunwyn's unconventional relationship with Sean seems to be going well, too, as she took to Instagram on Christmas Eve with a post dedicated to her husband.

'When we started this journey last year, the main thing we heard "get divorced"- over and over again as if that would somehow "fix" anything,' she wrote. 'Our family didnt need fixing- it isnt broken, its just evolved.

'Just because we havent seen this done before in this specific way, doesnt mean its something we shouldnt try to. Make no mistake, it isnt always easy- divorcing would have been easier.'

'When we started this journey last year, the main thing we heard "get divorced"- over and over again as if that would somehow "fix" anything,' she wrote. 'Our family didnt need fixing- it isnt broken, its just evolved'

'However, both of us knew it was important to put our familys needs before our own, and we are reminded of that again this Christmas,' she added. 'We are attempting to do something different here, and so far, its working. Heres to our second Christmas in "modern family" style'

The pair have seven kids together: Bella, 20, Rowan, 18, Jacob, 15, twins Curran and Caden, eight, Koa, six, and Hazel, three.

'However, both of us knew it was important to put our familys needs before our own, and we are reminded of that again this Christmas,' she added. 'We are attempting to do something different here, and so far, its working. Heres to our second Christmas in "modern family" style.'

In the midst of her breakup with Fernanda Rocha, the star admitted that divorce probably wasn't on the table for her and Sean after more than two decades together.

'I don't think we're going to get divorced, honestly,' she recently told US Weekly. 'I truly don't think we're going to. 'We get along great, we have an open marriage  it's working for us. We're happy.'
WASHINGTON (AP) - Theyve interviewed more than 300 witnesses, collected tens of thousands of documents and traveled around the country to talk to election officials who were pressured by Donald Trump.

Now, after six months of intense work, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection is preparing to go public.

In the coming months, members of the panel will start to reveal their findings against the backdrop of the former president and his allies persistent efforts to whitewash the riots and reject suggestions that he helped instigate them. The committee also faces the burden of trying to persuade the American public that their conclusions are fact-based and credible.

But the nine lawmakers - seven Democrats and two Republicans - are united in their commitment to tell the full story of Jan. 6, and they are planning televised hearings and reports that will bring their findings out into the open.

Their goal is not only to show the severity of the riot, but also to make a clear connection between the attack and Trumps brazen pressure on the states and Congress to overturn Joe Bidens legitimate election as president.

"The full picture is coming to light, despite President Trumps ongoing efforts to hide the picture," said Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the committees vice chairwoman and one of its two Republican members.

FILE - Members of the House of Representatives gather in the chamber to vote on creation of a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, at the Capitol in Washington, on June 30, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

"I dont think theres any area of this broader history in which we arent learning new things," she said.

While the fundamental facts of Jan. 6 are known, the committee says the extraordinary trove of material they have collected - 35,000 pages of records so far, including texts, emails and phone records from people close to Trump - is fleshing out critical details of the worst attack on the Capitol in two centuries, which played out on live television.

They hope to fill in the blanks about the preparations before the attack, the financing behind the Jan. 6 rally that preceded it and the extensive White House campaign to overturn the 2020 election. They are also investigating what Trump himself was doing as his supporters fought their way into the Capitol.

True accountability may be fleeting. Congressional investigations are not criminal cases and lawmakers cannot dole out punishments. Even as the committee works, Trump and his allies continue to push lies about election fraud while working to place similarly minded officials at all levels of state and local government.

"I think that the challenge that we face is that the attacks on our democracy are continuing - they didnt come to an end on Jan. 6," said another panel member, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., also chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

Still, the lawmakers hope they can present the public with a thorough accounting that captures what could have been "an even more serious and deeper constitutional crisis," as Cheney put it.

"I think this is one of the single most important congressional investigations in history," Cheney said.

The committee is up against the clock. Republicans could disband the investigation if they win the House majority in the November 2022 elections. The committee's final report is expected before then, with a possible interim report coming in the spring or summer.

In the hearings, which could start in the coming weeks, the committee wants to "bring the people who conducted the elections to Washington and tell their story," said the panels chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. Their testimony, he said, will further debunk Trumps claims of election fraud.

The committee has interviewed several election officials in battleground states, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, about Trumps pressure campaign. In some cases, staff have traveled to those states to gather more information.

The panel also is focusing on the preparations for the Jan. 6 rally near the White House where Trump told his supporters to "fight like hell" - and how the rioters may have planned to block the electoral count if they had been able to get their hands on the electoral ballots.

They need to amplify to the public, Thompson said, "that it was an organized effort to change the outcome of the election by bringing people to Washington ... and ultimately if all else failed, weaponize the people who came by sending them to the Capitol."

About 90% of the witnesses called by the committee have cooperated, Thompson said, despite the defiance of high-profile Trump allies such as Steve Bannon and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Lawmakers said they have been effective at gathering information from other sources in part because they share a unity of purpose rarely seen in a congressional investigation.

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California, a close Trump ally, decided not to appoint any GOP members to the committee after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., rejected two of his picks last summer.

Pelosi, who created the select committee after Republican senators rejected an evenly bipartisan outside commission, subsequently appointed Republicans Cheney and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Trump critics who shared the Democrats desire to investigate the attack.

"I think you can see that Kevin made an epic mistake," Kinzinger said. "I think part of the reason weve gone so fast and have been so effective so far is because weve decided and we have the ability to do this as a nonpartisan investigation."

Kinzinger said the investigation would be "a very different scene" if Republicans allied with Trump were participating and able to obstruct some of their work.

"I think in five or 10 years, when school kids learn about Jan. 6, theyre going to get the accurate story," Kinzinger said. "And I think thats going to be dependent on what we do here."

Democrats say having two Republicans working with them has been an asset, especially as they try to reach conservative audiences who may still believe Trumps falsehoods about a stolen election.

"They bring to the table perspectives and ability to translate a little bit what is being reflected in conservative media, or how this might be viewed through a conservative lens," says Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla. "And thats been really helpful."

There is "no division, no hostility, no partisan bickering - its like, lets just get this job done," said California Rep. Zoe Lofgren, another member and a veteran of congressional investigations going back to the Watergate investigation of President Richard Nixon when she was a staffer on the House Judiciary Committee.

The nine-member group has bonded over a friendly text chain where they discuss business and occasionally their personal lives. There are messages wishing a happy birthday, for example, or congratulating another on a childs wedding.

"Its good, its how Congress should be," said Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif.

Aguilar says the biggest challenges for the committee are the calendar and the small group of Trump loyalists who are trying to run out the clock by stonewalling or suing them. In the end, he said, he thinks the committees final report will stand the test of time, similar to the investigations of the 9/11 attacks and Watergate.

For now, though, "we are still in the eye of the hurricane," Aguilar said.

FILE - Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., speaks with the media after the House select committee hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill in Washington, on July 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

FILE - Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., speaks with U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell after a House select committee hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill in Washington, on July 27, 2021. (Jim Bourg/Pool via AP, File)

FILE - U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Harry Dunn listens as Washington Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges testifies before the House select committee hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 27, 2021. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool via AP, File)

FILE - Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., right, speaks with fellow Republicans in the House chamber during the vote to create a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection, at the Capitol in Washington, on June 30, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., joined at right by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, holds a news conference before the start of a hearing by a select committee appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the Jan. 6 insurrection, at the Capitol in Washington, on July 27, 2021. McCarthy had added Rep. Jordan to the panel but Pelosi rejected him and Rep. Jim Banks, prompting McCarthy to pull all of his picks. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chair of the House select committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol speaks as the committee meets to hold Steve Bannon, one of former President Donald Trump's allies in contempt, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 19, 2021. Listening are Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell left, and U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Harry Dunn stand after a House select committee hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 27, 2021. (AP Photo/ Andrew Harnik, Pool, File)

FILE - Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a member of the House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight Committee, is joined from left by Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as she announces her appointments to a new select committee to investigate the violent Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on July 1, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., meets with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, on July 22, 2021. Pelosi discussed her reasons for rejecting two Republicans chosen by House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy to be on the committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a key member of the House select committee on the Jan. 6 attack, does a tv news interview after preparing most of the day with other committee members, at the Capitol in Washington, on July 26, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., pauses as he speaks during the House select committee hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill in Washington, on July 27, 2021. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool via AP, File)

FILE - Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., holds photos from the Jan. 6, attack on the Capitol as he questions Attorney General Merrick Garland during a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing of the Department of Justice on Oct. 21, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Greg Nash/Pool via AP, File)

FILE - House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., joined from left by House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., and Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, holds a news conference before the start of a hearing by a select committee appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the Jan. 6 insurrection, at the Capitol in Washington, on July 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
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Futuristic weapons are the basis of next-generation warfare driven by the desire to possess the best armament that gives an edge to any nation.

In World War 2, the German Fuhrer had scientists develop the V1 and V2 vengeance weapons that spawn the rocket technology and give birth to the hypersonic engine.

Instead of bullets, there are Directed Energy Weapons (DEWS) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is used on all kinds of unmanned vehicles. But more exotic and future-driven combat technologies are getting developed as well, reported Pocket-Lint.

The system is linked to honeycomb that cover the exterior skin of any combat vehicle. It can heat up or cool down to look like the environment. By matching how hot or cold the combat environment is and fooling infrared and thermal sensors, it keeps infantry fighting vehicles initially invisible.

One use is to mark all vehicles in exercises to avoid friendly fire that cause fatal accidents.

T Ghost

Swede-designed tank is one of those futuristic weapons with the BAE ADAPTIV camo system to escape thermal sensors that pinpoint and detect targets. Designed with a light chassis and armed with powerful 120mm compact main cannon, it will have less recoil for better accuracy.

Read also: US Develops Laser Weapon To Counter Against Chinese Hypersonic Missile, Drone Attacks; Defensive Technology To Intercept Further Threats

A quick and capable medium tank that is cutting edge with camo tech, moves fast and fires accurately on the battlefield.

MAARS (Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System)

The system is a heavily armed bot developed to save lives and deal with scenarios that are too hazardous for people to undertake.

Machines are expandable so robots are the next best thing to saving personnel. MAARS is not welcome to many because of Terminator, but a soldier in the field will feel safer if this mechanical beast is part of the platoon.

It is capable and adaptable so it can accomplish tasks as long as it takes.

Thunder Generator

An exotic weapon that was thought up by the Israelis with PDT Agro firm conceptualizing and building the Thunder Generator. Inside a barrel, the machine would explode soundwaves that go transonic and generate a physical impact of pure force. Just like thunder, it deafens and knocks down anything about 100 feet away.

Ship Mounted Laser Weapon System (LaWS)

Similar to Directed Energy Weapon (DEWS), it is placed on a ship to generate power for a laser, think Star Wars. It has a precise painting of the target by a strong laser that burns up engines, and any target.

Lasers are cheaper per shot depending on the power available, also kinetic impact weapons are more expensive to use with limited shots too.

Soldiers Are The HULC

Called the Human Universal Load Carrier is a powered exo-suit with hydraulic assistance to improve a soldier's strength in combat. Carry loads far heavier and prevent exhaustion to fight longer on the field.

It is another automated drone to assist troops or replace them in a life-or-death mission. It's a bit raw but the system is promising when evaluated.

These futuristic weapons from sound energy to laser light and robotic weapons with more on the horizon are the tips of the possibilities. Especially the HULC which is almost like Iron Man

Related article: 'Star Wars' Like Force Field Now Possible? US Wants to Develop Directed Energy for Protection Against Missile Attack

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Allu Arjun with director Sukumar on the sets of his latest movie Pushpa: The Rise. (Photo: Twitter/@PushpaMovie)

Mumbai: Actor Allu Arjun says he has received an offer to star in a Hindi film but his fans up north will have to wait.

The 39-year-old actor, whose latest Telugu film Pushpa: The Rise has grossed Rs 300 cr worldwide since its release on December 17, said he is open to the idea of working in a true-blue Bollywood movie provided the project is exciting.

I have got an offer but nothing concrete or exciting. Hopefully soon (it will happen). It does take courage, you have to risk it (to work in another industry), Arjun told PTI.

Son of noted producer Allu Aravind, the actor is known for films like "Bunny", "Arya", "Desamuduru", "Parugu", and "Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo", among others.

After spending about two decades in Telugu film industry, Arjun said he is not interested in playing second fiddle to another actor when he takes up a Hindi script.

When we are the protagonist of the films that we do, anybody who comes to us will only come with the offer to play a protagonist, I would not be interested in anything (else). And it is very well understood.

Even the other person will not come and it doesn't make sense to ask such a big star to play a second role as it damages the film, they also know it. You have to work as a protagonist, as a main lead, he added.

The actor is happy with the glorious run of Pushpa: The Rise, which has collected Rs 56.69 crore from its Hindi-dubbed version.

Directed by Sukumar of Arya fame, the action drama was also released in Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada languages.

Meanwhile, Arjun's 2020 action-drama "Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo" is being remade in Hindi as "Shehzada" with Kartik Aaryan in the lead.
In view of the pandemic, Saudi Arabia did not allow migrant workers to enter the country without quarantine. As a result, the migrant workers were forced to stay for 15 days in quarantine en route to Saudi Arabia either via Maldives, Srilanka, Dubai or Kuwait. The charges were to the tune of Rs 85,000.  Representational image/AFP

Hyderabad: Indian migrant workers received a welcome relief as Saudi Arabian authorities relaxed their Covid-19 protocol.

Despite 15 days' quarantine, they allowed migrant workers to resume work after five days' of quarantine. However, those who had taken two doses were allowed to join work immediately.

In view of the pandemic, Saudi Arabia did not allow migrant workers to enter the country without quarantine. As a result, the migrant workers were forced to stay for 15 days in quarantine en route to Saudi Arabia either via Maldindian ives, Srilanka, Dubai or Kuwait. The charges were to the tune of Rs 85,000.

Following the relaxations, the migrant workers will only have to shell down Rs 38,000 to Rs 42,000 to reach Saudi Arabia.
Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Saturday informed that more than 10 ministers and at least 20 MLAs in the state have tested positive for Covid so far. (ANI file image)

Mumbai: Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Saturday informed that more than 10 ministers and at least 20 MLAs in the state have tested positive for Covid so far. He also said that more restrictions might be imposed if the new Covid cases continue to rise in the state.

Former Maharashtra minister and BJP national secretary Pankaja Munde too tested positive for the Omicron variant of Covid. Minister Yashomati Thakur on Friday informed that she had tested positive for coronavirus.

In view of more members of Maharashtra legislature contracting infections, deputy CM Ajit Pawar said that if the patients keeps increasing in the state, the government may have to impose further curbs.

Appealing to the people to follow the Covid appropriate behavior, Mr. Pawar said, "The infection is increasing rapidly. We curtailed the Assembly session to five days. So far, over 10 ministers and over 20 MLAs have tested positive for Covid within five days. Everybody including public representatives should Keep in mind the Covid appropriate behavior."

Maharashtra on Saturday reported 9,170 new cases taking the total number of active cases to 32,225. A total of 460 patients are infected with the Omicron variant in Maharashtra. Of these, 327 cases of Omicron have been reported in Mumbai only.

The state also saw seven deaths in 24 hours. Six new Omicron variant infections have been reported in the state. All the six patients with Omicron are from Pune district.
Srinagar: The authorities on Saturday foiled a protest sit-in planned by the Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) against the draft proposals of the Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir by placing its leaders under house arrest.

However, a small group of National Conference (NC) second-rung leaders and activists appeared in Srinagars City centre Lal Chowk, chanting slogans against the draft proposals and then walking about fifty yards before the police intercepted them. They were bundled into the police vans and then driven to the nearby police station.

Another group of PAGD activists and supporters, mainly from its constituent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held a protest demonstration at the nearby The Bund, denouncing the Delimitation Commission proposals.

The Delimitation Commission headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai has in its draft recommendations proposed six additional Assembly seats for Jammu region and one for the Kashmir Valley while reserving nine constituencies for Scheduled Castes and seven for Scheduled Tribes.

Terming it discriminatory, the PAGD and other Kashmir-centric political leaders and parties have accused the commission of allowing the political agenda of the BJP to dictate its recommendations. The PADG had last week announced that it would hold a protest sit-in at Srinagar on January 1 against the draft proposals as these were totally unacceptable to it and the people.

Early on Saturday, the police blocked the entrances to the homes of the key PAGD leaders including Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti by placing their bunker vehicles there. CPIM leader and chief spokesman of the PAGD Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said over the phone that he and other alliance leaders were informed verbally by the police officials that they cannot come out of their homes.

NC vice-president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted,  Good morning & welcome to 2022. A new year with the same J&K police illegally locking people in their homes & an administration so terrified of normal democratic activity. Trucks parked outside our gates to scuttle the peaceful @JKPAG sit-in protest. Some things never change.

After the PAGD activists led by the NC youth leader and former Srinagar Mayor Salman Sagar led a protest demonstration at the City centre, Abdullah wrote on micro-blogging site Well done to my @JKNC_ & @YNCJK colleagues for managing to come out & register our protest about all that is being done to disempower the people.

PDP president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti tweeted, Government of India trumpets scrapping Article 370 & dismembering J&K throughout the country but is deeply paranoid & intolerant when people of J&K want to protest against its disempowerment. For the umpteenth time, weve been placed under house arrest for trying to organise a peaceful protest.

The Delimitation Commission set up on March 6, 2020 by a law ministry notification was initially asked to examine the issue of redrawing the LoK Sabha and Assembly constitutions simultaneously in J&K, Assam and some other North-East states. But later, when the commission had already laid the groundwork to start the delimitation exercise in these states, the government excluded Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland from its purview for the time being, raising many eyebrows in J&K and beyond. The Centre also extended its term by one-year in March 2021.

The Commission had said in July last year that the responsibility assigned to it was somewhat convoluted and not merely a mathematical game. It, however, assured that the exercise it has taken up will be very transparent and had asked the people, political parties, and other stakeholders in the Union Territory (UT) to thrust aside all their fears and apprehensions.

It had also announced that the delimitation will be conducted based on the 2011 census and the final draft prepared after taking all demands and recommendations into account. Also, the final draft will be put in public domain for objections and debate, it had assured.
Dharam Sansad was held at Ved Niketan Dham in Haridwar for three days from December 16 to 19. (Photo: Screengrab)

Haridwar: A five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted to probe the case of alleged hate speech delivered during 'Dharma Sansad' held in Haridwar.

Garhwal Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Karan Singh Nagnyal said, "A 5-member SIT has been constituted under an SP-level officer to probe the matter of the Dharma Sansad hate speech case in Haridwar. Legal action to be taken against those found guilty."

Meanwhile, the Haridwar Police have added the names of Hindu leaders Yeti Narasimhanand and Sagar Sindhuraj in an FIR in connection with the case of alleged hate speech.

"On the basis of the viral video clip, two more names, Sagar Sindhu Maharaj and Yati Narsinghanand Giri have been added to the FIR in the Dharma Sansad hate speech case, upon further investigation. Section 295A has been included in the FIR," said Ashok Kumar, Director-General of Police, Uttarakhand.

Earlier, the police had informed that Dharm Das, Annapurna, Wasim Rizvi aka Jitendra Tyagi, and some others have been booked under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code in the case.

After going through the clips, police have also added Section 295 (destruction, damage, or defilement of a place of worship or an object held sacred, with intent to insult the religion of a class of persons) of the Indian Penal Code to the FIR. The Dharma Sansad in Haridwar was held on December 17-19.

Uttarakhand Police registered an FIR against Rizvi, who was the former chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Central Shia Waqf Board, under Section 153A of the IPC (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) related to the statements made at the event.

It is pertinent to note that After Rizvi was "expelled" from Islam, the former Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board Chairperson converted to Hinduism last month.

The addition of names to the FIR came to light after videos of Hindu leaders making provocative speeches and inciting violence against minority communities surfaced on social media. The speech was broadcast live on Facebook.
VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh government has hiked the social security pensions by way of a New Year gift on Saturday. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the increased pension disbursement programme and celebrated New Year with a set of beneficiaries at Prathipadu in the Guntur district.

The Chief Minister said the social security pension had been increased to Rs 2,250 by his government after the YSRC came to power, fulfilling an election promise. Now, the government has increased the pension to Rs 2,500 as a New Year gift, the CM said.

The Chief Minister said the Opposition is trying to create hurdles in the way of every welfare and development programme in the state, if only to spite the government. He released Rs 1,570 crore for January towards disbursement of the enhanced pension at Rs 2,500 per beneficiary under the YSR Pension Kanuka.

The Chief Minister said there were a lot of people who criticise the government even when it does good things. They do so even when we provide financial support to those who couldnt earn a living. He recalled how the Opposition went to court against the house site distribution in Amaravati, citing 'demographic Imbalance', although they were demanding that it be made as a sole state capital.

He said that such critics were also objecting to the OTS scheme, out of jealousy, as it enabled the poor to gain full rights on their houses. Terming the Opposition as anti-poor, the Chief Minister said the Opposition also politicises the introduction of English medium, distribution of house sites for the poor, and even the price regulation on cinema tickets.

The Chief Minister said that almost every promise that his party had made in the election manifesto was being fulfilled in the last 30 months. There has been door-step delivery of pensions to over 62 lakh people, each of them getting Rs 2,250 so far every month.

Drawing a comparison between the present YSRC government and the previous TD rule, Jagan Mohan Reddy said that during the TD rule, pensions were provided to only 39 lakh beneficiaries, at the rate of Rs 1,000 each, the monthly expenditure being Rs 400 crore. The YSRC raised the pension to Rs 2,250 soon after forming the government and has been door-delivering this to about 62 lakh beneficiaries at a cost Rs 1450 crore to the exchequer every month. He said with the fresh enhancement to Rs 2500, the monthly expenditure goes up to Rs 1,570 crore.

Besides providing social security pensions to older people, widows and the disabled, the government is also giving pensions to patients who are suffering from critical illnesses. Andhra Pradesh is the only state to come up with such an initiative. On YSR Pension Kanuka alone, the government had spent over Rs 45,000 crore, since its inception, without any cuttings or any corruption, the chief minister said and said the government has added over 18.44 lakh fresh beneficiaries.

In case of any difficulty in receiving pensions, the Chief Minister said the people should contact the village/ward secretariats or volunteers immediately or call the toll-free number 1902 for help, the Chief Minister said.
The minister said it has also come to notice that there was a scam in getting garbage vehicles on contract. (Photo: DC/File)

Coimbatore: Tamil Nadu government would investigate into the reported irregularities in the purchase of garbage bins and vehicles for the City Corporation on a contract basis, the State Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji said here on Sunday.

Replying to a question on reports that Rs. 44 crore has been swindled in the procurement of trash cans, he said it has also come to notice that there was a scam in getting garbage vehicles on contract.

The government would probe into the issue and take action against the guilty, he said.

On electricity meters for farmers, he said the 4.52 lakh farmers getting free electricity and have not had a meter for the last 20 years would get the device this year.
HYDERABAD: An Arbitral Tribunal has found fault with the Royal Western India Turf Club Ltd (RWITC), the licensed club to operate horse racing in Mumbai

and Pune for breach of agreement with the caterers of the Turf Club in Pune.

The Tribunal, appointed by the High Court of Bombay, under the chairmanship of Justice Mohit S. Shah, directed RWITC to pay an award amount of Rs 82,77,000 to the firm named 18 Degrees North Ltd, Pune which came forward in 2015 to run the Specialty Restaurant at Victoria room and permit room.

The contract was terminated in 2016, as even after a years wait, the Turf Club could not obtain permissions and licences to run the two.

Reasoning that having only catering services was economically ill-advised, representatives of 18 Degrees North firm, Smitha Chinoy and Ratan Dinshaw Chinoy terminated the agreement.

This led the Turf Club to claim around Rs 1.15 crore from the catering firm towards overheads like electricity charges, water bill, staff salaries, fees, among other clauses.

In a counter, the catering firm claimed Rs 1.93 crore, which included deposits

of security and earnest money deposits.

It also claimed 16 per cent annual interest for the said amount with effect from 2016.

Following the dispute, the High Court of Bombay referred the matter to the Arbitral Tribunal.

After hearing both contentions, Justice Shah passed an award on December 22, in which he rejected the claims of Royal Western India Turf Club Ltd and partly allowed those of 18 Degrees North by allowing to the extent of Rs 82.77 lakh with 10 per cent compound interest from the date of the award to the settlement.

Meanwhile, the Turf Club was also directed to pay Rs 10 lakh to the firm

as costs for arbitral proceedings.

The award amount must be paid within three months from the date of when the award was passed, he said.
He said the state government was dumb and deaf to the genuine concerns of teachers and government employees with regard to transfers.  DC Image

HYDERABAD: BJP state chief Bandi Sanjay will observe Jagaran, a keeping awake stir at night, in support of teachers and employees protesting against the GO-317 relating to transfers of government employees in the state.

The Jagaran will start from 9pm on January 2 and end at 5am on January 3 in Karimnagar.

Goshamahal MLA Raja Singh said in a statement that the government is sending transfer alerts to employees through short message service (SMS) and via WhatsApp messages, and robbing them of their sleep.

He said the state government was dumb and deaf to the genuine concerns of teachers and government employees with regard to transfers. GO-317 which was against the presidential order was hanging like a Damocles Sword over the employees, he said.

The Jagaran initiative taken by Bandi Sanjay will herald a new chapter in its fight against the state governments indifferent policies, Raja Singh said.
Washington: BlackBerry has announced that it will discontinue offering significant services for its existing devices in 2022.

As per Mashable, from January 4, the business's smartphones will be without provisioning services.

It will be unable to connect to networks, including the mobile phone network, as a result of this.

A few years back, BlackBerry's keyboard-centric designs had led to high demand, especially among business workers who relied on BlackBerry services that provide a high degree of confidentiality and anonymity.

BlackBerry may not do much as smartphones continue to change with the introduction of the first touchscreen phone. Although Android phones - which at one time resembled inexpensive BlackBerry knockoffs - shifted their focus to touch screen interface, the introduction of the first iPhone shook up the industry.

BlackBerry, on the other hand, was caught off guard. It disputed that on-screen keyboards were rising in popularity and instead relied on the services that businesspeople were realistically reliant on.

As a result, it took at least a year for the company to release the first-ever touchscreen phone. BlackBerry, which is now a minor competitor in the market, has opted to abandon its very own services in favour of Android.

BlackBerry realised it couldn't maintain up with the industry and exited the hardware sector after a few phones that were undeniably attractive and lured some users. It sold the BlackBerry-branded license to a few manufacturers but maintained the corporate security services.

According to Mashable, this means that the business will continue to support older BlackBerrys running its proprietary software. These are, however, ancient phones.

Because the latest software update of BlackBerry OS was published in 2013, shutting it down won't have a significant impact.

It's difficult to believe that some individuals are still using ancient BlackBerry phones. BlackBerry, on the other hand, is ready to say goodbye if there are still some users. BlackBerry has stated on its FAQ website that it would no longer respond to provisioning updates to its handsets.

Those devices would no longer be capable of connecting to Wi-Fi or cellular networks as a result of this. These gadgets will eventually stop working and will no longer offer "data, texts and calls, SMS, and 911 capabilities." On January 4, BlackBerry World and BlackBerry Link will be decommissioned.

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Scientists will unwrap Pharaoh Amenhotep's mummy in modern times without the use of invasive means on the ancient king this frailty of the remains was in danger of getting damaged.

Amenhotep I is the only mummy discovered during the 19th and 20th centuries already opened for study. He is the only pharaonic mummy who has not been open yet due to the challenges in keeping the body intact during the examination.

Pharaoh perfect mummified remains

According to experts, the ancient remains had perfect wrappings with a flower garland. The face to the neck was concealed fancy stone and a lifelike facemask worn by the Egyptian king, according to Phys Org.

Egyptologists used the technology called three-dimensional CT (computed tomography) to allow a non-invasive means to see his face and examine its contents finally. The findings were published in Frontiers in Medicine.

The coffin has been shut for thirty centuries, and only in modern time is the lid lifted off it. In the 11th century BCE, about four centuries after the first sealing.

Priests refurbished and interred royal mummies during previous dynasties during the latter part of the 21st dynasty to restore harm inflicted from grave robbers, according to hieroglyphics. Incursions by common folk into the royal tombs were a common sight.

Dr. Sahar Saleem from the Cairo University, the first author and X-ray specialist of the Egyptian Mummy Project, mentioned that Pharaoh Amenhotep's mummy is the first time that anyone in the present day can see the image of a long-dead ruler.

Read Also: Archaeologists Discover Rare Egyptian Artifacts: Over 300 Rock-Cut Tombs of Akhmim Leaders

The purpose is not only to see how the process of mummification was done but to see how the process was repeated hundreds of years after death, by Amun High Priests, cited Live Science.

Adding to the digitally unearthing of the layers, from the facemask, coverings, and the remains of Amenhotep. One goal is to finally see all the details of the intact remains of the great Pharaoh.

Study couldn't justify Pharaoh's cause of death

The Pharaoh was about 35 when he passed away, based on the research. He is estimated to be 169 centimeters tall, circumcised, with good teeth. Discovered in his wrapping were 30 amulets and a golden girdle adorned with gold beads.

They describe Amenhotep I had looked like his father, possessing a narrow chin, smallish narrow nose, and slightly thrusting upper teeth.

Dr. Saleem remarked that the remains were free from injury or deformities caused by sickness that could explain the Pharaoh died. Grave robbers did damage soon after the first burial. Intestines were removed from the embalmed body, except his brain and heart were not.

She and Dr. Zahi Hawass had stated how, in the 11th century, the tools for burial were used for other pharaohs. But their idea is disproven by them.

The Amun priests had fixed the injuries caused by the grave robbers' injuries to restore the mummy to its former magnificence.

Hawass and Saleem examined about 40 royal mummies from the New Kingdom in the Egyptian Antiquity Ministry Project from 2005. Of the twenty-two mummies with Amenhotep I included was sent to a new museum in Cairo in 2021. The two showed the use of CT imaging is beneficial for the studies of ancient mummies.

Pharaoh Amenhotep's mummy has been seen thoroughly by the eyes of technology to see what traditional tools would have damaged. New tools like CT imaging is less intrusive and preserve relics better.

Related Article: Stele Dating Back 2,600 Years Tells of a Pharaoh Who Was Murdered by His Subjects

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to reveal how he chose Ashok Elluswamy from India to work as an autopilot team director at his electric vehicle company.

Elluswamy was actually the first employee to be hired for Tesla's Autopilot team, with Musk actually using Twitter to ask people to apply for the role back in 2015.

"I tweeted that Tesla is about to launch an auto pilot team. Through that tweet, Ashok was the first to be selected in the auto pilot team," Musk said in a tweet.

Ashok was the first person recruited from my tweet saying that Tesla is starting an Autopilot team!  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 29, 2021

Before joining Tesla, he has worked with WABCO Vehicle Control System and has interned with Volkswagon Electronic Research Lab.

He holds a bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the College of Engineering Guindy, Chennai and a Master's degree in Robotics System Development from Carnegie Mellon University.

Also read: Top US lawmakers take a dig at Elon Musk for bragging about paying $11 billion in taxes

As per a LinkedIn endorsement from Elluswamy's professor at CMU, John Dalon, he was one of the top students and showed initiative in learning a wide variety of topics.

Recently, Musk tweeted that he is hiring Artificial Intelligence (AI) engineers who are passionate about solving day-to-day problems through AI.

"As always, Tesla is looking for hardcore AI engineers who care about solving problems that directly affect people's lives in a major way," Musk tweeted along with a link to apply for the job.

Interested candidates can apply by filling in fields like name, email, exceptional work done in software, hardware or AI, dropping their resume in the PDF format and hitting the Apply option.

In a 2014 interview, Musk said he looked for "evidence of exceptional ability" in a potential employee, rather than a degree from a prestigious university.

"There is no need even to have a college degree at all, or even high school," Musk said during an interview with the German automotive publication Auto Bild about his hiring preferences more broadly.

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By 2025, 5G networks are expected to cover one-third of the worlds population, and South Korea, China and the US are the countries which would lead the world in developing and deploying 5G technology. Will India be finally able to join the global 5G bandwagon this year?

Reports surfaced late last month that 5G spectrum may finally see the light of the day in 2022. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has reportedly informed the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that it is likely to submit 5G pricing recommendations in March. It means that if things go as planned, the country can witness 5G auction in July-August.

Despite the buzz around 5G, telecom companies, along with private players, are only conducting 5G trials in the country.

Bharti Airtel has successfully conducted India's first 5G trial in the 700 MHz band in partnership with Nokia, on the outskirts of Kolkata. Earlier last year, Airtel demonstrated India's first 5G experience over a live 4G network. It also demonstrated India's first rural 5G trial as well as the first Cloud gaming experience on 5G.

Also Read | Metros, select cities to see launch of 5G services in 2022: Department of Telecom

Reliance Jio is another leading player in the field of 5G testing technology. The company has successfully conducted trials of connected drones on its indigenous 5G network.

According to Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), India must complete the migration from 2G to 4G to 5G at the earliest and the rollout of 5G should be India's national priority.

Jio has developed a 100 per cent home-grown and comprehensive 5G solution, which is fully Cloud native and digitally managed.

"Because of its converged, future-proof architecture, Jio's network could be quickly and seamlessly upgraded from 4G to 5G," according to Ambani.

Nokia and Vodafone Idea have also partnered to trial 5G services using E-band in areas where fibre is challenging to deploy.

Vodafone Idea is currently conducting 5G trials in India using the trial spectrum in the 3.3GHz-3.6GHz band and mmWave band (24.25GHz-28.5GHz). Earlier, Vodafone Idea had achieved peak speed of over 3.7 Gbps during its 5G trials in Pune.

The DoT had approved applications of Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and MTNL for 5G trials.

Also Read | 5G roll-out to drive mobile gaming in India in 2022

The 5G technology will represent around 39 per cent of mobile subscriptions in India at the end of 2027, estimated at about 500 million subscriptions, says a latest Ericsson report.

According to Viswanath Ramaswamy, Vice President, Technology, IBM Technology Sales, IBM India/South Asia, 5G offers enormous potential to advance industries across streaming, communications, advanced robotics and manufacturing.

"However given the complexity of telecom networks today, it is clear that the tools, systems and methods need to be orchestrated for the network of tomorrow," he said.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to quickly enable changes in the network that optimise network performance and reliability by applying Machine Learning, helping "Communications services providers (CSPs) deliver on the promise of 5G by providing faster customer experiences," Ramaswamy added.

India being a 'mobile first' country, cellular internet is central to every person's digital lives as they communicate, consume and create content, commerce and connect with the community.

"As smartphone users mature, they use devices more and more for creating 4K/8K videos, clicking high-resolution 108MP+ photos, streaming HD content and conducting video conferencing calls. The higher bandwidth and higher capacity technology such as 5G, thus, becomes the cornerstone to enable these advanced experiences," Neil Shah, Vice President, Research, at Counterpoint, told IANS.

Several smartphone players have also started testing 5G in India and globally.

OPPO in November 2021 announced that it has successfully conducted its first VoNR (Voice/Video on New Radio) call from its Hyderabad 5G lab.

The 5G VoNR calls were made using the latest Reno6 series smartphone and an end-to-end 5G Standalone (SA) network powered by Keysight test solutions at the Hyderabad 5G Innovation lab of OPPO.

OnePlus has announced that the company is investing almost $30 million to scale up 5G research and development labs to take 5G technology to more users worldwide.

Technology services major Capgemini has also bolstered its collaboration with Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson to accelerate the deployment of 5G solutions via its 5G lab in Mumbai.

The bigger benefit 5G can bring is beyond personal transformation, "Which is enterprise and social transformation with excess capacity, lower latencies and higher throughputs with use-cases such as Private Networks and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) Broadband, bridging the digital divide," Shah added.

In India, an affordable 5G for the masses may take a longer time to happen, but the country must take the first step towards it this year, so that it catches up with the world on 5G fast.

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The state government will soon come up with "tougher" measures to curb Covid infections in Bengaluru but may have to resort to a lockdown if people do not cooperate, Revenue Minister R Ashoka said on Sunday.

Speaking to media persons after a meeting held by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, he said the government will revise the rules within the next few days. "The chief minister will hold a meeting a few days ahead of January 7, when the night curfew ends, to decide on tougher rules. The expert committee (Technical Advisory Committee) will brief the chief minister on the measures needed to be taken. Whatever restrictions they suggest will be implemented without making any changes," he said.

Also Read | Apartment complexes account for 80% of Covid cases in Bengaluru: BBMP

Ashoka said that stricter measures were necessary as Bengaluru was among the places classified as 'red zone' by the Union government. "A situation has developed where the third wave seems imminent at any time. Bengaluru is one of the red zones declared by the Centre. Therefore, alerting Bengaluru is very important. We believe additional restrictions will help reduce the cases and number of hospitalisations," he added.

Besides the restrictions, the minister said the government will also make preparations to face the rising cases. Referring to the high number of fatalities, he said: "We know what happened in the second wave in the country and the world. Therefore, we will ensure there are no shortcomings in arranging bed facilities, oxygen facilities, medicine."

The minister said West Bengal was going for a (partial) lockdown and Delhi and Maharashtra were also facing a similar situation. "We request the public to cooperate with the tougher rules, failing which we may have to resort to the lockdown," he added.

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Actor Prabhas, the face of the Baahubali franchise, had a relatively quiet 2021 as his eagerly-awaited movie Radhe Shyam failed to keep its date with the audience due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He, however, remained in the limelight as he signed quite a few high-profile movies. Based on what we know about his upcoming projects, here is a look at his likely strategy to consolidate his standing in 2022.

Also read | No change in 'Radhe Shyam' release date despite increase in Covid-19 cases

Mixing it up

Prabhas garnered attention with his work in the 2010 release Darling, which featured him in the role of a heartthrob. The film revolved around the love story of two childhood friends and catered to a family audience. The actor, who played a 'massy' role in his last release Saaho, is set to turn lover boy again with Radhe Shyam, a grand love story about the 'flirtationship' between the protagonist and his 'Juliet'.

Post Radhe Shyam, he will play a larger-than-life character in Adipurush, an adaptation of the Ramayana. He will subsequently be turning action hero in Salar, a actioner about the life of a 'violent man'. He also has the fantasy drama Project K and Spirit in his kitty. He clearly is open to experimenting with his reel image by doing films that belong to different genres.

Ready to back 'Gen Y' filmmakers

Prabhas surprised fans when teamed up with one-film-old Sujeeth for Saaho even before Baahubali 2, directed by ace filmmaker S S Rajamouli, hit the screens. The gamble paid off as the film did well in the Hindi belt. He is set to repeat the formula as his upcoming films Radhe Shyam and Project K are directed by relative newcomers Radha Krisha Kumar and Nag Ashwin, respectively, Adipurush (Om Raut), Salaar (Prashanth Neel) and Spirit (Sandeep Vanga) too will be helmed by younger filmmakers.

Established actors leading ladies

Saaho managed to create a great deal of buzz among fans as it featured Bollywood A-lister Shraddha Kapoor as the leading lady opposite the mass hero, Prabhas, who enjoys a strong fan following in Hindi, is set to use the same formula to help Project K reach a wider audience. Nag Ashwin's magnum opus features Deepika Padukone, the star of blockbusters such as Bajirao Mastaani and Padmaavat, as the female protagonist.

Salaar and Adipurush as no exceptions on this front as they star established actors Shruti Haasan and Kriti Sanon, respectively as the leading ladies. While Pooja Hegde--who plays Prabhas' 'Juliet' in Radhe Shyam-- isn't considered to be a big draw in Bollywood, she enjoys a strong fan following in Telugu cinema.

Pan-India is the name of the game

The Baahubali franchise established the Mr Perfect hero as a pan-India star. He consolidated this image with he starred in Saaho, which was released in four languages-- Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. He is set to do justice to the 'pan-India' tag with Adipurush as the mythological saga will be shot on a budget of around Rs 300 crore and deal with the 'victory of good over evil', a universal theme. Salaar with its action sequences and Radhe Shyam with his romantic setting too are likely to appeal to fans industries. The same might apply to Project K and Spirit if their content packs a punch.
Tamil comedian Vadivelu, who was undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at the Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre (SRMC) in Porur, has recovered.

In a statement, the hospital said that the actor had recovered completely and that he was discharged in good health.

Vadivelu, who was screened at the Chennai airport on his return from London, tested positive for the virus.

Also read | Tamil actor Vadivelu in hospital after testing Covid positive

The actor had gone to London along with members of his 'Naai Sekar Returns' unit for a music scoring session for the film.

Interestingly, days after actor Vadivelu tested positive for Covid-19, his film's director Suraj too tested positive and was admitted to a private hospital.
Over 200 Hindu pilgrims from India, the US and the Gulf region prayed at the 100-year-old renovated Maharaja Paramhans Ji mandir in Pakistan on Saturday amidst tight security, a year after the temple was demolished by a mob belonging to a radical Islamist party.

The delegation of Hindus consisted of nearly 200 devotees from India, 15 from Dubai, the rest from the US and other Gulf states.

The temple and 'samadhi' of Paramhans Ji in Karak districts Teri village of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa underwent extensive repair last year after it was demolished by an angry mob in 2020, an incident that was condemned globally.

The Indian pilgrims crossed over through the Wagah Border near Lahore, and were escorted to the temple by armed personnel, officials said.

The programme has been organised by the Pakistani Hindu Council in collaboration with the national carrier Pakistan International Airlines.

On the day, the funerary monument and Teri village at large was fortified with 600 men from the Rangers, Intelligence and Airport Security Force keeping guard, led by a Superintendent of Police-rank officer.

The rituals took place until Sunday afternoon, Hindu Council officials said.

'Hujras' or open-air reception rooms were converted into shelters for the pilgrims.

The markets near the temple were seen buzzing with tourists and the children from the Hindu contingent were photographed playing cricket with the local kids.

Rohit Kumar, in-charge of legal affairs at Hindu Community commended the Pakistan government for the arrangements and the repair works.

"Today's prayers at the mandir by yatris from India is a positive message for India, for promoting peace and religious harmony in the region," he said.

The Pakistan Hindu Council has promoted the initiative under the aegis of faith tourism.

Maharaaj Paramhans Ji died at Teri village in 1919.

Some members of the radical Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) had vandalised the 'samadhi' on December 30, 2020. The temple had also been demolished in 1997.

The provincial government renovated it after Rs 3.3 crore was recovered from the JUI-F mob.

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Plastic bags containing raw beef were hung on the doors of three Hindu temples and a house in Gendukuri village of Bangladesh's Hatibandha Upazila.

Dilip Kumar Singh, President of the Hatibandha Upazila Puja Udjapan Parishad told IANS that the bags were found on Friday night on the doors of the Gendukuri Camp Para Sri Sri Radha Govinda Mandir, Gendukuri Kuthipara Kali Mandir, Gendukuri Battala Kali Mandir and in the house of one Monindranath Barman.

He said that four complaints have been filed at Hatibandha Police Station.

Also Read  In Kerala tribal hamlet, Sangh Parivar latches on to beef eating restriction to push own ideology

Hatibandha Police Station officer-in-charge Ershadul Alam told IANS that they are investigating the incident. "All involved will be brought to book," he said on Saturday.

Local Hindus gathered at Sri Sri Radha Govinda temple in the village to protest the incident. They said their religious sentiments were hurt and that they would continue the protest until the culprits were arrested.

The locals apprised the police of the issue. After visiting the spot, Singh said: "Police have assured us that the culprits will be arrested."

He said they suspect the incident could be linked to the local union polls held on December 26.

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Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Duchess of Cornwall, and Baroness Amos are to be appointed as members of the Order of the Garter, England's oldest and most senior order of chivalry.

The former prime minister now will be known as 'Sir Tony', the BBC reported on Saturday.

The appointments are the personal choice of the Queen, who has up to 24 "knight and lady companions".

Baroness Amos, a former Labour cabinet minister, becomes the first black member of the order.

The ceremonial order, founded in 1348, is a recognition of significant public service, and made without prime ministerial advice.

Blair becomes Sir Tony from January 1, as he joins the order as a "knight companion".

"It's an immense honour," he said.

He said it had been a "great privilege" to have served as prime minister, adding: "I would like to thank all those who served alongside me, in politics, public service and all parts of our society, for their dedication and commitment to our country."

Sir Tony led his party to a landslide victory in 1997 and won two subsequent general elections. He served for 10 years before resigning and handing power to his chancellor, Gordon Brown.

Under Sir Tony's leadership, the UK joined the US-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan -- an official inquiry into the 2003 Iraq war was strongly critical of his government and UK military chiefs.

He famously referred to Diana, Princess of Wales, as the "people's princess" after her death.

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A South Korean has crossed the heavily fortified border in a rare defection to North Korea, South Korea's military said on Sunday.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it carried out a search operation after detecting the person around 5.50 am on Saturday, on the eastern side of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas.

"We've confirmed that the person crossed the Military Demarcation Line border about 7.10 am and defected to the North," the JCS said.

The JCS said it could not confirm whether the person was alive, but sent a notice to the North via a military hotline asking for protection.

The border crossing, which is illegal in South Korea, came as North Korea carries out strict anti-coronavirus measures since shutting borders in early 2020, though it has not confirmed any infections.

Also Read  Kim Jong Uns New Year resolution: More food for North Korea

A public and political uproar emerged after North Korean troops shot dead a South Korean fisheries official who went missing at sea in September 2020, for which Pyongyang blamed anti-virus rules and apologised.

Two months earlier, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared a national emergency and sealed off a border town after a North Korean defector, who he said had Covid-19 symptoms, illegally crossed the border into the North from the South.

The North's prolonged lockdowns and restrictions on interprovincial movement have also pushed the number of North Korean defectors arriving in the South to an all-time low.

Cross-border relations soured after denuclearisation negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington stalled since a failed summit in 2019.

South Korea and a US-led UN force are technically still at war with North Korea since the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

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President Joe Biden's administration announced on Saturday that it had excluded Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea from a US-Africa trade agreement, saying the actions of the three governments violated its principles.

"The United States today terminated Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea from the AGOA trade preference program due to actions taken by each of their governments in violation of the AGOA Statute," the US Trade Representative (USTR) said in a statement.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) was put in place in 2000 under the administration of former president Bill Clinton to facilitate and regulate trade between the United States and Africa.

But the United States is "deeply concerned by the unconstitutional change in governments in both Guinea and Mali," the statement said.

It also voiced concern about "gross violations of internationally recognized human rights being perpetrated by the government of Ethiopia and other parties amid the widening conflict in northern Ethiopia."

"Each country has clear benchmarks for a pathway toward reinstatement and the administration will work with their governments to achieve that objective," the USTR said.

Under the AGOA agreement, thousands of African products can benefit from reduced import taxes, subject to conditions being met regarding human rights, good governance and worker protection, as well as not applying a customs ban on American products on their territory.

By 2020, 38 countries were eligible for AGOA, according to the USTR website.

The agreement was modernized in 2015 by the US Congress, which also extended the programme until 2025.

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The 2024 presidential election is still three years away, but several names from the Democratic and Republican parties have already been thrown around in the news.

Joe Biden, a Democrat, recently expressed his plans to run for re-election. Donald Trump, who was Biden's opponent in the 2020 election, has also dropped clues that he will run in 2024.

But other than Biden and Trump, there are other names that are in the running for the top job in the United States.

Possible Democratic nominees revealed

Kamala Harris is one of the top bets to run for president in the 2024 election. This isn't necessarily new because it's common for vice presidents to run for president eventually. A similar thing happened with Biden, who was Barack Obama's vice president years ago.

Pete Buttigieg has also been receiving a huge amount of support from Democrats. The former Indiana governor previously said that he doesn't plan to go head-to-head with Harris if the latter decides to run in 2024.

Buttigieg also responded to rumors that there was an ongoing rift between him and Harris after Biden approved his infrastructure bill.

Read Also: Joe Biden Says He Will Run Against Donald Trump in the 2024 Election If Ex-POTUS Campaigns

"[S]he and I are part of a team that is disciplined and doesn't focus on what's obsessing the commentators. We're too busy with a job to do. There's no room to get caught up in the parlor games, and I'm proud to be part of the Biden-Harris team. [We are] laser-focused on getting the job done," he said via The Independent.

Other Democratic Party possible nominees include Elizabeth Warren, a senator from Massachusetts, Amy Klobuchar, a senator from Minnesota, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and more, according to CNN.

Possible Republican party nominees teased

Ron DeSantis is one of the top Republicans that can go against Trump if the latter decides not to run for re-election. But the Florida governor recently slammed reports that he will run for president in 2024. DeSantis said that he's focused on his re-election campaign for 2022.

Former Vice President Mike Pence could also be in the running for president in the 2024 election. Pence served as VP for Trump.

Pence recently told his supporters that by 2023, his entire family would reflect whether running for the top job is the right thing to do, according to The Hill.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie could also surprise Republicans and announce his plans to run for president. Christie was once a Trump ally, but he has since been taking jabs at Trump.

Other Republican names that have been making rounds in recent weeks include former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, and more.

The next presidential election will take place on Nov. 5, 2024. And the winner will be declared a few days later.

Related Article: Kamala Harris vs. Pete Buttigieg: Transportation Secretary Denies Claims of Rift, Says They Are a Team

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
US President Joe Biden and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky are due to speak by phone on Sunday amid growing fears that a Russian military buildup near the border with its pro-Western neighbor heralds an invasion.

The show of US support for Ukraine comes days after Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin of severe consequences if Moscow invades the former Soviet country.

Using some of his most direct language yet, Biden said Friday, "I'm not going to negotiate here in public, but we made it clear he cannot -- I'll emphasize, cannot -- invade Ukraine."

Also Read | US and Russia face deep differences ahead of Ukraine talks

The US leader added, in remarks to reporters during a holiday stay in Delaware, that he had "made it clear to President Putin that we will have severe sanctions, we will increase our presence in Europe, with NATO allies" if Russia invades Ukraine.

The White House said that in Sunday's call with Zelensky, Biden will "reaffirm US support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, discuss Russia's military build-up on Ukraine's borders, and review preparations for upcoming diplomatic engagements to help de-escalate the situation in the region."

Zelensky tweeted: "Look forward to talking again with @POTUS this Sunday to coordinate our steps for the sake of peace in Ukraine and security in Europe."

Washington and its European allies accuse Russia of threatening Ukraine with a new invasion.

Some 100,000 Russian troops are massed near the border of the country, where Putin already seized the Crimea region in 2014 and is accused of fomenting a pro-Russian separatist war which erupted that same year in the east.

Also Read | Putin warns Biden of complete rupture of US-Russia relationship over Ukraine

Moscow describes the troop presence as protection against the expansion of NATO, although Ukraine has not been offered membership in the military alliance.

High-ranking US and Russian officials are due to sit down on January 9 and 10 in Geneva to discuss the crisis.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Friday with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg; afterwards, Blinken urged Russia to "engage meaningfully" in the upcoming talks on the tense standoff between Moscow and Kiev.

Stoltenberg said that NATO was "united" and "prepared for dialogue."

In Thursday's call, Biden warned Putin against invading Ukraine, while the Kremlin leader said anti-Moscow sanctions would be a "colossal mistake."

After a 50-minute phone call -- their second in just over three weeks -- both presidents indicated support for further diplomacy.

Putin was "pleased" overall with the talks, foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov told reporters.

A senior US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the tone "was serious and substantive."

But there was no disguising the depth of disagreement -- or the dangerously high stakes on the fringes of eastern Europe.

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Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they killed six "armed bandits" in a shootout in the country's southeast that also left three of its members dead.

The latest clashes in Sistan-Baluchistan broke out around a hideout of the militants near a village in the centre of the province, the paramilitary force said late Saturday on its Sepah News website.

"Six bandits were killed and five others wounded," it said, while three members of the force also died. No arrests were announced.

On Friday, the Guards said they "targeted and killed the perpetrators" behind an attack that left two of their members dead on December 25 in the same province.

Sistan-Baluchistan lies on the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan and is a flashpoint of clashes with smuggling gangs as well as separatists from the Baluchi minority or extremist militant groups.

On November 18, three policemen, including a colonel, were killed and six wounded in fighting with an armed group in an area bordering Sistan-Baluchistan.

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Kim Jong Un has begun his second decade as North Koreas leader with a vow to alleviate the countrys chronic food shortages, state media reported on Saturday  a problem that he inherited from his late father 10 years ago and has yet to fix.

Kim, 37, presided over a five-day meeting of North Koreas ruling Workers Party, which drew more attention than usual because it came at the end of his first decade in power.

On Saturday, New Years Day, the Norths state media carried lengthy reports on the meeting. They mentioned no diplomatic overtures from Kim toward the United States or South Korea, and only a brief reiteration of his frequent promise to increase the Norths military power. But much space was devoted to the subject of food shortages, which many analysts see as the biggest shortcoming of Kims leadership.

One of the first promises that Kim made after inheriting power from his father, Kim Jong Il, a decade ago was that long-suffering North Koreans would never have to tighten their belt again. But that goal has remained elusive. Several months ago, Kim issued a rare warning that the North faced a tense food situation, brought about by the coronavirus pandemic and international sanctions against his nuclear weapons program.

Also Read | Kim Jong Uns decade in power: Starvation, repression and brutal rule  just like his father and grandfather

At the party meeting that ended on Friday, Kim pledged to increase the agricultural production and completely solve the food problem, specifying production goals to be attained phase by phase in the coming 10 years, the Norths Korean Central News Agency said.

But Kim did not appear to introduce any significant agricultural measures, except to forgive all cooperative farms debts to the government. He mainly repeated the partys old exhortations to farmers to use more machines, greenhouses, fertilizers and pesticides. He also said they should grasp the greatness and gratitude for the party, state and the social system and make collectivism dominate their thinking and life.

Despite his ambitions to grow North Koreas economy, Kim has never made the kind of bold, market-oriented changes that China and Vietnam put in place decades ago. Instead, he has kept the country isolated, cracking down on the influence of outside information and imposing tight control on the informal markets that many North Koreans have relied on for survival.

Kim Jong Un was never going to be a reformer by Western standards, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. He prioritizes his family interests above national security, prosperity and the rule of law, to say nothing of human rights.

When Kim came to power a decade ago at 27, many outside analysts dismissed him as an inexperienced figurehead, and some predicted that he would not last. But he quickly established his grip on power through what South Korean officials called a reign of terror, executing scores of senior officials  including his uncle, Jang Song Thaek  who were seen an obstacles to establishing a monolithic dictatorship.

Also Read | North Korea's Kim says focus on economy, food production for 2022

Under Kims rule, North Korea has become one of the very few countries that can threaten the United States with a nuclear missile. Of the six nuclear tests the North has carried out, four were under his watch.

Kims government has also tested three intercontinental ballistic missiles that it claims could deliver nuclear warheads to part or all of the United States. As the Norths nuclear threat grew in 2018 and 2019, President Donald Trump met three times with Kim, in the first summit talks between the two nations.

But North Koreans have paid a harsh price for Kims nuclear ambitions.

The United Nations imposed economic sanctions that banned all of the Norths major exports. The countrys economy shrank by 3.5 per cent in 2017 and by 4.1 per cent in 2018, according to estimates from South Koreas central bank. It recovered slightly in 2019, but then the pandemic hit, forcing the North deeper into isolation. Its economy shrank again in 2020, by 4.5 per cent.

Kims efforts to get the sanctions lifted collapsed in 2019, when his diplomacy with Trump ended with no agreement. At a Workers Party congress in January, Kim admitted that his efforts to rebuild the Norths moribund economy had failed.

There are no signs that North Korea is in danger of the kind of devastating famine that it suffered in the late 1990s. But its grain production totaled only 4.69 million tons this year, leaving a shortage of 800,000 tons, according to estimates released by South Koreas Rural Development Administration. In July, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that 16.3 million people in the North  63.1 per cent of the population  were food insecure.

In the past, North Korea has made up for its agricultural shortfalls with foreign aid and imports. But in response to the pandemic, it has rejected outside aid and shut its borders, making it harder to import fertilizers or farm equipment from neighboring China, the Norths only major trading partner and donor. Pandemic restrictions have also hurt the countrys unofficial markets, which helped circulate food.

Kims emphasis on bolstering food production indicates that North Korea will stick to his self-reliant economic policy while it copes with the pandemic, analysts say. The North has also braced for a prolonged diplomatic confrontation with Washington since Kims diplomacy with Trump collapsed.

North Korea has claimed that it had no Covid-19 cases, and it has rejected offers of millions of vaccine doses, leaving its population vulnerable to explosive outbreaks should its borders reopen. It has also rejected the Biden administrations repeated offer to resume dialogue without preconditions, insisting that Washington must first end what the North calls its hostile policy, including the sanctions and its joint military exercises with South Korea.

At the same time, North Korea has resumed missile tests since 2019, showing that it continues to develop increasingly sophisticated, nuclear-capable weaponry  Kims most valuable leverage against Washington.

During the party meeting, Kim said conditions demanded that bolstering the state defense capability be further powerfully propelled without a moments delay. He also called it a top priority to tighten loopholes in the Norths campaign against the pandemic.

His extremely cursory mention of inter-Korean relations and foreign policy indicates that North Korea was not ready to come out for contacts with South Korea or the United States in the new year, said Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute outside Seoul.

Faced with the pandemic, North Korea is expected to continue to keep its borders shut, focusing on self-reliance and conducting only the minimum of essential trade with China, Cheong said.

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Married off at seven to a man old enough to be her great-grandfather, Fatema endured rapes, beatings and starvation until she could take no more and tried to kill herself.

Through tears she recalls the beatings she received -- like the time, aged 10, she was flung against a wall and "my head crashed against a nail... I almost died".

Today the 22-year-old is living in one of the few shelters for battered women still open in Afghanistan since the Taliban's August return to power, but is fearful she could lose her place at any time.

If the refuge closes, Fatema will have nowhere to go. She has lost touch with her own family, while in-laws have vowed to kill her for dishonouring their name.

Also Read: Parents selling kids show desperation of Afghanistan

Fatema's plight is shared by millions in Afghanistan, where patriarchal tradition, poverty and a lack of education have held back women's rights for decades.

According to the United Nations, 87 per cent of Afghan women have experienced some form of physical, sexual or psychological violence.

Despite this, the country of 38 million had only 24 shelters dedicated to their care before the Taliban's return -- almost all financed by the international community and frowned upon by many locals.

Some NGOs running shelters stepped up their work long before the Taliban takeover.

The director of one organisation told AFP she began moving women away from shelters in unstable provinces in advance of the US troop withdrawal.

Some were sent back to their blood relatives in the hope they would be offered protection from vengeful in-laws. Others were sent to shelters in bigger provincial capitals.

As the Taliban onslaught continued the situation became desperate, and around 100 women were transferred to Kabul -- only for the capital to fall.

"We have to start from scratch," says the director, who asked not to be named or the organisation identified while they navigated how to operate under the new regime.

The Taliban insist their strict interpretation of the Koran provides women with rights and protection, but the reality is very different and they are slowly being squeezed out of public life.

Most secondary schools for girls are shut, women are barred from government employment apart from select specialised areas, and this week new guidelines stated they cannot undertake long journeys unless accompanied by a male relative.

There has been some glimmer of light.

Earlier this month supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada denounced forced marriage, while Suhail Shaheen -- the Taliban's would-be ambassador to the UN -- told Amnesty International that women could go to court if they were victims of violence.

The regime has not made any formal pronouncement on the future of shelters, although the refuges have not escaped their notice.

Also Read: Former Afghan president says he fled nation to save Kabul

Taliban fighters and officials have paid several visits to the one housing Fatema and around 20 other women, according to employees.

"They came in, looked at the rooms, checked there were no men," said one worker.

"They said this is not a safe place for women, that their place is at home," said another.

Still, it gave one woman hope.

"It was much better than we expected," the first worker told AFP.

Even before the Taliban takeover many women in abusive households had little recourse.

Zakia approached the Ministry of Women's Affairs -- since shut down by the Taliban -- for advice on how to escape a father-in-law who had threatened to kill her.

"They didn't even listen to me," she said, and told her that her situation was not that bad.

Mina, 17, who ran away from an abusive uncle seven years ago with her younger sister, had a similar reception.

"The ministry accused me of lying," she told AFP.

And it is not just the women seeking shelter who are vulnerable, with Amnesty International saying shelter workers also "risk violence and death".

Several staffers said they had been threatened over the phone by people claiming to be Taliban seeking the whereabouts of women who had fled their households.

Cases of abuse are likely to rise with the virtual collapse of the economy bringing soaring unemployment, a cash-flow crisis and mounting hunger.

"When the economic situation worsens, men are out of work, and cases of violence increase," one shelter worker said.

"The situation has probably worsened... services have generally decreased," said Alison Davidian, interim representative for UN Women in Afghanistan.

One of the few shelters open -- albeit discretely -- is run by Mahbouba Seraj, a pioneer in the struggle for women's rights in the country.

After being inspected by the Taliban it was "kind of left alone", she says, but her concern is now for the women trapped in abusive households who have nowhere to go.

Zakia, at least, has shelter for now -- but for how long?

"My own father said he didn't care about me," she says.

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The US Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) decision to reduce the isolation period for asymptomatic Covid-19 patients evoked a mixed bag of responses, with many social media users mocking the guidelines.

On December 27, 2021, the CDC halved the recommended isolation period for people with asymptomatic Covid-19 infections from 10 to five days, with a surge of cases causing travel chaos and threatening wider social disruption.

The agency said the new guidelines were "motivated by science," which had demonstrated that the majority of Covid-19 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally one to two days prior to the onset of symptoms.

Experts, however, have expressed concern over the absence of a testing requirement and fear that the omission could hasten the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant.

Twitteratti, on the other hand, saw it from another perspective. Following the CDC announcement, the microblogging site was flooded with a barrage of memes.

The CDC recommends not being poor.  Ahmed Ali (@MrAhmednurAli) December 29, 2021

BREAKING: CDC doubles five-second rule for dropped food  Leta McCollough Seletzky, JD (@LaSeletzky) December 28, 2021

the CDC recommends simply walking into Mordor  mx claws (@alicegoldfuss) December 29, 2021

CDC says its now okay for healthcare workers to stick forks into electrical outlets  Arjun (@california_arj) December 27, 2021

With the surge in cases driven by the Omicron variant, US President Joe Biden's administration has faced criticism for failing to prepare adequate supply of tests. People are queueing up at malls and around city blocks, sometimes for hours, to get tested.

Another concern voiced by epidemiologists is that the new recommendation fails to distinguish between vaccinated and unvaccinated people, who recover from the virus at different times.

"Vaccinated people are much less likely to get infected and less likely to be infectious for a long period of time," said Aaron Caroll, a pediatrician at Indiana University.

(With agency inputs)

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Akali Dal supremo and five-time Punjab Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, on Sunday warned against "dangerous conspiracies" to install "government stooges" in sacred Gurdhams.

"Devious conspiracies are at work to weaken the Khalsa Panth and dilute its separate and unique religious identity. Our sacred Gurdhams and their unique religious ideology are being targeted. The 'qaum' (community) will have to guard against attempts by powerful agencies to create dissensions, disunity and mutual distrust within the community."

The elder Badal was addressing a Panthic gathering at Manji Sahib Diwan Hall in Sri Harmandar Sahib Complex here to protest the painful incidents of sacrilege, including the outrage at the sanctum sanctorum of Shri Harmandar Sahib.

Badal also warned against the "dangerous conspiracy to put Punjab on flames again through communal polarisation".

Read | SAD accuses BJP of bid to take control of Delhi gurdwara panel

"The hard-earned atmosphere of peace and communal harmony is being put to torch by powers that be. They will finally blame the flames on Punjabis themselves in a repeat of 1980s and 1990s simply to further vested petty political interests," he said during the 'panthic ikath' which demanded a probe into the recent sacrilege incidents by a sitting high court judge.

In his remarks, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal said the Congress had done politics on the issue of sacrilege for five years and did nothing to nab those behind this heinous act.

He said now again a conspiracy was afoot to spoil the peace of the state and create divisions in society for political motives alone.

He said despite nabbing culprits who had committed sacrileges at Sri Anandpur Sahib on September 13 and at Sri Darbar Sahib on December 15, both last year, the government had done nothing to uncover the conspiracy behind the two incidents.

He said even in the case of the Sri Harmandar Sahib sacrilege, no attempt was made to identify the accused till now.

Asking the people how they could expect justice from the Congress which had rolled tanks and guns into Sri Darbar Sahib and had carried out "genocide" against the Sikh community in 1984, the junior Badal said: "It is of utmost importance to strengthen the 'panth' as well as its representative party -- the SAD."

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The West Bengal government on Sunday said that it would restrict flights from New Delhi and Mumbai, the two cities witnessing the largest surge in Covid-19 infections in recent weeks, to just twice a week in a measure to combat the spread of the pandemic in the state.

Travel agents believe this will cause a spike in air fares besides placing many fliers' travel plans in jeopardy.

West Bengal chief secretary HK Dwivedi said that starting January 5 flights from these two metros will be allowed only on Mondays and Fridays till a decision is taken after reviewing the pandemic situation.

The top state bureaucrat also said that from Monday the government has decided to temporarily suspend direct flights from the UK where Omicron variant of the coronavirus is creating new records infecting thousands, as a part of its restriction programmes.

Also read | West Bengal announces new Covid curbs: Schools to remain shut, 50% occupancy at offices from Jan 3

"Flights from New Delhi and Mumbai will ply only twice a week. As a part of the restrictions, flights from these two places will be allowed to come to Bengal only on Mondays and Fridays," Dwivedi said while holding a virtual press conference on Sunday.

Dwivedi said that rapid antigen tests have been made "mandatory" for passengers coming from non-at risk countries. "We have temporarily suspended flights from the UK. And for passengers coming from other non-risk countries, we have made rapid antigen tests mandatory. If found positive then the concerned person will have to undergo RTPCR tests. This will come into force from tomorrow," he said.

The Bengal government had on Thursday sent a letter to the union aviation ministry regarding its decision on temporarily suspending direct flights from the UK. Calcutta has only one, once a week flight connection with the UK which is operated by Air India.

Travel agents said the sudden decision would mean a spike in ticket prices.

Krishna Ghosh, director of a Delhi-based travel firm GlobeAir, said "prices on the Delhi-Calcutta route average about Rs 6,000 one way now, this is sure to escalate to over Rs 10,000 one way."

Eastern India Chairman of Travel Agents of India (TAFI) Anil Punjabi said the government should bring in testing of all domestic sector passengers on arrival.

Airport officials, who did not wish to be named, said the government's decision would only add to the woes of the passengers planning to fly to the state from these two metropolises. "It will be a problem for all those passengers who already have their tickets to come to Bengal from New Delhi and Mumbai. Either they have to take another route to come here or reschedule their itinerary," the official told PTI.

Travel agents said many of those coming to Kolkata from abroad anyway routed their flight schedules through other cities and added "domestic fliers too would follow suit."

The Chief Secretary, however, said that there is no ban on passengers from the UK to enter the state through other corridors using other means of travelling. "They can take other routes (domestic flights or trains) to come to Bengal," he said.

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Twitter was up in arms just as the new year began after anonymous accounts were seen auctioning hundreds of Muslim women through an web page on GitHub called Bulli Bai'.

"Bulli Bai", created on Github, popped up on January 1, with a number of pictures of women including journalists, social workers, students and famous personalities, accompanied by derogatory content.

While Twitterverse has been at war over toxic discourses targetting certain communities, this instance is very similar to Sulli files that surfaced in July last year.

Heres what we know about the 'Bulli Bai' controversy so far.

What happened?

"Bulli Bai" popped up on January 1, with a number of pictures of women including journalists, social workers, students and famous personalities, accompanied by derogatory content, using hosting platform GitHub. Many anonymous Twitter accounts were seen auctioning them online, an act which angered Twitterati, especially Muslim women. who called out the hatred and demanded immediate action.

"Bulli Bai" was also being promoted by a Twitter handle with the name @bullibai, with the display picture of a "Khalistani supporter", saying women can be 'booked' from the app. This handle was also promoting Khalistani content at the same time.

Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi flagged the issue on Twitter, tagging Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and demanding for strict action.

First they came using #SulliDeals now as #BulliDeals , expect cooperation from @TwitterIndia , as some accounts have been flagged, will help reach the perpetrators sooner. @GoI_MeitY @HMOIndia  Priyanka Chaturvedi (@priyankac19) January 1, 2022

For context, no arrests, however sites blocked. In the reemergence of #BulliDeals after #SulliDeals here are my letters to Hon. IT Minister. Dated 30th July&6th September 2021. Received a response on 2nd November. The clubhouse auctioning was to be my zero hour intervention. pic.twitter.com/WvltiAH77U  Priyanka Chaturvedi (@priyankac19) January 2, 2022

Mumbai cyber police took cognisance of the matter and launched a probe. They are also taking legal opinion to lodge the case under relevant section of the IPC.

GitHub confirmed blocking the user this morning itself.

CERT and Police authorities are coordinating further action. https://t.co/6yLIZTO5Ce  Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) January 1, 2022

Vaishnaw confirmed that GitHub has blocked the creator of the app on Sunday morning and police authorities are taking further action.

In July 2021, hundreds of pictures of girls and women were uploaded by an unidentified group on an app called Sulli Deals using GitHub. Sulli is supposedly an offensive term used against Muslim women. The Cyber Cell of the Delhi Police had filed an FIR in the case and sent a notice to GitHub, while the Delhi Commission for Women had ordered strict action in the case. To the disappointment of victims, no arrests were made in the case and no perpetrators have been identified so far.

Actions and reactions

Prompt police action did nothing to assuage the disgust of women who were seen on this app. Many took to Twitter to express their outrage at such acts of dehumanising Muslim women for the second time in six months.

In the #SulliDeal 2.0 more than 100 vocal Muslim women (including me) hv been auctioned online. Those filthy sick are using anon @Twitter handles and @github to dehumanise Muslim women. This time they transgressed all limits & didnt even spared Najeeb's mother. (1/3)    Khushboo Khan (@khushbookhan_) January 1, 2022

A woman whose photo was put up online with the offensive hashtag tweeted that Muslim womens year has unfortunately started with this sense of fear & disgust".

It is very sad that as a Muslim woman you have to start your new year with this sense of fear & disgust. Of course it goes without saying that I am not the only one being targeted in this new version of #sullideals. Screenshot sent by a friend this morning. Happy new year. pic.twitter.com/pHuzuRrNXR  Ismat Ara (@IsmatAraa) January 1, 2022

The women also questioned safety of women in the country and slammed Indias broken and dilapidated justice system, as nothing had come of the FIR filed in the Sulli files case, which had seen similar auctioning of women from the minority community.

There are many Muslim names,including mine,in the obnoxious #BulliDeals , same as #SulliDeals

Even Najeeb's mother has not been spared. It's a reflection on India's broken justice system, a dilapidated law n order arrangement. Are we becoming the most unsafe country for women?  Sayema (@_sayema) January 1, 2022

Twitterati also hit back at the anonymous creators saying that such acts do not lessen or intimidate them, even if these are outrageous.

It does not in any way lessen me or intimidate me

And Though I have not found my photo yet but my name is also on this list of bulli deals.

It's outrageous that we have to suffer.

I am not sharing the list because there are some who would not like it to be public. https://t.co/gMyRVxjVx8  Rana Safvi   (@iamrana) January 1, 2022

Delhi Police came under fire as haunting memories of the 'Sulli files' came rushing back to victims, still waiting for the perpetrators to be brought back to justice.

Hi @DelhiPolice. This lot already harassed me by hosting an auction of me and making disgusting lewd comments on me. I had filed an FIR in May with you, but youve done absolutely nothing. Now theyre back with this. Good job protecting women. Will you do anything now atleast? https://t.co/HvMlIIho7N  Hasiba |  |   (@HasibaAmin) January 1, 2022

Opposition leaders including Shashi Tharoor and Karti Chidambaram also slammed the anti-Muslim misogyny online.

Its high time our @DelhiPolice got cracking. Disgraceful that people of such mentality exist but if they are allowed to get away with it they will repeat the offence at the next opportunity. @HasibaAmin https://t.co/stm8wRlAqN  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) January 1, 2022

The Delhi Police has registered an FIR against unknown persons for uploading doctored photos on the site, officials said on Sunday.

A journalist had lodged an online complaint and she shared the copy of the complaint on Twitter. The case was registered at the Cyber Police station of the southeast district on Saturday night, the police said.

A senior police officer said the case has been registered under sections 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 354 A (sexual harassment and punishment for harassment) of the Indian Penal Code on the complaint of the journalist alleging that she is being targeted by an unidentified group of people on "Bulli Bai" portal.

"I was shocked to find out this morning that a website/portal called bullibai.github.io (since deleted) had a doctored picture of me in an improper, unacceptable and clearly lewd context. This needs immediate action, as the same is clearly designed to harass me and other similarly situated independent women and journalists," the woman said in the complaint.

UPDATE: A complaint has been filed by me with the Cyber Cell of Delhi Police for immediate registration of FIR and consequent action against people behind the auctioning of Muslim women on social media. #sullideals #BulliDeals @DelhiPolice pic.twitter.com/oX3ROLEgv1  Ismat Ara (@IsmatAraa) January 1, 2022

"I enclose snapshots of the said tweet directed at me herein as well as of other tweets. The term 'Bulli Bai' itself seems disrespectful and the content of this website/portal (bullibai.github.io) is clearly aimed at insulting Muslim women as the derogatory term 'Bulli' is used exclusively for Muslim women and the entire website seems to have been designed with the intent of embarrassing and insulting Muslim women," she added.

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Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday stressed that in order to become fully self-reliant in strategic domains, India needs to cut down on Defence imports and give greater thrust to R&D as well as "private collaboration".

Naidu, while inaugurating the 70th anniversary celebrations of the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) near here, said to achieve "atma-nirbhartha", India needs to allow private collaboration, wherever it is possible, with stringent quality controls.

"Our mantra should be atma-nirbharthato make India fully self-reliant in all areas, including strategic domains. For instance, we need to keep increasing our indigenous content in the Defence sector and cut down on imports. To achieve that, we need to not only give greater thrust to R & D activities, but also allow private collaboration, wherever it is possible and feasible, with stringent quality controls," Naidu said.

The Vice President virtually laid the foundation stone of the "Towed Array Integration Facility", essential for the development of towed array sonar systems, which is critical to underwater defence. The towed array sonar system is expected to enhance the Navy's capabilities to detect quieter enemy submarines underwater.

Naidu also inaugurated the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam memorial at the NPOL premises. Describing the memorial as "truly befitting", he said it will inspire countless people from all walks of life every day. Governor of Kerala Arif Mohhammed Khan, state Industries Minister P Rajeeve, Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden, Director General of Naval Systems and Materials, Samir V Kamat, Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory Director, S Vijayan Pillai, Chief Staff Officer (Training), Headquarters, Southern Naval Command, Rear Admiral T V N Prasanna and others were present during the occasion. Observing that India was strongly marching ahead on its way to becoming a global superpower in the coming decades, Naidu said our scientists from DRDO, ISRO, BARC and other leading R & D organizations were doing excellent work in strengthening the countrys security in Defence, Space and other areas.

"But it is also a fact that our country is still one of the largest importers of defence equipment. In this context, the contribution of a small lab like NPOL in empowering the nation in its defence needs is truly commendable," he noted.

Naidu hailed the country's scientists and said they were working very closely with the Indian Navy personnel, frequently sailing with them in ships and submarines in order to gain a deeper insight into their requirements and offer customized solutions.

Keeping in view the geo-political scenario in our neighbourhood, the Vice President said NPOL's role towards national security is paramount as all warships or conventional submarines in the fleet of the Indian Navy are equipped with NPOL-developed sonars. Formed in the Southern Naval Command in 1952, NPOL later became part of DRDO in 1958. It will be celebrating its 70th year of inception in 2022.

Earlier in the day, Naidu visited the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) Vikrant being constructed at Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) here. Chairman and Managing Director of the CSL, Madhu S Nair, briefed him about the yard's capabilities and strengths and it's contributions in developing indigenous technologies and creating world class capabilities.

The Indian Navy made a detailed presentation on the vessel and its capabilities.

The Vice President also visited the hangar deck and the flight deck of the vessel. Naidu returned from Lakshadweep this morning and was accompanied by his wife Usha and other family members. The Vice President also inspected a Guard of Honour by the Indian Navy.

He will attend a few programmes in Kochi and Kottayam on Monday and will fly back to New Delhi on January 3. Naidu, who reached Kerala on December 31, flew to Lakshadweep on the same day.

He attended various programmes in the island over the last two days.

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The year gone by saw the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) embarking on its avowed mission of expanding its footprints beyond Delhi with a fresh strategy even as on the home front, the party kept up its preparations for the 2022 civic polls in the national capital to wrest power from the ruling BJP.

On January 28, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal announced his party's decision to contest the assembly polls in six states - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.

The party also brought in certain amendments to its constitution to keep it in sync with its national ambitions as some of its clauses were bringing "difficulties" in the party's growth in the states, especially where it was new and being built up from the scratch.

The amendments enabled the party's state executive to appoint an interim office bearer in case of a vacancy, its MPs and MLAs become party's national council member "by default" besides being the part of the state council in their respective states.

Also Read | Will ensure good, free education to children of poor in Punjab, says AAP

Will ensure good, free education to children of poor in Punjab, says AAP Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/national/north-and-central/will-ensure-good-free-education-to-children-of-poor-in-punjab-says-aap-1066965.htmlThe changes in the AAP's constitution also allowed more than one person from a family to contest elections on the party's ticket.

The party grabbed headlines as Kejriwal and his colleagues began holding political rallies, meetings and other events in poll-bound Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Goa, promising free education, free and better healthcare services, jobs, unemployment allowance to youth, Rs 1,000 per month to women, 24x7 free electricity et al.

"It remained a very significant year for the AAP, especially from the point of view of its expansion as the party decided to contest assembly elections in six states in 2022," senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh told PTI.

All leaders and workers of the party are working "tirelessly" to ensure the AAP's victory in the upcoming elections, he said, asserting, "We are going to form our government in Punjab."

He claimed that his is receiving a "very good response" from the people in Uttar Pradesh.

"We won 83 seats in Uttar Pradesh panchayat elections (held last year), securing 40 lakh votes," he said.

Singh, who is in-charge of the AAP's political affairs in Uttar Pradesh, made headlines in 2021 as he raised various issues of corruption in Yogi Adityanath government including alleged corruption in land deals carried out for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Also Read | Goa Assembly polls: AAP to make candidates sign affidavits to avoid defections

The year 2021 also saw the AAP winning 70 seats across 13 districts in panchayat polls in Maharashtra in January, making inroads in Gujarat politics in February bagging 27 seats in the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) and emerging as the main opposition in the civic body.

A week later, the AAP emerged victorious in 42 seats in rural and semi-urban pockets of Gujarat. It won 31 seats in taluka panchayats, nine in municipalities and two district panchayat seats.

In March, the AAP won four of the five civic wards in Delhi in a by-poll after which Kejriwal asserted that the people of the national capital are desperate to bring the AAP to power in the three municipal corporations.

Towards the end of the year, the AAP became the leading party in the Chandigarh municipal corporation as it won 14 of 35 wards in the civic polls contesting them for the first time.

"Amid the prevailing situations in Punjab, we are emerging as the number one party in the state. All the surveys are showing that we are ahead of all others, we will be forming our government if elections are held tomorrow," claimed party spokesperson and co-in charge of its political affairs in Punjab Raghav Chadha.

He further claimed that the wind in Punjab is in favour of the AAP this time and that the people of the state are fed up with the Shiromani Akali Dal and the ruling Congress both due to "corruption" in their respective regimes.

While the AAP will make its electoral debut in the upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, it will join the fray for the second time in Goa, Gujarat and Punjab.

The party had lost all the seats it had contested in the assembly polls held in Goa and Gujarat in 2017 but made a surprise entry into Punjab politics winning 20 of the 112 seats that it had fought in same year and became the main Opposition party in the state.

"If we go by the current mood, I think AAP is on the way of its expansion," noted political analyst and co-director of Lokniti-CSDS Sanjay Kumar told PTI.

He said the future of the party will depend on its success in the upcoming polls and it has a "very good chance of winning" in Punjab.

"They seem to be a frontrunner in Punjab. There is no doubt about that," he asserted.

He noted that the AAP is the only regional party in the country which has support base beyond its parent state.

"In my opinion, the AAP has brighter prospects in 2022-23 till 2024 but the party needs to look for local leadership," Kumar suggested.

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US President Joe Biden lacks the state's craft to avoid getting trapped by crafty Russian President Vladimir Putin's strategical moves in the discussions about the explosive Ukraine border, with implications.

This is what ex-CIA station chief Dan Hoffman said, who hasn't 100 percent confidence that the ex-vice president could deal with the Kremlin leader.

He says that the White House allowed the discussion over the lessening of tensions as the important thing to settle the issue in their talks.

US foreign policy at stake

The ex-CIA chief stressed that the phone call was because Moscow asked for it with the president's attempt to appease the Kremlin, reported the Express UK.

Hoffman meant that it looked like that Washington was frantic to schedule the talks, not the Russian leader. Appeasement by Biden will backfire and make it more difficult.

Hoffman stated that the Russians had jumped the gun on NATO and US with a massive rollout of men and equipment to manipulate the tension on the border with Kiev. Russian then posted demands that the western alliance should comply with.

Also, how the Kremlin has manipulated the discussion is not conducive to the position of the US. Diverting the wrangling over issues tied to lessening stress is not the core concern, but it appears that way, cited Republic World.

Hoffman added if the west de-escalates, it will come at a cost if the Russian leader gets the concession, and NATO will not ever move eastward in Europe.

Read Also: Russia Redirects Gas Supplies From Poland as an Economic Transaction That Is Not Politically Motivated by the European Union

The ex-CIA man made it clear that all the actions are geared to keep Ukraine out and prevent Ukraine from deciding its fate.

Putin threatened by Ukraine joining NATO

Putin has objectives like refuting Ukraine's democratic push that is not wanted. Also, if Ukraine is allowed to exist in aspirations of becoming a democracy exists as a threat to Russia.

One claim says that the Russian leader wants to keep Kiev from becoming part of the European Union and a NATO signatory. Avoiding the influence of Ukraine's democracy that will breed opposition in Moscow.

According to CNN, both heads of state, in a 50-minute discussion last Thursday, highlighted what would be the consequences if the Russian forces steamroller into the disputed border.

Biden stated that Putin would suffer harsh sanctions if the command overrides the US and NATO-supported Kiev government.

With much bravado, the US leader told the Kremlin will be faced by NATO forces, with a price that will be paid, Biden told the press.

They agreed on three major conferences in January next year with the senior staff to search for ways to solve the border standoff. Expectations are high that something positive will come out.

But the White House is insistent on Russia in reducing the 100,000-plus troops at the border.

At one-point other points were discussed, and the US president said the US would not allow the Kremlin to do something drastic like invade the country.

Pressure has been mounted with the redeployment of troops to the border again, just as Hoffman said despite the talk between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin about the Ukraine border.

Washington is at a disadvantage in dealing effectively with the wily Russian leader who has used border issues to remind the EU and US who is in control.

Related Article: Russian Military Drills on Video Shake Up NATO as Putin Beats the War Drums on the Ukraine Border

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With the continued surged in the number of new Covid-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh, parents were now wary of sending their children back to school.

"My son's life matters to me more than his education. I have decided not to send my son to school when they reopen on January 17. We face many problems in online teaching but we will still not send our child to school," said Ruchi Arora, a young mother.

She said that her eight-year-old son who studies in Class three cannot be expected to follow Covid protocols.

"Children play with each other, share their tiffin and do not use sanitizers regularly. In fact, they wear the mask only when the teachers say so. How can we take chances in such a situation?" she asked.

Also Read | Spike of 3,100 Covid-19 cases expected today but no need to panic: Delhi CM

Parents are also concerned because most children use buses or rickshaws to go to school.

"There are multiple children in rickshaws and school buses. Sanitization is not done properly and there is no supervisor either. We cannot afford to drop and pick up the child in our car because petrol prices have gone up. The risk is therefore greater," said Sunita Kapoor, a mother of three in Prayagraj.

Most schools in the state, have now decided to continue in hybrid mode when schools reopen.

"The situation is highly unpredictable. Some parents are hoping for physical classes to prevent learning gaps while others are reluctant and want their kids to stay home," said the principal of a private school in Lucknow.

"Over the last few days, the attendance has dipped. Parents having children in 15-18 age group are eagerly waiting for the vaccination of their wards before they send them to school. We will resume online classes till the situation eases."

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Authorities intend to run annual pilgrimages to the holy cave shrine of Amarnathji in south Kashmir Himalayas this year for two months if the Covid-19 situation doesnt go out of hand this summer, according to sources.

The annual yatra was cancelled in 2020 as well as 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and only symbolic Chhari Mubarak was taken to the cave shrine by the Mahant Deependera Giri Ji and other seers. In 2019, it was cut short following intelligence inputs of terror threats ahead of the Centre scrapping Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, while in 2018, the pilgrimage was held for 60 days.

The yatra to the 3,880-metre-high holy cave shrine takes place from the twin routes of Pahalgam in south Kashmir and Baltal in Ganderbal district of central Kashmir from late June to mid-August.

In a recent meeting chaired by J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, who is also chairman of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), which manages the affairs of the yatra, it was proposed by some members that the pilgrimage should be conducted for a period of two months this year.

The proposal is likely to be accepted in the next meeting of the SASB which is expected to take place in late January. The feasibility report and cost involved for running a cable car to Amarnath shrine is also in the advanced stage, sources told DH.

Also Read  Efforts on to make annual Amarnath yatra safe for pilgrims: J&K LG

But the government will take the Covid-19 situation into consideration before taking a decision as some of the health experts have suggested that the third wave of Covid could peak in February because of the Omicron variant, they said.

Every year, lakhs of pilgrims either take the traditional and longer 45km-long Pahalgam route or the shorter 14km-long Baltal route to Amarnath, one of Hinduisms holiest shrines.

It may be recalled that since the SASB took the control of the yatra in 2001, the number of pilgrims who visited the holy cave were 1.91 lakh during that year, followed by 1.10 lakh in 2002, 1.70 lakh in 2003, four lakh in 2004, 3.88 lakh in 2005, 3.47 lakh in 2006, 2.96 lakh in 2007, 5.33 lakh in 2008, 3.81 lakh in 2009, 4.55 lakh in 2010, 6.21 lakh in 2011, 6.35 lakh in 2012 and 3.54 lakh in 2013, 3.72 lakh in 2014, 3.52 lakh in 2015, 2.21 lakh in 2016, 2.60 lakh in 2017 and 2.85 lakh in 2018.

Besides, sources said, it was also revealed in the meeting that efforts will be made to attract the pilgrims to various other religious places in Kashmir, including Mata Kheer Bhawani (Ganderbal), Mattan (Anantnag) and other temples.

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A prototype of an electric bus, to be inducted in the fleet of the DTC, has arrived after a long wait and it will be soon flagged off by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, said Delhi Transport minister Kailash Gahlot on Sunday.

The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) is procuring 300 e-buses whose delivery was due to begin in November last year. It was delayed due to various reasons, including the ongoing pandemic.

More e-buses will be inducted into the DTC in the coming months. Approximately 3,500 new electric buses will get added to the DTC and Cluster fleet according to the induction plan of the transport department, officials said.

"Congrats Delhi! After a long wait, prototype of DTC's first 100 per cent electric bus has reached Delhi! CM Arvind Kejriwal will soon flag off this electric bus," Gahlot said in a tweet.

The transport department in October had in last year floated tenders for induction of 140 low-floor, air-conditioned electric buses, aiming to strengthen the public transport fleet and check air pollution in the city.

The DTC Board has also approved the induction of 1,245 low-floor buses, including 1,015 electric buses, to augment the ageing fleet of the public transporter in the national capital, officials said.

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Unfazed by the Saturday stampede that left 12 devotees dead, people were flocking to the Mata Vaishno Devi hill shrine where authorities have deployed security personnel in full strength and are greeting pilgrims with chants of "Darshan Karo, Katra Chalo" to encourage them not to linger on after paying obeisance.

The yatra that registered a footfall of over 55.77 lakh in 2021, compared to 17 lakh the previous year due to the coronavirus pandemic, was going on smoothly, with visitors expressing satisfaction over the arrangements of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board.

Twelve people lost their lives and 16 others were injured in the stampede in the early hours of Saturday after a scuffle between two groups of pilgrims during the New Year rush. Many eyewitnesses said that there was overcrowding as people were staying back on the shrine premises after darshan instead of returning to the base camp at Katra.

Also Read | Vaishno Devi yatra continuing smoothly, 27,000 pilgrims offered prayers on Jan 1: Spokesperson

It was the first such tragedy at the revered shrine located atop the Trikuta hills in Reasi district, about 50 km from Jammu.

As we entered the sanctum sanctorum of the Mata to offer our prayers, we were greeted by the words 'Darshan Karo Katra Challo' (pay obeisance and leave for Katra) from the deployed policemen, Motiya Rani (58), a resident of Panipat in Haryana, told PTI on Sunday.

Rani, accompanied by her two sons, their wives and five grandchildren, said the yatra was going on smoothly and they did not face any problem.

I have been visiting Mata to seek her blessings on the first day of every year for many years. I reached Katra on December 31 and was scheduled to visit the shrine on Saturday but the unfortunate incident delayed our visit by a day this time, she said.

People were as usual queuing up at the registration counters, eagerly waiting for their turn to offer prayers.

Manoj Kumar (36), a resident of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, said postponing the pilgrimage never came to mind after hearing about the sad incident.

What happened yesterday (Saturday) was an unfortunate incident. We have been waiting for this day for a long time and are happy to reach here to offer our prayers and seek the blessings of the presiding deity," he said.

Also Read | Three-member panel on Vaishno Devi shrine stampede to submit report within a week

I have been here many times in the past and know this place very well. I was surprised to hear about the tragic loss in the stampede, Kumar said.

The stampede at the shrine occurred at 2.15 AM near a relatively narrow passage at gate number 3 outside the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine where devotees usually arrive round the clock after trekking for 13 km from the Katra base camp.

A high-level inquiry panel headed by Principal Secretary (Home) Shaleen Kabra, with Divisional Commissioner Jammu Rajiv Langar and Additional Director General of Police Mukesh Singh as its members, has been set up by Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Manoj Sinha and asked to submit a report within a week.

Echoing Rani, 24-year-old Shubam of Laxmi Nagar Delhi said the police and CRPF personnel are managing the yatra and are discouraging people from staying back at the cave shrine after performing darshan.

We faced no issue and the yatra is going on smoothly, Shubam, who performed the pilgrimage along with his four friends, said.

Dharamveer (54), a resident of Mumbai, said his family was also lucky to have paid obeisance at the shrine without any trouble.

We find nothing wrong with the arrangements. The pilgrims are moving in and out effortlessly. Police and CRPF personnel deployed along the route and at the cave shrine are doing a good job, Dharamveer said.

The National Green Tribunal has put a cap of 50,000 pilgrims per day and keeping in view the Covid-19 pandemic, the shrine board had allowed 35,000 pilgrims to proceed for yatra on 31st December 2021 and for 1st January 2022.

Besides enhancing the security arrangements, authorities have also deployed additional staff to ensure strict adherence of Covid-19 guidelines.

Over a dozen persons who were not carrying the mandatory Covid test report were asked to return this morning, an official manning one of the centres enroute the shrine said.

More than 27,000 pilgrims visited the cave shrine on the first day of January, while over 55.77 lakh pilgrims offered their prayers at the shrine during the last year, officials said.

Only 17 lakh pilgrims, the lowest in over three decades, visited the shrine in 2020 when the shrine, for the first time in its history, remained closed for five months due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and reopened for the pilgrims on August 16, 2020.

From 13.95 lakh in 1986 when the Board took over the affairs of the shrine for better management, there has been a steady increase of pilgrim footfalls with each passing year, touching an all-time high of 1.04 crore in 2012 against 1.01 crore the previous year (2011).

The pilgrim arrivals at the shrine touched 31.15 lakh in 1991 and reached 74.17 lakh in 2007.

However, the number dropped to 67.92 lakh in 2008 which was attributed to the two-month-long Amarnath land row agitation but again went up to 82 lakh in 2009 and 87.2 lakh the next year (2010).

The pilgrim arrivals dropped from 93.24 lakh in 2013 to 78.03 lakh in 2014 and further to 77.76 lakh in 2015 and 77.23 lakh in 2016.

It increased to 81.78 lakhs in 2017 and 85.87 lakhs in 2018 but dropped to 79.40 in 2019  the year when the central government revoked special status under Article 370 of the Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two Union Territories.

In 2021, the officials said the highest number of 7,53,561 pilgrims visited the shrine in October followed by 6,46,415 in November, 6,39,162 in September, 6,27,828 in December, 5,25,198 in March, 5,21,970 in August and 5,00,671 in July.

The lowest number of 45,155 pilgrims in 2021 visited the shrine in May, while January recorded a footfall of 4,08,061 pilgrims, February (3,89,549), April (3,21,735) and June (1,98,490).

While most of the devotees undertake the arduous trek to the shrine, some reach there by helicopter service.

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Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad and a dozen other people were detained on Sunday ahead of their plans to gherao (encircle) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's residence to seek 27 per cent reservation for the Other Backward Classes, police said.

Azad was detained at the airport upon his arrival along with 12 to 13 people, though the exact number of detainees will be known by late evening, Bhopal police commissioner Makarand Deouskar told PTI.

Denying that over 150 people were detained, he said Azad was at the airport lounge having his meal.

We have stopped around 1500 protesters and sent them back. We suspect they were going to assemble at Roshanpura square from where they were going to head for the Chief Minister's house," the commissioner added.

Meanwhile, OBC Maha Sabha national general secretary Tulsiram Patel said they were planning to give a memorandum to the CM peacefully but the local administration has detained people and the police have manhandled some of them.

"The population of OBCs in MP and India was 65 per cent and 85 per cent respectively, but they are not getting reservation according to their numbers. The Centre claims OBCs are getting 27 per cent reservation and the state says it is giving 14 per cent quota. However, OBC communities are not even getting 8 per cent reservation," he claimed.

He said the Bhim Army and tribal outfit Jai Yuva Adivasi Shakti were allies in their struggle for OBC quota.

In a tweet, MP Congress chief Kamal Nath supported the stir and said the BJP government in the state was quelling the protest by force despite claiming to be well-wishers of OBCs.

He asked OBCs, tribals and Dalits to continue the fight and promised the support of the Congress.

Hitting back, MP Urban Development Minister Bhupendra Singh said some people were playing politics in the name of OBC quota, adding that the state was trying hard to ensure they get 27 per cent reservation in the panchayat polls.

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With Covid-19 cases starting to mount in the country, the chief of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, said that there was no need for people without comorbidities to panic and urged them not to block hospital beds.

Dr Randeep Guleria, the AIIMS chief, said that the Omicron variant mainly affects the upper respiratory tract and airways, rather than the lungs even as 27,553 cases were reported on Sunday morning, according to a report by The Indian Express.

Guleria advised patients to isolate at home, citing low recovery time for the new variant. Omicron is affecting the upper respiratory tract and more of the airways, rather than the lungs. That is why we see very fewer patients with a drop in oxygen saturation or the other severe symptoms we saw in Delta. What we are seeing here is more of fever, running nose, sore throat, and a lot of body ache and headache. If any of these symptoms persist, they should come forward and get themselves tested. Because then they can isolate themselves and prevent the infection from spreading to other people in the community, he was quoted by the publication.

On Sunday, the Union Health Ministry announced the detection of 1,525 Omicron cases through genomic surveillance, of whom 560 have fully recovered.

Also Read  Explained: The role of T-cells in fighting Omicron

Guleria said that hospital beds should be left free to those who are more vulnerable to severe disease. There is no need to panic. It is important to understand that, unlike last time, this new variant doesnt cause that much of a fall in oxygen saturation. Therefore, the focus in those who dont have comorbidities should be home isolation. You should work on a home-isolation strategy, and not get into panic situations, blocking beds in hospitals, which is not required. Data also suggests that recovery happens much faster, therefore people will tend to improve faster, he told the publication.

Guleria said that the country was in a much better position at the beginning of the new year due to high levels of immunity from past exposure, as well as the extensive vaccination coverage.

It is time to be more vigilant. We are seeing a new variant in the form of Omicron, but we are in a much better position at the beginning of the new year compared to last year. That is because of multiple factors, he said.

Also Read | Does Omicron act as a 'natural vaccine'? Here's what experts say

Guleria said that a large number of people have also got immunity because of natural infection, and serosurvey data suggests high immunity in the general population. We are also better prepared in terms of facilities. Whether it is medical oxygen plants, ICU beds, ventilators. So in terms of preparation and our immune response, we are in a better position, he told the publication.

Guleria also warned that indoor events can turn super-spreaders and cause a spike. More importantly, because this is a very highly infectious variant, avoiding crowds, which can be a super spreading event, is also important. Especially, indoor events, where there is poor ventilation, can be one area where one can see a surge in cases, he was quoted as saying.

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After a woman journalist filed a complaint with the Delhi Police over webpage "Bulli Bai" aimed at demeaning Muslim women, Union Minister for Communications, Ashwini Vaishnaw said that hosting platform GitHub blocked the user behind the app.

"Bulli Bai", created on GitHub, popped up on January 1, with a number of pictures of women including journalists, social workers, students and famous personalities, accompanied by derogatory content.

Late Saturday night, quoting Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi tweet, Vaishnaw said: "GitHub confirmed blocking the user this morning itself. CERT and Police authorities are coordinating further action."

GitHub confirmed blocking the user this morning itself.

CERT and Police authorities are coordinating further action. https://t.co/6yLIZTO5Ce  Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) January 1, 2022

Citing Vaishnaw's response, Chaturvedi said: "Sir, Thank you. With due respect I had shared with you that besides blocking the platform punishing the offenders creating such sites is important.I hope @HMOIndia & @GoI_MeitY will support @MumbaiPolice to find these culprits & make them as well as platforms accountable #BulliDeals."

Quoting a woman journalist's tweet, Chaturvedi said earlier on Saturday: "I have repeatedly asked Hon. IT Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw ji to take stern action against such rampant misogyny and communal targeting of women through #sullideals like platforms. A shame that it continues to be ignored."

"It is very sad that as a Muslim woman you have to start your new year with this sense of fear & disgust. Of course it goes without saying that I am not the only one being targeted in this new version of #sullideals. Screenshot sent by a friend this morning. Happy new year," the journalist had tweeted.

I have repeatedly asked Hon. IT Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw ji to take stern action against such rampant misogyny and communal targeting of women through #sullideals like platforms. A shame that it continues to be ignored. https://t.co/Q3JLxZpNeC  Priyanka Chaturvedi (@priyankac19) January 1, 2022

"A complaint has been filed by me with the Cyber Cell of Delhi Police for immediate registration of FIR and consequent action against people behind the auctioning of Muslim women on social media."

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The suspension of a police officer in Kerala in connection with a foreigner being intercepted for carrying three liquor bottles without bills has triggered resentment among the police officials.

The incident received much attention after a video of the foreigner emptying the liquor bottles in front of the police in protest went viral on social media.

On New Year's Eve, a Swedish national Stephen Asberg running homestay at the popular tourist spot Kovalam in Thiruvananthapuram was intercepted by the police as part of routine checking. In the viral video, Asberg could be seen emptying the liquor bottles stating that he forgot to collect bills from the government-run retail outlet from which he bought the liquor.

A police official could be also seen telling Asberg that he was not asked to empty the bottle but needed to produce the bill only.

Several on social media criticised that the incident as a shame for the Kerala tourism sector.

Kerala tourism minister Mohammed Riyaz also expressed his displeasure openly, with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan seeking a report from police higher-ups. Based on the report, a grade sub-inspector, identified as T K Shaji, was placed under suspension on Saturday itself.

But the police associations conveyed strong displeasure over the action.

Police sources said that there was an instruction from higherups to be vigilant against alcohol and drug abuse on the beach during New Year celebrations as many families used to turn up at the beach. The chances of supply of spurious liquor were there. As part of it, the police asked the foreigner to produce bills for the liquor bottles.

The police personnel did not ask him to empty the bottles but was asked only to produce bills. It seems the foreign national deliberately emptied the bottle as he noticed that someone was shooting the incident. The action against police officer who was only discharging his duties was indeed demoralising the entire force, the sources said.

Kerala general education minister V Sivankutty even called on the foreigner in person to express the government's regret over the incident.

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From being confined to seven Assembly seats in its traditional stronghold of Hyderabad to now eyeing 100 seats in Uttar Pradesh, the AIMIM has come a long way during the last eight years.

The ensuing Assembly elections in India's biggest state will be crucial for not just the BJP, Samajwadi Party and other key players but will decide the course for Asaduddin Owaisi-led party in the national polity.

Unfazed by the criticism from all non-BJP parties, who brand him a "vote-cutter", Owaisi is going all out to emerge as a kingmaker in the politically significant state.

The 52-year-old, who in recent times has emerged as the most recognisable Muslim leader in the country, is travelling extensively in Uttar Pradesh to address rallies attracting huge crowds.

Also read: Criminals no longer play their games in UP as Yogi plays 'jail-jail' with them: PM Modi

Known for his excellent oratory skills, the MP from Hyderabad is heard slamming all his opponents from the BJP to the SP and countering Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and SP leader Akhilesh Yadav with his tongue-in-cheek remarks.

At a rally in Sharanpur two days ago, Owaisi came out with his abbreviation of Yogi "Raj" in Uttar Pradesh. According to him, "Raj" stands for "Rishwat" (corruption), "Apradh" (crimes), and "Jatiwad" (Casteism). He was responding to Amit Shah using the "NIZAM" acronym, using the names of Muslim leaders of the SP, the BSP, and the Congress to target the SP rule.

This was also seen as a taunt aimed at Owaisi as the latter comes from erstwhile Hyderabad State, whose Asaf Jahi rulers were referred as Nizam.

"Hum kisi ka qarza baqi nahi rakhtey," Owaisi said amid loud cheers at the well-attended rally.

Political analysts say the Lincoln's Inn-educated lawyer has succeeded in reaching out to his target audience in the Hindi belt with equal ease.

His message is clear. Uttar Pradesh's 19 per cent Muslims need their own political strength, leadership, and participation so that they get their due rights and there should be an end to discrimination and repression the community is being subjected to.

This is not the first time All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is testing its political fortunes in Uttar Pradesh.

In 2017, the party had contested 38 of 403 seats but drew a blank. It polled about two lakh votes in the seats it contested and only four of its candidates could save their deposits.

However, Owaisi believes that in these five years, his party has become stronger and he is now confident of bagging a big chunk.

Like in Maharashtra and Bihar, the AIMIM is keen to have alliance with smaller parties. However, its efforts have not succeeded so far.

Owaisi was trying for an alliance with BJP ally-turned rebel Suhaildev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar but the latter struck alliance with the Samajwadi Party.

AIMIM leaders say even if alliance with any other party does not materialise, they are in a position to go alone.

The year 2021 has not been very good for AIMIM in its attempts to expand the base as it failed to open the account in both West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

In West Bengal, AIMIM contested seven seats. It went alone as the efforts to reach an alliance with Indian Secular Front (ISF) failed. In Tamil Nadu, it fielded candidates in three constituencies under an alliance with T.T.V. Dhinakaran-led AMMK.

Aware of the huge challenge it faces in having a pan-India presence, the AIMIM never felt disheartened by the electoral reverses. "Despite defeats in some states, we continue to work there to strengthen the organisation and overcome our shortcomings," a leader said.

This strategy worked in Bihar and the party hopes that it will be able to repeat this in Uttar Pradesh.

The party had contested six seats in the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections - all in the Seemanchal region, which has a significant Muslim population. However, all six candidates lost, with only one managing to save his deposit.

However, five years later, the AIMIM succeeded in Bihar. In 2020 elections, it won five of the 20 seats it contested. It was a huge achievement for the party as this was the second biggest number of seats after Telangana, where it has seven seats.

Also read: Owaisi alleges part of his speech being quoted out of context 'to trigger controversy'

This had come a year after the party failed in its maiden attempt to have a foothold in Jharkhand. It contested 16 of the 81 seats in Jharkhand Assembly elections, but failed to win any.

Till 2013, the AIMIM was confined to its traditional stronghold of Hyderabad. Barring a few seats in some urban local bodies in parts of Telangana, Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka, the party had no presence outside Hyderabad.

The year 2014 saw the party making a serious bid to expand by contesting Maharashtra Assembly elections. It fielded 24 candidates in the 288-member Assembly and made an impressive debut by winning two seats. The party started dreaming big and expanded the base by constituting units in different states.

The AIMIM, however, came under attack from the Congress and most of the other non-BJP parties for dividing secular votes. Many termed it the "B-team" of the BJP.

However, Owaisi remained unfazed. He dismissed the allegation and questioned the other parties as to what they had done for Muslims in return for their support.

Sporting Hyderabadi sherwani and a skull-cap, Owaisi became the voice and face of Muslim community. Participating in the prime time debates on television, he defended his party's efforts to expand its base and argued that there is nothing wrong in Muslims fighting the democratic battle to get the rights which the Constitution has guaranteed them.

The year 2019 saw AIMIM receiving a big boost. The party, which had just one Lok Sabha seat (Hyderabad) for the last 35 years, captured the Aurangabad seat in Maharashtra. It also succeeded in retaining its tally of two seats in the Maharashtra Assembly.

Established in 1928 with the aim to keep then Hyderabad State independent, the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) was banned after the state's merger with the Indian Union in 1948.

However, in 1958 it was revived with a new constitution by Moulana Abdul Wahid Owaisi, grandfather of Asaduddin Owaisi, to champion the cause of Muslims. He named it the AIMIM.

The party claims that its biggest achievement was to give a political platform and an identity to the community passing through turbulent times after 'police action' - the operation by Indian Army in 1948 against the Hyderabad State to force it to merge with the Indian Union

Often branded as communal by its critics, the AIMIM, however, claims to represent the interests of not just Muslims but all socially and economically backward classes of society.

Starting from winning a couple of municipal wards in the old city in the 1960s, the party consolidated its base and went on to capture Assembly seats. In the 1980s, it had five seats in the then 294-member Assembly of undivided Andhra Pradesh.

Under Asaduddin Owaisi's father Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, the AIMIM became a dominant political force. Salahuddin Owaisi represented Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat from 1984 till 2004 when he made way for his elder son due to ill-health.

Asaduddin Owaisi, who has never lost an election, further strengthened the party after taking over as its President following the death of his father in 2008, and under him the party emerged on the national political scene.

In 2009, the AIMIM won seven assembly seats in Hyderabad, which was its best-ever performance and it continued to hold the seats in Telangana state which was carved out in 2014.

The AIMIM claims to be the only party in India to develop a chain of educational institutions including medical and engineering colleges and state-of-the-art hospitals offering services to the poor at subsidised rates.

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Taking serious cognisance of misogyny and communal hatred towards Muslim women on Twitter, Maharashtra Minister of State for Home and Information & Technology Satej Patil has ordered immediate and strict action against the perpetrators of the 'Bulli bai' app case.

Certain Twitter accounts were 'auctioning' hundreds of Muslim women online after their pictures were uploaded on an app called 'Bulli Bai' using hosting platform GitHub with objectionable hashtags like #BulliBai and #SulliDeals. Mumbai police initiated an inquiry and filed an FIR on Saturday.

Patil directed the Mumbai and Maharashtra police to take immediate action. "Digital platforms like these are rife with misogyny and communal hatred aimed at women. This is very disturbing and shameful. Maharashtra Govt. is taking strong actions against such platforms. I have instructed @MahaCyber1 for the same @ they are on it, Patil tweeted in response on Saturday.

Digital platforms like these are rife with misogyny and communal hatred aimed at women. This is very disturbing and shameful. Maharashtra Govt. is taking strong actions against such platforms. I have instructed @MahaCyber1 for the same & they are on it. https://t.co/ivBwDJ0k9n  Satej (Bunty) D. Patil (@satejp) January 1, 2022

Also Read | Photos of Muslim women uploaded on app, police begin probe

The posts angered the Twitterati, and calls for immediate action grew louder.

Patil posted an update later in the day saying that an enquiry had already begun and culprits will be brought to justice soon.

He also appealed to people to come forward and give information regarding such platforms. If theres any more info in this regard, pls feel free to share it with Maharashtra Cyber Police and Mumbai Cyber Cell, he tweeted.

A woman (identity withheld) whose photo was put up online with the offensive hashtag took to Twitter to express her disappointment that Muslim women have to start their new year "with this sense of fear & disgust".

"Of course it goes without saying that I am not only one being targeted in this new version of #sullideals. Screenshots sent by a friend this morning, she tweeted.

Theyve at least 100 influential Indian Muslim womens pics. This was the twitter handle whod tweeted about it @wannabesigmaf. Have archive links and screenshots of deleted tweets. Its easier for Twitter to find whos behind. Can someone file a complaint in @MumbaiPolice? said another Twitter user.

They've atleast 100 Influential Indian Muslim womens pics. This was the twitter handle who'd tweeted about it @wannabesigmaf. Have archive links and screenshots of deleted tweets. It's easier for Twitter to find who's behind. Can someone file a complaint in @MumbaiPolice? https://t.co/fnyR1mh5d3  Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) January 1, 2022

Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi demanded stern action against the culprits.

I have repeatedly asked Hon. IT Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw ji to take stern action against such rampant misogyny and communal targeting of women through #sullideals like platforms. A shame that it continues to be ignored. https://t.co/Q3JLxZpNeC  Priyanka Chaturvedi (@priyankac19) January 1, 2022

First they came using #SulliDeals, now as #BulliDeals, expect cooperation from @TwitterIndia, as some accounts have been flagged, will help reach the perpetrators sooner, @GoI MeitY @HMOIndia Considering @CPMumbaiPolice has taken this issue up seriously, expect @TwitterIndia to cooperate and provide them with information needed. Stonewalling the investigation citing intermediary safe harbour will not be helpful to ensure justice is served @shaguftakamran2 @PayalKamat.

This is not the first time Muslim women have been targeted on Twitter. Previously, many women were reportedly auctioned on Twitter by anonymous accounts, but no action was taken against them despite FIR filed with Delhi Police.

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The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) holds a rally in front of the National Assembly in Seoul in this Dec. 14 file photo. Courtesy of FKTU



Presidential candidates support labor-friendly policies to attract voters



By Park Jae-hyuk



The possibility of private financial firms having union-backed directors has become greater, since the conservative main opposition People Power Party (PPP) agreed to the idea of giving board seats in public institutions to labor representatives, in an apparent attempt to win the hearts of working-class voters in the presidential election in March.



During Friday's meeting of the National Assembly's Strategy & Finance Committee, PPP lawmakers decided to support the revision of the Act on the Management of Public Institutions, which was proposed by the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) to enable workers at public institutions to exercise their rights to speak to boards of directors.



According to the standing committee, the revision will be passed this month.



The main opposition party changed its stance after its presidential candidate, Yoon Suk-yeol, officially promised to accept the labor-friendly policy, when he met representatives from the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, Dec. 15.



"I hope this system becomes a great help for public institutions to become rationalized and prevent insolvency," he said at that time.



The passage of the revised bill will force the Korea Asset Management Corp., the Korea Deposit Insurance Corp., the Korea Housing Finance Corp., the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund and the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency to give board seats to representatives from their unions.



Although the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) and the Korea Development Bank (KDB) will not be subject to the new regulation, the two state-run banks are expected to face growing calls to adopt the system, given that the Export-Import Bank of Korea already appointed a union-backed, nonexecutive director in September.



The IBK union plans to ask the management to appoint a union-backed director in March, when the bank's two nonexecutive directors end their terms. The KDB union is also considering making a similar attempt this year.



If the state-run banks give their board seats to directors recommended by their unions, private-sector banks will be encouraged to demand the introduction of the labor-friendly system.



The KB Kookmin Bank union, which has asked for the appointment of a union-backed director since 2017, is considering making the request again this year, before the general meeting of shareholders in March.



Woori Bank is also considered to have the potential to ask for the appointment of a union-backed director, since Woori Financial Group's employee stock ownership association became the group's largest shareholder, after its privatization last year.



Amid the growing possibility of labor unions' intervention in local banks' management, employers have expressed concerns about potential setbacks in swift decision-making procedures.



Korea Enterprises Federation Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik picked worker representation on public institutions' boards of directors as one of fear factors for businesses this year.



"I hope the presidential candidates come up with policies intended to create a business environment where freedom of economic activity and entrepreneurship are respected," he said in his New Year's address.


The Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra shot up rapidly crossing the 24-hour tally past 10,000 even as the Maha Vikas Aghadi ruled out a lockdown at this stage.

Mumbais per day tally too shot past the 8,000-mark.

During the last 24 hours, the state recorded 11,877 cases and 9 deaths taking the progressive total to 66,99,868 and 1,41,542, respectively.

The total active Covid-19 cases now stand at 42,024, according to the Integrated Diseases Surveillance Programme of the Public Health Department.

Also Read | Paramilitary forces prepare for 3rd wave, reactivate Covid care centres

During the day, 50 new Omicron cases were detected taking the progressive total to 510.

Meanwhile, state public health and family welfare minister Rajesh Tope clarified that the government was not looking out at a lockdown at this stage. There is no need for a lockdown as of now, but there would be more restrictions, lockdown will be imposed in Maharashtra only if demand for medical oxygen touches 800 metric tonnes per day, he said.

Mumbais municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said that the majority of the cases were asymptomatic.

Also Read | Covid-19 cases quadruple in 5 days, spark third wave concerns

On Sunday, 8,063 new Covid-19 cases were detected in Mumbai out of which 89 % were found to be totally asymptomatic and the total number of active cases in Mumbai are now 29,819. However, out of 8,063 new cases, only 503 have been hospitalised out of which 56 cases have been put on oxygenated beds. As of today, 90% of hospital beds in Mumbai are vacant, Chahal said.

He appealed to all the home quarantined patients to strictly abide by home quarantine guidelines so as to contain the spread of the virus in Mumbai at the earliest possible. I also appeal to the citizens at large to strictly follow Covid appropriate behaviour. There is no reason to panic but at the same time, all of us have to be extremely cautious and exercise extreme Covid appropriate behaviour. Masks are mandatory in the public domain and citizens should refrain from going to crowded places, he said.

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The financial capital of Mumbai is set to get a new transportation solution with the commissioning of state-of-the-art water taxi services.

The services would be formally launched in January by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the exact dates are being finalised. The project is a joint initiative of Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT), City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) and Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB).

Infinity Harbour Services LLP and West Coast Marine will be the two service operators.

Also Read  Flying taxis to take to the sky in mid-2020s, says UK's Vertical Aerospace

From Mumbai, the two points for the services would be the International Cruise Terminal at Ballard Pier and Domestic Cruise Terminal (DCT) at Ferry Wharf. The government is working on various routes from DCT to Nerul, Belapur, Vashi, Airoli, Rewas, Karanja, Dharamtar, Kanhoji Angre Island and Thane.

Another route is from ICT to Elephanta Island, which is a tourist spot and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This will also provide an alternative mode of travel for commuters moving between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, besides road and rail. The water taxis will take about 30 minutes to complete a single journey, which will significantly lower the commute time between Mumbai and its satellite township.

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People who suspect that their mobile phones were targeted using Pegasus and are willing to cooperate with the investigation can now approach a Supreme Court-appointed committee probing the controversial Israeli spyware.

The technical committee  a three-member panel supervised by former Supreme Court judge Justice RV Raveendran  appointed by the apex court in October last year has issued a public notice and set a deadline of January 7 for people to approach it with their submissions.

SC appointed committee on #Pegasus issue public notice asking people who suspect that their phone was targeted to approach them @DeccanHerald pic.twitter.com/Vyx4BnPvCH  Shemin (@shemin_joy) January 2, 2022

The Pegasus scandal had triggered a controversy last year and the Israeli spyware was believed to have been used to target Opposition politicians, journalists and Constitutional post-holders, among others. Among the suspected victims were Rahul Gandhi, Abhishek Banerjee, Ashok Lavasa, Anil Ambani and journalists, among others.

Also Read  Supreme Court stays proceedings of West Bengal commission to probe Pegasus snooping claims

The panel has asked citizens who have reasonable cause to suspect that his or her mobile has been compromised due to specific usage of the NSO Group Israels Pegasus software to contact them.

Those approaching the panel have been asked to provide reasons as to why you believe your device may have been infected with Pegasus malware. They should intimate whether they would be in a position to allow the technical committee to examine the device.

Such people who suspect her/his device is infected should send an email to the panel at inquiry@pegasus-india-investigation.in before noon of January 7. In case the committee feels your reasons for suspicion of the device being infected with the malware compel a further investigation, then the committee shall request you to allow examination of your device, the committee said.

It also said the committee will give an acknowledgement for having received the device and also make and give the complainant a digital phone image. The collection point would be in New Delhi and the mobile phone would be delivered back on completion of the investigation.

Also Read  US lawmakers call for sanctions against Israel's NSO, other spyware firms

The Supreme Court had constituted the expert panel to investigate whether the Centre used the Pegasus spyware to snoop on citizens, saying that the government cannot always get a free pass" by raising the spectre of national security". The members of the panel were National Forensic Sciences Universitys Dean Naveen Kumar Chaudhary, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeethams Professor Prabaharan P and IIT-Bombay Professor Ashwin Anil Gumaste.

The apex court order came after the Narendra Modi government ignored demands by the Opposition and activists for an investigation into the revelations based on a whistleblower providing data about possible spying of opposition leaders, constitutional authorities, businessmen, paramilitary officers, lawyers and activists, among others.

In November, it is learnt, the committee had requested the petitioners who approached the apex court on Pegasus issue to submit their targeted devices for technical examination.

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In April 1980, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Pakistani military dictator General Zia ul-Haq met for the first time in Salisbury (now Harare) in then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Before the meeting, newspapers had published some uncharitable remarks by Zia about India. A contemporary account of the meeting by Inder Malhotra suggests a rather testy exchange: Indira Gandhi, however, was all smiles and courtesy when he arrived. Madam, please do not believe everything that you read in the newspapers was Zias opening gambit. Of course not, replied Mrs Gandhi. After all, arent they calling you a democrat and me a dictator?

In 1980, India had seen two quick democratic changes of government after having overcome an authoritarian spell, whereas Pakistan was under its third military dictator since independence. Having made very different choices at their birth, the two neighbours seemed placed firmly on two diametrically opposite trajectories: one of a secular, liberal, plural democracy, and the other of a religious, military dictatorship. Grounded in this widely accepted reality, Mrs Gandhis snub earned no retort from Gen Zia.

Soon after Partition, Pakistans rulers delineated a national ideology that stood on three pillars: Islam, hostility to India, and the Urdu language. Making being Pakistani synonymous with a good Muslim became a way to overcome diverse ethnic and linguistic identities. But Islam meant different things to different people, as Husain Haqqani wrote, and the State thus controlled the process of religious nationalism. For this, State control over education and media had to be complete. It empowered the conservative religious leaders, and created a nexus between the custodians of Islam and the security establishment. Critics and opponents of the establishment and the government were now enemies of Islam.

An under-resourced State, driven by its insecurity of a larger neighbour and aspiring to be its equal, meant that the military needed a great power as its benefactor. Jinnah had told Life magazine, America needs Pakistan more than Pakistan needs AmericaPakistan is the pivot of the world, as we are placed [on] the frontier on which the future position of the world revolves.

By the time of the Salisbury meeting, Pakistan was deep down this path. Zia zealously undertook Islamisation of laws and society, which he claimed was what 99% of the people wanted. School books were rewritten with an ideological agenda, and children taught, in KK Azizs words, prescribed myths. This meant that Zias ideological influence continued beyond his period in power. But it was increased Soviet involvement in Afghanistan that drew the US into the region, which Zia milked for military and economic aid by renting Pakistans strategic location. The US was unconcerned about the rise of violent Islamist fundamentalism as Zias Pakistan became a cornerstone of American geopolitical strategy to check, counter and defeat the Soviet Union.

Nearly four decades later, history is rhyming. US is again trying to counter fast-growing rival, China. And it is India, though not an US ally like Pakistan, that is the cornerstone of Washingtons Indo-Pacific strategy to check Beijing. Just like the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, the Chinese ingress in Ladakh has pushed matters. If Pakistan then had close ties with Iran and North Korea which were not friendly with the US, India has a robust relationship with Russia today.

Many retired diplomats echo Jinnah when they assert that the US needs India more than India needs the US. As India is the pivot of this geopolitical contest, which many describe as the new Cold War, it ought to get even greater diplomatic and military support from the US. Unstated, but implicit in this argument, is Indias economic weakness to sustain a military capable of countering China on its own. Paradoxically, all this is meant to eventually fulfil Indias manifest destiny to be a great power.

If there are similarities in the geopolitics surrounding India, the domestic social and political changes since 2014  heralding a New India  provide an even scarier parallel. The Indian State is still constitutionally secular  though no one says it anymore  but the government routinely practices Hinduism as State religion. The judiciary allows a temple to be built at the site of a mosque demolished by a political mob, which is being constructed by the State. The religious ceremony marking the temples construction is led by the Prime Minister in full Hindu regalia, merging State and religion. He follows it up with Varanasi. An ethnically, linguistically and religiously diverse society is under the grip of a party that espouses the Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan ideology.

It is no longer the trope of cultural nationalism. Being a Hindu is posited as being a real Indian, and religious minorities are reduced legally to a lesser position. Laws are being enacted which welcome only persecuted non-Muslims from other countries to India  only Afghan Hindus and Sikhs were flown in an aircraft from Kabul last month. The education system is being rewired, with books being rewritten with fabricated history, and invented mythology is peddled over science as part of the Hindutva ideological project. Indias weakly institutionalised democracy is witnessing a co-opting of institutions like the Parliament, judiciary, media, military and bureaucracy for this project.

Many had hoped after the Biden administration took charge in Washington that, unlike the Trump era, it will publicly force Delhi to change track. But in a replica of its policies during the Ayub, Zia, Yahya and Musharraf eras, the US has chosen to prioritise its geopolitical concerns and turned a blind eye towards Indias dark turn under Modi.

Amidst all this, it must be remembered that while Pakistan never elected its military dictators, Indians have popularly voted in this government twice. Mrs Gandhis retort to Zia would sound very different now.

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The notion that Omicron is a natural vaccine is a "dangerous idea" spread by irresponsible people who don't take into account "long Covid" about which very little is understood, experts have said.

The Omicron variant of Covid-19, which is said to be much more infectious than the other variants, is, however, causing milder infections, less hospitalisation and deaths which is leading to the notion that it can act as a natural vaccine.

Recently, a Maharashtra health official also claimed that Omicron will act as a natural vaccine and may help in Covid-19's progression towards the endemic stage.

Noted virologist Shahid Jameel said the notion that Omicron is a natural vaccine is a dangerous idea spread by irresponsible people.

Also Read | Spike of 3,100 Covid-19 cases expected today but no need to panic: Delhi CM

"It breeds complacency and is rooted more in pandemic fatigue and the inability to do more, than in evidence available at this time," he told PTI.

Jameel, the former head of the advisory group to the Indian SARS-COV-2 Genomics Consortia (INASACOG), said those who advocate this don't take into account "long Covid" about which very little is understood.

"Especially in India, where malnutrition, air pollution and diabetes are rampant, to willingly let people be exposed to a virus about which you understand little is not good science and public health," he said.

Giridhara R Babu, professor and the Head of Lifecourse Epidemiology at the Public Health Foundation of India, said however mild Omicron is, it is not a vaccine.

"There are deaths and hospitalisations due to this variant. Stay away from misinformation. Compared to vaccination, natural infection cannot protect the population (against death or hospitalisation) against any variant (Alpha, Beta, Gamma or Delta). Proponents of herd immunity are saying it again that Omicron would provide herd immunity. Evidence matters, not opinions," he said.

Shuchin Bajaj, founder director, Ujala Cygnus Group of Hospitals, said there may be long term effects of the disease and people need to be careful about it.

Also Read | Apartment complexes account for 80% of Covid cases in Bengaluru: BBMP

"It has been shown that it can be seen persisting for more than six months in various other organs in addition to lungs, like heart and brain and kidneys etc, even after very mild infections. So we don't really know what long term effects it can cause. We are already seeing a lot of long Covid patients with brain fogging, inappropriate sinus tachycardia," he said.

"So we should not really think of this as a vaccine. It's not really a vaccine, we have had deaths due to Omicron. We have had ICU admissions due to Omicron. So it is a much milder version compared to Delta but still, it is a virus and we need to be careful," he said.

Yash Javeri, Head, Critical Care, Regency Health, Lucknow, however, said that due to Omicron's higher infectivity coupled with less severity, it may help pause the pandemic

"As a result, the whole community becomes protected, not just those who are immune. An infection with the Omicron variant not just induces an immune response against this variant but also offers heightened protection against the Delta variant, a South African study has found. Due to its higher infectivity coupled with less severity, Omicron may raise the herd immunity still higher and help pause the pandemic," he said.

Herd immunity occurs when a large portion of a community (the herd) becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely.

ICMR director general Balram Bhargava last week said that hybrid immunity, which is developed as a result of vaccination and natural infection, mounts a stronger response against Covid-19 and its variants.

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Nelvi David never really thought about buying an electric bike until petrol touched Rs 100 a litre earlier this year.

A bunch of other factors too drove the Chennai-based academician to make the decision.

We get electricity at a subsidised rate, and with high fuel prices, it will be a win-win situation for me. Also, the government is giving sops on EV loans. Why not utilise that? asks Nelvi.

While Nelvi planned to book her first electric bike soon, she worried if she would be able to take it wherever she went, especially outside city limits.

Also read: 'CV retrofitting is a serious idea, needs policy support'

The nearest charging station would be at least a few 100 km from my place, she says.

Nelvi is not alone.

Jopu John Tharappel bought an electric car a year back to beat sky-rocketing fuel prices. The Kerala resident complained about the difficulties tied to charging its battery.

I have travelled through the entire south, to states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, but the problem is that there is no uniformity in rates. Government chargers and private chargers have different rates in different applications, Tharappel says.

Their stories highlight why EVs are yet to become mainstream in India despite getting its first electric vehicle in 2001.

Driven by incentives

For many Indians, the decision to buy an EV is entirely driven by external factors.

The push for EVs is inorganic and is driven by high fuel prices and government incentives, said Kartik Hajela, a co-founder of advanced battery technology startup Log 9 Materials, which recently launched its first InstaCharge station at its office in Bengaluru and plans to partner with charging point operators to take the technology to towns across India.

In 2019, the Indian government announced an additional income tax deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh on the interest paid on loans taken to purchase electric vehicles.

The Union government has also tried to lead by example. For instance, the Finance Ministry urged all the other ministries and departments of the government to replace the petrol and diesel cars hired by them in their Secretariats and attached offices with electric cars for mobility in Delhi.

But some believe these measures are not enough.

There is no retention of EVs and also these subsidies will not help in the long run, Hajela pointed out, highlighting how the sector needed a better ecosystem, including charging stations and more realistic charging time of batteries, to make any real progress.

Also read: Longer EV rides possible with more charging stations

To be sure, India has seen a rise in the number of EVs sold, according to a Centre for Energy Finance analysis based on Vahan Dashboard data.

Over 57,000 two-wheeler EVs have been sold so far in the current financial year, higher than 40,000 in the year-ago period and 24,000 in the financial year before that. Almost 5,000 four-wheeler EVs have been sold so far in the current financial year, the highest in four years.

But EV sales accounted for barely 1.3% of total vehicle sales in India during 20-2021, according to a report by consulting firm RBSA Advisors. RBSA expects it to grow at a CAGR of 90% in this decade to touch $150 billion by 2030.

While Indias EV market is currently in its infancy, electric vehicles are expected to make up over half of new vehicle sales in the United States and China by 2030, a recent survey of global auto industry executives by KPMG showed.

Out of charge

If India is serious about being a part of the global EV revolution and achieving its other goals of reducing emissions and improving air quality, it will have to do more.

For starters, the worlds second-most populous country needs to build more charging stations and battery swapping facilities in its major cities and small towns alike, and make it easier for people to use them.

There is no unified application for charging and also unlike petrol pumps where there is someone to help you, here it has to be done via an application which causes inconvenience to people like my father who are not tech-savvy, Tharappel lamented.

More companies are trying to build the infrastructure for charging EV batteries.

Last week, Ola Electric Mobility CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said the company had started rolling out its Hypercharger points at BPCL petrol pumps and residential spaces across the country. Meanwhile, Ather Energy extended its free fast-charging scheme to customers until June 30, 2022.

Indias largest electric vehicle maker Tata Motors and rival Mahindra & Mahindra are also doing their part to boost EV adoption in India. For instance, while Tata plans to bring down the cost of owning an electric vehicle to that of a petrol or diesel vehicle by 2023, M&M tied up with a joint venture of Reliance and BP to develop EV charging solutions for its EVs.

Some said a major chunk of the charging infrastructure upgrade in India was largely incremental in nature.

For instance, while Log9 has the battery technology to power rapid EV chargers, it has to rely on existing charging point operators to make it accessible to EV owners across the country.

Our technology unlocks the potential to charge last mile vehicles. We are looking to facilitate 100 such new fast chargers in major cities in the next one year, Log9 Materials told DH.

As its technology is compatible with Bharat DC Chargers (a government standard for charging electric vehicles), it has some critical mass of such stations already installed in the market, the company added.

While over 7.5 lakh electric vehicles have been registered in India since the financial year 2012, a response by Power Minister R K Singh in the Parliament shows it has a total of 1028 EV charging stations. Delhi, Telangana, Karnataka and Chandigarh are some of the leaders in terms of the number of stations.

The government seems to know that is not enough. In a notification, it asked more petrol pumps to install facilities for alternate forms of energy.

Lack of infrastructure is not the only obstacle standing in the way of Indias EV ambitions.

A bumpy ride

Consumer awareness is also a problem, according to people who run garages for EVs.

People mostly do not know how to handle their vehicle. Unlike a regular vehicle, EVs cannot carry weight. But when they come to us, we realise theyve kept weight on it, said the founder of a Bengaluru-based EV garage aggregator who did not want to be named.

Most of its customers tend to bring their EVs for repair once in two months, complaining about problems with their brakes and other hardware, that person said. Ideally, if the vehicle is maintained well, it should require maintenance every six months.

Some others, such as Deepak M V, the CEO and co-founder of Etrio, are less worried about consumer awareness and more about developing a sustainable business model.

The founder of Etrio, a start-up that builds new products for EVs and converts existing internal combustion engine vehicles into EVs, says that the path ahead for EV makers is going to be bumpy and is busy trying to find reliable partners for the ride. It has now partnered with ecommerce giants such as BigBasket, Amazon and Flipkart.

Our wish is to electrify logistics. With the e-commerce boom, there is a lot of business there, but the best way to do that and have a sustainable business model is by targetting the logistics players who will take care of the infrastructure. These logistics players will help create parking spaces and charging stations and the consumers will not have to worry about it, he said.

Until then, potential customers like Nelvi David will keep looking for an offer they cant refuse.
On the last day of 2021, when they should have been looking forward to and celebrating the arrival of the New Year, several former chiefs of our Army, Navy and Air Force, and many more senior veterans, were busy drafting and sending a letter to the President and Prime Minister of India. They were anxious about the danger to national security from a bunch of religious fanatics who have been going around the Hindi heartland making open calls to genocide of Muslims and Christians to make India a Hindu Rashtra, with impunity.

We are seriously perturbed by the content of speeches made during a 3-day religious conclaveheld at HaridwarThere were repeated calls for establishing a Hindu Rashtrapicking up weapons and killing of Indias Muslims in the name of protecting Hinduismand more such seditious meetings are being organised in other places, they wrote in anguish.

And a reminder that no elected government should need: Indias Armed Forces, the Army, Navy & Air Force, together with CAPFs and Police, are responsible for National Security  external and internal, respectively. All of the above have sworn to uphold Indias Constitution and our secular valuesOne speaker made a call to the army and police to pick up weapons and participate in the cleanliness drive (safai abhiyan). This amounts to asking the army to participate in genocide of our own citizens, and is condemnable and unacceptable.

The former chiefs went on to urge the Prime Minister and President to take immediate steps to curb such attempts, and urge you to condemn such incitement to violence in no uncertain terms.

That they felt that the Prime Minister needed urging to condemn calls for genocide under his watch speaks volumes in itself.

The former chiefs have expressed their anxiety over the impact of all this on immediate and obvious national security issues.

But there are also larger foreign policy and reputational issues for the nation to worry about. For one, can India claim to be Vishwaguru if it becomes a Hindu Rashtra, especially if the route to that is widespread hatred and genocide? Indias citizens must ponder over this.

On a more practical level, what impact is the Modi dispensations all-but-declared domestic agenda  Hindutva, Hindu Rashtra  having on what has for over 30 years been arguably Indias most important foreign, economic and strategic policy: to build an ever-closer relationship with the US?

In April 2021, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a Congressionally-mandated independent agency, made a recommendation  for the second consecutive year  to the US State Department to include India in a red list of countries of particular concern (CPC) on religious freedoms  along with Russia, Syria and Vietnam (to join the likes of Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, Pakistan).

In November, Secretary of State Antony Blinken refused to do so because, at least for now, America still considers India an essential bulwark against China. But we are edging ever closer to the red list, especially with the new-found missionary (irony intended) zeal of Hindutva groups and BJP governments at the Centre and the states to add Christian institutions and individuals to their list of targets. That this should happen just in the wake of Prime Minister Modis recent visits to the White House and to the Pope raises questions whether there is an intended change in direction in Indias foreign policy and, if so, for what reasons.

Degradation of religious freedom

The USCIRF has been noting the degradation of religious freedoms in India over several years. In 2020, there were three dissent notes to the recommendation to put India in the CPC category and to impose sanctions on Indian government agencies and officials responsible for severe violations of religious freedom In 2021, there was only one dissent note.

After Haridwar and Delhi and Raipur  and perhaps the worst is yet to come as we approach the UP elections  in 2022, there is unlikely to be even that one dissent note, that hope that Indias democracy and institutions are robust enough to turn around the situation.

The rupture in India-US relations may be coming sooner than later, especially as Modi leans increasingly toward Vladimir Putins Russia. The fact and timing of Putins five-hour visit to Delhi on December 6, and the subsequent call between the two, in the midst of US-Russia tensions over Ukraine, were extraordinary. A simultaneous ratcheting up of religious nationalism in India and a tightening embrace of Putin, himself a master manipulator of nationalism, cannot but be seen by the Biden administration as a red rag deliberately held up before it.

When Blinken refused to put India on the red list in November, according to online news provider Axios, the Biden administration may have made the judgement that it would be more productive to address Indias worsening human rights conditions in private, unless a more dramatic threshold is crossed.

That more dramatic threshold may well have been crossed in Haridwar. Richard Rossow, the Wadhwani Chair in US India Policy Studies at the influential think-tank CSIS, had in November told Axios that With Chinas belligerent rise  and Indias willingness to work with the US and other partners  the Biden administration will not want to put the relationship at risk over the current level of concern in these areas.

Just over a month later, on Friday, Rossow was not so sanguine. He told Deccan Herald, This is a sensitive time for additional scrutiny of Indias recent record on religious tolerance. This issue greatly concerns (the US) Congress. For good measure, he added, and we are nearing a potential decision on applying sanctions against India for purchases of Russian military equipment. Security cooperation has had sufficient momentum to offset other areas of bilateral friction  trade, and also religious tolerance. Any slowdown in other areas of cooperation may change this dynamic.

Americas interests

To be sure, Americas own geopolitical interests are mixed up in the question of how it regards Indias record of religious freedoms, and that therefore detracts from its credibility. US foreign policy hypocrisy is not a new thing. On the Modi governments decision to go ahead with the S-400 purchase, for instance, there is a clear case for India to act according to its own national interest and it need not be held back by the threat of US sanctions.

Indeed, in the past, India has lived through an intense US sanctions regime and Russia has been by Delhis side for the most part. But Indias motivation then was to become a nuclear weapons and missile power and stand up for itself. Is the goal of converting a secular Vishwaguru into a Hindu Rashtra and an internal communal cauldron, over which our own former military chiefs are expressing grave concern, worth changing the direction of Indias foreign policy over?

Governments may come and go, but Indias national interest remains to build an ever-closer economic, technological and security relationship with the US, to prevent the prospect of a US-China G2 from becoming reality. To lose sight of it will be disastrous for Indias rise.

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The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka has again stirred the hornets' nest in the state by declaring that it will set more than 35,500 temples that come under the Muzarai department free from government regulations.

The Opposition, Congress, has said that it will not allow the BJP to enact such a law. State Congress President DK Shivakumar stated that a decision will be taken on this matter on January 4, after holding a meeting of its senior leaders.

The BJP's announcement came during the recent state executive committee meeting in Hubballi right after the Muzarai department took the decision of getting the temples audited.

Successive Congress governments and the secular leaders have not dared to touch upon the subject of bringing transparency in temple managements and holding powerful temple authorities responsible for accounts. Even the Siddaramaiah government, branded as anti-Hindu, did not address the issue. The recent decision of freeing temples from government control by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has surprised many.

The declaration has kicked off a debate in the state. Congress' Shivakumar has charged that the decision on temples will be a historical blunder. He said that the decision is a conspiracy to hand over the temples to the RSS and BJP leaders.

Also Read  Law soon to free temples from restrictions: Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai

Chakravarthy Sulibele, the founder of Yuva Brigade, told IANS that the BJP has taken a good and wise decision to hand over the temples' managements to the Hindu community. The concept of 'taking control' originated during the time of the Mughals and the Britishers. The Britishers, being an occupying force, even brought legislation such as the 'Endowment Acts' to take control of Hindu temples, he said.

"When the government is managing the affairs, there is room for suspicion. Temple administrators take decisions at their convenience rather than the devotees' convenience. Wherever there is less money in the collection boxes before temples, they neglect them totally," he opined.

"The administrators will break all traditions when there is a VIP or minister's visit to the temple. In the temples where there is private management, such things are not encouraged. Here, they go against all the traditions to please ministers and block devotees. The total administration should go to community members," he said.

However, Shivakumar questioned how temples that come under the Muzarai department be given to community members for administration. He said that it is the wealth of the government, and that collections are in crores at these temples.

Actor and Tamil Nadu BJP leader Khushboo Sundar has praised the Karnataka BJP government for taking a stand to free the temples from the control of the government authorities. "It is an extremely important decision as every other religious institution is free, except temples," she said.

Chief Minister Bommai stated that Hindu temples have suffered a lot under the control of state authorities and bureaucrats. Several rules and by-laws are detrimental to the development of temples. The new bill will be brought before the cabinet before the budget session.

Also Read  Congress accuses Bommai of trying to sell Hindu temples to BJP members; CM denies

The temple authorities will be under the regulation of the government, but they will be able to utilise their funds for the development of temples without having to wait for the nod of the government, he maintained.

After the attacks by Shivakumar, Bommai has stated that "we are not handing over the temples to anyone. The temples are being freed from the regulations of the government. Shivakumar's opinion is against the Hindu temples and Hindu devotees."

Siddalnga Prabhu, member of the Rajya Dharmika Parishat, told IANS that it is a good decision, but that the disadvantages are more if one considers the pros and cons of the decision. Presently, deputy commissioners and administrators discuss the issues and there is accountability from the temples, he said. "The temples have properties and we have seen disputes and attempts to take away the land belonging to temples. Giving independence to 'A' and 'B' grade temples is okay as they have a good source of income. But, what about 'C' grade temples," he said.

Sources in the Muzarai department told IANS that the matter is yet to be discussed with the ministry. The fears expressed are about the temple money being taken by the government for other purposes. However, the income of temples will be deposited in bank accounts of the temples and it will be utilised for their development. The Muzarai department will take 10 per cent of the income and utilise it for the repair and renovation of 'C' grade temples. Since this is the case, there is no scope for freeing the temples, a senior official in the Muzarai department said.

Whenever a structure is registered as a mosque and prayer hall, it comes under the Karnataka State Wakf Board, which is a government body. There is a misconception and the government has to give more clarity on the issue, the official stated. The efforts by the Muzarai department to streamline the system at the famous Kukke Subramanya temple in Dakshina Kannada district is well appreciated by the devotees, the official said.

Also Read  BJP in Karnataka set to make temple authorities accountable

There are 1.80 lakh temples in Karnataka, among which 35,500 temples come under the Muzarai department. As per the records of the Muzarai department, there are 207 'A' grade temples that get an annual income of more than Rs 25 lakh, 139 'B' grade temples that have an income between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 24.99 lakh. These 'A' and 'B' grade temples are required to submit accounts annually, as mandated by the law.

Only four temples in the state i.e. Chamundeshwari temple of Mysuru, Yediyur Siddalingeshwara temple, Ghati Subramanya temple and Banashankari temple of Bengaluru are submitting audit reports every year. Barring these temples, cash-rich temples and the managements of those temples having huge incomes through commercial activities and commercial complexes have not submitted accounts.

At a time when temple accountability is being sought and powerful temple managements are warned of legal action, the announcement by CM Bommai has raised many questions. With the Opposition Congress' declaration that it won't let it happen  after the Anti-conversion Bill and the ban on cow slaughter  the stage is all set for a 'temple dangal' in the state in the coming days.

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Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will remain in office, the BJPs executive committee asserted strongly earlier this week, and the whisper campaign that wants him out has been put on mute.

The story does not end there. As Bommai and the BJP step into a new year that will put Karnataka in election mode, if it isnt already in one, there are talks of a big Cabinet overhaul after the Sankranti festival.

But why, and how, is Bommai at the receiving end of speculation that the state will get a third BJP chief minister? There is no simple answer, and the buck may end with Bommai himself.

Also read: Karnataka BJP executive body backs Bommai, warns against speculation

Bommai became the chief minister five months ago, taking the reins from veteran B S Yediyurappa in a state seen as the BJPs gateway to south India. Bommai kickstarted his innings making welfare his plank, while also projecting himself as the simplest of the netas lot.

Generally, the first six months of any new government is dubbed the honeymoon period, to settle in and get a hang of things.

Even before this honeymoon ended, rumours of a change in leadership became so widespread - as fresh as a week ago - that the bureaucracy smelled something fishy going by Bommais body language. He is always on the edge, shouting at officers, one officer says.

A senior leader blames Bommai for setting off rumours. If he wont assert himself, then Bommai will be seen as easy-going, reinforcing the view that hes a night watchman.

Poll defeats

Karnataka has seen four elections, all of them carrying their own significance, after Bommai became the chief minister.

In all four, the BJPs performance was subpar. This weeks urban local body election results, for example, were disappointing for the BJP and did little to help Bommais cause.

Also Read | Big changes in Karnataka? Bommai dismisses speculations as 'media creation'

The chatter in the BJP reveals some common threads: Bommai is yet to find complete acceptance from within the party, a section of legislators feels he is not taking them into confidence, and he is always surrounded by a coterie that insiders call bad company.

Another senior leader says while legislators were not averse to Yediyurappa throwing his weight around, Bommais attempts to emulate the former CMs attitude has met with scorn.

Is he feeling insecure? One symptom of that is for a person to be confined to a group comprising people who show loyalty, a senior BJP office-bearer says.

He knows there are people within the party who havent accepted him. But the point is that he should be taking everybody along.

The discontent is simmering. We are disappointed, the office-bearer adds.

There isnt much difference between the Yediyurappa and Bommai governments. The sort of nepotism that plagued the previous administration continues. Native BJP leaders are not getting their due vis-a-vis those who came from the Congress and JD(S).

Hindutva agenda

With welfare on one hand, Bommai is also chasing the Hindutva agenda, making people speculate that he is doing that to keep his chair safe.

The latest is the plan to free Hindu temples from state control, which former Congress minister Priyank Kharge says is another example of CM Bommai trying to fit into RSS.

One cannot rule out the possibility that the whisper campaign against Bommai is the handiwork of the disgruntled ministerial aspirants. The 34-member Cabinet has four vacancies.

The CM himself told me that there are plans to overhaul the Cabinet after Sankranti, BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, a former union minister who was among the first to publicly predict Yediyurappas removal, said earlier this week. Yatnal himself is seen as a ministerial aspirant.

As captain, Bommai should be assertive, senior BJP MLC Lehar Singh says. And, he should put an end to the gossip.

(With inputs from Akram Mohammed)

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center in the front row, visits the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the bodies of state founder and his grandfather, Kim Il-sung and his father, Kim Jong-il, are enshrined, on New Year's Day, Saturday. Yonhap



By Kang Seung-woo



Diplomatic observers said, Sunday, North Korea's domestic challenges, such as COVID-19 and poor economic conditions, had led its leader to shy away from addressing South Korea and the United States in his closely watched year-end speech, adding that this situation is expected to continue for some time.



However, they added that Pyongyang made it clear that it was on course for the development of nuclear and missile programs that may negatively affect South Korea's push to declare a formal end to the Korean War.



The Stalinist state wrapped up the five-day, fourth Plenary Meeting of the eighth Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party, Friday, but Kim Jong-un made few references to foreign policy and relations with Seoul and Washington, contrary to expectations that he would unveil the direction of the country's international relations for 2022 as the speech was expected to replace his New Year address.



Adding to the expectations was the timing of the meeting that coincided with the 10-year anniversary of his ascendance to power after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il in 2011.



"Kim Jong-un has been focusing on domestic issues for most of 2021. He hasn't really said much about South Korea or the U.S. And he hasn't engaged in any major provocation, nor has he responded to multiple offers of dialogue," said Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a professor of international relations at King's College London.



Since January 2020, the North Korean regime has closed its borders to prevent the spread of COVID-19 from China, a policy that has severely hurt its economy. As a result, the North has remained unresponsive despite the South Korean government's proposal for an end-of-war declaration and the Joe Biden administration's dialogue offers.



"Kim's hands are probably tied by the pandemic. The coronavirus' economic and public health fallout compounds North Korea's already dire economic situation. Unfortunately, cooperation isn't in North Korea's lexicon, so Kim's solution is to internalize the pandemic, which comes at a cost to the lives and happiness of the North Korean population," said Soo Kim, a former CIA analyst now with the Rand Corporation.



In fact, the plenary meeting mainly focused on developing the national economy and improving the people's livelihoods, while bolstering antivirus efforts, according to the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency.



Pacheco Pardo said Kim will continue to ignore South Korea and the U.S. until the country decides to fully reopen its border.



"This will happen when Kim feels that it is safe because the COVID-19 pandemic is under control. So I think that Kim will continue to focus on domestic conditions and the poor state of the North Korean economy for the time being. Considering this, probably he has no public message for South Korea or the U.S. and wants to keep his options open," he said.



During the meeting, the North Korean leader also stressed the importance of further bolstering the country's defense capability, prompting experts to say that he has not given up his nuclear and missile ambitions.



"Kim didn't address the U.S. and South Korea; the regime did, however, underscore continued development of the military, so we know that Kim's bottom line on nuclear weapons and missiles has not changed. This alone should be sufficient in suggesting that Kim's nuclear ambitions are par for the course," Soo Kim said.



Pacheco Pardo also said, "I think that the point about the five-year plan adopted at the Eighth Party Congress still being valid indicates that there is no reversal on military modernization. Therefore, Pyongyang will continue to develop its weapons programs until further notice."



Critics believe that the symbolic and nonbinding end-of-war declaration will not resolve the decades-long nuclear issue, because the Moon Jae-in administration's overhasty drive for the announcement may legitimize North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons.


Theres a positivity cult ruling the world. Through countless self-help books, banal social media slogans, and WhatsApp good-morning messages, this cult will have you believe that Think Positive is the magic pill of mental health. Pop one to instantly make that half-empty glass half-full and everything around you bright and sunny.

But isnt it painful to continually appear optimistic even when we are anxious and bogged down? And, what of those among us who naturally take a more guarded view of the world? When things are very clearly not okay, can we really switch on that Be Optimistic button and feel okay?

Turns out, practically, physiologically, and psychologically, pessimism is not always the villain popular culture has made it out to be. And, in more ways than one, some forms of pessimism can also work to our advantage.

The case for constructive pessimism

First things first  a positive outlook is great. We all like chirpy people around us. The melancholic get the short shrift. And our lived experience tells us that life is easier when we are hopeful and jovial. Additionally, a large body of research work suggests optimism has many health benefits. Studies have shown that those with an upbeat attitude are less prone to heart disease, stroke, and cancer. It is no wonder then that theres relentless social pressure on us to be eternal optimists. Herein lies the problem.

Experts believe our moods and viewpoints are part of an optimism-pessimism spectrum. At the opposite ends of this spectrum are the pure optimists, who may be detached from reality, and the pure pessimists, who may be miserable, according to Dr Elizabeth Scott, author and award-winning blogger on stress management and emotional wellbeing.

While the purists are a small minority, the majority of us fit in somewhere around the middle of the spectrum. And while, typically, most of us are optimistic about some areas of our life and not so about others, our natural state of being leans towards one of the two ends of the spectrum, writes Dr Scott in a medically reviewed article.

Thus, in the words of Dr Alok V Kulkarni, senior consultant psychiatrist at a Hubli-based mental health institute, optimism, although desirable, is not the default state of mind for everyone. It depends on various factors  birth traits, stable upbringing, positive life events, a sense of security, and positive feelings about self-worth, self-image, self-esteem, and self-identity  Dr Kulkarni elaborates. So, it follows that the majority of people are either generally optimistic or generally pessimistic owing to their birth traits and the kind of life they have had from childhood through adolescence and youth.

Crucially, though, it is not possible to fundamentally change a person, says Dr Raghu K, chief psychiatrist at a Bengaluru-based multi-specialty hospital. According to him, theres a socio-cultural dimension of how we think about optimism and pessimism. Nothing is a waste in nature, he says. If a particular trait exists, then it has its uses in our life and survival. But how we view or classify the trait  positive or negative, good or bad  is merely a social construct. Put simply, society has its own way of creating a narrative. If it views a particular trait favourably, then anybody who exhibits that trait is branded a positive personality, and vice versa.

In the context of pessimism, we know that it has been a useful trait all through our evolution because being edgy, anxious, and worried about things that could go wrong kept us alive. But most modern societies, including ours, view pessimism as a negative emotion. And so those of us who are not naturally optimistic desperately want to disown and stifle our pessimistic instincts, even though the struggle to become optimistic is sometimes more painful than being pessimistic.

The irony here is that the tendency to force positivity and resist negativity can actually hurt the truly anxious. Psychologist and writer Dr Douglas LaBier says that mental health and wellbeing stem from embracing bad feelings and not pushing them away. He says that while meditation, yoga, and other mind-body practices can help us cope with negativity, the process has to begin with first accepting our so-called negative emotions.

Thus, to sum up in the words of Dr Raghu, if you are born with a particular trait, you need to embrace it and view it as your strength. And this applies to pessimism too.

How to embrace pessimism

This isnt to say that all of us should proactively develop a more pessimistic view of life. But if we are naturally inclined to have a pessimistic outlook, how can we use this trait as a strength?

Some of the benefits of having a pessimistic outlook are intrinsic to the way such personalities think and behave. More often than not, they expect negative outcomes and are pleasantly surprised when things actually go well. Not surprisingly, therefore, a 2013 study published in the Journal of Research in Personality shows that people with a negative outlook are better than their more optimistic peers when it comes to building safety nets, staying prepared (practically and emotionally) for bad situations, and holding on to their world view in crises. We can also surmise that since pessimists are focused on seeing obstacles in their way, they are better at assessing risks and avoiding them.

Research indicates that a pessimists chronic tendency to have negative expectations (dispositional pessimism in psychologist parlance) can be a big advantage too, especially in the area of relationships.

A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology concludes that sometimes too much optimism can be a liability in a marriage or relationship as it prevents couples from proactively engaging in problem-solving. Conversely, couples who have a more guarded approach to their relationship tend to experience more success and satisfaction in the long run because they start off with lower expectations about each others ability to adapt and hence, put in more effort.

Theres also a way to use pessimism as a strategy for managing anxiety and dealing with difficult real-life situations. Psychologists call this defensive pessimism, and it is premised on the fact that people with a negative outlook tend to imagine worst-case scenarios in a loop and become anxious. However, practitioners of defensive pessimism harness this trait to actually perform better than they would by thinking positively.

When a defensive pessimist begins to feel anxious about an event or situation, she first lowers her expectations dramatically and then, thinks through in specific, vivid ways about all the things that could go wrong. In the process, she is able to create a plan of action to deal with all the potential setbacks. To understand better, think of an upcoming public speaking event that is making you nervous. Using defensive pessimism principles, start off by telling yourself that its going to be a disaster. Then imagine in detail all the worst-case scenarios  you forget a key data point, you trip on the microphone wire, and so forth.

Seeing this disaster unfold in your minds eye, you become prepared to take concrete mitigating actions  you carry a cue card with the data point, you ask the organisers for a wireless microphone, and so forth. Thus, you feel more in control and therefore less anxious.

The icing on the cake of course is that you are now very well prepared, better prepared than you would be if you thought the event would turn out great.

Does pessimism really affect your health? Ask the Japanese

Everyone and their aunt believe optimists are healthier than pessimists. The reality though is that for every study affirming the health benefits of optimism, theres another showing the longer life expectancy of pessimists. A Finnish study links pessimism to heart disease, but a British study doesnt find any link between positivity and long life. Thus, contrary to popular perception, the scientific evidence in support of either the health benefits of optimism or ill-effects of pessimism is inconclusive, contradictory, and controversial.

A 2017 study comparing the adult populations of America and Japan is a good reference in this context. Titled Linking Positive Affect to Blood Lipids: A Cultural Perspective, the study found that Americans were more likely to have healthier cholesterol and less likely to be overweight if they were optimistic. But no such connection could be found for the Japanese. In East Asian cultures, such as in Japan, positive emotions are not viewed favourably and are considered a distraction. But paradoxically, the Japanese people are known to lead long and healthy lives. So, if pessimism is unhealthy, what explains the Japan paradox?

It is impossible to find the exact cause and effect in studies like this. But look with a socio-cultural lens and the answer seems clear. In American society, optimism is a strongly reinforced value whereas, in Japan, the cultural emphasis is on living with a guarded outlook. So, it is perhaps not optimism or pessimism, but our ability to live in tune with the prevailing culture that makes us healthy or unhealthy.

The worst is yet to come?

You can trust the Swedes to be the first ones to hail anything contrarian. That's true for happy pessimism too which is gaining much currency in Sweden. Fighting the pressure to be seen as relentlessly positive, many Swedes are cheering for a growing cult that promotes healthy negative thinking. In fact, a course titled 'Negative thinking: It Won't Get Better Than This' by Ida Hallgren, a practical philosopher and psychologist, ran out of applications in a day.

Psychologist and comedian Mattias Lundberg, who co-authored a book on happy pessimism, writes that there's no denying the power of optimism but the self-help industry has "twisted the term."

"Boundless positivity has somehow become a necessary condition for happiness. And in that assumption could lie a great danger," he is quoted as saying in an article in a leading Swedish newspaper.

Hallgren's course, incidentally, is constructed around three phases of pessimism. It begins with the Greek stoics, goes on to the 19th century 'guru' of pessimism Arthur Schopenhauer and concludes with Buddhism. Hallgren explains that the movement for negative thinking is all about acknowledging reality, "even the ugly bits" and not about expecting the worst from life.
State-news

Lawmakers will gavel in Tuesday for the legislative session. Heres what theyll likely tackle.

Caleb Bedillion / BY CALEB BEDILLION/Daily Journal The Mississippi Legislature on Tuesday will gavel in for their 2022 regular legislative session for what will likely be one of the most consequential sessions in recent state history.(AP Photo/Rogelio Solis)

JACKSON  Mississippi lawmakers are expected to quickly begin their legislative session by passing bills to create a long-awaited state medical marijuana program and adopt a new congressional map.

The Republican-controlled Mississippi Legislature on Tuesday will gavel in for their 2022 regular legislative session. It will likely be one of the most consequential sessions in recent state history.

A number of key issues are expected to appear before lawmakers, including an overhaul of the states tax code, the revival of the initiative process and the distribution of federal stimulus money.

The legislative session is currently scheduled to span from January until early April. Here are some of the major items lawmakers are expected to deal with:

Gov. Tate Reeves sets up fight over medical marijuana

Gov. Tate Reeves earlier this summer said he would call lawmakers back into a special session to address medical marijuana when an agreement on the legislation was reached beforehand.

Nearly seven months later, Reeves still hasnt called such a session and is now threatening to veto medical marijuana legislation if the amount of cannabis a person can legally obtain at one time is not reduced.

Proposed legislation in its current form allows patients to purchase 3.5 grams of medical marijuana a day.

At a press conference on Dec. 20, the governor criticized this amount and said that if 10% of Mississippi residents legally participate in the program, such as the case in Oklahoma, it could lead to a recreational program.

It is my view that when you allow 300,000 Mississippians to get 11 joints a day or approximately 3.3 million joints a day or almost 1.2 billion joints over a year that at some point that has no longer become medical marijuana but recreational marijuana, Reeves said.

But legislative leaders arent budging.

Republican Rep. Lee Yancey of Brandon is the chairman of the House Drug Policy Committee, and he told the Daily Journal that the governors comments and assumptions made at the press conference are patently false.

I think this has been the most vetted bill in the history of state government, Yancey said. My phone has stopped ringing because I think that we have satisfied almost every critic except the governor.

The Rankin County legislator said Mississippi's program is more controlled than Oklahomas, and the governor has continued to let patients dealing with chronic pain suffer without having access to medicinal cannabis.

Still, Reeves said that he has heard from numerous lawmakers who have reservations about the bill and has called on more legislators to vote against the bill that Yancey is proposing.

If Reeves vetoes the legislation, it would take a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate to override it. If the Legislature were to override the governors potential veto, it would be the second time lawmakers have done so since Reeves took office.

Yancey speculated that the Senate would likely take up medical marijuana relatively early on in the session. Once the Senate approves the legislation, the House is expected to take it up soon after.

Appropriating federals stimulus money

The most serious and contentious task lawmakers will face is how to distribute $1.8 billion in money the state received from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Mississippi is the poorest state in the union, so state agencies, politicians and advocacy groups have approached the Legislature with numerous requests to use the once-in-a-lifetime money to improve certain functions of state government.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann proposed using the money to set up some type of matching program where local governments will put up a certain percentage of money to go along with whatever funds they receive from the state government.

There will be many proposals to use one-time money on fleeting items, Hosemann said in a statement. My hope, however, is we will stay organized and focused on generational change. Years from now, we want to be able to point to the positive difference this influx of resources has made in our state.

Other lawmakers, such as Republican Sen. Chad McMahan of Guntown, have advocated for some of the APRA money to go directly to cities and counties on a formula based on their population.

Leaders from the city of Tupelo have asked the state to appropriate $22.2 million to upgrade the air filtration system at the city's aquatic center, upgrade local infrastructure and build a new outdoor recreation attraction.

Redrawing state, Congressional district lines

The Legislature is expected to adopt a new Congressional map during the first week of the legislative session. The number of Mississippis representatives will remain at four, but legislators must still redraw the districts to account for population shifts.

The Joint Redistricting Committee on Dec. 15 voted to adopt a new map that greatly expands the geographic footprint of the 2nd Congressional District in the Delta region and shrinks the physical size of the other three Congressional districts.

The proposed map received no votes from Black lawmakers, who expressed concerns that the newly proposed 2nd Congressional District is not compact enough and goes against the wishes of U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, the states only Democratic member in Congress.

If you look at the map, Congressional District 2 now extends the state of Mississippi, Sen. Derrick Simmons told members of the press earlier this month.

Several legal organizations and advocacy groups have also filed a complaint with the Mississippi Ethics Commission over allegations that the redistricting committee violated state law by not discussing the proposed map in public meetings.

The proposed map keeps all of the incumbent officials in their current districts and will almost certainly preserve the political power structure.

Congressional districts must be as equal in voting age population as possible.

Northeast Mississippis 1st Congressional District is largely unchanged under the proposed map, although it removes Winston County from the 1st District into central Mississippis 3rd Congressional District.

The reason for acting quickly on the map is because the last day in Mississippi to qualify for a congressional race is March 1.

Once the Legislature approves of a new map, the proposal heads to the governor to either approve or reject. Reeves on Dec. 20 told members of the media that he had not reviewed the proposed map, but he plans to do so before the session begins.

Lawmakers will also deal with redrawing the geographical boundaries of the states 52 Senate seats and 122 House seats  a far more sizable challenge.

As a whole, the Census results show that more people are moving away from rural areas and heading toward more densely populated areas like Tupelo, Oxford, Southaven and cities along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Unlike the congressional maps, lawmakers have some wiggle room for the number of people that can be located in a district and can deviate up to 10% on the ideal size.

The governor has no direct role in state legislative districts. Though he can make informal requests, Reeves does not have the power to veto the state legislative map or sign it into law.

State Parks again shape up to be a thorny issue

Despite a heated legislative fight last year over the issue, the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks is looking to privatize the management of some state parks anyway.

Officials at MDWFP previously said they are finalizing a plan to invite outside groups to submit bids or proposals to run the day-to-day operations at some of the parks.

Sen. Neil Whaley, R-Pott Camp, last year filed a bill that privatized some of the state parks and turned others over to local government. That legislation was ultimately killed.

Revamping the state parks system continues to be a major priority for the lieutenant governor, the leader of the Senate.

Earlier this year, a legislative watchdog group criticized the way state parks are run and recommended the Legislature move the park system to a different state agency or create a standalone agency to manage parks.

Internal challenges facing the state park system include a lack of prioritization in maintenance planning, a lack of strategic marketing, and a lack of accountability for cash payments made at park entrances, a recent report found.

Louie Miller, the state director of the Sierra Club of Mississippi, told the Daily Journal that before the state received federal stimulus money, he could somewhat understand the idea of using private resources to maintain the state parks.

But now that state coffers are awash in federal stimulus and money and additional revenue, he believes there is no justification to hand over the park management duties to a private company, whose goal is to make a profit.

We have the money now to fix up these state parks, Miller said. We dont need to privatize them to keep them open.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a boom in outdoor recreational activities. Some states have cashed in on this opportunity to attract people to their public parks. Mississippi largely has not.

Miller said that data shows when $1 is spent on investing in a public park, the local economy around the park will see a $7 return from the economic impact.
Looking through an old edition of the Tempest's Annual recently, I came across a very interesting obituary for a prominent County Louth man of the period who died just before the outbreak of the First World War (or 'Great War' as it was known at that time).

This obituary was about a Peter Hughes of Castlering, Knockbridge, who died suddenly on July 19, 1914 and was the first Chairman of the Louth County Council.

This gentleman is commemorated in a photograph which hangs, along with pictures of the other Louth Chairpersons, over the entrance to the Council Chamber in the new County Hall at St. Alphonsus Road. When I saw this portrait first I had confused him with another, perhaps more famous, Peter Hughes from Park Street who had been involved, along with his brother Paddy, with the formation of the first branch of the Sinn Fein party in Dundalk about 1908 and later became the first Minister for Defence in the Cumman na Gael Government in the 1920s.

The Castlering man, however, is quite famous in his own right because he must have been the longest serving Chairman of the Council, from April 1899 until his death in July 1914; and, as far as I am aware, he was the only such Chairman to die in office.

From the obituary in Tempest's, it seems also that he must have been one of the youngest ever Chairman, when first elected, as it states 'aged just 60 years, after a short illness'. Another fact I learned about him was that he seems to have been unmarried and had no children. He was related, however, to many people still living in Dundalk and in County Louth.

Fr. Peter Clancy, a native of Castle Road, tells me that his own mother was a Mary Hughes, who was a cousin and that Redemptorist Father Eddie Jones, also a native of Castle Road, was another close relative. Fr. Clancy also informs me that he believes that the Castlering Hughes' mother was a Callan from Allardstown, Ardee, who may have been a descendant of the famous priest/scientist and inventor of the pre-emancipation era, Nicholas Callan from Ardee.

The obituary also mentions that this Peter Hughes was a Justice of the Peace of which there were about 100 in County Louth in 1914, many of whom were also members of the County Council and other local public bodies.

The obituary describes him as --- 'Quiet and unobtrusive, a man of few words, genial and kindly and he presided over the deliberations of the Council with firmness and impartiality, and it was remarkable how he grasped the technicalities of the new Local Government Act and dispatched the business with such marvellous celerity'.

He was succeeded as Chairman by William A Doran of Harristown, Ardee,who had been Vice-Chairman.

An interesting fact about William Doran, mentioned in this obituary, is that he had served in 'Kitchener's Army, in defence of his country'.

Presumably, this means that he had served in the British Army in the Sudan in the 1890s but it could also be that he had been involved in one of the Boer Wars at a later date. The entry also states that he had volunteered as a 'full private, but the authorities had offered him a Lieutenancy'.

Interesting times, surely! Which leads anyone interested in history to consider the question --- 'How much different might the history of Ireland have been had not the great conflict of the First World War occurred?'
North Andover, MA (01845)

Today

Cloudy this morning with showers during the afternoon. High 56F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

A steady rain this evening. Showers continuing overnight. Low near 45F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
A person scans the QR code of a vaccine pass app on a mobile phone to enter a large retail store in Seoul, Dec. 31, 2021. Yonhap



Omicron variant infections surpass 1,000 in just one month



By Lee Hyo-jin



Debate is heating up over the government's planned expansion of the coronavirus vaccine pass system to department stores and large retailers, which has prompted a strong backlash from unvaccinated individuals, who argue that their freedoms will be excessively limited if the system is implemented there.



According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, beginning Jan. 10, people entering department stores, large retail and discount stores measuring 3,000 square meters or more must show either a vaccination record or a negative PCR test result.



A one-week grace period will be applied until Jan. 16, after which violators will be fined.



Unlike cafes and eateries where unvaccinated people are allowed to sit if they are alone, an unvaccinated individual will not be able to enter department stores or large retail stores, even if he or she goes alone.



The expansion of the vaccine pass, which is currently applied to multiuse facilities including cafes, eateries, indoor gyms, movie theaters and public baths, comes as the country is facing an increasing spread of the Omicron variant.



But the government's decision to curtail individual freedoms further to protect public health has triggered heated debates.









"This is crossing the line. The government is virtually forcing the vaccine on the public by barring unvaccinated people from entering retailers where they go to purchase groceries and daily necessities," an internet user commented on the Naver website.



Another user who claimed to be partially vaccinated wrote, "Now I will have to rely on delivery services for my groceries. The authorities should stop treating the unvaccinated group as potential virus spreaders."





A medical worker administers a coronavirus test at a testing center near Seoul Station, Sunday. Yonhap
ON January 6, 1922, best friends Michael Collins and Harry Boland sat across a table from one another in Dublin.

Boland reached in his pocket and produced a bag containing four exquisite jewels. He handed them to Collins, the Minister for Finance, for safe-keeping.

However, after a heated argument on the pros and cons of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, agreed just a month previously, Collins, in a foul mood, flung the jewels back across the table, growling: Take back your damn jewels! Theyre blood-stained anyway!

The jewels in question were part of the Russian Imperial Collection, but how had they ended up in the coffers of Sinn Fein, and why did Collins declare them blood-stained? Did he know something Boland didnt?

Sadly, that meeting was the beginning of the end of the great friendship between the two revolutionaries, the first cracks of which had begun to appear over the love triangle with Kitty Kiernan (she chose Collins).

The following day, the Dail voted in favour of the Treaty, which led to the establishment of the Irish Free State. Boland - who once wrote in his diary that, in Collins, Ireland has the man of a generation - he stands out as the greatest force of the Movement - voted against it.

******

Four years earlier, in October, 1917, leftist revolutionaries known as Bolsheviks, led by their leader-in-exile, Vladimir Lenin, in an almost bloodless coup, had seized power from the Tsarist regime in Russia.

For a while, Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, Tsarina Alexandra, their Romanov family and retainers were allowed to remain, in relative comfort, at their mansion, Tsarskoye Selo, 24km south of the capital, St Petersburg.

Then, in April, 1918, the decision was made to move them 2,300km east to the city of Ekaterinburg, where Siberia begins. The large house of a merchant, Ipatiev House, was commandeered, the windows were painted out, machine gun nests were put in place, and, chillingly, a new name for the premises was quietly whispered among their captors: The House of Special Purpose. None had any doubt that this was the end of the road for the Romanovs.

At 1am on July 17, 1918, the royals were woken from their sleep. The Tsar and Tsarina, their four daughters - Anastasia, Tatiana, Olga and Maria - their son, Alexei, and staff, were told to assemble in the basement as the White Army (which supported the Tsar) was fast approaching (it wasnt). They had to be moved quickly, they were told.

There they stood, quietly, unsure, waiting, almost as if they were posing for a family photograph. Suddenly, ten heavily armed men, obviously the worse for drink, filed into the room

In 2016, Simon Sebag Montefiore, the noted author and historian, published his history of the Romanov dynasty. Allowed unfettered access to the Kremlins archives, he was asked if he had censored anything from the often gruesome records he had unearthed. He confirmed he had omitted only one detail: the more horrific aspects of the Tsars familys slaughter in 1918.

Suffice to say it took 20 minutes for them to die. What had enraged the psyched-up, drunken execution squad was the discovery the womens corsets were studded with secretly sewn-in precious jewels, causing some of the bullets to ricochet, and wounding some of their number. The jewels may have offered the women some protection from the bullets but not, unfortunately, from the frenzied assault of bayonets and rifle butts that followed.

One guard later described the room as being like a skating rink, only it was blood and brains that covered the floor.

Some of the assailants tried to spirit away the jewels, but Yakov Yurovsky, the Chief Executioner, threatened to shoot anyone who touched them.

He carefully documented them and dutifully returned them to his Kremlin bosses in Moscow, now the declared capital of the Bolshevik leadership.

******

21st February 1922: Members of the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis from left to right: Harry Boland, Michael Collins (1890 - 1922), Eamon de Valera (1882 - 1975) and Eamon Duggan. (Photo by Walshe/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

Five months after the massacre, a seismic event happened in Ireland.

On December 14, 1918, a month after the end of the First World War, a General Election was held. Sinn Fein won 73 of 105 seats, but abstained from taking their seats at the Westminster Parliament. They interpreted the result as a democratic mandate to establish a separate Irish Parliament - Dail Eireann - and to proclaim a Republic. The Dail was proscribed by the British authorities, but continued to function, under great duress, as the de jure, albeit underground, government of Ireland.

But governments need funds, and a National Loan was launched under the indefatigable 29-year-old Minister for Finance, Collins. When it closed in July, 1920, over 355,000 (about 13 million in todays money) had been subscribed.

Even after the Loan officially closed, money continued to pour in, including over 4,000 from Terence MacSwiney in Cork. A further $5 million was raised in a successful Bond Drive by President Eamon de Valera and Harry Boland in the United States, equating to some 60 million today. It is no exaggeration to say the Irish national movement was awash with money.

Not so, apparently, the fledging Soviet Union, then known as the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic.

It was the first government internationally to recognise Dail Eireann in 1918, and Collins was held in great admiration by the Bolsheviks, due to his revolutionary, anti-imperialist ideals and remarkable fund-raising prowess.

In 1920, Ludwig Martens, a close confidante of Lenin, was on a fund-raising mission in New York, without much success. He approached the Irish delegation with a view to securing a loan of $20,000 (about 250,000 today) from them.

Martens produced a box containing a pendant with a 16-carat diamond and three sapphire ruby brooches. He said it formed part of the Imperial Russian collection, which he was prepared to put up as collateral. He did not elaborate on the provenance of the jewels.

After much soul-searching, the Irish -staunch Catholics, who were, after all, about to do a deal with Godless, Communist Russia - agreed to the terms, and the cash was handed over in exchange for the jewels.

******

After the fractious meeting with Collins 100 years ago next week, a despondent Boland returned to his mothers house at 15, Marino Crescent, Dublin - birthplace of Bram Stoker, author of Dracula.

Not knowing quite what to do with the jewels - with the vote on the Treaty looming, it is safe to assume he had far more important things on his mind - it was decided to hide them in the brick-work of the kitchen fireplace.

Other places they were sequestered included Harrys old riding boots, kept in plain sight.

Boland was mortally injured in a struggle with National Army troops in Skerries on July 31, 1922, and just over three weeks later, his erstwhile former best friend Michael Collins, was killed in action at Bealnablath. On his death-bed in St Vincents Hospital, Harry requested his family not to hand over the jewels unless de Valera was returned to power. This the family did in 1938.

The Russian jewels were locked away in a safe and promptly forgotten about.

In 1948, during the term of the first Inter-Party Government, Clann na Poblachta co-founder Dr Patrick McCartan, responding to accusations from Fianna Fail that his party had Communist leanings, revealed de Valeras deal with the Soviets back in 1920.

This was the first that most people in Ireland had heard of it, and now the government was anxious to be rid of the gems once and for all. After contacts through the Soviet Ambassador in London, they were relieved to hear the Russians were prepared to take them back and repay the full $20,000 - without interest. The Irish agreed, and the transaction was completed on September 13, 1949.

******

In 1988, Harrys niece, 90-year-old Eileen Barrington (her mother Kathleen was his sister) approached the Department of Foreign Affairs, curious to know the whereabouts of the jewels her family had faithfully hidden for so long. Her efforts came to nothing.

At the bidding of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Gerry Collins TD, the Irish Ambassador in Moscow visited the Kremlin Armoury which housed the imperial regalia, but, he reported, he had not seen anything resembling the jewels as described in the official receipts.

To this day, the provenance of the Russian jewels remains a mystery. What were they - and where are they? And why did Collins react like he did - declaring them blood-stained- when Harry Boland spilled them across the table in front of him?

The Big Fella, with his supreme network of intelligence agents and spies, not alone in Ireland but also across the UK and the continent, may have been privy to information that he was not prepared to share with Boland at that point in time.

We shall probably never know.

Postscript: The British Royal family possesses some of the Romanov collection, including the fabulous tiara once worn by Grand Duchess Vladimir. Queen Elizabeth wore this, with its priceless emeralds, during the State Banquet at Dublin Castle in 2011.

When Meghan Markle married Prince Harry in 2018, reportedly she had her heart set on wearing the Vladimir tiara. Harry allegedly told his grandmother, the Queen: What Meghan wants, Meghan gets.

Liz, however, unimpressed, reportedly told her grandson: She gets whatever tiara shes given by me!

It wasnt the Vladimir.
A male in his teens arrested in relation to an assault in Cork city was charged and appeared before a sitting of Cork District Court on Saturday.

The assault, during which a male in his late teens is understood to have been stabbed, occurred shortly after 10.30pm on Friday night in the city centre.

The incident occurred on Castle Street.

The injured teen was brought to Cork University Hospital (CUH) to be treated for his injuries and the male in his teens was arrested and detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 at the Bridewell Garda station before appearing before a sitting of Cork District Court on Saturday.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Bridewell Garda station on 021 494 3330, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any garda station.
Washington, MO (63090)

Today

Cloudy with showers likely during the afternoon, and possibly a thunderstorm. High 68F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Rain this evening with thunderstorms developing overnight. Low around 60F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
Yoon Suk-yeol, presidential candidate of the main opposition People Power Party, speaks during a press conference to outline his "digital platform government" policy, Jan. 2. Yonhap



Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol said Sunday he will transform the government into one based on big data and digital technologies if elected so as to offer tailored services to the people.



During a press conference to outline his "digital platform government" pledge, Yoon said he will use scientific data to figure out what exactly people want and offer corresponding services to people, including those who have been sidelined because they do not know what they are entitled to.



All people will also be provided with fair services regardless of their connections, he said.






AT&T and Verizon aren't delaying their 5G expansions any further after all. Bloomberg notes the two carriers' CEOs have issued a joint letter rejecting a request from the FAA and Transportation Department to stall their C-band service rollouts beyond January 5th to address concerns of interference with aircraft systems. The companies argued that the government's proposed plan would effectively give oversight of the network expansions to the FAA for an "undetermined number of months or years," and wouldn't cover rivals like T-Mobile.

The move would represent an "irresponsible abdication" of network control, the CEOs said. They also believed honoring the request would be to the "detriment" of customers.

Instead, AT&T and Verizon tried to negotiate a compromise. They vowed not to deploy C-band 5G towers near some airports for six months, but only so long as the aviation industry and regulators didn't do more to halt C-band deployments. American transportation agencies had asked on December 31st for a general delay no longer than two weeks, but called for a gradual deployment of service near "priority" airports through March to safeguard important runways.

It's not clear how the FAA and Transportation Department will respond. The rejection isn't shocking, mind you. C-band service promises to deliver more of the long-touted speed advantages of 5G without the short range and poor indoor service of millimeter wave technology. It could also add capacity to keep 5G networks running smoothly as more users upgrade their devices. However, officials and the aviation industry have a lot to lose as well they're worried C-band 5G could disrupt flights and put passengers at risk. You might not see either side capitulate quickly.
Samsung is coming to CES with two high-end monitors aimed at very different audiences. As The Verge notes, the company is starting things off with the Smart Monitor M8. The 32-inch 4K display offers TV functionality like its predecessors, but now includes a SmartThings hub to control compatible smart home devices directly from your screen. It's also better-suited for video chats thanks to an included magnetic SlimFit webcam you can use with Google Duo and other apps.

The M8 can also serve as a platform for (as yet unnamed) game streaming services, complete with wireless gamepad support. More details are coming closer to launch, Samsung said. Workspace also folds Microsoft 365 and other cloud productivity services into a single space.

Samsung hasn't mentioned pricing or a release date for the Smart Monitor M8. While it's smaller than the 43-inch M7 (normally $600), the smart home features and webcam could keep the price relatively high.

Samsung

The other display might cost less than previous models, however. Samsung has also unveiled a 32-inch Odyssey Neo G8 gaming monitor that should be far smaller than the 49-inch Neo G9 while preserving the pronounced 1000R curve, mini-LED technology, 240Hz refresh rate and 2,000-nit peak brightness. It even jumps to a 4K resolution  this is the first 4K monitor to support 240Hz and a 1ms pixel response time, Samsung claimed. Support for both NVIDIA's G-Sync and AMD's FreeSync Premium Pro should keep tearing artifacts to a minimum.

There's no mention of a price or ship date for the Odyssey Neo G8. Given the size reduction, it won't be surprising if the screen costs less than the $2,500 G9 even with the resolution bump.

Follow all of the latest news from CES 2022 right here!
Enid, OK (73701)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms during the morning then windy this afternoon with storms becoming more widespread and possibly severe. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. High 82F. Winds SSE at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Gusty winds diminishing after midnight. A stray severe thunderstorm is possible. Low 42F. Winds NNW at 20 to 30 mph.
PAWHUSKA, Okla.  A condemnation dispute will be back in Osage County court this week, sans any direct input from the Native American tribe whose deal with the city of Enid was repeatedly brought up in testimony last month.

The Osage Nation, whose national headquarters and program buildings are located next door to the Pawhuska courthouse, declined last week to respond to claims that a recent agreement with the city of Enid would give the tribe substantial control of a county landowners condemned property.

A forbearance agreement approved last May would allow the city to divert available water from Kaw Lake to the Nation, presumably through part of Dr. James Merrifields property in Osage County.

Attorneys representing Merrifield argued in district court last month that Enid is unlawfully exercising its eminent domain authority on behalf of the Nation, which does not have such authority.

Isnt it fair to say that the Osage Nation is getting the right to use Mr. Merrifields property because the city of Enid is using its constitutional authority to take his property? defense attorney Brad Hilton asked City Manager Jerald Gilbert on Dec. 2.

+2 Osage Co. landowner's attorneys question need for Enid's planned water pipeline in condemnation hearings The legal team representing an Osage County landowner in a years-long condemnation dispute argued in district court last week that the city of Enids long-standing financial relationship with Kochs fertilizer plant is the major driving factor behind building the pipeline from Kaw Lake, rather than projected service-area growths for water demand or population.

Filed the same morning as Gilberts testimony, a supplementary brief with additional exceptions to the condemnation detailed allegations over the Osage agreement.

By entering into said Agreement, Enid has authorized and allowed the Osage Nation to essentially access, utilize and take Defendants property, without any lawful authority to do so, and without any notice or due process protections, the filing stated, before continuing, The Osage Nation will retain a substantial amount of control over the use of the pipeline and therefore Defendants property.

The Osage Nations attorney general, Clint Patterson, did not have a comment at this time about the claims, Nation spokesperson Abigail Mashunkashey said in an email last Monday.

Attorneys will reconvene for a third and final hearing day Thursday to question the testimony of expert defense witnesses over the citys water supply and finances related to the Kaw Lake project.

In June 2020, court-appointed commissioners had recommended the city should pay Merrifield $47,700 to acquire property easements for building the pipeline.

Defense attorneys then held that the citys actions using the lakes water supply had attempted to violate the Osage Nations mineral rights, in the initial exceptions report filed in September 2020, which included several other arguments against the citys condemnation and the Kaw Lake project. This filing came before the city of Enid approved its agreement with the Nation.

'Tremendous benefit'

No one representing the Osage Nation has yet been asked or subpoenaed to testify specifically over the forbearance agreement, which was brought up during two initial days of testimony in early December.

Gilbert, the city manager, had disagreed with Hilton characterizing the agreement as bartering during questioning.

The Nation is allowed to draw from an agreed-upon reserved capacity volume of water not exceeding 8 million gallons per day, which would be pumped under part of Merrifields 200 acres.

Gilbert said the forbearance agreement was intended to resolve a possible dispute between the city and the Osage  sidestepping an ongoing dispute between the Osage Nation and the state of Oklahoma about which party owns the water in Osage County and elsewhere in the state, the Arkansas River and its accompanying riverbeds and banks.

Following four years of discussions, the city of Enid and the Nation, represented by Patterson, agreed to terms allowing the latter to also receive water from the planned pipeline, in exchange for sovereign immunity.

Because that dispute has not been settled and probably wont be settled timely, Gilbert said, the city was prudent to enter into an agreement with the Osage to prevent legal issues while preserving the rights to everyone to continue to contest with the state of Oklahoma with whatever claims they have, if any.

The agreement also offered the Nation two potential access points along the 36-inch-diameter pipeline running within Osage County between Kaw Lake and McCord. A $1 million payment is intended to cover future, potential infrastructure costs, according to the city.

In a May news release, the Nation called the deal for future water delivery a tremendous benefit to its citizens. It also said the project is consistent with the Nations goals to protect and conserve water, as well as other natural resources surrounding the county for the benefit of the Osage people.

Kaw Lake is located in Kay and Osage counties, with the projects intake site located in the former county. The transportation pipeline then travels 70 miles, crossing four counties to a terminal point in Enid and connecting to a new distribution system.

According to the agreement, if the Nation requests usage  with advance notice no less than two years before construction  the two parties would meet within 60 days and confer over an amendment to the citys current service area, including the name of the recipient, the location and duration of use and the quantity of water. The Nation would also pay the city monthly operational costs.

The city would not be able supply water from the Kaw Lake project to any location outside of the projects designated service area unless the city requests and receives approval from the Nation.

In any event, as this agreement affects Mr. Merrifield and his property, the Osage Nation is now gonna use the pipeline for it to have water, its dictating where Enid can sell its water that it takes on, Hilton said last month, before asking Gilbert, Do you feel like the Osage Nation might out-distance the law here?

I cant speak to what the law is, Gilbert replied.

During the projects initial planning and design, city engineering staff and contractors had also reached out to several other federally recognized Oklahoma tribes such as the Ponca Tribe, the Kaw Nation and the Otoe-Missouria Tribe.

McGirt implications

In hearings earlier in 2021, Merrifields attorneys  who did not respond to request for comment also repeatedly had cited the McGirt v. Oklahoma ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court as a reason for the pipeline project to be canceled.

The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in July 2020 that prosecution of crimes by Native Americans on lands in Eastern Oklahoma fall under tribal court jurisdiction and federal judiciary, rather than state and district courts.

Attorneys argued because the property resides in Indian Country, the countys district court does not have the proper jurisdiction to grant the city of Enid the land. They cited past cases to hold that the definition of Indian Country has applied to civil cases, as well.

They also unsuccessfully attempted to have District Court Judge Stuart Tate transferred or disqualified from overseeing the case because of the potential implications of McGirt, appealing denials all the way to the Oklahoma State Supreme Court.

Merrifield alleged Tate had an economic interest in property that would be negatively affected if courts determine Osage County is within Indian Country.

In a brief filed last Friday, the citys hired condemnation attorney, Danny Williams, disputed the defenses argument that the city lacks jurisdiction was without merit.

Federal condemnation statute holds that for federal courts to have jurisdiction, the land sought to be condemned is either allotted to Indians or an undivided percentage of the property be owned in fee by a Native tribe, Williams stated  neither of which apply to Merrifield or his property.

After Thursdays hearing, Tate is then expected to rule over the exceptions and possibly the entire water project, which already has begun construction at both ends.
Click for the latest, full-access Enid News & Eagle headlines | Text Alerts | app downloads

Mullin is an award-winning writer and columnist who retired in 2017 after 41 years with the News & Eagle. Email him at janjeff2002@yahoo.com or write him in care of the Enid News & Eagle at PO Box 1192, Enid, OK, 73702.

 The News & Eagle has traditionally published personal opinions of writers and readers through editorials, columns and letters to the editor on its Opinion Page. The opinions shared are those of the writers and not the newspaper.

 Submit your opinion for publication to editor@enidnews.com. Find out more about submitting letters to the editor at https://www.enidnews.com/opinion/.
China releases new Mars images on New Year's Day

Xinhua) 10:08, January 02, 2022

Image provided by the China National Space Administration shows the orbiter of the Tianwen-1 mission and Mars.

BEIJING, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- China released on the first day of 2022 a group of new Mars images sent by the Tianwen-1 probe.

These new images showed diverse working conditions of the probe's orbiter and rover, as well as the Mars surface topography obtained by them, said the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

The images include the group photo of the orbiter and Mars, closeup of the orbiter, ice sheet on Mars' north pole area, surface landscape taken by the rover Zhurong.

China's Tianwen-1 mission, consisting of an orbiter, a lander and a rover, was launched on July 23, 2020.

The lander, carrying the rover with an expected life span of at least 90 Martian days or about three months on Earth, touched down in the southern part of Utopia Planitia, a vast plain in the northern hemisphere of Mars, on May 15.

Zhurong drove down from its landing platform to the Martian surface on May 22, starting its exploration of the red planet.

As of Dec. 31, 2021, the Tianwen-1 orbiter had been working in orbit for 526 days, at a distance of about 350 million km above Earth. Zhurong had been working on the surface of the Red Planet for 225 Martian days and traveled 1,400 meters, according to the CNSA.

The Tianwen-1 mission is carrying out the planned exploration and test tasks, obtaining about 560 gigabytes (GB) of data. Both the orbiter and rover are in good condition and operating normally, the CNSA said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Bianji)
Liquefied natural gas should not be considered green energy



Last Thursday, the Ministry of Environment released a guidebook on "K-taxonomy," presenting principles and standards concerning environmentally-friendly economic activity. It refers to the government's certification of eco-friendly activities  a set of guidelines to induce capital flows into green investment and finance and prompt the substantive transformation of society to cope with the climate crisis. The exclusion of nuclear energy, which cannot be called a form of green energy, from the taxonomy guidebook was natural in this regard. However, the inclusion of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which produces lots of greenhouse gases to produce and transport, is worrying as it could give the wrong signal.



The guidebook classified as green 69 economic activities that meet six environmental goals, including greenhouse gas reduction and climate change adaptation. However, unlike the 64 "green" categories, the five "transitional" categories, newly established toward the end of the discussion, raise doubts as a possible compromise with businesses. The environment ministry explained the reason, saying, "We included these economic activities temporarily because they are transitionally necessary as the nation moves toward the ultimate destination of carbon neutrality."



As expected, environmental groups criticized the decision.



"LNG-fired power generation emits 70 percent of the equivalent of the greenhouse gases from coal power generation," they said. "It is highly likely to obstruct attaining carbon neutrality but will receive 'green financing' even with the government's certification." In comparison, discussions on a "traffic light system" are underway within the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to classify only activities that contribute to environmental goals as "green" while categorizing transitional activities as "yellow" and activities against that objective as "red."



Eco-friendliness and corporate profits are no longer a zero-sum game. The government should draw a mid- to long-term blueprint based on an unshakable environment-friendly policy. However, the environment ministry added a provision to reconsider whether to include nuclear power in the taxonomy after watching how the related discussion progresses in the EU. Atomic power generation will burden future generations because it takes several decades to decommission old reactors. It would be far better to speed up the energy transition by focusing on reactor-decommissioning technology and renewable energy research.


On 25 July 2021, Tunisian President Kais Saied partly suspended parliament and sacked the countrys prime minister. Expressing his intention to change the constitution and create a new political system, the president consolidated power in his own hands, drafting a long and opaque road map for a return to democratic rule. Although Saied claims to be working to establish a more democratic and inclusive system, his moves so far look classically authoritarian. The EU expressed its disagreement with this course of events but has been cautious in its policy response. The unions member states, moreover, did not react in a unified manner. European criticism of Tunisias democratic backsliding is mounting, but without noticeable effect so far. Yet the dramatic crisis for Tunisian democracy reflects a range of weaknesses in the EUs commitment to the country since the political breakthrough of 2011. To have any hope of helping preserve the Arab Springs only successful democratic transition, the EU needs to significantly upgrade its support to Tunisia by unifying its message, maintaining diplomatic pressure, and considering the risks of applying sanctions.

Under the dictatorship that lasted for most of Tunisias postcolonial period, the country was often described in European corridors as a close partner next door whose main problem was its lack of democracy. With the fall of former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, the EU made Tunisia a privileged partner, giving the country among the highest levels of EU support per capita in the world. For a time, Tunis and Brussels appeared to be closely in step with each other, but the euphoria of 2011 gave way to stagnant cooperation, and the two partners could not upgrade their relationship further. Negotiations for a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA), an initiative that was supposed to bring Tunisia closer than ever to the EU, stalled. Meanwhile, EU support for democratization was substantial but had its limits, as the events of the summer of 2021 eventually showed.

Four issues explain why Brussels has proved so weak in protecting a system it has often praised as a model. First, the EU increasingly has prioritized controlling migration to the detriment of supporting democracy. European diplomats often praise Tunisian democracy and the importance of the country as a democratic partner. But many in Tunis have the impression that this talk of democratization is a cover for implementing harsher migration policies. While the EU portrays fighting informal migration as a joint priority for Europeans and Tunisians alike, this is really a European priority, not a Tunisian one. Many Tunisians would like to move to Europe, but the Tunisian authorities are working against their demands by closing down informal migration routes. Many Europeans would like Tunis to police the EUs southern borders, seemingly regardless of the countrys political system.

The second factor relates to how the EU has secured its democratization policy in Tunisia. The EU has not acted decisively to safeguard the democratic achievements that it helped spearhead. Compared to other cases in Eastern and Central Europe, where the EU was highly attentive to the threats posed by Russia, Brussels has barely responded to the negative external influences in Tunisia stemming from tensions between the competing geopolitical axis of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Egypt on one side and that of Turkey and Qatar on the other. As these states have undermined democracy in Tunisia over the last decade, rarely has the EU exerted any pressure or condemned their actions. Weak seeds produce withered flowers.

The third issue relates to the nature of the DCFTA talks. Europeans pressured Tunisia to move forward with this trade agreement as a condition for an improved relationship. But internal politics and deep suspicions about the proposal held Tunisia back. Political instability led to frequent changes in Tuniss priorities and repeated shuffles in the countrys negotiating team, with discussions sometimes backtracking on previously agreed-upon points because of a lack of organization from the Tunisian side. At the same time, Tunisian civil society groups were virtually unanimous in decrying the DCFTA as a risk to the countrys political and economic sovereignty. Yet neither Tunis nor Brussels came up with an alternative, leaving the process of deepened integration pending and the diplomatic relationship fragile and lacking trust.

The fourth and most immediate weakness in the EUs diplomatic policy toward Tunisia occurred during the coronavirus pandemic. Between June and July 2021, thousands of Tunisians died, and the countrys healthcare system approached the brink of collapse. The country lacked everything from masks and oxygen tanks to vaccine kits. As Tunisia was sinking, many European leaders looked away. Much of the rapid and immediate aid came from the countrys Arab neighbors first, not from Europeans, though France did send some assistance around this time. But it was only after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt pledged emergency assistance that more Europeans started sending substantial amounts of aid. Though they offered much more aid than the Arab states before and after Tunisias dire summer, the EUs slowness to act during those fateful summer weeks had dramatic consequences for its diplomatic influence in Tunisia.

On top of these shortcomings, the EUs and its member states reactions to Saieds July 2021 quasi-coup were tepid and uncertain. The EUs reluctance to call the power grab a coup or to unequivocally criticize the move is understandable: Tunisians had come to dislike the countrys political class so strongly that defending the fallen government or the suspended parliament would have backfired against the union. Saied has been popular since his election as president in October 2019, and the fact that his seizing of power this summer coincided with the arrival of much-needed vaccine doses and other medical aid added to his popularity. Many Tunisians have seen him as the countrys savior. Moreover, Tunisias dire economic conditions during the 2010s and the presidents propaganda machine made the countrys previous rulers appear to be the source of all the countrys woes. Any European condemnation of Saied could have been spun as support for Ennahda, the largest party in the countrys frozen parliament.

Still, Europeans mild reactions to Tunisias democratic erosion also appear to reflect a lack of interest in defending the countrys democracy. The EU was slow to send any envoy. The first high-level European official to visit the country and meet the president was Josep Borrell, the EUs high representative for foreign affairs and security policy. He visited Tunisia in September, a month and a half after Saieds unilateral move. By comparison, the Saudi foreign minister visited Tunis on 30 July, his Egyptian counterpart came on 3 August, and the Emirati envoy arrived on 7 August. No high-level envoys from any EU member states visited Tunisia during this early period either. Between the July power grab and early December 2021, there was no recorded call between Saied and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. This slow response contrasts with the agility Europeans displayed in recent crises that affected the Balkans and the Caucasus, other priority regions for European democracy support.

But while the EUs reaction was slow and mild at first, it has gradually become more critical. Borrell and Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, have pressed Saied to provide a road map to get Tunisia back on its democratic track. Members of the European Parliament are increasing their criticism as well. On October 21, the European Parliament adopted a strongly worded document calling for a return to democracy in Tunisia and warning against foreign (namely Saudi, Emirati, and Egyptian) interference. As for individual EU member states, the reactions to the potential collapse of Tunisian democracy have been mixed. Officials in Rome and Paris have displayed less alarm, whereas Berlin appears to be more concerned.

What can the EU do now? Europeans should act decisively on multiple fronts to try to encourage a return to democracy in Tunisia. For starters, Europeans should do all they can to help alleviate Tunisias economic woes. Notably, Europe should use its available expertise and new technologies to help Tunisia modernize its agricultural sector and build renewable energy infrastructure, fields that can offer Tunisia a comparative advantage and that can help quickly improve the countrys economic outlook. There are other steps Europe can take to help put Tunisia on a more solid economic footing. If and when normal politics resumes, Europeans should incentivize cooperation by cultivating more partnerships that pair European and Tunisian municipalities. Furthermore, the EU must work on formulating an alternative to the DCFTA. In the wake of Saieds power grab and the quasi-suspension of the constitution, it is time for a new framework that transparently considers ordinary Tunisians grievances and comments, while equally responding to European needs and demands. And Europe also ought to consider ways of helping spur political reforms in Tunisia.

Looking beyond Tunisias borders, the EU and its member states should press regional authoritarian partners  including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE as well as Qatar and Turkey  to stop meddling in Tunisian affairs. These countries have been undermining democracy promotion in the Middle East and North Africa for at least a decade, through their media and social media empires, their political and military proxies, or their own direct diplomatic and military involvement. Now that Tunisia is questioning the need for democracy and at the same time looking for outside investment, one of these two regional groupings will likely try to step in. The Saudi-Emirati-Egyptian axis continues to seek a rapprochement with Tunis. The EU needs to head off this threat to democracy.

The EU and its member states are wondering how they can recalibrate their relationships with Tunisia over the medium term, especially if the countrys young democracy continues to be derailed. The question of sanctions is on the table, but it would be a risky route to take: Tunis could still find ways to get investment from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. China might even see the situation as a good opportunity to seek a geopolitical beachhead in North Africa. As Libya has proved, Europes allies can work with Europes foes if doing so suits their interests. Moreover, Saieds popularity, the EUs damaged image in Tunisia, and a strong sense of nationalism would make European sanctions counterproductive; for many Tunisians, such measures may look like imperialist aggression that would feed into the presidents populist narrative. EU leaders need to find creative ways to disburse funds, making sure that they do not support any dictatorial impulses in the country. The EU should not gamble with the prospect of standing by and letting Tunisia simply fall prey to populism and resurgent authoritarianism.

Has the EU Failed Democratic Tunisia?  Article by Youssef Cherif  Carnegie Europe.

The Article can be downloaded here
W

e are maximalist, we are loud, you hate it or love it but we dont try to be something were not. Philipp Plein, the 43-year old German fashion designer known for his bold creations and over-the-top events, embraces watches the way he creates the clothes, shoes, or jackets that you can see Cardi B, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Naomi Campbell, Kylie Jenner, Floyd Mayweather, Cristiano Ronaldo and other A-list celebrities wear. And that is the beauty of the watch world: everyone can contribute to the expansion of its universe, since the first fashion brands dared enter this enigmatic universe as outsiders in the 1970s.

Since then, almost all fashion brands have at least attempted the horological adventure. A few have had success imposing their own mark, most have had mixed results, as simple accessories complementing their fashion lines. Now is the turn of Philipp Plein, the specialist of aspirational luxury, who has partnered with the Luxury Division of Timex Group to launch a first line of timepieces under the umbrella of the brand he founded in 1999 at the age of 21.

What is his own take on watches? Its a world hes been standing alongside for a long time  physically at least as his company is headquartered in Switzerland. And hes used to moving from one segment to another as he started his own business in furniture before launching apparel. We interviewed him.

Almost all fashion brands have at least attempted the horological adventure. A few have had success imposing their own mark, most have had mixed results. Now is the turn of Philipp Plein, the specialist of aspirational luxury.

German fashion designer Philipp Plein has founded his eponymous brand, that operates today more than 200 stores worldwide. He is now adding watches and jewellery to his portfolio.

Europa Star: What is your personal experience with watches?

Philipp Plein: My first watch was a Swatch, actually a few of them  a chronograph, a diving watch and then a metal timepiece. I was fascinated as it was a watch for everybody: even for people wearing expensive timepieces, it was cool to have a Swatch. It was related to fun, fashion and sports. At 16, my first luxury watch was a Breitling that I received for my birthday.

How do you regard the appeal of watches in the broader scope of fashion?

What I observe is that today, if I say the word watches, the first models that come to mind are luxury, higher-end timepieces. Watch aficionados are looking for exclusive models, a sense of detail and design, fine materials, heritage, craftsmanship, customisation and practicality. In the affordable range, you dont necessarily expect to find these elements.

The most iconic symbol of Philipp Plein is the protagonist of The $kull.

What motivated you to launch your own watches and jewellery collection?

Im a watch enthusiast and my life journey has always followed the same thread: from passion to business. This is how my clothes, shoes, jackets and now watch collections were born. So, I decided to design a watch collection speaking the Philipp Plein language.

My life journey has always followed the same thread: from passion to business. This is how my clothes, shoes, jackets and now watch collections were born.

This timepiece is inspired by the $keleton sneakers collection. Punctuated by hexagonal screws, the top ring is embellished with carbon fibre effect or a setting of multicoloured baguette crystals, echoed in the indexes.

What is your ambition with it?

When a fashion brand enters the watch industry, it is often to try to sell its name. I have never been a fan of that approach, as the quality is often not aligned with the price you pay. I studied the price segment of fashion brands in terms of watches and many of them are active in the entry-level segment, they try to compete for the first price. I wanted to position my collection in a range that is not overcrowded by fashion brands, that is between entry and premium at 300- 900 euros, with an average price tag of 600 euros. There are fewer competitors and thats an interesting middle segment for a brand that is not just a name on a product.

Philipp Pleins Hyper $hock is a digital timepiece available in sparkly yellow gold or stainless-steel versions, with a pave of white crystals covering the top ring and bracelet links.

How do your translate your fashion spirit into watches?

We are still a relatively young brand, sort of the new kid on the block, and the success weve had in the fashion industry is because our products are really selling. Why? Because we offer a strong product and design, so that some people who have never heard of the brand will like it based on the product itself. At the first meeting for the watch creations, our partners came to me with a fully developed collection proposal. But I was not excited enough. The team I work with is very open minded: what you see today is very different from what we had at the beginning, as they gave me the possibility to really develop the watch I wanted to personally own.

This is something really key to me: Im a watch consumer myself and today I have the possibility to own most of the timepieces I could desire. I want to design a watch collection that people who may already wear a Patek Philippe, a Hublot or a Richard Mille find attractive, but also cater to people who cannot buy those models. I dont compete with those brands: at the same price, customers will always opt for the traditional brand, but I try to offer something yet unseen. Actually, when I put the first designs on Instagram, most people expected something more expensive. But if you are too high in terms of prices, you get too close to the leading traditional brands.

When I put the first designs on Instagram, most people expected something more expensive. But if you are too high in terms of prices, you get too close to the leading traditional brands.

The G.O.A.T. aka the Greatest Of All Time features a multifunction digital display. It is adorned by the designers $kullbones symbol.

Could you share your inspirations and processes in designing the collections?

The inspiration came from the watches I used to dream of when I was younger. Our success is that we were born at the level of a niche product but that we grew out of this niche. This is the same approach Im having with watches. We are in the fashion industry but with a luxury process. The look and feel is very cool, related to the spirit of the brand. The packaging itself is in the shape of the skull, a key motif for us.

I like timepieces with bigger diameters and would define the Philipp Plein brand as maximalist, bold, fun, flashy and loud. We like to work with stones and crystals and our main shapes are the hexagon and the skull. You love it or hate it, but we dont try to be something were not. I have seen too many fashion brands try to be something else when embracing watches.

What is the distribution strategy in terms of your own outlets  there are over 200 around the world  and specialist watchmaking stores?

The collections are distributed in our boutiques and on our own e-commerce website, which is growing fast as we generated over 100 million euros online in 2021. We will also use wholesale distribution. The real compliment for a designer is when people actually spend money on the products we create. Our average price point for our fashion apparel is 800 euros so we are a bit below that in terms of watches. The distribution has to be aligned with the price point.
I

ts difficult to avoid being transported back to childhood when presented with the living dials developed by the CSEM, a major microtechnology research centre based in Neuchatel (where the silicon escapement was developed). In one instance, stardust gathers with the passage of time, creating landscapes on the dial, in the form of poetic motifs representing the phases of the moon. In another, deconstructed motifs come together to form the indexes of the watch as the hour hand passes by.

Frederic Loizeau, in charge of technology transfer at CSEM, presents this innovation with enthusiasm: We have been working on flexible components for several decades now as part of our collaboration with the space industry. By combining our know-how in aerospace, silicon and horology, we have succeeded in designing a mechanical complication that simply sits on the dial and allows animations to be triggered thanks to a system of cams, rods and contact points.

As thin as a sheet of paper, this monolithic silicon module is made up of no fewer than 384 deformable elements  that is, 32 parts per animation, on a dial with 12 indexes. The value of this innovation lies in the contrast between its apparent simplicity  everything is visible on a single layer  and the striking observation that there are no cogs, the manager emphasises. The mechanism itself is magical to the enthusiast: you dont know how it works. These new complications are compatible with any mechanical movement, as long as they can connect to the right component.

The concept of a monolithic part with flexible elements has been used for decades in the space industry, as it avoids friction or fatigue.

Moon Dust: The dial is composed of hundreds of stars. Some of them come together to form the current moon phase.

Forming and deforming

Without necessarily knowing it, we use a similar, albeit more rudimentary, flexible technique every day when we uncap our shampoo or Tic Tac box: in both cases, a single piece of plastic is opened by deformation. The mechanisms developed by the CSEM work on the basis of forming  and then deforming  the flexible components to create the desired patterns. The use of silicon is essential in order to work with the required precision, in the micron range.

Although it employs an innovative material and principles used in aerospace, this dial automaton also has a direct, horological connection with the 18th century, and the automata of Jaquet-Droz, since it is based on a similar system of cams that transmit information about the animation.

Without necessarily knowing it, we use a similar, albeit more rudimentary, flexible technique every day when we uncap our shampoo or Tic Tac box.

A poetic soul

Francis Cardot, a researcher at the CSEM, imagined and developed this concept from scratch, with the idea of bringing a different, more poetic soul to watch displays. Finishing touches can be applied to the motifs thus created, for example in the form of miniature paintings. With this new type of complication, the creative possibilities for watchmakers are almost infinite, states Frederic Loizeau.

Following initial consultations on this innovation within the watch industry, the CSEM is considering creating a separate entity to pursue its development and bring it to market. Frederic Loizeau assures us that industrialising this technology will make it possible to boost the creativity of any brand.
Sunday, January 2, 2022

Commentary From Crisis Management Expert Edward Segal, Author of the Award-Winning Crisis Ahead: 101 Ways to Prepare for and Bounce Back from Disasters, Scandals, and Other Emergencies (Nicholas Brealey)

The cause of an internal crisis at an organization can be as fundamental as a difference of expectations, opinions and priorities.

A case in point are the apparent differences between what companies and their workers think about issues related to mental health in the workplace. The failure to bridge those difference could create a corporate emergency that can include low staff morale and challenges retaining and recruiting employees.

One new survey showed there is a big gap between what employees think of the mental health support they receive from their companies compared to how well employers rate how they are doing in providing that support to workers. A second study examined the attitudes of business leaders toward mental health in the workplace and what they believe organizations can do to help.

Failing Grade From Employees

One study, the 2021 Employer Mental Health Report Card, found that workers gave their companies a failing grade  "F"  when it comes to workplace mental health and wellbeing support. By contrast, employers graded themselves a "C" average for the mental health support they offer to their workforce.

The research project was conducted by Lighthouse Research & Advisory for LifeSpeak, a mental health and well-being platform for employees and organizations. Two surveys were conducted, one targeting employers and the other targeting employees. Both were done online in early November 2021. The margin of error on each was 4%, with 99% confidence.

This is not the first study to show that companies are out of sync with their workers. Earlier this year I reported on a survey that showed many more employers than employees want to return to their offices.

'A Big Gap'

"In the 10 years I've been doing research on employer priorities, this is the first time I've seen this big of a gap between the reality that workers and employers perceive," said Ben Eubanks, chief research officer at Lighthouse Research & Advisory.

"When analyzed in aggregate, the data from this research indicates that employers are trying to implement solutions to support mental health needs for the workforce, but the reality is these efforts aren't being seen, felt, and received by many of the workers they are meant to support," he observed.

'What Shocked Us'

Michael Held, CEO and founder of LifeSpeak said, "What shocked us is how big the disparity is between the perception of employers and the perception of employees regarding the quality of mental health support within their organizations.

"Mental health has been a growing focus for employerespecially over the past couple of yearsand our survey shows that many have made positive improvements. So, to still earn a 4.4 ranking on a ten-point scale shows that whatever they're doing is missing the mark.

"For the most part, employers need to focus more on listening to their workforce and providing a variety of options so they can provide mental health support that better aligns with workers' needs," Held recommended.

Disconnect

In another separate research project, digital consulting firm West Monroe's A Survey on Mental Health in the Workplace found there's a disconnect between what's currently being done and what would help most.

According to the report, "Business leaders say their workplaces are using a number of strategies and tactics to support mental health in the workplacean average of five per company.

"But there's some disconnect between what organizations are doing, and what business leaders say would be most helpful. The top option for our survey respondents (extra time off/extra personal days)....ranked dead last in companies' current strategies."

The survey also found that:

Only 7% of business leaders said they own or champion workplace mental health and wellness as part of their own role.

11% of business leaders said their companies are not addressing mental health at all.

Only 31% of leaders said they're addressing it and already are planning to do more.

49% said they're addressing it but could do more.

The study included 151 business leaders with a manager or above their title and was taken between October 18 and November 2, 2021.

Advice For Business Leaders

'A Number Of Steps Employers Can Do'

Jason Hunziker, MD, is the division chief of adult psychiatry for the University of Utah's Huntsman Mental Health Institute. He said to further mental health awareness in the workplace, there are a number of steps employers can do, including:

Training supervisors in the necessary skills to have conversations with employees about signs and symptoms of mental health, and connecting them to available mental health resources.

Develop protocols to address a mental health crisis in the workplace.

Participate in national mental health screening days for depression or other mental health conditions.

Display and frequently share mental health resources and community crisis services with employees.

Work with community mental health centers, university health systems, and community-based organizations to get access to experts that can provide education and information.

"Integrating these practices into the workplace may be a life-saving step for an employee struggling with a mental health crisis," Hunziker said. "Creating a culture that normalizes the idea of seeking help will encourage coworkers to help each other find support when they need it."

'Organizations Need A Twofold Approach'

Amy O'Neill is vice president and director of health and well-being strategy at Liberty Mutual Insurance. She said that, "Organizations need a twofold approach to mental health  access and acceptance  providing a wide range of benefits that address mental health and a culture that normalizes the conversation around mental health.

'A Variety Of Resources And Benefits'

"For example, at Liberty Mutual we offer a variety of resources and benefits that help employees overcome day-to-day stressors, such as free visits with mental health counselors through our Employee Assistance Program, free access to an online stress management program that offers tips and techniques for building resilience, as well as free access to a program that helps employees navigate their finances," she noted.

'Create A Culture Of Acceptance'

O'Neill suggested that, " To advance mental health awareness and create a culture of acceptance, we continue to adopt new resources and hold open conversations. This includes programming around the topic of mental health, such as internal webinars/panels that touch on its impact, leadership trainings that provide tools for managers to lead with empathy and have honest conversations with their employees, among many other initiatives."
Nadia Medaouri was born just 20 minutes after midnight on New Years Day, making her San Antonios first baby of 2022.

Baby girl Nadia weighed 7 pounds 1.6 ounces and measured 20.5 inches, according to a Methodist Healthcare news release. She was born at Methodist Hospital to first-time parents Lamia Issad and Achour Medaouri. Both mother and baby are healthy, the hospital reported.


The Croatian Competition Agency has found, following a thorough investigation, that Zagreb Airport did not distort the market or put Ryanair in a privileged position compared to other carriers through its incentive program which resulted in the low cost airline basing three aircraft in the city and launching 24 routes. The growth incentive model, introduced at the end of last year, encourages airlines to commence unserved routes, however, Croatia Airlines has argued it was not offered similar conditions when it was adding new destinations to its Zagreb network prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Competition Agency concluded, The determined discount system used by Zagreb Airport in this model of the incentive scheme has a standardised threshold that applies equally to all interested airlines and as such does not result in the unequal position of airlines, since the discount mechanism is not flexible and is not applied to carriers on an individual basis. The Croatian Competition Agency has found, following a thorough investigation, that Zagreb Airport did not distort the market or put Ryanair in a privileged position compared to other carriers through its incentive program which resulted in the low cost airline basing three aircraft in the city and launching 24 routes. The growth incentive model, introduced at the end of last year, encourages airlines to commence unserved routes, however, Croatia Airlines has argued it was not offered similar conditions when it was adding new destinations to its Zagreb network prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Competition Agency concluded, The determined discount system used by Zagreb Airport in this model of the incentive scheme has a standardised threshold that applies equally to all interested airlines and as such does not result in the unequal position of airlines, since the discount mechanism is not flexible and is not applied to carriers on an individual basis.





Zagreb Airport previously noted, The traffic growth incentive model is designed to reduce the cannibalisation of existing routes (and airlines operating on these routes), while providing maximum market flexibility and ensuring increased traffic in Zagreb. Zagreb Airport is subject to strict regulations defined by the European Commission and the Croatian Civil Aviation Agency. All incentive programs implemented by the incentive model are transparent and non-discriminatory and can be used by all airlines under equal conditions. Ryanair Group CEO, Michael O'Leary, said, We are not focusing on routes covered by Croatia Airlines but those that are not served from Zagreb. We plan on carrying over ten million passengers in cooperation with Zagreb Airport over the next five to six years. Croatia Airlines is a distinguished carrier, but it has lost touch with the development of air travel in Croatia, particularly from Zagreb. We do not see them as a competitor because even on the routes we both operate on, we fly to different airports. Ryanair has three aircraft based in the Croatian capital and its winter destination network is double that of Croatia Airlines, although it still operates significantly fewer flights and offers less capacity.





On the other hand, Croatia Airlines believes it is not being treated equally by its main hub. It previously said, Competing with a significant number of large carriers has been the reality of the market since Croatia Airlines foundation and there is nothing problematic in that regard. However, it is unacceptable that the national carrier is financing the arrival of new carriers on the market. The company noted that were it offered the same conditions as the low cost giant, its fees at Zagreb Airport would have been reduced by 17.8 million euros in 2019, which would have seen the airline post a profit instead of a loss that year. It added, We appreciate Zagreb Airports efforts in securing new flights, however, this should only be done on the basis of impartiality and the same terms should be offered to all companies without favouritism. At the same time, we expect for Zagreb Airport to meet the needs of Croatia Airlines in the same way and that conditions will be harmonised with those offered to Ryanair, taking into account the number of routes we operate, and passengers carried. Failure to secure the same incentives for Croatia Airlines, or even greater discounts, seriously endangers equal conditions for all and purposely causes damage to the national carrier, which is majority owned by the Republic of Croatia.








FAIRFIELD  Quickly forming deep connections with patients and their families is what drew Dr. Sandhya Dhanjal to oncology and hematology.

The kind of relationship you have is very intense, she said. I think you go through kind of a war with the patients.

Dhanjal, an oncologist and hematologist at the Oncology and Infusion Center in Fairfield, said working with a patient and taking a multidisciplinary approach to their illness makes the work interesting and exciting.

I feel like a solider at war, she said. Sometimes I feel like were winning and sometimes I feel like a wounded warrior, where I go home and Im like, I lost the battle. Its a deep feeling and connection with people and their struggle.

Hartford HealthCare recently opened an oncology and infusion center at 425 Post Road in Fairfield that aligns with that mission.

HHC purchased Medical Specialists of Fairfield, the private practice previously there, last January. It renovated the floor above and expanded the practice. The result is an 8,000-square-foot center that opened in mid-December. It features six medical exam rooms and 12 private infusion bays.

Dr. Peter Yu, Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institutes physician-in-chief, said the expansion allowed the facility to have more exam and treatment rooms, as well as space for staff and a better experience for the patients. He said the center offers a variety of treatments including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, blood transfusions, hydration, therapeutic phlebotomy and injections.

Yu said HHC entered Fairfield County about two years ago. It has been looking to improve and upgrade its cancer services to the area, including recently adding three medical oncologists at St. Vincents Hospital.

We anticipated continuing to expand in Fairfield County, he said. We dont want patients driving long distances to come to the hospital for everything. We want to create these outpatient or ambulatory centers up and down Fairfield County.

Essentially, Yu said, the service will be coordinated through the centralized health care system, but the delivery will be local. This, he said, will keep the quality of care high while also convenient and accessible.

Over the last 20 years, Yu said, the treatment for cancer has advanced while the number of people dying from it has dropped approximately 30 percent. He said the decrease in mortality is good, but it does mean treatments have become more complicated.

We needed to expand and upgrade the facilities in order to be able to deliver these advances to patients, he said.

Yu said HHC has upgraded the pharmacy in St. Vincents Hospital, which allows patients to get the advanced therapeutics. He said the network has also upgraded their information technology system, providing more efficient care.

But it also provides whats called clinical decision support, he said. This is the software intelligence that helps us to make sure the right treatments are being given to the right patients. With so many different treatments to chose from, its important to have the support of software that ensures the right medications have been prepared and given to the patients.

Dhanjal, who lived in New York City where there were many competing health systems, said Fairfield County has been different because health services are primarily dominated by the Yale New Haven Health System. She said Hartford HealthCare coming into the area provides a healthy level of competition that any medical field needs for quality control and patient choice.

The money they put into the facility in Fairfield is very important, because now we have a high-quality, standard cancer center with an independent base for chemotherapy and infusion, she said, adding this center helps with outreach in Fairfield County.

Dhanjal said the care patients can get is top-notch in a very competitive environment  the crossroads between the Yale New Haven Health System and large health groups in New York and Boston. She said she and her colleagues have name recognition in the area, and Hartford HealthCares investment in the formerly private practice allows them to deliver care under the organizations brand.

Our old facility was very dated, and I think Hartford HealthCare has brought this facility to a standard of excellence, she said. Were going to have research opportunities. Were going to have different specialties  each of us kind of specializing a little more in different cancer types. Were working toward a disease-specified model where each doctor takes on one or two cancer types and specializes in that.

With the vastness of oncology as a field, Dhanjal said, it can be important for a doctor to be able to dig down into specific areas so they can provide the most cutting edge treatment to a patient.

Dhanjal said physicians are always visible and available to their patients. She also said joining HHC improved access for people who are uninsured or under-insured.

I think this is a very high-class cancer center with a neighborhood feel, she said. I grew up myself in Fairfield. If I were to have cancer I would go nowhere but here. Its close to home. Weve always had a family-like feel.

joshua.labella@hearstmediact.com
Military slammed for another security lapse



An unidentified South Korean was found to have crossed the heavily fortified border into North Korea, raising concerns about the military's security lapse. This case has demonstrated that there is a big hole in the military's readiness posture.



The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Sunday that the crossing took place on Saturday evening. The person was detected by surveillance equipment in the eastern part of the Demilitarized Zone, which bisects the two Koreas, at 6:40 p.m., on New Year's Day.



But the military had not noticed the person until 9:20 p.m. when a soldier watching the CCTV replayed the recorded footage. Then it carried out a search operation and confirmed that the person crossed the military demarcation line at around 10:40 p.m.



It is dumbfounding to know that the border guard failed to recognize the person's move instantly which was caught on the surveillance camera. More worrisome is that such border crossings have happened again and again in recent years. Our military cannot avoid criticism for repeated security lapses.



The JCS has yet to identify the person who is presumed to be a civilian. It sent a notice to the North through a military hotline asking for the defector's protection. The case occurred after a South Koran fishery official was shot dead by North Korean troops after he went missing near the maritime border in the West Sea in September 2020. The incident sparked criticism for the brutal killing which the North said was in line with its national emergency declared against COVID-19.



The Moon Jae-in administration needs to prevent such a tragedy from happening again, regardless of the reason the person fled to the North. It should also make all-out efforts to boost discipline among service members and tighten the surveillance network in frontline regions to ensure our national security.



The military has already taken flak for a series of sexual harassment and assaults on female members. A lack of discipline on the part of soldiers is to blame for various types of misdeeds and mishaps. Repeated surveillance failures in border areas have usually been caused by negligence and slackened vigilance. In July 2020, a North Korean, who escaped to the South three years ago, swam back to the North.



The military has also come under fire for not detecting North Koreans crossing the border into the South. In February 2021, a North Korean man swam across the eastern maritime border. At the time, our soldiers failed to spot the man although he was captured on surveillance cameras. In November 2020, a North Korean civilian was captured 14 hours after jumping over barbed wire fences to cross the inter-Korean border.



The government has modernized surveillance equipment to boost military preparedness. But state-of-the-art technology is of no use if soldiers remain negligent. It is time to take radical measures to boost the military's discipline and vigilance.


A new dog squad specifically trained to sniff out products of animal origin have been introduced in ports to help stem diseases such as African swine fever.

The detector dogs, accompanied by handlers and funded by the Scottish government, will be based full time at airports, ports and parcel hubs across Scotland.

They will help stop the introduction of exotic animal diseases, such as African swine fever (ASF) and foot and mouth disease.

It comes after the public were recently urged not to bring any meat or meat products with them when returning to the UK, as they could carry ASF.

The lethal pig disease is currently spreading in domestic animals across Germany, and has also been found in Belgium, Romania, and Poland.

Asian countries  including major pig producing countries such as China and Vietnam  have been hit particularly hard by it, and cases have also been reported in Sub Saharan Africa.

The disease has resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of pigs and wild boar in Europe, and millions in Asia.

ASF has an on-farm mortality rate of up to 100% and there is no vaccine for the disease, leading to worries that any UK outbreak would devastate the domestic pig sector.

Figures provided by Border Force North show that in 2020 more than a tonne of products of animal origin (PoAO) was seized at ports and airports from people seeking to enter Scotland.

Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said the detector dog service would enhance the detection of illegal PoAO and reduce the risk of ASF and other exotic diseases.

"Alongside their handlers, they have taken part in a robust training regime and now that they have passed their assessments they can get to work and help us detect PoAO entering Scotland illegally," she said.

Monthly seizure data provided by Border Force North helps us ascertain where PoAO originate from and helps us identify periods where seizures are above average.

"We work closely with colleges and universities to ensure that international students studying in Scotland are aware of rules regarding the import of PoAO."

Assistant director for Border Force Scotland, Marie Craig added: Border Force detector dogs protect the UK from over a tonne of potentially harmful products that could spread disease each year.

The deployment of specially trained detector dogs across our ports in Scotland will further improve our ability to protect the public from the importation of exotic diseases.


Accenture Federal Services (AFS), an Arlington, VA-based subsidiary of Accenture (NYSE: ACN), has been awarded a seven-year, $87m contract by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the federal agency responsible for granting U.S. patents and registering trademarks.

Working with the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), AFS will support and enhance the Trademark Product Line (TMPL), which manages the entire trademark lifecycle from filing to registration, including attorney examination and adjudication.

As the prime systems integrator, AFS will modernize critical applications and create a DevSecOps infrastructure, while incorporating cloud, cyber, and automation capabilities.



The contract was awarded through the General Services Administrations Alliant 2 Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) vehicle.

In conjunction with the announcement, Rasha Nahas, managing director and the U.S. Department of Commerce lead for Accenture Federal Services, said: We look forward to bringing the resources of our Accenture Federal Digital Studio with omni-channel digital services and user-centered design to support the USPTO Trademark Product Line IT systems. By merging the latest technologies with proven product management practices, we will help the USPTO streamline the entire trademark application process across its lifecycle, including the migration of legacy products.



Accenture Federal Services is the subsisdiary of Accenture that transforms ideas into innovative outcomes for clients at defense, intelligence, public safety, civilian and military health organizations. It serves every cabinet-level department and 30 of the largest federal organizations.

FinSMEs

02/01/2021
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Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the ministry's Seoul office, Dec. 23. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



Country moving to join RCEP, CPTPP mega trade pacts: trade minister



By Baek Byung-yeul, Kim Yoo-chul



The COVID-19 pandemic and the prolonged trade row between the United States and China have led the global community to realize how interrelated it is as well as the importance of the global value chain, as the disruptions have direct economic effects worldwide.



At this moment when the global economic order is undergoing rapid changes, Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo said there needs to be a new framework for the international trade scene.



"Korea is capable of coping with this well and taking the lead in the upheaval," Yeo told The Korea Times in a recent interview.



"I think the problems arising in the current international trade scene in the wake of the pandemic are due to reactions to problems that were overlooked in the globalization process," the country's top trade negotiator said.



"In addition, as digitalization accelerates, it has become important to respond to global supply chain vulnerabilities. Therefore, it seems that we should break away from the present beliefs regarding trade policy and come up with a new framework."



Since he took office in August 2021, the trade minister has traveled around the world, meeting with various decision makers in international trade and exploring ways for the Korean economy to move forward.



What he was able to confirm over the past months is that Korea's status on the international stage is different from what it was before. As a result, he believes that the country should now speak out in the international community to make a greater contribution.



While the global economy has been struggling to cope with climate change, resolve supply chain issues and distribute vaccines in 2021, Yeo said that Korea, which is the world leader in semiconductors, vaccine manufacturing and eco-friendly vehicle parts, is fully capable of playing the role of a "linchpin" in solving these problems.



"What I felt as trade minister was that the status of the country has changed a lot. Ten years ago, we were in the position to ask for investment in the country, but now countries want to do business with Korea. In addition to bringing up discussions on issues related to Korea on the international stage, it is time to actively emphasize the constructive leadership we can provide," he said.





Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
After a year on the job, Mayor Alex Johnson II believes the city has a bright future.

This is our home, Johnson said, speaking at an Albany Area Chamber of Commerce event earlier this month. And we can be better here if we work together and communicate with each other, share our experiences, our cultures, our families, and just enjoy each others company.

Johnson is the citys first Black mayor. Hes a local business owner, a Navy veteran, and he served on the City Council. He ousted incumbent Sharon Konopa, who served for a dozen years and was the citys first woman mayor.

An effective government

Among the first objectives for Johnson was improving efficiency by starting City Council meetings earlier and making them shorter. He moves discussion along at a brisk pace and doesnt like to linger on any one agenda item. He touted a 10-fold increase in participation with virtual/hybrid meetings.

The mayor highlighted the citys role in relocating the Cumberland Church, which was moved 1,200 feet along Santiam Road from Main Street to its new spot on Pine Street near Eleanor Hackleman Park. The Cumberland Community Events Center bought the building from the city with an 1892 silver dollar.

Johnson mentioned successes with new city billing and permitting processes, growing volunteer groups, hardening information technology infrastructure, and an update to the city's development rules. He also called for more work on affordable housing and homelessness.

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.

A safe city

Albany Police Department hired 13 officers this year, according to Johnson, who applauded the work of Chief Marcia Harnden in establishing a wellness program that could expand to the Fire Department, which has seen significant increases in calls for service.

Theres a high suicide rate amongst police officers and fire department personnel, Johnson said. And we want to make sure they are well.

APD, one of three Oregon law enforcement agencies certified by The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, found no issues in the past two years of CALEA audits, Johnson said. He added that officers are learning to focus on professionalism and de-escalation techniques.

Other public safety accomplishments included investing in new technology for police and fire services and updating the 1988 storm water master plan.

Healthy economy

Johnson credited the city with recruiting three new businesses, creating 26 jobs in Albany. He cited $2.83 million in active loans, 100 jobs, and $34 million in private investment in continuing support of gap financing with traditional lenders. He also said $700,000 has been invested in pandemic business support with a 100% loan repayment rate.

Johnson added a $5 million city budget shortfall will take a collective approach to resolve.

Great neighborhoods

With the library reopened for in-person visits, a highly successful summer reading program, and coming youth technology and crafting programs, Johnson said the next generation of Albany is being set up to succeed.

We are a technological nexus right here in Albany, he said. Albany is going to grow.

Summer recreation was also highlighted. Johnson said city parks and recreation programs served 50,000 people this year. Among the ongoing goals is transitioning parks, facilities and hard surface trails that meet with Americans with Disabilities Act standards. Johnson said parks have suffered under the pandemic and need more support.

Johnson emphasized the need for housing solutions in the hub city. Hes looking forward to a plan of action from the Housing Affordability Task Force that will serve a wider array of needs, likely including more middle housing (duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, townhouses, cottage clusters) rather than focusing on single-family homes.

The average couple who just got married, graduated, got their first jobs, he said, they cant afford to live here. My daughter pays less for a one-bedroom apartment in Portland than it costs to live here in Albany.

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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Whether theyre bound for downtown, Sky Harbor or possibly just to some other part of the region, East Valley motorists can expect the Arizona Department of Transportation to ramp up its massive, three-year I-10/Broadway Curve project this year.
Seen is a virtual exhibition space of LG Electronics during the Consumer Electronics Show, which will take place in Las Vegas from Jan. 5 to 7. Courtesy of LG Electronics



World's largest tech show to kick off this week



By Baek Byung-yeul





Logo for Consumer Electronics Show / Courtesy of Consumer Technology Association

Samsung, LG, Hyundai, SK and other Korean companies are set to reveal their latest technologies and products at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week, in order to take the lead in the post-pandemic era, where a shift in both technology and people's life paradigms is expected to occur.



The CES is the world's largest tech show. The event organizer said that over 2,200 exhibitors will participate in this year's event. Though the 2021 event was fully held online in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022 event will be held both on- and offline.



This year's event was scheduled to be held for four days from Jan. 5 to Jan. 8, but the organizer said Saturday that it has decided to proceed for three days until Jan. 7 amid concerns over the increasing number of people testing positive for the Omicron variant.



Among Korean companies, two big names in the IT sector  Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics  and around 400 companies will join the show.



Samsung and LG, which have showcased their innovative products during the past events, will again unveil their latest gadgets designed to enhance the convenience of their consumers. While Samsung will present a variety of products in offline booths, LG will exhibit its products using both offline booth and virtual space.





Samsung Electronics' 32-inch monitor, the M8, will be displayed at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show, which will take place in Las Vegas from Jan. 5 to 7. Samsung said Sunday that the new smart monitor can be connected to any PC, or be used on its own via its built-in apps. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
Xiamen, China, Jan. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On December 30th, the 34th THE GOLDEN ROOSTER AWARDS held a awards ceremony in Xiamen. Xiamen entered "Golden Rooster Time", the attention of the city is focused into this event.

This year is the year of the 40th anniversary of the Golden Rooster Awards, and the year of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Xiamen Special Economic Zone.

This year's Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival co-sponsored by the China Literature Arts Association, China Film Association, and Xiamen Municipal People's Government. During the three-day movie festival, the primary activities include 30 items under seven categories. Including a award event, three large events, four film exterior activities, two investment forum activities and film industry learning symposium, film artist sharing, and show groups.

The film festival held the best foreign language selection for the first time

This year, the film participating in the Golden Rooster Awards registration is a film that is reviewed through the CHINA Film Administration review during July 1, 2020 to July 15, 2021.

Since the launch of registration work on July 7 this year, the organizing committee received 185 registration films, including 50 story films, 69 small and medium cost stories films, 11 children's films, 11 art films, 25 documentaries and Science and Education Films, 9 Drama films, 10 Foreign Language films.

In the end, 20 awards including best feature film, best director, best actor, and best actress will be selected.

Among them, this year the Golden Rooster Awards "Best Foreign Language Film" selection work was launched for the first time, aiming to explore and establish film evaluation standards that meet the international standards and Chinese aesthetics.

Special theme of "BRIC Countries" at the International Film Festival

The film festival has launched a number of special events, including the Golden Rooster International Film Exhibition, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Film Exhibition, Domestic New Film Exhibition, Bamin Film Exhibition and other film exhibition activities.

Among them, China Golden Rooster&Hundred Flowers Film Festival will screen 38 films from 35 countries and regions for 77 times, including 5 new "BRICS theme" films and 3 "classic restoration theme" masterpieces. Among them, 9 films premiered in Asia, 19 films debuted in mainland China, 97% of the films were awarded at major international film festivals in the world, and 5 films were selected by countries to participate in the 94th the Oscars.

In order to showcase the unique style of Xiamen as a "BRIC city", the China Golden Rooster&Hundred Flowers Film Festival will set up a special "BRIC Countries" section to show new films from Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa and other countries, opening a light and shadow dialogue with Chinese films.

The Golden Rooster Awards landed in Xiamen, and the film and television industry developed vigorously

Since becoming the first fixed city to host the Golden Rooster Awards in 2019, Xiamen has witnessed the glorious moments of Chinese films one after another. Standing at the new starting point of the 40th anniversary of the construction of the special economic zone, Xiamen, a vibrant film and television city, and the Golden Rooster Awards side by side, continue to write a new chapter of legend. As of the end of November this year, Xiamen had a total of 2,046 film and television companies, and 350 new film and television companies were added in 2021; the total registered capital of film and television companies was 9.16 billion yuan, and the newly added registered capital in 2021 was 2.61 billion yuan.

"Made in Xiamen" word-of-mouth market has a double harvest

With the arrival of high-quality film companies and the presence of film and television crews, Xiamen has gradually become a fertile ground for film and television production and production. This year, 143 film scripts were recorded in Xiamen City, 102 major online film and television series were recorded, and 8 TV series were released. The number of film and television dramas recorded, publicly screened and distributed ranks first in the province. The active film and television environment also breeds more high-quality works produced by "Xiamen".

Special policies release the development momentum of the film and television industry



This year, Xiamen formulated the "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Film Industry in Xiamen City" and issued special support policies for film and television such as "Provisions on Further Promoting the Development of the Film and Television Industry in Xiamen City." Mainly centering on the cultivation of market players, script creation, film and television works distribution, film and television shooting, film and television activities and other important links in the film and television industry chain in Xiamen, 11 measures with strong pertinence, high gold content and strong operability have been taken. Support all districts in accelerating the implementation of tax-related policies. In 2021, the cash amount will be 110 million yuan, benefiting 193 companies.

On September 8 this year, at the 21st China International Investment and Trade Fair, the Golden Rooster Film Venture Capital Conference of the China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival signed a cooperation agreement with the Xiamen City Talent "Double Hundred Plan". Relevant outstanding talents can be selected as the leading entrepreneurial talents in the "Double Hundred Plan" of Xiamen City. Attracting talents and cultivating talents will inject new momentum into Xiamen's promotion of high-quality development of the film and television industry. During the 100th Anniversary of Xiamen University this year, the Xiamen University Film Academy, jointly established by the city and school, was officially unveiled. JiMei University, Xiamen University of Technology and other institutions are also launching film and television education. Vigorously cultivating and introducing talents in the film and television industry has provided continuous intellectual support for the development of the film and television industry in Xiamen, and has also sown the seeds of more vigorous vitality for this fertile soil.

Media Contact

Company Name: Golden Rooster Awards

Phone: 86-13696961224

Email: 81782557@qq.com

Website: https://www.zgjjbhdyj.com/index.htm

Attachment
Gloucester, MA (01930)

Today

Partly cloudy this morning. A few showers developing during the afternoon. High 49F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

A steady rain this evening. Showers continuing overnight. Low 44F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.
SHIPSHEWANA [mdash] Lorene Miller, 69, Shipshewana, died at 7:15 p.m., Saturday, April 30, at Life Care Center, LaGrange. She was born Sept. 8, 1952 in LaGrange, to Lester and Mary Alice (Miller) Hochstetler. On Oct. 24, 1974 in Shipshewana, she married Chris B. Miller, he survives. Survivor
Magnolia, AR (71754)

Today

Overcast. A stray afternoon thunderstorm is possible. High 84F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy in the evening. Thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 67F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Eve UAM, the urban air mobility (UAM) business created by Embraer and established as an independent company in October 2020, has entered into a definitive business combination agreement with Zanite Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company focused on the aviation sector. Upon closing of the transaction, Zanite will change its name to Eve Holding, Inc. and will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the new ticker symbol, EVEX and EVEXW.





Embraer S.A., through its subsidiary Embraer Aircraft Holding, Inc., will remain a majority stockholder with an approximately 82% equity stake in Eve Holding following the closing of the business combination, including its investment in the PIPE.

In connection with the transaction, Embraer has contributed its UAM-related assets, employees and IP to Eve. In addition, Embraer has granted Eve a royalty-free license to Embraers background IP to be used within the UAM market.





We believe that the urban air mobility market has enormous potential to expand in the coming years based on an efficient, zero-emissions transport proposition, and that with this business combination, Eve is very well positioned to become one of the major players in this segment. As a global aerospace company, with leadership position in multiple segments, we understand that innovation and technology play a strategic role in driving sustainable growth and redefining the future of aviation. Francisco Gomes Neto, president and CEO of Embraer

Eve is the first company to graduate from EmbraerX, the market accelerator created in 2017 by Embraer, a global leader in the aviation industry with a more than 50-year history of aircraft manufacturing and certification expertise. With a singular focus on a potential $760-billion UAM addressable market, Eve has introduced a comprehensive, practical and capital-efficient UAM solution spanning electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (eVTOL) design and production, service and support, fleet operations and urban air traffic management.

Eve will be led by co-CEOs Jerry DeMuro, who most recently served as CEO of BAE Systems, Inc., and Andre Stein, who has led Eve since its inception and served in leadership roles with Embraer for more than two decades.

Eve has secured launch orders from 17 customers, via non-binding letters of intent, resulting in a pipeline of 1,735 vehicles valued at approximately $5.2 billion.

The business combination values Eve at an implied $2.4-billion enterprise value. Upon closing of the transaction, and assuming no redemptions by Zanites stockholders, Eve will have approximately $512 million in cash, resulting in a total pro forma equity value of approximately $2.9 billion. Cash proceeds raised in the transaction are expected to be used to fund operations, support growth and for general corporate purposes.

The proceeds will be funded through a combination of Zanites approximately $237 million cash in trust, assuming no redemptions by Zanites stockholders, and a $305-million PIPE of common stock at $10.00 per share, comprising commitments of $175 million from Embraer, $25 million from Zanites sponsor and $105 million from a consortium of leading financial and strategic investors including Azorra Aviation, BAE Systems, Bradesco BBI, Falko Regional Aircraft, Republic Airways, Rolls-Royce and SkyWest, Inc.

In connection with such commitments, Embraer has entered into arrangements with certain of such strategic investors to provide them with price protections in the amount of up to their $30 million aggregate commitments in the form of credits for parts and services or cash in exchange for the transfer of shares to Embraer. In addition, Embraer has agreed to a three-year lockup on its rollover shares and Zanites sponsor has agreed to a three-year lockup on its founder shares.
Twitter has permanently suspended the personal account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., saying Sunday that the congresswoman repeatedly violated the company's covid-19 misinformation policy.

The suspension came hours after she published a tweet falsely suggesting "extremely high amounts of Covid vaccine deaths." Included was a chart featuring data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, which details self-reported post-vaccine health issues that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns do not imply causation.

The congresswoman's verified personal account had been temporarily suspended twice over the summer. In July, she lost access for 12 hours after falsely claiming that the coronavirus was "not dangerous for non-obese people and those under 65." A month later, she faced a week-long suspension after falsely tweeting that the coronavirus vaccines were "failing."

Twitter on Sunday cited a "strike" system for violations of its covid policy, which bars users from sharing content that is "demonstrably false or misleading and may lead to significant risk of harm." Five or more strikes lead to a permanent suspension.

"We've been clear that, per our strike system for this policy, we will permanently suspend accounts for repeated violations of the policy," Katie Rosborough, a company spokeswoman, said in an email to The Washington Post.

Responding via a statement on the messaging app Telegram, Greene lambasted Twitter, saying it "is an enemy to America and can't handle the truth. That's fine, I'll show America we don't need them." She shared the message through other social media outlets where she has a presence, including Gettr, a conservative-friendly site led by former Donald Trump adviser Jason Miller.

On Twitter, Greene maintains access to her congressional account, @RepMTG, as it is not in violation of company policies, Rosborough confirmed. The congresswoman's most recent tweet from that account was a Dec. 24 video wishing her followers a merry Christmas.

Twitter has rules intended to limit the spread of misinformation on the site. Under those rules, misleading claims that could cause significant confusion or harm are subject to removal, labels or other actions.

Last year, the company permanently banned President Donald Trump, days after a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. The social media site had long resisted action against his posts, arguing that a world leader should be able to communicate with the public. But after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Twitter said the risk of further violence compelled it to act.

Greene's rise has been marked by extreme rhetoric online and off, as well as support for QAnon, a baseless conspiracy theory positing that Trump is working to take down a cabal of "deep state" saboteurs who traffic children for sex. She was elected in 2020 by voters in Georgia's reliably conservative 14th Congressional District, in an ascent that worried some GOP officials.

Congressional leaders in both parties condemned her last spring for comparing face-mask policies to the Nazi practice of requiring Jews to wear Star of David badges. She apologized but has continued to attack coronavirus policies, refuse to wear a mask on the House floor and share false information about the virus.

Her personal Twitter account, @mtgreenee, faced escalating penalties in recent months as she ran afoul of the misinformation policy. The post that led to her permanent suspension was part of a Saturday thread comparing American life "Before Covid" and "After Covid" and blasting measures aimed at reducing the coronavirus's spread, including testing, mask-wearing and vaccine mandates.

The tweet at issue claimed coronavirus vaccine deaths were being "ignored," citing the VAERS data. But the database itself warns that the information can be incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental or unverifiable, saying that the "reports alone cannot be used to determine if a vaccine caused or contributed to an adverse event or illness."

Health authorities have repeatedly emphasized that the vaccines are safe and effective. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than 496 million doses of vaccines have been administered between December 2020 and December 2021. In that time frame, VAERS received 10,688 reports of death among people who had received the shots - or 0.0022% - though those fatalities were not necessarily tied to immunization. Health care providers are required to report any death after a covid vaccination to the system, even if it's not clear whether the shots were the cause.

The agency last month recommended the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna shots over those made by Johnson & Johnson, citing concerns about the increased risk of a rare but potentially fatal blood clot issue. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the move demonstrated the agency's "commitment to provide real-time scientific information to the American public."

Current guidance from the CDC describes the vaccines as "much safer than getting covid-19," developed under intense safety monitoring and effective at preventing severe illness.
It's a wrap! The year 2021 has come to an end and with the growing smartwatch demand, we can't miss highlighting the best ones on the market. And since this is a smartwatch category, we are skipping the fitness bands and trackers.

Wristwatches, in general, are a very personal thing, even more personal than smartphones in a way, so we've tried to compile a more comprehensive list instead of trying and rank the best ones.

Nothing too crazy this year within the smartwatch market, though, as Wear OS and WatchOS dominate the market, especially since Samsung moved away from its own Tizen OS. A decision that's rather polarizing but running a Wear OS watch has its benefits and for some, made the Galaxy Watch series even more desirable for non-Samsung phone owners. This brings us to our first recommendation.

Samsung Galaxy Watch4 Classic

The Classic version of the Samsung Galaxy Watch4 carries the true spirit of Samsung's Galaxy Watch (formerly Gear) lineup with its rotating bezel. The Standard Watch4 doesn't have that and as a result, navigation suffers. The protective and fidgeting features of the rotating ring are just welcome bonuses.

The shift to Wear OS has unlocked some pretty cool features for non-Samsung phone owners as well. One of the new readings include body composition metrics that are not as accurate as professional equipment but it's good enough for the general population to keep track of their body fat and fat-free mass progress over time.

It's also worth noting that the Galaxy Watch4 series is the first one from Samsung's portfolio to support Google Pay. Previously it was compatible only with Samsung Pay and only if you own a Samsung device. Now everyone can benefit from Google Pay on a Galaxy Watch.

Other features such as bright OLED, best-in-class notification handling, loudspeaker for calls and excellent build quality are a given for a high-end smartwatch at this point.

Apple Watch Series 7

No matter if you are fan of Apple or not, the company makes one of the best smartwatches on the market and undoubtedly the best ones for iOS users. You can also use it with your Android smartphone, but it's not quite the same experience.

Aside from the more durable construction (including the glass on top) and the bigger display with smaller bezels, not much has changed over the last two generations. The ECG functionality and the iconic crown on the side for navigation are here to stay.

With the 20% bigger display, the new watch takes advantage of a re-designed UI that better fits the new size. Better notification display and a QWERTY keyboard for quick answers are just two examples.

When it comes to battery, it's still rather unimpressive with less than 24 hours endurance on a single charge but at least the charging time has been reduced significantly, so there's that.

Either way, if you are an iOS user and you are looking for the best possible integration, the Watch Series 7 is your best bet in 2021. Sure, other manufacturers' offerings will work with iOS but with limited functionality.

Huawei Watch 3 and 3 Pro

The Huawei Watch 3 and 3 Pro are Huawei's first smartwatches with proper OS since 2018 and in this case, HarmonyOS 2.0. That means it can support standalone apps and a bit more extensive fitness tracking functionality.

The two devices offer similar feature set and hardware along with support for a wide selection of sport activities and tracking features including a thermometer and SpO2 sensor. The higher-priced Pro model, you get more premium feel and two sets of bands in the box if you prefer the feel of the metal strap.

Huawei Watch GT 3

While the GT series were Huawei's main, flagship smartwatches for the last couple of years, it's now the company's secondary lineup because the GT watches lack the more premium feel and more extensive connectivity of the Watch 3 series.

The appeal of the Watch GT 3, however, comes from the good build and attractive price, especially compared to the Watch 3 and 3 Pro. The best part is that most of the fitness tracking capabilities and sensors are on board.

The GT 3 doesn't even make compromise when it comes to display size and quality matching the one used for the Watch 3 series. So it makes sense to be picked up by someone looking for the extended fitness functionality while retaining the classic watch look without having to overpay for the Watch 3 and 3 Pro.

Amazfit GTR 3 Pro

Amazfit is one of our office's favorite brands for smartwatches because of their stellar battery life. So the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro is a perfect solution for anyone looking for the light, classic feel and look, the tracking sensors (including GPS) and the smartphone notifications on your wrist with a battery life that can go for more than two weeks easily.

And since it doesn't run Wear OS or any other proprietary OS, the hardware needed to run the device isn't as expensive, which in turn has a positive impact on pricing. The GTR 3 Pro is arguably the most sensible option on our list.

Fossil Gen 6

We can't do a list of best smartwatches without an entry from Fossil and more specifically, the Gen 6 premium lineup for 2021. It's one of the smaller ones on the list offered in two flavors 42mm and 44mm but both of those have a relatively smaller 1.28-inch AMOLED screen, compared to the competition.

Classic look, premium feel and all the functionalities of a smartwatch without sacrificing sensors array in the process. So despite its more compact dimensions, the Fossil Gen 6 doesn't give up ground to the competition. It's also running Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear 4100+ SoC and Google's Wear OS making it particularly desirable due to the wide selection of standalone apps that supports. Spotify, YouTube Music and Nike Run Club are just some of the examples.

Mobvoi TicWatch E3 and Pro 3

Simple, affordable and functional. The Mobvoi TicWatch E3 and Pro 3 are both easy to recommend smartwatches running on Snapdragon Wear 4100 and Wear OS, so you are not missing some of the main features a smartwatch these days has. Standalone app support is there as well as the full set of sensors including an SpO2 sensor and GPS.



TicWatch E3 and 3 Pro

Even the Pro version isn't asking too much and the extra bucks over the E3 are well worth it. You get a better build with stainless steel body, considerably bigger battery and it comes in 47mm size with 1.4-inch AMOLED panel. In smartwatch terms that's pretty big.
The smartphone world had a bit of an off year in 2021 with no ground-breaking technologies or designs. Howeve as a user, not a reviewer, there are a couple of smartphones that stood out. Those are the ones I'd use as daily drivers and I have a reason for each smartphone on my list. So here it is.

Asus Zenfone 8

Perhaps my favorite phone this year would be Asus' Zenfone 8 - one of the few compact flagships on the market but more importantly, there are hardly any compromises relative to the size. The few issues we've had with the handset when reviewing it were offset by the competitive price tag.

Even with a missing telephoto camera, the whole shooting experience seems to be on par with the competition, including the digitally zoomed photos.

And contrary to one's expectations, the Zenfone 8 delivered one of the best stereo loudspeaker experience with unrivaled quality and more than decent loudness. It's also carrying a 3.5mm audio jack sticking it up to the big guys that still say the jack takes up too much space. Well, guess what, the Zenfone 8 is a small handset with all the bells and whistles in under a 6" diagonal.

Last, but not least, my personal preferences on software are probably the main reason I picked the Zenfone 8 this year. I'm a OnePlus diehard with affinity towards clean, stock-ish looking Android and the ZenUI seems to be hitting all the right notes for me. It's also highly customizable and offers a couple of geeky features that I really appreciate.

vivo X70 Pro

If the vivo X70 Pro was more widely available and the company's Funtouch OS was a bit more polished, I would have easily recommended this for anyone looking for a phone around the 600 mark. What makes the X70 Pro so desirable is its size and camera setup.

At 6.56-inch diagonal, you won't be getting that camera versatility anywhere else. It has a proper main 50MP camera with gimbal-like optical stabilization, one of the best 2x telephoto cameras we've tested, an impressive 5x periscope zoom unit and a 12MP ultrawide camera with AF for macro shots as well. Compared to what most phones in this price range and similar screen sizes offer (which is usually a main + ultrawide camera combo, rarely a telephoto at all), it's a great deal.

But the cameras aren't the only key selling points. The super-efficient Dimensity 1200 chipset (at least that's what our data shows based on other Dimensity 1200-powered handsets), which is also pretty powerful, the extra-long battery life and excellent screen quality (one of the brightest in town) help build an even stronger case for the X70 Pro.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra

This year's Ultra from Xiaomi easily makes it in my top 5 list for 2021 mainly due to its exceptional camera performance in all aspects (after all, it houses one of the biggest sensors on the market) and it packs pretty much all the features you'd want from a flagship phone.

In addition, I've grown to like Xiaomi's MIUI. It no longer has that typical Chinese ROM vibe, it's more polished, feature-rich and not really all that "heavy".

Sure, the handset is a big boy, especially with that camera bump on the back but this is what you get with all that hardware inside.

OnePlus Nord 2 5G

The OnePlus Nord 2 5G is probably the only 2021 OnePlus phone worth getting this year. It's a small glimpse of what OnePlus used to be - great all-round package at an excellent price. There's a reason why we picked this one to be in the Flagship killers category in our Buyer's guide. I'm not saying that the OnePlus 9 Pro, for example, is a bad phone but it's just nowhere near the Nord 2 when it comes to feature/price ratio.

Right now, the handset goes for around 399 from third-party retailers across Europe and offers an excellent 90Hz OLED display, clean-ish Android experience blazing-fast charging, stereo speakers, good build quality and the list goes on. Even though the MediaTek 1200 SoC is no match Qualcomm's flagship chips, it's still a pretty powerful piece of hardware and is excellent in terms of efficiency. I believe it's the main reason for Nord's good battery life. Oh, and it retains the alert slider!

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G

This one is rather obvious in a way. I'm still not a huge fan of foldables, or at least in the state they are in, but there's no denying that the Galaxy Z Fold3 is a huge improvement over the last two generations and since this is the future, it's only logical for me to pick one of all the foldables in 2021 as my favorite one. Well, the Galaxy Z Fold3 easily wins the race in my book.

Not only that I grew fond of Samsung's One UI but I also love that the cover display is now also running at 120Hz and the selfie camera is hidden beneath the main one. Sure, the selfie quality kind of sucks but I don't use that camera, to begin with so keeping it out of sight is a huge bonus for me. That's one of the main reasons I still use the OnePlus 7 Pro - the pinnacle of OnePlus' design.

But let's not get carried away here. The recently announced Oppo Find N gets an honorable mention and close second place in 2021. The smaller form factor is the most attractive feature for me and I can't wait to take it for a spin. But for now, the Galaxy Z Fold3 is my favorite.
Samsung today revealed three new models of its monitor lineup for 2022. All of these are slated to be officially announced during CES 2022 from 5-7 January in Las Vegas.

The first of these new monitors is the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8. This is a 32-inch display with the world's first 4K 240Hz panel. It also features a 1000R curvature and Quantum Mini LED backlighting.

The mini LED backlighting system uses units that are 1/40th the size of conventional LED units. With Samsung's Quantum Matrix and Quantum HDR 2000 technologies, the display can achieve up to 2000 nits of peak brightness in HDR content with 4096 step backlight adjustment.

The monitor also supports dual HDMI 2.1 ports and a single DisplayPort 1.4 connection. The Auto Source Switch+ feature will automatically change sources when a connected device is powered on. The CoreSync feature adjusts the RGB lighting on the back of the monitor to match the contents of the screen.

The next model is the Smart Monitor M8, which features a webcam that works with the built-in Google Duo app. The monitor also comes pre-installed with apps for streaming services, letting you use the monitor as a smart TV without having to connect to a source device. It features a 32-inch panel with UHD resolution and you also get a wireless remote control, similar to the ones you get with Samsung TVs.

Lastly, there is the Samsung S8, which is designed for content creation. It comes in 32-inch and 27-inch sizes with UHD resolution and is the world's first monitor to be certified as glare-free by Underwriters Laboratories.

The S8 features 98% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, VESA DisplayHDR 600 certification (32-inch only), and wired LAN support. It features USB-C connectivity and can be connected to supported laptops to send video and audio signal to the monitor and Ethernet data and 90W of power from the monitor to the laptop.

The monitors are slated to be launched in the first half of 2022. More information will be revealed during CES 2022.

Source  Via
Welcome to our recap of the top news articles of 2021. This is Q3, you can also take a look at the top stories of Q1, Q2 and Q4.

We're into Q3, where a lot of the biggest phones of the year are unveiled. Among them are the iPhone 13 series, Samsung's foldable Flip3 and Fold3 and Huawei's P50.

Samsung made big waves in August with the Galaxy Z Flip3, Z Fold3, and the Galaxy Watch4 series. The pair of foldables both boasted 120Hz displays and were the first in this segment to be fully water-proof. The announcement of the 5nm Exynos W920 chipset helped the new Galaxy Watch4 and Watch4 Classic to be faster and smarter than their predecessors and to run Google's WearOS.

Apple's iPhone 13 series came out. This time the Pro's were equal in smarts - bringing 120Hz variable refresh rate screens, bigger main cameras, and autofocusing ultrawides. All four models got bigger batteries and smaller notches than their predecessors.

A number of other high-profile announcements came in Q3. Vivo's X70 and X70 Pro (and Pro+), Huawei's P50 and P50 Pro, the Infinix Zero X, X Pro, and Z Neo. The GT moniker made it big in Q3 as well - the Poco X3 GT, F3 GT, and Realme's GT Master, Master Explorer and Neo2.

Next up, Q4.



The Infinix Concept Phone 2021 with its 160W charger are in for testing The maker promises that the battery can go from 0% to 100% in just 10 minutes - we will put that to the test.





All iPhone 13 color and storage options revealed by Ukranian retailer The iPhone 13 and 13 mini will come in six colors while the Pro models will be offered in four.





Leaked photos show an Infinix phone with an 108MP main camera, 5x periscope The first time we saw a periscope on an Infinix was the concept phone that demonstrated the company's 160W fast charging system.





Infinix Zero X, X Pro and Z Neo unveiled with periscope cameras All three are powered by the Helio G95 chipset and have high refresh rate screens - a 120Hz AMOLED in the case of the Pro and vanilla models.





Qualcomm announces Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders with Snapdragon 888 and 6.78-inch 144Hz AMOLED screen The phone will come with a pair of Qualcomm-tuned earbuds, bumper case, and the phone is curated with all of Qualcomms technologies.





Realme GT Master Edition series announced Realme's premium design flagships go on sale next Friday.





Helio G96 chipset unveiled with 108MP camera and 120 Hz display support, G88 follows The two are not strict upgrades over the G95 and G85, but they do have better display and camera support.





Oppo Watch 2 unveiled with Wear 4100 chipset, 42mm and 46mm sizes available with eSIM The watch maintains its rectangular design with a 3D AMOLED display on the front. It is water resistant and can last up to 4 days on a charge.





MediaTek Kompanio 1300T chipset unveiled: a Dimensity 1200 for tablets The first tablets with the 1300T chipset will be arrive in the next couple of months.





Nokia XR20 is a rugged 5G phone with 4 years of updates With MIL-STD810H, the XR20 can withstand drops of 1.8m and water up to a meter and a half.





Moto G60S is official with Helio G95 chipset and 50W fast charging The phone made its debut in Brazil, might land in other places in the future.





Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 brings larger cover display, Armor Aluminum frame A much larger cover display and official water protection rating plus Snapdragon 888 chipset.





Realme unveils the MagDart ecosystem: 50W and 15W chargers, power bank and more The Realme Flash is just a concept phone. Instead, the first device to be charged with MagDart is the Realme GT (which is getting a special case).





Sony Xperia 10 III Lite quietly unveiled in Japan: half the storage lost, eSIM gained This Lite model is almost exactly the same as the original, except it comes with 64 GB storage, lacks a dual-SIM version and FM radio.





Samsung unveils flagship 200MP ISOCELL HP1, 50MP ISOCELL GN5 sensors The HP1 will likely be the imager of choice for the Galaxy S22 Ultra.





Xiaomi 11T and 11T Pro arrive with 108MP cameras, 6.67" 120Hz AMOLED displays These are not upgrades to the Mi 11 and Mi 11 Pro, instead they are lower cost alternatives - the 11T is 200 cheaper than the Mi 11.





Canon announces EOS R3 with eye control autofocus Allows controlling the autofocus by simply looking at the intended area.





vivo X70 Pro+ goes live with SD888+ and custom V1 image processor chip Other improvements include 50W wireless fast charging, slightly bigger and an IP68 rating. The screen is bigger too, a 6.78" Samsung E5 panel.





Realme narzo 50A and 50i debut Plenty of new Realme products coming to India.





Realme GT Neo2 arrives with Snapdragon 870 and improved cooling There is a heat dissipating gel with actual diamond particles in it.





Apple iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max bring 120Hz displays, overhauled cameras The Apple A15 chipset on the Pro phones has a 5-core GPU, instead of 4-core like on the vanilla models.





The Phantom X, Tecno's first premium phone, is now available Initially, the phone can be found in Nigeria and Kenya and it should expand to more markets soon.





Huawei patents ultra-curved screen with side-touch features The panel stretches over the whole side, the camera is now under the display.





Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra's alleged renders leak with S Pen slot As uncertainty of the Galaxy Note series continues, leaked renders suggest Samsung is taking a whole new direction.





OnePlus extends software support for its smartphones OnePlus 8 and newer flagships will get three Anrdoid OS updates and four years of security updates.





Huawei P50 and P50 Pro unveiled: Snapdragon 888 and Kirin 9000 in 4G, upgraded cameras Both models have periscope zoom cameras and 5 MP main cams with a color sensor. Of course, they run HarmonyOS 2.0 out of the box.





Redmi 10 leaks with specs and images: 50MP camera confirmed The camera design follows the latest trend with a silver highlight for the main shooter.





Early Apple iPad mini (2021) benchmarks reveal downclocked CPU and GPU The new iPad mini uses an Apple A15 chipset with 5 GPU cores like the iPhone 13 Pro duo, but it seems to run at a lower clock speed.





Tecno Spark 8 is launching in India next week It's powered by the Helio P22 SoC and packs a 5,000 mAh battery.


The Communities of the Neocatechumenal Way hosted their Three Kings Celebration at the San Juan Bautista Church in Ordot followed by a festival at the Plaza De Espana in Hagatna.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, Jan. 6, the faithful celebrate Three Kings Day, marking the glorification of baby Jesus by the Three Wise Men.

What started out as a small celebration with mostly family members has now become bigger with more of the islands Catholic church members participating.

We did this for years and we grew from a small group to what it is now today, and its all Gods work, said Lina Atalig, lead coordinator for the Three Kings event at the church. The purpose of this is to bring the family together and to bring in the message of the three kings which is to be obedient to the light, to follow (Gods) light and to change our ways.

The event had members dress up as the three kings while others assist on their arrival to the church. They also had members of their group, particularly children, write letters filled with wishes to the acting three kings to give to Jesus.

Festival

After the church celebration, it continues on to the Three Kings Festival where they have booths dedicated to each of the kings, food, games and prizes.

Festival Lead Coordinator, Laura Taispic said that before, the Three Kings would go to both Guam Memorial Hospital and Guam Regional Medical City to visit the sick children. However, due to the current restriction, they were unable to do so.

Atalig feels that especially during this time, the message of celebrating the Three Kings has become especially meaningful in restoring ones faith.

Its so necessary. How many of us are still afraid to go out? But were not in control, God is, said Atalig. Its a gift really, to have COVID because it shows us where our faith is, it really helped me to have faith in God.
Mass at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica on Christmas Day was celebrated a little differently this year.

A long-standing tradition during the Christmas season sees churchgoers line up to kiss a statue of baby Jesus as a sign of respect for his birth. To stay in line with pandemic protocols, Father William Mamangun said the congregation elected to do a communal veneration instead.

Now because of the pandemic and what we did after the final blessing, a priest held up the baby Jesus in front of the altar, and then the choir sang a song, Mamangun said.

Then the whole congregation joined, Mamangun added.

Tradition

Although this one tradition may have been adapted, Mamangun thinks it is important to remember what the Christmas season is all about.

The thing about in todays world is that Christmas has become commercialized. Its all about buying gifts and giving gifts and the whole celebration gathering together, the food and the lights, Mamangun said.

There is no problem celebrating an important event in this way, Mamangun adds, but the roots of the celebrations reside in the day Jesus Christ was born and the conditions at the time.

Jesus being born in a manger, with animals in a barn, was the whole point of God becoming man and being born in the lowest of the lowest. Its about simplicity, poverty, humility, which the whole commercialized idea really contradicts, Mamangun explained.

Three Kings

Mamangun and the church will continue preaching the true meaning of Christmas into the new year.

The manifestation of Jesus Christ is marked in what is called the Epiphany or Three Kings, on Jan. 6.

Mamangun explains the reason for calling it the Epiphany is straightforward, as it means manifestation, but the story behind Three Kings has more history.

The name Three Kings comes out of a development of the three magi or wise men, which in itself goes further back.

Before it was called the Epiphany it was called the Three Kings, the three magi, the three wise men. This is just a development throughout history because of the presence of the three gifts; frankincense, gold and myrrh, Mamangun said.

However, regardless of where the name came from, the unity Christ brought with his birth should be celebrated.

The whole point is that the kings, or magi, are not Jewish people, so their visit of Jesus Christ the newborn child is expressive or manifests that salvation brought about by the savior, the new king, the king of the world is not only for the Jewish people, Mamangun said. It involves every nation.

Preparation

The Christmas season comes every year but Mamangun wants to spread the message that preparation for the coming of Christ should be done every day especially since a number of holidays throughout the year commemorate the life and death of Jesus.

Christmas is celebrated every year with the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ but the message we must live out every day of our lives that God out of love for us, became human, to save us from our wretched situation, from our sinfulness to give us eternal life that brought us back to him.

That is one thing we need to thank God for every day for the rest of our lives, whether its Christmas season or not, and everything that flows from that. Our loving of our neighbor, our giving oneself to others out of our love for God, Mamangun said.
Magnolia, AR (71754)

Today

Cloudy. A stray afternoon thunderstorm is possible. High 84F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early. Thunderstorms developing late. Low 67F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
University of Guam Student Government Association representatives model new T-shirts designed by Opake for the UOG Endowment Foundations G is for Giving campaign, a fundraiser for UOG programs and student scholarships. From the left: Christian Gyles Ramos, Kyona Rivera and Edrico Reyes.




Haiti - FLASH 218th : The PM leaves Gonaives under the bullets, 1 dead and several wounded





Saturday January 1st, 218th anniversary of independence, despite threats from an armed group advising him not to come https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35595-haiti-flash-armed-individuals-oppose-the-arrival-of-the-pm-in-gonaives-on-january-1-2022.html , Prime Minister Ariel Henry, accompanied by his Chief of Staff, several ministers of his Government and the High Staff of the Haitian National Police (PNH), whose security was ensured by an imposing security system, nevertheless wanted to mark with its presence and that of its delegation, this independence day in Gonaives.



The Head of Government attended the traditional "Te deum" at the Church of Saint Charles Borromee, officiated by the Bishop of Gonaives, Mgr. Yves Marie Pean, in front of an audience without the faithful, where only the local authorities and the Government delegation were present.



It was on leaving the church that the Prime Minister, who was to deliver his speech to the Nation on the official platform, that he and his entourage and the agents responsible for his protection suddenly found themselves under fire from heavily armed men from Raboteau. PNH agents responded immediately as security forces protecting the Prime Minister and other members of the government evacuated Ariel Henry and the VIPs under heavy fire.



Attack outside the church :







At least one person died in hospital from his injuries and several others were injured... (no official toll has been released).



The armed clash prevented the Prime Minister from delivering his speech in Gonaives, which he hurriedly left to go to the Haitian National Pantheon Museum (Mupanah) to deliver his speech to the Nation.



The opportunity for the Prime Minister to invite all the sons and daughters of the nation to solidarity, to unity in order to do everything possible to restore the common homeland to its nobility.



Prime Minister Ariel Henry, strongly aware of the interest in reconciling all the living forces of the Nation, insisted on the need for the Haitian people to continue "to build together an unwavering chain of solidarity, unity and spirit of dialogue by celebrating, everywhere, this ancestral January 1st, a pivotal date which constitutes the basis of universal freedom proclaimed by the first black people of the world."



Speech by Prime Minister Henry :







See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35595-haiti-flash-armed-individuals-oppose-the-arrival-of-the-pm-in-gonaives-on-january-1-2022.html



SL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Assassination of the President : 2nd request for extradition from Haiti rejected, Jamaica will deport Palacio to Colombia





Former Colombian military officer Mario Antonio Palacios, arrested in Kingston in October 2021 for irregular migration, https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35054-haiti-flash-a-key-suspect-in-the-assassination-of-jovenel-moise-arrested.html and considered by Haitian justice as the number one suspect in the assassination on July 7, 2021 of President Jovenel Moise, which is the subject of a second extradition request by Haiti https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35588-haiti-flash-haiti-tries-a-second-time-to-extradite-palacios.html will finally be deported to Colombia on January 3, 2022 announced on Saturday 1st January, MP Marlene Malahoo Forte, Attorney General of Jamaica, clarifying "The information supplied did not link him to the assassination and essentially indicated that he was a suspect [...] without any detail" adding "Our attempts to get further and better particulars from the Haitian government were unsuccessful and are inssufficient to establish the mercenary's involvement in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise."



Neither Palacio's lawyers nor Haitian government officials have commented yet.



Former Haitian Chancellor Claude Joseph deplores this decision "[...] This is a heavy blow to the investigation. Unfortunately, no follow-up has been carried out by the current team [...] There is no political will to advance the investigation into the assassination of Jovenel Moise."



It only remains to know the position of the Colombian Government on the case of Mario Antonio Palacios, while 18 Colombians are still in the hands of Haitian justice https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34199-haiti-assassination-of-the-president-names-of-the-20-members-of-the-commando-arrested-5-others-still-on-the-run.html as part of the investigation of the file on the assassination of President Jovenel Moise https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34162-haiti-flash-president-jovenel-moise-assassinated-by-mercenaries-official-updated-7am-+-video.html



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35588-haiti-flash-haiti-tries-a-second-time-to-extradite-palacios.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35587-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35247-haiti-flash-the-suspect-1-of-the-murder-of-jovenel-moise-cannot-be-extradited-to-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35054-haiti-flash-a-key-suspect-in-the-assassination-of-jovenel-moise-arrested.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35121-haiti-flash-haiti-requests-the-extradition-of-one-of-the-presumed-murderers-of-president-moise.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35093-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34218-haiti-flash-wanted-notice-for-a-very-dangerous-colombian-mercenary.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34162-haiti-flash-president-jovenel-moise-assassinated-by-mercenaries-official-updated-7am-+-video.html



SL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - 218th of independence : Declaration of Justin Trudeau Prime Minister of Canada





On Saturday January 1st, 2022, as part of the celebration of the 218th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Haiti, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the following statement :



Statement by Justin Trudeau :

"Today, we join Haitian communities in Canada and around the world to celebrate Haitis Independence Day.



This day has always been significant for Haitians, people of African descent, and many other people around the world. On this day in 1804, Haiti made history by becoming the first Black-led independent country in the world, and the first country in the Western Hemisphere to abolish slavery. Since then, the first day of the year is celebrated by the people of Haiti and Haitian communities around the world as Haitis Independence Day.



Canada and Haiti officially established diplomatic relations in 1954. Since then, our two countries have enjoyed a strong relationship, strengthened by our geographical proximity, shared language, and close people-to-people ties. Today, more than 165,000 people of Haitian ancestry call Canada home, and help make our country stronger, more prosperous, and more inclusive. This year, as we continue to follow public health guidelines to keep each other and our communities safe from COVID-19, I encourage all those celebrating to find alternative ways to mark this important day.



Canada and Haiti work together as part of international organizations, including the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and La Francophonie. Additionally, for nearly 30 years, Canada has contributed to every United Nations peace mission to Haiti to support stabilization and reconstruction efforts. This includes financial assistance and the deployment of members of the Canadian Armed Forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and correctional officers.



Canada will continue to support Haitis efforts to strengthen its governance, the rule of law, and democracy. We will also work with Haiti to improve the well-being of its citizens, particularly women and girls, notably through support to national health, education and protection systems, and the fight against COVID-19. We will continue to encourage initiatives that foster economic growth that works for everyone and a greater resilience to climate change and natural disasters. Every day, Haitians continue to demonstrate strength in the face of adversity, and Canada remains committed to working with them as they build toward a better tomorrow.



On behalf of the Government of Canada, I extend my best wishes to all those celebrating Haitis Independence Day."



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - FLASH : 14 victims in the attempt to escape from Croix-des-Bouquets Prison





According to figures communicated by the authorities, during the attempted armed escape which took place on Friday, December 31, 2021 at the Croix-des-Bouquets Prison https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35609-haiti-flash-escape-attempt-at-croix-des-bouquets-prison.html, 10 inmates were killed, 8 in the prison during exchanges of fire with the police and 2 died in the hospital followed their injuries.



On the side of the police, the toll stands at 4 police officers injured, two of them seriously.



During these clashes, inmates set fire to the prison cafeteria and warehouse.



The police recovered 6 weapons from the hands of the prisoners including an M4 rifle, 3 pistols and 2 rifles of caliber 12, indicates the report drawn up by the justice of the peace Annyl Civil.



The situation is under control, no inmate has escaped and everything is back to normal.



An investigation has been opened to find out the exact circumstances of this serious incident and to find out whether or not there was any complicity inside and outside the prison.



S/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





218th anniversary of the independence of Haiti, national and international greetings



Embassy of Haiti in Canada :

A ceremony for the rise of our Bicolor took place this morning in the City of Ottawa by the Minister-Counselor, Nesly Numa accompanied by Mardoche Dorcinvil who sang the Dessalinienne. Happy Independence Day !"



Embassy of Haiti in Cuba :

"This January 1, 2022 brings back the celebration of the 218 years of the proclamation of the independence of the Republic of Haiti. An independence proudly acquired and resulting from the consecration of a unity between the different social layers of national life: blacks, mulattoes, bossales, Creoles. On this day, the Embassy of the Republic of Haiti in Cuba invites all Haitians to unite more, to prioritize dialogue and to work for the recovery of the country. Happy Independence Day and happy new year 2022."



Ambassador of Haiti to UNESCO :

"Happy Independence Day ! This year, The soup has one more flavor. I eat it with even more pride. The inscription of the Joumou Soup is also the universal recognition of the victory of our ancestors for Liberty and Dignity. Happy New Year 2022. I do not forget the millions of our sisters and brothers who are food insecure. I therefore also share it with hope and determination that one day all Haitians can gather around the soup in joy and with the spirit of Peace," Dominique Dupuy, Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of Haiti at UNESCO.





"January 1, 1804 / January 1, 2022, 218 years that we have marked the history of humanity. This episode in our life as a people should serve as an example for us in unity and reconciliation, we can rebuild our country."



Embassy of Taiwan in Haiti :

"We wish Haitians a happy feast of the 218th anniversary of independence, as well as a happy new year 2022 of prosperity, happiness and peace !"



Embassy of Canada in Haiti :

"On the occasion of the 218th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Haiti, the Embassy of Canada wishes a happy birthday to Haitians and reiterates the will of the Canadian government to consolidate the bonds of friendship and cooperation between Canada and Haiti. "



Chancellery of Venezuela :

In a press release, the Chancellery wrote "Venezuela sends its sincere congratulations to the Haitian people and government for commemorating the 218th anniversary of their independence today [...] The courageous Haitian people have been considered the forerunner of libertarian struggles and of the spirit of equality which has spread long and wide throughout our America."



Cost of Fuel : Digiciel is reviewing all of its plans

Friday, December 31, the company Digicel informs that following the increase in the prices of petroleum products, it is obliged to revise all of its plans. However, Digicel has indicated that more minutes and megabytes will be added gradually from January 1, 2022 across all plans.



Football : Violette Athletic Club wins Loradan Cup

In order to allow young people to enjoy the end-of-year celebrations in a healthy way through sports activities organized by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, several teams of young people from the districts of Petion ville competed on the lawn of the Parc Ste Therese, the Loredan Cup which was won by the youngsters of the Violette Athletic Club [6-0] at the expense of the Lionceaux de Pernier.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















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Allentown has seen whiplash-inducing development over the last decade.

Where urban flight and neglect led to a large swath of the citys downtown infrastructure becoming blighted, the downtown has seen a resurgence with over $1 billion dollars in investment over the last decade, most of it from one developer.

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But that revitalization has been largely concentrated in the citys Neighborhood Improvement Zone, a 130-acre special taxing district spanning downtown and the Lehigh riverfront area. The NIZ allows developers within the zone to use tax revenue generated within to pay off debt incurred for construction projects. But some downtown Allentown residents have criticized the NIZ and called for the development of more affordable housing and social programs downtown.

The NIZ brought in $78.3 million in tax revenue in 2020  the NIZ allows developers to tap essentially all of that revenue, generated by their development projects, to pay off construction loans.

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Despite setbacks from the pandemic that have kept thousands of office workers working from home over the past year, several Allentown developers are hopeful the citys central commercial district will see further revitalization in the years to come.

Here are the Allentown development projects to watch in 2022.

Lehigh riverfront

The area where Allentonians likely can expect to see some of the most dramatic changes is the Lehigh riverfront region. Earlier this year, City Council and the city planning commission approved a series of zoning changes that will pave the way for several developers to turn the largely empty and blighted riverfront region into a residential and commercial district.

Development corporation Manhattan Building Co. wants to turn the 8-acre Buck Boyle park area into a riverfront destination. The company, based in Jersey City, New Jersey, has plans to transform the former American Atelier building on the 200 block of North Front Street into a $6.5 million mixed-use complex called Riverfront Lofts with 38,000 square feet of apartment space, 10,600 square feet of office space and 6,000 square feet of warehouse space on the ground floor. The company plans to relocate its corporate headquarters to the site, too.

MBC hopes to complete construction on the Riverfront Lofts by November.

Manhattan Building Co. hopes to build a mixed-use apartment building similar to this concept on the site of the former American Atelier furniture factory on North Front Street in Allentown. (Manhattan Building Co.)

MBC is also working on several other projects west of Front Street between Chew and Allen streets, including a 50-unit building on Allen and Railroad streets. The corporation is looking to transform the former Iron Mountain warehouse site, which sits on an 11-acre plot of land overlooking the river, but no plans have been announced.

Its not just MBC looking to transform the riverfront.

Jaindl Enterprises broke ground earlier this year on a nearly $40-million office building overlooking the Lehigh River south of the Tilghman Street Bridge. The building, which will include 100,000 square feet of office space and 17,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor, is slated to open in mid-2022.

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The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission recently received a $21 million federal grant to build a commuter trail and road connecting the Lehigh riverfront to Whitehall Township. Those millions are in addition to the $24.4 million the commission already has on hand to build Riverside Drive, provide a new north-south LANTA bus route and complete a section of the Delaware & Lehigh trail.

City Center, the Hive and the Gallery

Perhaps no company can take more credit for Allentowns downtown transformation than City Center, headed by J.B. Reilly. The company has invested over $1 billion into building office, retail and housing space in Allentown, largely concentrated within the NIZ. Last year City Center received nearly half of the NIZs total tax revenue, $38 million, to cover its project debt.

City Center has two development projects slated to open in 2022: the Hive and the Gallery.

The Hive is being built at Seventh and Linden streets, bringing 250 apartments, ground floor retail space to the neighborhood, as well as five Live x Work units that will allow tenants to lease both a storefront workspace and an apartment directly above. The first phase of the project, featuring 156 apartments, is scheduled to open in April and cost nearly $24 million. The second phase, which will include another 102 apartments and 5 Live x Work units, is slated to open in July and will cost $14.5 million.

The Gallery, a 114,000-square-foot residential building being built in the 900 block of Hamilton Street, will feature 107 apartments and ground-floor retail space. The complex will cost $17.4 million and is expected to open in September.

PPL Plaza

The former PPL Plaza, first constructed in 2005 and former home to PPL Energy Supply, is changing hands once again. DLP Capital, an investment company with Lehigh Valley roots, bought the building for $15.3 million in December from SomeraRoad, a New York real estate investor that bought it in 2019 for $16 million.

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SomeraRoad had plans to breathe new life into the property and get it fully occupied with tenants. But at the time of the sale to DLP, the building had just two ground-level tenants, one of which is temporarily closed.

DLP Capital officials have not yet announced their plans for the building. DLP CEO Don Wenner said in a statement to The Morning Call at the time of the sale that DLP Capital is considering several possibilities for the space, including retail, office and hospitality space.

The Da Vinci Science Center Downtown

Leaders at Da Vinci Science say their new downtown museum, which will begin construction in the spring, is expected to bring more than 400,000 visitors, generate $33.4 million in economic output and support 487 full-time jobs annually. ANIZDA plans to issue nearly $20 million in bonds for the project, which is projected to open its doors to visitors in 2024.

The 67,000-square-foot center will have about triple the exhibit space of Da Vincis existing space at Cedar Crest College, which opened in 1992. It will cost $65 million to build and equip with exhibits.

A rendering of the future Da Vinci Science Center at the PPL Pavilion in downtown Allentown. View of the Eighth Street entrance. (MKSD Architects, AB Sketches/Courtesy of the Da Vinci Science Center)

Lin Erickson, CEO of the center, has called the planned downtown museum a transformative project that will provide science and technology education resources for the 52,000 Allentown residents that live within a mile of the site. Erickson has said the Da Vinci Center will ensure access for low-income Allentown residents that may not otherwise be able to visit.

The community has truly rallied around their science center and we are grateful for all the public, private and community support we continue to receive, Erickson said in a statement.

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Morning Call reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at 610-820-6681 and liweber@mcall.com.
Greenville, TX (75401)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms and becoming windy. High around 85F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early. Thunderstorms likely late. Low 64F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
The rapidly spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus has upended the holiday season for many Texans and forced the cancellations of thousands of flights.

It has also prompted school districts in the Northeast and Midwest to take measures like limiting winter sports activities and temporarily returning to remote learning, though that is not the case in Texas, where the state government has prohibited school districts from requiring that teachers and students be vaccinated or wear masks. (Many districts are defying the mask mandate prohibition.) For now, schools are largely sticking to what they already have been doing to control the viruss spread.

Most of Texas roughly 1,200 school districts will welcome students and staff back within the next week, even as other states debate whether to mandate vaccines for teachers and staff or even return to remote learning.

As of Wednesday, there were 220 Texans under the age of 18 hospitalized for COVID-19, according to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services. That number has been increasing since Christmas. Texas saw the highest number of people under the age of 18 hospitalized for COVID-19 in early September, when it was at 345.

The omicron variant has been surging across the United States. So far, it has generally been less severe and deadly than the earlier delta variant. However, the federal government recommends that all children 5 or older get the vaccine.

At Cook Childrens Health Care System in Tarrant County, positive cases among children have climbed sharply since Dec. 21  going from a 5.7 percent positivity rate to 22.1 percent.

We are seeing upwards of 400 positive COVID-19 cases among children per day, Dr. Mary Suzanne Whitworth said in a statement. This is similar to where we were in early September when delta was spreading rapidly in our area.

Despite those numbers, education leaders have largely urged a return to regular in-person instruction, with precautions in place.

Superintendent Millard House II of the Houston Independent School District, the states largest, announced Wednesday it will maintain its mask mandate and will start to offer free COVID-19 testing for students and staff.

We are looking forward to adding this layer of protection to our COVID-19 mitigation strategies, House said in a statement. We remain committed to keeping our students and staff safe and working toward implementing strategies that can help us continue offering safe and sustainable in-person instruction.

In Austin, the school district will continue to require masks on campus and will offer testing to students and staff and vaccination clinics for anyone 5 and older.

In an email sent to Austin parents, district administrators said they were keeping schools open because they were confident that mitigation strategies were working and because vaccines are now widely available.

Our layered protocols work! We have been here before. We can do this. Our kids need the schools to stay open, Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde wrote in the email.

She added that the Austin ISD would continue social distancing, serving lunches outdoors and using its advanced air filtration system to slow the spread.

In San Antonio, Northside ISD will continue to follow the COVID-19 protocols it established earlier this year such as allowing nurses to test students and following quarantine protocols for those who have tested positive.

For Fort Worth ISD, the plan is to open up as normal unless told otherwise by local or state officials. Throughout the next week, the district will look to reinforce its pandemic protocols such as making masks and hand sanitizer available on all campuses. The district also deep-cleans its buildings, sanitizing areas where children tend to touch the most, such as water fountains, table tops, doorknobs and their classrooms.

Its a big effort, said Claudia Garibay, a Fort Worth ISD spokesperson.

The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Jan. 6

TxDot: U.S. 90 Update

The Katy Area Chamber of Commerce presents TxDoT: U.S. 90 Update at a member meeting from 7:30-9 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 6, in the Katy Area Chambers Shell FCU Community Room, 814 East Ave., Suite H in Katy. James Koch, director of transportation planning and development for the Texas Department of Transportation, is scheduled to attend the presentation. For more information go to https://tinyurl.com/2p89puuw.

Jan. 9

Farmers market

The Farmers Market at La Centerra is presented the second and fourth Sunday of every month from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 23501 Cinco Ranch Blvd. in Katy. There will be local vendors and artisans at Heritage Square selling honey, cheese, fresh eggs, seasonal vegetables and more. To become a vendor email customer@yourneighborhoodfarmersmarket.com.

Car Culture Show

The Car Culture Show is scheduled to take place bi-monthly on Sundays in the Alamo Theater parking lot at 2707 Commercial Center Blvd., Suite K-100, in Katy. The next show is from 8-11 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 9. Remaining shows are scheduled for March 6, May 8, July 3, Sept. 4 and Nov. 6. There are expected to be more than 50 exotic and muscle cars on display, along with a deejay spinning tunes and other exciting amenities. For more information go to thecarculture.org.

Jan. 10

City Council

The Katy City Council is scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 10, in Council Chambers at Katy City Hall, 910 Avenue C. For more information go to www.cityofkaty.com.

Jan. 12

Fulshear-Katy Area Chamber Meeting

The Fulshear-Katy Area Chamber of Commerce membership meeting is scheduled with a meet-and-greet at 7:30 a.m. and general meeting at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12, at Parkway Fellowship at 27043 FM 1093 in Richmond. The scheduled guest speaker is Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. There is no charge for this meeting. For more information go to https://tinyurl.com/2s42nrwv.

Jan. 13

State of the City

The Katy Area Chamber of Commerce presents Katys State of the City address with Mayor Bill Hastings and City Administrator Byron Hebert. The event is scheduled for 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13, at Embassy Suites by Hilton Houston West-Katy, 16435 Katy Freeway. Individual tickets are $40 for members and $50 for prospective members. For more information or to register go to https://tinyurl.com/22bm4tkk.

Jan. 17

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Most city, county, state and federal offices will be closed Monday, Jan. 17, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Emergency services will be maintained.

Jan. 23

Farmers market

The Farmers Market at La Centerra is presented the second and fourth Sunday of every month from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 23501 Cinco Ranch Blvd. in Katy. There will be local vendors and artisans at Heritage Square selling honey, cheese, fresh eggs, seasonal vegetables and more. To become a vendor email customer@yourneighborhoodfarmersmarket.com.

Jan. 24

City Council

The Katy City Council is scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 24, in Council Chambers at Katy City Hall, 910 Avenue C. For more information go to www.cityofkaty.com.

Feb. 12

Boots & Badges Gala

The Boots & Badges Gala presented by Behind the Badge Charities and Safari Texas Ranch is scheduled for 6 p.m. Feb. 12 at Safari Texas Ranch, 11627 FM 1464 in Richmond. Individual tickets are $50. Sponsorship opportunities are available. For information contact Ben Simpson at 281-435-3313 or via email at gala@behindthebadgecharities.org. More information can also be found at www.behindthebadgecharities.org.

April 23

Katy Area Safety Fest

The 2021 Katy Area Safety Fest is scheduled for 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, April 23, at Katy Mills Mall, 5000 Katy Mills Circle. The Katy Area Safety Fest is a free, family-friendly festival featuring personnel, equipment and activities from emergency response agencies serving the greater Katy community. For more information go to https://katyareasafetyfest.org.
Jan. 3

Richmond City Commission

The city of Richmond will hold its regular commission meeting on Monday, Jan. 3, at 4:30 p.m. at the City Hall Annex located at 600 Morton St. in Richmond. For questions, contact City Manager Terri Vela at tvela@richmondtx.gov or 281-342-5456.

Missouri City City Council

The regular meeting of the Missouri City City Council is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 3, in the City Hall, Council Chamber at 1522 Texas Parkway. For more information go to www.missouricitytx.gov.

Jan. 4

Sugar Land City Council

The Sugar Land City Council is scheduled to meet for its regular session at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 4, at Sugar Land City Hall, 2700 Town Center Blvd. N. For more information go to www.sugarlandtx.gov.

Rosenberg City Council

The Rosenberg City Council is scheduled to meet for its regular session at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 4, at Rosenberg City Hall, 2110 4th St. Council meetings may be viewed live on YouTube, the city of Rosenberg website, or by Rosenberg Comcast customers on channel 16. For more information go to www.rosenbergtx.gov.

Jan. 6

TxDot: U.S. 90 Update

The Katy Area Chamber of Commerce presents TxDoT: U.S. 90 Update at a member meeting from 7:30-9 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 6, in the Katy Area Chambers Shell FCU Community Room, 814 East Ave., Suite H in Katy. James Koch, director of transportation planning and development for the Texas Department of Transportation, is scheduled to attend the presentation. For more information go to https://tinyurl.com/2p89puuw.

Jan. 7

Richmond Farmers Market

The Development Corporation of Richmond and the city of Richmond present the Richmond Farmers Market the first Friday of the month from 3 to 7 p.m. Richmond Farmers Market will be located at Wessendorff Park, 500 Preston St. For more information email Jessica Huang at Jessica@FarmersMarket.Love.

Jan. 12

Fort Bend ISD Update

The Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce presents the Fort Bend ISD Superintendent and Board Update for chamber members from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12, at Fort Bend Chamber at 445 Commerce Green Blvd. in Sugar Land. Superintendent Christie Whitbeck and Board President Dave Rosenthal are expected to present an update on Fort Bend ISD. Tickets for pre-registered chamber members are $25. Tickets at the door are $40. For more information contact Rebekah Beltran at 281-566-2158 or via email at rebekah@fortbendcc.org or go to https://tinyurl.com/yckrh6nj.

Fulshear-Katy Area Chamber Meeting

The Fulshear-Katy Area Chamber of Commerce membership meeting is scheduled with a meet-and-greet at 7:30 a.m. and general meeting at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12, at Parkway Fellowship at 27043 FM 1093 in Richmond. The scheduled guest speaker is Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. There is no charge for this meeting. For more information go to https://tinyurl.com/2s42nrwv.

Jan. 17

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Most city, county, state and federal offices will be closed Monday, Jan. 17, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Emergency services will be maintained.

Jan. 18

Sugar Land City Council

The Sugar Land City Council is scheduled to meet for its regular session at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 18, at Sugar Land City Hall, 2700 Town Center Blvd. N. For more information go to www.sugarlandtx.gov.

Rosenberg City Council

The Rosenberg City Council is scheduled to meet for its regular session at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 18, at Rosenberg City Hall, 2110 4th St. Council meetings may be viewed live on YouTube, the city of Rosenberg website, or by Rosenberg Comcast customers on channel 16. For more information go to www.rosenbergtx.gov.

Richmond City Commission

The city of Richmond will hold its regular commission meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 18, at 4:30 p.m. at the City Hall Annex located at 600 Morton St. in Richmond. For questions, contact City Manager Terri Vela at tvela@richmondtx.gov or 281-342-5456.

Missouri City City Council

The regular meeting of the Missouri City City Council is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 18, in the City Hall, Council Chamber at 1522 Texas Parkway. For more information go to www.missouricitytx.gov.

Jan. 22

Felicia Smith Jigsaw Puzzle Competition

Registration closes Jan. 20 for the Sixth Annual Hope For Three Autism Advocates Felicia Smith Jigsaw Puzzle Competition presented by LearningRx Sugar Land. This event takes place on Jan. 22 at the historic Landmark Community Center, 100 Louisiana St., Missouri City. Teams of four, young (ages 8 and up) and seasoned, have two hours to complete a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle. Awards ceremony immediately follows with first through fifth places recognized. Registration at 9 a.m., competition 10 a.m.-noon. The event is one-way the local nonprofit group raises awareness and funds for families and children living with autism. Hurry, limited seating, register today (team of four $140) at www.hopeforthree.org/events.

Jan. 23

Farmers market

The Farmers Market at La Centerra is presented the second and fourth Sunday of every month from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 23501 Cinco Ranch Blvd. in Katy. There will be local vendors and artisans at Heritage Square selling honey, cheese, fresh eggs, seasonal vegetables and more. To become a vendor email customer@yourneighborhoodfarmersmarket.com.

Jan. 28

Fort Bend Chamber Chairmans Gala

The 2022 Fort Bend Chamber Chairmans Gala is scheduled for 6 p.m.-midnight Friday, Jan. 28, at Safari Texas Ranch at 11627 FM 1464 in Richmond. Individual tickets are $100. Sponsorships are available. For more information contact Paige Talbott at 281-566-2152 or via email at Paige@fortbendcc.org; or go to https://tinyurl.com/mryucxhu.

Feb. 12

Boots & Badges Gala

Behind the Badge Charities is committed to holding its annual Boots & Badges Gala on Saturday, Feb. 12, at Safari Texas in Richmond. Sponsorships and tickets are available now at www.behindthebadgecharities.org/gala.
After days of record warmth, the Houston region have plummeted.

Temperatures could reach as low as 22 degrees north of Interstate 10 into Sunday morning and as low as 36 degrees south of the interstate, the National Weather Service said. The entire region could see temperatures below freezing on Sunday night into Monday morning.

The government forecaster urged residents to bundle up if they venture outside, bring pets inside if possible and cover vegetation that is susceptible to freezing temperatures.

Wind chills on both evenings north of Houston are in the teens, the National Weather Service said. The predicted winds are so strong the NWS has issued a gale warning from Seadrift to east of Galveston from Saturday night through Sunday afternoon. Seven-to-12-foot seas and gusts up to 45 knots are possible.

The dismal forecast is a stark departure from Saturdays high of 85 at Hobby Airport, which set an all-time high for Jan. 1 and tied the hottest January day ever recorded.

December was also the warmest ever recorded in Houston, when 14 of the months 31 days tied or set a high temperature record.

Many Texans are eyeing the coming cold snap with anxiety since a blast of cold air last February caused widespread blackouts that killed hundreds of people. Hobby Airport has not recorded a temperature below 32 degrees since Feb. 20, more than 10 months ago.

The states power grid, however, said last week it is confident the lights will stay on during the next freeze.

zach.despart@chron.com
Terrible news came to light last month that four Texas National Guardsmen whod been activated for Operation Lone Star have committed suicide since October, increasing concerns about the role and treatment of troops whove been deployed to the border through rushed, involuntary and indefinite deployments.

The Army Times broke the news of the suicides the day before Christmas Eve, as thousands of soldiers remained at the border away from their homes and families  sleeping in truck trailers converted into squad barrack bays  amid ongoing pay delays, benefit cuts and a mental health crisis within their units.

This devastating string of suicides must serve as a wake-up call to the way that our Guard members are being treated at the border.

The warning signs have been there from the beginning. As Gov. Greg Abbott rushed to expand his border mission in September, Texas deployed a total of 10,000 troops.

Some were given less than a weeks notice before deployment, complicating work and family commitments and leaving soldiers still scrambling to resolve issues at home while deployed at their posts along the border.

On top of that, families have reported that some troops have gone months without pay. A woman I met in Lubbock in mid-December told me that her husband had been on duty in Laredo for over six weeks, but hadnt received a single paycheck or any of the per diems hed been promised.

Public information requests in late October confirmed that the pay delays were widespread, leaving hundreds of soldiers without any idea when their next paycheck will come or how theyre going to put food on the table for themselves or their families.

Some of those who have received pay say that their paychecks have been sporadic and that theyre for much less money than they were promised upon deployment.

And on top of that, as state leaders worked to triple the border security budget to $3 billion, in part so that they could afford to deploy more troops to the border, they slashed the tuition assistance benefits that Guard members were promised upon enlisting.

The unexpected benefit cut derailed soldiers educational plans, and since it came after the school year had already started, it left many Guard members stranded without the reimbursements theyd been counting on for classes theyd already paid for.

Given all of this, it shouldnt surprise us that the force is experiencing a serious mental health crisis.

Its a slap in the face to the men and women whove signed up to serve this state and country in uniform. And to make matters worse, it appears that their role on the border is more political theater than anything else.

Guard members themselves say their involvement in the border mission lacks purpose.

One soldier told the Army Times that while he had seen press releases from the Governors Office that claim troops are helping to arrest migrants and interdict drugs, he had not heard any confirmed report of any NG soldier being directly involved with law enforcement operations at the border.

Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Jason Featherston, who was the Texas Army National Guards senior enlisted leader from May 2020 through the end of November 2021, echoed that sentiment, saying Guard members arent doing shit on the border.

Featherston described Operation Lone Stars clear political motivations as common knowledge around the office and said that soldier morale has deteriorated because current leadership is focused on pleasing a governor vs. soldier safety.

In other words, Abbott has taken 10,000 men and women away from their homes, their families and their jobs for a mission that lacks any clear purpose. And its taking a terrible toll on them.

A 21-year-old Guard member was preparing to accept the job of his dreams when he was tapped for the border mission, without any idea how long his deployment would last. He submitted a request for a hardship release so that he could accept the job, but his request was denied.

He killed himself days later.

Abbott is the commander-in-chief of the Texas National Guard. If he chooses to deploy those under his command, it is his duty to pay them, deliver the benefits he promised them and ensure they receive proper mental health support in order to prevent the kind of tragedy weve seen in recent months.

And if he cant justify their deployment, he owes it to them and their families to send them home.

ORourke is running for governor of Texas as a Democrat. He served as an El Paso city council representative and a member of Congress.
War spews hell in all directions. Just ask the guys at Talon Anvil, a secret U.S. strike cell recently exposed by the New York Times as a unit with a reputation for ignoring the rules of engagement and killing lots and lots of civilians with drone strikes as it plays war with ISIS.

Part of the problem, a source told the Times, is that the daily demands of overseeing strike after strike seemed to erode operators perspective and fray their humanity.

In other words, participating in the endless U.S. war on terror turned them into . . . terrorists. Early one morning, as a Predator drone circled over the Syrian farming town of Karama, the operators focused on a particular building that they decided, with virtually no evidence, was an enemy training center and dropped a 500-pound bomb through the roof.

As the smoke cleared, a former officer told the Times, his team stared at their screens in dismay. The infrared cameras showed women and children staggering out of the partly collapsed building, some missing limbs, some dragging the dead.

The intelligence analysts began taking screen shots and tallying the casualties. They sent an initial battle damage assessment to Talon Anvil: 23 dead or severely wounded, 30 lightly wounded, very likely civilians. Talon Anvil paused only long enough to acknowledge the message, the former officer said, then pressed on to the next target.

Oh, the frayed humanity! Heres what did not occur: the operators looking at what they had just done from the viewpoint of the victims. That would have amounted to more than simply dismay, Doing so is almost incomprehensible. Imagine a bomb suddenly piercing your roof in the middle of the night. Imagine your children suddenly dead, your arm or leg missing . . .

Oops.

My point here is that war is a collective enterprise. Multiply this incident by the size of the U.S. military budget  virtually half the countrys discretionary spending, around a trillion dollars annually, all told. And the money is always there, ready and waiting for the security state to consume. The unending lie is that it keeps us safe. Imagine, once again, women and children staggering out of the partly collapsed building, some missing limbs, some dragging the dead, and savor the safety you now have.

William Astore, pondering the defense budgets endless growth despite the collapse of our official Cold War enemy, the Soviet Union, three decades ago, asks: Why, then, does each years (National Defense Authorization Act) rise ever higher into the troposphere, drifting on the wind and poisoning our culture with militarism? Because, to state the obvious, Congress would rather engage in pork-barrel spending than exercise the slightest real oversight when it comes to the national security state.

The key words may well be these: poisoning our culture with militarism.

When we wage war, we dehumanize  then kill  a specific segment of humanity. In the process, we fray our own humanity . . . we become less human ourselves, and thus more in sync with the evil we claim to be obliterating This is whats happening to us right now. How is our culture being poisoned?

One obvious way is the rate of vet suicides: around 60,000 in the last decade. And of course there is the pretend militarism of lost  and armed  souls, who have made mass murder a recurring aspect of the daily news flow. Add in hate crimes. Add in the prison-industrial complex:

The prison industry in the United States is massive and growing, according to the American Friends Service Committee. Since 1970, the number of incarcerated people in the U.S. has increased by 700 percent, to the point that the U.S. prison population is the largest in the world both per capita and in total numbers. As of 2019, there are an estimated 2.3 million people behind bars and 4.5 million people on probation or parole. The estimated cost of the U.S. mass incarceration system is $182 billion a year, with hundreds of private companies competing for government contracts.

Our enemies are everywhere! Theyre in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria. Theyre massing at our southern border. And theyre here at home, packed into ghettos and poverty zones. As we wage war, we dehumanize the world, in the process shattering its complex interconnectedness. This does not make us safer.

Even the good war didnt make us safer, though its the trophy cup that defenders of present-day militarism always hold up. Consider this observation by Paul Tritschler on just one of our late-in-the-game World War II bombing campaigns:

In March of 1945, he writes, seemingly endless waves of B-29s roared across Tokyo, dropping one million bombs containing 2,000 tons of incendiaries. In under three hours, over 100,000 people lay dead and one million were homeless. The firebombing of 67 cities over the following five months resulted in the further deaths of at least half a million people  a deliberate policy of wiping out civilians living in the densely populated poorer districts. With no remorse, U.S. Air Force General Curtis LeMay openly declared, They were scorched and boiled and baked to death. Although it didnt dampen their enthusiasm, bomber crews said that the stench of burning flesh rose high into the air, forcing them to use oxygen masks to keep from vomiting. At the end of that five month period came atomic destruction.

This is not about blame. This is not about shame. This is about change. We still have our finger on the nuclear trigger.

Robert C. Koehler is a Chicago-based columnist. Leonard Pitts Jr. is on vacation.
The uprising of Texas Democrats over the last few years spurred a Republican reaction in 2021 that resulted in some of the most extreme state GOP legislation in decades.

Abortions were essentially banned.

Gun rights greatly expanded, even over the objections of many in law enforcement.

And the state enacted new restrictions on how teachers can talk about race in classrooms.

It all came as Democrats continue to become more competitive  solidifying their hold on the biggest cities in Texas and coming closer to winning Texas in a presidential election than any time since the 1970s.

But when Democrats made an all-out push to win the Texas House of Representatives in 2020 and fell short, some Republicans saw it as a green light from voters to push for the partys top priorities.

The door was opened by the voters, state Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, said earlier in 2021. We tried to walk as many of those priorities through that door as we could.

And then there was former President Donald Trump, who jumped into Texas politics, making three trips to the state in 2021, firing off frequent emails to Texas reporters pushing the Legislature to pass more conservative legislation and doling out endorsements to Republicans who know his backing is almost make-or-break in the states March 1 primary.

Count Gov. Greg Abbott among those who have picked up endorsements from Trump thanks to the ultra-conservative agenda in Texas this year.

Im proud of the work weve done together to secure our border, bring more jobs to Texas, & protect the freedoms that make America & Texas great  & we are just getting started, Abbott said of Trump.

Some Democrats are convinced that as the states election trends continue to veer more in their direction, Republicans are underestimating how their far-right turn will provoke a backlash from a changing electorate in 2022.

But Republicans are plowing ahead, convinced 2020 showed the blue wave that Democrats have been riding has stopped short of putting the GOP in real danger. They are promising more of the same.

The blue wave evaporated on the red rocks of Texas, said state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston.

Its clear Republicans are still more concerned with primary elections in March than they are with the general election, even with Democrat Beto ORourke at the top of the ticket, said Mark P. Jones, professor in the Department of Political Science at Rice University.

Abbott is facing two significant primary challengers from the right, and because of redistricting, almost all of the incumbent Texas House or Senate members are favored to win the general election. That makes them all more worried about their primaries against other Republicans than with Democrats in November, Jones said. The result is that Republicans were more likely to advance super conservative legislation to appease the base of the GOP and reduce opposition in primaries.

There was no reason to hold back on a very conservative agenda, Jones said.

And hold back they didnt.

In mid-May, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 8, which bars women from getting an abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected. That can be as early as six weeks, when many women dont know they are pregnant. Later that same month, lawmakers passed legislation that allows Texans over age 21 to carry handguns in public without a license starting Sept. 1, with a few exceptions.

Then in September, at the behest of Abbott, legislators passed what became known as the critical race theory bill. It prohibits teaching certain concepts about race and urges educators to teach that slavery and racism are deviations from the founding principles of the United States. Critical race theory, an academic approach that examines how systemic racism affects society, has become a popular target among conservatives.

Also in September, Abbott signed into law voting restrictions that Democrats had argued were focused on cities where Democrats have been strongest. Specifically, the legislation ends voter expansion efforts in Harris County  the states most populous county, which has become a Democratic stronghold.

The state barred voting past 10 p.m., ended drive-thru voting and blocked election officials from sending out unsolicited absentee ballot applications. Harris County is the only county in Texas that did or tried all three things in 2020.

Bettencourt said all of the legislation was part of a bigger effort to assert what it means to be a Republican after the success of 2020.

Republicans did a good job in restating what they believe in and what it means to be a Republican, he said.

Democrats, led by ORourke, are out to make Republicans pay for going so far right on social issues instead of focusing on more pressing issues, such as fixing the electric grid after it failed during cold weather in February and preparing hospitals for a continuation of the pandemic. They are convinced Republicans are misreading how far right Texas voters really want to go.

While Texas has not elected a Democrat statewide since the 1990s, over the last eight years the states electorate has been changing fast, driven in large part to growing urban populations and more concerted voter registration efforts in cities such as Houston, San Antonio and Austin.

The result is Texas has added 3.5 million more voters to its rolls since 2014. Left-leaning groups have been a big reason for that, and it has shown up in recent election results. In 2018, ORourke lost to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz by just 2.6 percentage points. Republicans Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller all won 51 percent of the vote or less in their re-elections. Four years earlier, each of them had won at least 58 percent of the vote.

In 2020, Joe Biden used huge victories in Houston and San Antonio to come within 6 percentage points of winning Texas  the closest a Democrat has come to carrying Texas in a presidential election in more than two decades.

Democrats now have to hope ORourke can rekindle the energy from his 2018 race as he challenges Abbott for governor in November. As Republicans push further right, ORourke, if he wins the governors race, would be in a position to veto legislation such as the permitless handgun carry bill and the abortion legislation that on the campaign trail he has called examples of extremism and fringe politics.

But if he loses, Republicans will have no reason not to push further right. Jones said many of the more moderate Republicans in the Texas Legislature are retiring, opening the door to even more conservative members replacing them.

State Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, said he doesnt blame Republicans for going so far right. At a rally in June at the Texas Capitol, West said Democrats allowed the Republican onslaught in 2020 by not getting more people to the polls in 2020. In short, he said, elections have consequences and 2021 proved that.

I blame us, West said of Democrats falling short in 2020. We need to do what is necessary to turn out the Democratic and independent base in order to order to take over this building.

jeremy.wallace@chron.com

twitter.com/jeremyswallace
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Many of the resident horses at Second Hand Stables have qualities that would make it unlikely for them to be saved. But these qualities are what make them more precious in Gentile's eyes. (Photo courtesy of The Berkshire Eagle.) Gentile really wanted to focus on draft horses, who are prone to health issues because of their size. These health issues end up being costly to the owner. PreviousNext

Savoy Woman Gives Draft Horses Refuge From Slaughter

SAVOY, Mass.  In August, animal lover Kristie Gentile embarked on a mission to rescue draft horses from the grim fate of slaughter.

"I tend to take the horses that are less likely to be saved," she explained. "Horses with like severe disabilities or horses that aren't broke, that wouldn't make good riding horses, elderly horses. So the majority of my horses are sanctuary horses. and that just means that they'll live the rest of their life out here."

Second Chance Stables and Draft Horse Rescue is a non-profit organization whose mission is to rescue, rehabilitate, and retire or responsibly rehome draft breeds otherwise headed for, what Gentile refers to as, the slaughter pipeline.

"It's this awful, awful thing, but it's like this really well-kept secret unless you're in the horse world," Gentile said.

Draft horses are large breeds often used for labor

Many of the resident horses at Second Hand Stables have qualities that would make it unlikely for them to be saved. But these qualities are what make them more precious in Gentile's eyes.

Like Dan, the Belgian draft, is completely blind and has a seeing-eye horse for support.

It is illegal to slaughter horses in the United States but it is not illegal to ship them to countries where it is allowed, like Canada and Mexico. Gentile's goal is to rescue them from an auction or kill pen directly before they are shipped.

Gentile added that horses sent to slaughter are not killed in a humane way and are not properly cared for during transit. For example, she said they are not properly fed and watered. She hopes to educate the community on these practices while rescuing horses.

"It's just a horrific horrific thing these guys go through," she said. "I've had them come to me completely emaciated. I have one right now that has put on over 300 pounds."

An article by the Humane Society of the United States about horse slaughter reads:

"Slaughter is a brutal and terrifying end for horses, and it is not humane. Horses are shipped for more than 24 hours at a time without food, water, or rest in crowded trucks. They are often seriously injured or killed in transit."

For about two years, Gentile has been involved in rescuing and fostering horses. She opened Second Chance Stables after deciding that she really wanted to focus on draft horses, who are prone to health issues because of their size. These health issues end up being costly to the owner.

Her drive to rescue the large horses was discovered when trying to find a companion for her own.

"I was around horses when I was younger. I got older had kids got out of it, and when I moved up to Savoy, I wanted to get back into it," she explained. "So, I had gotten a horse, and while I was looking for a companion for her, I stumbled across the rescue world that I didn't really, honestly I didn't even know, existed."

There are reportedly not a lot of draft-specific rescues that aren't hours away.

"There's really nothing, directly in this area, and we actually don't have any nonprofits in Western Mass," Gentile added. "So I thought this would be a good fit for the area."

Samson was the first Belgian draft that started it all for Gentile. The half-blind and very loving horse found a forever home with a caring family after being fostered through Heart and Hooves Rescue in East Brookfield.

Charlie the Belgian gelding is also one of Gentile's permanent residents. He was saved from a Pennsylvania kill pen and arrived at the rescue underweight, detached and blind in his right eye, which needed to be removed.

Now, he is being rehabilitated and has blossomed into a kind and loving gentleman.

There are currently eight horses on the property and possibly one more arriving in January.

Two of the horses who are rideable and will make good trail horses are up for adoption. Horses are given a full evaluation before being adopted out.

The rescue sits on 13 acres with complete with a barn, paddocks, and spaces for turnout, or playtime. Gentile said her "amazing" neighbors make the one-woman operation possible because they allow her to rotate the horses through their pastures and are always lending a helping hand.

The rescue has applied for a 501(c)3 exemption from the Internal Revenue Service and is able to accept donations and fundraise but a majority of the financial piece comes from Gentile.

The rescue also does sponsorships, which she tried to make more involved than the typical program.

"Basically, we do it a little bit differently than other rescues. A lot of other rescues do sponsorships where you pay a fee you get a picture or you get a stuffed animal or something like that every month. I wanted to really bring it into the community," Gentile explained. "So we started a sponsorship program, and you make a donation monthly to the rescue. But twice a month my sponsors come up they spend some time with the horses. They do some grooming or learn some horsemanship. They do some of the dirty work, cleaning poop that kind of stuff. It's more interactive. They really get to see what's going on, which is nice."

When asked what her goals are for 2022, Gentile said she would simply like to keep the rescue going, understanding that horse rescue is a costly venture.

"My biggest goal is to just be able to keep doing it. Most small rescues like myself fail within the first year. It's very hard to keep people interested. It's very hard when you don't have like hundreds of acres of land," she explained. "And people are really interested in the saving piece. They really want to help save. But trying to make people understand that these horses are saved, but they're saved with these long term chronic conditions, medications, feeding, vet bills, farrier bills. Those are the everyday costs and that's really where the money is.

"So if you're not pulling one horse every month or two, people can lose interest. So my goal is honestly, just to be able to still do this."
Veteran Spotlight: Sgt. John Ireland

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  John Ireland served his country in the Air Force from 1972 to 1977, retiring as a sergeant.

Growing up in Framingham, he was introduced to the Berkshires while spending summers on his uncle's farm in Clarksburg. His basic training took him to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.

"It was the first time I ever saw a palm tree. I remember marching everywhere. Made some good friends there, one in particular, Melvin Stephenson, I was particularly close to," he remembered.

His first assignment after basic was 13 months at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Miss., where he studied air traffic-control radar repair. His biggest challenge?

"Putting up with the air traffic controllers. They're trained to have an attitude that they can do no wrong. I did receive electronics training that really served me well down the line," he said. From here, Sgt. Ireland was sent to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. The base received U.S airplanes from in and out of Vietnam.

"I worked on mobile radar that we set up on hills ... spent time running from Kadena to Tan Son Nhut Air Base," he recalled. "I also spent time in the Philippines ... we bounced all over the Pacific Theater."

When asked about a mentor, Ireland did not hesitate. "Jim Contact, amazing man, married a Thai woman. He had a German shepherd named Dukey," he remembered with a chuckle.

The holidays he described as "really bad. I had to work and just felt really, really alone. Total aloneness. I got no gifts, but later, I got slippers from my mother. You do your routine and move on." The holidays did offer a tremendous amount of badness, but not from the standpoint of being away from home but due to a horrific, personal family situation that took place in Okinawa. Though Sgt. Ireland would not discuss it, the memory still pains him. He did say, "dealing with the Japanese authorities was quite easy. They were very good, compassionate and caring people."

After Okinawa, he was sent to Clark Air Base in the Phillipines briefly, then to Loring AFB in northern Maine.

"It was a big nuclear base that had very, very strict rules," he recalled. "What a difference from the Philippines  unbelievable heat and humidity to absolutely massive amounts of snow. I even saw a B-52 bomber that was buried." he said.

Ireland soon found out just how strict and alert the base personnel was.

"I was on duty, sitting in my truck on the flight line. All of a sudden, I see a ton of commotion, trucks and armored MP personnel surrounding me with guns drawn, screaming at me to get out of the truck," he said. "Turns out they were hauling a nuclear bomb behind me. Security was everywhere. I had to wait for my

sergeant to give a positive ID of me."

His thoughts on service? "When people thank me for my service, I thank them for being an American worthy of fighting for," he responded.

Sgt. Ireland went on to work for Space Tactical Systems Inc. as a field technician, was an international field engineer and is extremely proud of working on the sonar that found the Titanic for Klein Associates. He now resides in North Adams.

Sgt. John Ireland, thank you for your service to our great country.
World's biggest trade deal takes effect as boost for global economy

Xinhua) 10:19, January 02, 2022

-- The world's largest free trade pact, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, entered into force Saturday to provide a tailwind for the region's post-pandemic recovery and a catalyst for global economic progress, bringing a ray of hope.

-- Given its size and terms, the RCEP is widely expected to bolster regional trade and investment flows, and boost economic integration and prosperity in the region and beyond.

-- At a time when the benefits of free trade and globalization are being questioned, the RCEP's rollout marks "a victory for multilateralism and free trade."

BANGKOK, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- The world's largest free trade pact forged by 15 Asia-Pacific countries entered into force Saturday to provide a tailwind for the region's post-pandemic recovery and a catalyst for global economic progress, bringing a ray of hope.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement groups 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, as well as China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, covering nearly a third of the world's population and gross domestic product.

Given its size and terms, the RCEP is widely expected to bolster regional trade and investment flows, and boost economic integration and prosperity in the region and beyond.

BOON FOR REGIONAL TRADE, INVESTMENT

"The golden age of durian trade is coming," said Edwyn Chiang, secretary general of the Malaysia International Durian Industry Development Association, expecting the RCEP to spur exports of the thorny "king of fruits" by 50 percent by the year 2030.

The RCEP will open up a broader market and development space for Malaysia's agriculture sector, strengthen the country's agricultural product trade as well as the sector's investment and cooperation with other member countries, Chiang said.

"This (RCEP) will not only present new opportunities for Malaysian businesses, but also for regional business communities tapping into RCEP to access Malaysian and ASEAN markets more broadly," Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said.

The free trade bloc is expected to eventually eliminate tariffs on more than 90 percent of goods, expand market access for investment, harmonize rules and regulations, streamline customs procedures, and set common rules concerning the development of e-commerce as well as small and medium-sized enterprises, according to business insiders.

A gantry crane loads containers onto a freight train in Nanning international railway port in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Dec. 31, 2021. (Xinhua)

ASEAN Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi said the pact will "open up opportunities that could catalyze the expansion of regional trade and investment."

"Under the RCEP agreement, the region will become a single production base as well as a market for its products," he said.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said the RCEP will create "a center of gravity for global trade," expecting the agreement's tariff concessions to boost exports within the region by 42 billion U.S. dollars.

Businesses with global supply chains might face tariffs even within a free trade area (FTA) if their products contain components that are made elsewhere. Under the RCEP's rules of origin, parts from any member country would be treated equally, which might give companies in RCEP countries an incentive to look within the region for suppliers, analysts said.

The RCEP's tariff concessions, unified rules of origin and simplification of customs procedures "will enable our company to purchase raw materials and equipment as well as distribution of products more efficiently and at a lower cost," said Qiu Jinliang, managing director of Himile (Thailand) Co., a tire mold supplier.

Li Yanqiang, chairman of Beibu Gulf Port Group in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, expected the RCEP to promote economic and trade cooperation within the region and increase the port's container throughput.

Of the 44 shipping routes linking the port with overseas ports, 28 are connected to RCEP countries, Li said.

By 2030, the RCEP will increase the member economies' incomes by 0.6 percent, adding 245 billion dollars annually and 2.8 million jobs to the regional economy, according to a study by the Asian Development Bank.

"A SHOT IN THE ARM" FOR GLOBAL ECONOMY

The RCEP came into force initially in 10 countries that have submitted instruments of ratification with the ASEAN Secretariat.

Photo taken on Dec. 30, 2021 shows a view of the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, the world's largest trade deal so far, enters into force on Jan. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

As global economic recovery still moves in fits and starts, the RCEP's entry into force would definitely be "a shot in the arm" for the world economic and trade development, said Ge Hongliang, deputy director with the College of ASEAN Studies at the Guangxi University for Nationalities.

"It will help sustain the global economic recovery and mitigate the adverse impacts of the pandemic," Ge said.

In the latest World Economic Outlook report, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) trimmed its 2021 global growth forecast to 5.9 percent from a 6-percent forecast made in July. It kept a 2022 global growth forecast unchanged at 4.9 percent.

"This modest headline revision, however, masks large downgrades for some countries," the IMF said in the report, adding that the worsening pandemic dynamics have darkened the outlook for low-income developing countries while advanced economies are struggling with supply disruptions.

The increase of regional trade through the RCEP will restore some economic activities shut down or slowed down by the pandemic, said William Jones, Washington bureau chief of the U.S. publication Executive Intelligence Review.

"The increase in the 'flow' of goods and services enabled by the digital economy also leads to increased economic growth," Jones said, expecting an e-commerce boost through the RCEP to lift growth.

The RCEP facilitates deeper integration of supply chains, while the flexibility and mobility in the flow of goods and services will create an Asia-Pacific super supply chain that can address supply disruptions caused by the pandemic, said Lawrence Loh, a professor at the National University of Singapore's Business School.

VICTORY FOR MULTILATERALISM, FREE TRADE

At a time when the benefits of free trade and globalization are being questioned, the RCEP's rollout marks "a victory for multilateralism and free trade."

The RCEP's entry into force is a manifestation of the region's resolve to support an open, free, fair, inclusive, and rules-based multilateral trading system, the ASEAN Secretariat said in a statement on Saturday.

Staff members unload cargos from a plane at the Phnom Penh International Airport in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Dec. 31, 2021. (Photo by Van Pov/Xinhua)

Considering the RCEP as a model for other FTAs to emulate, Loh said although the RCEP is pan-regional in nature, there are opportunities to collaborate with other FTAs in the Americas and Europe.

"RCEP's linkages in trade and investment will serve to strengthen globalization, which is currently being threatened by geopolitical tensions," Loh said.

Liu Ziyang, a professor at Kyonggi University in South Korea, said the implementation of the RCEP will accelerate negotiations on the trilateral free trade agreement among China, Japan and South Korea, and speed up the building of the FTA of the Asia-Pacific.

Besides an economic growth stimulus effect, Jin Jianmin, a senior fellow at the Fujitsu Research Institute in Japan, expected the RCEP to improve institutional reforms and global economic governance capabilities, which will help promote medium- to long-term sustainable development.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Bianji)
GUIYANG, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Trade between southwest China's Guizhou Province and the member countries of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) totaled 16.14 billion yuan (about 2.5 billion U.S. dollars) in the first 11 months of this year, a year-on-year growth of 22.7 percent, according to local customs authorities.

Main exports included fertilizers and tires, and the main imports were metal minerals and rubber, Guiyang Customs said, noting that Guizhou's trade with RCEP member countries contributed approximately 30 percent of its total foreign trade.

The RCEP agreement, came into force on Saturday, is the world's largest free trade agreement. It was signed on Nov. 15, 2020, by 15 Asia-Pacific countries -- 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Australia and New Zealand -- after eight years of negotiations that started in 2012. Enditem
In December, a woman at a McDonald's drive-thru in Eden Prairie near Minneapolis began choking on a chicken nugget. Sydney Raley, an exceptionally quick-witted 15-year-old employee, jumped through the drive-thru window to offer assistance, telling the woman's daughter to dial 911. Raley got the woman out of the car and performed the Heimlich maneuver, enlisting a bystander to help her. They managed to dislodge the nugget, saving the woman's life.

It sounds like a scene from a teenage Christmas movie, but it actually happened. And there's a lot every entrepreneur, CEO, and team leader can learn from the incident.

1. Good customer service makes all the difference.

Things could have unfolded very differently except for one small thing. After Raley handed the customer part of her order, she stuck her head back out the drive-thru window to explain that the rest would be coming shortly. Without that simple gesture of courtesy and good service, Raley wouldn't have known so quickly that the woman was in distress and might not have saved her.

2. Training saves lives.

How did an adolescent know exactly what to do in a life-threatening emergency? Because she was trained to know. Four years ago, at age 11, she'd taken a Red Cross babysitter class, and "all that training immediately kicked in," she said.

This raises a few questions. Do you know the Heimlich maneuver? Do your employees? What about CPR? Do you and they know what to do in case of a fire or flood? Raley's story demonstrates how even brief training can turn you and your employees into a very valuable resource if an emergency occurs. It's well worth the time and effort to get this training for them, for yourself, and perhaps for your family as well. If you ever happen to choke on something or have a cardiac event, you may be very glad that you did.

3. We aren't all alike, and that's a good thing.

When emergency responders arrived on the scene, they gave Raley an unexpected gift--$100 from a special fund they use to reward citizens who do good in the community. She told CNN it made her feel like she was capable of contributing to society and "actually making a difference."

Why would she doubt that she could contribute to society? Raley is on the autism spectrum. When she was first diagnosed, her parents worried that it would hold her back in life. It's turned out to be the opposite, they said.

There's a growing audience of Inc.com readers who receive a daily text from me with a self-care or motivational micro-challenge or idea. Often they text me back and we wind up in a conversation. (Interested in joining? You can learn more here.) They tell me that people who seem limited in some way often can surprise you with their resourcefulness and their abilities.
Since 1963, The Independent has helped create a great community!

Since our founding in September of 1963, The Independent has been dedicated to giving Livermore, Pleasanton, Dublin, and Sunol readers the news they need to be in-the-know about what's going on in the Tri-Valley region.
Customers smell perfumes in a duty-free shop in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province, Jan. 3, 2022. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

HAIKOU, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Offshore duty-free sales in south China's island province of Hainan reached 60.2 billion yuan (about 9.4 billion U.S. dollars) in 2021, an increase of 84 percent year on year, said the provincial department of commerce.

According to the department, the number of shoppers totaled nearly 9.7 million in 2021, with about 53.5 million items purchased, up 73 percent and 71 percent year on year, respectively.

Three more duty-free shops opened last year in Hainan, raising the total number to 10. The duty-free shops host more than 720 brands in a total shopping area of 220,000 square meters.

Since July 1, 2020, Hainan has raised its annual tax-free shopping quota from 30,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan per person. The duty-free purchase limit for cosmetics has been raised from 12 items to 30.

The province has also rolled out a range of policies such as flexible pick-up services to provide a better experience for customers.

China released a master plan in June 2020 to build the island province into a globally influential and high-level free trade port by the middle of the century. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Hainan has grown into an attractive shopping destination for domestic consumers. Enditem

Customers try electronic products in a duty-free shop in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province, Jan. 3, 2022. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

A customer tries cosmetic products in a duty-free shop in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province, Jan. 3, 2022. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

A customer pays via a mobile phone in a duty-free shop in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province, Jan. 3, 2022. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

A customer views a watch in a duty-free shop in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province, Jan. 3, 2022. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

Customers pay for products in a duty-free shop in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province, Jan. 3, 2022. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)
The first case of Florona has been reportedly recorded in a pregnant woman who was admitted to the Rabin Medical Centre to give birth. Florona is not a new variant but it is believed to be the occurrence of influenza and Covid-19 at the same time.

According to reports, the young woman was not vaccinated.

Twitter

This news of the new disease has come at a time when the world is expecting a surge of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic caused by the new variant Omicron. The new variant was first detected in South Africa in November 2021.

The fast-transmissible variant has managed to spread to most of the countries and has crossed the intensity of the Delta variant in the US and UK.

According to reports, Israeli doctors said that Florona is being studied as Israel has seen a surge in influenza cases in the last few weeks. Dr Nahla Abdel Wahab, a doctor at Cairo University Hospital, told Israeli media that Florona may indicate a major breakdown of the immunity system as two viruses are entering the human body at the same time.

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Israel has already started their process of administering the fourth vaccine shots against Covid-19 on Friday to people with a compromised immune system.

According to experts, Delmicron is a combination of Delta and Omicron variants that might have been the reason behind the surge in the US and Europe. Delmicron is not a new variant but the attack of Delta and Omicron strains together.

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Mary Lou McDonald has called for a national conversation on the right to die, saying the political system has dragged its heels on the issue.

The Sinn Fein president said campaigners like Vicky Phelan, who have called on Government to introduce laws to give terminally ill people the option of medically assisted death, have made a really compelling case.

Ms McDonald said although the issue is fraught and sensitive, that does not absolve legislators from taking action, and that the debate must not drag on endlessly for another decade.

She said: I think that Vicky and, indeed others, have made a really compelling case based on human dignity and choice.

I follow very carefully what they have to say.

I also listen very carefully to those who deliver palliative care, who are all about dignity in death.

We need to listen to all of the perspectives and then we need to take a decision

I think we need to we need to step our way through this issue with considerable thoughtfulness, because its a fairly fraught and sensitive issue.

The fact that its fraught and sensitive does not absolve us as legislators from actually taking decisions and moving moving the debate on.

I would like to think that we will not have a debate around this issue that drags on endlessly for another decade.

I mean, I think we are now at a point where we need to have the conversation, we need to listen to the evidence, we need to listen to all of the perspectives and then we need to take a decision.

Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald at Leinster House in Dublin (Brian Lawless/PA)

Ms McDonald said, while she has yet to take a firm position on the issue, a decision is needed sooner rather than later.

She told the PA news agency: I have an open mind on it.

I dont have a fixed or a firm view, except that the political system has dragged its heels.

We need to get to a position where we make a call on things and to do that, and to do that well and do it honourably, we need to have all of the perspectives.

The subject has been brought to the fore by campaigners like Ms Phelan, the terminally ill cervical cancer campaigner, who has called publicly on Government to act.

CervicalCheck campaigner Vicky Phelan alongside TD Gino Kenny outside Leinster House in Dublin (People Before Profit/PA)

She has supported legislation brought forward by People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny, the Dying With Dignity Bill 2020, but has expressed frustration with a lack of political will to move on the issue.

Ms McDonald has heaped praise on Ms Phelan, saying she is paying close attention to her campaign.

I mean, what an incredible woman, what an incredible advocate, she said.

Anything she says, and people like Vicky, it certainly lands with me and I hear her loud and clear.
Housing is one of Irelands biggest social issues as well as talking points. Whether its the cost or availability of private housing and the amount needed for a deposit, or the shortage of affordable rental accommodation and the thousands of people now homeless in Ireland, housing is a constant on the national agenda.

But so too is it elsewhere around the globe.

Here, we speak to Irish people living in places including Canada and Dubai, Prague and Portugal to see what the housing situations and issues, and costs, are in those countries and cities.

Stockholm

For Cork woman Eileen Littorin, Stockholm in Sweden is her current home, where she lives with her husband Magnus and their two children, David, 7 and Sophia, 6.

Sweden's home-owner's tax benefit of about 2,400 per person per year can be used for anything from renovation and maintenance to cleaning, according to Eileen Littorin, pictured here with her husband Magnus.

We look to Nordic countries for progressive solutions to just about every social issue, and housing is no different. Every homeowner in Sweden gets a tax benefit of about 2,500 year towards the upkeep of their house, says Eileen.

When you buy a property here, you get an annual tax benefit of 25,000 Swedish Krona (2,400) per person towards improvements, maintenance, or renovations of the property. We get 50k SEK as there are two of us on the mortgage.

This is the first of five parts in a week-long series. Click here or the Irish Lives Abroad tag at the foot of this page to continue reading the series as the articles go online.

So, if you change your windows or roof, for example, you use that money towards the bill. Its to incentivise people to keep their houses up to code and make it possible to afford for workers, says Eileen.

The benefit stretches to not just the external look of the house though.

I actually use my half towards a weekly cleaner, as the benefit covers that too, says the Cork woman.

When it comes to getting on the actual property ladder, Eileen says it is not too challenging a step to make as long as your finances are in order, and the criteria of qualifying for a mortgage is more or less the same as in Ireland.

Its not too difficult to buy as long as your credit rating is good. You need about a 10% deposit, permanent employment, and then youre approved for a mortgage calculated against your income, says Eileen.

The average price for a one- or two-bed property in Stockholm in 2020 was approximately 585,000. But renting is not much cheaper, she explains:

Renting is very tricky here and can be insanely expensive if youre not lucky enough to have a first-hand contract. There are agencies you sign up with and youre put in a queuing system. For this, you pay a small annual fee. The longer youre in the queue, the better your chances of getting something decent in a nice area, says Eileen.

She has a personal story about this wait list system, that involves her husband, when he was as young as 3: My husband, for instance, was put on the list by his mum when he was 3 and was able to rent a studio apartment 25 minutes from the city when he was 20 for about 350 a month. That was a while ago, says Eileen.

And if youre not Swedish, how easy is it to find rental accommodation?

For expats its hard and you can pay a fortune for something small. You really have to be lucky to rent something here, she says.

Ontario Gerald Flynn, originally from Limerick, has been living in Ontario, Canada for eight years. He lives there with his wife Meggan, and their 10-month-old baby girl Clara. The rent on a one-bed apartment 30 minutes from Toronto is 1,300 a month. To buy similar 45 minutes away would cost more than 300,000, according to Gerald Flynn, pictured here with his wife Meggan and baby Clara. Gerald describes the housing situation in Ontario as crazy when it comes to both renting and buying. And, as a homeowner, hes seen his own home jump in value in less than two years. First of all, yes it is crazy for rent and buying. We bought our house in early 2020, it is nearly double the value now, says the Limerick man. Gerald says that, a bit like Ireland, the market has not stopped growing in the last decade or so, with what seems like everyone trying to get on the property ladder. Everyone is trying to buy, and the market has not stopped climbing since I arrived eight years ago, he says. The cost of renting a two-bed apartment approximately a 30-minute drive from Toronto city, is about 1,750 a month. To rent a three-bed house in the same neighbourhood comes in around the same. To rent a one-bed apartment, also 30 minutes from Toronto, thats 54 sq m (580 sq ft) costs 1,300 a month. But to buy a one-bed apartment 45 minutes from Toronto, it would cost you more than 300,000. And when it comes to a house, an average three-bed property, nearly an hour out from Toronto costs nearly 500,000. The best advice people are giving is not to wait, just buy now. I live about one hour outside of Toronto and I would say that due to remote work the price of houses outside the Greater Toronto Area has risen significantly, says Gerald. Is there anything in between for people who cant afford to buy on their own nor find affordable rental accommodation? Social housing is a thing just not a big thing where I have seen anyway, says Gerald. The big thing is new builds. And much like back in Ireland, moving in with your parents where possible, is a move some people make in order to secure a house of their own. People move in to their parents and put a down payment on a building site and wait for it to turn into a house and then move in. It worked for some people I know, says Gerald.

Prague

For Dingle native, Siun Creedon Prochazka, Prague in the Czech Republic is her home, where she lives with her husband and two children Marketa (3) and Alvy (9).

In Czechia, it's quite common for parents to use the sitting room as their bedroom, according to Siun Creedon Prochazka, pictured here with her daughter Marketa and son Alvy.

Rent is cheaper than Ireland for sure, but salaries are lower too. And parents can end up using the sitting room as their own bedroom.

The average rent for a two-bed is around 1,000. If you are renting through an estate agent you need to pay the agent a whole months rent plus a deposit of a months rent. So it can get incredibly expensive to move, says Siun.

The average salary in Prague is around 1,800 (about 500 less around the rest of the country). Its quite common for families to have a bedroom for each child, usually teenage up to post university age, and the parents use the sitting room as their bedroom, she adds.

To buy in Prague costs an awful lot of money, with a recent study from Deloitte showing it is the second worst country of 22 European states to find affordable housing in. Siun says:

Its a very expensive city in terms of renting and buying. On average people spend 12.2 annual wages on buying a flat. In comparison with the average wage here, there is a huge imbalance.

The average annual wage in Prague is about 30,000, so more than 12 times that, about 360,000 is the price of a flat in the city.

And for those who cant afford housing, what is the situation?

Homelessness is an issue here. There are over 3,000 homeless people in Prague, says Siun.

The Hague Caitriona Rush lives in The Hague in The Netherlands with her husband and two children aged 10 and 7. Buying was more common than renting in The Netherlands due to tax incentives, Caitriona explains. In The Netherlands, buying one's home had been the norm due to state support for purchasers but 'the government is slowly getting rid of these tax benefits,' according to Caitriona Rush. Traditionally, people would have bought houses, and buying was more common than renting  once people have a fixed income  due to certain tax incentives, she says. However, these benefits are slowly being retired and buying is no longer the go-to or default option, especially for first-time buyers. The government is slowly getting rid of these tax benefits however, making it less attractive. This, coupled with soaring house prices, which make it very difficult for first-time buyers, means that whilst home owners are still in the majority, it is slowly changing, she says. When it comes to the cost of renting, people in The Netherlands pay per square metre as opposed to say the number of bedrooms. Regarding rental prices, houses here arent listed or described in terms of the number of bedrooms but rather by the total amount of square metres. Currently rental prices average at 11 per month per square metre for a house, or 15 per month per square metre for an apartment, says Caitriona. And just like everywhere else, there is homelessness here too, only Caitriona describes it as less visible. Homelessness exists in the Netherlands as elsewhere but it tends to be a lot less visible here than other countries. Theres an estimated 36,000 homeless out of a total population of 17.5m, she says.

Dubai

Ailbhe Storan, originally from Limerick City, lives in Dubai with her husband. There, renting is the norm, and she pays 2,800 per month in rent for an apartment with an infinity pool.

Ailbhe Storan and her husband Don OShaughnessy rent in Dubai, paying 2,800 a month for a two-bed apartment with a view of the Burj Khalifa, an infinity pool, gym, and air-conditioned access to Dubai Mall.

Almost 90% of the population in the United Arab Emirates are expats so renting is the norm, she says.

Most people only plan to come for three to five years but end up staying closer to eight to 10 years. Some expats buy properties if they have established themselves here and have kids in school.

When it comes to the actual price of renting, she says Dubai is not much different to Dublin.

Rental market prices will depend on where you choose to live, but generally are no higher than what we used to pay in Dublin: We currently live downtown and pay approximately 2,800 per month in rent for a two-bedroom apartment with a Burj Khalifa view, infinity pool, gym, and air-conditioned access to Dubai Mall, which is crucial in the summer months, explains Ailbhe.

Furthermore, there is plenty of supply, unlike in Dublin.

There are so many new developments going up, supply is not an issue, and there is ample choice to suit most budgets, says Ailbhe. And if you do stay longer and want to buy, how much are we talking and what criteria do you have to meet?

In terms of buying property, expats can apply for a residential loan and this will require a 25% deposit up to 5m Emirati Dirham (1.2m), above that price and the deposit will increase, says Ailbhe.

Expats must be sponsored by employers or have their own business to obtain a resident visa. Without a sponsored visa, expats must leave the country. The locals are provided with homes or they live with their families, she adds.

Lisbon Sonya Coogan, originally from Co Monaghan, now lives in Lisbon, Portugal, with her husband and two step-children. The city has become increasingly popular as an emigration destination for Irish people. 'Locals are being pushed out of the city, probably a bit like Dublin and the cities in Ireland, the internationals [developers] are buying up all the properties,' says Sonya Coogan, who lives in Lisbon. Renting is very affordable in the capital, if you have a high wage, and living at home with your parents is the norm for locals. Most people in Lisbon dont leave home until their 30s at least. Its completely different to Ireland, where we become very independent almost at 18. Heres it at least 30s, says Sonya of the big picture. When it comes to costs she explains the market and where its gone since she moved there. The rents in Lisbon  for a one-bed, two-bed, youre talking maybe 800 to 1,000. Since I moved here six years ago, its probably doubled. The sad thing is the locals are being pushed out of the city, probably a bit like Dublin and the cities in Ireland, the internationals [developers] are buying up all the properties and renting the properties, says Sonya. And when it comes to buying you need a much larger deposit than at home. In regard to deposits for buying youre talking about 20-30% of a deposit or at least a good guarantor, she says. What's your view on this issue? You can tell us here What about those who do not have family they can live with and who cannot afford a home of their own? Homelessness is definitely an issue, but its probably not as common as in Dublin. Its probably half of what they have. The people do a lot here to help the homeless and the poor, says Sonya, who runs the Irish in Lisbon Facebook page.

[readmore40776810[/readmore]
An unidentified person crossed the heavily-fortified border into North Korea on Sunday, South Korean military officials have said.

South Korea had earlier spotted the person with surveillance equipment at the eastern portion of the border and sent troops to capture him or her on Saturday night.

The troops failed to find the person and the surveillance equipment detected the person crossing over the border, Joint Chiefs of Staff officers said.

South Korea sent a message to North Korea on Sunday morning to ensure the safety of the person but the North has not responded.

It is unclear if this was a rare case of a South Korean hoping to defect to the North, or it could be a North Korean who briefly entered South Korean territory for some reason before returning to the North.

In September 2020, North Korea fatally shot a South Korean fisheries official found floating in its waters along a poorly marked sea boundary.

South Korea said that North Korean troops were under orders to shoot anyone illegally crossing the border to protect against the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier in 2020, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un placed a border city under total lockdown after a North Korean defector with Covid-19-like symptoms sneaked back home. The fate of that defector, who had lived in South Korea, is not known.

On Saturday, North Korea announced it had decided to place top priority on strict virus restrictions at a high-profile ruling party meeting last week.

The two Koreas are split along the worlds most heavily armed border, called the demilitarised zone (DMZ).

An estimated two million mines are peppered inside and near the 155-mile-long, 2.5-mile-wide DMZ, which is also guarded by barbed wire fences, tank traps and combat troops on both sides.
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.
BEIJING, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- China's west-to-east gas transmission project has boosted natural gas supply across the country and facilitated the low-carbon transformation of the country's energy consumption structure, data has shown.

The west-to-east gas pipeline has sent more than 700 billion cubic meters of natural gas to eastern China since it was officially put into operation in 2004, according to PipeChina, operator of the project.

Over the past years, the project has reduced the use of approximately 932 million tonnes of standard coal and cut carbon dioxide emissions and dust by 1.02 billion tonnes and 508 million tonnes, respectively, which is equivalent to adding 3.18 billion hectares of broad-leaved forests.

It has helped increase the share of natural gas in China's primary energy consumption to 8.4 percent in 2021 from around 2.4 percent in 2003, benefiting nearly 500 million residents nationwide.

In 2021, the annual volume of natural gas transported by the pipeline has, for the first time, exceeded 100 billion cubic meters, according to PipeChina. Enditem
Joplin, MO (64801)

Today

Rain this morning with strong thunderstorms likely by evening. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. High 67F. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near an inch..

Tonight

Occasional thunderstorms - possibly severe. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. Low near 50F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
JERUSALEM, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Israeli forces arrested over the weekend two persons suspected of involvement in Friday's attempted stabbing attack in the Israel-occupied West Bank, the military said Sunday.

The army said the two suspects drove to the site of the incident the perpetrator of the attempted attack who had been killed by soldiers on the scene.

The first suspect was arrested on Friday afternoon, and the second overnight between Saturday and Sunday.

On Friday, the perpetrator, identified as Amir Atef Reyan, stepped out of a vehicle at a junction near a military post and ran with a kitchen knife toward troops and civilians waiting at a bus station. The troops shot the man and the Palestinian health ministry later confirmed his death from his injuries.

The incident came amid a rise in Palestinian violence against Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and settlers' attacks against Palestinian farmers and villagers.

Israel seized the West Bank in the 1967 war and has controlled it ever since, despite international condemnation. Enditem
When the world stops, you keep going. This slogan will welcome tens of thousands of construction industry contractors, dealers and distributors, each of whom paid up to $600 to participate Concrete world The trade show in Las Vegas this month-unless the Omicron variant of the coronavirus forces it to be cancelled at the last minute.

In the new year, how many corporate exhibitions can continue on their own has become a question again. Just after months of restrictions, when corporate executives finally started using the conference lanyard again, the rapid spread of Covid-19 pressure triggered another round of delays.

At the ExCeL Educational Technology Expo in East London bed, Gambling events ice And the Optical Fair 100% optical -All of these are supposed to be events held in their respective fields at the beginning of this year-all have been postponed.

At the same time, some exhibitors have withdrawn from the exhibition that is still being held. Amazon, Meta, and Twitter are one of several technology groups that have exited the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to show up in person. Although the organizers are determined to advance the event, the event will begin this week and will also be held in Las Vegas. Vegas.

After experiencing previous restrictions and cancellations caused by the coronavirus, the battle-tested executives behind some of the worlds largest trade shows are trying to get their companies to take advantage of the pandemic.

In fact, for the past two years, we have arranged, rescheduled, negotiated, and renegotiated every three months, said Stephen Carter, CEO of Informa, the worlds largest trade show organizer.

This is very demanding on our team, as well as on our relationship with venue partners and contractors.

Even so, he added: Customers are still very willing to participate-as long as they have the ability to participate.

Carter was so confident in its prospects that he identified the event as one of Informas priority expansion areas, together with academic publishing.

This month, FTSE 100 media company layout Planned disposal A portfolio of data and consulting assets and niche publications estimated to be worth at least 1.7 billion, and redeploy most of the funds into its active business.

Investors remain cautious. Informas share price has fallen by nearly 40% from the beginning of 2020, while GL Events, which is listed in Paris, has fallen by 25% during the same period, and Emerald Holding, which is listed in New York, has fallen by 62%.

However, before the emergence of Omicron, there were encouraging signs in the industry Desperate representative I really want to come back.

According to data from the Exhibition Industry Research Center (CEIR), the cancellation rate of US business-to-business exhibitions has increased from 98% in the second half of 2020 to 19% in the third quarter of 2021.

Despite the slow start of the year and persistent concerns about the coronavirus, CEIR estimates that 15.3 million people in the United States will participate in such events in 2021more than double the previous year, although less than half of the pre-pandemic level.

The backlash shows that the model is strong, said Paul Thandi, the owner of the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, UK and chief executive officer of NEC Group (Paul Thandi). However, he added that due to the popularity of Omicron, exhibitors have become more risk-averse.

They are cautious about spending thousands of dollars on booths, personnel costs and other ancillary facilities, he said.

Frankfurt Book Fair. Trade shows are forced to spend more on Covid-related measures, such as disinfection and social distancing  Arne Dedert/AFP/Getty

The activities originally scheduled for the New Year at NEC have been rescheduled to include Lamma Island, an agricultural machinery exhibition that is popular with farmers.

Despite the widespread cancellations, few large-scale event organizers have encountered serious financial difficulties so far, partly because their parent companies are interested in other areas that have not been severely hit by the pandemic.

The one exception is Paris-based Comexposium, which has been in the guarantee program for most of the past year, even though it quit This is October after shareholders injected 110 million euros into the business.

Other organizers sought cash from shareholders at the beginning of the pandemic to help them tide over the difficulties.information Raised 1 billion In last years placement, it was equivalent to about 20% of its equity.

Vacation plans and other forms of government support have always been a lifeline. In cases where the authorities impose restrictions to prevent the incident from proceeding, insurance is also essential, although sometimes coverage is limited.

Insurance expenses worth about 65 million pounds helped Hyve, another London-listed event organizer, to return to profitability in the year ending September.

Event industry consultant Dan Assor said that because exhibitors usually pay in advance, the cash flow pressure on organizers is not as great as originally possible.

He added that, in some respects, the most severely affected are the subcontractors-usually small companies that provide equipment ranging from lighting equipment to registration desks and logistical support.

The supply chain has been destroyed, Assor said. A lot of freelancers have disappeared.

Like other industries affected by the coronavirus, executives expect some of the changes to be lasting.

Hyve CEO Mark Shashoua (Mark Shashoua) said that he expects small trade shows to be eliminated. He said that even before the pandemic, there was gravity in the biggest event in any given industry-this trend is just that the pandemic has accelerated.

If the incident and the industry are in a dominant position before Covid, then it will recover very quickly, he said. If its a second or third line performance, it wont resume.

Berenberg analyst Sarah Simon predicts that fragmented industries will consolidate. In the short term, there will be ongoing chaos in certain markets, and I think this will drive away more weak people, she said. There are a lot of medium-sized assets that may arouse peoples interest.

Analysts said that possible sellers may include Daily Mail and General Trust, in addition to having the UKs largest-selling daily newspaper, but also has an event business.

Its investment portfolio includes ADIPEC, an energy industry exhibition hosted by Abu Dhabi National Petroleum Corporation. DMGT recently Privatization Lord Rothermere, he is said to be focusing on the companys publishing assets.

Companies such as Informa are also working to make fuller use of the data generated by such incidents. They have long encouraged representatives to use professional applications, but recent health and safety requirements mandate online registration in some cases. Organizers are trying to sell more related digital services to participants, such as commissioned matching and post-mortem analysis.

However, unlike conferences, or at least onstage discussions that support them, trade shows cannot easily be reproduced online. It is difficult to feel the fabrics like at the Pure London fashion show, and it is also difficult to measure the prospects of emerging mobile technologies remotely like at MWC Barcelona.

You cant copy face to face, Asor said, adding that since the Great London Exhibition in 1851, these exhibitions have promoted commercial development.

Chris Skeith, the chief executive of the British Association of Event Organizers, said that the introduction is still simple and straightforward. The clue is in the name, he said. They generate trade.

You can get the pulse of everything that is happening in your industry-all your competitors, customers, and suppliers are in one place at a time. This is a very effective way of doing business.
In "Bad and Crazy" episodes 5 and 6, Ryu Soo Yeol (Lee Dong Wook) and K (Wi Ha Joon) struggled as they tried to save Lee Hui Gyeom (Han Ji Eun) from being framed by her team.

Read on to know the full story.

'Bad and Crazy' Episode 5: Lee Hui Gyeom Framed for Keeping Drugs

After she survived the accident that killed Do Yu Gun (Lim Ki Hong) and her junior Kim Gyeong Jun (Lee Seung Heon), Lee Hui Gyeom was investigated by Ryu Soo Yeol. Right after she was freed, the female lieutenant was brought to jail again as she was framed for keeping drugs inside her home.

Soo Yeol was surprised by Oh Gyeong Tae's transfer in his team's anti-corruption unit. While dealing with multiple cases, Ryu Soo Yeol found Gyeong Tae as his lucky charm as he made a lot of effort in uncovering pieces of evidence that helped their team solve crimes.

After Ryu Soo Yeol and K discovered the gang behind the bus incident, they were shocked learning Kim Gye Sik (Lee Hwa Ryong) is doing illegal activities.

Soo Yeol was drugged and saw how Gye Sik brutally killed his team member. To save himself, Soo Yeol made a deal with Gye Sik to wrap his case.

With K's help, Ryu Soo Yeol began to uncover Tak Min Su's case, which he suspected Kim Gye Sik was also involved in.

'Bad and Crazy' Episode 6: Ryu Soo Yeol and K Save Lee Hui Gyeom

In "Bad and Crazy" episode 6, Ryu Soo Yeol and K uncovered Kim Gye Sik's illegal work. The two were determined to clear Lee Hui Gyeom's name.

The duo met the only witness who would help them know the truth behind Tak Min Su and Kim Gyeong Jun's cases, which are connected to Hui Gyeom's case.

After the investigation, Ryu Soo Yeol found out Kim Gye Sik was involved in a group of drug dealers whose case he tried to cover up by making a deal with them.

Ryu Soo Yeol told Lee Hui Gyeom the truth after she was freed from jail. The female lieutenant couldn't believe that the person she admires the most, Kim Gye Sik, betrayed her.

Meanwhile, Jung Chan Ki (Cho Dong In), Kim Gye Sik's ally, had a change of heart and wanted to reveal to Ryu Soo Yeol what really happened in Tak Min Su's death.

But when Jung Chan Ki was about to give the evidence, Kim Gye Sik appeared and beat him up.

Soo Yeol and K came to arrest Gye Sik but Chan Ki betrayed them. When Soo Yeol was about to arrest Gye Sik, the criminal told him about Hui Gyeom that she would be killed once they arrive at the police station.

Soo Yeol had no choice but to go after her. Luckily, Ryu Soo Yeol and K found her and was able to save her from death.

Have you seen "Bad and Crazy" episodes 5 and 6? How's the story so far? Share your comments with us!

For more Korean drama updates, keep your tabs open here at Kdramastars.

Kdramastars owns this article.

Shai Collins wrote this.
After the heart-shaking turn of events in "Snowdrop," a conflicted Young Ro (BLACKPINK Jisoo) reveals her true identity in the middle of a heated confrontation with Su Ho (Jung Hae In).

'Snowdrop' Episode 6: Negotiation Between the South and North Continues

After the North Korean spies retreated in the engagement with the navy, Nam Tae Il (Park Seong Woong) broke the deal to save the South Koreans, and pushed through the decision to kill.

Su Ho, Gyuk Chan (Kim Min Gyu) and Eung Cheol (Jang In Seob) managed to cheat death and returned to the dormitory.

On the other hand, Kang Moo (Jang Seung Jo) looked for a chance to escape along with the other captives but was disarmed by a bullet shot by Su Ho, injuring Young Ro and other students.

Nam Tae Il and Eun Chang Soo (Heo Jun Ho), Young Ro's brother, receive information about the three spies and Professor Han Yi Seop's death. They tried to catch the attention by saying that the professor died while attempting to defect to North Korea.

Hosoo Women's University Dormitory Witnesses Eventful Things

In the dormitory, Su Ho gets in trouble due to Eung Cheol's injury, who was shot in the leg. Su Ho then tends to Young Ro's wounds and asks for her forgiveness. Young Ro leaves the place in anger, a hint of betrayal in her heart.

When Gyuk Chan learned of the failure of the operation, he confronted Su Ho and threatened to kill the hostages. On the other hand, Su Ho persuaded him to find a way to survive first and buy time as much as possible.

Eung Cheol's condition worsened, Su Ho negotiated and requested a doctor. Nam Tae Il sends her partner, Kang Cheong Ya (Yoo In Na) to the hostage scene, asking her to kill two hostages with a lethal injection.

To rescue Young Ro from the hostage-taker, Chang Soo planned to disguise Jung Ha Na (Jung Yu Jin) as a nurse, intercepting the dormitory to continuously obtain information about the hostage.

Eun Young Ro Reveals Her True Identity to Im Su Ho

While Su Ho then picked students to release, Boon Ok (Kim Hye Yoon) threw a fit about unfairness. In contrast, Young Ro refused to leave when her name was called, insisting for someone else to leave.

Doctor Cheong Ya and Ha Na entered the dormitory, treating Eung Cheol. A slight surprise was evident after Cheong Ya and Su Ho saw each other, hinting at history.

When a student suffered from a panic attack, Young Ro sacrificed her freedom in order to let the other students free.

An enraged Su Ho pointed a gun at Young Ro who was screaming and ruining all his plans. He was then taken aback when Young Ro suddenly revealed that she is the daughter of the head of the National Security Agency.

Follow KDramaStars for more KMovie, KDrama, and celebrity updates!





KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
The RCMP logo is seen outside Royal Canadian Mounted Police "E" Division Headquarters, in Surrey, B.C., Friday April 13, 2018. Vancouver Island police are investigating after a woman was found dead in Langford on New Year's Eve. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
2021 was a big year for the Navy Club of Kenosha Ship 40.

On Dec. 7, club members celebrated the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which propelled the United States into World War II.

Club member Heath Ryan wrote out a history, which was presented by Dean Jensen at the Civil War Museum to an audience of about 70 people at the clubs Pearl Harbor Day Remembrance Ceremony.

While Dec. 7, 1941, is a date that will live in infamy  as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously declared  the local club was actually chartered a few weeks earlier, on Nov. 16, 1941, predating the sneak attack.

The timing, right before Pearl Harbor, was a coincidence, said Dick Stader, a club member for 15 years and the groups senior executive officer. I was a 6-year-old kid in 1941, but we did know that we would probably have to go to war with Japan.

Eighty years later, the local club is still going strong.

In fact, Ship 40 is the largest Navy Club in Wisconsin.

The national Navy Club of the U.S. is made up of individual Ships located throughout the country.

There were several in the state at one time, said Paul Meyer, the club commander and a club member for three years. Now there are only a few left, including Ship 75 in Fond du Lac, Ship 60 in Racine and our group.

Ship 40 has 63 active members, compared to 27 in Racine and 44 in Fond du Lac.

All about helping veterans

What helps keep the local group active is its focus, Meyer said.

We are all about helping veterans, including taking Christmas gift bags to all the veterans in local assisted living centers and nursing homes. Each bag, Meyer said, contained a teddy bear and a small American flag. And the bears were the most popular item.

Club members also work with veterans who live in the Downtown Dayton Care Center.

We had a couple club members  theyve both passed now  who lived there, Stader said. We got to know them really well, and they were really great.

While COVID-19 restrictions curtailed a lot of the clubs outreach the past several months, we hope to get back to doing more in person as soon as possible, Meyer said. Were a social, military club, and we like to be visible in the community.

Added Jensen, the club historian and a five-year member, We like to be an active club.

Since Jensen joined the group, they have involved me in so many things, and usually I would be hesitant to get involved, he said, adding, Im really glad I became a member.

Jensen credits Meyer for being a great motivator for this club.

The club operates better when you get more people involved in the activities, Meyer said. We get 35 to 40 members at our meetings and have more than a dozen really active members. And were always looking for new members to join and to get involved.

After meeting remotely over Zoom for several months, Ship 40 has been meeting at the Job Center, with a big space that allows us to socially distance, Meyer said.

Old Navy

Meyer, Jensen and Stader are all Navy veterans, but the national organization is open to any citizen of the United States who has served, or is now serving, in the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard, including in the Reserves.

Stader, who served from 1953 to 1973, jokes that he was in the old Navy  the branch of the service and not the chain store  because I learned from the guys in World War II, he said while meeting over coffee at Sazzy B Downtown in mid-December.

It was a different time and a totally different Navy from now, Stader explained. I served at the tail end of the Korean War and through the Vietnam War.

Stader talked about the long periods of being at sea, away from his family.

We had letters back then but no daily phone calls or Facetime like they do now, he said, recalling the rigors of trying to patch through an overseas phone call through the ships radio operators.

The Toledo, Ohio, native served on six different ships, ending his Navy career working as a recruiter at Great Lakes Naval Station in northern Illinois. Thats how he ended up living in Kenosha.

Jensen, who served in the Navy from 1964 to 1968, joined with Stader in talking about the love of the night sky while on the open seas.

Its so peaceful and calm out on the water, Jensen said. You can do a lot of thinking about your place in the world and what life is really all about. I would look up at the sky and think Im seeing the same stars as the whole world is.

Meyer  in the Navy from 1964 to 1970  also recalls less peaceful times on the water.

When youre on a huge ship, and you take a roll, you realize the immense power of water, he said.

Though Ship 40 is a Navy Club, the Kenosha group welcomes Army and Air Force veterans as associate members, too.

Were all veterans here and have a lot of camaraderie, Stader said. We like to joke around and have a good time.

Adds Jensen, Whats great is that were not just a social club  although we are that  but it has meaning, too.

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BEIJING, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Soon after midnight on New Year's Day, a freight train departed from south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region for Vietnam, a member country of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

The RCEP -- the world's largest free trade deal -- came into force on Saturday.

The X9101 train carried electronics, daily necessities and chemical products worth more than 10 million U.S. dollars. It is expected to reach Hanoi in 28 hours after leaving Nanning, the regional capital of Guangxi.

Also on early Saturday, 5.6 tonnes of imported reflective films from Japan arrived at a port in south China's Shenzhen City, which will be used for the production of mobiles, digital cameras and other electronic products.

The implementation of the RCEP agreement has helped lower the cost of customs duties by 6,000 yuan (about 940 U.S. dollars) for the films worth 1.33 million yuan, said Chen Guogang, a director from a Shenzhen-based supply chain service provider called Jiuli.

The RCEP was signed on Nov. 15, 2020, by 15 Asia-Pacific countries -- 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Australia and New Zealand -- after eight years of negotiations that started in 2012.

With optimized trade rules among signatories, streamlined procedures and wider opening-up in the sectors of services trade and investment, it will bring tangible benefits to companies of member countries.

"The company and overseas partners both benefit a lot from following the trend of regional economic integration in East Asia, and I believe the RCEP will further promote this process," said Li Dongchun, a manager of Guangxi Liugong Machinery Co., Ltd., a machinery manufacturer based in the city of Liuzhou in Guangxi.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the first 11 months of 2021 saw the company's exports up by 70 percent year on year to reach 15,000 units, of which 3,000 units were sold to ASEAN countries, said Li.

In central China's Hunan Province, customs authorities issued RCEP certificates of origin to companies including Zhuzhou Cemented Carbide Works Imp.& Expo. Co. on Saturday.

"With the RCEP in effect, tariffs will be gradually reduced to zero. We will further expand our overseas market," said Li Yuhong, a manager of the company that exports products to ASEAN countries, Japan and the ROK.

Experts said that under the RCEP, a higher level of opening up, a larger market and better policies will bring more new development opportunities and potential, which will inject sustained momentum into the post-pandemic recovery of the global economy. Enditem
Hopkinsville, KY (42240)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High 84F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Variable clouds with scattered thunderstorms. Low 67F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
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You know that feeling you get from an insincere apology? Your stomach flip-flops. Your heart pounds. You feel irritated, disgusted even. A vague dissonance nags at you. Its the same disorienting feeling you get from an insult wrapped in a compliment. Or from realizing youve been scammed, and the perpetrator got away. That feeling.

Non-apology apologies are easy to identify. Theyre the Im sorry but, the sorry you feel that, the sorry if statements and their many variations. They minimize wrongdoing, victim blame, and twist the narrative to avoid accountability under the guise of remorse. In other words, smoke and mirrors. If these tactics seem dehumanizing and manipulative, its because they are. Psychologists identify fake apologies as a form of emotional abuse. Theyre also a tactic commonly used by politicians, public relations professionals, and those trying to avoid litigation, like health care institutions after incidents of medical harm.

That was then; this is now.

A decade ago, Ontarios Ombudsman described his growing frustration with hospital complaints processes in a section of his report titled Losing patience with patient relations. The report describes the lack of objectivity, transparency, and credibility of hospital patient relations departments. Hospital officials, he wrote, work for hospitals, not patients. They have no independent authority or formal powers of investigation. At best, they operate as internal customer relations departments  clearinghouses for complaints  at worst, they may be unresponsive, insensitive and/or apologists for hospital interests.

Not much has changed since this report was issued. The ombudsmans sentiment is echoed by the Center for Patient Protection and countless others who have experienced medical harm, including my own family. In 2015, Kathleen Finlay, CEO of the Center for Patient Protection, called for a shakeup in our health care complaints system. She described the hospital complaint mechanism as a rigged game that rarely offers satisfaction and often produces still more waves of emotional harm.

Riding the waves of harm

My family and I experienced precisely such ongoing harm while coping with the multiple medical errors my late father endured as a prostate cancer patient at Canadas largest hospital research network. Among them was a missed diagnosis of cancer recurrence resulting in a two-year treatment delay. I discovered this while reviewing my fathers online patient record in 2018, after his passing. Neither my father nor my family was informed of this appalling mistake, despite a note in his file, and contrary to the Public Hospitals Acts Regulation 965 and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontarios policy, which obligate disclosure of harm.

After this discovery, in June 2019, I requested access to my fathers complete medical record only to encounter an obstructive and harrying chain of events. In response to my appeal of an exorbitant access fee, hospital administrators updated their online fee policy and backdated it to a day before my request, while proceeding to inactivate my access to my fathers online record.

After much effort and hardship, including a complaint to Ontarios Information and Privacy Commissioner, the hospital lowered its fee and I obtained the complete record. What I discovered shook me to my core  my fathers care was mishandled for far longer than was previously evident. A clinical directive was recorded in his chart when he was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer in 2011, necessitating ongoing scans to track recurrence after treatment. Yet, these instructions were ignored by his medical team even when, seven years later, my father experienced new symptoms, his bloodwork was suspicious for recurrence, and he repeatedly requested follow-up imaging.

In November 2019, I submitted a complaint to the hospital requesting an investigation into the lapses in my fathers care. Ontarios Patient Ombudsmans Office, the provinces office of last resort for hospital complaints, acted as an impartial mediator. Its best efforts at mediating a resolution became a painful, drawn-out succession of hospital administrators tactics of deny, defend and delay, designed to frustrate in the interest of self-protection. Responses from patient relations, when they did trickle in, were invalidating, insensitive, evasive and inadequate. A Sorry Not Sorry opus  the mother of all scams in which the perpetrator gets away.

The extensive delays were particularly incomprehensible given that hospital administrators, clinical staff and a lawyer had quietly convened in January 2019 to discuss my fathers case, long before I requested the complete medical record or submitted a complaint via the Patient Ombudsmans Office.

Limits of moral suasion

Two years have elapsed, yet the complaint remains unresolved. The hospital denied requests by the Patient Ombudsmans Office for an independent external investigation, and discussions with the hospitals CEO to address deficits in internal processes have been ineffective. Despite effusive public narratives of patient-centered care, hospital-patient relations remain an intermediary between at-fault staff and the hospitals legal counsel. An insult wrapped in a compliment.

For its part, Ontarios Patient Ombudsman is committed to fairness and transparency but lacks the authority to enforce binding recommendations, relying instead on moral suasion to influence change. As my familys experience demonstrates, health care institutions can render the office of last resort toothless. In such cases, moral suasion is a poor substitute for an independent investigative authority with the power to enforce systemic improvements for publicly accountable hospitals.

Inadequate legislation and oversight of hospital practices, as well taxpayer-subsidized legal costs for physicians, further enable patient harm. Especially for patients without a support network to advocate on their behalf.

And as long as hospital administrators primary concern is to mitigate legal risk, the well-being of patients will not be a priority. Patients and families who experience medical harm will continue to be deterred from seeking accountability and driving systemic improvement.

Iris Kulbatski is a science writer.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
The Rev. Keith R. Mayes Sr. has a keen sense of history. As a fifth-generation African Methodist Episcopal Church pastor, his familys story over the past 150 years largely parallels that of the denomination, the first founded by African Americans.

A grandmother, Annie Louise Woodson, lived long enough to see both her grandfather and her grandson, decades apart, in the pulpit of the same church  Hopewell AME in Columbia, Tennessee.

And then, of course, there is the building and congregation he now leads  Vernon AME at 311 N. Greenwood Ave.

Historic, Mayes points out, is practically part of the churchs name.

But Mayes also recognizes the immediacy of the present and the importance of the future.

We cant just focus on the history, said Mayes. We have to have relevancy. Those churches that are not adaptable  will become relics.

Mayes was summoned from halfway across the country, High Hills AME in Sumter, South Carolina, by the AME hierarchy after the departure of the Rev. Robert Turner earlier this year. Mayes arrived in October, bringing what he says will be a somewhat different leadership style.

I did not come to emulate Dr. Turner, Mayes said. I applaud and appreciate what he was able to accomplish, and there are certain aspects I certainly want to keep alive and build on. But my approach will be somewhat different from his.

Turner was known for launching a fundraising campaign to preserve and restore Vernon, as well as for his weekly protests at City Hall and his forceful involvement in many issues.

But under Turner, Vernon also became known for its social and community involvement, including a food program that has served 550,000 meals since the pandemics onslaught less than two years ago. Mayes wants that to continue.

We still want to be at the  forefront of change and progression, Mayes said. The conscious awareness created through Dr. Turners protests  opened the door so that we can sit down now and reason together so that it wont take protest and confrontation but more consultation.

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A petition to allow for recreational use of marijuana has been held up by legal challenges, with a hearing Jan. 6 and a ruling not expected until later in the month, but the organizer says the effort is still on schedule.

Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action has filed two state questions related to cannabis, and organizer Jed Green said the group is on track with its goal. The group hopes to collect the minimum 178,000 signatures before June and allow for Gov. Kevin Stitt to choose from multiple 2022 ballots for a public vote on SQ 818 and SQ 819.

The state questions will seek to amend the Oklahoma Constitution to legalize cannabis use for anyone at least 21 years old and replace the state medical marijuana industrys current oversight agency.

A comparable professional campaign could cost anywhere from $3 million to $5 million, Green pointed out in an interview with Tulsa World last week. Depending on ORCAs ability to raise funds, the budget for SQs 818-819 could be more like the grassroots effort that brought medical marijuana to the ballot via SQ 788 for a win in 2018. But hes confident either way, Green said.

I can drive a jalopy across the finish line, or I can do it in a Cadillac, he said.

Green has been building up to this point since the campaign for SQ 788, even telling people then he would be pushing for recreational use and doing it right at this time.

So the challenges brought by a Tulsa political gadfly known for creating a spectacle havent derailed the effort, according to Green. He even welcomes the opportunity Thursday at the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

Paul (Tay) may be doing us a favor by having a hearing specifically on the gist to begin with, Green said of the ballot language of the state question.

He noted the gist, as well as the ballot title, can be challenged again upon a successful signature gathering campaign. Having ballot language thats already cleared hurdles in arguments before the state Supreme Court could head off legal delays down the line.

An attorney general can challenge the language of a state question before it goes to a ballot, but Green said: as long as the suggested replacement is not completely nuts, Im going to say Sure, whatever you want to do.

Because I believe by the time they get there ... they know how theyre going to vote.

Green said ORCA will be looking for partners in the states legal marijuana industry to help in the effort and raise awareness. He thinks the campaign itself could be a signal to lawmakers that Oklahoma is ready for the next step in building a revenue-generating cannabis industry. Theyre aiming for 300,000 signatures, well over the amount required, to send a message.

If we do that, and get organized in every district across the state, I dont care ... what they say  the effect on legislators could be chilling, Green said, noting the next session will convene February to May at the Capitol.

That is also ORCAs projected start for signature gathering, a testament to Greens confidence in the January ruling from the Oklahoma Supreme Court. He says most of the challenges of any substance were addressed Dec. 14 before a court referee.

If all goes well, Green said, and ORCA is able to submit more than the minimum required signatures by June, it would give the governor greater flexibility to allow us onto the primary runoff ballot.

His preference would be the late-August primary runoff ballot over the general election in November, Green said. ORCA has a steep hill to climb to get to that point, but he is all optimism.

By April 15, we might have 300,000 signatures to turn in, he said, and we could even maybe give the governor the option of the primary ballot.

Featured video:
KUNMING, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- At least 15 people have been injured in a 5.5-magnitude earthquake that struck the city of Lijiang in southwest China's Yunnan Province at 3:02 p.m. on Sunday, according to the provincial seismological administration.

The epicenter was about 60 km away from the county seat of Ninglang, and 3 km away from the nearest township of Yongning.

Sources with the Ninglang publicity department said that a number of fallen tiles from village dwellings could be spotted at the scene.

The affected area with a seismic intensity of over 6 degrees spans 1,389 square km, an area with 24,000 inhabitants.

The fire brigade in Ninglang has sent four vehicles and 15 people to the epicenter to investigate the disaster. A 60-member search-and-rescue team has also been assembled and dispatched. Enditem
When news broke that the Smithwicks Experience will fully reopen following a fresh decision by Diageo in October, it was a huge win for Kilkenny.

There was absolute dismay earlier in the year when the drinks giant announced plans to close the attraction and it prompted a huge public campaign to get the company to reconsider.

This is the news that the people of Kilkenny have been working and waiting for, said Anthony Morrison, Chair of Kilkenny Vintners.

Later that month, Diageo Ireland executives visited Kilkenny in-person to engage with local publicans and business owners ahead of the planned re-opening.



Another Kilkenny success story from October came in the form of Kilkenny Day.

Kilkenny was awash in black and amber on October 10, as the county celebrated its second annual event.

Kilkenny Day celebrates everything thats great about Kilkenny and locals and visitors were out in force.

The Kilkenny Catwalk, a trail of 21 Kilkenny Cat sculptures decorated by some of Irelands most talented artists, was launched that day too!

In other news, Kilkennys garda chief vowed to engage in a policy of zero tolerance in October to tackle the rise in public disorder and intoxication on local streets.

Superintendent Derek Hughes told the Kilkenny People at the time that gardai had seen a significant increase in public disorder, intoxication and outdoor assaults in the city during the period.

Booming property prices across the city and county, potentially forcing people out of the market, made front page news in October.

Property prices in Kilkenny had risen by 2,500 during the previous quarter, and the price of the average second-hand three-bed semi in County Kilkenny increased by 5% to 232,500.



A Kilkennywoman who moved over the county bounds over six decades ago celebrated a very special birthday in October.

The Kilkenny People wished a very happy 100th birthday to a dedicated Kilkenny People reader, Peg Bermingham of Ballycullen, Mullinahone, Co Tipperary.

Pegs grand-daughter Sarah explained that although Peg has lived in Tipperary for most of her life her allegiance to all things black and amber continues to this day.



The sight of hundreds of runners pounding the city streets was a welcome sight in Kilkenny during the month.

After more than a year and half in waiting, the Streets of Kilkenny made a welcome return to the Marble City as people dusted off their running shoes and took on the popular 5k course.

People of all ages and all running abilities assembled outside Kilkenny Castle for the 7.30pm start and all had one thing in common - big smiles as the first post-pandemic run was about to get underway.



A new statue to commemorate one of Kilkennys greatest-ever hurlers was unveiled in Mooncoin.

Richard Drug Walsh, born in the parish in 1877, was one of the members of Kilkennys first golden era team. Along with Sim Walton (Tullaroan), Eddie Doyle (Mooncoin) and Jack Rochford (Threecastles), he was winner of seven All-Ireland hurling medals, all won between 1904 and 1913. Their record of most All-Ireland medals stood until Christy Ring came along in the 1950s.

Just when October looked wrapped up, news came somewhat out of the blue about the appointment of Henry Shefflin as the new Galway senior hurling manager.

Finally, here at the Kilkenny People, October was when we launched our first ever Kilkennys Next Superstar competition.
Some of the earliest depictions of Kilkenny in the national art collection are to go on display in the National Gallery of Ireland.

Rare drawings by Francis Place (16471728), who visited Ireland in 1698 include scenes of Kilkenny Castle and other locations around the city.

On 1 January 2022, the annual exhibition of watercolours by Turner opens onsite and online at the National Gallery of Ireland.

Turner & Place: Landscapes in Light and Detail was cancelled in 2021 when the Gallery closed, due to Covid-19, following government advice.

This year, a group of 19 rare Irish topographical drawings by Francis Place (16471728), who visited Ireland in 1698, will join the Gallerys exquisite collection of 31 light-filled watercolours by Joseph Mallord William Turner (17751851).

The year 2022 is the 50th anniversary of the Gallerys acquisition of Places works  on display in full for the first time since 1972 - which includes an early view of Kilkenny  a depiction of Kilkenny Castle and City from Wind Gap Hill - as well as scenes from Drogheda, Waterford, Dublin and Kildare. A virtual exhibition will be available online for visitors who would like to explore the show from home.

Niamh MacNally, curator of the exhibition, commented: "The jewel-like colours and experimental effects in Turners luminous watercolours are captivating, while the precise detailing in Places prospects, encourages close inspection, with the aim of identifying what has changed, or indeed stayed the same, over time. Turners atmospheric watercolours can envelop the viewer, whereas Places carefully observed landscape studies contribute significantly to the topographical history of the cities and towns he depicted in the final years of the seventeenth century."

In 1900, the National Gallery of Ireland received a bequest of 31 watercolours and drawings by J. M. W. Turner from the English collector Henry Vaughan (180999). Vaughan stipulated in his will that the watercolours be exhibited every year, free of charge, for the month of January, when the light is at its weakest. Since 1901, the Gallery has displayed the watercolours for the month of January, thereby upholding the conditions of his bequest. January 2022 marks 121 years since the Turner watercolours were first exhibited at the Gallery.

Places views are the earliest known depictions of Drogheda, Dublin, Kilkenny, and Waterford within the national collection. This fine collection of early drawings, offering a glimpse of late seventeenth-century Ireland, was purchased exactly 50 years ago through the Gallerys Shaw Fund. The January 2022 display provides the Gallery with an opportunity to highlight these two important collections of works on paper, both of which came into the Gallery by way of generous benefaction. It is the first time since 1972 that the rare Place drawings will be displayed to the public as a group.

Turner & Place: Landscapes in Light and Detail is on view 1-31 January 2022. The exhibition showcases the work of two prominent English artists, working centuries apart, who viewed the landscape at first hand, albeit with radically different results. The exhibition also highlights the importance of two key benefactors (Vaughan and Shaw), both of whom made lasting contributions to the Gallery.

A programme of online learning events to complement the exhibition will include a free curators talk, an Irish language conversation event, a talk by Dr Helen Pierce, art historian on the work of Francis Place, and a series of online painting classes with artist Niall Naessens.

Find out more at www.nationalgallery.ie
Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) has a solution for those who have pledged personal wellbeing and self-care as a priority as part of their New Years resolutions: part-time courses starting in January.

Neil Quinlan, Head of the Department of Lifelong Learning at WIT says Personal and professional development courses can be a resolution solution. The benefits of attending at part-time course include getting to see different faces at an evening course, trying out a new skill, or taking the first step on the ladder to changing your life through and online or flexible/blended course. We even have a Certificate in Management of Occupational Stress and Well-being.

Applications for part-time flexible courses starting in January 2022 at Waterford institute of Technology (WIT) will close on January 10.

There is no need to wait until September to start a course. There are many affordable and subsidised options to choose from at www.wit.ie/parttime, starting this January. We invite anyone who has decided to put themselves first in their New Years resolutions to explore our part-time courses, says Quinlan.

The options available include traditional part-time short courses in such as the 12-week Digital Marketing and Social Media and Introduction to Radio Broadcasting and Presenting courses to give people a flavour of the two different media worlds.

Courses that are useful for the workplace include: the 12 week Certificate in Human Resource Management and Certificate in Project Management courses and the 8-week Payroll and Computerised Accounts course.

A short course can be a stepping stone for someone curious about pursuing a further qualification. It will give them learning they can apply as well as the experience of returning to learning, he adds.

Springboard courses that are scheduled to start at WIT in January are: a Cert in Automation Engineering, the online Postgraduate Diploma in Digital Marketing Practice, the online Higher Diploma in Science in Computer Science, online Higher Diploma in Business Systems Analysis.

Springboard+ is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Social Fund as part of the ESF programme or Employability, Inclusion and Learning 2014-2020.

The institute runs a number of courses aimed at nursing healthcare professionals. It also has two courses for music lovers and music teachers: Keyboard Skills Module and Western Art Music: Baroque to Mid-20th Century.

See www.wit.ie/parttime and www.wit.ie/springboard.
What do Daniel ODonnell, Irene from Home and Away and Bill Gates sister have in common?

Well, fame aside, do you know that all have stayed as guests at Celtic House B&B on Michael Street, Kilkenny?

The real story of Celtic House however is the story of owners Angela and John Byrne, who celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary last month.

The couple have been running the guesthouse for many years now, and by opening their doors to guests many doors have been opened up for them.

If you happened to be glued to the television during the lockdown in March you mightve caught the couple appearing on the St. Patricks Day episode of Nationwide. If you did, you probably know the next part of the story, but Angela and John tell it best.

One evening sixteen years ago, an American man appeared at the door of Celtic House looking for a room - his name was Jim Whelan, Angela recalls.

He told us he was from San Diego and in Ireland retracing his roots.

Angela, a self-taught genealogy boffin, decided to help Jim with the task herself on her home computer and within the space of a few minutes she found his relatives and even a picture of his ancestral home.

He was filled with gratitude and couldn't believe it.

Jim returned to America with his consolidated sense of identity but kept in constant contact with John and Angela. The following year the couple got a call theyd never forget.

Jim invited John and Angela over to San Diego to represent Ireland in what he described as the largest St Patricks Day parade west of the Mississippi.

It turned out that Jim was a big business figure in San Diego and held a lot of influence in the Irish-American community there.

Sure we were in shock but said we would if we could, Angela said.

I penned a letter to then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern about the possibility and he got back to say that its a great honour and that we have his blessing and told us to send our regards to the Irish Congress in San Diego.

When John and Angela got over a media storm ensued and the couple went down a treat. Angela sang 'Hail Glorious Saint Patrick' for the local cable news network and the clip went viral.

The rest, as they say, is history.

The couple went on to represent Ireland in San Diego for St. Patricks Day every year since, gained honorary city citizenship in the process and represented both the nation, and Kilkenny, with aplomb.

This year though, things changed, for reasons we all are too painfully aware, and despite not being able to head over to San Diego, their Nationwide appearance brought their story to national attention.

The response to the Nationwide show has been unbelievable, John said.

Angela and I go on walks locally as thats all weve been able to do due to the lockdown but people have been stopping us on the street to chat, they beep their horns as they pass us, giving us the nicest compliments and feedback about the show.

Were fourteen months closed now and we miss people. The house is so quiet. The phone doesnt ring, the doorbell doesnt buzz and weve been so busy all our lives spending time with people, looking after our guests, that now were at a loss to know what to do.

A lot of our guests are returning guests, theyve become old friends, and they usually return around the same time every year so its difficult to adapt to the new normal, keeping in touch via emails just isnt the same.

John and Angela are keen to emphasise that they owe a depth of gratitude to Jim Whelan, and share just how each guest brings their own story to the B&B, no matter how big or small.

So who else has popped their head through the door over the years?

One of the funnier guest stays we had here was Daniel and Majella ODonnell, Angela remembers.

They were here filming for their B&B roadtrip series so we brought them down to Nowlan Park and played two-a-side against them. It was great craic altogether.

Once the programme aired we had people ringing us here wanting to book the bed that Daniel had slept in. It was unbelievable.

It was a king size bed he slept in too so people even went as far as to ask what side of the bed it was that he slept in!

Theres more to John and Angela than just the B&B though, so much more. Their stories and talents couldve filled the whole paper.

John, for example, hails from a farming family in Higginstown out by Clara but left Ireland for England when he was young to seek his fortune.

While over there he saw a chance to travel the world present itself by joining the army, so he did. He spent four years in the parachute regiment travelling around Europe before coming back to Kilkenny to work in the transport division at Smithwicks Brewery.

While stationed in Germany John had a close shave (almost literally) when he was ambushed with a knife.

Thanks to his military training he managed to avoid getting stabbed, raised the alarm and other soldiers came to apprehended the assailant, who John emphasises was twice as big as himself.

Angela picked up writing only in the last few years and is now an award-winning author with three historical fiction novels to her name.

One of those novels, Miss Fitzgerald, focuses on Trudy Fitzgerald, a child growing up in a post-famine Ireland.

The novel is connected to the history of the famous Fitzgerald political dynasty in America, to whom Angela discovered a direct link to through genealogy research.

Angelas other books are entitled Not Forgotten and Homeward and are available to order through local bookshops, via the B&B or online on Amazon.

The couple look now to the future despite the year that was:

We cant wait for guests to come back in once we get the all-clear to reopen and we can't wait to give them the Celtic House welcome."
CHICAGO, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- A winter storm system hit Chicago on Saturday, with snow accumulations expected to reach four to seven inches and wind gusts up to 30 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.

A winter storm warning was issued shortly after 11:00 a.m. Saturday and remains in effect until 6:00 a.m. Sunday for portions of Northwest Indiana and Northeast Illinois. A hazardous weather outlook was also issued for portions of North Central Illinois, Northeast Illinois and Northwest Indiana, cautioning of ice and slippery roadways, the Chicago Tribune reported on Saturday.

In Chicago and surrounding areas, the storm began as rain in south of the city before it changed to wet heavy snow that was expected to fall through midnight Sunday.

Chicago Department of Street and Sanitation deployed more than 200 salt trucks Saturday to sweep the roads.

Weather officials said heavy snow would hit large sections of the nation possibly in the Central Plains, Mid-Mississippi Valley and the Lower Great Lakes.

Arctic air would move into the region after the storm, when temperatures may plunge into subzero and the wind chills below zero, weather officials said. Enditem
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

A few showers early becoming a steady rain for the afternoon. High 52F. Winds ENE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

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Experts warn that Covid-19 is exploding at unprecedented speed and could alter daily life for many Americans during the first month of 2022, and pictured, healthcare workers in Worcester, Massachusetts, on Dec. 27, 2021.
ZIMBABWE is edging closer towards producing 100 tonnes of gold annually after gold buying agent, Better Brands Jewellery (BBJ), which works with small-scale miners, delivered more than seven tonnes of gold to Fidelity Printers and Refineries (FPR) in 2021.

The seven tonnes of gold delivered by BBJ are a marked increased from the 800kg supplied by the company last year.

In an interview with The Sunday Mail, BBJ chief executive Mr Scott Sakupwanya commended President Mnangagwa for introducing policies that have empowered gold buyers to gain the trust of small-scale miners.

Mr Sakupwanya, who is also the Gold Buyers Association of Zimbabwe president, said:

We thank President Mnangagwa and the Second Republic for the vision that they have to increase gold production.

The Government has availed incentives that have made us attractive to gold miners who now prefer to sell the gold to us, instead of selling to smugglers.

The seven tonnes delivered by BBJ mean that small scale miners pocketed over US$500 million.

Thats is half a billion dollars in the pockets of small-scale miners, underlining how artisanal miners are being empowered under the Second Republics policies.

The increase in our numbers is clear evidence that more gold is being brought to Fidelity, which means that there is less smuggling now.

Mr Sakupwanya said with the support that they are receiving from Government, BBJ plans to supply 50 tonnes of gold to FPR this year.

Last year (2020) we only had 800kg of gold but this year (2021) we have 7,8 tonnes. If we continue working on this path, next year (2022) we will be expecting two tonnes every month.

Our goal is to reach 50 tonnes of gold in line with the plan by the Minister of Mines (and Mining Development) for gold production to reach 100 tonnes.

A gold buyer, Mr Tawanda Chidzidzi, commended Government for its policies that have reduced smuggling of gold.

The current policies introduced by the Government have enabled us to work well with small-scale miners.

It is becoming less attractive for artisanal miners to sell the gold to smugglers because we have the capital to buy it and forward it to Fidelity, he said.

Another gold buyer, Mr Pritchard Sibanda, said there was a need to increase centres where they access gold.

By increasing the centres, we will have access to more artisanal miners and we will able to buy more gold to supply to Fidelity. We are confident that we can contribute to the 100 tonne target because there is a lot of gold in the country, but much of it is being smuggled.

Under the Ministry of Mines and Minings Development vision to achieve a US$12 billion annual mining economy, gold is expected to contribute US$4 billion. The US$12 billion mining economy is one of the pillars to support Vision 2030, which envisions an upper middle-income economy by that year. Sunday Mail
Water woes: Columbias water treatment plant is getting a makeover. Some argue it won't make the water safer to drink
February 11, 2022

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South Korea's military announced Sunday an unidentified person crossed the eastern inter-Korean land border into North Korea the previous night despite its eleventh-hour efforts to stop the move.







The person was spotted moving into the North across the Military Demarcation Line at around 10:40 p.m. on Saturday, 80 minutes after being detected by surveillance equipment installed in the heavily fortified border region, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).







The JCS has yet to identify the person, with an investigation under way, its officials said.







On Sunday morning, the South Korean authorities sent a message to the North over the border crossing incident, they added.







It occurred in spite of the South Korean military's pledge to overhaul their border defense system with stronger surveillance equipment to forestall any security lapses in the wake of earlier border breaches.







In February last year, a North Korean man swam ashore into the South undetected, leading Defense Minister Suh Wook to offer a public apology. In November 2020, another North Korean civilian crossed the inter-Korean border undeterred. (Yonhap)




By Yoon Ja-young



With 0.64 babies born per woman, the city of Seoul has the lowest birth rate in the country, and the number of deaths here has already surpassed the number of births. But the population of the capital area is not decreasing, as it continually absorbs more people  especially young people  migrating in from other parts of the country. Meanwhile, an increasing number of small towns are now on the verge of "disappearing."



One Seoul resident, identified only by her surname Park, has been working at a small design company in the capital after leaving her hometown of Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, in 2015. In recent decades, countless other young people have made the same decision to leave their smaller regional cities for Seoul. Miryang had more than 250,000 residents in the 1960s. Today, it only has 103,600, with the number decreasing by around 100 people each month.



Life in Seoul is not easy. Park said she doesn't have much money left after paying for rent and other necessities.



"I sometimes think that life would have been easier if I lived with my parents," she said. "But I don't think I can go back to Miryang. Above all, there is nothing I can do there, and I am not talking only about jobs." she said.





This file photo shows the so-called "Innovation City" built in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province. The central government built 10 cities like that to move government agencies and state-run companies out of Seoul and to modernize old towns across the country. But such efforts have failed to stop the population from concentrating in the capital area. Korea Times file



Failure of 'Innovation Cities'



With an influx of people from all over the country, the number of residents in the Seoul metropolitan region  including Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province  surpassed 50 percent of the nation's total population for the first time ever last year, even though the region occupies only 11.8 percent of the country's total land. The extremely high concentration of the population in Korea's capital area contrasts with those of the U.K. at 12.5 percent, France at 18.8 percent and Japan at 28 percent.



Other parts of the country, meanwhile, are collapsing. The government recently designated 89 out of the 228 cities, counties and districts around the country as areas facing the risk of "extinction."



The collapse of local towns is also negatively affecting the quality of life in Seoul.



"The contraction of local towns accelerates the population concentration in the capital area, resulting in soaring housing prices and a lack of jobs. It will in turn pull down the birthrate in the capital area, accelerating the population decrease of the country as a whole," said Kim Hyeon-ho, a researcher at the Korea Research Institute for Local Administration.



The administration of former President Roh Moo-hyun tried aggressively to tackle the worsening population imbalance. On top of building Sejong City to relocate central government offices out of the Seoul metropolitan area, it constructed a number of "Innovation Cities" around the country, moving more than 150 state-run enterprises and organizations from the capital area to these new cities.



The plan seemed to work at first, but only briefly. The concentration of people in the capital area has continued, while even relatively bigger regional cities, such as Busan, Daegu and Daejeon, are struggling to slow the decline of their populations. Busan, the country's second-largest city, for instance, had its population peak at 3.88 million in 1995, and it has been decreasing ever since, dropping to 3.36 million this year. Its spot as the country's second biggest city is expected to be taken by Incheon, which is considered part of the Seoul metropolitan area, in a year or two.



Kim Jin-yoo, a professor in the Department of Urban Planning and Transportation at Kyonggi University, said that the "Innovation City" project was better than nothing. However, the old model, in which people were drawn to move only for jobs, isn't working anymore.



"Many people feel there are more things to consider other than jobs when they decide whether to move to different areas. A person will choose where to live based on factors like education, medical services and cultural infrastructure, even if their home is far from their workplace," he said.



The advent of the high-speed train, the KTX, played a role here, Kim noted.



"A wife working in Seoul would not move to Jinju, where her husband's office was relocated to. Rather than transferring their kids to a new school in Jinju, the family would instead decide that maybe dad should come to Seoul on the weekends."



Local towns in regions outside of the capital area lack certain kinds of important infrastructure and amenities. According to a National Assembly Research Service report, general hospitals are on average 2.85 kilometers away from one's home in Seoul, but in South Gyeongsang Province, they are 31.54 kilometers away. Cultural facilities including galleries and museums are on average 2.08 kilometers away in Seoul, while Gangwon Province residents must drive 13.32 kilometers to reach such facilities. A report by the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS), titled, "(The) Policy Directions to Relieve the Inter-regional Cultural Disparities," shows that 91.7 percent of rural counties lack cinemas, 77.4 percent have no science museums and 67.9 percent have no art galleries.



The government plans to devote 1 trillion won in funds each year to stop the "extinction" of local towns outside of Seoul. However, a KRIHS survey of 100 experts and policymakers shows 67 percent think the government's policy is "ineffective," while only 5 percent think it has had some effect. Failing to reflect on the reality, incorrect diagnoses of the problem and a focus on short-term achievements were cited as reasons for the policy failure.



"Local politicians are still focusing on SOCs (social overhead capital, or basic hardware) like the construction of airports, ports, industrial complexes and highways, but it is doubtful whether they will be effective. They should instead build infrastructure through which young people can find opportunities, and for this local universities can play an important role," Kim said.





This file photo shows Kyungpook National University in Daegu. Prestigious national universities in the provinces are seeing their enrollments fall as students head to schools in the capital area. Korea Times file
By Ngaire Woods





OXFORD  After a year in which people longed to get back to "normal," it is now clear that COVID-19 will not make this possible. The pandemic, now heading into its third year, has profoundly affected individuals, communities, countries, and international cooperation, creating four tough challenges for 2022. Rebuilding trust will be critical to confronting all of them.



The first challenge is that people's relationship to work has changed. In some countries, lockdowns, the death of loved ones, and the general uncertainty of the pandemic have prompted or accelerated a rethink. In the United States, the number of workers quitting their jobs exceeded four million in each month from July to October 2021.



Many young Chinese are joining the "lie flat" movement by opting out of long working hours, doing the bare minimum to get by, and striving for only what is absolutely essential for survival. The pandemic has deepened the divide between those who can work from home and the many who cannot.



In 2022, people need to trust that going back to work will genuinely improve their lives. Getting to that point will require action by both governments and companies. Investment to help remedy the disruption in education caused by COVID-19 is crucial. Some 1.6 billion students in 180 countries were kept out of school as a result of the pandemic. Establishing programs to help students catch up  and gain the skills and training needed for the 21st century economy  will help them get better jobs.



Governments cannot do this alone, but they can at least set standards for education and training. They also can create or strengthen firms' incentives to invest in their workforce by requiring decent pay and working conditions. For their part, employers will need to reevaluate the workplace, demonstrate trust in their employees, invest in professional development, and accommodate new work patterns.



The second challenge in 2022 is to stem the global trend toward authoritarianism. According to Freedom House, the pandemic has weakened checks and balances on government power in at least 80 countries, both rich and poor. Government surveillance, police brutality, and detention have increased, and in many countries free media and expression have been threatened or curtailed. Vulnerable groups such as ethnic and religious minorities and migrants have suffered disproportionately.



Political corruption is flourishing, too. In Mauritania, according to the Freedom House report, ministers of the ruling party misused COVID-19 funds. In 2020, the prime minister and entire cabinet resigned. In the United Kingdom, Conservative Party members and supporters were given special "fast-track" access to bid for contracts to supply personal protective equipment.



In dozens of countries worldwide, elections have been postponed or canceled, or certified results have been questioned. In 2022, citizens will need to find ways to hold their leaders accountable and to rebuild institutions and public trust. In some countries, this is already happening, reflecting how well governments do five things: provide or regulate public services; anticipate change and protect citizens; use power and public resources ethically; consult their citizens and explain their decisions to them; and improve living conditions for all.



The third challenge the world faces in 2022 is another pandemic. Although it is easy to think that COVID-19 eclipses all other public-health emergencies in our lifetime, our current focus must not blind us to other threats from infectious diseases. Earlier this month, for example, the UK's chief veterinary officer warned of a "phenomenal level" of avian flu, with "huge human, animal, and trade implications."



In 2021, the world failed to distribute vaccines, treatments, and therapies for COVID-19 equitably or efficiently. The COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) facility was created to ensure immunization for all, thereby containing mutations of the virus and its spread. But wealthy governments instead competed to secure access to the vaccines for their citizens first.



Trust and cooperation among governments is not an impossible ideal. The key is to design rules, institutions, and policy implementation in a way that assures countries that everyone is (mostly) complying. A deep flaw at the heart of the COVID-19 response has been a lack of transparency about how much governments are paying for vaccine doses  and to whom.



In 2022, the world must urgently redesign and improve the global arrangements for vaccine research, distribution, and financing in order to ensure the minimum level of trust needed to make international cooperation possible.



Finally, COVID-19 is transforming the economic rulebook for 2022. Economic nationalism is rising, accelerated by countries' experiences trying to procure equipment, treatments, and vaccines. Add to this the desire to achieve net-zero emissions targets, and the result likely will be a proliferation of industrial policies, more protectionist trade measures, and greater skepticism toward foreign investors  all against a backdrop of tighter monetary policy and rising government debt.



These trends are heightened by geopolitical alliances and rivalries, which are spilling over into economic deal-making. India and Russia recently stepped up their cooperation by signing 28 agreements in areas ranging from military cooperation to trade.



And the European Union is now self-consciously adopting a defense and military planning term, "open strategic autonomy," to frame its new approach to trade. Taiwan is a good example of how security concerns are being blurred with economic objectives. Its sovereignty has become bound up with a competition for control over the much-sought-after high-grade semiconductors it produces.



The global economic challenges for 2022 are sobering. But even at the height of the Cold War, basic international agreements and institutions of mutual restraint were possible thanks to patient negotiation and arrangements that gave assurances to both sides. Trust is not a panacea to rising international tension, but a modicum of it, backed by broadly credible institutions, will be vital to contain that tension.



There will be no return to the status quo ante after COVID-19, because the pandemic has changed too many things. The challenge for the coming year is to move forward by redesigning and reimagining our rules and institutions with an eye toward reestablishing trust in the domains of work, politics, public health, and economic policy.





Ngaire Woods is dean of the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. This article was distributed by Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org).


By Mark Peterson





Goodbye, Ox. Hello, Tiger. Sounds formidable, no? If the Year of the Ox was bad, and it was, what will the Year of the Tiger bring? On the one hand, who wants to see a tiger come in? But maybe the tiger is a good symbol  to scare all our other demons away?



In Korea's traditional sexagenary cycle for recording years, 2022 will be the year, "imin." It's a homophone for "immigration;" does that mean it will be a good year for immigrants? In Korea? In Europe? In America?



Looking at "imin" years in the past, every 60 years, 1962, 1902, 1842, 1782, etc., it was a remarkably quiet year, falling between major events. There was a minor purge of officials in 1722, but other than that, nothing pops up  a quiet year. So, the tiger comes in and keeps bad things from happening, it would appear. This character bodes well for 2022 after all.



Maybe the quietude of this particular year of the cycle reinforces my "song-and-dance" of late: that Korea has more periods of peace and tranquility than it does of war and chaos. There have been, of course, years of chaos, and they are always marked by their designation in the sexagenary cycle. Look at "imjin"  the year of the absolutely disastrous invasion of Korea by Hideyoshi and his murderous army from Japan, 1592. And there are the "jeongmyo" and "byeongja" invasions of the Manchus  1627 and 1636. The "gyeongsul" 1910 annexation of Korea by Japan. These bad years mark their 60-year cycle with bad memories when they reoccur. But there's nothing like that for "imin." It was a "nothing" year, historically.



Does that mean we can expect a year without disaster and chaos? Well, it does if you are into calendar-based fortune telling, which is no better or worse than any other means of fortune telling!



Aside from any fortune-telling, looking at the situation in the world, the dominant issue is the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. At this vantage point, at the start of the year, things look bad. The virus is out of control and spreading everywhere. This situation only gives hope that another Chinese saying can be appropriately applied: "yongdu sami," "dragon head, snake tail," meaning things start out strong and end in a weak, minor fashion. The phrase is used to mark human efforts that "start off with a bang and end with a whimper." We can hope this is the case for the virus. Will 2022, the third year of this plague, be the final year? Will we finally get back to normal?



Is Omicron the tiger? When we first heard of Omicron, it was described in the fiercest possible terms  like a tiger. It was said to be highly contagious and potentially severe, with its number of mutations, implying more hospitalizations and deaths. But as time rolls on, it looks like it is not leading to more severe illness. It could potentially drive out variants known to cause more severe cases, hospitalizations and deaths  Delta and Alpha. Only time will tell, but could it be a tiger that drives away the other demons?



So, at this point, let's be optimistic about this new year. Let's hope it is a Year of the Tiger in which the tiger drives out the bad actors, the worst of the viruses, and leads us to a peaceful, quiet and return-to-normal year. Maybe?



The "imin" tiger year has been quiet, historically. What of the other four tiger year combinations? With "kap" (the year with a 4 ending), we have 1674, with the dispute over how long the king should mourn for his deceased stepmother on the "disturbance" side of the ledger, but we also have on the plus side, the 1434 printing fonts made by King Sejong, one of the finest examples of moveable metal type, one of Korea's claims to fame.



In the 60-year cycle of the "byeong" tiger year, we have the 1866 French incursion on Ganghwa Island, a one-boat, one-island fight that the surrogate king, Heungseon Daewongun, called a victory in the "War" with the French. The persecution of Catholic martyrs also took place in 1866.



In the "mu" series, the only event of note is the rise of the sons of Taejo, with Yi Bangwon putting his brother on the throne in 1398, before he took the throne himself two years later.



So, overall, the 60-year cycle, "imin," has been relatively uneventful. All the other tiger cycles have not been noteworthy either  except for the one I haven't yet covered, the "zero" year cycle, "gyeongjin." Here we have a serious event, one so serious that it was not marked by the year, but by the day it started: 6.25. Yes, the start of the Korean War was a tiger year event.



So, the bottom line for the upcoming tiger year, the astrologists or calendar fortune tellers will tell us, is that the tiger is a good omen across the board. We're likely in for an uneventful, quiet year ahead. We just have to be sure we don't have another Korean War and the year will turn out okay. Fingers crossed.





Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is a professor emeritus of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah.


A child attends the New Year's Eve celebrations in Times Square, as the Omicron coronavirus variant continues to spread, in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S., Dec. 31, 2021. Reuters-Yonhap



The world ushered in 2022 with scaled-back celebrations from New York to Sydney, weighed down by restrictions aimed at slowing soaring COVID cases as Pope Francis delivered a message of peace Saturday.



The Big Apple revived its New Year's Eve ball drop in Times Square in limited form, Paris nixed its fireworks over Omicron and London's pyrotechnic display was broadcast on TV to discourage crowds.



Under sunny skies at the Vatican on New Year's Day, the head of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics implored the faithful to commit to ending war and violence.



"Getting depressed or complaining is useless. We need to roll up our sleeves to build peace," the 85-year-old pontiff told crowds gathered in Saint Peter's Square.



The past 12 months saw a new US president in Joe Biden and the world's first spectator-free Olympics, while in Afghanistan the Taliban recaptured Kabul and authoritarianism crushed dreams of democracy in Sudan and Hong Kong.



But the pandemic  in which more than 5.4 million people have died and now entering its third year  still dominated.



Countless more have been sickened or subjected to lockdowns and virus tests since it was first reported in central China in December 2019.



The year 2021 started with hope as life-saving vaccines reached around 60 percent of the world's population, although many of the poor still had limited access while others refused to receive a shot.



As the year drew to a close, the emergence of the Omicron variant pushed the number of daily new COVID-19 cases past one million for the first time, according to an AFP tally.





Confetti falls at midnight for the New Year's Eve celebration on New Years Day in Times Square in New York City, Jan. 1. UPI-Yonhap



To party, or not?



In Britain, France, the United States and even Australia  long a refuge  Omicron is driving record numbers of new infections.



As parties at midnight gave way to traditional New Year Day dips after daybreak, unseasonably warm weather in Rome made the plunge into the chilly Tiber River less intimidating.



In north-eastern England, women donned fancy dress as they paddled in the North Sea, while revellers divided into the surf on the outskirts of Portugal's capital Lisbon.



Celebrations the night before, from Seoul to San Francisco were either curtailed or canceled in the face of the infection surge.



New York's annual New Year's Eve ball drop  cancelled last year  was scaled-down, welcoming fewer revelers than in previous years, with only about 15,000 people  all required to show proof of vaccination  allowed in.



"This is a dream of ours. This is one of our bucket lists to see the ball drop on New Year's, and we got vaccinated because of this," said Chroni Stokes, who traveled all the way from Memphis, Tennessee.



In Madrid's Puerta del Sol, about 7,000 people  half the usual capacity  rang in the new year by eating grapes, one for each time the clock chimed up to 12.



Dubai went ahead with its celebrations undeterred, with 36 firework displays at 29 locations.



But authorities warned they would fine anyone in attendance not wearing a mask.





A policeman and a health worker carry the coffin of a victim, who died in a stampede at the Mata Vaishnav Devi shrine, at a hospital in Katra, India, Jan. 1. AP-Yonhap



Tragedy in India



Police officers patrolled the Champs-Elysees in Paris, which was lit with glittering red lights and festooned with "2022" balloons, also on the lookout for people without masks.



Most people were simply asked to wear one, but some who argued were fined.



Across France, 874 cars were torched, a ritual in deprived suburbs, albeit a fall on the 1,316 that were vandalized in 2019.



In Sydney, which normally bills itself as the "New Year's Eve capital of the world", the vast harbor where people gather to watch the city's fireworks was notably uncrowded.



With tourists still unable to enter and many residents fearful of the rapid spread of Omicron, tens of thousands were estimated to have attended, rather than the usual one million-plus.



In South Africa  the first country to report Omicron back in November  lifted a curfew late Thursday to allow festivities to go ahead.



A new-year tragedy struck in India, where at least 12 people died and 13 were injured in a stampede at a religious shrine early Saturday as pilgrims gathered to offer new year prayers, officials said.



In Rio, celebrations on Copacabana Beach went ahead in a scaled-back format, although crowds still arrived at the traditional party spot.



After last year's festivities were canceled due to COVID, there was a ban on musical performances, traffic and public transport.





A slow shutter speed picture showing Sri Lankan children's writing '2022' with firecrackers during New Year's celebrations in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Dec. 31, 2021. EPA-Yonhap
The aftermath of a domestic violence incident is captured on canvas by veteran NYPD detective Patrick Alexis, one of artists featured in the "All in a Day's Work" exhibition at the FiveMyles gallery in Brooklyn. (Patrick Alexis/FiveMyles)

The personal expression of art was the medium of choice for veteran Haiti-rooted NYPD detective Patrick Alexis and late MTA subway maintenance worker Marvin Franklin, whose hard and heartening workplace moments are on display in the FiveMyles gallerys All in a Days Work exhibition, opening Saturday in Brooklyn, from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

Through Feb. 6, visitors to the two-person show will see the good, bad and the ugly of these city workers daily experiences  captured in paintings by Alexis and drawings by Franklin. The FiveMyles gallery is at 558 St. Johns Place in Crown Heights.

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The immediate aftermath of a domestic abuse situation and the tension NYPD officers feel just before entering an apartment are among the images captured by Alexis.

With his art, NYPD detective Patrick Alexis shows the tense moments in a building hallway before armed NYPD officers enter an apartment, (left) contrasted with officers (right), on a meal break, casually eating food from a street vendor. His paintings are part of a two-man exhibition at the FiveMyles gallery, which also features drawings by late MTA track worker Marvin Franklin. (Patrick Alexis/FiveMyles)

FiveMyles gallery director Hanne Tierney, noted that some community members had reservations about showing the Black detectives works because of strife between the Black community and police.

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Alexis explained that his paintings are windows into the lives of NYPD officers highlighting what police officers see, think about and what they fear.

Crown Heights resident Michelle Samedi felt that Alexis paintings show the human side of policing, and decided to co-curate the show.

Random commuters  men, women, and children  seated in a subway car (left) and a woman taking a nap (right) are among the scenes captured in ink sketches by MTA maintenance worker Marvin Franklin. The artwork is part of the "All in a Day's Work" exhibition at the FiveMyles gallery. (Marvin Franklin/FiveMyles)

With his paintings, he asks the question of how do communities and the police reform themselves? said Tierney.

Franklin, who worked for the MTA for 20 years, died in a 2007 subway accident, but left a wealth of artworks  close to 40 notebooks of drawings.

He studied at the Manhattans Art Students League during the day and worked on the subway tracks at night, where he captured the transit systems subterranean world of commuters and the homeless  using an 11x14-inch sketchbook and ballpoint pen.

Brooklyn artist Barbara Campisi introduced Tenley Franklin, Franklins widow, to Tierney and that led to the exhibition of the late MTA workers drawings.

The drawings capture the loneliness of the subway at night  vacant stares, heads tilted in sleep, a mothers lap used as a pillow for her childrens heads, Tierney explained. Franklins notebooks and drawings has been curated by Campisi.

Gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., or by appointment only. Tierney can be reached by email at hanne@fivemyles.org or call (718) 783-4438.

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The childhood upbringing of Jamaica's first female Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, is the focus of "Portia Dreams," an authorized biography by Opal Palmer Adisa, with color illustrations by artist Wayne Powell. (opalpalmeradisa.com; AP)

KIDS BOOK ABOUT FORMER PM

The childhood and rural upbringing of former Jamaica Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller is displayed in Portia Dreams, a colorful childrens book called the celebrated story of the girl from deep rural Jamaica and who rose from humble circumstance to occupy the nations highest political office as its first female prime minister.

The 56-page authorized biography  for young readers aged 8 to 11-years-old  was written by Opal Palmer Adisa, the former director of the University of the West Indies Institute for Gender and Development Studies. It was illustrated by self-taught artist Wayne Powell.

The book retails for $10. For information about buying the book, email Lincoln Robinson, the Portia Simpson Miller Foundation Book Project Coordinator, at lincrob55@gmail.com.

Learn how to be a paralegal in a yearlong course presented by the Brooklyn-based New Americans Chamber Coalition. (NACC)

PARALEGAL TRAINING

New American Chamber of Commerce will start 2022 with its Paralegal Certificate Program Orientation on Thursday, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

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This is a mandatory orientation that is open only to paralegal students who have completed their registration in the program and paid the $550 fee, which covers the extensive, yearlong course.

The topics covered in the Paralegal Certificate Program  being conducted via Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic  include an introduction to CALI (the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction), an introduction to CLIO Legal Software, and many other resources.

To learn about the Paralegal Certificate Program and register, visit chambercoalition.org and select Paralegal Certificate Program from the Programs menu.

Breaking News As it happens Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. >

Call (718) 722-9217 and send email to info@mynacc.org for information on the Paralegal Program, the Benefits for Tax Preparation session on Jan. 13, the five-part Small Business Boot Camp Seminar on Feb. 16, and the Workers Compensation Law - Why Should I Hire a Lawyer? workshop on Feb. 19.

Long Island Jewish Medical Center nurse Sandra Lindsay. (John Minchillo/AP)

GET THE SHOT: 1ST VACCINATED RN

Jamaica-born nurse Sandra Lindsay  the first person in the U.S. to receive a COVID-19 vaccine  is making news again by advocating vaccinations for the public.

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Lindsay, an ICU nurse at Northwell Health systems Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, has been promoting the shots on panels, in Zoom town halls and at other events, the Associated Press reported.

I encourage people to speak to experts who can answer their questions, to access trusted science. I let them know that its OK to ask questions, said Lindsay, who has spoken at events in the U.S. and Jamaica.

The federal Centers for Disease Control rates Jamaica a moderate Level 2, recommending that all visitor to the country be fully vaccinated before traveling.

Caribbeat now appears every other week. To submit items for Caribbeat, send email to caribbeatnewyork@gmail.com.
Kansas City area hospital officials say "we are in trouble" with current Covid surge
A man suffered a cardiac episode in icy Brooklyn waters on Saturday at the 119th annual Polar Bear Plunge.

The FDNY responded to Coney Island Beach at Stillwell and Surf Aves. for a person in cardiac arrest about 11:30 a.m., officials said.

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Paramedics bring a swimmer to an ambulance during the annual Coney Island Polar Bear Club New Year's Day Plunge on Saturday. (YUKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty Images)

Photos from the scene show medics performing chest compressions on the man before he was moved to a FDNY vehicle.

A paramedic performs CPR on the unidentified swimmer who suffered a cardiac episode during the annual Coney Island Polar Bear Club New Year's Day Plunge. (YUKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty Images)

The victim was taken to Coney Island Hospital. His condition was not immediately released.

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The New Years Day Polar Bear Plunge, hosted annually by the Coney Island Polar Bear Club, raises money for New York Aquarium, Alliance for Coney Island, Coney Island USA, Coney Island History Project and other neighborhood organizations, the organizations website reads.

Participants are required to sign a waiver before taking the plunge, warning of winter swimming risks including hypothermia and cold water shock.
A Lake Geneva church has a new work of art to display to the public thanks to a Badger High School student.

Molly Bergstrom recently designed a mural for the Lake Geneva United Methodist Church, 912 Geneva St. The mural has been installed to the side exterior of the church facing Cook Street.

The mural includes the churchs name and depicts a loaf of bread with a chalice; stack of clothes with a hanger to symbolize the churchs community closet program; a silhouette of three people; a plant growing out of a pot; grapes growing from a vine; several sunset scenes; and the words we are family.

Bergstrom said she wanted the mural to include images that were related to the church and a message that everyone is welcomed at the church.

Its a safe place. Were open to anyone, Bergstrom said. Almost entirely,these are designs from the church.

Bergstrom said she worked on the mural as part of her National Honors Society project, in which she is required to complete a 20-hour community service project.

She said she selected Lake Geneva United Methodist Church for her project, because her family has been attending the church for about four generations.

I thought I could give back to something that my family has been a part of and that has given me a lot, Bergstrom said. I wanted to work on something that would give the church a facelift and bring the communitys attention to something that has always been there.

Terri Smith, church youth group leader, said she was excited when Bergstrom approached her about working on a project for the church. Smith said she felt a mural would help bring attention to the church building.

When she approached me, she was looking for a project, and we had this empty space that we were talking about what to do with it, Smith said. I was so proud of her. She walked around the church for at least a half an hour to get some inspiration.

Bergstrom said it took her about six months to complete the mural, which she worked on while attending school and participating in school activities. She said her father, Michael Bergstrom, helped her build the frame for the mural.

I had my own little corner with all my pints of paint, so it probably took 60 hours at least, Bergstrom said. It was really fun. It was a way to give back.

Smith said she is pleased with the completed project and with how hard Bergstrom worked on the mural.

I am just amazed. Shes done an awesome job, Smith said. Shes done a good job of getting our name into the community, which was one of her goals, I believe.

Bergstrom said this is the first mural she has completed but would consider working on another one in the future.

I would be open to it. I really enjoyed doing it, Bergstrom said. I love being artistic, but I enjoy it even more when it goes to a good cause.

Bergstrom said she has taken several art classes while attending Badger High School and has been interested in art since childhood.

Just through school, you get the experience of doing art classes here and there. It just inspired me to do it more, Bergstrom said. My parents have been very helpful to me with things that I am interested in. My dad has a craft room where you can paint or do anything.

Bergstrom said even though she enjoys art, she plans to study business after she graduates from high school.

But Im hoping that I can find something where I can be creative, Bergstrom said.

Besides the National Honors Society, Bergstrom also is involved with Badger High Schools Distributive Education Clubs of America program, which is geared toward students who are interested in establishing a career in business.

Bergstrom also is involved with the churchs youth group program, which has about 13 members.

Smith said Bergstrom and the other youth group members have helped design brochures for the church and updated the churchs website and Facebook page.

That has drawn people to our youth group and has informed people that our church is open to all families if they are interested in checking us out, Smith said.

The youth group has worked with a local mens shelter and Habitat for Humanity and has sent Christmas presents to a Native American reservation in North Dakota.

We shopped on Amazon and shipped items to the reservation, Smith said. We had over 30 gifts sent there, so were small but were mighty.

Smith said Bergstroms father also has assisted the youth group.

Hes there to help with anything the youth group needs, Smith said. So her family is very invested in the youth group program and the church.

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Nicholas Meat is spending an estimated $50 million on a new waste-to-energy unit, and the company recently added $800,000 to the project to im
Nainital (Uttarakhand) [India], January 2 (ANI): As many as 85 students of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Nainital's Gangarkote tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday.

Deputy Collector, Rahul Sah said, "Initially, 11 students tested positive along the school staff was found COVID-19 infected. Following that Uttarakhand Health Department set up a testing camp and took 496 samples in which 85 children were found to be COVID-19 positive."

Also Read | India Reports 27,553 New COVID-19 Cases in Past 24 Hours, Omicron Tally Rises to 1,525.

"After the coronavirus cases came to light, the school was transformed into a micro-containment zone on the instructions of the Deputy Collector, Rahul Sah", said an official.

Apart from this, children are being isolated in the school itself and arrangements are being made for them, the children who came negative in the RTPCR test will have a rapid antigen test and following that they would be discharged.

Also Read | Tamil Nadu Shocker: 27-Year-Old Woman Hacked to Death in Front of Her Son in Kollam; Husband Held.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand on Saturday reported four new Omicron cases taking a total of Omicron cases to eight, as per Central government data. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Jammu, Jan 2 (PTI) The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Sunday issued a public notice asking eyewitnesses to the stampede at the Vaishno Devi shrine to share information on the incident. The public notice was issued by Jammu Divisional Commissioner Raghav Langer, who is one of the members of the committee constituted by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to probe the incident.

Twelve people lost their lives and at least 16 others were injured in a stampede at the famous Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir in the early hours after a scuffle between two groups of pilgrims during the New Year rush.

Also Read | Madhya Pradesh: 3 Women, Including 2 Sisters, Drown While Crossing Chambal River Backwater To Reach Temple in Mandsaur.

It is for the information of the general public that any person who desires to furnish any facts, statements, electronic evidence etc. regarding the incident (stampede) may share the same Any person who desires to meet in person, may appear before the said inquiry committee in person between 11 am and 1 pm on January 5 in the office of Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, to furnish any statements/facts/evidence, the notice read.

The three-member inquiry panel headed by Principal Secretary (Home) Shaleen Kabra, with Additional Director General of Police Mukesh Singh as the other member, has been asked to submit its report within a week.

Also Read | Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022: Arvind Kejriwal Talks Education, Health, Free Power During Rally in Lucknow.

(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], January 2 (ANI): An Army helicopter, on Sunday, had made an emergency landing in Haryana's Jind due to a technical fault.

The chopper was on its way from Punjab's Bathinda to Delhi.

Also Read | Punjab Shocker: 17-Year-Old Girl Raped In Hotel Room In Amritsar; Accused Absconding.

The emergency landing was made due to a technical glitch which is being repaired and it will be flown back to Bhatinda

According to Indian Army Officials, an Indian Army ALH Dhruv was on its way from Bathinda to Delhi, made an emergency landing in a village in Jind.

Also Read | Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath Only Built Crematoriums, Sent People There in Large Numbers, Says Arvind Kejriwal.

"The chopper has now been repaired and it has flown back to Bathinda. The chopper landed back in Bathinda at 5:30 pm," the official 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)
Chandigarh, Jan 2 (PTI) Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday called up Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi seeking an update on the state's preparedness to combat the Covid pandemic, especially in the wake of the Omicron scare.

She said there should be no complacency and concerted efforts should be made to efficiently face any possibility of emergency.

Also Read | Russian National Held With Drugs Worth Rs 4.89 Lakh From Morjim Beach Village in North Goa.

Channi apprised Gandhi that he was constantly monitoring the situation with the health, medical education and research and other departments to put in place all requisite health and medical infrastructure to effectively tackle any emergency.

The Congress president shared her concern over the surge in Covid cases throughout the country and asked the Channi government to be fully prepared to combat any eventuality arising out of the Covid pandemic especially, according to an official statement here.

Also Read | Punjab: 60-Year-Old Man Beaten To Death By Two Men Due To Dispute Over Throwing Garbage In Jalandhar.

Channi apprised Gandhi that testing has been intensified while primary and secondary medical services have been ramped up to provide the best possible treatment to Covid patients.

The overall situation in the state was under control and people were being sensitised to take all precautionary measures to check further spread of the virus, the chief minister said.

He said all-out efforts are being made to arrange sufficient medicines, ventilators and oxygen in case of any emergent situation, the statement mentioned.

Channi said he has already directed the chief secretary to be in touch with all deputy commissioners to meticulously review the current situation daily and brief him accordingly to keep a close tab over the pandemic scenario.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bhubaneswar, Jan 2 (PTI) The Meteorological Centre here on Sunday issued a cold wave warning for some places in Odisha over the next two days.

Also Read | Madhya Pradesh: 3 Women, Including 2 Sisters, Drown While Crossing Chambal River Backwater To Reach Temple in Mandsaur.

A yellow warning, predicting cold wave conditions, has been set for Jharsuguda, Bargarh, Sundargarh, and Bolangir, from 8.30 am on Monday till Wednesday morning.

Also Read | Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022: Arvind Kejriwal Talks Education, Health, Free Power During Rally in Lucknow.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) declares cold wave if the minimum temperature dips to at least 4 degrees Celsius in the plains, or below 10 degrees Celsius with at least 4.5 notches less than normal.

The forecast came on the day when Kirei in Sundargarh district recorded the lowest minimum temperature of 7.2 degrees Celsius, followed by Daringbadi hill station (8 degrees Celsius), and Keonjhar (9.6 degrees Celsius).

Bhubaneswar recorded a minimum of 14 degrees Celsius while it was 13.2 degrees Celsius in Cuttack, it said.

The minimum temperature may witness a further dip by 2-3 degrees Celsius across the state in the next three days, the bulletin said.

Meanwhile, dense fog occurred at a few places in Gajapati, Angul, Koraput, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, and Bolangir districts, and shallow to moderate fog prevailed in Malkangiri district on Sunday morning.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
China to donate two mln doses Sinovac vaccines to Botswana

Xinhua) 11:48, January 02, 2022

GABORONE, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to Botswana Wang Xuefeng announced Saturday that China will donate two million doses of Sinovac vaccine to Botswana in 2022.

"We hope that this new batch of donations will further help the Botswana government with its national vaccination deployment plan, including the booster dosing schedule," Wang said in a video message posted on the Chinese Embassy's Facebook page.

The donation is part of China's commitment to provide an additional one billion doses of vaccines to Africa, according to Wang.

The announcement comes as the southern African country moves into Phase Four of its national vaccine deployment plan, which will cover those aged 12 to 17, as well as after the Botswana Medicines Regulatory Authority (BOMRA) approved the booster dosing plan.

Botswana has so far recorded 219,509 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 2,444 related deaths. At least 1,167,105 of Botswana's 1.6 million adults have received their first dose of the vaccine, with 1,032,584 fully vaccinated.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Bianji)
New Yorks first reported homicide of 2022 is a stabbing death police investigated in Queens on Saturday night.

A report of an assault around 8:35 p.m. at the corner of 23rd St. and Broadway in Astoria led officers to a woman who had suffered multiple stab wounds, police said.

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The woman was lying on the sidewalk unconscious and unresponsive, said cops.

EMS arrived and rushed the woman to Mount Sinai Queens, where she was pronounced dead.

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On Sunday cops were still working to determine the womans identity and had no information on a motive, said police. There have been no arrests.

Police investigated 485 murders in 2021  17 more than the 468 reported in 2020.
Jhabua (Madhya Pradesh) [India], January 2 (ANI): A drunk police personnel in civil dress was thrashed by locals in the Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh after he allegedly misbehaved with them, informed the police.

"An incident occurred at around 6 pm on Saturday. We received a video from locals in which a station in charge can be seen misbehaving with the people. After which the locals thrashed him," said Anand Singh Waskale, Additional Superintendent of Police, Jhabua.

Also Read | Tamil Nadu Shocker: 27-Year-Old Woman Hacked to Death in Front of Her Son in Kollam; Husband Held.

Other police personnel somehow managed to rescue the station in charge from the public and took him to the police station. Later, locals gathered outside the police station and protested.

"The station in-charge and an Assistant sub-inspector of police involved in the incident have been suspended after the medical examination," said Waskale. (ANI)

Also Read | Lakhimpur Kheri: SIT Arrests 2 Farmers For Alleged Lynching of BJP Workers.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, January 2: India reported 27,553 new COVID-19 cases and 284 deaths in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.

According to the ministry, the number of Omicron infections stands at 1,525 and it has spread to 23 states. Maharashtra is the worst-affected state with 460 cases, followed by Delhi with 351.

Also Read | Tamil Nadu Shocker: 27-Year-Old Woman Hacked to Death in Front of Her Son in Kollam; Husband Held.

As per the ministry, the country also recorded 9,249 recoveries in the past 24 hours.

The country's active caseload currently stands at 1,22,801. This accounts for less than 1 per cent of total cases which is currently at 0.35 per cent.

Also Read | Lakhimpur Kheri: SIT Arrests 2 Farmers For Alleged Lynching of BJP Workers.

The country recorded 9,249 recoveries in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 3,42,84,561. India's recovery rate is currently at 98.27 per cent.

Meanwhile, with the administration of 25,75,225 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage exceeded 145.44 Crore (1,45,44,13,005) as per provisional reports till 7 am today.

While testing capacity has been enhanced across the country, the weekly positivity rate in the country currently stands at 1.35 per cent and the daily positivity rate stands at 2.55 per cent. A total of 68 crore COVID-19 tests have been conducted in India so far.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Janjgir-Champa, Jan 2 (PTI) Some 20 police personnel were injured when a protest staged by contractual workers of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Thermal Power Plant in Madwa in Janjgir-Champa district of Chhattisgarh turned violent on Sunday.

Also Read | Vaishno Devi Stampede: Jammu and Kashmir Govt Asks People To Share Facts, Electronic Evidence Before January 5.

The contractual workers of the plant, operated by Chhattisgarh State Power Company, were protesting for the past several days demanding that their services be made permanent.

Also Read | Punjab Shocker: 17-Year-Old Girl Raped In Hotel Room In Amritsar; Accused Absconding.

However, it turned violent when police and the local administration tried to remove them from the site citing the rise in COVID-19 cases in the region and state, an official said.

"As many as 20 police personnel suffered injuries and the windscreen of several police vehicles were damaged during the incident. A private vehicle was also set on fire. The situation is under control now, Janjgir-Champa Superintendent of Police Prashant Thakur said.

Police had to use water cannons to remove the protesters as some workers at the Madwa plant, who were suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes, had to be evacuated immediately, other officials said.

While the protesting workers were supposed to talk to the chairman of Chhattisgarh State Power Company on January 4, some of them demanded that this session be held on Sunday through video conferencing, and even after this was arranged, those taking part in the stir refused to vacate the area, they added.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Rampur (Uttar Pradesh) [India], January 2 (ANI): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday slammed Samajwadi Party alleging that the SP government seized land of dalits and property of the poor.

Addressing a public rally in Rampur, Adityanath said, "Rampur's knife, which was once used for defence, had become a tool in the Samajwadi Party government to seize the land of dalits and the property of the poor..."

Also Read | Delhi Shocker: Man Arrested for Posting Private Pictures of Girl on Social Media and Blackmailing Her.

"I heard Babua (Akhilesh Yadav) saying that they will provide free electricity if voted to power. During their tenure, they did not ensure that electricity reached every nook and corner of the state. Then, on what basis will they provide free electricity? Babua should come out in public and apologise to all," he said.

"Today Babua was saying that if our government had been there, then SP government would also have built a grand Ram temple. If Babua had time left from creating cemeteries, he would have thought of Ram Mandir," the Chief Minister said.

Also Read | WhatsApp Bans 1.75 Million Accounts in India Due to New IT Rules in November 2021.

"Ram bhakts were gunned down during Babua's tenure," he added.

The Chief Minister said that 4.5 lakh youth were given government jobs and over 1.61 crore people were given employment in the state.

"Previously riots used to take place every third day. Every section of the society suffered, businessmen were looted, false cases were filed against the youth. But after BJP came to power, not a single riot has taken place and those who tried to incite violence or loot were warned that even their next seven generations would get tired of paying compensation but will not be able to do so," he said.

He slammed the Samajwadi Party for firing on kar sevaks in 1990.

"This is your power, the power of your vote. This power will someday make them seek forgiveness for their wrongdoings," he said.

He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a united battle is being fought against the COVID-19 pandemic and, "free foodgrains, free tests, free treatment are being provided to the various sections". He said free vaccines against the disease were also being given to people. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
STF jawan was injured during an encounter with Naxals in Gariaband District near Chhattisgarh-Odisha border area. (Photo/ANI)

Gariaband (Chhattisgarh) [India], January 2 (ANI): A Special Task Force (STF) jawan was injured during an encounter with Naxals in Gariaband district near Chhattisgarh-Odisha border area on Sunday, informed the police.

"Acting on a specific input, teams of the STF had launched the operation there on Saturday night. Today morning, an encounter broke out with the Naxals and during the encounter, an STF jawan, identified as Yuvraj Sagar, suffered a bullet injury in his abdomen," said Vijay Pandey, SP, STF.

Also Read | Madhya Pradesh Horror: 4-Year-Old Girl Mauled by Stray Dogs in Bhopal; Toddler Hospitalised.

He further said that after a brief exchange of fire, the rebels fled into the dense forest towards Odisha.

The injured jawan has been shifted to Raipur for further treatment, and his condition is stable, he added.

Also Read | Winters In North India: Cold Wave To Abate As Western Disturbances To Hit Region Over The Next Few Days, Says IMD.

"Odisha Police has been informed. They have launched a cordon and search operation. A team of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have also been sent for the search operation. Odisha Police has been alerted," said Pandey.

Further details are awaited. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi [India], January 2 (ANI): Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday called for making India fully self-reliant in all areas, including strategic domains.

As per an official release, "Addressing scientists and staff of the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory at Kochi, the Vice President, stressed the need for increasing indigenous content in the defence sector and cutting down on imports."

Also Read | Maharashtra Reports 11,877 New COVID-19 Cases and 50 Omicron Infections.

"To achieve that, we need to not only give greater thrust to R&D activities but also allow private collaboration, wherever it is possible and feasible, with stringent quality controls", Naidu observed.

On this occasion, the Vice President virtually laid the foundation stone of the "Towed Array Integration Facility", essential for the development of towed array sonar systems, which is critical to underwater defence. The towed array sonar system is expected to enhance the Navy's capabilities to detect quieter enemy submarines underwater.

Also Read | Vaishno Devi Stampede: Jammu and Kashmir Govt Asks People To Share Facts, Electronic Evidence Before January 5.

Asserting that India is strongly marching ahead on its way to becoming a global superpower in the coming decades, he lauded the scientists In defence, space and other areas for doing excellent work in strengthening India's security.

Referring to the fact that India is still one of the largest importers of defence equipment, the Vice President said, In this context, the contribution of a small lab like NPOL in empowering the nation in its defence needs is truly commendable.

Keeping in view the geopolitical scenario in our neighbourhood, the Vice President said NPOL's role towards national security is paramount as all warships or conventional submarines in the fleet of the Indian Navy are installed with NPOL-developed sonars.

"Besides bringing in the socio-economic gains by stopping imports in this niche domain, NPOL has been able to master a very complex and critical technology that is giving a strategic edge to the Indian Navy in anti-submarine warfare capabilities", he added.

Lauding the laboratory for establishing itself as a leading Research and Development centre in the area of underwater surveillance systems, he noted that it is currently working on ambitious mission mode projects and technology demonstration projects, besides undertaking a major Flagship Programme, the INTEGRATED MARITIME SURVEILLANCE (INMARS) Programme for Indian Navy's future requirement for the next 15 years.

Appreciating NPOL for building a strong network with industry and contributing towards improving the financial performance of PSUs, the Vice President noted that

NPOL has also nurtured more than 100 local industries, including MSMEs and Startups, for developing niche technologies.

On the occasion, the Vice President also inaugurated Dr APJ Abdul Kalam memorial and an installation on the occasion of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav near the laboratory. Describing the memorial as "truly befitting", he said that it will inspire countless people from all walks of life every day.

Governor of Kerala, Arif Mohammed Khan, Minister for Industries, Government of Kerala, P. Rajeev, Member of Parliament, and others were present on the occasion. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Paris [France], January 2 (ANI): Journalists' detention set a "new record" in 2021 and out of 488 detained, 127 were reported from China, who topped the list.

A Paris-based international group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that a record 488 journalists have been detained around the world because of their work, reported NHK World.

Also Read | Afghanistan Pilots, Resettled in US, Fear for Family They Had To Leave Behind.

RSF in its annual round-up published last month reported that the figure is the highest since record-keeping began in 1995.

China, including Hong Kong, topped the list for the fifth straight year with 127 journalists in detention. It was followed by Myanmar with 53, Vietnam with 43, and Belarus with 32, RSF reported.

Also Read | Earthquake in China: 22 Injured After Quake of Magnitude 5.5 Rattles Yunnan Province.

RSF Secretary-General Christophe Deloire expressed concern about "the extremely high number of journalists in arbitrary detention," saying, "it is a reflection of the reinforcement of dictatorial power worldwide."

He called on the international community to take action to protect journalists by considering sanctions against countries that arbitrarily detain journalists, reported NHK World.

A freelance photographer died in custody in Myanmar. He had been documenting demonstrations against the military, which took power in a coup last February.

Local media said that the photographer may have died after being assaulted during interrogation, reported NHK World. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Berlin [Germany], January 2 (ANI): A Chinese diplomat in Germany has called on the new German government to abide by the one-China principle and not play the "Taiwan card" or send wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" secessionist forces.

Wang Weidong, minister and chief of the Economic and Commercial Department at the Chinese Embassy in Germany, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview that China has strictly followed WTO rules, criticizing certain Western media's claims that China has moved to suspend clearing Lithuanian goods and reject import applications as "completely groundless," Global Times reported.

Also Read | First Case of Florona, A Combined Infection of COVID-19 & Influenza, Reported in Israel.

The remarks came after the German-Baltic Chamber of Commerce wrote a letter to the Government of Lithuania, warning that if the Lithuanian authorities had not provided specific solutions to resolve the conflicts and improve relations with China, companies affiliated with the chamber will close their factories in Lithuania, and such behavior would potentially impact German companies across multiple industries, including lasers and auto parts with factories in Lithuania.

In December, the German parliament has passed a resolution on deepening ties with Taiwan amid rising tensions between Taipei and Beijing, local media reported on Sunday.

Also Read | Indian Hindu Pilgrims Arrive in Pakistan to Visit Century-Old Temple.

The Petitions Committee of Germany's new parliament, which met for the first time in October following a federal election in September, passed a resolution on December 9, urging the government to deepen exchanges with Taiwan, reported Focus Taiwan.

Wang sternly warned against Lithuania's "microphone diplomacy" and its reckless hype over so-called "economic coercion" by Beijing targeting the EU. The comment comes as the country is starting to feel the brunt of its mistake on the Taiwan question.

"Playing the trick of 'microphone diplomacy' is not the right path and won't work out. The Lithuanian side needs to look for internal reasons if cooperation between the two countries encounters difficulties. It needs to admit wrongdoings and take measures to rectify, so as to create conducive environment for bilateral economic and trade cooperation," Wang said.

The chamber, which represents many German businesses overseas, said that German companies pay close attention to developments and disputes between China and Lithuania.

Tensions have escalated between China and the Baltic nation in recent times after Lithuania took steps to strengthen ties with Taiwan. China considers Taiwan as its integral part.

The tensions erupted between the two countries when in November Lithuania angered China by allowing Taiwan to open a representative office in Vilnius, equivalent to an embassy.

The representative office opened with the name "Taiwan Representative Office in Lithuania", thereby implicitly implying recognition of a legal entity separate from the mainland.'

Beijing attacked Lithuania by lowering its diplomatic relations with Lithuania.

In addition, this month Beijing also demanded that Lithuanian officials surrender their identity documents in order to downgrade their diplomatic status. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Islamabad [Pakistan], January 2 (ANI): Pakistan's far-right Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq has called for the country's Prime Minister Imran Khan's resignation saying that there are mafias all over the country, and 2022 will be the last year of the ruling government.

Addressing a public rally in Islamabad, JI chief announced an anti-government movement and said that Pakistan's central bank is no longer in its control, rather it has been subordinated to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), The Express Tribune reported.

Also Read | First Case of Florona, A Combined Infection of COVID-19 & Influenza, Reported in Israel.

He called on called for State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Dr Reza Baqir's resignation, saying if he is not removed, "we can besiege SBP".

The JI chief pointed out the "failures" of the government, ranging from Pakistan's retention on the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) 'grey list' to the introduction of a 'mini-budget'.

Also Read | Indian Hindu Pilgrims Arrive in Pakistan to Visit Century-Old Temple.

He suggested a nexus between the government and the opposition, saying that the latter facilitated the former's moves instead of talking about the public's problems, the Pakistani publication reported.

He asked Imran Khan to tell the nation how many houses did his government build-out of the five million houses promised by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

He said that the incumbent government's schemes are the same as its predecessors. He asked how can those who came to power through the support of the establishment undermine it now, The Express Tribune reported.

He said that the government has mortgaged the country's economy. "Today, the situation is that 27 million youngsters are unemployed and there is no welfare, while retired judges and generals have been rewarded with government jobs," he added. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Advocates think they know what New Yorkers will learn from a new city law requiring cops to document all vehicle and bicycle stops  that racial profiling exists, and more speeding and red-light cameras are needed at streets and intersections.

Then theres the thinking of a retired Highway Patrol officer, who offered up a secret about how cops operate:

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Many officers already write down data about traffic stops in their notebooks  but the NYPD has never collected and tabulated it.

What cops have written in their notebooks will soon be fodder for number crunchers.

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The law, passed by the City Council in March, requires the NYPD to issue a quarterly report on vehicle stops that includes the number of summonses issued, arrests made, vehicles seized, related use-of-force incidents, and vehicles searched and whether consent was provided.

Midtown North cops pull over a Mercedes Benz in Manhattan. (Shutterstock/Shutterstock)

This information would be disaggregated by precinct, race, ethnicity, and age of the driver, the law states.

To implement the law, cops on Saturday were to start filling out a vehicle report for every stop they make.

Its nothing new for many officers, said the retired Highway Patrol cop.

Documenting each stop was always a smart thing to do, the officer said. We just put down where the stop took place and, since we have the discretion, why we let them go with a warning.

The notes are a good idea in case you were being watched by Internal Affairs or our integrity control officer. We were all instructed to do it.

Some who suspect the NYPD of racial profiling in traffic stops expect the data uncovered by the new law will prove what they already believe.

I think without any doubt its going to show that Hispanics and African-Americans are stopped at a higher rate, said Bronx civil rights attorney Neil Wallerstein. He suspects the numbers are going to be astonishingly high.

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Street safety advocates think the data will help their fight for more speeding and red light cameras, and for safer street designs.

For instance, data on police stops of bicyclists on sidewalks could show where bike lanes are needed, said Transportation Alternatives Deputy Director Marco Conner DiAquoi.

When Black and Hispanic bicyclists are ticketed at disproportionately high rates for biking on the sidewalk, in areas that lack protected bike lanes, as city data has shown, and such bike lanes can reduce sidewalk riding by up to 90%  that is important data which shows we need more protected biking infrastructure, significantly negating the need for enforcement, said DiAquoi.

He also said the data might show good places to put cameras to detect motorists who speed and run red lights.

A NYPD police officer questions a driver after pulling him over in Manhattan. (Shutterstock/Shutterstock)

There should be plenty of data to analyze.

The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. >

As of Nov. 30, the NYPD issued 475,872 moving violations throughout the city in 2021. Out of that number, 135,672  or 28%  were given out for blowing through red lights and speeding, according to NYPD stats.

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The number does not include red light and speed camera summonses, which are issued out by other agencies, an NYPD spokeswoman said.

Eugene ODonnell, a former cop who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, believes the new law will lead cops will make fewer vehicle stops  skewing the data advocates hope to collect.

Youll have to be crazy if you are willing to put yourself in the bullseye, get sued, investigated or even fired every time you put on your lights to pull someone over, ODonnell said.

But the retired Highway Patrol officer doubts most officers will have a problem with the new law.

Making it a law is a bit over the top, but I dont see anything wrong with it, he said, adding that race never factored when he decided what vehicles to stop.

If a guys speeding, you dont know what color he is until you pull him over, the ex-officer said.
Kabul [Afghanistan], January 1 (ANI): Taliban rubbished US claims over releasing the Islamic State - Khorasan "(ISIS-K) affiliate" who carried out a suicide attack on Kabul International Airport that killed nearly 200 people including US marines and said it is impossible as the timeframe between the released prisoners and the blast was too narrow to plan an attack.

A spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) Bilal Karimi in a series of Twitter posts said that the release of the perpetrator of the August 26 attack is "baseless" and there is no proof of the claim, reported The Khaama Press.

Also Read | Earthquake in China: 22 Injured After Quake of Magnitude 5.5 Rattles Yunnan Province.

Bilal Karimi said that the timeframe between the release of prisoners from Bagram prison and the suicide attack was too narrow and that it was not possible to plan an attack during that short time.

He added that the ISIS-K prisoners were freed before they (Taliban) gain control over prisons, reported The Khaama Press.

Also Read | Indian Kills Compatriot With Wooden Plank on New Years Day in Singapore, Arrested.

"The affiliates of ISIS-K were released before Taliban gain full control of prisons. We have eliminated or arrested back those who affiliated the terror group," reads the Twitter post.

The ISIS-K affiliate conducted the heinous attack on August 26 on Kabul International Airport killed 13 US marines. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Abu Dhabi, January 2: UAE has announced a travel ban on citizens unvaccinated with COVID-19 vaccines from January 10 with a requirement to obtain the booster dose for the fully vaccinated.

"Ban on Travel on UAE citizens unvaccinated with #Covid19 vaccine, starting Jan 10, 2022, with a requirement to obtain the booster dose for the fully vaccinated," the country's National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) said in a tweet on Saturday.

Also Read | COVID-19 Outbreak: Aida Cruise Ship Carrying 4,000 People Held in Lisbon After Crew Members Get Infected.

However, the authority has said that it would not be applicable for those medically exempted from taking the vaccine, humanitarian and treatment cases.

This comes as the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 is rallying infections in a large number of countries and has surged the hospitalisations in the US and Europe.

Also Read | Elon Musk's Tesla Hike Prices of Model 3 and Model Y for Rear Wheel Drive Variant in China.

The massive spread of the virus, surges in infections and hospitalisations have also led to the cancellation of a large number of flights as fear of the Omicron spread grows.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Panaji, Jan 2: The Goa government is aiming to inoculate all 72,000 children in the 15-18 age group against COVID-19 with the first dose in the next four days after vaccination opens for them on Monday, state Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said on Sunday.

Rane attended a meeting of Health Ministers of states chaired by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.

He said Mandaviya reviewed preparations for rolling out the vaccination drive.

"Goa has already received 72,000 doses to vaccinate the children between the age group of 15 to 18 years, which would be administered within 3-4 days from January 3 onwards," Rane told reporters. COVID-19 Vaccination in India: Over 3.5 Lakh Children in 15-18 Age Group Register on CoWin.

He said teams of medical professionals will visit schools if needed. Rane said the Goa government was taking all measures as per protocols to flatten the COVID-19 curve.

Responding to a query, the health minister said a cruise ship with 2,000 passengers on board was not allowed to dock at Goa port on Sunday.

Operators of this cruise ship have been asked to conduct COVID-19 tests on all the passengers through the Vasco-based Salgaonkar Medical Research Centre (SMRC) Hospital before allowing them to alight.

Rane also said Goa will set up a genome sequencing machine in the next 15 days to avoid delay in the testing of suspected Omicron variant samples, which are currently sent to the Pune-based NIV.

He said Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will hold a meeting of Task Force on Monday in which certain measures are likely to be announced to curb the spread of coronavirus infections.
Pune, January 2: A 42-year-old man allegedly killed his mother before ending his life in Maharashtras Pune district on Sunday. The man reportedly gave a drug overdose to his mother and later suffocated her to death with a plastic bag. The deceased have been identified as Ganesh Fartade and his 76-year-old mother Nirmala. Fartade sent a suicide note to his relative through WhatsApp. The incident took place in the Dhankawdi area of Pune. Pune Shocker: Man Kills Mother After She Refuses to Give Him Money to Buy Alcohol, Arrested.

As per a report published in The Indian Express, the man had lost his job and was under a lot of debt. On Saturday, Fartade sent the suicide note to his relatives. After reading the message, on ehis aunt, whi stays in Pune, asked another relative to visit his home. After reaching there, the relative broke open the dorr and found Fartade and his mother dead.

The relative then informed the police. The bodies were sent to postmortem. Reportedly, Nirmala was suffering from various age-related ailments. Our investigation suggests that the man induced a drug overdose, possibly with various medicines she had been prescribed. He later suffocated her with a plastic bag and then died by suicide, reported the media house quoting a police officer as saying. Rajasthan Shocker: Man Kills Mother by Pushing Her Off Second Floor After Argument Over Drinking.

As per the initial investigation, the man was depressed due to financial crisis. He was an engineer, but lost his job and had recently also invested in the share market. A detailed probe has been launched into the matter.
New Delhi, Jan 2: Omicron is less severe than the previous Covid-19 variants because it does not cause as much damage in the lungs, a spate of studies have suggested.

A study by a consortium of US and Japanese scientists on hamsters and mice found those infected with Omicron had less lung damage, lost less weight and were less likely to die than those who had other variants, the Daily Mail reported.

It found mice infected with Omicron had a tenth less of the virus in their lungs compared to those with other variants, the report said. Omicron Less Severe as it Mostly Avoids Attacking Lungs, Says Report.

The findings backed up another paper by researchers at the University of Hong Kong, who studied human tissue in Omicron victims.

They found Omicron grew significantly more slowly in 12 lung samples than earlier strains of the virus, the report said.

Experts believe the fact the super mutant variant tends not to replicate as much in the lower parts of the lungs means it causes less significant damage, which could be behind its reduced severity, the Daily Mail reported.

Data from South Africa showed Omicron sufferers are up to 80 per cent less likely to end up in hospital than those with Delta. And a similar study by the UK Health and Security estimated the risk was 70 per cent less.

Roland Eils, a computational biologist at the Berlin Institute of Health, said there is an emerging theme in the literature suggesting the variant tends to stay outside the lungs.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 02, 2022 02:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
A 41 year old man Midlands resident was sentenced to three months imprisonment in Midlands Prison Portlaoise during last week's sitting of Tullamore District Court.

Miroslaw Sarko, Doory, Clara was stopped by the Gardai on September 11 last 2021 on Clara Road Tullamore. Sergeant James O'Sullivan told the court that the Guards pulled him over after they saw him failing to indicate while driving through a roundabout. He was arrested and taken to Tullamore Garda Station where he gave a sample of his breath.

Sergeant O'Sullivan added that the defendant had two previous convictions for drink driving, handed down in 2010 and 2011.

The defending solicitor Aisling Maloney said her client was pleading guilty. She pointed out that the previous convictions were quite historical. She said that unfortunately, many years later Sarko suffered this lapse in behaviour. On this particular occasion Mr Sarko had just finished his old job and was about to start a new job. To mark the occasion he went for a few drinks with his former work colleagues. Unfortunately he drove afterwards.

Ms Maloney said Sarko is a Lithuanian national and has two children. Sadly his wife's health isn't very good and, as a result, he is the sole breadwinner.

Judge Catherine Staines commented that she couldn't ignore the fact this was the third conviction for drink driving. Each time a person drinks and drives he is putting other people's lives at risk, she remarked. She sentenced to three months in prison and disqualified from driving for four years.
A Naas District Court judge refused jurisidiction in the case of a juvenile who is accused of attacking a fellow juvenile and causing them harm.

The defendant allegedly jumped up and kicked another juvenile following an argument that broke out in Maynooth on February 26 this year.

It was heard that the alleged victim hit the back of their head on the ground and sustained a cut.

Solicitor Aisling Murphy told the court that the juvenile had admitted to her that what he did was the stupidest thing he has ever done.

She also provided Judge Desmond Zaidan with a psychological report, which said that the juvenile was highly vulnerable and described him as having difficulties with information retention.

In addition, it was heard that the juvenile had no previous convictions.

Ms Murphy asked for the matter to be put back for January, but Judge Zaidan instead decided to send the juvenile forward for a trial by jury.

A book of evidence is due to appear for the case on January 6 next.
During the War of Independence, the Curragh plains was home to one of the most important internment camps in the country  the Rath Camp, which opened on March 1, 1921 and housed up to 1,300 men.

Altogether, some 190 men from County Kildare were interned during the War of Independence: 166 intermittently at Hare Park Camp and the Rath Camp, on the Curragh, while 24 were held at Ballykinlar Camp, in Co Down.

Some were found to have no connection to the republican movement and were released within days or weeks. However, the arrests of many committed republicans curtailed activity in the county in the most critical period leading up to the Truce of July 11, 1921.

Path to freedom

The signing of the truce brought hope that republican prisoners would be released, but when that was not forthcoming many decided to gain their own freedom.

On September 9, at least 54 men escaped through a tunnel from the Rath Camp. In the weeks that followed, more men escaped individually and in small groups. Tension in the Rath Camp, during the autumn, was at an all-time high with frequent accusations from the prisoners of brutality by the British army guards.

Throughout Ireland, empathic resolutions were adopted by county councils and others calling for a release of untried political prisoners.

In October, after visits by the British press, a joint investigation committee representing the republican party and the crown government was set up; the following month members of the Internment Camps Inquiry Commission visited the Rath Camp.

A new system of liberalised parole was introduced, whereby men were released for a specified time  usually ten days. Five prisoners were immediately released on health grounds, among them Laurence Callaghan, a barber from Main Street, Naas.

Further releases occurred when the authorities reviewed the evidence against internees. The change in weather caused increased hardship and about 100 men were hospitalised suffering from colds and pneumonia from the poor conditions.

Dick Harris, of Prosperous, who had been arrested in the summer at an aeridheacht at Donore, Caragh, was released on parole from Rath Camp in late November 1921, due to ill-health.

At 2.10am on December 6, 1921, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed in London by representatives of the Irish and British governments. On the following day, the British cabinet considered strong representation from the Irish delegates for the immediate release of internees to help secure acceptance of the Treaty by Dail Eireann.

The question of convicted political prisoners, or those awaiting trial, was put back pending ratification of the treaty.

An announcement was then issued from Downing Street:

In view of the agreement signed between representatives of the British government and the Irish Delegation of Plenipotentiaries, his Majesty has approved of the release forthwith of all persons interned under the Regulation of Order in Ireland Act.

The next day, December 8, the release of interned republicans began. Around 500 prisoners  from Dublin and Kildare  were released from the Rath Camp. The remaining 700 were to be freed the following day, apart from four who had been courtmartialled and sentenced to terms of imprisonment for attempting to escape.

Newspaper reporters visited the camp and according to the Leinster Leader correspondent: The internees looked in very good health despite their long rigorous incarceration, and were in the highest spirits.

Internees were standing without overcoats or hats with their backs to the huts, according to the correspondent, and they said they had not received the news of their release until that morning.

At 2.30pm, the gates opened and two lorries carrying the internees belongings drove out of the camp, followed by groups of prisoners, who received great cheers from a large gathering of locals, sympathisers and relatives. A group of British soldiers saluted the prisoners as they passed.

The prisoners marched four-deep to the railway station at Kildare town to travel on the 4.25pm train to Dublin. At the railway station, local republicans and members of Cumann na mBan provided the men with tea.

A large and enthusiastic crowd saw off the ex-prisoners. Furze fires were lit on various parts of the Curragh plain and fires were lit at all stations en route to Kingsbridge Station in Dublin.

The County Kildare prisoners left by motors for their respective homes and were loudly cheered on the way. On arrival, bonfires and tar barrels burned as large crowds greeted the ex-internees.

Many cars passed through Naas conveying homewards numbers of men from the vicinity of the town, and Kill, Rathmore and Ballymore Eustace.

Bonfires blazing

In Naas itself, the arrival of cars with local and other internees generated excited scenes, and bonfires blazed in several parts of the town. That night the streets of Naas were ablaze with tar barrels as considerable revelry took place.

Large crowds and bands met prisoners from the Curragh and Ballykinlar as they disembarked from the trains in Athy station. Parades included detachments of Volunteers and Fianna Boy Scouts as well as local bands. Bonfires were noted in other rural areas in the county. Great receptions were evident in Maynooth and Newbridge where tar barrels blazed in the town.

On December 9, the remaining 700 prisoners were released from the Rath Camp which was then closed. The celebrations for released detainees continued into mid-January when the last of the sentenced prisoners were freed.

By then there was an evident split in the republican movement which would lead to civil war in the summer of 1922...

James Durney is a historian at the Local Studies Department, Kildare Library Service
The volunteer crew of the Bundoran RNLI Lifeboat was called out to reports of a surfer in difficulty on New Years Day afternoon. The emergency call was placed to Malin Head Coast Guard just after 3pm on Saturday, 1st January, 2022 with the volunteer crew launching just five minutes following the alert.

The surfer thought to be in difficulty was surfing on the Peak and the lifeboat was on scene within one minute of launching. After a few minutes in the area and having spoken to a surfer in the water, it was determined that all was okay and that the call was one with good intent. As a precaution, the Sligo based Rescue 118 helicopter had been launched from Strandhill and also did a sweep of the area.

Speaking on their return to the station, helm Richard Gillespie advised people along the coast to be alert today was a call with good intent  we would always urge people who think that they see someone in difficulty on the coast to call 999 or 112 and ask for the Coast Guard. We would always rather launch to check something out than not be called at all.

Further water safety advice is available from rnli.org/safety
A YOUNG man who verbally abused a garda sergeant calling him an ignorant pr*** after he seized his friends car was convicted of public order offences following a contested hearing at Kilmallock Court.

Callum McCarthy, aged 23, who has an address at Tankardstown, Kilmallock had denied the charges which related to an incident outside Kilmallock garda station on March 5, 2021.

Sergeant Martin Concannon told the court he seized a vehicle under the Road Traffic Act at around 12.30pm as the driver (not Mr McCarthy) did not have insurance.

The vehicle, he said, was then brought to the local garda station and a towing-truck was contacted to remove it to a secure facility.

Judge Patricia Harney was told the driver and two other men presented at the public office of the garda station around half an hour later seeking to have the car returned.

While the driver indicated he had insured the car shortly after he was stopped, Sgt Concannon said the tow-wagon had already been summonsed and was en-route.

While the three men, who were aggressive, left the garda station, they returned when the truck arrived.

Sgt Concannon described how Mr McCarthy then became extremely agitated and aggressive as he sought to have the car released.

He said the defendant was directed to stop and leave the area but that the abuse continued as the car was loaded up.

A witness told Inspector Pat Brennan that during the confrontation Mr McCarthy pointed his index finger near my face and that he called him a pr*** adding: Your are only in this town - only a month  and I wont forget you.

The defendant, who was not known to Sgt Concannon at the time, failed to give his name and address when asked but was later identified.

Solicitor Kevin Power submitted the incident would not have happened had Sgt Concannon excercised some discretion when informed by the owner of the car that he had taken out insurance.

What was the need to impound the car? he asked.

In his evidence, the defendant, who has no previous convictions, accepted he had called the sergeant an ignorant pr*** but denied raising his voice or making threats.

Insp Brennan put it to the witness that his behaviour was abusive, unpleasant and provocative and that it was always going to cause a problem.

In a submission to the court, he said the seizure of the car was no business of Mr McCarthys and he asked Judge Harney to note it was driver who had paid the release fee.

Having considered the evidence, Judge Harney commented the facts are the facts. The said the defendant had exhibited a sense of entitlement and that he was not entitled to abuse anybody  particularly gardai in the middle of a pandemic.

She imposed fines totalling 150.
New Yorks soul-crushing crime surge continued to accompany the soul-crushing COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, as homicides and shootings continued well above pre-pandemic levels of 2019, NYPD end-of-year data shows.

By the time the ball dropped in Times Square on Dec. 31, the NYPD had investigated 485 murders in 2021  17 more than the 468 reported in 2020. The uptick was a 3% increase over 2020 and a massive 52% jump from pre-pandemic levels in 2019, when 318 murders occurred.

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NYPD 42nd Precinct detectives and officers are seen Dec. 22 investigating the shooting on Melrose Ave. near E. 165th St. of Aricelio Pellot, 48. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/for New York Daily News)

Shootings were also up in 2021. Cops counted 1,562 shooting incidents across the five boroughs last year, 30 more than in 2020.

The hardest hit borough was the Bronx, which accounted for 32% of the citys shootings. As of Dec. 26, some 503 shootings were reported in the Bronx, 120 more than in 2020. As of Dec. 26, the Bronx saw a 35% jump in homicides, from 108 to 146, officials said.

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Upper Manhattan was also under a cloud a gun smoke in 2021, with 224 shootings through Dec. 26  48 more than a year earlier.

It wasnt immediately clear how many triggers were actually pulled last year.

Off-duty NYPD Lt. Nathan Yakubov was shot Dec. 16 as he left La Boom, a nightclub in Woodside, Queens. The officer, who was critically wounded, fatally shot one of his assailants. (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News)

In addition to shooting incidents in which someone was struck, police track instances in which a gun was fired but no one was hit through the ShotSpotter detection system. The NYPD, which has provided these statistics in the past, declined repeated requests by the Daily News for such information for 2021.

Police also saw increases in rapes, robberies, assaults and car thefts throughout the year. As of Dec. 26 overall crime was up by 6%, from 94,916 to 100,730.

The number of burglaries across the city, however, has fallen by about 18%, recently published statistics show.

Exact tallies were still being tabulated Saturday.

New Yorks new top cop vowed to bring down crime  with the communitys help.

As we begin the next chapter in policing, were calling on all New Yorkers to help us drive crime out every community. Our path to success means working together  and with fresh eyes & bold ideas, we will become the blueprint for effective and fair public safety. We start today. pic.twitter.com/6nZWJzAoGb  Commissioner Sewell (@NYPDPC) January 1, 2022

Today we are beginning the next chapter of policing in New York City and we are calling on every New Yorker to join us in our efforts to drive crime out of every one of our communities, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said in a tweeted video.

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As your police department, we can only do our job effectively and efficiently when we do it with you.

NYPD cops, she said, were as passionate as they are committed to public safety.

The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. >

It is my pledge that we will work with you every step of the way on our path for a safer New York City, she said. Its a way forward we must walk together and we start today.

Five people were shot Sept. 27 on 10th Ave. near W. 211th St. in upper Manhattan. Cops arrived at the scene as bullets flew, and wounded the suspect. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/for New York Daily News)

Most of the violence Sewell and her department must tackle is being committed by warring street gangs, police officials say.

Shootings began skyrocketing in the city during the summer of 2020, culminating in a horrific July 4 weekend in which 41 people were shot, nine fatally, in one day. The violence continued through the beginning of 2021, but began to abate slightly.

In July 2021, a year after the surge in violence began, ex-Police Commissioner Dermot Shea reported a 35% drop in shootings, although the month ended with a violent gang-fueled Queens bloodbath that wounded 10 people.

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Jamel Copeland was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital after he was shot in the torso at Avenue D and E. 39th St. in Brooklyn on August 15, 2020. (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News)

(Its) progress, that is exactly how I would categorize that, but its still way too high, Shea told NY1 at the time, noting that gun arrests in the city were at an all-time high. After about four months of reductions, shootings ramped up again in the fall.

Shea, who left office Friday, often in 2021 blamed the uptick in violence and crime to bail reform laws that were enacted at the end of 2019, although advocates often blasted Sheas belief.

With Rocco Parascandola
ALL going well, the next 12 months should herald the opening of some of the most defining projects for the city centre in many years.

In spite of the pandemic, builders have remained on site at the International Rugby Experience project, the neighbouring revitalisation of OConnell Street, with groundwork continuing on a new multi-storey office/accommodation block on Limericks riverside  although this will not be ready until 2023.

However, its bred high hopes that Limerick could bounce back stronger from the last two, testing years.

But the Chamber president Donnacha Hurley is under no illusion that 2022 will still be fundamentally very challenging.

But given our recent past experience, we now have a better toolkit to help us be resilient and manoeuvre as we progress through this pandemic. Being positive is not about thinking that everything will be perfect, but its about believing as we drive forward we are, however, slowly getting closer to that vision of a better Limerick for all stakeholders, said Mr Hurley, who is manager of the Absolute Hotel.

The transformation of OConnell Street is well under way now, with the project set to provide wider footpaths, on-street trading, and spill out zones from shops and cafes.

Specialised public transport infrastructure will be in place, with dedicated cycle lanes to facilitate active travel, while there will be new seating areas, lights and features like sculptures, pedestrian plazas and water features.

The chief executive of the Limerick Chamber Dee Ryan said: We lobbied for this, and got it moving forward. Its been a rocky start, but its being delivered at pace now by the contractors and the local authority, we are working with them to ensure business owners are informed as to what the impact will be on business blocks. But we are hopeful the project will come to a conclusion by the end of the summer.

Even before that, she said, Limerick people will get a sense of what its like, with the main works on the heart of the main thoroughfare between Brown Thomas and the Augustinian Church set for completion by Easter.

High-profile city businesswoman Helen ODonnell says the completion of the public realm is vital for the perception of Limerick city.

If you had asked people a few years ago to sit outside in November and December in Ireland, they would have looked at you as if you were crazy. I think we have learnt to put on layers and layers of clothes, and its a safe place to be. But the public realm, its vital these are maintained and people are comfortable using them, she added.

The ribbon is set to be cut at the International Rugby Experience by the autumn, and Ms Ryan says it is developments like these which are also crucial for the perception of Limerick.

Its going to be a really important visitor attraction  It will help people outside of Limerick think differently of Limerick and choose Limerick as their Irish staycation destination when holidaying in 2022, the Chamber boss predicted.

Something else which could alter the perception of how Limerick is seen outside its boundaries is the fact the city and county electorate will go to the polls for the first time to elect a new executive mayor with sweeping new powers.

Mr Hurley asked: Who doesnt love an election? The chance to vote for Irelands directly elected mayor with all the potential it beings is alone worth being positive for in 2022!
LOCAL artists are set to have their work put in front of visiting dignitaries from Ireland and across the world.

Its all part of an initiative by Mayor Daniel Butler, who has donated the walls of his rooftop, riverside office at City Hall in Merchants Quay to a space displaying the works of artists from across the city and county.

As Limericks first citizen, the Fine Gael councillor welcomes people from across the globe on official visits to Shannonside, and he hopes to use his pop-up art gallery to help the local creative talent here make wider connections.

Hes worked with Limericks City Gallery, with his opening pieces coming from artists such as Robert Ryan and Gillian Kenny Shinnors.

My office in a lot of ways is a front door to Limerick when we are welcoming dignitaries here.

People come into my office. I just thought, its an opportunity to take some of the collection of our talented Limerick artists which are in the City Gallery, so when I welcome dignitaries, I can show them the paintings, show them the quality of Limerick artists and hopefully they will go back to where they came from, and tell the story of Limerick and Limerick art, the mayor explained.

He says hes open to ideas about rotating some of the paintings, with the scheme still in its early days.

Its just an idea I initiated. Hopefully, it will lead to opportunities for these local artists.

We have a great community and we are really lucky to have them. So its a case of displaying the artist, telling of who they are and what these paintings are about.

There is some printwork there. It tells the story of Limericks creative community, and maybe visitors to Limerick might support them in their art as a result, added Cllr Butler.
GLENSTAL Abbey is in mourning following the passing of monk and woodturner extraordinaire, Br Ciaran Forbes.

With great sadness the monastic community announced his death on Saturday.

It is with great sadness that the monastic community announces the death of Br Ciaran Forbes OSB. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam. pic.twitter.com/J7TcWqkkWV  Glenstal Abbey (@GlenstalAbbey) January 1, 2022

Br Ciaran, aged 80, was a monk of Glenstal since 1961 and was one of Irelands best-known woodturners. His interest began when two boys in the Abbey school brought a lathe to the carpentry workshop. The Glenstal woods provide abundant raw material for his craft ever since.

Many years ago Br Ciaran and good friend, President Michael D Higgins, had an arts and crafts exhibition in Dublin. It included Michael D Higgins' poetry and Br Ciarans bowls on display.

Back in 2011, Br Ciaran kindly found the lovely photograph (below) for this reporter as I was doing a piece on newly-elected President Higgins' links to the city and county.

As well as their shared loved of art, they both were dog lovers.

Br Ciaran's beloved dog Bede was never far from his side for years. His Facebook page is called "Ciaran Bede" and he describes himself as a "Dog lover and woodturner". Known for his wit and sense of humour, Br Ciaran would often sign-off emails with "DOG Bless!".

The monk will also be known for quiet acts of kindness in the local community of Murroe-Boher and further afield. He wasn't one to publicise them in life and I won't in death but he helped many going through tough times.

The respect in which he was held and the number of lives he touched during his lifetime is reflected by the countless tributes that have come pouring in.

Just a selection include: "Every day was brighter because of you. Never forgotten. May God keep you in the palm of his hand."

"I still hear your lovely voice in my head. I will treasure your beautiful bowls."

One wrote: "Devastating news, Ciaran was an extraordinary person, and great influence over the years. Sending love and sympathy to his family and community."

Another lasting memory of Br Ciaran is the lovely smell of tobacco as he smoked a cigarette. Like a wisp of smoke he has disappeared from our lives.

Reposing in Meehans Funeral Home, Newport, County Tipperary, from 2pm until 4pm on Tuesday, January 4. Funeral Mass on Wednesday, January 5 at 12.10 pm. Private cremation to follow.

The Funeral Mass for Br Ciaran can be viewed live on glenstal.com/abbey/webcam

May he rest in peace.
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Europe rang in the new year in subdued fashion as several countries reported record Covid-19 infections and governments considered how to contain the virus when workers return to offices and children go back to school.

Fireworks displays and large public gatherings were scrapped or scaled back for New Years Eve across the continent despite early data suggesting the Omicron variant produces a milder form of disease compared with its predecessors. Hospitals are bracing for a flood of patients because of increased social contacts over the festive period and the high transmissibility of the strain.

We all know the coming weeks will be difficult," French President Emmanuel Macron said in his New Years Eve address, as the country reported more than 232,000 new coronavirus infections, a pandemic record.

He said he was hopeful that Frances relatively high vaccination rates would enable the country to avoid the tighter restrictions that have been imposed in other parts of Europe.

While many cities, including Paris, canceled fireworks displays, bars and restaurants remained open. And though hospital admissions are rising faster than before, the number of more-serious admissions to intensive-care units remain relatively flat week to week. I want to believe, with you, that 2022 could be the year we leave behind this epidemic," Mr. Macron said.

The cautious optimism was underpinned by signals from South Africa, where Omicron was first detected in November, that the variant has now peaked. Data from the U.K. indicated the disease caused by Omicron is less severe than that from the Delta strain, which was until recently most prevalent.

Scientists, however, have cautioned that the impact of the variant in Europe might differ from that in South Africa, which has a young population and likely some degree of immunity to severe disease owing to high levels of prior infection. It is also summer in the Southern Hemisphere, and the virus often tends to spread more easily in winter, when people gather indoors.

Although in retreat in some countries north of the Alps such as Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, the new variant now has Southern Europe firmly in its grip, with Italy and Spain recording their highest daily infection numbers of the pandemic. Southern countries had hoped that relatively high vaccination rates and milder winter weather would stave off the worst of the new variant.

Confirmed new Covid-19 infections in Italy hit a pandemic record of more than 144,000 on Friday. In Spain, confirmed cases surpassed 100,000 a day as the year drew to a close. Cases in Portugal and Greece have been rising rapidly.

Hospital admissions in Italy have been increasing, but, as in other European countries, the pressure on healthcare systems remains significantly lower than a year ago, a sign of the continued efficacy of mass vaccinations.

Even so, the U.K., which has led one of the fastest booster campaigns, is setting up temporary units to expand hospital capacity in anticipation of a possible surge of patients after Christmas and New Year.

At the same time, European authorities are preparing for the reopening of schools this month, with most governments looking for ways to keep students in class despite the surge in infections.

Authorities in Germany and neighboring Austria have pledged to keep schools open after facing criticism from experts and parents for closures during the earlier stages of the pandemic.

The British government has said keeping children in class is a priority and is planning for schools to open as normal this month. Pupils in English secondary education will be expected to take a test when they return and then test themselves twice weekly. The education secretary launched an appeal for former teachers to come forward to work in schools that are hit hard by staff illnesses.

Despite these measures, schools are being told to plan for the worst.

I ask that you review your existing contingency plans to ensure you are well prepared to implement them in case of any future changes," Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi wrote to schools recently. Some schoolchildren took laptops home at the beginning of the holiday period in case their schools were shut on their return and remote schooling had to resume.

Schools in France are slated to reopen as planned on Monday after the holiday break, though trips to indoor locations such as theaters are to be delayed. Children will have to stay home when teachers are absent and cant be replaced, rather than sitting in on other classes, the education ministry has said.

The French Parliament is debating a new emergency law that will turn Frances health pass into a vaccine passmeaning that a recent negative Covid-19 test would no longer suffice to access venues such as restaurants, cinemas, long-distance transportation and some large shopping centers.

Italys government is due to decide soon whether to tighten rules for workplace health certificates, requiring all workers to show proof of vaccination or recovery from Covid-19 to enter offices, stores and factories. Until now, a negative test has sufficed.

The approach is similar to that in Germany and Austria, which have driven down recent Covid-19 surges by tightening social-distancing restrictions, above all for unvaccinated people. The approach has proved politically divisive in Italy, however, with antiestablishment politicians reluctant to push people too far toward de facto mandatory vaccination.

Elsewhere, new infections in Saudi Arabia have jumped 34-fold over the past month, with 819 cases reported Friday, the highest level since the summer.

The authorities this week reinstituted a mask mandate in public places including outdoor events in the midst of a weekslong festival in the capital, Riyadh. They have also restored social-distancing measures at the Grand Mosques in Mecca and Medina, to where millions of Muslims make pilgrimages each year.
Singapore reported more Covid-19 infections among travelers from abroad than local cases for the first time in nearly half a year, testing the resolve of the country to keep its borders open amid the worldwide spread of the omicron variant.

There were 260 imported cases reported as of noon on Jan. 1, compared to 187 community infections, according to data released by the health ministry. The last time Covid-19 cases among travelers surpassed local infections was on July 12.

While Singapore has chosen to freeze ticket sales via its vaccinated travel lanes until late January, the business hubs decision to maintain quarantine-free travel for vaccinated people from several countries, including omicron hotspots such as the UK and US, is increasingly being tested. Other nations including Thailand halted quarantine-free entry to prevent the spread of the new variant.

So far, officials in the city-state have also elected to tighten testing requirements for visitors and defer other travel initiatives, while keeping strict domestic virus measures in place, as local clusters of the omicron variant emerge.

Singapore is also depending on further vaccinating what is already one of the most inoculated populations in the world to fend of a potential new wave. About 20,000 children have received their first shot since the vaccination drive for them started on Dec. 27, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said in a Facebook post on Sunday.
If there is one Laredoan who helped unite a city amid political and ideological differences, languages and even a pandemic, it was Lance Cpl. David Lee Espinoza who died serving his country in Afghanistan in August.

Espinoza was born July 10, 2001, which was just a mere months before the Sept. 11 attacks and the beginning of the war in Afghanistan that lasted for 20 years. He was among one of the last casualties in the war as he was killed in action during a humanitarian mission in Kabul, Afghanistan on Aug. 26, 2021 along with 12 other U.S. service members. Espinoza was just 20 years old.

Espinoza is survived by his two parents: mother Elizabeth Holguin and his step-father Victor Manuel Dominguez Sr. Espinoza also left three younger siblings behind: Angel Martin Espinoza, Victor Manuel Dominguez Jr. and Delilah Alyssa Dominguez.

He was my hero. He had a big heart, he would help out a lot and what he did was no doubt something he would do, as he would give his life for you, Holguin said. I feel so honored (for this recognition), and I give thanks to everybody for honoring and not forgetting who he was as he was one of our heroes.

Holguin said she did not expect Espinoza to receive all the recognition and honors following his death from around the city, her community of Rio Bravo and elsewhere throughout the state and country. In fact, she said this is something she and her husband have talked about as they are extremely proud of what their son did in such a short time period. She is also thankful for the community uniting as they mourned their sons loss.

The family is also appreciative that many young children, adults and even some older people view their son as a hero, especially to many who also want to join the ranks of the military and serve the way he did.

It is a great honor for him and for us, because he did bring a lot of awareness toward the military and what they do, and we have even heard from a couple of kids that it is what they want to do when they grow and join the armed forces, Dominguez said. More than anything, we as a family thought that it was going to be a two-week thing as they are going to do it, know what happened and then it is going to be over, but now knowing how Laredo and our little town of Rio Bravo (embraced) us, it means a lot to us because of our sons sacrifice.

Amid all the honors, during this holiday season, the family still has one less seat on the table filled as Espinoza will not be coming down to Rio Bravo from his post in California  as he did the year prior  to celebrate with the family. Although the family says they feel strong amid his loss, they do say it is difficult to sometimes not feel the immense loss.

It hasnt been easy, but with the help of my kids, my husband and as a family, we all help each other to be OK, Holguin said.

Dominguez says the holiday season is a bit harder for them considering the fact that Espinoza would always use his vacation time to come from his post to their home and enjoy some family time together.

The thing right now that hurts the most is the holidays, as usually this is the time when he came home when he was in either California or out in a post, but he would get vacation time. And he would spend his days with us, as he did last year for Thanksgiving and Christmas with us, Dominguez said. This being the first time without him is a little heartache with it, but we are doing good.

The family says all of Espinozas siblings are doing well months after the tragic news, including his younger sister who was the closest with Espinoza and who also received the sad news of his death close to her birthday.

Our kids, they are actually pretty strong-minded. And we talked to them from the beginning, and they all in their own special way understood the situation, and they are all teenagers, so they are not as little kids, the family said. Just like everybody, else they feel hurt as it still does hurt, but they are doing pretty good in school and personally. We are an open family, and we talk about whatever needs we need to talk about as we can and from them I think they are doing great. The pain is there but they are doing well.

Members from around the community who found out about Espinozas honoring also applauded his recognition.

What a well-deserved gesture, and Im sure his family will be proud to experience that honor, City of Rio Bravo City Commissioner Amanda Aguero said. Thats awesome.

City of Rio Bravo Mayor Gilbert Aguilar Jr. also praised the news of his recognition. He believes that by continuing to remember his legacy, his service will never be forgotten.

One local veteran who is involved in many veteran affairs and as well as several tributes and ceremonies held for Espinoza during his burial and afterwards, said he was more than grateful for the community continuing to honor the fallen service member.

First, I want to thank LMT for choosing a young man who made the ultimate sacrifice for his country and honoring him as Laredoan of the Year, said Ricardo Quijano, the Post Adjutant for the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9194 and also helped in many of the tributes done for Espinoza. Coming from a military background, a service member wont even imagine getting such an honor.

We serve our country for several reasons, but whatever reason that may be, we all have one goal and its to protect the people of this country. When in service we do not think of death, but death is always there. Unfortunately, David Lee Espinoza was one of those soldiers that paid the ultimate sacrifice. Because of him, our community came together to honor him. It is an honor to have a fellow service as Laredoan of the Year, as (during) his mourning, we all saw Laredo come together no matter the differences we have.

As the community continues to remember Espinoza and all of his hard work and sacrifice, the family says their job right now is to continue to honor his legacy and never forget the memory of their child.

For us, honestly, it is to never forget him, Dominguez said. He is our son and my kid as he has been in my life since he was 3 years old. And for us personally is to keep his memory alive and make sure that hopefully our kids, which basically they are all teenagers right now, but eventually when they grow up they can continue mentioning to their kids everything about their brother. To us, it is moving forward but never forgetting him, as we have a lot of memories as luckily we had video cameras, so we got a bunch of videos about when we used to go out or just messing around the house. So we do have a lot of pictures too.

Holguin says moving on is something the family will do slowly but always with Espinoza in their minds and their hearts. She feels thankful the community has allowed Espinozas memory to continue thriving as well.

About moving on, we take it day-by-day and staying strong as a family and always remembering him, Holguin said. We thank all of the community, all of the state and all of the local (organizations) and all of the country and everybody, because they have been awesome towards us and it is just something that I wasnt expecting.

jorge.vela@lmtonline.com
Laredo has welcomed its first newborn babies of 2022, as they were just born a few hours into the new year and just a couple of hours apart.

As is the case every year, the first newborns will receive special gifts from the respective hospitals due to the important milestone.

The first baby of the year was born at Doctors Hospital to Cindy Chavez. Just like her mother, her daughters name was Cindy Chavez, and she was born at 7:42 a.m. and weighed 7.2 pounds with a length of 20 inches.

Staff at Doctors Hospital expressed how delighted they were to announce the first newborn of 2022 and how they always look forward to such important day.

Every year we look forward to welcoming our New Year Baby and mom, said Guadalupe Cisneros, an RN and the Delivery and Postpartum Nurse Manager at Doctors Hospital of Laredo. This year, our staff welcomed a baby girl as the 2022 New Year Baby here at Doctors Hospital of Laredo. It is a joy to present the family with gifts  courtesy of Doctors Hospital Auxiliary Volunteers  including a baby stroller, clothing and much more. We wish the Chavez family and all the babies born this year a happy and healthy life.

Laredo Medical Center also had its first child born just a couple of hours later at 10 a.m. Proud parents Erika and Hugo welcomed with immense love and delight their newborn son, Ezequiel. They were grateful to showcase the birth of their son.

Ezequiel weighed 10 pounds and measured 21 inches, according to Laredo Medical Center. Just like the Chavez family, since Ezequiel was the first born of the year at the hospital, the newborn and their family received a special basket with baby essentials and a special gift from the Auxiliary to Laredo Medical Center.

The parents of Ezequiel stated that they were extremely proud of his birth and look forward to the new year as well.

jorge.vela@lmtonline.com

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A San Diego man in his 60s was killed Saturday morning when he was pushed without provocation in front of an oncoming train.

The victim, who has not been publicly identified, had just gotten off a southbound trolley around 6:15 a.m. and was walking along the platform at the Old Town Trolley Station when another man pushed him, according to the San Diego Police Department.

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The man suffered trauma to his upper body and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The suspect fled on foot and no arrests have been announced.

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A man was killed Saturday when he was pushed into an oncoming trolley at the Old Town Trolley Station in San Diego. (Shutterstock)

The San Diego Police Department did not immediately return a request for updates from the Daily News Sunday morning.

The suspect was described as a light-skinned male, between 57 and 59 with a thin build, and wearing all black clothing.
Courtesy /Laredo Police Department

The Laredo Police Department is looking for help in identifying a man in relation to a criminal mischief case on a local bus.

If you have any information regarding the identity or location of the individual, please call Laredo Crime Stoppers at (956) 727-TIPS (8477), LPD wrote in a Facebook post. You may also submit an anonymous tip via the Laredo Police Department App under Subject ID. Please reference #21-0761 when submitting your tips.
The beginning of the school year when you got to show off your new duds, new cars, new looks!

Sports! Playing, cheering, watching high school athletics.

The arts: Dramatic arts, musical groups and shows, graphic arts groups, debate, etc.

The prom! No dancing the night away or punch bowl antics.

The daily interactions. Just being with the group, hanging with friends and classmates.

Access to college recruiters and advisors  its harder to line up higher education.

Walking onstage to get a diploma while all the family is watching with everyone elses family.

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The Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with Special Responsibility for Farm Safety, Martin Heydon T.D., has asked farmers to keep safety to the forefront of their minds when working on farms over the Christmas and New Year period.

Minister Heydon stated: To date there have been nine fatal accidents on farms in 2021. While this is an improvement on recent years, it is still nine farms that have suffered an irreversible loss. We cannot get complacent; we need to see a sustained improvement in the years ahead.

Now is the time for all farmers to reflect on 2021 and plan ahead for 2022. It is only through a cultural change on farms to one that focuses on safe behaviours and practices that the rate of serious and fatal incidents can be reduced further.

Minister Heydon urged all farmers to take time over the Christmas period to review the safety of their farms. Farmers should consider updating their Farm Risk Assessment which helps to identify and address risks on farms. We all need to ask ourselves:

How many of the identified risks did I deal with over the last year?

What risks that have been identified in the risk assessment will I address this year?

Does the risk assessment reflect all the risks on my farm?

Minister Heydon said: As we take time with our families over Christmas, we must remember that the most vulnerable people on any farm are children and those over the age of 65. A farm is a wonderful place to spend the holidays, but we must be conscious that they remain working environments.

The calving season is also just around the corner and the first newborns will arrive in the coming days. Cows, and in particular heifers, can be unpredictable during or after calving, and may become aggressive. They are involved in more fatal incidents than bulls.



Now is the time to plan for a safe calving season. Start by asking yourself, are my facilities in good condition, do they allow me to always keep a barrier between myself and the cow when I am handling the calf. If changes are required to the facilities or systems, now is the time to do it.

Minister Heydon added: I want 2022 to be the year when farmers stop and think every morning before they go out on the farm about what they are going to do for the day and how they will do it safely.

Minister Heydon wishes all farm families and happy, safe and peaceful Christmas and best wishes for the new year.
Schools, colleges and creches will reopen later this month despite record numbers of Covid-19 cases in Ireland, Eamon Ryan has said.

The Green Party leader said on Sunday that be expected schools to reopen as planned in the coming days, even as the Omicron variant continues to spread across the country.

Transport Minister Mr Ryan said there will be challenges, but the solution was not the widespread closure of schools.

Its important that schools do open on Thursday.

Each school will have different circumstances. Itll be more difficult probably, in primary than in secondary because its more difficult, particularly for a smaller school to get relief teachers, he said.

Mr Ryan admitted that some schools may be forced to close due to staffing pressures.

Here are today's walk-in #COVIDVaccine clinics. We're operating some walk-in clinics for dose 1 and dose 2, and booster vaccine clinics for healthcare workers, pregnant women and people aged over 16.  Keep an eye for updates on queueing times throughout the day. #ForUsAll pic.twitter.com/YUtkgr69Gv  HSE Ireland (@HSELive) January 2, 2022

However, he declined to speculate on whether a relaxation of close-contact rules may be allowed for teaching staff in the same way they have been applied to other key workers, such as healthcare staff.

I think the application of that will evolve, but first and foremost, I think it is getting back to school, seeing what the level of people who are not able to be there, and adjusting accordingly, he told RTE radio.

From Sunday, anyone aged 16 and over can have a Covid-19 booster jab.

People are being asked to book into a vaccination centre offering jabs to their age group.

Mr Ryan said that Government messaging on public health guidance has been clear, amid questions about whether advice from the chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan on social gatherings over the festive period clashes with the official Government guidance.

2021 was a long and tough year for so many. We begin 2022 in a stronger position thanks to vaccines and effective new treatments. Our case numbers are high and concerning, but good to see the rate of hospitalisations has fallen dramatically compared to this time last year. 1/10  Stephen Donnelly (@DonnellyStephen) January 2, 2022

The messaging is clear, Mr Ryan said. The Irish people I think, regardless of what we were saying, recognised in their own selves, that we know that we need to be careful here.

Its the same thing happening across every country in the world. We knew it was coming and I think the Irish people by and large did adapt.

Mr Ryan said that he had been in regular contact with health officials and the other party leaders in the coalition government during the festive period.

Earlier, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said that the country begins 2022 in a stronger position thanks to vaccines and effective new treatments.

Our case numbers are high and concerning, but good to see the rate of hospitalisations has fallen dramatically compared to this time last year, he tweeted.

Mr Donnelly said that the Government had invested a lot in building capacity.

He said: More ICU beds will open this year and I brought a proposal to Cabinet to increase overall critical care capacity to 446 beds. Our legacy deficit is being addressed and we are funding as many ICU beds as the HSE can open.

Ireland has experienced record case numbers in recent days, sparked by the spread of the Omicron variant.

Early days yet, but let's all hope & plan that with the great efforts of the public, our testers & tracers, vaccination teams & all healthcare professionals will mean that at some stage we can all look back on #Omicron. We're not there yet but these actions will benefit.@HSELive  Paul Reid (@paulreiddublin) January 2, 2022

On Sunday, a further 17,071 cases of the virus were confirmed in Ireland.

There are 717 Covid-positive patients in hospital, of whom 87 are in intensive care.

HSE chief executive Paul Reid tweeted on Sunday: Early days yet, but lets all hope and plan that with the great efforts of the public, our testers and tracers, vaccination teams and all healthcare professionals will mean that at some stage we can all look back on Omicron.

He added: Were not there yet but these actions will benefit.

On RTE radio on Sunday afternoon, the HSE chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry said the health service was working on a system that would allow people to upload the names of close contacts following a positive antigen test, as opposed to a PCR test.

He also said at least 3,800 HSE frontline staff are off work due to Covid-19, whether as a close contact or because they tested positive.

While he said there was some early evidence that the Omicron variant resulted in less severe illness, Mr Reid warned of a kind of clinical conundrum in the days and weeks ahead as more cases means many people will still end up in hospital.

Certainly hospitals coming under pressure now, just by sheer force of numbers of the conversion of those greatly increased number of cases, albeit converting at a lower rate of hospitalisation, he said.
Fianna Fail TD Brendan Smith has renewed his call for a full investigation into the Belturbet bombings during which two teenagers - one from the midlands and a local girl - lost their lives.

Paddy Stanley from Clara, Co Offaly was only 16 when he was killed in a bomb blast in Belturbet, Co Cavan on December 28, 1972.

Paddy was working as an assistant, delivering gas cylinders to businesses. He and the driver had just one last stop to make but the shop they were due to make a delivery to was closed which meant they had to stay the night.

Paddy went across to a shop to phone his family to let them know he wouldn't be home until the next day. But the phone was busy so he walked to the post office.

Meanwhile a car had been left primed and waiting on the main street. The no warning explosion ripped through the town, killing Patrick and another teenager named Geraldine O'Reilly (15). Geraldine was buying chips at the time while her older brother waited for her in the car.

Meanwhile, at the Stanley home in Clara, the family believed Patrick was on his way home. They had been watching the television when they heard that three people had been injured in a bombing and the family knelt down to say a prayer for the victims and their relatives not knowing that their son and brother was one of the deceased. That was until the local priest knocked on the door to tell them the devastating news.

No one has ever been brought to justice for the bombings. Deputy Brendan Smith has renewed his call for a proper investigation into the crime.

''I repeat that I believe that there has not been an adequate or comprehensive investigation by the authorities in Northern Ireland into this bombing. I put on the record of this House, in September 2020, information that had come directly to me courtesy of the good work of Professor Edward Burke of the University of Nottingham. Professor Burke's detailed report on the activities of loyalist paramilitaries, particularly in the Cavan-Monaghan area, shows very clearly that there was collusion between some British state forces and loyalist paramilitaries in a series of attacks in Cavan and Monaghan.

One of the subheadings in Professor Burke's detailed article is: "Blowing up Belturbet: Loyalist operations in County Cavan". That article includes the following:

At approximately 9:00 p.m. on the night of December 28, a red ford escort with at least two passengers, a young man and a woman, crossed the bailey bridge at Aghalane and made its way to the nearby town of Belturbet in County Cavan. An hour and a half later, the same car exploded on Main Street, Belturbet, killing two teenagers, Geraldine OReilly (15) and Paddy Stanley (16). Twelve more people were injured, some seriously, including Geraldine OReillys brother.

At my request, the Taoiseach has raised this very important issue with the British Government on the need to address our ongoing request for a full and comprehensive investigation. We need answers and the very least the O'Reilly and Stanley families deserve is the truth having suffered decades of grief. Almost a half-century has passed since that fatal night in Belturbet. We must never forget that it is never too late to get the truth.

That bomb, with such devastating consequences, originated in our neighbouring county of Fermanagh. We talk in macro-terms about legacy issues and dealing with the past but what we are talking about here is life and death.

We cannot deal with the past without getting full cooperation from all relevant security agencies. I know many families who have lost loved ones, including the O'Reilly and Stanley families, who have not got the truth, but those families have acted over the decades with such grace and dignity. They want to get the truth and they fully realise that getting prosecutions will not be easy. Unfortunately, time is passing,'' said Deputy Smith.
(Alliance News) - Masks are returning to classrooms and plans are being drawn up for possible absence levels of up to a quarter of public sector workers as Omicron continues to spread across the country.

The moves come after a health boss warned the "next few days are crucial" in the fight to reduce the impact of the highly transmissible coronavirus variant, as NHS staff work "flat out".

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi acknowledged the variant "presents challenges", but said the government is taking steps to "bolster our support for schools" in an effort to minimise disruption when students return to their desks after the Christmas break.

Face coverings will return for secondary school pupils in England's classrooms a having already been recommended in communal areas for older students and staff.

But the supply of 7,000 new air purifiers for areas of schools where good ventilation is difficult has been branded "completely inadequate" by the NEU teaching union joint general secretary, Mary Bousted, who said that with "over 300,000 classrooms in England [the government] have failed to provide an effective solution".

Education Committee Chair Robert Halfon said mask-wearing would have a "significant impact on children's wellbeing".

In comments in the Sunday Telegraph, the Tory member of Parliament said: "The government needs to supply the evidence. If masks are not required in offices or restaurants, why are we getting young kids to put them on?"

His colleague Zahawi, writing in the same paper, said it was his "firm belief that, despite the bumps in the road that inevitably occur with a virus of this nature, we are transitioning from pandemic to endemic in this country".

"That does not mean that we can take our eye of the ball or that we can throw caution to the wind. But it does mean that there can be no excuse for our children not learning face to face in the classroom where they want and need to be," he added.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Office said that although disruption caused by Omicron has so far been controlled in "most parts of the public sector", leaders have been asked to test plans against "worst case scenarios" of 10%, 20% and 25% workforce absence rates.

It follows a call in December from Zahawi for ex-teachers to help with Covid-related staff shortages in the new year.

Boris Johnson has tasked ministers with developing "robust contingency plans" for workplace absences as the government acknowledged high Covid levels could hit businesses hard over the coming weeks.

As the rollout of boosters continues, Health Secretary Sajid Javid hailed the delivery of 132 million vaccinations across the UK throughout 2021 as "astounding and a true reflection of the fantastic work of our NHS and its volunteers".

Javid has warned that restrictions on freedom "must be an absolute last resort", but on Saturday NHS Providers Chief Executive Chris Hopson said the government "must be ready to introduce new restrictions at pace if they're needed".

The most recent rules are set to expire six weeks after implementation, with a review after three weeks, which is expected on or close to January 4.

A further 162,572 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases were recorded in England as of 9am on Saturday, a new record for daily reported cases in the nation.

By PA Reporters

source: PA

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Grade Assistant SI Shaji of the Kovalam police station has been suspended after Chief Minister Pinarayi sought a report over the controversial incident at Kovalam involving a foreign tourist.

Sub-Inspector Shaji was suspended on the orders of State Police Chief and Director General of Police Anil Kant on Saturday.

The Dutch national Steven was intercepted by police on a Kovalam road while he was returning from a BEVCO outlet after purchasing three bottles of liquor. The police team prohibited Steven to take the bottles with him without a bill, which steven didn't have. The action prompted the tourists to pour the liquor on road.

'The attitude of the police towards tourists needs to change. Such incidents can tarnish the reputation of the government and cause a setback for tourism. This cannot be allowed," PWD Minister Riyas said.
The legacy law firm from which Alex Murdaugh allegedly embezzled millions of dollars appears to be breaking up.

At least seven lawyers at Peters Murdaugh Parker Eltzroth and Detrick (PMPED), including Murdaughs brother, Randolph IV, have filed paperwork with the South Carolina Secretary of States Office to register new firms, according to FITS News. All seven have filed with the same address as the PMPED offices, but its unclear how the new firms will function.

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PMPED, founded by Murdaughs great-grandfather in 1910, sued him in October, claiming he was able to covertly steal these funds by disguising disbursements from settlements as payments to a fraudulent bank account.

[ The Murdaugh family mysteries: a timeline of murders, cryptic deaths, scandals and power ]

Alex Murdaugh was sued by his former law firm in October. (Mic Smith/AP)

Alex Murdaugh was able to use this business relationship in conjunction with his fictitious and misleading business name to draft checks from PMPEDs client trust account and deposit those checks into his personal Bank of America account, the lawsuit reads.

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Its unclear how long Murdaugh had allegedly been stealing from PMPED, but the law firm said they only became aware of the systematic scheme in early September as Murdaughs world unraveled following the murders of his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, on June 7.

The name the redirected checks were written out to, Forge, was the same one on checks meant for the family of Murdaughs longtime housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who died after falling at their house in 2018. He was pulled out of rehab in mid-October and charged with charged with two felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses. Satterfields sons have also sued Murdaugh, accusing him of stealing the insurance payouts.

Murdaugh has also been charged with insurance fraud for trying to stage his own murder so he could direct his life insurance to his surviving son, Buster. He survived, however, and eventually admitted the scheme to police.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's future at Arsenal remains uncertain, with Newcastle United willing to take advantage of his situation and bring him to St James' Park this January.

The Gabon international was recently stripped of the captaincy at Arsenal following an internal disciplinary issue and has not participated in any of the Gunners' last six games.

As reported by the Mirror, Newcastle has already made contact with Arsenal as they look to take Aubameyang on loan, with the deal potentially including the chance to make it permanent in the summer for 20 million pounds.

Aubameyang has already been given permission to join up with his national team for the Africa Cup of Nations, and it will come as a welcome break for the 32-year-old as he no longer appears to be in Mikel Arteta's plans at the Emirates Stadium.

Newcastle need signings

Meanwhile, Newcastle desperately need to strengthen their squad as they look to avoid relegation this season, with the new wealthy owners prepared to invest in order to beef up the team with quality signings.

"January, as I said many times, is notoriously difficult to predict and to have a clear plan at this moment is still virtually impossible because there's twists and turns to come," said Newcastle boss Eddie Howe last month.

"The group of players we have here is my and has been my main focus, will continue to be my main focus because as you say, getting the best out of every single one of those players is the key to us staying up."
Leeds United left it late as they returned to winning ways in the Premier League with a 3-1 victory over Burnley at Elland Road on Sunday.

Maxwel Cornet had cancelled out Jack Harrison's first-half strike, before Stuart Dallas and Daniel James secured the points for Marcelo Bielsa's side.

The home side were ahead after 39 minutes, as Harrison's strike was saved by Wayne Hennessey before the winger squeezed home a right-footed effort.

Burnley were level with 54 minutes on the clock, as second-half substitute Cornet curled a stunning freekick into the top corner past Ilan Meslier.

Leeds were ahead with just under a quarter of an hour remaining, as the ball found its way to Dallas on the edge of the box, who guided home a fine left-footed effort beyond Hennessey.

The points were secured in second-half stoppage time, as James' header was parried by Hennessey, before the ball rolled over the line.

It was a crucial win for Leeds, who sit in 16th position on 19 points, as they moved eight points clear of Burnley, who sit in 18th position on 11 points.
Betty White, a Hollywood icon for 70 years who had enjoyed stunning success in films such as 'Golden Girls', died at the age of 99 on December 31.

White had enjoyed good health, and the news of her passing came as a shock, with her 100th birthday coming up on January 17.

Just three days before she died, her Instagram account celebrated her latest cover story in People Magazine, with the caption: "Betty White Turns 100!"

"My 100th birthday... I cannot believe it is coming up, and People Magazine is celebrating with me!" White tweeted.

"The new issue ... is available on newsstands nationwide tomorrow."
A Los Angeles police officer has been left shattered by the death of a 14-year-old girl, who he mistakenly shot inside a Burlington Coat Factory just ahead of the holidays.

Valentina Orellana-Peralta was trying on Christmas dresses when gunfire erupted inside the North Hollywood store on Dec. 23. The shots were fired by Officer William Jones, who was formally identified by his lawyer in the New York Times on Thursday. He was responding at the time to reports of a man swinging bike locks at women, leaving a least one of them bloody.

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Los Angeles police Officer William Dorsey Jones Jr. (LAPD Handout)

Surveillance footage and body-cam video released by authorities show an officer firing three shots in the direction of suspect Daniel Elena-Lopez. Police believe one bullet fatally struck 24-year-old Elena-Lopez while the other pierced through the dressing room wall and hit Orellana-Peralta.

The teen was pronounced dead on the scene.

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A woman wipes her eye as police officers investigate the scene where two people were struck by gunfire in a shooting at a Burlington store as part of a chain formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory in North Hollywood, Calif., on Dec. 23, 2021. (Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP)

This is something he says that he will be living with every day for the rest of his life. He is trying to figure out a process to keep moving forward when he knows her family cant, Jones attorney, Leslie Wilcox, told The Mercury News. Hes just shattered.

Wilcox added that Jones was acting the way he was trained and that its been hard for him to see it as it is being portrayed.

The California Department of Justice is investigating the shooting inside the Burlington Coat Factory.
The Colorado police officer who fatally shot gunman Lyndon McLeod after he killed five people is continuing her recovery in a local hospital.

Ashley Ferris, of the Lakewood Police Department, remains in stable condition Sunday, a spokesperson told the Daily News.

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Ferris, a three-year veteran of the force, was shot in the abdomen Monday before she shot and killed McLeod near a Hyatt hotel in the Denver suburb, according to police.

Lakewood Police Officer Ashley Ferris (Lakewood Police Dept.)

All of us at the Lakewood Police Department are incredibly proud of Agent Ferris and the bravery shown by her and her fellow law enforcement officers during this active shooter situation, Lakewood Police Chief Dan McCasky said in a statement Wednesday after Ferris was identified.

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The entire Lakewood Police family will be here to support Agent Ferris and her family as she embarks on this recovery process.

[ Denver gunman self-published gruesome novels filled with murder ]

McLeod, 47, first fatally shot two women around 5:25 p.m. local time at a Denver tattoo parlor  owner Alicia Cardenas, 44, and Alyssa Gun Maldonado  and injured Maldonados husband, Jimmy, who worked there. At a nearby residence, he fired but did not shoot anyone.

He then moved to another home and killed 67-year-old Michael Swinyard.

Lyndon McLeod

McLeod traded gunfire with Denver police officers, then fled to Lakewood, where he fatally shot 38-year-old Danny Scofield inside another tattoo shop. He fled again, this time on foot, and ran into a Hyatt hotel and fatally shot the desk clerk, 28-year-old Sarah Steck.

Thats when Ferris caught up to McLeod and ordered him to drop his weapon. He refused and shot her in the stomach and she responded with the fatal shot.

In self-published novels released between 2018 and 2020 and discovered after the rampage, McLeod, writing under the pen name Roman McClay, wrote of similar shootings at tattoo shops, even naming two victims after Cardenas and Swinyard.

Its unclear how McLeod knew the two and a spokesperson for the Denver Police Department told The News Thursday that it appears there were personal and/or business-related connections between the suspect and the victims.
In summer 2020, The New York Times coordinated a nationwide project to document the lives of Americans out of work because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study involved collaborating with 11 other local newsrooms around the U.S. The Messenger-Inquirer was the only newspaper from Kentucky in the collaboration. The resulting collection of stories was published Oct. 23, 2020, in the New York Times print edition and at nytimes.com/outofwork. The following list is the Messenger-Inquirer's local unemployment coverage from that time period; read more by clicking the "New York Times Project" header. Click on "Out Of Work In America" to go to the full
Mackenzie Bell, a 15-year-old fiddle player from Ohio County, said she hopes to inspire other young people with her music in her new position as an official Titanic crew member at the Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge.

Bell, who has played the fiddle since she was 8 years old, first played at the Titanic Museum earlier this year when the Wallace Hartley violin was on exhibit.

The violin was owned by Hartley, the Titanic bandleader who brought the violin on the ship for its first and last voyage and, along with his seven other band members, continued playing as the ship sank.

Although none of the band members survived, the violin did, and Bell got to play in front of it for museum guests.

That was in May, and when Bell recently returned to play again, the museum invited her to be an official Titanic crew member.

The position, she said, entails playing the violin for guests and talking to them about the Titanic.

When the tour groups come into the music gallery, I get to tell them a little about the Titanic and the role that music played on the Titanic, and I get to show the young people there the violin, she said. Its a great responsibility, and I hope that Im able to do it well.

Bell grew up in Ohio County, the birthplace of Bluegrass music and the home of Bill Monroe.

She became interested in playing the fiddle at a young age after watching someone from her church play, and she began lessons shortly after.

Bell works hard to play the fiddle and continue progressing on the instrument, practicing at least once a week and playing at local events, festivals, contests and nursing homes.

She said playing gives her a chance to meet people, to travel and to express herself.

Outside of becoming a crew member, Bell is also working to release a new CD.

The CD will have original Irish tunes and live recordings.

Bell said she is also practicing to prepare for the upcoming Kentucky State Fiddle Contest in March, which she participated in last year. While she did not place, Bell said she still had a lot of fun and was able to meet new people.

Bell said she is excited for the upcoming year of events and looks forward to making more appearances at the Titanic Museum. She hopes that she can inspire others to follow their dreams.

I like the responsibility, and I like helping young people, she said. If they can see me and believe that anything you want to do, you can. You just have to work for it, and you have to really have a lot of patience.

Christie Netherton, cnetherton@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-691-7360
For more than 30 years, the Daviess County Public Schools system has partnered with a local counseling service to provide employees and their families with an Employee Assistance Program.

The EAP is a benefit provided free of charge to all district employees. Employees can anonymously access the counseling service through Owensboro Health, the districts current partnership for the services, and can seek support for a variety of needs, including stress, anxiety, depression and more, according to Amy Shutt, DCPS assistant superintendent for human services.

According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, EAPs are voluntary, work-based programs that offer free and confidential assessments, short-term counseling and more to employees who have personal and/or work-related problems.

While the district recognized years ago the need for mental health support for staff members and their families, there has been a nationwide renewed focus on these types of services since the beginning of the pandemic, Shutt said.

The need for this kind of aid for everyone has never been greater than now, she said.

Within the last two years, DCPS, along with districts across the commonwealth, have increased supports for students by hiring more counselors. This, along with social-emotional learning and other programming intended to foster positivity for students, has been paid for through federal coronavirus relief funds.

School staff members give a lot to students every day, and its important to encourage them to also maintain healthy life and work-family balances, Shutt said.

The district strives to be employee focused by supporting the overall well-being of employees, which includes mental health, she said.

The EAP is one area of many that the district provides that support.

During the spring semester, the district will be encouraging staff to participate in monthly wellness activities.

Mental health and physical health are connected, and we want every employee to be the best version of themselves each day, Shutt said. To put kids first, we must focus on overall health and support our employees.

Jared Revlett, Owensboro Public Schools public information officer, also recognizes the importance of providing these services for employees, especially at this time.

He said the city school district offers similar supports as DCPS for its employees, but through its current benefits program. It doesnt have an EAP.

An EAP is something the district is exploring to incorporate in the future, he said.

Bobbie Hayse, bhayse@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-691-7315
Last summer, the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum created a 13-episode television series, My Bluegrass Story, which was scheduled to begin airing on RFD-TV in November.

Then, it was pushed back to December.

Now, its looking like January.

Carly Smith, the Hall of Fames marketing director, said shell notify the media when a date is set for the show to debut.

Chris Joslin, the Hall of Fames executive director, said earlier that the 30-minute shows will serve as a marketing tool for both the Hall of Fame and the community.

In 2012, when The Cumberland Highlanders had a show on RFD-TV that taped on Jerusalem Ridge in Ohio County, Campbell Mercer, who was executive director of the Jerusalem Ridge Bluegrass Music Foundation, estimated that 84% of the people who attended the Jerusalem Ridge festival came because of the television show.

Joslin said he expects the new series to bring more people to Owensboro to visit the Hall of Fame and to attend ROMP.

The shows are filmed inside the museum with artists interacting with artifacts and talking about their careers.

They also perform songs there.

The shows also feature clips of the artists performances at past ROMP festivals, Joslin said.

Guests on this years series include Del McCoury, Doyle Lawson, Dan Tyminski, Rhonda Vincent, Tammy Rogers of The SteelDrivers, Darin and Brooke Aldridge, Russell Moore, Becky Buller, Joe Mullins, Noah Wall of The Barefoot Movement, Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley and Tony Kamel.

Joslin said each season will feature 13 episodes that will be shown three times a week and then re-aired.

The episodes will also be available for streaming at any time after they appear on the network, he said.

We feel its very authentic that a show about bluegrass music comes from Kentucky and from the genres most important destination, Jeremiah Davis, programming director with Rural Media Group Inc., said earlier in a news release. The production quality is top notch, and we feel certain our audience will be drawn to the show. We are excited about adding My Bluegrass Story to our programming schedule.

Joslin said hes hoping the new series will lead to more television shows, including some live shows from the Hall of Fame, either on RFD-TV or other outlets.

Television programming is a way to advertise the Hall of Fame on a limited budget, Joslin said.

270-691-7301 klawrence@messenger-inquirer.com
Rain that swept across the region brought more than 2 inches of rainfall to some counties, closing some state roadways. The rainfall will have a delayed impact and is expected to cause the Ohio River to exceed flood stage in Owensboro later this week.

Meanwhile, winter will finally arrive and bring freezing temperatures, which prompted officials who work with the homeless to implement their White Flag emergency shelter plan for tonight.

Sean Poulos, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Paducah, said Owensboro had received between 1.5 and 1.75 inches of rainfall by Saturday afternoon. By that point, the storm threat had largely shifted to the south, so no more than 2 inches of rainfall was expected in the city, Poulos said.

Other areas were hit harder. Muhlenberg County had received 2.6 inches of rain as of Saturday afternoon. Muhlenberg County 911 said there was standing water on some roads, but no roads were closed because of flooding.

The highest (rainfall) right now in western Kentucky is 4.07 inches in Murray, Poulos said.

Ohio County received 2.34 inches of rain over 24 hours, Poulos said. Portions of Kentucky 273, Kentucky 2670 and Kentucky 69 in Ohio County were closed Saturday evening due to high water, according to the state highway department office in Madisonville.

Further south, a strong storm damaged businesses and homes in Hopkinsville, according to media reports. Poulos said the NWS would send damage assessments to Hopkinsville to determine if the storm caused a tornado.

Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency for multiple counties affected by the storms. In addition to the possible tornado in Hopkinsville, a tornado was reported to have touched down in Taylor County, damaging multiple homes, according to a release from Beshears office.

No more precipitation is forecast for Daviess County until possibly Wednesday night, but the weekend rainfall will cause the Ohio River to exceed flood stage in Owensboro on Thursday. Flood stage is 40.0 feet, and the river is anticipated to reach 40.9 feet Thursday, Poulos said.

Much colder weather is in the forecast for much of the week. Daytime highs will be in the mid-30s Sunday and Monday, will climb into the 40s on Tuesday and Wednesday, but will only reach the mid to upper 20s Thursday and Friday.

Wind chill Sunday will probably start the day in the mid 20s and not budge much, Poulos said. The overnight low on Thursday is expected to be 9 degrees, Poulos said.

A White Flag cold weather event has been issued for Daviess County for Sunday evening, which means a temporary shelter will be opened at Owensboro Christian Church if people needing shelter from the cold cant find room at the Daniel Pitino Shelter or St. Benedicts Homeless Shelter.

If the Pitino Shelter and St. Benedicts are full, transportation will be provided to take people from the Pitino Shelter to Owensboro Christian Church at 6:15 p.m.

People can call the Pitino Shelter at 270-688-9000, and St. Benedicts at 270-541-1003, to see if beds are available and if the warming center will be open.

There is a slight chance of snow on Wednesday night and another chance of snow on Thursday.

Winter looks like it is finally showing up, Poulos said.

James Mayse, 270-691-7303, jmayse@messenger-inquirer.com, Twitter: @JamesMayse
Controversial Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was kicked off Twitter on Sunday for spreading misinformation about COVID-19.

The Republican congresswomans personal account has been permanently suspended for repeated violations, the social media company confirmed to the Daily News.

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Weve been clear that, per our strike system for this policy, we will permanently suspend accounts for repeated violations of the policy, a spokesman said in a statement to The News.

The strike system, introduced in March, featured five different levels: no action for the first strike, a 12-hour account lock for the second, another 12-hour lock for the third, a seven-day lock for the fourth and permanent suspension for the fifth.

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The Twitter spokesman would not clarify which of Greenes tweets earned her strikes.

Marjorie Taylor Greenes personal Twitter account has been banned. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Breaking News As it happens Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. >

The right-wing politicians professional account remains active.

Twitter is an enemy to America and cant handle the truth, Greene said in a statement Sunday after her ban. Thats fine, Ill show America we dont need them and its time to defeat our enemies. They cant successfully complete a Communist revolution when people tell the truth.

Greenes personal account was suspended in August after Twitter marked her tweet about the failing vaccines as misleading. Shed previously been suspended in January for spreading conspiracy theories about the Georgia Senate runoff elections and in July for more COVID-19 misinformation.

In response to her bans, Greene has previously accused Silicon Valley companies like Twitter of doing the bidding of the Biden regime to restrict our voices and prevent the spread of any message that isnt state-approved.

Social media sites have been accused of failing to curb the spread of misinformation on their platforms on topics like COVID-19 and conspiracy theories.

Former President Donald Trump was similarly banned from both Facebook and Twitter in January for election lies that incited the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Greenes anti-vax stance has played out in person as well as online: she has been fined almost $50,000 by the House Ethics Committee for violating its mask mandate, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Read the original article on Business Insider.

While millions of fans mourn the beloved television star Betty White, who passed away on Friday at the age of 99, the US Army paid tribute to the comedian for one of her earliest and most significant roles  as a volunteer during World War II.

In a statement released on Friday, the military branch lamented the death of White and detailed her association with the armed services.

"We are saddened by the passing of Betty White," the Army said in a statement on Twitter. "Not only was she an amazing actress, she also served during WWII as a member of the American Women's Voluntary Services. A true legend on and off the screen."

White found work modeling in the late 1930s, but put her larger aspirations on hold during World War II in order to work with the American Women's Voluntary Services (AWVS) in 1941.

The AWVS sent female volunteers to take on roles including firefighting, ambulance and truck driving, and aerial photography.

During an interview with Cleveland magazine in 2010, White said that her assignment consisted of driving a PX truck of supplies to barracks in the Hollywood Hills  while attending dances for departing troops at night.

"It was a strange time and out of balance with everything," White told the magazine, "which I'm sure the young people are going through now."

White, a staple on numerous game shows including "Password" and "The Hollywood Squares" from the 1960s through the 1980s, was also well-known for her roles as Sue Ann Nivens on the 1970s CBS sitcom "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," Rose Nylund on the NBC sitcom "The Golden Girls," and Elka Ostrovsky on the TV Land sitcom "Hot in Cleveland."


How to use the mindat.org media viewer

Click/touch this help panel to close it.

Welcome to the mindat.org media viewer. Here is a quick guide to some of the options available to you. Different controls are available depending on the type of media being shown (photo, video, animation, 3d image)

Controls - all media types

Zoom in and out of media using your mousewheel or with a two-finger 'resize' action on a touch device.

Use the mouse or your finger to drag the image or the view area of the image around the screen.

< and > at the left and right hand side of the screen move forwards and backwards for the other images associated with the media you selected. Usually this is used for previous/next photo in a gallery, in an article or in search results. Keyboard shortcuts: use shift + the left and right arrow keys.

< and > in the bottom center are used for switching between the photos of the same specimen. Keyboard shortcuts: use the left and right arrow keys.

> in the bottom center, raises the information box giving details and further options for the media, < at the top of this box then hides it. Keyboard shortcuts: use the up and down arrow keys.

? opens this help window. Keyboard shortcuts: use the H key or the ? key.

Other keyboard shortcuts:

1 Fit image to screen 2 Fill screen with image 5 Display at full resolution < Make background darker > Make background lighter space Hide/dim titles and buttons

Scalebar

If the field of view (FOV) is specified for the photo, the scalebar appears in the left bottom corner of the viewer. The scalebar is draggable and resizeable. Drag the right edge to resize it. Double click will reset the scalebar to it's default size and position. If the scalebar is in default position, double click will make it circular.

Controls - Video

Video files have a standard set of video controls: - Reset to start, - Skip back, - Play, - Pause, - Skip forwards. Keyboard shortcuts: You can stop/start video play with the P key.

Controls - Animation (Spin Rotation)

Animation (usually 360 degree spin rotations) have their own controls: - enable spin mode. Note that while images are loading this option will not be available but will be automatically activated when the animation has loaded. Once active you can spin the image/change the animation by moving your mouse or finger on the image left/right or by pressing the [ or ] keys.

The button switches to move mode so that you can use your mouse/fingers to move the image around the screen as with other media types.

The button, or the P key will start playing the animation directly, you can interrupt this by using the mouse or finger on the image to regain manual movement control.

Controls - 3D Stereoscopic images

If a stereoscopic 3D image is opened in the viewer, the 3D button appears in the bottom right corner giving access to "3D settings" menu. The 3D images can be viewed in several ways:

- without any special equipment using cross-eyed or parallel-eyed method

- with stereoscope

- with anaglyph glasses.

- on a suitable 3D TV or monitor (passive 3D system)

For details about 3D refer to: Mindat manuals: Mindat Media Viewer: 3D

To enable/disable 3D stereo display of a compatible stereo pair image press the 3 key. If the left/right images are reversed on your display (this often happens in full-screen mode) press the 4 key to reverse them.

Controls - photo comparison mode

If a photo with activated comparison mode is opened in the viewer, the button appears in the bottom right corner giving access to "Comparison mode settings" menu.

Several layouts are supported: slider and side by-side comparison with up to 6 photos shown synchronously on the screen. On each of the compared photos a view selector is placed, e.g.: Longwave UV . It shows the name of currently selected view and allows to select a view for each placeholder.

Summary of all keyboard shortcuts
A series of pre-lockout reports suggested there could be a broad sell-off coming in Oakland. Barring the introduction of a fairly high salary floor in the next collective bargaining agreement, the As seem likely to move some of their costlier players in an effort to trim payroll.

That sell-off has yet to begin, as the trade market didnt pick up a ton of steam before the transactions freeze. Its generally expected that the As could be among the most active teams coming out of the lockout, with their pair of star infielders (Matt Olson and Matt Chapman) and trio of starters with dwindling club control (Chris Bassitt, Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas) drawing plenty of attention from rival fanbases. Bullpen-needy teams could also look to Oakland, in particular to closer Lou Trivino.

A former 11th-round pick, Trivino has been a bullpen workhorse since making his major league debut in 2018. Hes never required an injured list stint and has eclipsed 60 innings in each of the last three full seasons. Despite taking on significant workloads, Trivino has been consistently effective, working to a sub-4.00 ERA in three of his four campaigns. Going back to the start of 2020, he owns a 3.34 mark over 97 frames, holding opponents to a .211/.305/.313 slash line.

ERA estimators havent quite been as bullish as those strong results. While he posted plus strikeout and swing-and-miss numbers early in his career, both have ticked down in recent seasons. His 21.6% strikeout percentage last year was more than two points lower than average for relievers, while his 10.2% swinging strike rate fell below the league mark for the first season of his career. And Trivino has never had great control, walking batters at a 10% clip or greater each season.

In large part due to that unspectacular strikeout and walk profile, both SIERA and FIP have pegged him closer to a high-3.00s ERA type. Hes benefitted from a rather low opponents batting average on balls in play, no doubt in part due to the strong defenses the As run out behind him. Yet Trivino has also done his part to avoid especially damaging contact, particularly when put in favorable situations.

In each of his four seasons, the rightys average exit velocity allowed has been a touch lower than the league mark. His performance becomes more notable when isolating Trivinos performance against same-handed batters. Righties have an 86.1 MPH average exit velocity against him over the past two years, a mark thats among the bottom quarter of pitchers leaguewide (minimum 500 offerings). Thanks in large part to that contact suppression, the Pennsylvania native has dominated righty hitters. Since the start of 2020, theyve mustered only a .169/.261/.232 line against him. Trivinos strikeout rate against righties is a solid 24.9%, and hes induced ground-balls at a strong 47% clip.

As one might guess, hes been far less effective against opposite-handed hitters. Lefties are hitting .271/.367/.431 against Trivino in that time. His 20.5% strikeout percentage and 88.5 MPH average exit velocity when at a platoon disadvantage are well worse than his numbers against righties. His walk rate has a similar discrepancy. With the platoon advantage, its a manageable 9.3%; against left-handers, hes walked an untenable 13.3% of opponents.

Those platoon splits probably make him an imperfect fit for a defined closers role, particularly in a less pitcher-friendly park than Oaklands Coliseum and/or in front of a lesser defense. Trivino could be a highly valuable situational option, though, a weapon for a manager to call on against lineups top right-handed bats. The three-batter minimum makes it impossible to shield him from lefties entirely, yet an acquiring club could at least mitigate his platoon troubles by avoiding using him against opponents best left-handed hitters when possible.

Trivino wouldnt be as impactful a pickup as any of Oaklands position player or rotation stalwarts. Hes a good reliever with a particularly strong skill for handling righty bats, though. With essentially every contender on the hunt for bullpen help, he should draw interest coming out of the lockout, and it stands to reason the As would be amenable to moving him.

While Trivinos $2.9MM projected arbitration salary isnt onerous, hes already 30 years old and down to his final three years of club control. The As arent likely to go into a full rebuild, but even if theyre only entertaining a one or two-year step back, Trivino should be available. His arbitration salaries will continue to rise over the coming seasons, particularly if he remains in the closers role in Oakland and accumulates a number of saves.

Barring a dominant 2022 showing, his trade value probably wont increase over the coming months. Even if the As were to retool quickly and have a contending roster in place again by 2023 or 2024, Trivinos arbitration price by that point may be too high for their liking. He probably wont be the first player moved out of Oakland and certainly wont grab the most headlines, but Trivino looks like a strong trade candidate whenever teams are permitted to again discuss MLB deals.
Vice President Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has charged Ghanaians to exercise a high sense of religious tolerance to help sustain the current peace the country is enjoying.

He says the country is the second most peaceful country in Africa and first in West Africa and as a result, Ghanaians should not take it for granted.

He has thus urged Christians and Muslims to co-exist peacefully with one another, devoid of religious tensions.

The Vice President made this statement when he visited the Breman Ebenezer Methodist Church, St. Peters Cathedral and Ayigya Pentecost Church in Kumasi for the 31st December watch night service.

We are very united as a country, notwithstanding our diversity, the Vice President said.

Sometimes we take it for granted. Until you move to other countries, you don't know how we are blessed as a country. We are a peaceful country.

He added that the emergence of Covid-19 has adversely affected the economy, which the government is working to make the lives of Ghanaians better.

The economic boom that we were building has been slowed down by Covid-19. We want to resume it, and so we want to pray and continue to pray that we do that, Dr. Bawumia said.

Speaking at the Ayigya Pentecost Church, he also urged Ghanaians to strictly adhere to the Covid-19 safety protocols in order to bring the situation under control.
02.01.2022 LISTEN

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia on Friday joined the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu and Muslims in Kumasi for a special end-of-year Quran recitation and prayer session for the country and the sub-region.

The special ceremony, held at the Central Mosque in Kumasi after Jummah prayers, had the former Emir of Kano and Leader of the Tijaaniya Order in Nigeria, Mohammed Sanusi Lamidor ll in attendance, alongside top Islamic scholars.

After the congregational Friday prayers, Jummah, worshipers converged at the forecourt of the mosque for the special intercession.

The entire Qur'an was recited by scholars, and after that, special prayers were said for the country, its leadership as well as the sub-region.

VP BAWUMIA CALLS FOR CONTINUOUS TOLERANCE

Speaking at the ceremony, Vice President Bawumia urged his fellow Muslims to continue to cherish the peace Ghana has by continously coexisting peacefully with community members of different beliefs.

"Peace is a valuable favour from the Almighty Allah, which we often take for granted. We often see the value of peace only when there are troubles, but this should not be the case," Dr. Bawumia said.

"As we pray to the Almighty Allah to grant us more peace and prosperity in the upcoming year, I wish to urge my brothers and sisters, and mothers and fathers gathered here, and beyond, to continue to play our parts in our small communities to promote diversity and tolerance, regardless of one's belief."

The Vice President added that the present structure of the country's leadership is a reflection of the Ghanaian society, assuring that government will continue uphold its responsibility to promote peace.

"Our government, with Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as President and myself as Vice President, is a reflection of a diverse Ghanaian society," Dr. Bawumia noted.

"There is therefore a responsibility on us to continue to cherish this diversity, and promote same for the benefit of our country. This we have been doing, and we will continue to do so," the Vice President assured.

MOHAMMED SANUSI PRAYS FOR GHANA

The Special Guest for the ceremony, HRH Sanusi Lamido II, who led Jummah prayers earlier, prayed for the leadership of the country, the continent and the people of Ghana.

He urged all to pray for the countrys leadership because when God guides them well to lead, the people benefit.

Sanusi Lamidor, the 14th Emir of Kano State, and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, reserved special praise for the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for his good leadership qualities.

"I will like to join all of you in testifying that you have in him (Bawumia) a great leader with great potential," Mohammed Sanusi II said as he prayed for Ghana and the sub region.
Stephen Asamoah Boateng, an aspiring National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has called for proactive and robust party communication on the numerous government policies and programmes to raise the hopes of the electorates ahead of the 2024 election.

He said the NPP needed robust communicators to harp government's good works, which made the Party a better steward of managing the nation's resources.

We need the strength of our highly oiled Research and Intelligence Outfit (RIO) to put the right people at the right places in our party structures and keep an eagle eye on our environment to succeed in the 2024 polls, he said.

Giving his New Year message in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at his residency, Mr Boateng called on the populace to thank God for the mercies and grace showered on them throughout last year.

"Let's thank God for His grace and mercies in the difficult times we all experienced - illnesses including the Covid-19 pandemic, poverty; financial instability and unemployment, he said.

Mr Boateng advised colleague politicians to recognise their roles as stewards of the country pay attention to their core mandate of nation-building, which must be their priority.

We in the NPP, as well as our cousins in the National Democratic Congress, cannot wish away our differences, but we should always remember that we do have a common interests and, the foremost among them is to avoid destroying our only dear country, Ghana, he added.

He charged the party faithful to renew their faith to work together as a unit and build bridges between the government and the grassroots.

He told them to show love and care for each other to remain eternally strong in solving the critical challenges confronting the nation.

Strength is essential to engage constructively with our opponents. If we're weak, we can do nothing. Strength is more than physical fighting, for our opponents know that we don't fear them and we also know that they don't fear us.

Equally important is the spirit of unity among ourselves, by bringing all on board - past and present - by not speaking ill against our own party person, by being truthful and honest with each other.

"This way God/Allah will bless us to continue to run the affairs of our dear nation beyond the 2024 watershed.

GNA
New York City may require its workers to get COVID vaccine booster shots, Mayor Adams said on Sunday, after the city set a new record for coronavirus cases.

The entire municipal workforce already has had to have the standard vaccinations since November, and the city will examine the numbers to decide if a booster mandate is needed for teachers, cops and other workers, Adams said on ABCs This Week.

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Thats our next move and decision, the new mayor said. If we feel we have to get to the place of making that mandatory, were going to do that, but were encouraging them to do it now.

New York Mayor Eric Adams bikes to work on his second day in office. (@nyc.gov Handout)

On Adams first day in office on Saturday, he signed an executive order extending his predecessor Bill de Blasios Key to NYC policies. Those include requirements for people to show proof of vaccination at most indoor settings and a controversial mandate for on-site employees at private businesses to get jabbed.

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New York City logged 49,724 positive COVID tests on Friday, according to Gov. Hochuls office, a new daily record as the omicron variant of the virus continued to prompt an alarming nationwide spike.

That number dipped on Saturday, although the citys seven-day average of positive COVID tests remained above 20% for the second day in a row.

Eighty-three people throughout the state died on Saturday, bringing the death toll to 61,242, according to the governors office.

Adams, who rode a Citi Bike to ABCs studio on Sunday, said the citys response would evolve with changes in the pandemic.

New York's new mayor, Eric Adams, rode a bike to work on his second day in office. (@nyc.gov Handout)

If we close down our city, it is as dangerous as COVID, he said. Thats what our focus must be  so that proper balance of safety, keeping our economy operating is going to allow us to get through that.

Roughly four out of five New Yorkers have gotten at least one vaccine shot, according to the city Health Department.

The mayor used blunt language to urge holdouts to get jabbed.

I say to those who are not vaccinated: Stop it, he said. Its time to get vaccinated. Its time to have the booster shots. Youre endangering yourselves, and youre endangering the public and your family, as well.

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City schools reopen on Monday after the winter break.

Fear not sending them back, Adams said, addressing parents. The stats are clear  the safest place for children is inside the school.

An expanded COVID testing program awaits students, but parents must opt in for their children to participate.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 80 Edith and Jose Torres, parents of EMT Lt. Edith Torres, pose for a photo on Friday, Oct. 15, 2021 in Queens. (Barry Williams/for New York Daily News)

At a news conference later on Sunday, Adams said he would love to require all students to get COVID tests but said only the state government can implement such a mandate. Thats even though the city has set numerous policies for the public school system without needing a green light from Albany since the pandemic began.

Im hoping that somehow we can get the authority to do so, Adams said of mandating tests for students.

Adams begins his term as the city is facing a number of daunting challenges, from the pandemic to rising crime.

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Last year, the Big Apple logged nearly 500 murders for the first time in a decade.

Nevertheless, the mayor has been playing a booster role in public, insisting that New York is back at his swearing-in at Times Square after the stroke of midnight on New Years Day.

Adams on Sunday compared the current crises to the aftermath of 9/11.

I could always reflect on Sept. 11, 2001, he told MSNBC. People looked at our city and they focused on the 11th. I didnt. I focused on the 12th. We got up, retailers sold goods, teachers taught, builders built.

And thats where we are now. These moments may seem dark  but were resilient and were going to cycle out of COVID, regrow our economy and ensure that our city is safe.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called on the feds to prioritize New York State for distributing new antiviral COVID treatments.

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Two pill treatments were approved by the Food and Drug Administration last month  Mercks Molnupiravir and Pfizers Paxlovid. Paxlovid was found to reduce the risk of hospitalization or death by 88% and Molnupiravir by 30%.

We are No. 1 in terms of COVID cases, we are No. 1 in terms of density, we are No. 1 in terms of per capita [infections], and so we deserve to get as many of these antivirals as quickly as possible and as many as possible, the New York Democrat said.

The Department of Health and Human Services sent about 300,000 treatment courses of Molnupiravir and 65,000 of Paxlovid around the country last month, according to NPR. A prescription is needed for the drugs, which are being reserved for severe cases of infection.
Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has urged religious groups to support Members of Parliament in prayers to prevent instances where chaos erupts on the floor of the house.

As a result of the hung Parliament, members of the majority and minority sides of the eighth Parliament have had a number of disagreements in recent times. In some instances, some MPs have been captured exchanging blows.

The most recent incident occurred on 20th December 2021, which has been widely condemned by various groups.

Speaking on 31st December watch night service at the St. Peters Cathedral Minor Basilica at Roman Hill in Kumasi, the Vice President called on Ghanaians to pray for President Akufo-Addo for wisdom in order to help him govern the country to ensure development.

He, however, stressed on the need for Ghanaians to pray for MPs to prevent the chaos which has characterised the house in recent times.

Pray for the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the Lord to grant him the wisdom to properly govern this country to ensure development. Pray for peace in the country.

Pray also for our Members of Parliament so that there wouldnt be chaos on the floor of the house. We need peace in Parliament. I hope the parliamentarians here have heard it.
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is accusing the governing New Patriotic Party of double-dealing in the selection of both the first and second deputy speakers of Parliament.

General Secretary of the party, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah who has opened up on how Speaker Alban Bagbins deputies were elected said although the NPP had pleaded with the NDC parliamentarians for those two choices to be made, the governing party deployed trickery despite the NDCs good faith and interest in the countrys parliamentary democracy.

Mr. Nketiah said this was evident in the utterances of the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, moments after the selection of Alban Bagbin as Speaker.

Speaking at the 40th Anniversary commemoration of the 31st December Revolution in Accra last Friday, the NDCs chief scribe mentioned that they allowed the NPP to have its way, to build consensus, and maintain peace in the country.

The leadership of NPP came to Parliament and actually came to beg us to allow them to select a first deputy speaker and in the end, word was sent from the Presidency that they are also begging, so we agreed. Still, they persisted and virtually begged us that they do not want to disgrace Ghana.

NDC does not want this country destroyed, so we agreed. Immediately, we agreed, the first statement that came from Osei-Kyei-Mensah after the swearing-in was that, we begged them and that there was no election in Parliament to select a first deputy speaker.

Those of you accusing NDC of not being interested in negotiations should listen carefully. As if that was not enough, immediately after the second deputy speaker was selected, he also addressed the press and declared his support for the NPP. What does that mean? [It meant] that the NPP used trickery to select the two deputy speakers. Election of Speakers for 8th Parliament

The tight Speaker of Parliament race in January 2021, saw Mr. Bagbin winning the election by two votes against former Speaker, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye.

The outcome of that election remains a major shock to the New Patriotic Party which had wanted to consolidate its grip on power by securing majority representation in Parliament and getting its proposed Speaker of Parliament nominee, Prof. Oquaye maintained.

Following that keenly contested election that was characterised by several controversial events that lasted several hours, many feared that there may be calls for separate elections to be conducted for the first and second Deputy Speakers instead of them being hand-picked as has been done in the past.

However, a crunch meeting with the leadership of the NDC and NPP in Parliament as well as General Secretaries of the NDC and the NPP in attendance, concluded that the Bekwai MP, Joseph Osei-Owusu and Fomena MP, Andrews Amoako Asiamah be selected as first and second Deputy Speakers, respectively.

The NPP side proposed one of its members, Joseph Osei-Owusu while the NDC side selected Andrews Amoako Asiamah, who is an independent candidate.

Both sides agreed to the proposals.

citinewsroom
02.01.2022 LISTEN

The National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Ofosu Ampofo says the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu comes across as a leader who does not want to build consensus.

The former Fanteakwa North MP says Kyei-Mensah-Bonsus utterances and posture in the legislature have largely contributed to recent rancour and wrangling in the first year of the 8th Parliament.

Samuel Ofosu Ampofo indicated that for both sides of the house to build consensus and achieve maximum gains, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu must turn over a new leaf.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu owes us a duty to ensure that he brings his long experience and expertise in Parliament onboard to ensure that things go on smoothly. When I heard him attacking the Speaker at a press conference, I asked myself where we are headed.

I believe strongly that his actions and inactions are contributing to what we see in Parliament today. I hope that Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu will resolve to turning a new leaf in this new year.

He added that the Minority MPs will stop at nothing to defend the constitution. Chaos in Parliament

Ghana's fourth Republic was faced with what was essentially a hung Parliament after the 2020 elections.

The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) won 137 seats each, with one independent MP.

On the morning Ghana's new Parliament was set to be sworn in, an almost five-hour deadlock over voting processes to elect a new Speaker of Parliament culminated in a brawl.

After the heated debate over the status of an opposition MP-elect who had been barred by a court from taking part in the inauguration of the new Parliament, there was a standoff over the voting process for the Speaker.

The NDC MPs insisted on a secret ballot in the belief that there were some NPPs MPs planning to stray from the party line as Alban Bagbin and Mike Oquaye vied for the seat.

For hours, scuffles broke out, led by the NDC legislators' Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, who tried to make sure his opposing Whip was not policing the ballot that would eventually see Alban Bagbin elected.

Amid the tensions, armed military and police personnel even stormed Parliament's chamber, adding to the chaos.

The year began in chaos for the Parliament and ended in chaos when another brawl broke out during a late-night session to consider passing the electronic transactions levy under a certificate of urgency.

The chaos started after NDC MPs tried to prevent Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei-Owusu from leaving his seat to vote after weeks of debate over whether he still retained his vote as the MP for Bekwai when sitting in for the Speaker of Parliament.

citinewsroom
Member of Parliament for the North Tongu constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has opened a footwear and furniture bank in his constituency.

The initiative would allow school children without good footwear, visit the bank and collect shoes and sandals of their choice for school.

This move is expected to offer the kids some dignity and decency in their appearance in class to learn.

At the occasion to open the bank, the MP noted that all the materials were locally sourced from his constituency.

In a Facebook post to announce the initiative, he wrote:

It is refreshing to note that this has been largely a North Tongu local content-driven initiative from the metal fabrication, furniture production and footwear supplies. I am enormously proud of Aveyime- based Amuga Metal Works, Borlor Shoes of Mepe and Dodzi Carpentry in Battor.

He also acknowledged volunteers who mobilised footwear donations from the national capital for free distribution.

I am happy to acknowledge Mr. Tonyi Senayah of Horseman Shoes who reached out on his own volition and pledged a generous partnership with our footwear component moving into the near future.

It is deeply humbling to establish that our model allows for North Tongu to now have a constant store of thousands of furniture and footwear for free distribution to those who need them all-year-round, he added.

The no-furniture syndrome and the unacceptable sight of vulnerable kids walking barefooted to school would now be a phenomenon of the past.

citinewsroom
02.01.2022 LISTEN

Founder and Leader of the Prophetic Chapel Hill, Prophet Nigel Gaisie says he delivered his prophecies for the year 2022 in a manner that wouldnt flout the directive given by the Police.

After delivering all his prophecies on 31st night, he urged his church members all others that These are the only prophecies I have for you, if I have seen death and you dont want me to tell you that is ok, I wont be used as the scape goat.

He had earlier said he would give his prophecies no matter what the revelations because he is not a coward to be intimidated by the warning that has been given by the Police against the publication of death prophecies.

I read in somewhere that you have to bring material evidence whether the prophecy . Who has ever dreamt and have material evidence of your dream. The greater component pf prophecy is dream. What they are saying doesn't wash but for me we will have a way.

We will cross , I will prophecy in all confidence , there will not be any shadow on that, I will speak the mind of God. Personally, I am not one of the cowards, I have been called by God, I have an assignment and whoever is coming after the church is making a big mistake, he told TV3 in an interview.

The Police had cautioned Religious leaders in Ghana to be measured in their utterances, particularly the way they communicate prophecies, ahead of New Year Eve's services.

We want to caution that under Ghanaian law, it is a crime for a person to publish or reproduce a statement, rumour or report which is likely to cause fear and alarm to the public or to disturb the public peace, where that person has no evidence to prove that the statement, rumour or report is true, the police warned in a statement issued on Monday, December 27.

It is also a crime for a person, by means of electronic communications service, to knowingly send a communication that is false or misleading and likely to prejudice the efficiency of life saving service or to endanger the safety of any person, the statement signed by Superintendent Alexander Obeng, the Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, added.

A person found guilty under these laws could be liable to a term of imprisonment of up to five years.

Last Friday's services across the nation was the first since Inspector-General of Police Dr George Akuffo Dampare took office.

He had met religious leaders over prophecies deemed to cause fear and panic in the nation.

That meeting was precipitated by a fake gun attack on popular musician Shatt Wale , who had later indicated he took that action as a result of a prophecy by the Founder and Leader of New Life Kingdom Chapel, Bishop Stephen Kwesi Appiah, on an Accra-based radio station before the Monday, October 18 incident.

The man of God, popularly known as Jesus Ahuofe, was arrested and later granted a GH100,000 bail .

The police admitted that they are not against prophecies especially in a country where the centrality of God is in the live of many.

There should be no apprehensions, therefore, about undertaking the various activities.

We ask only that everyone keeps within the law and is mindlful of the welfare of each other.

3news.com
Thousands of Sudanese pro-democracy protesters rallied Sunday outside the presidential palace in Khartoum, braving tear gas, a mass deployment of armed soldiers and a telecommunications blackout.

They demonstrated against an October 25 coup launched by military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, shouting "power to the people" and demanding a return of the "military to the barracks".

As with previous demonstrations, which have become regular since the coup, the authorities have erected roadblocks, with shipping containers blocking Nile River bridges between the capital and outlying areas.

The internet and cell phones have not worked since the morning and security forces were perched on armoured vehicles with heavy machine guns watching passers-by.

But thousands nonetheless came out to demonstrate "in memory of the martyrs", with at least 54 protesters killed since the coup, according to medical sources.

Young men on motorcycles were seen ferrying wounded protesters to hospitals as security forces blocked ambulances from reaching them.

Web monitoring group NetBlocks said mobile internet services were cut from mid-morning ahead of the planned protests, the first of the year.

Activists use the internet for organising demonstrations and broadcasting live footage of the rallies.

'No to military rule'

Map of the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. By Cla PCULIER AFP

Sudan, with a long history of military coups, has undergone a fragile journey toward civilian rule since the 2019 ouster of autocrat Omar al-Bashir following mass popular protests.

But the country has been plunged into turmoil since Burhan -- Sudan's de facto leader following the ouster of Bashir -- launched his coup and detained Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

Hamdok was reinstated on November 21, but mass protests have continued as demonstrators distrust veteran general Burhan and his promises of seeking to guide the country toward full democracy.

Sudanese demonstrators rallied against an October 25 coup launched by military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, shouting power to the people. By - AFP

Activists have kept up a more than two-month-long campaign of street demonstrations against the army's takeover, despite a crackdown that has seen at least 54 people killed and hundreds wounded, according to the pro-democracy Doctors' Committee group.

The rallies have been repeatedly broken up by security forces firing rounds of tear gas, as well as charges by police wielding batons.

On Thursday, six people were shot dead in Khartoum when security forces cracked down on mass rallies that saw tens of thousands take to the streets chanting "no to military rule".

'Year of resistance'

Burhan insists the military's move "was not a coup" but a push to "rectify the course of the transition".

On Friday a close adviser warned that "the demonstrations are only a waste of energy and time" which will not produce "any political solution".

Activists on social media say 2022 will be "the year of the continuation of the resistance".

Sudan's top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, pictured here on December 8 greeting soldiers during a military exercise, led a military takeover on October 25. By Ebrahim HAMID AFP

They demand justice for those killed since the coup as well as the more than 250 who died during months of mass protests that paved the way for the toppling of Bashir.

Activists have condemned sexual attacks during December 19 protests, in which the UN said at least 13 women and girls were victims of rape or gang-rape.

The European Union and the United States issued a joint statement condemning the use of sexual violence "as a weapon to drive women away from demonstrations and silence their voices".

On Saturday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned in a statement that Washington was "prepared to respond to those who seek to block the aspirations of the Sudanese people for a civilian-led, democratic government and who would stand in the way of accountability, justice, and peace".

Over 14 million people, one in three Sudanese, will need humanitarian aid next year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs -- the highest level for a decade.
A court in Belgium has rejected a request by the Spanish authorities to extradite a fugitive rapper sentenced to jail for allegedly praising terrorism in his songs.

Jose Miguel Arenas Beltran -- better known as "Valtonyc" -- fled to Belgium in 2018 after being handed a three-and-a-half year jail term on charges of glorifying terror, insulting the king and making threats in his lyrics.

The rapper's lawyer Simon Bekaert wrote on Twitter that the ruling was a victory after more than 3 years of legal wrangling, adding that today is "a good day for music and freedom of expression."

Bekaert said the appeals court in the city of Ghent had ruled that the offences were not a crime under Belgian law.

The 28-year-old rapper said he was "finally free and happy" after having been subject to regular police checks as he battled against a European arrest warrant.

"I'm not a terrorist and the court has proved me right," he said.

Beltran was sentenced for lyrics in songs published online in 2012 and 2013 at a time when he was a little-known rapper in the Balearic Islands.

These included: "Let them be as frightened as a police officer in the Basque Country" and "the king has a rendezvous at the village square, with a noose around his neck."

The reference to the Basque Country was understood as a nod to violence by ETA, the separatist group that for decades staged attacks across Spain that left more than 800 officials and civilians dead.

Crimes of expression

Beltran's lyrics have divided opinion in Spain, with some saying his words would not land him in jail in any other democracy, while others stress that free speech has its limits.

The case is one of a number that has put pressure on the Spanish authorities to ease harsh punishments for alleged "crimes of expression".

Protestors clashed with police in Spain last February over a jail term handed out to another rapper, Pablo Hasel, for tweets insulting police and the monarchy.

Belgium is also at the centre of another high-profile extradition case involving the Spanish authorities over fugitive Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont.

Puigdemont has been living in Belgium since 2017, after fleeing Spain to avoid prosecution over a failed Catalan bid to declare independence.
Mr Affail Monney, President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has expressed concerns further delays in the Association's national and regional elections will hurt the GJA brand.

In a New Year Message to GJA Executive Members, and shared with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Monney was worried that could also inflate the cost of campaign for aspirants.

His concerns come on the back of the seeming disagreements and controversies over the Association's electoral register and other pressing issues, leading to a continuous postponement of the elections from 2020 to 2021 and now, 2022.

The New Year presents a new opportunity , first of all , to forgive each other, love each other, respect each other, accommodate each other , and cooperate with each other.

This will allow the lingering issues to be resolved and a time table produced for the elections to be held at the earliest time possible, Mr Monney said.

He noted that failure by the GJA to hold the elections last year had led to tenure elongation, spurious allegations , slanderous accusations, mutual suspicions and brutal assassination of each other's character.

Mr Monney reminded the Executive Members that prior to their assumption of office, they were brothers and sisters and worked collectively for the progress of the Association and the country at large.

Posterity, he said, would pass its final verdict on the performance and legacy of the Executive Members, adding Never should we allow ourselves to be imprisoned by our immediate ugly past.

The slash and burn campaign style, which runs counter to the godly approach will be destined for disappointment.

This reality should be lodged in our memory as we outstretch our limits and root for our candidates, he said.

Mr Monney urged all members of the Association to remain resolute and that God would raise the next President and other officers of the Association who would be worthy of honour and fit for service.

GNA
A Presbyterian Church Retired Catechist for Ramseyer Congregation, Baakokrom in Koforidua, Catechist Amos N Akakpo has admonished Christians to avoid going for pray for me sections in 2022.

He explained that Christians must cultivate the act of praying alone with faith in Jesus Christ than depending solely on someone to pray for them.

Catechist Akakpo in an address to congregants during the 31st Watch Night Service observed that most Christians were swindled in 2021 due to pray for me, adding; this must not be your story in 2022.

Akakpo led congregants through a 30-minute section of prayers named, Alone with Jesus.

Congregants practiced the various postures in praying, kneeling, sitting, standing, moving to and fro, and clapping as they fervently prayed to God.

This year, the Presbyterian Church of Ghana declared the national theme for the year 2022 as Jesus Christ, the light of the world.

The theme will be the wheels on which all the Presbyterian Churches in the country are going to ride to propagate the Good News of the Lord.

Rev George Bright Gyamfi, a Presbyterian Church Minister for the Ramseyer Congregation, BaaKokrom, declared the sub-theme of the church for the year 2022 as Our year of fruitfulness.

Referring to Luke 13:6-9, he said all Christians were mandated to bear fruit that would last with the gifts God has given them.

The Lord wants us to be fruitful as seen in the gospel of St Luke 13:6-9, he stressed.

Rev Gyamfi explained that the fig tree in the aforementioned text represented Christians on earth and would be cut off if they don't bear fruits.

You are the fig tree that was not fruitful and God wants to cut you off. Do you want to be cut off, he quizzed.

Rev Gyamfi urged congregants to evaluate their actions in 2021 and correct their mistakes as well.

He said New Year's Eve was the last night in a year that Christians choose to spend in the church to fellowship with one another.

New Year is not for Christians. It has no biblical backing but it is accepted worldwide and celebrated, he said.

During the last minutes in the year 2021, congregants were led through a series of prayer topics.

The minister rang a bell to notify congregants that they have been ushered into the New Year and they sang and jubilated to see the New Year 2022.

GNA
As right-wing rioters massed on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on the afternoon of Jan. 6, 2021, overwhelming cops and commencing a violent insurrection, many lawmakers were unaware of the unfolding threat.

But within minutes, legislators would be scrambling to safety in the byzantine tunnels beneath the complex, hunkering down at undisclosed locations and holding their breaths.

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I did not know a thing, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), then the incoming majority leader, said of the moments before a police officer clad in a bullet-proof vest grabbed him and told him he was not safe on the floor of the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Soon, Schumer was running through the Capitol flanked by a pair of cops, with two thoughts racing through his head: What the hell is going on? Number one. But second, what about the safety of all the police officers, all of the staff and all the other senators?

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On Thursday, the nation will mark one year since the vertigo-inducing day when former President Donald Trump, sowing lies of a stolen election, fueled an assault on the Capitol that glued a stunned nation, and the world, to its television sets.

Insurrectionists loyal to then-President Donald Trump rally at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021. (John Minchillo/AP)

After 12 torturous, pandemic-marred months, many Americans memories of that day have faded. The images of cracked Capitol building windows, busted barricades and marauding mobs of pro-Trump protesters have dimmed.

But they remain fresh for members of Congress who experienced the insurrection firsthand and are reliving it in a House investigation despite obstruction from some Trump loyalists.

The bipartisan House select committee is investigating not just Trumps conduct on that fateful day  when he told a rally of supporters to fight like hell before rioters overran law enforcement  but also his effort in the months before to challenge election results and obstruct a peaceful transfer of power.

The surprise nature of the attack could serve as a reminder that it can happen again if Americans let their guard down.

Then-President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a rally in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), who represents a swath of Brooklyn, said that the climate in Washington was a bit tense the day of Trumps speech ahead of the certification of election results.

But as the day wore on, the edge dissipated, and the new Congress began to buckle in, with mask-wearing members congratulating each other and preparing to certify the results of an election that President Biden won by dozens of votes in the electoral college and millions in the popular vote.

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It was a regular day on Capitol Hill, recalled Clarke, who has served in the House for almost 15 years. We were all just getting to know one another.

Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y. (center) flanked by Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill. (left) and Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa. (right) (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

One newly elected member of the House, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), said his colleagues had received no indication from the Capitol Police or from the intelligence community that an assault on the facility might take place.

We were all blindsided, said Torres, of the Bronx. We were all ambushed.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) (Richard Drew/AP)

It was a remarkable lapse of security. The understaffed Capitol Police standing guard outside the citadel of American democracy were trounced as the flag-waving, Trump-loving legions chanted: USA! USA! USA!

In his speech on the Mall, Trump had told his followers to take back our country. They had taken his call to heart, attempting to keep him in power by derailing the vote certification.

More than a dozen cops suffered severe wounds that landed them in the hospital. Inside the Capitol, police officers paused the counting of electoral votes and ushered lawmakers to safety.

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It was like a war zone, recalled Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.), who represents a Long Island district, describing bleary-eyed, pepper-sprayed cops near the breach. They told us to get in the office and barricade the door  dont turn the TV on, dont make any noise.

Insurrectionists loyal to then-President Donald Trump climb the west wall of the the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)

Schumer said he found himself within 30 feet of the rioters  including one who reportedly said, Theres the big Jew  before he eluded them. Schumer is the Senates first Jewish majority leader.

He was shepherded to a secret space where he met with the outgoing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

The leaders tried unsuccessfully to get the acting attorney general, Jeff Rosen, on the phone with hopes of requesting that Trump call off the attack, Schumer said. They failed.

But we resolved, the four of us, in a moment that will go down as one of the finer moments in our democracy, that we werent going to let these insurrectionists disrupt the democracy, Schumer recalled. We were going to go back to the Congress that night and continue counting the votes.

Insurrections loyal to then-President Donald Trump riot outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021. (John Minchillo/AP)

Clearing the mob from the Capitol took more than four hours. The rioters, who had burst into the building around 2:15 p.m., did not receive a directive from Trump to stand down until 4:17 p.m., when he said in a video message that they needed to return home.

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We love you, Trump told them. Youre very special.

In the intervening hours, several of Trumps allies had grown increasingly disturbed about the situation, according to messages disclosed in the House probe of the riot.

Insurrectionists loyal to then-President Donald Trump try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021. (Julio Cortez/AP)

Aid came slowly, but federal forces ultimately helped push the mob out. Meanwhile, fleeting glimpses of bipartisanship emerged, including the show of solidarity among Congressional leadership that Schumer described.

Though scattered squabbles ensued over Republicans failing to wear masks, both parties returned to the floor and certified the election results after midnight.

To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, you did not win, Vice President Mike Pence said that night. Violence never wins. Freedom wins.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 100 After violent protesters loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol today, a tactical team with ATF gathers in the Rotunda to provide security for the continuation of the joint session of the House and Senate to count the Electoral College votes cast in November's election, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

But the preceding hours had shown the fragility of freedom in the U.S. The events of that day should not be taken lightly, even as they fade further into history, said Rice, the Long Island Democrat.

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This is not Republicans-Democrats, left-right, the squad versus the freedom caucus, Rice said. This is the America weve known and loved versus an America that is on a slow  but speed-catching-up  decline toward being an autocratic country. That has massive consequences.
Apostle Samuel Yaw Antwi, the Cape Coast Area Head of the Church of Pentecost, says God will satisfy every need of Christians if they learn to break into a fresh season with their creator.

Christians would not be deserted by God, their lives would be guarded, guided, and gathered this year and they should also build string covenant ties with their creator.

Apostle Antwi was giving his New Year message in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Cape Coast.

He said there were uncertain times at a point time in everyone's life but in 2022 and the years ahead, people should learn to trust in the timing and understand God for who he is.

Life as a Christian, he said was not all rosy adding, believe that he would take you through this season, look forward to receiving something good from God and seal it with a covenant seed this year".

He stated that Christians should not give conditions to God because they could not twist his arms or change his plans but instead, they should make a vow and fulfil it and be certain that their request will be granted.

Apostle Antwi admonished all to peacefully co-exist with each other and exhibit tolerance at their workplaces, homes, and all other places they may find themselves.

Let's be lovers of harmony, forgive, be accommodating, live godly lives, be humble and be at peace with all he added.

GNA
Sudanese security forces killed two protesters on Sunday, medics said, as thousands braved tear gas, a heavy troop deployment and a telecommunications blackout to demand a civilian government.

Demonstrators lambasted an October 25 coup by military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, shouting "power to the people" and demanding the military return to barracks, at protests near the presidential palace in the capital Khartoum and in its twin city Omdurman.

As with previous demonstrations, which have become regular since the coup, the authorities erected roadblocks, with shipping containers blocking Nile River bridges between the capital and outlying areas.

But thousands nonetheless came out to demonstrate "in memory of the martyrs", with at least 56 protesters killed since the coup, according to medics.

In the latest deaths, the pro-democracy Doctors' Committee said one protester was shot in the chest and a second suffered a "severe head wound" at the hands of security forces in Omdurman on Sunday.

Young men on motorcycles were seen ferrying wounded protesters to hospitals as security forces blocked ambulances from reaching them.

A Sudanese demonstrator flashes the victory sign during a rally in Khartoum against the military and demanding civilian rule. By - AFP

Web monitoring group NetBlocks said mobile internet services were cut from mid-morning ahead of the planned protests, the first of the year.

Activists use the internet for organising demonstrations and broadcasting live footage of the rallies.

'No to military rule'

Map of the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. By Cla PCULIER AFP

Sudan, with a long history of military coups, had been undergoing a fragile journey toward civilian rule since the 2019 ouster of autocrat Omar al-Bashir following mass popular protests.

But the country has been plunged into turmoil since Burhan -- Sudan's de facto leader following the ouster of Bashir -- launched his coup and detained Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

Hamdok was reinstated on November 21, but mass protests have continued as demonstrators distrust veteran general Burhan and his promise to guide the country toward full democracy.

Sudanese demonstrators rallied against an October 25 coup launched by military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, shouting power to the people. By - AFP

Activists have kept up a more than two-month-long campaign of street demonstrations against the army's takeover.

The rallies have been repeatedly broken up by security forces firing rounds of tear gas, as well as charges by police wielding batons.

On Thursday, six people were shot dead in Khartoum when security forces cracked down on mass rallies that saw tens of thousands take to the streets chanting "no to military rule".

'Year of resistance'

Burhan insists the military's move "was not a coup" but a push to "rectify the course of the transition".

On Friday an adviser warned that "the demonstrations are only a waste of energy and time" which will not produce "any political solution".

Activists on social media say 2022 will be "the year of the continuation of the resistance".

Sudan's top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, pictured here on December 8 greeting soldiers during a military exercise, led a military takeover on October 25. By Ebrahim HAMID AFP

They demand justice for those killed since the coup as well as the more than 250 who died during months of mass protests that paved the way for the toppling of Bashir.

Activists have condemned sexual attacks during December 19 protests, in which the UN said at least 13 women and girls were victims of rape or gang-rape.

The European Union and the United States issued a joint statement condemning the use of sexual violence "as a weapon to drive women away from demonstrations and silence their voices".

On Saturday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned in a statement that Washington was "prepared to respond to those who seek to block the aspirations of the Sudanese people for a civilian-led, democratic government and who would stand in the way of accountability, justice, and peace".

Over 14 million people, one in three Sudanese, will need humanitarian aid next year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs -- the highest level for a decade.
Time is one of the most valued resources we possess, yet many people fail to use it prudently. Often, this stems from not recognizing the significance of effective time management and how it can improve the performance of almost every job including the civil service.

Work ethic is an attitude of determination and keenness toward ones job. Those with a strong work ethic, place a high value on timeliness and demonstrate the value of properly managing their time at work.

Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, President of the Court of Appeal in Abuja believes in the psychology of time management and sees it as critical to work, that is why she directed the entrance gate to the court premises be locked to prevent staff, who report to work late.

Having strong time-management skills in public service work settings, like the judiciary can help staff accomplish their work expectations, and assignments in a more efficient manner.

Let me say from the onset that I do not know Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, who apparently have lived most of her life in Nigeria, as such she knows about that popular norm practiced by many persons who arrive at venues or work settings, minutes, and hours late after the set time.

Such unpunctuality, is all the time excused away as being 'African Time.'

Well, Justice Dongban-Mensem does not believe in this type of African delay Psychology as such, delayed time-oriented attitude is unhelpful to any business or civil service system, the court system especially.

Time management indicates managing time effectively so that the right time is allocated to the right activity.

By making time management a priority, one can accomplish more in a reasonable period, especially when enormous backlog case and court delays exist in Nigeria.

It is important to know that time management ethics can make duties easier to manage.

When we feel pressed for time, our stress levels generally go up, making it harder to think clearly and make wise decisions. In contrast, when we are in control of our day, stress levels tend to decrease, making it easier to find solutions and focus on the job at hand.

Civil servants and workers in general, needs to fully understand that time management can do more than help complete ones current duties more efficiently; it also allows one more time to learn more skills while on the job.

Good time management skills are part of work ethic which refers to how devoted a worker is relative to his/her role.

The Nigerian work settings needs to understand that a strong work ethic translate to integrity. Staff with good work ethic don't procrastinate or complain during work time, and are open to constructive criticism, and listen with an open mind.

A point that Justice Dongban-Mensem is making to the court staff. Employers always notice workers who show integrity while on the job and are more likely to help such employees. No administrator or employer likes widespread lack of readiness in the workplace. Lateness is contagious.

Nigerian workers need to learn that good time management skills and work ethics show when staff and employee dresses well, exhibit good hygiene, and appears well-rested, and he/she comes to work at least 10 minutes early to settle in.

Nigerians need to understand that staff should not take unauthorized breaks or change schedules without permission, and that if everyone works hard to complete tasks, it helps the rest of the personnel.It is important to know that time management, determination, and professionalism, allows a worker with a good work ethic produce high-quality work.

Employees with a good work ethic are reliable. Administrators and leaders who should also exhibit fine time management and work ethics, know they can count on good staff to show up on time, finish required tasks, work hard, and meet deadlines in the set timelines.

Time oriented workers, provide service with maximum quality, and they are also good collaborators because they are dependable and helpful. People trust reliable employees and those who hold themselves accountable.

In the Nigerian workplace, there is need for disciplined employees because they utilize good time management and show an essential sense of motivation to complete tasks when required. They don't slack off, make excuses, whine, invite friends/families to work settings, do not abuse social media, or allow a personal conflict to get in the way of their goals.

We all may remember in 2015, when the ex-governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, made unscheduled visit to the state secretariat and several civil servants were late and recommended that they be punished leading to some of them prostrating and kneeling to beg the governor for forgiveness. But he maintained his grounds, turned down their pleas.

Along the same line, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State, in 2019 paid an unscheduled visit to state secretariat and locked out hundreds of civil servants who came late to work.

Justice Dongban-Mensem equally believes that the judiciary must expect a drastic shift from old practices that have taken the government backwards.

How does staff of the judiciary as noted by Justice Dongban-Mensem, instead of resuming at 8 am, many workers strolled in at 10am while some are completely absent.

Justice Dongban-Mensem maintained that those present on time should sign the attendance register while those absent due to excuses like still being on holidays mood will be made to face inquiries.

In a society where religious and ethnic divide remain endemic, it was said that Justice Dongban-Mensem in an equal manner, treated others who used similar approach during the Sallah period.

Within the Nigerian work settings, we need to realize it hurts the morale and work ethic of other workers who might resent that the late arrivers are not getting disciplined for their lateness. Another point that Justice Dongban-Mensem is trying to make.

In terms of productive time management, in a simplistic way, when staff arrive at the office, there should be designated places where a board is set up on the wall, with all employees names and ID numbers. Before beginnings ones day, the staff should locate his or her name and space for signatures. The staff signs in when leaving the work premises for lunch, should sign out and sign in upon returning, from lunch. And upon finishing his or her work schedule, signs off again.

Another monitoring system is the use of time clocks that will hold people accountable as employees will feel more compelled to show up on time if they know theyre being monitored. Time clocks not only record when employees check in and out for the workday, but it also lets them know that it is known when they come and go.

The Judiciary and other essential work settings may buy a physical time clock that requires employees to punch in and out each day or, employ time-tracking software that can be installed to record when employees log in and out of their workplace.

But such rules should be enforced consistently across all employeesor administration could be accused of favoritism or unfair treatment.

An established way to track latenesssuch as using a time clockcan help ensure that consistency.

It is important to make it a requirement that employees who are running more than 15 minutes late must call into the office. Workers are less likely to show up late if they know they must discuss it with someone.

Administration might consider docking employees pay for tardiness if it is consistent with labor laws on being late for work.

Public service policies should include consequences for tardiness that are spelled out in advance in writing, such as in the employee handbook.

Lets make punctuality part of the employee performance review and compensation, instead of the continued dependence on old age ways as in exam promotions mainly.

Timeliness can also be factored into their overall advancement. Consider tying punctuality to rewards and promotions. Staff can come up with an action plan for arriving to work on time. Rather than enforcing penalties, it can be more effective to make the employee responsible for correcting their behaviors. It is time in the African work settings that time management which refers to managing time effectively so that the right time is allocated to the right activity be fully cultivated and practiced in the workplaces ethically by staff and management or administration.

John Egbeazien Oshodi who was born in Uromi, Edo State in Nigeria, is an American based Police/Prison Scientist and Forensic/Clinical/Legal Psychologist. A government Consultant on matters of forensic-clinical adult/child psychological services in the USA; Chief Educator and Clinician at the Transatlantic Enrichment and Refresher Institute, an Online Lifelong Center for Personal, Professional and Career Development. A former Interim Associate Dean/Assistant Professor at the Broward College, Florida. The Founder of the Dr. John Egbeazien Oshodi Foundation, Center for Psychological Health and Behavioral Change in African settings. In 2011, he introduced the State-of-the-Art Forensic Psychology into Nigeria through N.U.C and the Nasarawa State University where he served in the Department of Psychology as an Associate Professor. A Virtual behavioral Leadership Professor at the ISCOM University, Benin of Republic. Founder of the Proposed Transatlantic Egbeazien University (TEU) of Values and Ethics, a digital project of Truth, Ethics, Openness. Author of over 40 academic publications/creations, at least 200 public opinion writeups on African issues, and various books. He specializes in psycho-prescriptive writings regarding African institutional and governance issues.

John Egbeazien Oshodi wrote in via [email protected]
An entire family has been killed in a New Years Day crash as they returned from a 31st all-night church service to usher in the New Year.

The family, driving in a saloon car with registration number WR-38-14 crashed into an articulated truck at Assin Anyinabrem in the Assin South District of the Central Region on New Years Day.

They were returning from the Kumasi direction to Cape Coast.

The driver is alleged to have lost control and head-on collided with a DAF articulated truck with registration number GN-9828-20 driven by one Yakubu Abass, a 43-year-old man with his assistant.

The bodies have been deposited at the St Francis Xavier Hospital at Assin Fosu for autopsy.

Only one child survived but is in critical condition.

classfmonline.com
Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has advised the church to be resolute in promoting positive ethical values and practices in Ghanaian society.

According to him, espousing the sublime qualities of truthfulness, honesty and patriotism should be a priority for the Christian community given the fact that these virtues helped to shape society for the better.

Of the responsibilities given to Christians none was as important as the charge to salvage the society from evil deeds, the king observed, in a speech delivered on his behalf by Akyamfour Asafo Boakye Agyemang-Bonsu, Asafohene.

This was at a dedication service of the House of Power Ministry International, to officially unveil the church's newly-constructed edifice at Ajamasu near Anwiankwanta in the Ashanti Region.

The facility, with a seating capacity of 22,000, was initiated by the Founder and Leader of the church, Prophet Francis Kwateng, with funding from the church members, philanthropists, and some corporate organizations.

The 'Prophet Francis Kwateng Dome' is meant to coordinate activities of the church in Ghana and beyond, especially in the area of evangelism.

The House of Power Ministry International, one of the fastest-growing churches in the country, is renowned for its evangelism outreach programmes intended to advance moral uprightness to transform society for the better.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu said Christians were agents of change, and it was expected of them, therefore, to bring the needed transformation to the people through their deeds.

He was hopeful the new facility would help expand the church's activities for the benefit of the people.

Prophet Kwateng was glad the construction of the church had come to a successful end, saying it would help deepen the spiritual lives of members, their families, and the general public as well as many generations to come.

He lauded the members and donors for their contributions.

The Founder and Leader urged the members to take advantage of the serene atmosphere provided by the facility to strengthen their Christian faith.

Giving a brief history about the new church building, Prophet Kwateng said he secured the present land in 2012, and that, work on the project commenced three years later.

GNA
02.01.2022 LISTEN

The Year 2022 is here and Nigerians have a reason to praise the Lord for bringing us this far. While thanking God for His mercy, lets go straight to say that the New Year is pregnant with all kinds of possibilities. One of them is that there will be a change for the better! Barring unforeseen circumstances, it is also the year of the proposed full deregulation of the oil and power sectors. It may sound strange, but, matter-of-factly speaking, 2022 is a year loaded with the acrimonious broth of primitive politics, disguised interventions, vain repetitions and inconsiderateness to the plight of the masses.

Take or leave it, Nigeria is frighteningly more divisive than she ever was. The frenzy situation in the country is alarming, more so as it affects the basic psyche of every Nigerian. Right now, dear country is divided along fault lines, with happenings of the day being hardly suggestive of the fact that Nigerians can again unite around anything. Theres an exponential growth in public distrust as the few who, hitherto, had believed in the country, are beginning to doubt if theres a project called Nigeria again. Besides, since most Nigerians do not have other country to claim as theirs, its doubtful if there is a Nigerian who is currently not asking for a return to where the country was before it got to this messy pass. As if to complicate matters, heartless successive governments have been living in denial; and, when confronted with reality, public servants do resort to obtuse reasoning in official explanations!

Looking into the year therefore, government will have to appeal to the nerves of a vast majority of Nigerians. In fairness to posterity, expectations of Nigerians are not there yet! So, governments across board need to redouble their efforts in ameliorating the sufferings of the neglected majority. To have confidence in government, it must be seen to be trustworthy and responsible. A government that asks for the peoples loyalty must be ready to reciprocate the gesture. On that, Nigerians are hoping to have buoyancy and an assured hope of survival in the New Year.

Back home in Osun, 2022 is an Election Year! It is the year the incumbent governor will be seeking a re-election for a 2nd term of four years while other interested contestants will also be testing their luck. The reality on ground is that, save for the political gladiators, the peoples minds have turned away from electioneering issues. Having cried to the point of losing their strength; and, having lost confidence in the system due to obvious reasons, what most of them are looking for is whosoever will meet their daily needs. In plain English, circumstances around their existence have created severe cracks on the structures of survival and duties to ones country. Yes, one of the unwritten functions of a democratic government is its being an avenue for certain proportion of the population of the people to eat. The danger here is that the election is coming but the people are hungry. The more reason government must always endeavour to gauge the barometer of the feelings of the ordinary man on the street.

Surely certainly, the Gboyega Oyetola-led Administration deserves commendation for paying workers salaries and pensioners allowances promptly; for, it could have been worse! But then, the percentage of those who are earning the salaries and allowances is small, compared to the population of the State; which already makes the spread and the impact of the salaries and allowances very thin. To bridge the gap, government has been embarking on some Social Intervention Programmes like the Food Support Scheme. Roads are being constructed and reconstructed to allow for farm produce to get to the end users at affordable rates while the Health sector is getting all the attention it needs to drive away sicknesses and diseases from our midst. Education is not lagging behind (as can be seen in the ongoing recruitment of 2,500 suitably qualified teachers into the States Teaching Service) even as Mining, Agriculture and other sectors are not missing the bus of Governor Oyetolas Midas touch.

As the Chief Executive of the State, and leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun, Nigerians are counting on the governor for the resolution of all issues within the party, however multifarious, so that it can concentrate on the price of the forthcoming governorship election. Should the spill-over effects of the internal wrangling be allowed to fester beyond their present state, they are most likely to torment the destiny of APC in 2023.

As a country under God, the strong belief is that He can bring Nigeria back from the precipice of perdition. Therefore, we beseech Thee, Jehovah Ezer, destroy the wisdom of the wise and frustrate the intelligence of the intelligent and circumstantial acquaintances who prosper by their gimmicks. This year, let our passion for You be inflammatory and, the bond with You, electrifying. Teach us to recognize the devils gifts and lead us to return his gifts to him. Grant us the wisdom to agree with one another in what we say and that there be no divisions among us but that we be perfectly united in mind and thought.

With regard to Osun State, theres always this thinking that many people are most likely to use the forthcoming governorship election as a bargaining chip! For this and other reasons, guide our governor to discern between the demands that will tend towards the majority and those that are merely fashioned along parochial cleavages. Grant him the power to concentrate on projects and services that will attract the most benefits for the most of the people. Elohim shomri, heal our State and it shall be healed! Since nobody changes a winning team, let there be no more vain vision, nor flattering divination within the House of the Progressives. Let Your Angels accompany us on our way to July 16, 2022 and grant us the desire of our hearts.

In a land where folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in a low place,  servants upon horses, and princes walking like servants upon the earth, God of our fathers, send Your fire into the midst of principalities and powers assigned to make a mockery of our destiny! By Your stripes, wipe our tears and restore every struggling, castrated or decapitated glory. Bestow the power of grace and supremacy on us and help us grow to our heritage. Advance development and economic growth among us, and grant us the single breakthrough that will put an end to poverty, permanently, in our lives. Let the barren become fruitful; the poor, rich; and, the sick, whole. Let the one who is bound become free; change failure to success, and sorrow to joy. Let the lost be found and cause the blind to see! Cause life to play terrible tricks on the looters of our commonwealth, and surprise us with rest so that we will not be nailed to rest soon.

May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in our land!

*KOMOLAFE wrote in from Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State ( [email protected] )
Weapon, is an instrument used in combat for the purpose of killing, injuring or defeating enemy. Weapons can come in the form of shock Weapon normally held in hand examples of such gadget includes club, mace and sword. Weapons can also come in a form of missiles and example includes rifle, pistol and cannon and last the last group of weapons is the conventional and unconditional weapons and examples are atomic bomb, thermonuclear and grenade.

The wisdom behind manufacturing weapons, is for individuals and states to use in facilitating works or to protect but when such instrument land in Wrong hands can be used in negative ways, for instance in destroying state, killed individuals or cause severe harm to individual or group of people. This article seeks to find out how come weapons get its way into the hands of Wrong people and the way forward? Ghana is embedded with beautiful laws, not only in the area of weapons but other areas of national concern but the problem we always confront is on paper such laws lookks fabulous but when it comes to applying such laws zero. The country, Ghana has arms and ammunition Decree 1972 (NRCD9) which was amended by ACT 2001 (ACT 604)2. This law is loaded with sections on how to register guns, method deployed in registering guns, how guns can exchange from one hand to another, who qualifies to import or export guns, who qualifies to possess guns and many more sections.

The state Ghana has witness a lot of incidents as a result of weapons being held by Wrong people and in such cases, it has led to death or victims undergoing severe injuries. A young lady by name Eunice kessewa was hit by stray bullet and this led to her untimely death on 22 August 2021 at Free Town an area within a community of Nima, suburb of Accra. According to eyewitnesses who happens to be the brother of the late Eunice, on that faithful day he was escorting the sister from work as they got to that spot there was ongoing wedding ceremony and the friends of the groom and bridegroom were firing guns indiscriminately, unfortunately one the bullet hit the late heaps and find its way through the stomach and the rest is history. There was another sad event that happens in Zuarungu a suburb of Bolgatanga were two police officers were gun down by armed robbers on 15 December 2021. Similar to what happens in Zuarungu, another case was the state lost three police officers in Walewalle on broad daylight robbery which resulted in exchange of gun fire between the police team and the robbers on 21 Oct 2021.

In my conclusion remarks, the country Ghana has laws which when religiously followed and applied will help to mitigate the problem of guns finding its ways into wrong hands and also a tougher penalty should be given to people who possess guns without passing through proper channel of gun acquisition. Accomplices who act as catalysts, either within the security or ministries must be allowed to face the rigorous of the state laws when find guilty of aiding wrong people to possess guns, such victims must be made to resign or be sack from their job to discourage others within state institutions indulging in similar practices.

Michael Yiran
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THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. Ravalli County Sheriff's Office has requested a Missing Endangered Person Advisory for Mario Locatelli. Mario is an 89 year old male, 5 feet 4 inches tall, and 140 pounds. He is bald and has blue eyes. Mario left his home on April 30th to Parawon, Utah. He did not arrive at this destination and has not been seen since. Mario suffers from dementia so there is concern for his safety. He is believed to be driving a gray 2018 Toyota Tacoma double pickup with license plate M G 0 A T. If you have any information on Mario Locatelli, please contact Ravalli County Sheriff's Office at 4 0 6, 3 6 3, 3 0 3 3 or call 9 1 1.
MISSOULA, Mont. - Hello 2022! And of course ringing in the new would not be complete without a new year's resolution. One of the biggest new years resolutions we're hearing today from local business owners and employees, work less and give back to the community around you.

One man we spoke to, 'New York Rob,' as he's known around Missoula, shares the common resolution most of us can agree on for 2022.

"I am going to lead a happier and healthier life and I'm going to connect more with my children," said Rob.

Jeff Crouch, 10-year owner of one of Missoula's go-to spots for festive drinks shares how this impacts the foot traffic he sees at the start of every new year.

"Everybody had resolutions and they decide to get healthy, there's a lot of people who take a month off from drinking in January and February, which is great but that also means we're really slow," said Crouch.

The upside for him, the timing is great to give him a chance to complete his own resolution for his fellow employees.

"It comes down to December being your biggest time of the year, then in January it's a chance to catch up and, catch up with a little rest for my employees who've been working super, super hard all through COVID because we're an essential business but also in the holidays so it's a great chance to give people a day off," said Crouch.

It's also important to keep in mind, with ongoing nationwide worker and supply shortages following us into the new year for many returning to work, it may look a little different in the new year.
China improves diagnosis, treatment of rare diseases

Xinhua) 12:21, January 02, 2022

Medical workers encourage a 4-year-old child diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) after the injection of Spinraza at a hospital in Zaozhuang, east China's Shandong Province, Jan. 1, 2022. China is striving to improve the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases.

Recently, a tear-jerking video showing how a national health insurance negotiator helped cut down the bidding price of Spinraza from over 53,680 yuan (8,422 U.S. dollars) per dose to 33,000 yuan went viral online and was lauded by netizens. Spinraza, a medicine for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), was once priced at a whopping 700,000 yuan.

Seven rare-disease medicines were included in the country's medicare reimbursement list in 2021, with an average price reduction of 65 percent. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Bianji)
Recently the New York City Council voted to give voting rights to noncitizens.

Predictably, Republicans are apoplectic, suggesting that this was a massive Democratic power grab. The Republican National Committee tweeted out that this legislation was an unprecedented attack on election integrity and suggested they might fight the decision in court.

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Conventional wisdom suggests this move will be a boon to Democrats, especially if it moves beyond the borders of New York City, but we see it as quite the opposite.

Giving noncitizens the opportunity to vote is certainly no panacea for Democrats for several reasons  and it may even be a strategic advantage for the Republicans as it will further gin up the tribalism of contemporary politics and help the GOP solidify white voters in their camp.

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First, as research conducted by the Pew Charitable Trust makes clear, young, less well educated, lower-income, and racial and ethnic minorities are much less likely to vote than any other voter cohort. Research by Jesse Yoder at Stanford University suggests that homeownership  a firm tie to ones community  increases the probability that someone will vote in a local election, and non-citizens are usually non-homeowners.

A vote sign is posted at an early voting site at a YMCA in Brooklyn on October 25, 2021 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

We also know from Pew that the greatest number of recent immigrants  the noncitizens  are from Mexico more so than any other country, and thus fit the very same profile as current nonvoters  disproportionately lower-income racial minorities. Public opinion research tells us this segment almost fits the profile of exactly who doesnt vote.

Giving someone the right to vote and then actually turning them out to vote are two very different things.

Indeed, voter participation in the highly consequential November 2020 election between Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump was 66% among the voting-eligible population  the highest turnout in a century. But that also meant that roughly one-third of eligible American voters sat the race out. Thats a relatively large percentage of people electing not to participate, and these numbers are among citizens.

The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. >

If one in three American citizens are not voting in arguably the highest stakes presidential election we have seen in a generation, its certainly not reasonable to expect a flood of turnout from non-citizens, who typically have less at stake than do naturalized American citizens in the fate of the country.

The so-called browning of the U.S. electorate has been seen for the last 15-20 years as a huge impending strategic advantage for Democrats. The thinking goes that as the American population evolves and becomes majority-minority  i.e. more non-white  then Democrats will have greater and greater advantages, given their historical performance with non-white voters.

That is faulty thinking and logic. According to exit polls, Donald Trump won 28% of the Latino vote in 2016 and then increased his share of this segment to 32% in 2020. And right here in New York City, and specifically in the Bronx, Trump grew his share of the vote by making inroads with Latinos  winning tens of thousands more voters in 2020 than he had four years ago.

But the news gets even worse for Democrats. Recent polling by The Wall Street Journal indicates that Hispanics are becoming a true swing audience. In the poll, 37% would vote for a Democratic candidate for Congress and 37% would vote for a Republican for Congress, with 22% undecided. If that trend comes close to reality on Election Day, Democratic fortunes are doomed; Democrats running for Congress won 60% of the Latino vote in 2020.

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The fact is that Latinos are certainly not in the Democratic camp. They are increasingly a swing voter group, and we would argue that Democrats have taken the support of Latino voters for granted for too long and the chickens are now finally coming home to roost, as the saying goes.

So allowing non-citizens to vote isnt likely to put all that many votes in the Democrats column. We fully expect the GOP to weaponize this issue in order to continue to drive turnout with their baseless claims of voter fraud.

Honan is CEO of Honan Strategy Group, a Democratic polling and analytics firm. Wierson is a TV producer and former senior media adviser to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Colquitt Regional Medical Center celebrated when it received notification of its eligibility to participate in the Rural Hospital Tax Credit program in 2021. Pictured is part of the Edwards Cancer Center staff outside the construction zone of the radiation oncology center then under construction at Colquitt Regional. From left are Traci Fuller, Janet Saunders, Wenhui Zhu, M.D., Ph.D., Linda Allen, and Kerri Holloway-Cox, FNP-C. The cancer center was made possible in part by donations that were encouraged by the tax credit.
3 1 of 3 Midland Health Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Midland Health Show More Show Less 3 of 3





Memorial Hospital would like to congratulate the Luna family of Midland on the birth of their new baby boy, the first child born in Midland in 2022. Mario Alexander Luna was born at 12:17 a.m. to Carmen and Mario Luna, weighing 9 lbs 11 oz and 21 inches long.

The family will be presented with a gift basket full of items for the new baby and mom.
With 100 glittering chandeliers, a dine-in movie theater, and a ballroom, this completely custom 22,743-square-foot mansion in Franklin, TN, is the most expensive home on the market in Tennessee. The estate in the Nashville suburbs is available for $16.5 million.

Set on a 4.4-acre lot, it's in a community where the smallest lot is 3.5 acres, according to the listing agent, Bill E. Henson, Jr. of SilverPointe Properties. That means that none of the residents in this exclusive enclave are too close to one another.

This particular home is in an incredible neighborhood. There are only 23 homes, and there are celebrities who live in the neighborhood, says Henson, adding, Williamson County is the seventh-wealthiest county in America."

The property has been owned by a couple who purchased the lot for $30,000 back in 2004. After the acreage was purchased, it took them a decade to build, and design, the six-bedroom, 13-bathroom home.

The owners' first attempt to sell the property was in 2018, for $17.9 million, before it was taken off the market altogether in 2020. Now that it's at a slightly lower price point, perhaps an offer will be forthcoming.

Many materials used in the mansion's construction were importedincluding, for example, three oversized, wrought-iron front doorsand the design was so detailed, a team of contractors from Atlanta was brought in.

Grand flourishes in the home include 30-foot ceilings, three bars, nine fireplaces, three kitchens (outfitted with Sub-Zero and Viking appliances), a pool, a wine cellar, and dual, hand-crafted iron staircases. Up to 1,400 bottles of wine can be stored in the spacious cellar.

An owner interested in hosting charity galas can make use of the ballroom, which comes complete with a stage for performances.

You could have 200 people dancing in there, says Henson.

Exterior of mansion in Franklin, TN Realtor.com

Foyer staircase Realtor.com

Foyer entry Realtor.com

Fireplace Realtor.com

Living room Realtor.com

Dining room Realtor.com

Kitchen Realtor.com

One of the bathrooms Realtor.com

Office Realtor.com

Ballroom Realtor.com

Theater Realtor.com

Wine cellar Realtor.com

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Another high-end design detail are the domed ceilings.

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Watch: California's Priciest Property Is Incredibly Perched Above the Pacific Ocean

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The mansion is also equipped with smart features including a security system, and integrated technology that controls the lighting and Wi-Fi. A dozen HVAC units are used to heat and cool the massive home.

Parking for six cars is split among three attached garages, one of which has an unfinished 2,000-square-foot upper floor that could be turned into a gym or recording studio.

Franklin, a town of 78,000 18 miles south of Nashville, is a haven for celebrity musicians and CEOs of large corporations. Low property taxes and the proximity to Music City are part of the appeal. This property is close to downtown Franklins shops and restaurants, and the airport is a half-hour drive away.

You can be at the beach within six hours and the mountains are close, too, says Henson. Theres a lot going on in Middle Tennessee. Several companies (are) relocating here. You also have the music sceneand its not just country music.

A horse lover may be enticed to gallop in for a look, as the neighborhood offers riding trails, and some properties have horse stalls.

Whether or not the next buyers are equestrians, they might include an entrepreneur, probably a CEO of a major corporation, or an entertainer, or an athlete, the agent predicts.

You dont have that many people looking for homes in this price range, he says, but the norm is changing.

The post Massive $16.5M Mansion Near Nashville Is Tennessee's Most Expensive Home appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.
"In a time of need, the answer is simple, help."

Those are the words of Western Illinois University alumnus Riley Hintzsche, the agricultural educator and FFA adviser at Streator Township High School, in reference to a collaborative project to bring needed supplies to storm-ravaged Mayfield, Kentucky.

When Hintzsche, a 2014 graduate, and fellow WIU alumnus Mitch Miller, the agriculture teacher at Midwest Central High School in Manito, heard about the tornado that struck Mayfield on Dec. 10, both knew they needed to take action. Both were immediately contacted by Jesse Faber, the agriculture teacher and FFA adviser at Pontiac High School, and the man they call the "ringleader" of collection efforts to gather supplies to send to the region.

Hintzsche and Faber happen to be friends with Mayfield school administrator and former district agriculture teacher Richard Horn, and contacted him about the needs of the area.

In just six days, truckloads of supplies were headed south.

"As ag teachers, we are fortunate to have a very large network of individuals to gain advice from, ask to work with our students, and ultimately call upon in a time of crisis," said Hintzsche. "Well, when people asked what we did, we called upon our resources. The Streator FFA officer team put a post on social media to our community, which resulted in numerous donations from local community members."

One of Hintzsche's former students, Ali Talty, is the store manager of the Streator RP Home and Harvest and donated two pallets of water and helped with the purchase of pallets of cat and dog food and pine shavings. A parent of another former student called the Ottawa Community Food Bank, which donated seven pallets of items.

"We belong to a wide network of ag teachers and agricultural enthusiasts that ultimately had no physical way of giving, so they gave a monetary donation, trusting Jesse and the crew to purchase things on their behalf," said Hintzsche.

Miller said he originally thought the response would fit in a few pickup trucks, but donations reached a point where larger vehicles were needed to fit all of the supplies.

"The donation drive escalated beyond what I ever imagined," said Miller. "We quickly got to a point where a semi and a 53-foot enclosed van trailer were going to be needed and beyond. I reached out to some contacts I had about borrowing such equipment and we (so many were involved with this) made it happen."

Miller and others drove three large trucks, full of supplies collected through the effort, to Kentucky. The trip began in Peoria on Dec. 17 with a stop at 5 Star Water, owned by a community member in Miller's school district, to add seven pallets of donated and reduced-cost water to the truck.

The caravan moved to Manito, then to Pontiac to collect donations from the Midwest Central, Streator and Pontiac school districts and to organize the transport.

Faber said more than 90 donations of cash and other items were dropped off at the school in Pontiac. That total includes two FFA chapters that combined efforts and showed up with three vehicles filled with donations. A truckload of contributions was also delivered from Platteville, Wisconsin, and from local individuals and businesses.

"On Saturday morning, Dec. 18, the convoy of three loads departed for Mayfield, making stops on Interstate 57 to collect items from other FFA chapters, including Charleston, Sullivan, Olney and others," said Miller. "We arrived at Graves County High School in the early evening and unloaded the three trucks of donated goods with Graves County High School administrator and former ag teacher Richard Horn, and agriculture teacher Kelvin Howard. We filled their shop with the donated items that came out of Illinois. Some of the pallets of water had to be stored outside for the evening because there was not room in their shop."

After delivery of the donations, Horn took the volunteers on a driving tour of the devastation.

"I thought I was in a war zone  homes leveled, businesses in piles, streets barely clear enough to drive through," said Miller. "The pictures I saw on social media throughout the previous week leading up to the trip were seen in person. Richard shared with us that 60-70 students and eight staffers lost their homes."

Miller said a second trip to deliver donations is planned before school starts for the spring semester. He said local volunteers are waiting for confirmation from Mayfield about what specific items are needed.

"I am very proud of my FFA officer team and school community of Midwest Central," said Miller. "Their efforts contributed over $2,000 in monetary donations and three pallets of miscellaneous donated items. Before we departed to head back home, ag teacher Kelvin Howard, said it best by stating, 'Tough times don't last, but tough people do'."

WIU School of Agriculture Director Andy Baker said he is extremely proud of the university's agriculture alumni, who didn't hesitate to react to a critical situation.

"Leatherneck Pride is everywhere, and we need to celebrate those Leathernecks who step up and take action at a moment of crisis," said Baker. "Many hands make light work, and the Illinois Agricultural Education family stepped up to assist the Kentucky Agricultural Education family, which is facing a devastating crisis. I am very proud of our alums for being very proactive in this situation. I also want to thank all of those individuals that stepped up to donate to this cause and those who will continue to donate until the city of Mayfield is rebuilt. It is a truly proud moment for the Leatherneck Nation."
At the end of 2020, it seemed hard to imagine a worse year for misinformation on social media, given the intensity of the presidential election and the trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic. But 2021 proved up to the task, starting with the Jan. 6 insurrection and continuing with copious amounts of falsehoods and distortions about COVID-19 vaccines.

To get a sense of what 2022 could hold, we asked three researchers about the evolution of misinformation on social media.

Absent regulation, misinformation will get worse

Anjana Susarla, professor of information systems, Michigan State University

While misinformation has always existed in media  think of the Great Moon Hoax of 1835 that claimed life was discovered on the moon  the advent of social media has significantly increased the scope, spread and reach of misinformation. Social media platforms have morphed into public information utilities that control how most people view the world, which makes misinformation they facilitate a fundamental problem for society.

There are two primary challenges in addressing misinformation. The first is the dearth of regulatory mechanisms that address it.

Mandating transparency and giving users greater access to and control over their data might go a long way in addressing the challenges of misinformation. But there's also a need for independent audits, including tools that assess social media algorithms. These can establish how the social media platforms' choices in curating news feeds and presenting content affect how people see information.

The second challenge is that racial and gender biases in algorithms used by social media platforms exacerbate the misinformation problem. While social media companies have introduced mechanisms to highlight authoritative sources of information, solutions such as labeling posts as misinformation don't solve racial and gender biases in accessing information. Highlighting relevant sources of, for example, health information may only help users with greater health literacy and not people with low health literacy, who tend to be disproportionately minorities.

Another problem is the need to look systematically at where users are finding misinformation. TikTok, for example, has largely escaped government scrutiny. What's more, misinformation targeting minorities, particularly Spanish-language content, may be far worse than misinformation targeting majority communities.

I believe the lack of independent audits, lack of transparency in fact checking and the racial and gender biases underlying algorithms used by social media platforms suggest that the need for regulatory action in 2022 is urgent and immediate.

Growing divisions and cynicism

Dam Hee Kim, assistant professor of communication, University of Arizona

"Fake news" is hardly a new phenomenon, yet its costs have reached another level in recent years. Misinformation concerning COVID-19 has cost countless lives all over the world. False and misleading information about elections can shake the foundation of democracy, for instance, by making citizens lose confidence in the political system. Research I conducted with S Mo Jones-Jang and Kate Kenski on misinformation during elections, some published and some in progress, has turned up three key findings.

The first is that the use of social media, originally designed to connect people, can facilitate social disconnection. Social media has become rife with misinformation. This leads citizens who consume news on social media to become cynical not only toward established institutions such as politicians and the media, but also toward fellow voters.

Second, politicians, the media and voters have become scapegoats for the harms of "fake news." Few of them actually produce misinformation. Most misinformation is produced by foreign entities and political fringe groups who create "fake news" for financial or ideological purposes. Yet citizens who consume misinformation on social media tend to blame politicians, the media and other voters.

The third finding is that people who care about being properly informed are not immune to misinformation. People who prefer to process, structure and understand information in a coherent and meaningful way become more politically cynical after being exposed to perceived "fake news" than people who are less politically sophisticated. These critical thinkers become frustrated by having to process so much false and misleading information. This is troubling because democracy depends on the participation of engaged and thoughtful citizens.

Looking ahead to 2022, it's important to address this cynicism. There has been much talk about media literacy interventions, primarily to help the less politically sophisticated. In addition, it's important to find ways to explain the status of "fake news" on social media, specifically who produces "fake news," why some entities and groups produce it, and which Americans fall for it. This could help keep people from growing more politically cynical.

Rather than blaming each other for the harms of "fake news" produced by foreign entities and fringe groups, people need to find a way to restore confidence in each other. Blunting the effects of misinformation will help with the larger goal of overcoming societal divisions.

Propaganda by another name

Ethan Zuckerman, associate professor of public policy, communication, and information, UMass Amherst

I expect the idea of misinformation will shift into an idea of propaganda in 2022, as suggested by sociologist and media scholar Francesca Tripodi in her forthcoming book, "The Propagandist's Playbook." Most misinformation is not the result of innocent misunderstanding. It's the product of specific campaigns to advance a political or ideological agenda.

Once you understand that Facebook and other platforms are the battlegrounds on which contemporary political campaigns are fought, you can let go of the idea that all you need are facts to correct people's misapprehensions. What's going on is a more complex mix of persuasion, tribal affiliation and signaling, which plays out in venues from social media to search results.

As the 2022 elections heat up, I expect platforms like Facebook will reach a breaking point on misinformation because certain lies have become political speech central to party affiliation. How do social media platforms manage when false speech is also political speech?
Kodak Black was arrested early Saturday morning and charged with trespassing in his South Florida hometown of Pompano Beach.

The Tunnel Vision artist, 24, posted bond and was out of jail by Saturday evening.

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Police did not release any details beyond the location of the incident: Northwest 10th Drive, which is near Kodaks childhood home, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Legal trouble is not new for Kodak, whose legal name is Bill Kapri.

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Kodak Black appears in a South Carolina courtroom for an unrelated case in April 2021. (Matthew Christian/AP Photo)

He pleaded guilty in April 2021 to assaulting a teenage girl in a South Carolina hotel room in 2016, receiving a 10-year suspended sentence and 18 months probation. He was previously convicted of a gun charge and served about half of his three-year prison term before former President Donald Trump pardoned him.

The full terms of Kodaks probation in the South Carolina case were not publicly released, so its unclear if it will be affected by Saturdays trespassing charge in Florida.

In June 2021, Kodak was honored in Broward County, which includes Pompano Beach, for his charitable work. He donated money to the children of two FBI agents killed in Florida, paid for a South Carolina police officers funeral and created a scholarship in the name of Meadow Pollack at Nova Southeastern University after she was killed in the Parkland school shooting.
SOUTHINGTON  A public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday to solicit public feedback on a proposal to install solar panels on property owned by Rogers Orchards.

The hearing is being held by the Planning and Zoning Commission, which is evaluating a special permit application to allow the project to go forward. The applicant, Energy Venture Management, Inc., is seeking to install 18,800 square feet of ground-mounted panels to the rear of the orchards farm store at 320 Long Bottom Road.

The owners of Rogers Orchards were not available for comment and calls to Energy Venture were not returned.

Town zoning regulations allow solar panel arrays to take up no more than "one-half the footprint of the principal structure or 600 square feet, whichever is greater." The application notes the principal structures on the property total 41,500 square feet, meaning the proposed array would amount to 45.3 percent of the footprint.

Energy Ventures application states while the property is zoned for residential use, which has limitations on the installation of solar panels, it has historically been for commercial use as an orchard.

We are asking for a variance to the above Zoning Regulations as this is a unique situation. The parcel of land while in a Residential Zoned area is a Commercial property, the application says.

The application also says that the panels would be located far enough from the property line to conform with setback requirements and would be shrouded by trees and structures. The town has notified six property owners within 500 feet of 320 Long Bottom Road about the hearing.

Construction nears completion on 37-acre panel array on East Street

Construction is also underway on a 37-acre solar panel array at 1012 East St., near YMCA Camp Sloper. The 4.7-megawatt project by Hartford-based solar company Verogy could generate enough electricity "to power 1,126 average homes for one year, according to the company.

The Connecticut Siting Council, which oversees the placement of major electricity infrastructure, granted the project conditional approval in May 2021. Verogy notified the council in August that work was beginning.

Construction is well under way, the company said in a recent statement. From an electrical perspective, the site was energized on 12/27/2021. We will continue construction and other site work to complete and stabilize the project site through the first quarter of 2022.

The project was opposed by Karabin Farms, which argued to the state Siting Council that the farmland the solar panels were installed on should be preserved for agricultural use.

The 103-acre parcel that the panels were placed on is owned by the Catholic Cemeteries Association, which had leased the land to Karabin Farms for growing hay and other crops.

The state Department of Agriculture ruled that sufficient measures were being taken to preserve the value of the farmland impacted by the project, including allowing sheep to graze throughout the site and adding beehives. Paul Zagorski, an attorney for Karabin Farms, wrote to the Siting Council arguing that the decision underestimated the extent of work that would be required to rehabilitate the land for agricultural use after the 25 year lifespan of the solar panels.

dleithyessian@record-journal.com203-317-2317Twitter: @leith_yessian
Austin, schmaustin. One manufacturing company is swapping Southern California for San Antonio.

Plastics manufacturing company Nissei America, Inc. is moving its U.S. headquarters from Anaheim to the Brooks development on the Southside, the latest link on the great California-to-Texas migration trail.

The Japan-based company, which already has a presence in the Alamo City following the opening of a $21 million factory in 2018, said it was drawn to the city's "geographic location, growing workforce, and Texas business-friendly environment" as key incentives for the move.

READ MORE: Could Matthew McConaughey make Texas politics fun again?

San Antonio presents great advantages for our U.S. headquarters in its accessibility and environment, says Hozumi Yoda, President of Nissei Plastic Industrial Co., Ltd., in a release. San Antonios central location offers easy and quick access to other areas in the U.S., rapidly growing markets in Mexico, and its close proximity to the Port of Houston opens broader access to Central and South America as well as Europe."

Nissei's move from Anaheim to San Antonio should be finalized in July.

Along with the new HQ, the manufacturer says it plans on adding new jobs, though it didn't specify how many. The company, which started in 1947, "researches and develops injection molding machines as well as its molds, molding support systems, and mold processing technologies for global clients."

READ MORE: Southwest Airlines' first flights landed in San Antonio 50 years ago

According to Nissei, the San Antonio region has one of the largest concentrations of manufacturing and plastic industry employment the U.S., something the company hopes to expand further.

Our communitys strategic focus on adding quality manufacturing jobs and educating our workforce to take those great jobs initially brought Nissei to San Antonio," said Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff. "We are thrilled to see their investment grow with the relocation of Nissei Americas U.S. headquarters operation.
San Antonio may be the spiritual home of a Texas chili, but its getting harder to find a steaming bowl of goodness here.

Its a far cry from the days when visitors came from all over the country to partake of a San Antonio ritual at the citys open-air plazas.
Longtime actor Max Julien, who portrayed the pimp Goldie in 1973s The Mack and wrote and produced other prominent films within the blaxploitation genre, died Saturday at age 88.

A cause of death has not been released for Julien, who died Saturday at Sherman Oaks Hospital in Southern California according to his wife Arabella.

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During Juliens decades-long career, he was known for being bold, honest and straightforward, representatives for Julien said in a statement. He would live and speak his own truth both professionally and privately. He was thought of as a rare man among men.

Juliens death was mourned by filmmaker and comic book writer David F. Walker, who remembered the entertainer as brilliant and hilarious and charismatic in an Instagram tribute.

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I met Max back in 1996, Walker wrote. He was a great human being, and we had so many amazing conversations.

Max Julien smokes a cigarette in a scene from the 1973 film "The Mack." (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

Born Maxwell Banks in Washington, D.C., Julien got his start in Off-Broadway productions. He shifted to movies in the mid-1960s and appeared in more than a dozen films, including the 1966 drama The Black Klansman and 1968s hippie-focused Psych-Out, which also starred Jack Nicholson, Susan Strasberg and Bruce Dern.

He became a pop culture icon in the early 70s after landing the leading role in the blaxploitation classic The Mack as John Goldie Mickens, who pursues the pimp lifestyle in Oakland after being released from prison.

The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. >

He also co-wrote and produced 1973s Cleopatra Jones, which starred Tamara Dobson as anundercover special agent.

Julien also wrote, produced and starred in 1974sThomasine & Bushrod, a groundbreaking Western inspired by Bonnie and Clyde about a pair of bandits who steal from the rich and give to the poor.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 80 Sidney Poitier, Oscar-winning actor, director and diplomat, has died, the Bahamian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Office announced on Friday, Jan. 7, 2022. He was 94. (MIKE NELSON/AFP via Getty Images)

His final acting credits came during the early 2000s. He made the short film Suga Free Feat. Katt Williams & Max Julien: Thinkin, which came out in 2004, before appearing on an episode of the comedy series One on One in 2005.

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Juliens death was mourned by filmmaker and comic book writer David F. Walker, who remembered the entertainer as brilliant and hilarious and charismatic in an Instagram tribute.

I met Max back in 1996, Walker wrote. He was a great human being, and we had so many amazing conversations.
A big New Years surprise! We are launching a monthly newsletter, along the lines of Best of Naked Capitalism for the preceding month, including reader comments.

Those of you who have shown a tolerance for getting missives from us, either via having subscribed to our daily e-mail or by being on our fundraiser e-mailing list, will automagically receive our monthly newsletter, and you will get our first installment posthaste. If youd rather not receive this missive, which will go out on or shortly after the first of the month, please use the unsubscribe button at the bottom of every e-mail.

If you would like to subscribe and arent in either group nowwe have an unduly manual process for getting you added until our trusty code wrangler Dave sets up a new subscription button. Please e-mail me at yves-at-nakedcapitalism.com with Newsletter in the subject line. Well gather all the requests we get in the next week and send the January newsletter out in a week to you. Youll remain on that list unless you unsubscribe.

I had also promised readers that Id get back to them on Arizona Slims idea of a mini-fundraiser in honor of my mother, who died on Christmas Day. As much as I very much appreciate the generous offers of support, which another reader suggested would provide for the equivalent of a few weeks of bereavement leave, it is one thing for readers to volunteer to make an extra contribution and another for the site to pass the hat.

So if it either had already occurred to you that we might be a little capacity strained off and on in 2022 and you wanted to help, or you read the discussion following Arizona Slims proposal and were positively disposed, please proceed as planned!

If you would instead like to honor my mother in the traditional manner by making a donation to a charity in her name, she gave widely but not deeply. However, two she did support regularly in recent years were Exchange Club, which seeks to break the cycle of child abuse, and the Snow Leopard Trust.
By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

This clip is why Im writing this post:

I remember years ago having to watch this clip in a comedy class as an example of observing your audience for escalation. Its magical. At about :56, :57, you can see the change in Whites and McClanahans faces. White absolutely knows shes got her. She owns it from then on. https://t.co/15HuKcNfIX  August J. Pollak (Taylors Version) (@AugustJPollak) December 31, 2021

You dont have to laugh out loud, but I did. Several times!

What I like about Pollaks commentary on that clip is that it focuses on Whites brilliant comedic technique, not her charming personality  or rather, her persona. Whenever a beloved Hollywood figure dies, theres always a lot of sentimental tosh[1]. Im going to try to avoid that  on my way to more clips, I promise  in favor of compiling some true facts about Whites amazing  dare I say, death-deyfing?  career, a career whose arc could be used to write the history of television.

* * *

Americas favorite working comedian, Guiness World Record-holder and 21-time Emmy nominee White died at 99, 17 days short of her hundredth birthday[2]. Among her charities were wildfire prevention and animal welfare advocacy. Heres a listing of her extraordinary career as a performer; here is a listing of her roles.

Back when I was in high school, White was on the panel of the Match Game with Gene Rayburn, a supremely silly game show. Which was rather a long time ago, before Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, the Sopranos, The Wire, E.R. The Simpsons.). A long time ago, but before Whites peak on television comedy with The Mary Tyler Moore Show in the 70s, and Golden Girls from 1985-92. Whites career was so long its arc could be used to structure the history of television[1]. From the Los Angeles Times:

Although White appeared in several movies, television was her medium, and her association with it ran back past its commercial beginnings  her first appearance was in 1939, on an experimental Los Angeles channel, as a recent high school graduate, dancing with a classmate to The Merry Widow Waltz. When TV found its legs a decade later, White, who had some small success in radio in the meantime, was there, co-hosting (and later hosting solo) an ad-libbed five-and-a-half-hour, six-day-a-week program called Hollywood on Television. A sketch from a nighttime version of the show became Whites first situation comedy, Life With Elizabeth, which (in another first) she co-produced; her character is not a ditz or a clown, but an intelligent woman in a knockabout but equal partnership with her husband, and her performance remains remarkably fresh and natural. This early work gave her a thorough understanding of what it means to live on camera, and the intimacy it creates.

To begin with, White was smart. The Television critic Robert Lloyd mentions that she wrote a novel at the age of eleven (and showed the manuscript to Johnny Carson, of which more below). This, after having, at the age of eight, a Frank L. Baum[sic]-inspired screenplay called Trouble in Paradoz, featuring Mae West running loose over the rainbow.

White also started on the business side, not the creative:

White started in television as an assistant, but she worked her way up to become one of the first female producers in the business in 1952 with her sitcom Life With Elizabeth, developed with George Tibbles.

White had good business sense:

White was one of the first and still relatively few women to have creative control in front of and behind the camera, with her 1950s sitcom, Life With Elizabeth. While not an obvious trailblazer like Joan Rivers, White was a quiet revolutionary in her way  a gloved knife rather than a Rivers-like axe smashing down walls, whose onscreen jibes came with a sweet smile instead of a sneer.

White was an early celebrity (as I said above, persona):

But she was also an early adopter of the concept of celebrity: she understood before many others the value of making her personality her brand, and how close it was to reality became moot. With talent like hers, reality was by the by.

White was also a scene stealer and muscler-in:

But the great scope of her work, the number of uses to which her talent was put year in and year out, are tribute to her agreed-upon cultural necessity, to the general recognition of her particular sneaky genius. On both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Hot in Cleveland, her character was originally meant to appear only once. But the power of White demanded her return.

On comedic timing:

Whites co-star on The Proposal, Sandra Bullock [see You get her a cup of coffee below], also spoke highly of the comedian. Timing isnt easy in comedy because you have to navigate other peoples timing. Betty pivots like I have never seen, making it look seamless. The rest of us just remain silent and pray were not cut out of the scene, she said. Bullock hopes that White will celebrate her birthday the same way she has celebrated every day of her life  with humor, kindness, and a vodka on ice, toasting to the fact that shes a badass who has left us all in the dust, she added.

Finally, here is White talking about her union:

Betty White talking about much she valued her union https://t.co/efrxykNqjO  Mike Elk (@MikeElk) December 31, 2021

Good for her! And that brings me to more clips!

* * *

Abnormal psychology:

I was waiting for her birthday  but one of my favorite Rose moments. Betty White was truly a treasure  pic.twitter.com/CpuEThtMZS  BIG  (@JAYthaOUTLAW) December 31, 2021

Heartening:

Betty Whites timing  on even the simplest joke  was always elite pic.twitter.com/mmf0H78avr  Matthew Berry (@MatthewBerryTMR) December 31, 2021

You get her a cup of coffee:

This clip of Betty White with Ryan Reynolds lives rent free in my head. pic.twitter.com/82SpPWH3Nq  Ahmed Ali (@MrAhmednurAli) December 31, 2021

This is Mommys Cobbler:

One of my favorite My Wife & Kids episodes stars Betty White

Wooooow pic.twitter.com/2cuGLHMHNl  Money Makin Mitch (@GregStayUp_) December 31, 2021

That backward glance!

Hobbies:

Betty White on her favorite hobbies while on David Letterman. pic.twitter.com/Y6S9zfGcAy  Nick Jacobs (@Jacobs71) December 31, 2021

I decided cash is better. Heres the background. Rose is played by White:

Early in The Golden Girls Season 3, Blanche mistakenly gives away Roses beloved teddy bear, Fernando, to Daisy, a member of a Girl Scoutstyle troop. Daisy (played by Jenny Lewis) holds him for ransom. Rose deals with this situation as only Rose can.

Now the clip:

thank you betty white for being so kind to this kid behind the scenes and for teaching me

the most important life lesson

 sometimes life just isnt fair kiddo  pic.twitter.com/XsNVvnaEug  jenny lewis (@jennylewis) December 31, 2021

Dont start with me:

Joan Rivers interviewing Betty White (1983) pic.twitter.com/IZfDx8mQCK  irene (@writtenbyirene) December 31, 2021

Curiously, Joan Rivers then sounds a lot like Nancy Pelosi now.

Cute little buttons:

Every time I hear "Is This Love" by Bob Marley & The Wailers I think of Betty White in the movie Lake Placid (1999).#BettyWhite pic.twitter.com/zc0DQHcpWD  John Birchman  PM 6 (@johnbirchman) January 1, 2022

Dunno about the soundtrack, but

I debated including this, but then I decided that after 2021 its on point:

I interviewed @BettyMWhite when I was at @CBSNews and asked her if she was afraid of dying. Her answer seems particularly poignant today. RIP dear Betty. It was an honor and joy to know you. Give Alan and the MTM gang our love.  pic.twitter.com/I1siSR8LoY  Katie Couric (@katiecouric) December 31, 2021

* * *

Rest in Comedic Timing, Betty White.

NOTES

[1] On Whites childhood:

Betty was her given name. Its not short for anything. Betty Marion White Ludden was born Jan. 17, 1922, in Oak Park, Illinois, the only child of Christine Tess and Howard Logan White. When Betty was 2, the family moved to Los Angeles, where Howard White eked out a living building and selling and sometimes bartering radios. More than once, he bartered a radio for a dog. The Whites loved dogs so much, Betty recalled, that even when hard times forced the family to miss a meal, the dogs always ate. Radios and animals were tandem themes throughout Bettys childhood, and her love of animals (both real and stuffed) lasted all her life.

[2] White was sharp as a tack til the end. From her biography, How She Did it:

My obsessive addiction to crossword puzzles I chalk off as mental gymnastics. I love games and puzzles. On the set of The Lost Valentine, a Hallmark movie, Jennifer Love Hewitt and her boyfriend, Alex Beh, and I played Scrabble during every lunch break. And I always have a book of crosswords or acrostics in my purse wherever I go. Whenever Ive had a puppy, Ive put newspaper down for him, but if I put down a piece of the paper and theres a crossword in there, Ill snatch it right up and say, No, you cant go on that!

APPENDIX

I cant stand it:

Betty White broke barriers, defied expectations, served her country, and pushed us all to laugh. Barack and I join so many around the world who will miss the joy she brought to the world. I know our Bo is looking forward to seeing her up in heaven. pic.twitter.com/tVL7NUw2TT  Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) January 1, 2022

Theyve just got to work the dog in.
Should Pluto be a planet again? The debate rages on NBC

Global stocks deliver third year of double-digit gains FT

Trading the metagame Cobie. Crypto. Meanwhile (dk):

Less than an hour ago, this turned into a painful experience for buyers of the token.

A few hours ago, a promising token called $YEAR was airdropped. It was set up as a "year in review" of your Ethereum transaction history.

One understands the enthusiasm for crypto. In certain quarters.

The easy part is over: uncertainty looms after world economys Covid rebound FT

Climate

Where Parents Can Get Help with Climate Anxiety Wired. If anxiety is the problem, performativity is the solution. And here we are!

How do you make a movie about a hyperobject? High Country News. Dont Look Up

#COVID19

This week Omicron and COVID left Australians taking a big cognitive leap, as surge takes us to new ground ABC Australia. Cognitive leap:

Were so far beyond COVID-zero that Queenslands Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard said it baldly this week: infection with COVID-19 was required for the pandemic to evolve to be endemic  a constant presence in our lives. Not only is the spread of this virus inevitable, it is necessary, he said on Thursday.. In order for us to go from the pandemic phase to an endemic phase, the virus has to be widespread.. Thats a big cognitive jump for Australians  and theres no going back.

Open advocacy of democide isnt the first function that comes to mind for a Chief Health Officer. But perhaps I am old-fashioned in my thinking.

* * *

Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant within Tightly Monitored Isolation Facility, New Zealand (Aotearoa) (early release) Emerging Infectious Diseases, CDC. Important. I have helpfully underlined the mushy bits:

Until recently , the principal route of COVID-19 transmission was thought to be through respiratory droplets (4; J.C. Palmer et al., unpub. data, https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.19.21265208v1). Droplets are larger respiratory particles that fall quickly and thus disperse over short distances of generally <2 meters (6 ft) (2,4). However, evidence is emerging that the dominant route of COVID-19 transmission might in fact be airborne, through respiratory aerosols (4).

Commentary:

#Airborne spread of SARSCoV2 from an asymptomatic patient to group of 3 people who were staying in rooms across a corridor from patient. There was no direct contact. Security camera showed simultaneous door openings of the rooms 4 times, for 3-5 sec each. https://t.co/DNcfQSiu4W pic.twitter.com/TncrgNxsVe  Dr. Ali Nouri (@AliNouriPhD) December 30, 2021

The article is from Volume 28, Number 3March 2022 of MMWR. All but one of the authors are from New Zealand (i.e., none from CDC). The incident took place on July 16, 2021. Here is an article from Nature in July 2020 showing hallway transmission in a different venue via aerosols, to which we linked. Given what we know of the CDCs molasses-like copy-editing process, one can only wonder how long this paradigm-shifting and life-saving article sat on somebodys desk, and what obstacles this aerosol paper faced on the way to publication. And speaking of obstacles, I searched on a sentence from the article. Here is the Google result:

Here is the DuckDuckGo result:

The Marivi Post, Googles single hit, is located in Malawi; the hit is a reprint of the CDC piece they seem to have picked up off the wires. Google, unlike DuckDuckGo, doesnt have a hit for the original CDC piece. I cant believe Google doesnt crawl the CDC, so one can only speculate why the theres no CDC hit. Doing so freely, could it be that whoever handles a CDC whitelist for Google is on vacation or.. out sick? Whether in Atlanta, Mountain View, or both?

School Ventilation: A Vital Tool to Reduce COVID-19 Spread (PDF) Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. From May 21, still germane (and contemporaneously recommended by alert reader antidlc). From the Conclusion: Airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, can be reduced by improving ventilation. Federal funds are now available to enable schools to make the needed changes. These changes will make our schools healthier during the current pandemic. So far as I can tell, this report has been ignored, certainly by CDC and the Administration. Perhaps local schools have nevertheless taken advantage of the Federal funding (hopefully not being defrauded in the process).

Opinion: To stop the pandemic, remove the invisible air bridge Editorial Board, WaPo. The contagious delta and omicron variants need the air bridge to leap from person to person. Whether through better mechanical ventilation or throwing open the windows, an important way to fight the pandemic is to make the indoors more like the outdoors.

* * *

The blame cannons need to be captured and turned around:

4/ Frankly, Im no longer here for excuses or alternatives that arent as good. Im waiting for answers from @CDCgov about why, during a respiratory pandemic, there has been almost NO innovation in PPE for the general public in two years. Every American should be asking this  Abraar Karan (@AbraarKaran) December 31, 2021

(A detailed thread on various respirators, with testimonials, from the same account.)

Heres what its like inside the Chicago-area factory aiming to end US overreliance on Asias PPE production CNN. Among other things the former guy bequeathed to Biden (vaccines) was the Operation Warp Speed business model. So why in the name of all that is holy didnt the Biden administration use that business model for masks and test kits?

Theres no mask shortage. You can buy certified N95s for $1 Fast Company. Project N95.

N95 Respirator Cleaning and Reuse Methods Proposed by the Inventor of the N95 Mask Material Journal of Emergency Medicine. From 2020, still germane. One wonders if this, too, is clogging up CDCs publication pipeline.

* * *

Fact check: CDC is withdrawing its PCR COVID-19 test, but not because it confuses viruses USA Today (Furzy Mouse). Its not fair to imply that CDC has been wrong about everything. Everything important, I grant, but not everything.

Swabbing tips (dk):

Sent to me from my colleague who wanted me to share this PSA pic.twitter.com/JIrnOtMBZ3  Dr. Victor Leung, MD (@VicLeungIDdoc) January 1, 2022

* * *

SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and variants under investigation in England (PDF) UK Health Security Agency. On hospitalization in the UK:

This report has been published to share the detailed variant surveillance analyses which contribute to the Omicron risk assessment. This specialist technical briefing contains early data and analysis on emerging variants and findings have a high level of uncertainty. Two studies have been undertaken which examine the association between both variant and vaccination status and risk of hospitalisation. Study 1 is based on a larger dataset, approximately half a million Omicron cases, because it includes all cases diagnosed in the community and in the first day of hospital admission, and all age groups. Study 2 uses a smaller dataset because it is restricted to symptomatic cases diagnosed in the community, followed by a hospital admission, in part to reduce the impact of cases where coronavirus (COVID-19) is incidental to the admission but detected on routine hospital admission screening. It is restricted to ages 18 and over. The previous finding of reduced overall risk of hospitalisation for Omicron compared to Delta is confirmed by the updated Study 1. In addition, both studies find a substantial reduction in risk of hospitalisation for Omicron cases after 3 doses of vaccine compared to those who are unvaccinated, with overlapping estimate ranges. Both studies have been run on relatively small numbers of hospitalised cases and will require iteration. Despite the estimated reduction in hospitalisation risk and preserved vaccine effectiveness against hospitalisation, the very high number of Omicron cases means that there may still be large numbers of admissions to hospital.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution on Mental Health Outcomes NBER. From the Abtract: We estimate that COVID-19 vaccination reduces anxiety and depression symptoms by nearly 30%. Nearly all the benefits are private benefits, and we find little evidence of spillover effects, that is, increases in community vaccination rates are not associated with improved anxiety or depression symptoms among the unvaccinated. The economic benefit of reductions in anxiety and depression are approximately $350 billion.

Business scents opportunity for use of Covid sniffer dogs in UK FT. About time.
(Natural News) Independent journalist Alex Berenson has filed a lawsuit in a federal court against Twitter to challenge his ban from the social media platform over a tweet in which he questioned the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.

In the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern California, Berenson sought reinstatement on Twitter, along with monetary damages related to the ban.

The former New York Times reporter was banned from the platform in August over a tweet in which he wrote about the jabs: It doesnt stop infection. Or transmission. Dont think of it as a vaccine. Think of it  at best  as a therapeutic with a limited window of efficacy and terrible side effect profile that must be dosed IN ADVANCE OF ILLNESS. And we want to mandate it? Insanity.

Apparently slapping his tweet with a warning stating, This Tweet is misleading. Learn why health officials recommend a vaccine for most people. wasnt enough as Twitter decided his posts are no longer welcome there. Now, when his 342,000-plus followers try to visit his account page, they are greeted with a note that his account was suspended for violating the platforms rules.

In the complaint, his attorneys stated: Mr. Berensons claim that the COVID-19 vaccines do not stop infection or transmission of COVID-19 was true at the time and is true now.

The suit went on to add: It is undisputed that vaccinated persons can contract and spread COVID-19, and even pointed out that Dr. Fauci himself has gone on the record as saying that vaccinated people can indeed be infected.

Twitters COVID-19 misleading information policy page, which was updated this month, says the platform cannot be used for sharing false or misleading information about the virus or the vaccines, but its definition of what is false flies on the face of the facts.

The lawsuit claims violations of the First Amendment, along with false advertising. It also claims a violation of the California common carrier law. The suit alleges that Twitter is legally a common carrier, akin to a telegram or railroad, and therefore required by law to provide service to everyone.

Twitters role in public debate in the twenty-first century resembles that of the telegraph in the nineteenth, the suit stated.

His attorneys also argued that Berenson has a uniquely viable claim that Twitter acted on behalf of the federal government in censoring and barring him from to its platform. Just days after Biden called for a crackdown on what it considers a pandemic of misinformation across social media, Berenson was banned, and he believes Twitter did so in response to governmental pressure.

Now that hes unwelcome on Twitter, Berenson has been sharing his opinions on the platform Substack. He also released the best-selling book Pandemia.

Berenson started reporting for the New York Times in 1999, where he covered the pharmaceutical industry and financial crimes. He left the paper in 2010 to pursue a career as a novelist and author.

Banning conservatives is nothing new for Twitter

In January, Twitter banned Donald Trump while he was still holding the office of president. At the same time, many other leaders go uncensored, like Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, who is allowed to send tweets to his half a million followers.

Earlier this year, James OKeefe of Project Veritas sued Twitter for defamation after they permanently banned his account. Just before he was banned, he had released a series exposing rampant bias at CNN.

Its not just Twitter that is issuing bans; Facebook is just as bad, if not worse. Big Tech goes out of its way to ensure any views that stray from the accepted Covid narrative are never heard, silencing those who question the safety of vaccines or concerns about mandates and preventing people from seeing potentially life-saving health information.

Sources for this article include:

DailyMail.co.uk

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) The new omicron antigen test kits could be more fraudulent than the covid-19 PCR assays that came before. The FDA recently admitted that the new rapid covid-19 antigen tests do not properly detect a sequence named omicron. Despite this constant cycle of medical fraud, laboratories throughout the United States continue to report escalating cases of omicron.

As public health authorities and corporate media channels begin to acknowledge various coronavirus strains, there is a growing incentive for the medical industry to profit from specific strains. Select strains are genetically sequenced and advertised to create new, highly profitable testing protocols and vaccine programs (that are a complete and utter failure).

FDA warns about fraudulent omicron antigen tests

The National Institutes of Health have been working on the rapid acceleration of diagnostics for various coronavirus strains. Their most recent findings suggest that sick patients with live viruses may readily test negative using the omicron antigen test. The FDA reported on the NIH findings, stating early data suggests that antigen tests do detect the Omicron variant but may have reduced sensitivity.

There are so many mutations of the coronavirus, the test cannot properly distinguish specific sequences. This is why designing a strain-specific vaccine for coronaviruses always fails, whether it be for SARS-CoV-1, MERS or SARS-CoV-2. This is why the CDC should just scrap all diagnostics for covid-19 and its variants, and instead, advise that sick people be treated with anti-viral medications, while healthy people are left alone to live their lives. None of the diagnostics matter anyway, because all the variants are referred to as covid-19 in the end. Testing is a waste of time.

Medical fraud occurred from day one, was allowed to persist because of hysteria

From the very first day that the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic, testing for covid-19 was an abysmal failure. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the CDC 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel. This assay was first introduced in February of 2020. Back then, the test was proven fraudulent; control samples routinely tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Healthy people and inanimate objects tested positive as well, allowing the corporate media to create a fraudulent narrative that severe disease is primarily caused by asymptomatic spread of covid-19.

The inventor of the PCR test himself, Kary Mullis, opposed using the PCR test to diagnose covid  or any  diseases. He said, PCR is a process thats used to make a whole lot of something out of something. It allows you to take a very minuscule amount of anything and make it measurable and then talk about it like its important. Dr. Beda M. Stadler, a Swiss biologist, emeritus professor and former director of the Institute of Immunology at the University of Bern called out the false positives of covid-19 PCR tests from the very beginning.

Because coronaviruses rapidly mutate, the test became nothing but static noise, amplifying non-infectious viral debris from a plethora of previous coronavirus infections and other viral debris from hundreds of viral genomes. The test has routinely rendered false positives and false negatives that have systematically distorted all data surrounding the covid-19 scandal. The test has done nothing but distract people from what really matters when it comes to treatment, immunity and prevention of severe disease. Even worse, it has been used as false evidence to unlawfully detain people without court order, while depriving individuals of their civil liberties. This fiasco of medical fraud has disrupted entire industries, emboldened government power and needlessly disrupted travel and commerce for nearly two years.

Courts must continue to strike down testing mandates and quarantines based on testing fraud

On December 31, 2021, the CDC will officially withdraw its request for an EUA for its PCR diagnostic panel for SARS-CoV-2 because it is nothing more than medical fraud. Not only has the test misdiagnosed covid-19 in countless healthy people, but its false diagnoses have also distorted the diagnosis of influenza cases, artificially eliminating data for influenza hospitalizations, and fatalities, for the year 2020-2021. After the World Health Organizations testing protocol was questioned by Finlands national health authority, the WHO itself began cautioning public health officials around the world not to rely solely on the PCR test to detect covid-19.

A Portuguese Appeals court ruled that it is unlawful to quarantine people based on PCR tests because they are unreliable. An Austrian court ruled there is no legal or scientific basis to lock people down based on fraudulent PCR tests that do not properly diagnose covid-19.

More courts around the world must rule against covid-19 PCR and antigen tests, and publicly declare that they are being used as fraudulent evidence for unlawful quarantines. The tests are not scientifically valid for proper diagnosis of a specific infectious disease and therefore do not justify any level of lock down, coercion, or human rights deprivations.

Sources include:

GreatGameIndia.com

GreatGameIndia.com

Brownstone.org

CDC.gov

GreatGameIndia.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Liberal tech billionaire Reid Hoffman, a funder of numerous disinformation projects, is backing a new media venture launched Tuesday that seeks to combat disinformation, according to a report.

(Article by Andrew Kerr republished from DailyCaller.com)

Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, joined ranks with financier George Soros to fund Good Information Inc., which will fund and scale businesses that cut through eco chambers with fact-based information, Axios reported.

The move comes after Hoffman apologized in December 2018 for bankrolling what he called a highly disturbing effort that spread disinformation in the Alabama special election the year prior that resulted in Democrat Doug Jones narrowly defeating Republican Roy Moore for a seat in the Senate.

The disinformation project, spearheaded by the tech firm New Knowledge, created fake online personas aimed at generating national news coverage that Russia favored Republicans over Democrats.

Hoffmans new anti-disinformation media venture will be led by Democratic strategist Tara McGowan, who previously ran the Hoffman-backed progressive nonprofit group ACRONYM.

McGowan told Axios that Good Information Inc. will invest in a variety of news entities across the political spectrum as long as they exhibit fact-based editorial standards.

The information crisis were in is so much bigger than politics, McGowan said.

Hoffman also backed American Engagement Technology, a group that published misleading Facebook ads designed to depress Republican voter turnout in the 2018 midterm elections, the Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported.

In addition, Hoffman contributed $620,000 to the legal fund for Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm behind the largely debunked Steele dossier, which the FBI used to advance its investigation into former President Donald Trumps alleged ties to the Russian government.

ACRONYM, under McGowans leadership, funded the development of an application that was responsible for causing massive delays in reporting the results of the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses.

McGowans group also stated in its 2019 tax returns that it was the full owner of Courier Newsroom, a network of liberal local news outlets that, according to the media credibility watchdog group NewsGuard, failed to meet several basic standards of credibility and transparency.

Good Information Inc. will acquire Courier Newsroom from ACRONYM, Axios reported.

McGowan told Axios that shes disclosing the identities of Good Information Inc.s investors because transparency is really important.

ACRONYM, under McGowans leadership, received a Federal Election Commission complaint in 2020 that alleged the group wasnt transparent about Courier Newsrooms sources of funding. The complaint alleged that Courier Newsroom was effectively an arm of the Democratic party and as such should be stripped of its tax-exempt status.

While the FEC eventually dropped the complaint, McGowan acknowledged to Axios that she could have been more transparent about her group.

If I could do things differently, I would have been more transparent, McGowan said.

Read more at: DailyCaller.com
(Natural News) The globalists had a great time during the COVID-19 pandemic because they actually got to play the role of dictator and they enjoyed it  so much so they are doing everything they can to continue to sell the lie that the pandemic remains the biggest threat to our existence and, thus, we the sheeple must continue to empower the tyrants who just want to keep us safe.

Case in point: Now states are increasingly deploying National Guard troops to help staff hospitals after many of these same hospitals fired employees and medical staffers who refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine (cause and effect  set up a problem or issue then solve it with a government solution).

In Massachusetts, for instance, Guard troops are deployed at 55 hospitals, but its all part of the ruse and conditioning, as SHTFPlans Mac Slavo noted.

Likely being done to get Americans used to seeing the governments boots on the ground in their local towns, the rulers have sent in the military, he wrote this week.

Apparently, according to mainstream media, these National Guard personnel will be assisting hospitals that have a staffing shortage. And why is there a staffing shortage? Because people continue to disobey and refuse to get injected with the experimental gene therapy shots, he added, noting that the powers that be created the problem in the first place with a vaccine mandate for a virus that has a 98.5 percent and better survival rate, especially for young, healthy people who have no preexisting medical conditions.

Seeing the military on American streets has been a staple throughout the pandemic. It all started in New York City, when then-Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed President Donald Trump to deploy the USNS Comfort, one of two Navy hospital ships, along with enough military personnel to set up a giant field hospital at the Javits Center. Neither of these assets was used much, however, they did help normalize the presence of the military on American streets, in U.S. harbors, and in our cities.

Then, of course, came the massive troop deployment following the staged Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol Building, which was an FBI false flag operation all the way and designed to take our attention away from the fact that those same powers that be stole the 2020 election from Trump and Republicans.

Massachusetts isnt the only state utilizing the Guard to cover for intentional mandate-related healthcare shortages. Circling back to New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul was the first to call up her units to cover nursing and staff shortages, but some locals are onto her.

Hochul is trying to reel from a self-induced healthcare emergency. After serving the frontlines for almost a year without vaccines, she is now telling those frontline workers who survived the COVID-19 trench warfare to vaccinateor else, lose your job, an op-ed in the Shore News Network noted.

Worse, Hochul is overlooking one critical aspect of deploying healthcare-related MOS National Guard troops. Most of those in the medical field in the guard are also doctors, nurses, EMTs, technicians, and assistants in their own local medical communities, the op-ed continued.

But of course, that doesnt matter when the objective, clearly, is to get citizens accustomed to a uniformed presence in our society  and then, an armed uniformed presence.

Dont get us wrong: Guard troops come from our cities and towns. They are our friends, neighbors, relatives, acquaintances. They live and work in the communities and states they serve. So its very likely this is a long-term operation and that eventually, when the time is right and Americans are conditioned enough, Guard forces will be replaced by active-duty forces consisting of men and women from out of state and outside the local communities  troops who have no personal ties to the people they will be asked to oppress.

Slavo advises:

Be ready for anything the best you can. No one knows what will happen. All we have is speculation. As people wake up and figure out they were born onto a slave planet, the rulers will push to keep them there and refuse to give up so easily. Stay aware of what the media is saying even though we know its mostly lies and straight propaganda so you are informed as to just how low they will stoop to keep you from being free.

Read more stories like this at DeepState.news.

Sources include:

ShoreNewsNetwork.com

NaturalNews.com

SHTFPlan.com
(Natural News) Doctors in New Zealand are now being incentivized to murder Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) patients for cash.

New Zealands Ministry of Health (MoH) confirmed that a new law allows for physicians to receive about $1,087 for each patient they euthanize  and the qualifications for euthanization are minimal.

Stuff, the island countrys most popular newspaper, reports that almost anyone can qualify to be euthanized, including not only covid patients with symptoms but also people who test positive for the virus and become too scared to keep on living.

Could a patient who is severely hospitalized with Covid-19 potentially be eligible for assisted suicide or euthanasia under the [End of Life Choice Act], specifically as it relates to severely hospitalized covid patients? the anti-euthanasia group DefendNZ asked in an Office Information Act (OIA) request last month to the MoH.

In some circumstances, a person with Covid-19 may be eligible for assisted dying, the government later responded.

A more in-depth statement from the MoH explains that in order to qualify for assisted suicide, a patient must have a terminal illness that is likely to end their life within six months. This technically includes patients who test positive for covid, seeing as how the government and media have trained everyone to believe that the Fauci Sniffles is a certifiable death sentence.

It is up to the patients attending medical practitioner (AMP) or an independent medical practitioner to make that determination. And the MoH clearly states that this is determined on a case-by-case basis, meaning potentially anyone could be deemed eligible.

Saving lives, one assisted suicide at a time

As for the cash payments, doctors who perform a euthanasia death can basically expense it with the government, which has set aside large sums of cash for reimbursement.

Only 96 of New Zealands roughly 16,000 doctors have said they plan to participate in the program, which is at least some what encouraging. And all but one of the nations 32 hospices have likewise indicated that they do not plan to euthanize covid patients.

This could change, though, if the profit stream later grows more appealing to the current holdouts.

It is bizarre that a country which has been trying to protect it citizens by closing down completely from a virus from which people can fully recover  is now suggesting that these patients should be killed by their doctors, stated Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, a U.K professor of palliative medicine.

It turns the ethos of medicine on its head. You really cannot predict death 100 per cent. So why not support them while they are dying and leave the door open in case they are in the group that defies all odds and recovers completely?

Back in 2017, the American College of Physicians (ACP) also came out in condemnation of euthanasia, arguing that it is neither a therapy nor a solution to difficult questions raised at the end of life.

Meanwhile, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has reopened her country to large sex orgies, which she now says are completely safe just so long as they are attended by 25 swingers or fewer.

A lot of people will be euthanized without their consent, warned one commenter at Infowars about what will likely end up happening in New Zealand (and anywhere else such policies are adopted). Count on it.

At $1,000 a death, most doctors will end up being sellouts to the new world order, wrote another. Assisted suicide will skyrocket with a little help from ventilators and remdesivir  in the U.S., federal hospitals are covid execution facilities, soon to be joined by New Zealand.

The latest news about the Chinese Virus can be found at Pandemic.news.

Sources for this article include:

Infowars.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, told BBC Breakfast the other day that the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) is rapidly becoming just another form of the common cold.

Since the sniffles belong to the same family of coronaviruses as the Chinese Flu, the constant mutation from one strain to another will eventually  if it has not already  render the Fauci Flu as harmless as an everyday runny nose.

Covid is only one virus of a family of coronaviruses and the other coronaviruses throw off new variants typically every year or so, Hunter is quoted as saying.

And thats almost certainly whats going to happen with covid: it will become effectively just another cause of the common cold.

At some point, Hunter further contends, daily reporting by the corporate-backed media of covid case numbers will have to cease. The same goes for all the panicked testing, which is completely unwarranted.

Were not going to be doing daily reporting on cases of the different causes of the common cold going forward, of which covid is one, Hunter added during the interview.

Were going to have to let people who are positive go about their normal lives as they would do with any other cold.

Covid would go away if people just ignored it already

Truth be told, we would probably already be at this stage had Donald father of the vaccine Trump never introduced his fake vaccines, which we now know are spreading more disease.

Nearly every case of the Omicron (Moronic) variant is occurring in people who took Trumps jabs and now have damaged immune systems. And the government (along with Trump) is still pushing people to get these things.

This is a disease thats not going away, Hunter further explained, suggesting that self-isolation and other measures will simply need to stop at some point because they are not getting us anywhere.

The only good news about Moronic is that it appears to be relatively mild, at least according to the experts.

There is early encouragement from what we know in South Africa that you have fewer hospitalisations and that the number of days that they stay in hospital if they do go into hospital is also lower than in previous variants, says U.K. Environment Secretary George Eustice.

At the moment we dont think that the evidence supports any more interventions beyond what we have done, he added, noting that the government is keeping it under very close review.

For the time being (at least until the New Year), no new Fauci Flu restrictions are expected to be imposed in Great Britain. All of that could change, however, once the ball drops and 2022 arrives.

Covid is a big scam, suggested one commenter at The Epoch Times who also wrote that covid already is the common cold and really always has been.

So to boil it down to the basics, as the kids would say virus gonna virus so we might as well get back to living our lives, wrote another.

Another wrote that the elderly and other immunocompromised have been dying from coronaviruses for centuries. Just like every year even before covid, weaker people who succumb to the sniffles or a bad case of the flu often die  covid is nothing unique, in other words.

The globalist scumbags and medical tyrants who have either orchestrated this pandemic, or at least capitalized on its ramifications over the past 18+ months will not LET IT become just a case of the common cold,' wrote another.

The latest news coverage about Chinese Germs can be found at Pandemic.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheEpochTimes.com

NaturalNews.com
Dr. Walter Keene Wilkins, 67, was kneeling next to his wife, Julia, gently washing her face with water when police arrived. Her battered head rested on a pillow that was soaked with blood.

Burglars were in my house, the retired physician breathlessly told the first officer on the scene at the couples cottage in Long Beach, New York, at around 10 p.m. on Feb. 27, 1919.

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Dr. Walter Wilkins (Library of Congress)

A dignified figure with mutton chop whiskers, Wilkins said that he and his wife had traveled by train from their townhouse on E. 65th St. in Manhattan to Long Beach, arriving home at around 9:45 p.m. It was a daily routine for them.

As Wilkins approached the porch, he noticed the door was open. He stepped inside and was greeted by a blackjack coming down on his skull. Luckily, his bowler hat absorbed much of the impact, and he remained conscious.

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Do not come in here, he yelled to Julia. There are robbers here. Wilkins told police he saw three men. One pushed the old man against the wall and held him by the throat.

We dont want to kill you, Pop, the thief said, but we want your money.

Mrs. Wilkins started to scream.

Youd better go outside and take care of that, one yelled to another.

The doctor then heard his wife shrieking, followed by a scuffle and a thud. It was the sound of Julia falling to the ground.

Lets get out of here, Dick, another voice shouted. This is a messy job. They snatched $40, a watch, a diamond stickpin from Wilkins, and fled.

His clothes torn and bloody, Wilkins ran to a neighbor who called police. Then he rushed back to the cottage to attend to his dying wife.

Mrs. Julia Wilkins. (New York Daily News Archive)

Doctors from a nearby veterans hospital tried to save her, but she died on the operating table within an hour. She suffered 17 crushing blows to her skull.

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Searchers could find no clues as to how the killers escaped, no sign of footprints, car tracks, or even a boat sighting.

Then the case took a surprising turn, revealed to the press in a statement from the grieving widower.

I know I am under police suspicion in connection with the murder of my wife, he said. She was a good wife, a good nurse, my companion, and the person from whom I got my money.

As for inheriting her sizable estate, he said Julia had a will from 1903, before she met him. It divided her money among other relatives. Wilkins would be left penniless.

But detectives were certain that the tale of the three burglars was a lie and that Wilkins was her murderer.

There were no witnesses to the killing, but a trove of circumstantial evidence pointed to the widower. Police found a lead pipe and a hammer in the yard, wrapped in blood-stained pages from the Lynbrook New Era. Wilkins said he had never seen the paper, but investigators found the edition that the page came from in his coat pocket. The watch and stickpin he said the burglars stole were still in the house. Glasses that Wilkins said the burglars used to drink whiskey were caked with dust.

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His story about the 1903 will was a lie. Detectives learned that his lawyer had another will, from 1915, naming Wilkins, who was Julias third husband, as her beneficiary.

By the time police moved in for an arrest, Wilkins disappeared. A few days later, he was picked up in Penn Station, his signature whiskers gone. He looked like he was planning to flee.

The runaway widower was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife on March 20, 1919.

Prosecutors delved into the doctors past and discovered that his dignified appearance was all a facade. He had been married and divorced twice. His wives accused him of laziness and infidelity and trying to swindle them out of their savings.

A series of odd jobs  grocery clerk, carpet sweeper salesman, and an insane-asylum attendant  preceded his enrollment in medical school.

As a doctor, he resorted to snake oil schemes. A Battery Park police officer said he had seen Wilkins regularly scooping seawater from the harbor. He sold it as sterilized deep-sea mineral water for $2 a bottle (roughly $32 today).

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New York Daily News front page on Monday, June 30, 1919. (New York Daily News Archive)

After 22 and a half hours of deliberation, the jury found him guilty of first-degree murder.

Breaking News As it happens Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. >

He was headed for the electric chair but found a way to cheat justice. On June 29, he asked to use the bathroom in the Mineola jail. Behind the closed door, he looped a clothesline around an overhead pipe, placed a noose around his neck, and jumped off a tin garbage pail.

None of the jailers, who were told to watch him round-the-clock, could explain where he got the rope.

DR. WILKINS SUICIDE IN CELL, screamed the Illustrated Daily News on June 30. It was the first front page crime headline for the paper, which had launched four days earlier.

The day before he died, Wilkins made one statement to his keepers: Gentlemen, I can only say that I am innocent. I loved that woman to death.

New York Daily News on Monday, June 30, 1919. (New York Daily News Archive)

A month later, tenants at the couples Manhattan property said the ghost of an elderly man with mutton chop whiskers was wandering the halls, wringing his hands.

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Others were skeptical. I dont know anything about a ghost, one woman resident told a reporter. What with the high cost of living and all the troubles were having, Id think once they reached the other side, theyd stay there.

JUSTICE STORY has been the Daily News exclusive take on true crime tales of murder, mystery and mayhem for more than 100 years. Click here to read more.
(Natural News) If you feel like you live in an alternative universe where reductionism replaces logic and superficiality trumps character, heres more evidence that you may be right. We might just be living in a racist version of The Twilight Zone.

(Article by Jack Gist republished from WesternJournal.com)

The Mankato School Board in Minnesota voted unanimously to pay non-white teachers additional stipends based only on the color of their skin, according to BizPac Review. If you happen to be born black or Native American and teach for the school district, you ostensibly deserve to be paid more than your peers.

You dont have to earn the raise for going the extra mile to help students or for actually doing anything at all. The pay raise is based upon the accident of skin color and nothing else. Forget the fact that nobody gets to determine the color of skin theyre born with.

The chair of the board, Jodi Sapp, is no stranger to controversy. She raised eyebrows when she required parents to give their name and address before commenting on school matters, The Daily Wire reported.

In this latest move, Sapp led the charge to amend district policy so that only non-white teachers are eligible for additional stipends to become mentors to other non-white colleagues.

Whites need not apply. If this isnt racist, what is?

Not everyone was happy with the vote. Republican state Rep. Jeremy Munson criticized the policy, saying, Our largest local school district just voted to pay people differently, not on merit, or by the content of their character, but based solely on the color of their skin.

This is allowed and encouraged under a revision to Minnesota state Statute 122A.70, Munson continued. Mankato Area Public Schools Policy number 466 provides pay for black and native American school staff above which is paid to white employees.

Board member Erin Roberts defended the policy by saying the policy isnt a form of segregation.

School board votes unanimously on a policy that would pay non-white teachers more and place them in work environments based on their race (segregation).

Here a member defends the decision. Unreal pic.twitter.com/zMMY5oytEZ  Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) December 22, 2021

Vice-chair Kenneth Reid joined Roberts in defending the vote by claiming that, It creates global citizens at the end of the day.

Speech from another board member right before they all voted yes to adopt this policy. pic.twitter.com/OGDAPr4T6B  Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) December 22, 2021

Aha! Now it begins to make sense. Its not The Twilight Zone unless a neo-Marxist move to strip U.S. citizens of the individual human dignity guaranteed by the Constitution can only happen in an alternative universe. In the neo-Marxist world, there are no individuals. Each person is put in a group based on something outside of their control.

Maybe its becoming more like The Outer Limits where the audience must relinquish control of the television screen.

Is this a world you would choose to live in? Neo-Marxists are doing everything in their power to strip the individual of the power to choose.

You cant choose what skin color you are born with, who your parents happen to be or whether you are born rich or poor. But, in America, you are born with the freedom to choose how, as an individual, you will navigate your God-given life. In America, no two lives are the same. Even identical twins experience the world uniquely. Each individual is one of a kind.

The Mankato School Board decision is akin to saying all German Shepherds are more deserving to be police dogs than their cousin Belgian Shepherds. The individual dog doesnt matter. No need for contests. No need for training. The German Shepherds, by accident of birth, are more deserving. You get the picture. Dont let these people do this to your children. You cant.

I wonder what Martin Luther King, Jr., the gold standard in race relations and the American Dream, would say. Bearing in mind MLKs signature quote, I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character, its safe to say he would call it what it is: racist.

MLKs vision of America is one of a work-in-progress. Were not there yet, but were on the way. The radical left seeks to undermine Kings legacy with policies that are anti-American and blatantly racist.

Dont let them.

Read more at: WesternJournal.com
(Natural News) Seven states, including most recently Texas, have signed on to a resistance plan that aims to protect state National Guard troops from Joe Bidens Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine mandates.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier this month, Gov. Greg Abbott announced his refusal to force the Texas National Guard to obey the federal jab mandate. The governors of numerous other states, including Alaska, Iowa, Mississippi, Nebraska and Wyoming, also did the same.

The first state to take action was Oklahoma. The states adjutant general, Thomas Mancino, issued an order that no National Guard troop be forced against his will to take the injections.

The State of Texas will not enforce this latest COVID-19 vaccine mandate against its guardsmen, Abbott wrote in his letter.

If the federal government keeps threatening to defund the Texas National Guard, I will deploy every legal tool available to me as Governor in defense of these American heroes.

The National Guard ranks at the bottom of the list in terms of active-duty military servicemens compliance with the Biden edict. In response, the Biden White House is threatening to withhold pay and benefits for all guardsmen who remain unvaccinated.

Should the Biden regime follow through with this threat, the careers of these guardsmen could be jeopardized, including their ability to participate in operations in which state guards are activated for federal service.

Both Abbott and Mancino agree that the Biden regimes mandates threaten to severely damage retention and recruitment within the National Guard. Abbott specifically warned that the mandates will hollow out the Texas National Guard.

Many state governors are now arguing that servicemen within their National Guards are exempt from the federal jab mandate because they are under state control. But Bidens cronies disagree and want to retaliate by withholding pay and benefits from non-compliers.

Federal judge strikes down Oklahoma lawsuit against jab mandate

Unfortunately for Oklahoma, a federal judge recently struck down a lawsuit filed by Gov. Kevin Stitt, instead choosing to side with Sec. Austin.

The court essentially decided that mandatory vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is necessary to protect the Force and defend the American people.

Judge Stephen Friots ruling found the injunction, filed on Dec. 2 by Stitt, Oklahoma Attorney General John M. OConnor, and 16 other anonymous members of the Oklahoma Air National Guard, without merit.

The vaccine mandate to which the Governor objects is the one  in addition to the nine that already apply to all service members  intended to protect service members from the virus that has, in less than two years, killed more Americans than have been killed in action in all the wars the United States has ever fought, Friot wrote in his ruling.

The court is required to decide this case on the basis of federal law, not common sense. But either way, the result would be the same.

What this means for the other states that have joined Oklahoma in resisting the jab mandates remains to be seen.

Its time for anyone with a backbone to stand up and be counted against this tyrannical control system, wrote one commenter at Natural News. They are trying to kill us all with vaccines and poverty but now they are picking a war that they cannot win if only the men of this country would get their faces out of their damn phones, cut off their man buns, and grow a pair of nads.

Three percent is all we need to make things right again. If not, we will all be slaughtered while Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, the Rothschild family, and the Royals all try to wait out Gods wrath in an underground city.

More of the latest news about the Biden regimes Fauci Flu jab edicts can be found at Fascism.news.

Sources for this article include:

BigLeaguePolitics.com

NaturalNews.com

TaskAndPurpose.com
(Natural News) It was a challenging task but an esteemed panel of NewsBusters editors led by MRC President L.Brent Bozell and MRCs Vice President for Research and Publications Brent Baker boiled down all the biased outbursts from lefty hack hosts, anchors, reporters and pundits in 2021 and on December 15 announced The Chris Cuomo Memorial Award for Quote of the Year.

(Article by Geoffrey Dickens republished from NewsBusters.org)

Of course, every year there is too much bias for just one category. So Baker led a panel of NewsBusters editors to break down the Worst of 2021 into seven additional categories (The Damn Those Conservatives Award; The GOP Wants To Bring Back Jim Crow Award; The Joy of Hate Award for Joy Reid Rants; The Praising and Protecting Old Joe Award; The Media Heroes Award; The Craziest Analysis Award and the Celebrity Freak-Outs Award).

Today we present the WORST OF 2021: The Craziest Analysis Award.

Without further ado here is the winner (followed by the top runners-up):

WINNER

Fox News Is Danger to Democracy

Since Donald Trump, it [Fox News] has completely become a tool of propaganda. We shouldnt even treat it like the press anymore. They have news in their title which is to mock the name of news. We have to call them out when they do this because we see how incredibly destructive this is to democracy. There is no doubt, Rupert Murdoch and Fox News are now a danger to democracy and they should be treated that way. If they wont do it in the federal government challenging licenses or any way that they can do it there regulation, we have to keep doing it in the press. We have to keep pounding away at it.

 Baltimore Sun media critic David Zurawik on CNNs Reliable Sources, April 25.

The following is a montage of the runners-up and winner:

RUNNERS-UP

Triggered by the American Flag

I was on Long Island this weekend, visiting a really dear friend. And I was really disturbed. I saw, you know, dozens and dozens of pickup trucks with you know, expletives against Joe Biden on the back of them, Trump flags, and in some cases, just dozens of American flags, which you know is also just disturbing, because essentially the message was clear: This is my country. This is not your country. I own this.

 New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay on MSNBCs Morning Joe, June 8.

Cars Have Become Sentient Beings

Waukesha will hold a moment of silence today, marking one week since a car drove through a city Christmas parade, killing six people and injuring scores of others.

 November 28 tweet CNNs official Twitter account. The driver of the car, who was not mentioned in the initial tweet, was Darrell Brooks, a felon who has reportedly expressed hatred for white and Jewish people.

Washington Post Slams the Statue of Liberty

Compared with other icons of national identity, it is ambiguous and ambivalent. As familiar to some Americans as the flag, the statue is just as meaningless or foreign to others, a sign without significance, or worse, a symbol of hypocrisy or unfulfilled promisesThe noble sentiments of the poem by Emma Lazarus  give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free  were all but effaced in the past four years of strident and often violent anti-immigrant sentiment.

 Washington Post art critic Philip Kennicott in July 3 column Maybe its time to admit that the Statue of Liberty has never quite measured up.

Apparently CNN Doesnt Vet Freelancers for Anti-Semitism

The world today needs Hitler.

 May 16 tweet by CNN freelance contributor Adeel Raja about growing violence between Israel and Palestinian forces. Raja was later fired. Raja wrote 54 articles for CNN.com.

Read more at: NewsBusters.org
CHINHOYI, ZIMBABWE - DECEMBER 15: A nurse administers Covid 19 vaccine on a teenager at a School near Banket on December 15, 2021 in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe. The country has extended a series of measures, including mandatory PCR tests for arriving travelers, an overnight curfew, and alcohol bans to combat the Omicron Covid-19 variant, which was first identified in nearby South Africa. Dozens of other countries soon reported their own cases. (Photo : Photo by Tafadzwa Ufumeli/Getty Images)

Despite not yet having fully-recovered from COVID-19 pandemic, experts warn that the new omicron variant will bring in its wrath a new COVID-19 wave.

Among the defining characteristics of omicron is its many mutations of the spike proteins on the outside of the virus shell that initiates a faster spread.

This aspect particularly is what made the variant better able to reinfect people previously infected with the disease. As a result, protection from vaccines become less effective.

On the bright side, vaccination helps prevent hospitalizations, especially with a booster.

Unlike any other variant so far, omicron can sweep across the globe the infection that experts fear to bring the fourth COVID-19 wave.

Surging Covid-19 cases

Since the start of its mutation, the new omicron variant contributed to a record number of infections in many US states including New York in a "full force" state, and even swept across Europe. According to nationwide COVID numbers, cases of the infection are rising again after tailing off from the fall delta surge.

"For the unvaccinated, you're looking at a winter of severe illness and death, for yourselves, your families, and the hospitals you may soon overwhelm," White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said, echoing the president's original statement.

These numbers also suggest that we should assume a rapid growth in case numbers across the U.S. as 2022 arrives.

Meanwhile, the same surge is expected to hit Alaska, as evidenced by two cases sequenced so far by the state Department of Health and Social Services.

"We can assume that others yet to be found are circulating in the community, and we'll soon see far more than a handful. The omicron variant's signature trait, beyond its mutations, is the speed at which it replicates."

Also read: Dr. Pedram Salimpour and Dr. Pejman Salimpour Warn Omicron Variant May Cause New COVID-19 Wave

Optimism about omicron

As strange as it sounds, omicron could actually offer a reason for optimism through its unique traits that may work in our favor.

For instance, it can be inferred from data that omicron may not result in hospitalization and death as often as previous variants. Although it does infect vaccinated people, it has a lower risk of hospitalization, thus preventing the speed with which omicron travels.

In addition, its fast speed could mean it burns out quicker. In fact, the earliest spike of omicron-variant cases in South Africa "dropped like a rock", making for a far more compressed COVID wave. If this is the case, we can derive that the vast number of people with new antibodies from omicron will have greater protection against it and other variants in the future.

Moreover, this could buy us time to get people vaccinated, develop enhanced vaccines and treatments against resistant strains, and keep new variants from getting a foothold. It may not necessarily be the end of COVID, but if the cards are played right, we can turn the table and press our advantage against the virus.

With this knowledge, our best weapon against omicron at this time is vaccination. This initiative stretches out to the community's welfare, especially those who are particularly at risk should they be infected with the variant.





Also read: Pfizer's New COVID Antiviral Pills Could be Dangerous When Taken With Other Medications
Newburyport, MA (01950)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun this morning followed by increasing clouds with showers developing this afternoon. High 52F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

A steady rain this evening. Showers continuing overnight. Low 44F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
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ROXBURY  The Minor Memorial Library will welcome Dr. Gil Harel, presenting Opera in the Baroque Period at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 19 on Zoom.

Scholars agree that opera came into existence sometime around the early 17th century. As such, it is a distinct creation of the baroque period, the library said in a statement. With elaborate sets, costumes, lighting, acting, dancing and singing, it has remained one of  and perhaps the  most ambitious genre in the standard canon of western art music.
As the COVID-19 omicron variant surges across the United States, top federal health officials are looking to add a negative test along with its five-day isolation restrictions for asymptomatic Americans who catch the coronavirus, the White Houses top medical adviser said Sunday.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now considering including the negative test as part of its guidance after getting significant pushback on its updated recommendations last week.

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Under that Dec. 27 guidance, isolation restrictions for people infected with COVID-19 were shortened from 10 days to five days if they are no longer feeling symptoms or running a fever. After that period, they are asked to spend the following five days wearing a mask when around others.

The guidelines have since received criticism from many health professionals for not specifying a negative antigen test as a requirement for leaving isolation.

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There has been some concern about why we dont ask people at that five-day period to get tested, Fauci said. Looking at it again, there may be an option in that, that testing could be a part of that, and I think were going to be hearing more about that in the next day or so from the CDC.

Fauci, the nations top infectious diseases expert, said the U.S. has been seeing almost a vertical increase of new cases, now averaging 400,000 cases a day, with hospitalizations also up.

We are definitely in the middle of a very severe surge and uptick in cases, he said. The acceleration of cases that weve seen is really unprecedented, gone well beyond anything weve seen before.

Fauci said hes concerned that the omicron variant is overwhelming the health care system and causing a major disruption on other essential services.

When I say major disruptions, youre certainly going to see stresses on the system and the system being people with any kind of jobs ... particularly with critical jobs to keep society functioning normally, Fauci said. We already know that there are reports from fire departments, from police departments in different cities that 10, 20, 25 and sometimes 30% of the people are ill. Thats something that we need to be concerned about, because we want to make sure that we dont have such an impact on society that there really is a disruption. I hope that doesnt happen.

The surging variant is ravaging other sectors of the workforce and American life.

Wintry weather combined with the pandemic were blamed for Sundays grounding of more than 2,500 U.S. flights and more than 4,100 worldwide. Dozens of U.S. colleges are moving classes online again for at least the first week or so of the semester  and some warn it could stretch longer if the wave of infection doesnt subside soon. Many companies that had been allowing office workers to work remotely but that were planning to return to the office early in 2022 have further delayed those plans.

The White House Correspondents Association announced on Sunday that the number of journalists allowed in the briefing room for at least the first few weeks of the year would be scaled back because of concerns about the fast-spreading virus. Typically 49 reporters have seats for the daily briefing, but only 14 reporters will be seated under the restrictions. The White House limited capacity in the briefing room early in the pandemic but returned to full capacity in June 2021.

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While there is accumulating evidence that omicron might lead to less severe illness, he cautioned that the data remains early. Fauci said he worries in particular about the tens of millions of unvaccinated Americans because a fair number of them are going to get severe disease.

He urged Americans who have not yet gotten vaccinated and boosted to do so and to mask up indoors to protect themselves and blunt the current surge of U.S. cases.

The Food and Drug Administration last week said preliminary research indicates at-home rapid tests detect omicron, but may have reduced sensitivity. The agency noted its still studying how the tests perform with the variant, which was first detected in late November.

The Health Report Weekly A weekly update on health news in Florida. >

Fauci said Americans should not get the impression that those tests are not valuable.

I think the confusion is that rapid antigen tests have never been as sensitive as the PCR test, Fauci said. Theyre very good when they are given sequentially. So if you do them like maybe two or three times over a few-day period, at the end of the day, they are as good as the PCR. But as a single test, they are not as sensitive.

A PCR test usually needs to be processed in a laboratory. The test looks for the viruss genetic material and then reproduces it millions of times until its detectable with a computer.

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Fauci said if Americans take the necessary precautions, the U.S. might see some semblance of more normal life returning soon.

One of the things that we hope for is that this thing will peak after a period of a few weeks and turn around, Fauci said. He expressed hope that by February or March, omicron could fall to a low enough level that it doesnt disrupt our society, our economy, our way of life.

Fauci spoke on ABCs This Week and CNNs State of the Union.

Madhani reported from Wilmington, Delaware.
State officials have announced plans to distribute COVID-19 at-home testing kits as the demand for them surges and record high positivity rates are recorded.

Plans were still being finalized in some local towns for distribution Wednesday, while others had created signup sheets, hoping to distribute as early as Thursday.

But, those plans have hit a snag after Gov. Ned Lamont said Wednesday the shipment from California is delayed, leaving local officials unsure exactly when the tests would be arriving.

A total of 3 million at-home test kits are planned to be disseminated statewide, with the first distribution to include about 500,000. Each kit will include two tests.

The demand for the kits comes as stores rapidly sell out and as people have struggled booking PCR COVID-19 tests in a timely fashion. The COVID-19 omicron variant has also spiked cases throughout the state, with a 17.78% positivity rate recorded Wednesday and hospitalizations continued to climb.

Here is how local officials in the Danbury area are planning to distribute testing kits. Please note, some times and dates could change based on the shipment arrival time.

Danbury

The city will receive 10,890 COVID-19 test kits and plans to distribute them first-come, first-served. Local leaders said Wednesday they would distribute at Western Connecticut State Universitys Westside campus at 43 Lake Ave. Extension. Officials did not say what day or time yet, pending the arrival of the test kit shipment.

New Milford

The town expects to receive 3,600 test kits in its first delivery. Distribution will be at the John Pettibone Community Center when kits arrive, but for not it has been temporarily postponed as the state awaits a shipment. Residents can sign up online through the town website to receive priority and families with children can sign up for up to two test kits. Those receiving tests need to show proof of residency.

New Fairfield

The town was planning to distribute COVID test kits from 1 to 4 p.m. Thursday in front of New Fairfield Middle School, according to a post on the towns website Monday night. The site had not been updated by the time of publication Wednesday night. Proof of residency will be required and those looking for tests will be asked to enter the campus driveway closest to Peerless Equipment and exit from the new westside driveway. No more than two kits will be distributed per household. The town expects to receive about 1,700 kits.

Ridgefield

There were no initial plans as of Wednesday evening to distribute the 3,150 COVID test kits to the general public. Instead, police and fire departments will be first priority, followed by critical people in town government. First Selectman Rudy Marconi said more than 2,000 of the kits will be distributed to residents through a public distribution process that has not yet been announced.

Redding

The town initially planned to distribute test kits Friday at the Redding Community Center on Lonetown Road from 12 to 3 p.m. With shipments delayed, the town has put the distribution on hold. Once they arrive, Redding plans to distribute its 1,170 kits and an ID will be required to receive two tests.

Newtown

The town, expected to receive 3,420 kits, will distribute by appointment. Residents are asked to make an appointment through the town website and pick the kits up at Reed School. Only two kits are allowed per household and proof of residency is required. Residents are also asked to bring their confirmation email that they receive once making an appointment.

Southbury

The town, expecting to receive 2,520 kits, was planning to distribute kits from 2 to 4 p.m. at Pomperaug High. The plan is on hold until the kits arrive, however. Proof of residency will be required.

Washington

Test kits will tentatively be available on a first-come, first-served basis Friday at 9 a.m. at the River Walk pavilion at 11 School St. A limited number of tests will be available to those 65 and older at the Senior Center at 6 Bryan Hall Plaza beginning Monday at 9 a.m. The town expects to receive 540 kits. Proof of residence will be required.

Brookfield

The town will distribute on a first-come, first-served basis, according to an automated message on the health departments voicemail. The town originally planned to distribute at 3 p.m. Thursday at Brookfield High School, but needed to postpone due to a delay in the shipment from the state, the message stated. The town expects to receive 2,250 kits. The town is now on standby for the possibility of a Friday distribution, but it is pending delivery.

Sherman

The town has postponed its distribution plan, which was scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday. The town is expected to receive 450 kits and was planning to distribute them att he Sherman School on a first-come, first-served basis.

Bethel

The town, which expects to receive 2,600 kits, did not release details with distribution plans Wednesday. Officials were planning to announce plans sometime Thursday. In the meantime, officials ask residents not call Town Hall.

Roxbury

Expecting about 360 kits in the first shipment, town officials plan to distribute kits to local schools with the remaining tests given primarily to first responders. It is expected some kits would be held at Town Hall for residents.

Bridgewater

The town expects to receive 270 kits and will reserve that shipment for ambulance and fire department staff.

This story has been updated to reflect changes following an announcement that the test kit shipment had been delayed.
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High 66F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low near 55F. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch.
A 1920s postcard highlights Orlandos Memorial High School on Lake Eolas west side. After decades as a junior high school, it was razed in 1963 to make way for the Robert Meyer Motor Inn. - Original Credit: Florida State Archives (Courtesy photo)

The mind feels its way into the very depths of the picture, poet and physician Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. wrote in 1859. The scraggy branches of a tree in the foreground run out as if they would scratch our eyes out.

He was talking about a stereograph  two nearly identical pictures mounted on a horizontal card about 7 inches wide and 4 inches deep. When seen together through a viewer called a stereoscope, they create the illusion of a single 3-D image. First used widely in the late 1850s, the process reached the height of its popularity between 1870 and 1920  the precursor of the View-Master some of us enjoyed as kids.

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During those decades, Many American families once had stereoscopes in their parlors, where they amused themselves on long winter days by looking at eye-popping, 3-D images of places they hoped to visit, including Florida. Shivering in northern cities in January, they could imagine being surrounded by steamboats and citrus groves, silvery lakes and sandy city streets.

One view of Orlando in the 1920s shows folks boating on Lake Eola during midwinter. In the background, the brick Memorial High School, built in 1922 and dedicated to those who had served in World War I, looks over the lake. The city grew so much during the 1920s that by 1925 school officials were planning a new high school.

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The Lake Eola view is among thousands of stereograph images in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. (visit loc.gov/pictures/collection/stereo). Many can be downloaded, but unfortunately the 3-D effect only works when you look at both images through a viewer.

A kind of social network

Postcards also carried visions of Florida far and wide, albeit in two-dimensions. If the place looks this good in a photo, just imagine the real thing, they seem to say. For some collectors, including me, part of the appeal of old postcards comes from the messages folks scribbled on them during visits to Florida. Just a little longer than text messages, they hint of stories waiting to be revealed.

My knees are some better and I like the job better, a mysterious Ben writes from Orlando to a Mrs. Hawkins in Minneapolis in 1913. I get used to waiting for trains, and you know how well I like to wait for anything, he quips.

Hi Maw, a woman writes from Deland in 1943. Found Olgas garage apartment but could not find her next address  Ill try again.

Why is Ben waiting for trains, one wonders. And Olga  has she disappeared? Well never know.

We do know that many messages on Florida cards talk about the weather. Its like June here: birds, bees, butterflies, flowers, a correspondent wrote from Orlando in February 1937 to a friend in Maine.

Others offer social observations. A guest at Winter Parks Alabama Hotel describes fine cuisine and a clientele of above average bridge players. Friend Ed tells Elmer back in New York about the great the fishing in Florida in 1953. I think you would like it here, he closes.

Ed sounds sunny, but the inevitable grumps reveal themselves on postcard scribblings, too. I dont think much of this place, someone scrawled below a lovely view of the Sanford riverfront in the early 1900s.

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And while many correspondents always put a bright spin on things (Having a swell time!), others freely relate their woes. We had a terrible storm last week, Annette writes from Orlando to Freda in Massachusetts in 1926.

By the way, perusing postcard messages shows how popular names have changed over the years. Decades ago, one finds no Ashleys, Lisas, or Kimberlys. For women, names such as Edith, Mildred, Minnie and Florence abound.

Whats going on

After 40-plus years of collecting postcards, I still find that each one is a time machine, says Bonnie Wilpon of the Sunshine Postcard Club, which is presenting its winter show this month  a time when postcard dealers have long ventured to Florida. Here are details about it and also a show in DeLand.

Jan. 7-8: DeLand Vintage Paper and Postcard Expo, Volusia County Fairgrounds, 3100 E. New York Ave. Free appraisals for collections. Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday,10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cost: $5 (good for both days). For more information: Mary Martin at marymartinpostcards@gmail.com or 410-939-0999.

Jan. 14-15: Sunshine Post Card Club Winter Show and Sale, Country Inn Suites, Lakeside Event Center (behind hotel), 4750 N. Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cost: $3 ($5 for both days); members free ($10 annually). Masks required. For more information: Bonnie Wilpon at bonnpon@att.net or 813-766-7292 or Leah Schnall at leahcard@aol.com or 941-753-8794.

Joy Wallace Dickinson can be reached at joydickinson@icloud.com, FindingJoyinFlorida.com, or by good old-fashioned letter to Florida Flashback, c/o Dickinson, P.O. Box 1942, Orlando, FL 32802.
Pre-eclampsia is a pregnancy disorder that is characterized by high blood pressure and the presence of protein in the urine. The condition typically arises after 20 weeks of pregnancy and in severe cases, red blood cell breakdown occurs resulting in low blood platelet count, compromised liver function, kidney dysfunction, shortness of breath due to fluid buildup in the lungs, swelling, and visual disturbances. If left untreated, it may result in seizures: this is called eclampsia.

Image Credit: Artemida-psy/Shutterstock.com

There is a genetic underpinning to pre-eclampsia that has been recognized since the 19th century. Oftentimes, two genotypes must be considered; the mothers and the fetus (with a paternal contribution, paternal genes must also be considered).

Recent investigations have estimated the heritability of pre-eclampsia to be ~ 55%, with contributions from both maternal and fetal genes. In twin studies of the condition, concordance of pre-eclampsia is as common as discordance. The largest published twin study to date has revealed pre-eclampsia penetrance to be <50%, suggesting models of inheritance are diverse.

Pre-eclampsia is considered to be a complex genetic disorder; in a small number of cases, pre-eclampsia does follow mendelian patterns of inheritance. The condition arises as a result of numerous common variants at different loci which, produce small effects individually, but collectively a large susceptibility to disease.

Whether or not each of these low penetrant variants produces a phenotype is dependant on environmental exposures which include age and weight. In addition, the cause cannot be attributed to a single variant in each case of pre-eclampsia; it is more likely that different variants could be associated with various subsets of disease.

In a study of Latin American women, several genetic variants were found to influence an individuals predisposition to pre-eclampsia. Some variants were consistently associated with pre-eclampsia across different populations despite ethnic and genetic background differences inherent in the Latin American population studied. It was also found that genetic intra and inter variation produced a large effect on predisposition to pre-eclampsia.

The Genetic Component

It has been reported that women who have first-degree relatives with pre-eclampsia are at five times enhanced risk of developing the disease. In cases where women had second-degree relatives with the condition, the risk of them developing pre-eclampsia was doubled.

A large genetic association study of pre-eclampsia studied 775 single nucleotide polymorphism in 120 genes across > 350 mothers with pre-eclampsia compared to 602 women in a control group without pre-eclampsia.

In this study, six genes were detected that confirmed significant evidence of a maternal-fetal genotype interaction that was related to the development of pre-eclampsia. These genes were: IGF1, IL4R, IGF2R, GNB3, CSF1, and THBS4. Combined with these findings other studies suggest that polygenic inheritance with a genetic component for pre-eclampsia is multifactoral.

As such, several biological candidate genes and polymorphism have been examined in relation to pre-eclampsia.

Immune Maladaptation

ERAP1 and 2

The endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidases 1 and 2 (ERAP1 and 2) play a role in the immune response through their involvement in antigen presentation. Data in mice have demonstrated that ERAP1 (predominantly), as well as ERAP2, are responsible for trimming MHC Class 1 presented peptides. single nucleotide polymorphisms in ERAP2 have been demonstrated in Australian, New Zealand, and Norwegian populations that are associated with pre-eclampsia.

These same single nucleotide polymorphisms have also been associated with hypertensive disorders in pregnancy in African American populations; however, they have not been found to cause an increased risk of pre-eclampsia in a Chilean population. This supports the notion that pre-eclampsia has a heterogeneous genetic association, with variation observed between different ethnic groups.

TNFSF13B

TNFSF13B is a member of the tumor necrosis factor family of ligands. This gene is involved in the regulation of the immune response to infections, inflammation, and autoimmune responses. It has been suggested that the role of TNFSF13B is to modulate the main system of the mother and help in the development of the fetus immune system as receptors for TNFSF13B are expressed in cytotrophoblast cells and mesenchymal cells of the placenta during pregnancy.

At the placental level, TNFSF13B is thought to produce an anti-apoptotic effect. Single nucleotide polymorphism in the gene has been found in Australian and New Zealand families with pre-eclampsia. The presence of single nucleotide polymorphism is purported to result in abnormal development of the placenta in some populations.

Vascular and Endothelial Function

Several polymorphisms in VEGF have been correlated with an increased risk of pre-eclampsia. This has been shown in African American women as well as Caucasian women, however, single nucleotide polymorphisms were distinct in the two populations. All the data has also demonstrated that some polymorphisms in the gene can be protective.

This was seen in a Hungarian cohort of patients where the 405 C > polymorphism was associated with less severe pre-eclampsia. Single nucleotide polymorphism has also been found in the eNOS gene which controls the regulation of smooth muscle tone in the vascular system and critically determines the correct blood perfusion of the placenta. Alongside eNOS, CYP11B2 encodes a steroid 11/18-beta-hydroxylase which synthesizes the mineralocorticoid aldosterone. Single nucleotide polymorphisms in this gene have been associated with a protective effect.

Thrombophilic Disorders

Single nucleotide polymorphism in genes associated with thrombophilic conditions is also associated with an increased risk of pre-eclampsia. Genes connected to thrombophilic conditions that are associated with risk of pre-eclampsia are as follows:

The human prothrombin (F2), factor V gene, SERPINE1 gene (encodes endothelial plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), the major inhibitor of fibrinolysis

In addition to these sets of genes, single nucleotide polymorphism has been found in genes related to metabolism and oxidative stress.

Pre-eclampsia is ultimately a multifactorial disease where maternal and fetal factors result in a multi-component risk. The condition cannot be attributed to a single factor, and several are needed in concert to produce symptoms of pre-eclampsia.

Several studies across different populations have identified maternal polymorphisms that are associated with pre-eclampsia through candidate gene approaches. These findings are observational and require complementary genome-wide approaches. Moreover, evaluation of the interaction between genes and the environment and the relative effects of the paternal and embryonic genotypes also need investigating.

References:

Valenzuela FJ, Perez-Sepulveda A, Torres MJ, et al. (2012) Pathogenesis of preeclampsia: the genetic component. J Pregnancy. doi: 10.1155/2012/632732.

Michita RT, Kaminski VL, Chies JAB. (2018) Genetic Variants in Preeclampsia: Lessons From Studies in Latin-American Populations. Front Physiol. doi:10.3389/fphys.2018.01771.

Williams PJ, Broughton Pipkin F. (2011) The genetics of pre-eclampsia and other hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol. doi:10.1016/j.bpobgyn.2011.02.007.

Further Reading
(Newser)  A lawsuit filed against a veteran mountaineering guide last year after a failed attempt to summit Mount Everest in September 2019 has been settled. The guide, Garrett Madison, called off the climb when a seraca massive block of glacial icewas spotted hanging over the route to the top, and looked to be ready to fall at any moment. Also at base camp on their own expectations and disappointed not to summit that fall were mountaineer Kilian Jornet and Polish ski mountaineer Andrzej Bargiel, Outside Online reports. Both called off their attempts because of the serac, which was well-documented at that point, per Explorersweb. I dont accept that kind of risk, Bargiel said in a video posted to his YouTube channel, which has drone footage of the ice block.

But one of Madisons clients, millionaire tech CEO Zac Bookman, concern over the deadly risk of a teetering ice block on an already dangerous climb looked like a scam. I waited a week and was just in disbelief, Bookman said. I was like, Am I being scammed here? It doesnt make any sense, I dont understand,' Bookman said, per GeekWire. Madison says he offered Bookman a credit on a future expedition, or a summit on another peak. Bookman says he was offered a partial refund, which Madison denies. Bookman sued, and Madison, fearing bankruptcy and the loss of his business, countersued. Besides protecting his own interests, Madison wanted to protect the Sherpa from feeling pressured to take even greater risks in an already dangerous profession out of fear of being financially ruined by clients. He also bristled at a tech CEO calling his colleagues and friends lazy and inefficient, which Bookman did in a letter demanding $50,000, per Outside. I feel like its a big win for myself and my company and for the mountain-guiding industry as a whole, Madison told the magazine. Bookmans suit was thrown out in September 2020, and it was Madisons suit that was settled. The document specifically stipulates that Madison acted solely to protect his clientsincluding Bookmanshealth and safety. (Read more Mount Everest stories.)
(Newser)  Eric Adams says the theme of his first 100 days in office as mayor of New York City will be "Get Stuff Done." He got to work Saturday, taking the subway to City Hallwithout a security detail, WABC reports. Along the way, Adams chatted with passengers and reporters, spoke with homeless people, and made his first 911 call as mayor to report a street fight. "I'm looking forward to showing New Yorkers that I'm one of them," Adams said after arriving at City Hall about 8:30. "I take the train, I'm going to put in long hours, no one in this city is going to outwork me."

Adams had taken the oath of office hours before in Times Square during the city's New Year's celebration, saving his inaugural address for City Hall on Saturday. He promised a "radically practical" approach to governing, per WNBC, involving "weeding out waste and eliminating the inefficiencies," not just offering "grand plans and proposals." Closures in the city because of the pandemic remain an issue: Several subway lines were offline because transit workers had tested positive, per the AP. But Adams said New York "can and should be the center of the universe again." The city has been in crisis for two years, the mayor said, "and that insults our very nature as New Yorkers."

On his way to the subway, Adams, 61, had ticked off his immediate agenda for reporters. "I want an analysis of the number of our sick count. I'm going to meet with the top staff members, I want to see immediately where we are around COVID and DOC, NYPD, and DOE," he said. "And I want to make sure that we have a real plan in place for Monday for testing for analysis of the number of students that we believe will appear in school and just get that real plan together for Monday because schools will be open." His first day wasn't perfect: The police officers called to the fight didn't get out of their car, and Adams said they should've done more to investigate. (Read more Eric Adams stories.)
(Newser)  A notorious killer whose ability to slip out of prison and off the grid has earned him the moniker 'Galician Rambo' is once again missing, but residents of a little Spanish town not far from where he's serving time intend to change that. Per the Guardian, 63-year-old Alfredo Sanchez Chacon was let out of Pontevedra prison in March on a day pass and never returned. He's been on the run ever since and is believed to be surviving in wilderness near the prison using training he received while a member of the Spanish Legion. As the Daily Beast notes, residents of the small Galician town of Pontedeume aren't taking Sanchez Chacon's escape lying down.

Citizens have banded together to comb the region for the convict, who's serving time for a 1996 murder and wasn't due to be released until 2025. The community first began to raise the alarm as many townspeople realized this summer that pantry staples, beer, and meat had begun to disappear from many of their kitchens. When a hunter came upon a man fitting Sanchez Chacon's description last week, the manhunt intensified. When, or if, he's finally found, it will be his third return to prison following an escape. The killer was already infamous for two others--one in 1999 when he used bedsheets to shimmy down a wall and into two years of freedom, and another in 2001 that ended after less than an hour on the run. (Read more prison escape stories.)
(Newser)  Austrians with a terminal illness or permanent, debilitating condition now may seek help in ending their life. Parliament approved legalizing assisted suicide last week after a Constitutional Court ruling that said the existing ban was a violation of the right to self-determination, Deutsche Welle reports. The Assisted Suicide Act took effect Saturday. Assisted suicide is legal next door, in Switzerland, and it has been decriminalized in European nations including Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands, per the BBC. The Austrian law requires:

Documentation : Applicants must show a diagnosis and confirmation that they're capable of making their own their own decisions. Those with mental health problems are excluded, as are minors.

: Applicants must show a diagnosis and confirmation that they're capable of making their own their own decisions. Those with mental health problems are excluded, as are minors. Doctors' approval : Two doctors have to assess each case, with one of them being a specialist in palliative medicine.

: Two doctors have to assess each case, with one of them being a specialist in palliative medicine. A waiting period : Once two doctors approve, nothing can happen for 12 weeks, theoretically so patients can consider their decision and draw up a will. The wait, which is two weeks for those with a terminal illness, also is designed to ensure the health issue isn't temporary.

: Once two doctors approve, nothing can happen for 12 weeks, theoretically so patients can consider their decision and draw up a will. The wait, which is two weeks for those with a terminal illness, also is designed to ensure the health issue isn't temporary. Notifications: After the waiting period, the patient is to inform a lawyer or notary, then receive access to lethal drugs from a pharmacy.

The justice minister said the government also will increase its offerings of alternatives to suicide. Actively helping someone else commit suicide remains illegal, per the Daily Beast. Some opponents of the legislation had argued that it enacted too many requirements for those seeking help in dying, while others said a psychiatric evaluation is insufficient for determining a person's ability to make the decision. (Read more assisted suicide stories.)
(Newser)  A man in China was able to reunite with his family some 30 years after he was kidnapped with the help of a map he was able to draw from memory. Per BBC, Li Jingwei was abducted in 1989 in Yunnan Province then sold to a family living over 1,000 miles away. Decades later, he was reportedly able to draw a map of the village he was born in, which he posted to social media. "I was taken to Henan by a bald neighbour around 1989, when I was about four years old," he said on TikTok, known as Douyin in China. "This is a map of my home area that I have drawn from memory."

Per Sky News, police were miraculously then able to match the map to a small village where a boy had once gone missing, despite Jingwei not remembering the town name or even the road on which he was raised until age 4. Following a DNA test, and after more than three decades, Jingwei saw his mother again on New Year's Day. While shocking, their story is not uncommon in China, where the restrictive one-child policy once fueled a black market for infant boys. That policy has been lifted, but reunion stories like Jingwei's continue to come out of the country. Just last month, a couple's 14-year search ended when they found their son, Sun Zhuo, who was taken in 2007. (Read more reunion stories.)
An Orange County deputy shot and killed a man in his 20s Sunday afternoon in Pine Hills after the man shot his father and then turned his gun on officers, Sheriff John Mina said.

This is an extremely tragic situation, Mina told reporters at a briefing near the shooting. But if you shoot at a deputy, point a gun at a deputy, were going to return fire.

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The shooting occurred shortly after noon in a residential area of Pine Hills on Santa Barbara Road after a woman called 9-1-1 to report domestic violence. She is believed to be the mother of the man who was killed; his name was not immediately released.

Four deputies arrived at the home to witness the suspect pistol-whip his father and shoot him in the arm. The suspect then began to shoot at the deputies, Mina said. He did not say how many times the suspect was shot.

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The father was expected to survive, Mina said. There were no further details available on his condition.

None of the deputies was injured. But it was the second time in a week that Orange County deputies found themselves under attack during a domestic violence call, the sheriff said. On Dec. 26, deputies shot Avery Bobby Williams, 38, after he allegedly shot at his brother, assaulted his brothers pregnant ex-girlfriend and then fired at the deputies chasing him.

Williams was hospitalized and faces charges of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery on a pregnant person, robbery and grand theft.

Domestic violence calls are one of the most dangerous calls law enforcement can respond to because emotions are already high, Mina said. Most people have firearms these days, so between emotions and people having firearms, its just a dangerous, dangerous situation.

As is routine, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting and will turn over its findings to the State Attorneys Office for review. Afterwards, the sheriffs office will conduct an internal review.

The deputies involved are on temporary, paid administrative leave pending the FDLE findings.

ksantich@orlandosentinel.com
(Newser)  Update: Less than 24 hours after Twitter gave Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene a permanent boot, Facebook made a similar but much briefer move, blocking her from the site for 24 hours. Politico reports Greene took to the social media platform GETTR with the news, writing, "Facebook has joined Twitter in censoring me. This is beyond censorship of speech." A rep for Facebook parent company Meta confirmed that it removed a post of Greene's that "violated our policies." Meanwhile, MarketWatch reports GETTR saw 171,629 new users sign up on Sunday, chief among them Joe Rogan, who posted, "Just in case s--- over at Twitter gets even dumber, I'm here now as well. Rejoice!" Our original story from Sunday follows:

Twitter shut down Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's personal account on Sunday for what it called "repeated violations" of the social media platform's policy on COVID-19 misinformation. Twitter said it's a permanent suspension, Axios reports, imposed under its strike system that governs posts containing coronavirus misinformation. Her personal account is the one Greene used most often; her official congressional account, @RepMTG, remains active, per CNN. Twitter earlier slapped temporary restrictions on the Georgia Republican's account over misinformation about the 2020 presidential election and COVID-19.

"Social media platforms can't stop the truth from being spread far and wide. Big Tech can't stop the truth," Greene said in a statement issued Sunday, adding, "We will overcome!" Greene incurred her fifth Twitter strike after a false tweet Saturday about "extremely high amounts of Covid vaccine deaths." The post included a misleading chart built on unverified data, per the New York Times. Accounts reaching five strikes are not eligible to be restored under a policy announced in March.

Greene was assessed her fourth strike in August for falsely posting that the coronavirus vaccines were "failing" and masks don't stop the spread of the coronavirus, per the Hill. That brought a one-week suspension. The third strike came weeks earlier, after a tweet saying COVID-19 is only dangerous for people who are obese or older than 65. Greene, who has been fined multiple times for not wearing a mask on the floor of the House, also has compared coronavirus safety protocols to the Holocaust, per USA Today. CDC figures show more than 820,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the US since the pandemic began. (Read more Marjorie Taylor Greene stories.)
Reina Hasting is a coordinator with Extensions Family Nutrition Program, which is administered by the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. For questions, she can be contacted at rhhasting@alaska.edu or 907-474-2437.
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The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism yesterday took quick actions against a tea shop, which took undue advantage of the Value Added Tax rise to raise the prices of the popular Karak Tea.

The shop raised the price of Karak tea to 150 fils from 100 fils, citing the new 10% VAT.

The ministry officials also separately said they shut eight other shops for unfairly raising the prices, on account of the 10% increase in VAT.

The raid also followed a Bahraini councillor calling for strict actions against doubling the prices of the popular Karak Tea.

Judicial Control Officers said the prices were raised, even though VAT exempts the ingredients for making the products, A member of the Northern Municipal Council, Muhammad Saad Al-Dosari, said that the shops selling the popular Karak tea are using VAT, which excludes basic food items like tea as an excuse to hike the price of tea by up to 50%.

This is simply a case of exploitation, said Al Dosari.

He told the council that the undue price hike comes into effect even after clear mandates are issued to exclude basic food commodities from VAT.

Karak tea is a commonly consumed tea in the Gulf region and is similar to masala chai but with fewer spices.

Sugar, tea, ginger, cardamom pods, saffron, cloves, peppercorns, evaporated milk are the commonly used ingredients for making Karak tea.

According to the National Bureau of Revenue, VAT excludes 94 basic food products and 1,820 governmental services.

The rule also clearly states that VAT excludes sugar, salt, cardamom, coffee beans, tea and cardamom.

VAT is also not valid for green tea in packaging less than 3 kilograms, small tea bag (except above 3 grams), other black tea and partly fermented tea.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism issued a warning to shops against raising the prices of basic food commodities without justification.

In a statement, the ministry also warned against taking undue advantage of the Value Added Tax rate adjustment, which came into force yesterday, and excludes 94 basic food products.

The statement posted on social media further warns that it would take immediate measures against violators.

The ministry also called on citizens and residents to report such violations immediately through Tawasul at 80008001 or call 17111346 - 17111252 - 17111278.

Also, write complaints to Inspection@moic.gov.bh.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The Ministry of Labour and Social Development announced giving jobs to 26,344 citizens in 2021 as part of the National Employment Programme.

The achievement, the ministry said, was part of a plan to create promising job opportunities and make citizens the first choice in the labour market.

The plan calls for employing 20,000 Bahrainis and training 10,000 citizens annually until 2024, the ministry said, as it outlined its achievements during 2021.

The achievements, the ministry said, are the outcomes of the support of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister.

The second edition of the National Employment Programme has been able to achieve its objectives by promoting care, rehabilitation, protection and social development for the various segments of society, the ministry said.

The ministry said it is committed to implementing the Cabinet resolution to increase social security assistance and financial support for people with low incomes by 10% from January 2022.

Plans also focus on raising the standard of living for the neediest citizens, supporting and developing productive families, facilitating procedures for NGOs, and developing the skills of their members to carry out their assigned roles in social service and developmental charitable work.

On the Rehabilitation and training of citizens in the private sector, the ministry said it supported 12,841 job seekers until December 2021.

The ministry said it also signed 15 memoranda of understanding for virtual training and guidance programmes free of charge.

93 licensed private training centres

The ministry also announced having 93 licensed private training centres and institutes in the Kingdom, out of which 14 are professional and technical centres and 79 are administrative and commercial centres and institutes.

The ministry also licensed four training institutions and 651 training programmes, amounting to (100) local attendance programmes.

The ministry approved 211 local programmes, 315 international programmes, 25 palliative programmes in the National Qualifications.

The ministry employs 355 licensed trainers who verified 396 certificates and held 71 inspection visits. Labour ministry also held discussions with 78 investors for opening private training institutions.

28,000 unemployment beneficiaries

According to the latest statistics, there are 28,000 job seekers eligible for unemployment benefits until September 2021.

These compensations, the ministry said, are provided online, and job seekers, who got dismissed from work for reasons beyond their control, can update their data via the website.

Inspected 2,628 facilities

Until October last year, Labour ministry inspectors had carried out 2,628 visits to facilities with 168,386 workers.

There are 33,666 Bahraini workers and 134,720 foreign workers in these establishments.

The inspection campaigns resulted in issuing 68 violations and warnings.

Last year until November, the ministry also inspected 350 worksites and labour camps to enhance COVID-19 preventive measures.

During July and August summer work ban, the ministry visited 11,342 worksites, with 99.8% of the establishments complying with the ban.

Twenty-two establishments and 22 workers failed to comply with the ban.

On training programmes, the ministry said 11,792 job seekers took advantage of the programmes until December 2021.

The ministry signed 15 MoUs for free virtual training and mentorship programmes.

Labour disputes:

Labour Disputes Settlement Office at the ministry settled 1,652 cases last year, of which 805 cases were settlements within, and 757 are on hold.

During the same period, the labour consultations amounted to 5297, and the written responses to legal inquiries amounted to 215.

Responses by phone reached 12,165.

Created 62 entrepreneurs

The ministry converted 62 families and individuals into entrepreneurs and granted commercial registrations through the Khotwa Step Programme for Home Projects.

Those who obtained a home-based work permit within the step programme is 1,243.

16,588 families received Social security

The number of families and individuals benefitting from the social security assistance reached 16,588, until December 2021, the ministry said, adding social security rose 10% and will become effective this month.

The ministry also announced reducing the electricity and water consumption fees for 12,786 Bahraini families benefitting from social assistance until the end of November 2021.

Disability, fire-damage allowances

The ministry also distributed disability allowances until December 2021 at 100 dinars per month and assisted 12740 differently-abled people.

The ministry also compensated 54 families during the year for house fire-related damages.

128,298 got low-income support

The ministry said it paid financial support for low-income people to 128,298 until December 2021.

The ministry had hiked the amount by 10%, which will become effective this month.

Meat subsidy compensation touch BD28 million

Cash compensation dues were for lifting meat subsidies to 171,880 families until October 2021, with total disbursements amounting to more than 28 million Bahraini dinars.
FORT LAUDERDALE  The Broward Health hospital system on Saturday said it suffered a data breach in October where a hacker accessed personal and medical information of patients and staff.

A statement from the hospital said the intruder accessed names, birthdays, addresses, banking information, social security numbers, drivers license numbers, patient histories and treatment and diagnosis records, among other information.

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The information was removed from the hospitals system, however, there is no evidence the information was actually misused, the statement said.

The intruder gained access to its network on Oct. 15 through a third-part medical provider that was allowed to access its systems. Broward Health detected the intrusion Oct. 19 and notified the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice.

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The DOJ asked the hospital to not immediately make the breach public in order to preserve an ongoing law enforcement investigation, the statement said.

The hospital did not specify how many peoples information was accessed during the breach.

Broward Health operates more than 30 health care locations in Broward County.
AAP leaders have travelled all over Uttar Pradesh for this rally and taken a letter of support from the people on promises like 300 units of free electricity, 10 lakh jobs and unemployment allowance, said the party.

Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Aam Aadmi Partys National Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will address a rally at Lucknows Smriti Upvan Maidan on Sunday afternoon, informed AAP. For this rally of Kejriwal, AAP leaders have travelled all over Uttar Pradesh and taken a letter of support from the people on promises like 300 units of free electricity, 10 lakh jobs and unemployment allowance, said the party. Earlier this rally was to be held on November 28, which was cancelled due to the TET exam, as per the party.

Earlier in September last year, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday announced that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will provide 300 units of free electricity to all if voted to power in Uttar Pradesh. While, earlier in December last year, AAP announced creating 10 lakh jobs every year and providing an allowance of Rs 5,000 per month to the unemployed in Uttar Pradesh.

Elections for 403 assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh are due early this year. In the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP won a landslide victory winning 312 Assembly seats. The party secured a 39.67 per cent vote share in the elections for 403-member Assembly. Samajwadi Party bagged 47 seats, BSP won 19 while Congress could manage to win only seven seats.
Michelle Troconis

Attorney Jon Schoenhorn speaks to the media after representing Michelle Troconis, right, in Stamford Superior Court Stamford in connection to charges in the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos. Friday, August 28, 2020, in Stamford, Conn.

Michelle Troconis, the former girlfriend of Fotis Dulos, faces conspiracy to commit murder and evidence tampering charges in connection with the disappearance and presumed death of Jennifer Dulos.

This case predates the start of the pandemic with Troconis first charged in June 2019  one week after the New Canaan mother of five vanished  with evidence tampering and hindering prosecution.

Troconis was charged with conspiracy to commit murder in early January 2020, weeks before the pandemic hit in Connecticut. Fotis Dulos was charged at the same time with murder and kidnapping, but died by suicide several weeks afterward.

State police investigators accused Troconis of being with Fotis Dulos when he threw out bags in trash bins in Hartfords North End the night of the disappearance, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Some of those bags were later recovered and state police investigators said they found evidence linked to Jennifer Dulos, records show.

In video excerpts of a state police interview, released as part of court filing by her attorney, Troconis told investigators she had nothing to do with the disappearance.

Troconis has remained free on more than $2 million bail, but her movements have been monitored by a GPS device.

Troconis attorney, Jon Schoenhorn, and the state are arguing a litany of pre-trial motions that range from requests for certain material to the truthfulness of state police investigators in arresting documents, records show.

Troconis is scheduled to appear in Stamford Superior Court next on Feb. 15.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, whos spent $3 million this year zipping around the state in a $15.5 million plane thats supposed to be used only for public business, must think Floridians dont know what campaigning looks like.

But if hes confused, here are some tips: If there are snappy slogans on the podium instead of a simple, dignified state seal, that looks like campaigning.

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If theres an audience of fans yelling, cheering and waving signs with veiled references to profane catchphrases instead of concerned experts and charts with critical public information, that also looks a lot like campaigning.

If DeSantis is spitting out slogans instead of addressing his duties as this states elected leader  it looks like campaigning. Sending out fundraising information closely keyed to the appearance he just made? Looks like campaigning. Spinning fantasies about stolen elections and conspiracy theories involving respected federal health officials? Well  that sounds like lying. Also, sadly, campaigning.

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[ DeSantis is "blurring the lines" using plane for campaign-style travel, watchdog says ]

When the governor is hitting bakeries, barbecue joints and coffee shops across Florida instead of talking about the life-and-death concerns of millions of Floridians who entrusted him with the states highest office  maybe thats not campaigning, but its certainly not working. Hes got plenty to say in his Twitter feed about all the bagels, sandwiches, coffee and unspecified baked goods hes noshed on. Unemployment, the affordable housing crisis and the ever-present specter of the coronavirus, not so much. Worst of all, theres been barely a flicker of concern for those Floridians who are dying of COVID  currently at a rate of about 16 people a day, which he seems to regard as barely worth noticing.

[ Find the latest on the spread of COVID-19 in Central Florida ]

Have you contacted any of those families, Gov. DeSantis?

You do realize that when new cases soar, its only a matter of time before those invisibly grieving families begin to multiply exponentially?

Leave aside that potential compassion deficit for a minute. Heres what the law says: Public officials arent allowed to campaign on the states dime. They dont get to use the states plane, bought for official duties, as an aeronautical pack mule bearing the burden of their personal ambition. (Why does he need a $15.5 million state plane?) He doesnt get to co-opt the taxpayer-paid employees of the governors office and state agency heads as props and head cheerleaders, no matter how eager they may be to fulfil those roles. We need those people hard at work on serious state business.

Political Pulse Weekly Get latest updates political news from Central Florida and across the state. >

Groups like Integrity Florida, which recently spoke to the Sentinel about DeSantis use of the state plane and a potential blurring of the lines between public duty and political grandstanding, are right. He doesnt get to use publicly funded resources for his own benefit. We understand its much more convenient for him. But its not one of the perks of the job.

Good Lord, governor. You know this. You went to Harvard Law School. (We have heard about what happens when someone slips and says you went to Yale Law School. As another Florida newspaper recently learned, there is no faster way to hear from a Yale Law representative icily requesting a correction.)

Governor, you also know how many Floridians are mourning today and how many are terrified by the sound of incessant coughing from another room. Maybe not in numbers, but in magnitude: You know its a lot.

We dont expect you to visit them all. We dont expect you, Lord help them, to bring any of them muffins or maybe some orange juice.

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Just show a little compassion. A little decorum. A little acknowledgement that Florida is something more than a backdrop for the glory that is you. That Floridians are more than props. That you are putting their needs first, as they deserve.

Correction: The print version of this editorial incorrectly identified the advocacy group Integrity Florida.

The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, Jennifer A. Marcial Ocasio, Jay Reddick and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Contact us at insight@orlandosentinel.com.
Niagara Falls, NY (14301)

Today

Cloudy skies. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 56F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 43F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has disclosed why God may not forgive the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Wike said it will be d...

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has disclosed why God may not forgive the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Wike said it will be difficult for God to forgive the PDP if it fails to listen to Nigerians yearning for the party to return to power.

He spoke while answering questions from journalists during a one day visit to Bauchi State on Saturday.

According to Wike: It is also to make sure that the PDP is united because, if the PDP makes the mistake of not listening to Nigerians, it will be very difficult for God to forgive the PDP.

This an opportunity to save Nigeria. We, Christians, know that when the Israelites were in problems, God had to bring Moses to lead them.

This insecurity, this is not the kind of Nigeria we want, it is not the Nigeria where every day you wake up in the morning, the newspaper says, 40 people have been killed There is no day in Nigeria that people are not being killed.

God will never forgive PDP if it (PDP) fails to take advantage of the woeful failure of APC to take over power in Nigeria in 2023 to salvage the country.

Its only we (PDP) that can stop the issue of insecurity if we join hands together to fight to save our Nigerias tomorrow, the Rivers governor declared.

Speaking on the presidential ambition of his Bauchi counterpart, Wike said he endorsed Governor Mohammed to emerge the next Nigerias President, saying that, I endorse Bauchi State governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, for president come 2023.

He described Governor Mohammed as overqualified to lead the country from 2023, informing that PDP would gladly welcome qualified politicians like the Bauchi governor to replace the failed leadership of the ruling APC.

He is qualified in every ramification. His relationship with people is second to none. So people calling on him to run for president have seen the qualities in him.

Apart from that, the fact that Bala has had all the experiences, from the civil service down to political office from a Director in the ministry, he became a senator, a minister and now a governor, that alone is enough to qualify him, Governor Wike said.

He submitted that the call on Mohammed to run for presidency in 2023 was not misplaced as the Bauchi State governor was very qualified to run for president in this country.

Wike called on the people of Bauchi State in particular and Nigeria as whole to vote for Bala Mohammed because he (Mohammed) is overqualified, saying that, let me use that word if there is any word like that at all.

He asserted that his host has the pedigree, considering his antecedents and performance as Bauchi State governor in less than three years in office.

Look at what he is doing in Bauchi. Look at his pedigree, what he is doing as a first term governor.

I have been here to flag off projects. So many of my colleagues have been here to flag off projects. How many first time governors do you see doing that?, he asked.

Asked why he visited his colleague on New Year day, Wike explained that he left Port Harcourt to be in Bauchi in an effort to make the PDP a united party, adding that he also came to visit a special friend (Governor Mohammed), whom he said he held in high esteem.
A Nigerian cleric has warned Muslim faithful in counties across the world to desist from Riba (Usury). Imam AbdulAfeez Musa describe...

A Nigerian cleric has warned Muslim faithful in counties across the world to desist from Riba (Usury).

Imam AbdulAfeez Musa described it as a social vice and one of the greatest sins before Almighty Allah.

The religious leader stated that such a vice may cause Muslims not to enter paradise on the day of judgement.

He spoke at the weekend while delivering a lecture at the 14th Annual General Meeting of Al-Hilal Cooperative Multipurpose Society Limited.

The event was held at the Ogun Governors Office Central Mosque in Abeokuta with the theme: Islamic Finance; The Perfect Socio-Economic Solace in Islam.

The Imam stressed that Allah forbids Riba since he approved lawful transactions among people in form of Islamic finance.

Musa said God attested in Quran Chapter 3 verse 130 which states; O you who have to believe, do not consume usury, doubled and multiplied, but fear Allah that you may be successful.

Admitting that buying and selling agreement must be reached between two or more people, he advised them to apply Shariah law as practised by Prophet Muhammad in his hadith.

Receiving or paying interest is deemed to be a major sin in Islam, Musa declared and advised persons who have received such to donate it to charity.

He explained that Shariah law does not mean cutting of hands or legs as widely believed but controlling ones self and spending.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities has said the N30bn Revitalisation Fund and N22.5bn Earned Academic Allowance totalling N52.5bn re...

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has said the N30bn Revitalisation Fund and N22.5bn Earned Academic Allowance totalling N52.5bn released by the Federal Government is not enough to deal with the challenges facing the university system.

The ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, noted in an interview with PUNCH that there was a possibility that the union would still go on strike, unless the government addressed its demands, including the 2009 agreement.

The Federal Government had said it paid lecturers N30bn Revitalisation Fund and N22.5bn Earned Academic Allowance. It noted that it had made some progress in implementing the Memorandum of Understanding the government reached with the union.

Osodeke described the fund released by the government as a token payment, adding that it was not enough for lecturers to change their minds on the suspended strike.

He, therefore, asked the Federal Government to address the issues concerning the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, which the union rejected and asked to be replaced with the University Transparency, Accountability Solution. He also said renegotiation and resuscitation of universities had not been addressed.

The union suspended its nine months strike on December 24, 2020 after its National Executive Council met over the understanding the union had with the Federal Government. The union commenced the strike over the non-payment of salaries of its members who failed to enroll into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system and some other agreements the union had with the government.

The union gave deadlines and threatened that it would not hesitate to withdraw its services if the government reneged on its promises. The then President of ASUU, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi, said, What we have done is to give the government the benefit of doubt and that is why we have added the caveat. Should the government renege, our members are not tired of withdrawing their services.

The suspended strike began in March over the non-payment of salaries of ASUU members who failed to enrol into the Federal Governments IPPIS, a payroll software mandated for all public officials and some unmet agreements between ASUU and successive administrations. The union embarked on different strike actions since the agreement was signed in 2009.

Speaking on the N52.5bn fund, Osodeke stated, There is an agreement and we want them to implement the agreement. The issue is not about money. There is the issue of renegotiation, there is the issue of resuscitation of the universities, and there is the issue of UTAS. So, you dont just come and throw a little money and think the challenge has been resolved.

This is what our political class is doing. They believe that once they throw a little money, everybody will run back. That is the problem. So, it is not about the token they have given. There are more fundamental issues.

Osodeke stated that the planned strike in the new year was a possibility, adding that the union decided to shelve the strike earlier because the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council intervened and promised to prevail on the Federal Government to implement the agreement.

He added, Our going on strike is a possibility. The only reason we relaxed is because a group, Nigeria Inter-Religious Council, intervened. We respect the group so much. The group told us they would intervene and they would ensure that the government implements our agreement. That is why we agreed to the benefit of the Federal Government.

So, we decided we will give the Federal Government till the end of this year (2021) and see what it will do. Other groups also intervened. That explained why we relaxed going on strike, so that they will not say ASUU likes going on strike.

The Federal Government should do the needful by embracing the agreement to prevent ASUU from going on strike. Nigeria as a whole will suffer the brunt of ASUU going on strike.

But the Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, said there was no justification for another strike by ASUU, adding that the Federal Government had addressed the issues raised by the union.

He, however, explained that it might not be possible to stop any group that had made up its mind to embark on strike.

In an interview with one of our correspondents, he said, I have always said my position is that even if you slap me, I will tell you that there is no justification for a strike. It doesnt matter; if you like, you can kill a goat for the person, if he wants to go on strike, he would go. If you dont kill a goat for him, and he doesnt want to go on strike, he will not go on strike.

Our objective is to train Nigerian children. That is the whole essence of the entire education spending. So, anything that you are in that is not in pursuant of that goal, you are losing means. The fact that you want to go on strike because there is a form of payment which is not accepted, you can decide you want to do that, nobody can beat you for doing that.

There is no issue they (ASUU) have raised that we have not tackled. I dont have any disagreement whatsoever with ASUU, none at all. That has always been my position. My attitude is if you want to work, you will; if you dont want to work, you will not.

The minister said ASUU understood the implication of its actions and the impact on the education system. He added, The only reason we asked them to come and lecture is to deliver content for the children.

They said you didnt pay them; you paid them, they say it is not enough. You pay them the one they say is NEEDS assessment, they have not even finished utilising the last one, they said you must bring another one. We said okay, we agreed. They said send money for earned allowance, we sent it.

Anything they say, we have done. But they say they dont like the way we are doing it. So, are you going to beat somebody who does that.

On what the Federal Government planned to do if the union goes on strike, the minister said there was no Plan B since there was no possibility of hiring lecturers from the moon.

He said, If they go on strike, there is no Plan B. We are not going to recruit lecturers from the moon. There is no need for a strike. Nobody can tell me that a strike is needed for anything. If you dont want to teach, say so, and not that you want to go on strike. For what? There is no basis for any strike in Nigeria.
Governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle of Zamfara State and his counterparts from Jigawa and Kebbi states, Hon. Badaru Abubakar and Senator Ati...

Governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle of Zamfara State and his counterparts from Jigawa and Kebbi states, Hon. Badaru Abubakar and Senator Atiku Bagudu respectively, have left Nigeria to Niger Republic in search of security assistance.

According to a press statement signed and issued to newsmen in Gusau, Zamfara State capital, by the Special Adviser to Governor Matawalle on Media and Publicity Affairs, Comrade Zailani Bappa, the trio met with the President of Niger Republic, Alhaji Mohamud Bazoum to secure the two countries borders.

According to the statement, the three governors arrived in the countrys capital, Niamey, on Friday where they held a preliminary closed-door meeting with the officials of Niger Republic.

The statement further stated that after meeting with the countrys officials, they later met with President Bazoum with whom they held a closed-door meeting that lasted for over four hours.

They revealed that they discussed issues surrounding cross border crimes as it affects both countries.

Governor Matawalle assured the President of the total commitment of the governors bordering Niger Republic of the resolve to join hands with his country to fight and bring to an end the insecurity situation ravaging the two countries.

In his response, Bozoum assured them that his country is aware of its role and will play in the fight against the transit of illegal weapons into Nigeria.

According to the president, Niger Republic will continue to support Nigeria in its effort to find lasting peace especially from the menace of banditry and insurgency.

Recall that Matawalle made a similar visit last month where he donated four Hilux vans to the security operatives of Niger Republic to assist them in the patrol along the borders to fight the incursion of criminal elements into the country.
Governor Benedict Ayade of Cross River State has expressed sadness at the behaviour of the people for not regarding the extent of his pers...

Governor Benedict Ayade of Cross River State has expressed sadness at the behaviour of the people for not regarding the extent of his personal sacrifices and generosity to them.

At a meeting with media practitioners during the end of year festivities in Calabar, the governor lamented that people do not understand what he goes through daily as a governor.

I dont think I have ever slept up to five hours in a day since the last six years and more.

I use to be happier and richer when I was not yet a governor. But I am no longer, he said.

Ayade said he used to be hailed for being a very generous man when he was not yet a governor.

But today irrespective of the extent of my generosity to people, it is always seen as grossly insufficient.

No matter what I give, it is never seen as having done well, he added.

Ayade frowned at the lack of gratitude and how they prefer the spirit of Bring Him Down Syndrome.

He spoke about petitions by the people of the state aimed at crippling the efforts of government officials, especially his efforts at transforming the state.

He advised that such an attitude should change for the better.

He also cautioned journalists to endeavour to verify their reports, adding that if they cannot meet him in person, he has his officials who can provide the desired information.

Some of these reports and petitions have caused this state fortunes in foreign investments.

Some persons write about non-existent issues about Cross River. I think obviously what the local correspondents are doing, and how those stories get into their papers without verification is rather worrisome, he said.

Sometimes I read that I am planning to go back to the PDP. What an untruth! Painful is that some of you work directly here from the governors office.

There are so many means whereby you can verify the information. Always verify the information.
Rivers State Governor, Barrister Nyesome Wike says he will continue to stand with the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom because he hates ...

Rivers State Governor, Barrister Nyesome Wike says he will continue to stand with the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom because he hates the injustice meted against the state because of the Governors principled position in defence of his people.

Governor Wike spoke Saturday, January 1st, 2022 in Makurdi when he paid a new year visit to Governor Samuel Ortom at his private residence in Judges Quarters.

The Rivers State Governor who was answering questions from journalists, condemned sustained killings in Benue by terrorist herdsmen.

He reasoned that even if the Federal Government does not like the Governor, they should support him because the people of the state voted for the president.

Wike was particularly angry at how Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs in Benue are not taken care of by the Federal Government as those in the North East and other states.

He recalled that Benue people also voted for President Buhari and so deserve his care and protection.

Asked if he was nursing any presidential ambition, Governor Wike said what is important at the moment is to build a formidable political party, the PDP before thinking of any ambition for any elective position.

The Rivers State Governor said his visit was to identify and celebrate the new year with a true friend and strong voice against maladministration in the country, Governor Samuel Ortom.

Wike recalled how Governor Ortom counselled him on how to handle crises in the PDP in Rivers State so as not to destroy it, pointing out that, that is what I followed. And so you are a good man who gives good advice.

While pledging the continued support of his administration to the government and people of Benue State, Governor Wike also acknowledged the confidence of the wife of the Benue State Governor, Dr Mrs Eunice Ortom in the relationship he shares with her husband.

In a remark, Governor Ortom described Governor Wike as a pillar of support to the PDP and a shining star in the political history of Nigeria who is helping to rebuild the party in a bid to rescue Nigeria from a spineless leadership.

Governor Ortom recalled how Wike was instrumental to his return to the PDP in 2019 and that the Rivers State Governor has remained supportive both in good and trying times.

Governor Ortom extended the best wishes of the government and people of Benue State to the government and people of Rivers State especially as they celebrate the new year, 2022.
Matthew Kukah, Catholic bishop of Sokoto diocese, says religion is only an issue during elections in Nigeria. He said those who cons...

Matthew Kukah, Catholic bishop of Sokoto diocese, says religion is only an issue during elections in Nigeria.

He said those who consider the security crisis in Nigeria as a religious issue are misleading the citizens.

He said insecurity will not end in the country if citizens continue to deceive one another.

Kukah spoke on Friday during an interactive session with journalists in Sokoto.

As long as we do not stop deceiving ourselves, Nigeria will not be secured and the future will continue to sustain same injury, he said.

It is only in Nigeria that when it comes to election, we start thinking of a Muslim or Christian president, but when it is stealing, corruption or sharing we are all the same.

I did not say a Christian should be the president of Nigeria but what I always argue is that we need a leader to protect the country.

We need to believe that the unity of Nigeria is always in our hands and nobody is more important than another, our country is paramount than anybody.

In Nigeria, we pray a lot and we should continue to pray because nothing surpasses prayers.

It is no longer time to blame anyone for the security challenges but a time for all of us to join hands together in addressing our collective situation.

He urged Nigerians to embrace peace, pray and continue to support the government in the fight against insecurity.
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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 lot remains a mystery about omicron, which has more than twice the number of mutations as the delta variant, with the bulk found in the spike, the crown-like protein on the surface of the virus that vaccines train our bodies to attack. This colorized scanning electron micrograph of a cell heavily infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (orange/red) was captured at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in 2020. (NIAID via ZUMA Wire/TNS)
China-donated aid distributed among destitute families in Afghanistan's Jawzjan province

Xinhua) 12:53, January 02, 2022

SHIBERGHAN, Afghanistan, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in Afghanistan's northern Jawzjan province began distribution of the China-donated aid to 500 destitute families here on Saturday, head of Refugees and Repatriation Affairs in the province Abdul Qayum Nazari said.

"In the first day of distribution which began today, 100 families received the aid including blankets and coats," the official told Xinhua.

The remaining 400 families would receive the aid in the next four days, the official said.

Saying that around 20,000 displaced and poor families living in Jawzjan province are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, the official called on the international community to help the needy Afghans at this critical moment.

"I am thankful to China for sending humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan," Nazar Mohammad, who received the China-donated aid in Shiberghan city, told Xinhua.

China has recently sent batches of humanitarian assistances including foodstuff, COVID-19 vaccines and winter clothes to Afghanistan.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Bianji)
Yes, it should be paid for indirectly through property taxes

No, continue the 50-50 split between property owners and the city

Yes, but I don't like either of these methods of paying for it

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The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has more than doubled in the last week as cases continue to skyrocket during the omicron surge, the Louisiana Department of Health said Sunday.

Since New Years Eve, 15,358 new COVID-19 cases have been reported to the state. Meanwhile, the number of people in Louisiana hospitals with COVID-19 has risen from 429 people last Sunday to 1,014 people this Sunday.

The state said that 31% of tests are coming back positive, a sign that many more cases may be going undetected amid ongoing complaints about limited testing capacity.

The state Department of Health rarely reports COVID numbers on weekends but started doing so last week. We would not normally be reporting #COVID19 data today but due to recent rapid increases amid the #Omicron surge we want to make sure we are sharing the latest, the agency said in a tweet.

In remarks on Thursday, Gov. John Bel Edwards warned of a difficult January ahead thanks to omicron and urged residents to celebrate the new year at home. Hospital leaders said their emergency rooms are being inundated with people exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms.

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Edwards also asked once again for residents of Louisiana  which has one of the nations lowest vaccination rates  to get the shot.

About 75% of people in the hospital with COVID-19 arent fully vaccinated, the state says. As of December, Louisiana had the fourth-lowest percentage of its population with at least one dose of any state, according to the CDC.

Amid signs elsewhere that omicron may be less severe than earlier variants, the rapid rise in hospitalizations in Louisiana is notable. As recently as mid-November, there were fewer than 200 people in Louisiana hospitals with COVID-19, but the number has more than quadrupled since.

The number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 remains lower than at earlier critical moments during the pandemic. At one point in August during the delta surge there were more than 3,000 people with COVID in Louisiana hospitals. At one point in January 2021 during last winter's surge, there were more than 2,000 people in the hospital with COVID.

As of Dec. 29, the number of COVID-19 patients on ventilators was 32, compared to 480 people at the peak of the delta surge in August.
Immediately after Hurricane Ida blew through New Orleans in late August, Treme residents looked to the top of St. Augustine Catholic Church and saw that the 180-year-old building had taken a hit. High on the copper cupola, Ida had pushed a heavy iron cross off-kilter, to the point where it tipped toward the ground.

Inside, the damage was worse. Water had entered the church, running down its pink-painted walls. Plaster chunks had fallen from the structures lofty ceiling. Ornamental plaster had also dropped from the tops of columns that line the sides of the church.

The church will remain closed for several more months, maybe longer.

Once power returned to the city in September, crews quickly moved in to protect the ceiling with a massive rectangular metal plate, held in place by two towering rows of metal scaffolding that fill up both side aisles. Below the scaffolds, sheets of clear plastic cover St. Augustines storied pews.

For some, the closed doors resurrected old fears.

Fifteen years ago, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the archdiocese announced plans to close the financially shaky St. Augustine and merge it with St. Peter Claver, a nearby parish on the other side of North Claiborne Avenue. The plans were reversed after opposition from a small band of parishioners, including gray-haired ladies who fed a band of young activists that at one point occupied the rectory.

But the experience left scars. And the churchs financial picture had worsened during the pandemic.

Typically, the church, said to be the nations oldest Black parish, attracts a stream of out-of-town visitors who make crucial contributions to supplement offerings from the congregation, which is largely working-class people and senior citizens on fixed incomes.

Visitors had just started to return over the summer when the hurricane struck and made things worse.

We went six Sundays in September and October without our congregation here, said the Rev. Emmanuel Mulenga, the churchs pastor of seven years. We were limping financially. Then Ida came. It hurt us. It put significant dents into our operating budget.

Despite that, Mulenga didnt fear a shutdown. Archbishop Gregory Aymond has been supportive of the Treme church since he took office in 2009.

From what I understand, the archbishop is dedicated to keeping St. Augustine open. So I feel reassured, said parish council president Sandra Gordon, 67, who first set foot on the sacred grounds of St. Augustine as a teenager in 1968, after Holy Redeemer, her home church in Faubourg Marigny, sustained heavy damages from Hurricane Betsy and was closed.

Ida took a toll on a few other churches in the Catholic archdiocese, including St. Rita of Cascia in Harahan, which started hosting services again in early December.

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St. Gertrude the Great, in the hard-hit fishing village Des Allemands, was inundated with water after its metal roof blew off and had to be gutted. In LaPlace, the roof of Ascension of Our Lord Catholic Church also suffered catastrophic damage to its roof and interior.Most are still waiting on news from insurance companies.

St. Augustine was recently advised that insurance will cover its repairs and that work will begin in January, said archdiocesan spokesperson Sarah MacDonald.That comes as a relief to parishioners in Treme.

But still, by late September, Gordon and others felt at sea. Masses in other churches just didnt feel the same.

Mulenga felt it too. He didnt want his flock to be separated any longer. One afternoon, as he walked from his office in the rectory to the hall that was erected in 1869 behind the church, he had an idea. He had spent several months during seminary in post-Katrina New Orleans. He remembered clearly how people with a FEMA trailer in their driveways felt some comfort, just being next to their damaged homes.

It just dawned on me. Lets try the hall, he said. He and a group of volunteers strung white curtains in front of the kitchen area, to make a backdrop for a temporary sanctuary near the wall that runs along Gov. Nicholls Street.

Organist Carol Dolliole and her celebrated choir got microphones and instruments, set up on the side closest to Ursulines Street. At the edge of the white curtain, a statue of the Virgin Mary stands on the halls counter, where thousands of fish plates have been served during countless Lenten dinners. About a dozen rows of pink-clothed chairs bracket a small center aisle.

Services began in the newly decorated space on Nov. 14. It poked new life back into the Hall, Mulenga said. We call it St. Augustines Basilica of Treme.

In some ways, the hurricanes wrath was a gift from God, said usher Joseph Jeanjacques, 72, as he greeted fellow parishioners on Christmas Day. We always knew the church needed upkeep. It took a storm like Ida to force those repairs.

On Sundays, the congregations dynamics remain the same, Gordon said. The three sisters whom everyone refers to as the triplets sit along the Gov. Nicholls wall of the hall, just as they did in the church. Gordon sits in the second row, near the same people she sat near in the church.

At the end of the Christmas Mass, Mulenga acknowledged that the hall wasnt perfect. But we believe that our Basilica is working out OK, he said.

The congregation applauded.

Then someone in the choir summed it up, in a response she called back to Mulenga. Its home, she said.
A 1-year-old was shot multiple times in the Marigny neighborhood around 2 p.m. on New Year's Day, New Orleans police said.

The child arrived at a hospital by private conveyance. Police determined the 1-year-old was shot at the intersection of Decatur and Spain streets and identified a person and vehicle of interest. As of Sunday morning, the child remained hospitalized, according to NOPD.

Police seek Corey Davis, 27, in this investigation. Davis has active warrants for his arrest in connection with multiple crimes, NOPD says.

Police believe Davis was driving a silver 2012 Toyota Corolla with red rims and Louisiana license plate 932DYR. Police ask anyone with information about Corey Davis whereabouts to contact NOPD Child Abuse Unit detectives at 504-658-5267 or Crimestoppers of Greater New Orleans at 504-822-1111 or toll-free 1-877-903-STOP.
New Years Day 2022 brought no respite from the violent crime that roiled New Orleans in 2021. Two people were shot and five were robbed between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, according to police reports.

Police said an unknown male with a gun approached a 61-year-old woman in the 1000 block of Desire Street in Bywater at about 3:20 p.m. and demanded her keys. The male fled in her vehicle.

Another woman, 38, was carjacked by two unknown people in the 3100 block of Ursulines Avenue in the Bayou St. John neighborhood about 5:38 p.m., police said. The carjackers fled in the womans silver 2013 Lexus with Texas license plate LTN7599, according to police.

+2 New Orleans ends 2021 with most murders in a year since before Hurricane Katrina: 'Why?' For the second straight year, New Orleans reported an increased number of killings in 2021, erasing gains in public safety achieved in the pas

Minutes later, a 31-year-old man reported that he was robbed at knifepoint near the intersection of Elysian Fields Avenue and North Rampart Street. The man said that two males approached him at about 5:43 p.m., struck him in the head and used his cellphone to steal money from the victims bank account, according to a police log.

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A 43-year-old woman fell victim to an armed robbery at about 9:15 p.m. New Years Day in the 6300 block of Camp Street, which dead-ends onto Audubon Park, police said. According to police an armed male exited a gold SUV and demanded the womans property. Multiple suspects fled in the gold SUV and the womans blue 2014 Jeep Cherokee, with Louisiana license plate YMC453, according to police.

At about 9:30 p.m., police said, a man pulling into his driveway in the 400 block of South Solomon Street in Mid-City was ordered to hand over his keys by a male with a gun who had hopped out of a dark SUV. The robbers fled in the victims vehicle, the SUV and a white sedan, police said.

Police also reported two shootings on Saturday evening and early Sunday. A 15-year-old boy was sitting in his residence in the 1400 block of Sumner Street in Algiers at about 10:40 p.m. Saturday when he heard gunfire, police said. The bullet entered his home and wounded the boy, who was transported to the hospital in an ambulance, police said.

At about 2:25 a.m. Sunday, police said, a 20-year-old man got into an argument with a group of males in the 1300 block of South Carrollton Avenue when one of them fired a gun multiple times, hitting him once. Police said the wounded man went to a hospital in a private vehicle.
Although Saturday's high in New Orleans was a sticky 82 degrees, a cold front sweeping across Louisiana could plunge the temperature by almost 50 degrees by Sunday night, to near freezing.

"Tomorrow is a prime day for gumbo," said Phil Grigsby, lead forecaster for the Slidell office of the National Weather Service.

Low temperatures south of Lake Pontchartrain will reach 35 to 36 degrees Sunday night and early Monday morning, the Weather Service predicted. Wind could make it feel closer to the low 20s, in what will be a "shock to the system" after weeks of shorts weather, Grigsby said.

The north shore and River Parishes will dip below freezing, to 30 to 31 degrees, with a wind chill factor in the upper teens. Because the temperature won't fall below 25 degrees for an extended period of time, this is considered a light freeze and won't require homeowners to run their water taps to prevent pipes from freezing, Grigsby said. However, they should shelter animals and their potted flowers and herbs.

"Make sure you take care of pets, people, and bring sensitive plants indoors," Grigsby said.

A wind advisory was in effect in New Orleans until 6 p.m. It returns Sunday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with gusts up to 35 mph.
The Oklahoma House has given final approval to a Texas-style abortion ban that prohibits abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. The bill passed Thursday by the GOP-led House now heads to Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt. He's expected to sign it within days. The bill was immediately challenged in court by abortion rights advocates. The measure prohibits abortions once cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo. Experts say thats typically about six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. Like Texas, the bill allows private citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion for up to $10,000. The U.S. Supreme Court allowed a similar law in Texas to stand.
At the core of a journalist's job is to share the stories of the local community. At the core of a crime reporter's job is long hours reading police affidavits, attending court hearings, and writing stories about events and people that can keep you up late at night.

Nevertheless, crime happens and sharing the stories helps spread awareness, boost accountability, support public safety, and help bring offenders to justice.

Here's a look at NCPA's top crime stories of 2021:

1. 'Failure to appear': PFAs, missed visitations in history of Snyder parents

Police found the remains of two small children, later identified as Nicole and Jasmine Snyder, on a property on Livermore Road in Lycoming County sparking an investigation.

2. Paper trail led police to find alleged killer of former model found along I-80 in Union County

After the body of former model Rebecca Landrith was found in the snow along the off-ramp of Interstate 80 in Union County, police arrested and charged Tracy Ray Rollins Jr., 28, of Dallas Texas,

2. Union County homicide case of woman poisoning her husband is held for court

State police filed charges in May 2021 against Myrle Miller, 76, of Winfield after a state grand jury concluded that Miller had administered a lethal dose of Verapamil from her own prescription to her husband of seven years, who also was her third husband. She also is accused of fraudulently taking thousands of dollars from his bank accounts and life insurance policies.

3. Salsman pleads guilty to felony charge of promoting prostitution

The now-former Bradford County District Attorney Chad Salsman plead guilty to felony charge of promoting prostitution after multiple women came forward in late 2020 to accuse Salsman of misconduct and abusing his authority.

3. Woman accused of homicide in nine-year-olds death pronounced dead this afternoon

After the death of a nine-year-old child, the woman accused of the homicide was found dead prompting a new investigation.

4. Shots fired at officers in Cogan House Twp. led to stand-off; one man arrested

After responding to a shots fired call, officers found themselves in an active stand-off with an armed individual in Cogan House Township. An arrest warrant was ordered and the individual was eventually taken into custody.

5. Three Snydertown residents are dead after police say a suspect broke into their home

A triple homicide in Snydertown led to the arrest and charging of Matthew Joseph Reed, 25, of Sunbury. When interviewed, Reed told officers he went to the residence with the intention of stealing the vehicle. Officers said he also told them he brought the gun, to kill the victim if he needed to, according to the report.

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Two Northwest Indiana companies won 2021 BBB Torch Awards.

M&M Home Remodeling Services of Crown Point and B Nutty of Portage won the Better Business Bureau Serving Northern Indiana awards, which are given to businesses, charities and people who exemplify trustworthiness and ethical business practices across northern Indiana.

Gourmet peanut butter maker BNutty, which is based at the Ameriplex at the Port business park in Portage, won a 2021 Entrepreneur of Integrity Award from the BBB chapter serving Northern Indiana, including Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties.

M&M Home Remodeling Services, a local family-owned exterior home remodeling business, won a 2021 Business of Integrity Award from the BBB Serving Northern Indiana. The family-owned company has served Northwest Indiana and greater Chicagoland since 1976 with locations in Crown Point, Crete and Arlington Heights.

It's been named one of America's Top 100 Roofing Contractors.

M&M has taken pride in hiring employees who embrace our core values as well as treat our customers and their homes as their own. DIGGIE (Driven, Integrity, Growth, Generosity & Excellence) has been implemented in our company for years and to be recognized for living up to those values, is a tremendous honor, said Nick Yadron, president and CEO of M&M Home Remodeling Services.

BBB of Northern Indiana gives out the awards every year based on behavior that creates trust with consumers in the marketplace as well as its core values of "excellence, integrity, teamwork, trust and respect."

Receiving a BBB Torch Award for Ethics tells others in your community that you're committed to running your business the right way, said Marjorie Stephens, president and CEO of BBB Serving Northern Indiana. It's something you can use to distinguish yourself from others and give businesses and consumers another reason to buy from you.

Other recipients of BBB Torch Awards across the Hoosier State this year included The ROP Shop in Bluffton, Vera Bradley Designs, Inc. in Fort Wayne, Kates Kart of Fort Wayne and St. Joseph Funeral Home & Cemetery of South Bend.

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Teens in Northwest Indiana and South Suburban Chicago are invited to join the South Shore Arts Teen Arts Board, a youth-led network of high school students interested in broadening their horizons through the arts. The board consists of 10-20 members in grades 10-12, who work together to build this professionally guided program. Each school year, the Teen Arts Board members participate in visioning sessions, to decide whether they will publish a zine, curate gallery exhibitions, participate in arts-related field experiences, connect with arts professionals, paint a mural, or do something completely different that might never have been thought of without them. The teens will meet two Mondays a month, beginning January 17. In addition to the Teen Arts Board, South Shore Arts winter art classes begin on January 10, with classes for all ages including Adult Intro to Ceramics, where students will be introduced to creating three-dimensional forms through hand-building and wheel-throwing techniques, along with basic decorative and glazing techniques. Another popular class for adults is the Senior Art Workshop, where students of all art experience levels are welcome to be creative in multiple mediums including acrylic, pastel, and watercolor. New this session, South Shore Arts presents an opportunity for young artists aged 13-17 to learn the fundamental skills required to become a professional working artist. Over a 9-week course, artists will be guided through cultivating a daily creative practice, discussing, and receiving feedback about their work, documenting their work, getting involved in a creative community, and sharing their artwork with others. www.southshoreartsonline.org/
MUNSTER  From reckless drivers zipping down Calumet Avenue to carjackers looking for their next target, Munster police have to keep a sharp eye on their ever-growing community.

Before Patrolman Luke Tambrini, 36, joined the Munster Police Department in June, he worked in communities across the Region, including Newton County, Hobart and Lynwood.

In Lynwood, Tambrini met his partner for life, Daunte the police dog; however when Daunte was severely injured, he was faced with losing his K-9 partner. With a lot of time and support, Daunte, now a retired dog, has recovered and enjoys life at home with Tambrini, his wife and two children.

Today, Tambrini patrols Munster and its heavily traversed roads, where occasionally cars clash with unlucky buildings along Calumet Avenue and Ridge Road.

This episode of the "Riding Shotgun with NWI Cops" series takes viewers around Munster in the midst of the holiday season.

Q: How long have you worked in law enforcement and where have you worked?

A: I have worked in Munster as of June this year. I have been in law enforcement for about 12 years. I started off as a reserve deputy in Newton County. I was there for two years and was laid off from my full-time job and got sponsored by the Northwest Indiana Law Enforcement Academy. After graduating from NILEA in 2010, a couple months later I was hired full-time for Hobart Police Department. I was there for approximately two years full-time and then took the opportunity to go to Lynwood, where eventually I became a K-9 handler for Daunte. I was in Lynwood for approximately 8.5 years until I came here.

Q: What is the earliest memory you have of wanting to be a police officer?

The earliest experience I had, the name of officer slips my mind. I grew up in Lansing, and Ill never forget talking to the Lansing officer that was helping out this elderly lady who was across street from my house. I remember seeing him, he had the really shiny Corfam shoes and uniform. I was just in awe of him. I just remember that was my first impression seeing law enforcement as a child and seeing what he was doing with the elderly lady and helping her out. And he took time to talk to us kids, who were probably asking the dumbest of questions. But Ill never forget him standing there in his uniform and us asking, "How do you run in those?" But that was my earliest memory, and I was probably 6 or 8 years old.

Later in life, like a lot of people, I had bad experiences with law enforcement. And that actually helped me later on, going, Well, I think I can do this better than how that officer treated me. And I try to treat everyone with respect. Unfortunately Im human, and I have bad days, but I try to treat everyone how Id want one of my family members treated if they were to come into contact with law enforcement.

Q: As far as growing up, did you have a troublemaker phase where you crossed paths with police?

A: Yeah, that actually makes some of the best cops to be honest. Nothing too crazy, just mischievous, you could say. Curfew, riding your bike out late when you shouldnt it. Nothing too crazy.

Q: During your career and working in various communities here in the Region and over the border into Illinois, what differences did you see?

A: Its funny that you mention that, because I was just thinking of that yesterday. It is a world difference between Munster and just say Lansing, and then you get into Lynwood where I worked, and then into Highland next door to us and then Hammond. Its hard to describe, but its just different. Policing is going to be different in every jurisdiction. Like where I used to work in Hobart. I did different policing there than I did in Lynwood, and in Munster I do different policing than I did in Lynwood  and a world of difference from Newton County. Different demographics, economic backgrounds and just the social aspect, the environment and communities  they operate differently.

Q: What are some challenges of being an officer working along the state line of Indiana and Illinois?

A: Probably in past two weeks, I can think of two pursuits that led into Illinois. I think Ive been in three or four since I started with Munster. My first was actually when I was in training. Most of them lead to Illinois, and I think the challenges are a lot of repeat offenders that they book and release in Illinois and the lack of prosecution. Basically theyre going to go out and do it again. Just like a kid who doesnt have any consequences, theyre going to misbehave. And its very unfortunate, but its what we have to deal with. And we have our challenges in the region as well.

Q: What makes Northwest Indianas bordering communities to Illinois so attractive to criminal activity?

A: The ease of getting onto the expressway and crossing state lines is very accessible. Criminals love that aspect because a lot of agencies arent good at networking, and some agencies think, Hey, we have problem with whatever crime in this area," but a lot of times its not isolated in one area. Ive arrested people in stolen cars that were stolen from far west or stolen in northern suburbs, that were used in crimes across county lines. And you have to hand it to them, theyre pretty smart like that because if you commit a crime in X vehicle and commit the same crime in Willowbrook  Munster and Willowbrook dont talk every day. But if you go to Highland then Munster then Dyer, youre more likely to be caught quickly. But if you start crossing jurisdictional lines, county lines, its going to slow us down in investigating.

Q: Does that every create pressure when pursuing a suspect who will likely head for the state line?

A: A little bit. What adds to a lot of the pressure, like in my experience, its a stolen vehicle. But when you recover that stolen vehicle, you find elements of burglaries, you find masks, you find bricks, you find sledgehammers, you find weapons. The last stolen vehicle I recovered when I was in Lynwood, it had two handguns in it that were fully automatic and they had modifications to them. One subject was a repeat gun offender and the other one went on to become part of the carjacking that killed the Chicago firefighters who was retired in Chicago. And just knowing I am in little Lynwood at the time and this guy committed a murder there.

I helped Lake County investigate another murder for that subject in Calumet Township, and he actually murdered a Lynwood resident. But it just goes to show this is not just crimes they are committing locally, theyre crossing many jurisdictional lines.

So yeah, there is this pressure. And if you know anything about Munster, you know its congested.

Q: Speaking of traffic, now that we are in the area of Calumet Avenue and Ridge Road, can you give us a little bit of tour of all of the buildings damaged by vehicles? Do you think theres a curse?

A: Munster Gyros, Jodies Italian Ice, which is no longer. Munster Gyros happened a while ago before I started, and Jodies was this past fall or summer. And there was Butterfingers, where an elderly lady drove into the building. Theres been a lot of them. A lot of contributing factors in my experience is people need to slow down, for starters. People need to be a little more patient.

Q: Around the holidays, what are some focuses you have when it comes to public safety in Munster?

A: We are going to spend a lot of time on Calumet Avenue today. Like you said earlier, its shopping season, and its also traffic accident season. People get crazy when theyre getting gifts for grandma, I guess. They dont show very much patience. Also it invites a criminal element because we get a lot of stolen vehicles coming from the expressway and this is one of the main corridors they like to use.

Q: With carjackings and stolen vehicles, how do you keep tabs on those in your community?

A: We have license plates readers in town, so we can see stolen vehicles. ... We had a hit recently for a vehicle that was wanted for a kidnapping out in Dolton. Thankfully, I looked into it because I saw the hit  they just forgot to take it out of the system. Had that been a true amber alert kind of deal where we needed to track down suspects in a crime, it helps greatly in the investigations into crimes. ...

You can set (the license plate readers) to find anything from an expired license plate to suspended drivers, to people with warrants and sex offenders  a whole broad spectrum, and obviously stolen vehicles are a high priority because they lead to a lot more serious crimes. A lot of stolen vehicles lead to more stolen vehicles. They like to visit gas stations. We had one recently. It was early in the morning and we got a hit. We located the vehicle at the BP at Ridge Road and Calumet. The vehicle was just sitting there. We pull up, and it takes off. We terminate the pursuit because the way they were driving was too dangerous for the public. I watched the surveillance tape to see if anyone got out of the vehicle to identify anyone, and they just sat there for four minutes at a gas pump. No one got out of the vehicle ever. So basically, like how you go to work every day, this persons going to work, theyre shopping for a new vehicle. Theyre waiting for someone to go into the gas station and leave their car running to grab that quick pack of smokes or coffee, or put the gas pump on their car and run inside. They leave it running with the keys in it. A lot of times with key FOBs, you dont need the keys if its running. We try to keep an eye on gas stations; its a very common thing. Criminals also like to take vehicles that are warming up in the morning in winter  they call them smokers. They look for vehicles warming up in driveways of peoples houses and they know theyre running and they just take off. By the time you come outside, you have no idea who did it. They disappear pretty quick.

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MICHIGAN CITY  The two-term state representative serving northeastern Porter County and northern LaPorte County is asking voters to send her back to the Statehouse for another two years.

State Rep. Pat Boy, D-Michigan City, said she's eager to continue working "to move Indiana forward," and she hopes the residents of House District 9 agree she's the best person for the job.

Boy said her legislative agenda is based on "social, economic and environmental justice for all, especially the most vulnerable."

To that end, she plans to continue championing policies promoting organized labor, boosting teacher pay, ending employee misclassification as independent contractors, legalizing medical marijuana, permitting vote by mail, increasing the minimum wage, ensuring the safe disposal of coal ash, and penalizing bias-motivated crimes.

Boy also said that in a new term she'll work to eliminate the partisan redrawing of legislative district boundaries, a process known as gerrymandering, that she said occurred during the 2021 Indiana redistricting by the Republican-controlled General Assembly.

"Voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around," Boy said. "There is a growing bipartisan movement to change this process for fair and transparent maps. I continue to support this movement."

State records show Boy currently is unopposed for the Democratic nomination at the May 3 primary election, and no Republican has yet established a campaign committee to challenge her in the Nov. 8 general election.

Boy, who participates in a variety of local and regional community and advocacy organizations, served 15 years on the Michigan City City Council prior to winning election in 2018 to the Indiana House.

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The Indiana General Assembly almost certainly will make it through the first week of its 2022 session that convenes Tuesday without a COVID-19 outbreak taking down a significant number of the 100 state representatives and 50 state senators.

Beyond that, however, it's anyone's guess.

Despite surging COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths across the Hoosier State, the Republican-led House and Senate are doing away with the face mask mandate, plexiglass barriers, and social distancing that last year kept the Legislature's annual meeting from becoming a superspreader event.

"Back to normal," said House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers. "We're going to get in, get our work done, and try to move aggressively."

At the top of the House Republican agenda is a proposal that would, in effect, prohibit Indiana businesses from enforcing a COVID-19 vaccine requirement on their employees, even if the company owner believes a vaccinated workforce is best for the business.

State Rep. Matt Lehman, R-Berne, said House Bill 1001 will ensure Hoosiers who don't want to be vaccinated against COVID-19 are protected against losing their jobs because they failed to comply with their employer's vaccine mandate.

Lehman's proposal so far has attracted 55 co-sponsors, including Huston, and Northwest Indiana state Reps. Julie Olthoff, R-Crown Point; Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie; Hal Slager, R-Schererville; and Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso.

It's unequivocally opposed by the GOP's traditional allies in the state's business and medical communities, along with top Senate Republicans and Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb  setting up a potential intraparty civil war with the lives of millions of unvaccinated Hoosiers on the line.

"The message from the business community when it comes to employer vaccination policies is: Please stay out of our business operations," said Kevin Brinegar, Indiana Chamber of Commerce president.

"Hoosier employers are in the best position to determine what the best vaccination policy is for the safety of their employees, customers and patients."

Lehman's measure also is derided by vaccine opponents who insist the plan is inadequate so long as it fails to prohibit all COVID-19 vaccine mandates at Indiana workplaces.

Senate Bill 114, sponsored by state Sen. Jim Tomes, R-Wadesville, largely addresses those concerns by essentially making the unvaccinated a protected class under Indiana's anti-discrimination statutes, a status the General Assembly so far has declined to explicitly extend to LGBTQ individuals who don't even choose their sexual orientation.

Meanwhile, state Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, has filed Senate Bill 3 to enable the governor to end his monthly public health emergency declarations by simply putting into state law the provisions needed for Indiana to continue providing COVID-19 vaccines to all eligible individuals and for the state to receive pandemic-enhanced federal assistance.

Hot-button issues

Beyond COVID-19, Statehouse Republicans appear determined to follow their GOP colleagues in other states in ferreting out real and imagined threats to school children allegedly hiding in history books and school libraries.

Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita is leading the charge on eliminating Critical Race Theory and other "Marxist ideologies" he claims are "consistently being backdoored into Indiana classrooms"  despite Republicans controlling the Legislature, governor's office, and state education establishment for the past decade.

State Sen. Scott Baldwin, R-Noblesville, has filed Senate Bill 167 to promote "transparency" in schools by making all curricular material available for parental review, as well as creating curricular materials advisory committees consisting of parents, teachers and community members to guide local school boards on all curriculum decisions.

In addition, Baldwin's proposal would prohibit public schools and teachers' colleges from addressing specific concepts that divide or stereotype people based on sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, national origin or political affiliation.

"Over the past several months, I have been meeting with parents, teachers and various education stakeholders who are frustrated with divisive ideologies creeping into classrooms across the country and in our state," Baldwin said.

"I authored this legislation with the intent of making sure parents can be more aware of and involved with what their children are learning in our public schools."

At the same time, Baldwin's Senate Bill 144 would allow school board candidates to run under a political party label, instead of maintaining Indiana's tradition of nonpartisan school board elections, and bar teachers and union officials from serving on school boards where they work.

Other hot-button issues almost certain to come up during the 10-week session include a total prohibition on abortion in anticipation of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling permitting such a statute, eliminating the state's licensing requirement for carrying a handgun in public, and limiting bail opportunities for accused criminals.

The House also is expected to push for an unspecified tax cut to return some of the state's surging tax revenues to the Hoosiers who generated them. Senate leaders have indicated they would prefer to wait until the 2023 state budget session before taking up that issue.

NWI legislation

There's no single policy proposal for which the 13 state representatives and seven state senators serving Northwest Indiana have agreed to advocate as a delegation.

In fact, Region lawmakers as a group largely have overperformed in recent years by securing hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding for the South Shore Line expansion projects, reconstruction of the state police post in Lowell and the Westville Correctional Center, and recently helping to win $50 million in state READI grants for quality-of-place improvements across Northwest Indiana.

As a result, each Northwest Indiana lawmaker largely is pursuing his or her own agenda this year.

Some are focused on hyperlocal issues, such as the plan by state Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary, to end the state takeover of the Gary Community School Corp., or the effort by state Rep. Pat Boy, D-Michigan City, to clean up the utility coal ash ponds located adjacent to Lake Michigan in Michigan City.

Others are working to craft a statewide plan to transition to renewable energy resources (Soliday), reduce what Hoosiers pay for hospital services and prescription drugs (Charbonneau), or improve safety in highway work zones by deploying speed enforcement cameras (Pressel, Soliday, and state Rep. Chuck Moseley, D-Portage).

Region Democrats generally are united in their support for legalizing marijuana in Indiana. But the governor has said he will not sign such a measure until the drug no longer is classified as a controlled substance by the federal government.

The remaining Northwest Indiana lawmakers are expected to reveal their plans and legislative goals in the days ahead.

The deadline for legislators to file proposals for new state laws is Friday in the Senate and Jan. 11 in the House.

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GARY  It's been 75 years since members of Christian Valley Missionary Baptist Church first gathered to worship in a basement below their current sanctuary, with only a potbelly stove for heat.

The little church grew and grew after its founding in 1946, and once boasted a congregation of more than 2,000, said the Rev. De'Wan M. Bynum, who is only the second senior pastor in the church's history.

"Although we're no longer 2,000 strong, the church itself is still strong," Bynum said.

Christian Valley has had to shut down twice because of the coronavirus pandemic, and not everyone has come back.

Some members have been hospitalized with the virus. Others are dealing with long-term complications, but none have died, he said.

"Christian Valley Baptist Church is alive," he said. "We're well. We're healthy. We are strong. We about about meeting the needs of people.

"I believe that your miracle is here. Your breakthrough is here. The deliverance that you need is here, that God always has a word of encouragement, a word of motivation to uplift you in this season of sickness and disease."

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the next several years will be an exciting time for the congregation, said Bynum, who celebrated 18 years as Christian Valley's senior pastor in October.

Bynum also was installed Dec. 12 as the 31st president of the Baptist Ministers Conference of Gary and Vicinity, which includes 30 churches with a total of about 10,000 members.

New school, sanctuary on horizon

Christian Valley's first senior pastor, the Rev. C.H. Taylor, was an innovative leader with a big personality, said Bynum, 43.

During Taylor's tenure, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and President John F. Kennedy each visited the church, and a young Aretha Franklin once sang there while standing atop a milk crate. Her visit came during a revival where Franklin's father also preached to the flock.

After the Lord showed Taylor an upstairs sanctuary, the church's current worship space at 1910 Adams St. was built in 1954. It features stained-glass windows recovered from one of Gary's first churches and hand-painted murals, Bynum said.

The basement, where members first began gathering, is now know as "the little church."

It will soon be home to Valley Christian Academy, a preschool for children from birth to age 5 that also will provide before- and after-school care for children up to age 15.

A dream of Bynum's, the school will help build better lives through education, he said.

While he was studying at Stillman College, a historically black liberal arts college in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in the late 1990s, a professor told Bynum, "You're smart, but you have a very poor foundation," he said.

"I never forgot that," Bynum said.

That experience was part of his inspiration for Valley Christian Academy, Bynum said.

He wants to make quality education available to all, so "we don't have to feel inferior to others when we sit at the table or when we are in the classroom," he said.

Besides a new school, Christian Valley is planning to build a new, state-of-the-art sanctuary next door to the current church building.

Members plan to march into their new sanctuary in fall 2024, Bynum said.

'All my life, there's been a call'

Bynum is the fifth generation of his family to attend Christian Valley.

"As a boy, I sat right there," he said, pointing to a pew under an air conditioner on the south wall of the sanctuary. "That was my spot right there. My two sisters and myself.

"I watched that pulpit every Sunday, and I watched my pastor preaching, and I would go home and I would imitate everything I saw him do," Bynum said. "All my life, there's been a call."

Bynum's great-grandmother and grandmother on his father's side migrated to Gary from Bessemer, Alabama. His grandmother worked at a cleaner's, while his grandfather served as a foreman at U.S. Steel.

Bynum's father got a job at the former Inland Steel plant and worked there for 37 years before retiring, he said.

"I didn't take the steel mill route," Bynum said. "He didn't use my hands to make steel. He used my hands to make lives better."

As a child, Bynum was not able to process how he felt about serving God, but by 13 he knew enough to go to his pastor, he said.

"At the age of 15, he gave me the chance to preach my first sermon," Bynum said.

Bynum has overseen about $500,000 in renovations to the sanctuary in the years since he preached his first sermon Jan. 29, 1995, but he still remembers it like it was yesterday, he said.

"How nervous I was, looking at the faces of the people," Bynum said. "The church was packed to capacity."

Bynum was a junior at Roosevelt High School at the time.

"My friends were here. My teachers were here that night," he said. "I was 15 years old, and I was nervous. Oh, my goodness."

Bynum's style of preaching has changed over the years, he said.

At 22, he didn't have an off switch.

"Then, I preached to make people happy, but now I preach to make the Lord happy," he said.

A father-son relationship

Taylor was like a father to Bynum, the pastor said.

Taylor licensed Bynum as a minister of the gospel on Bynum's 16th birthday in February 1995 and ordained him in August 2000.

The plan was for Bynum to take over as pastor when Taylor retired, but Bynum ended up serving two terms as interim pastor before he was named senior pastor in October 2003.

When Bynum graduated from Stillman College with a bachelor of arts in religion and philosophy, Taylor was there to cheer him on.

"He parked on the lawn of the campus looking for the graduation," Bynum said. "By some kind of way, they allowed him to come all the way to the front of the stage.

"When they called my name and I walked across the stage, he was yelling and shouting, 'That's my son! That's my boy!'"

Taylor also was excited when Bynum earned his master's degree from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Bynum said.

"He's always pushed me to take the church farther," the pastor said.

Taylor lived into his 90s, and the congregation buried him in 2007.

Bynum preached the Sunday before Taylor's funeral, and Taylor's son delivered his eulogy.

"It was unreal, because he raised everybody who was a member here," Bynum said. "It was like a giant had fallen. It was a challenging time, but we were able to make it through."

Like the Bynums, many families that attend Christian Valley have lived in Gary for generations, he said.

The church's oldest member is 95 and has been a member of the church for 74 of its 75 years.

"So that gives you a snapshot of how the church is strong," he said. "It's amazing to see sometimes. Or even hear."

Bynum still hears stories about his great-grandmother, grandmother and father, he said.

"Then some start telling stories about me to my children," said Bynum, whose daughters Ariel and Adalyn are 29 and 7, respectively.

Faith in the face of adversity

Bynum said his proudest accomplishment as pastor has been leading his church through the pandemic.

"If I have a legacy to leave, I want that to be my legacy," he said. "That during this global pandemic, Pastor Bynum was able to keep us together as a church."

No pastor working now has ever ministered through a pandemic, he said.

"None of us knew what we were doing, and so we just kind of felt our way as we went, not knowing the outcome for anything, but knowing God was in control."

Christian Valley's choir hasn't sung in two years, he said.

"We use the praise team," he said. "It would be me in front of the camera. I would preach to the people as if the church were full."

Bynum worked with other pastors, the Calumet Township trustee's office and Gary Mayor Jerome Prince's office to distribute food baskets. The mayor had to send police to help with traffic control one day as the pastors passed out gift cards on 25th Avenue.

Bynum organized church members to conduct wellness checks and keep in touch with others by phone, email and snail mail, he said.

But perhaps the most enduring, overwhelming challenge Bynum has faces as pastor has been ministering to the poor.

About 17,000 families in the Gary area live below the federal poverty line, he said.

"Its everywhere," Bynum said. "It's in our congregation. It's in the streets. We see it. It walks up and down the street every day. It lives in abandoned buildings, abandoned homes."

During the pandemic shutdown, people on bicycles would stop by the church to beg for food, he said.

"They were asking me, 'Pastor, do you have anything in there to eat? Do you have some oatmeal? Give me a pack of oatmeal, and I'll go to the gas station and get some water and put it in the microwave,'" Bynum said. "That's a serious, serious issue."

Making lives better

Christian Valley hosts feedings for up to 200 people once a month, allowing anyone  including the homeless, prostitutes and drug addicts  to come inside to wash up and receive clean clothing.

"A lot of them wear the same thing the following month to the feeding," Bynum said.

He said Dyer insurance agent Jim Jacobsen has stepped in to help the church meet the needs of the people.

"It can be challenging and overwhelming, because sometimes you have more needs than resources," Bynum said.

For Christmas, Bynum dons a Santa costume and passes out toys to children in need.

He usually takes his deacons with him, but this year he was accompanied by his "elf," wife Martonjia.

"This year one of the children that we blessed with toys  the mother is in ICU or was in ICU because of the virus, and so the child was with the grandmother," Bynum said.

The pastor said he sees another need in the community when he drives past children and adults waiting for a bus or walking in cold weather wearing only hoodies.

In an effort to address that need, the Baptist Ministers Conference of Gary and Vicinity is planning a coat giveaway at 3 p.m. Jan. 9 at New Friendship Baptist Church, 1545 Waite St.

To donate a coat, call Tree of Life Missionary Baptist Church at 219-944-9136 or Evening Star Baptist Church at 219-949-4047 to arrange a drop-off. To make a monetary donation, call 312-975-2114.

To register to receive a coat, call Christian Valley at 219-883-5762, Tree of Life at 219-944-9136 or 219-765-1854 and be prepared to provide a name, age, size and gender of the coat's recipient.

"We want to make sure that we have the coat just for you," Bynum said.

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GRIFFITH  The town is celebrating both New Years and its own independence day this weekend.

Griffith officially moves from the jurisdiction of Calumet Township to North Township.

We are free, Council President Rick Ryfa said.

He said the town will realize about $3 million a year benefit in how local property taxes are spent.

The money will move from supporting administration of Calumet Townships financial assistance to Garys poorest to supporting Griffiths municipal, school, library and county government services.

Ryfa said 16,000 residents will see little or no difference in their household property tax bills because they already receive as much relief as the states tax cap laws permit.

However, he said the towns financial specialists predict local businesses will likely reap a tax break, which he said is good for everyone.

Weve been saying all along this will be good for future development and drawing new business into the town, Ryfa said.

The departure of Griffith leaves Calumet Township with remaining jurisdiction over the City of Gary and roughly five square miles of unincorporated real estate southwest of Gary.

Griffith now joins Hammond, East Chicago, Munster, Highland and Whiting within North Township, which Ryfa said will provide town residents with services comparable to those they have received in the past from Calumet Township.

North Township Trustee Adrian Santos already has met with us and has welcomed residents with open arms, Ryfa said.

The towns rising property values  assessed at more than $729 million last year  would contribute new tax revenues annually to its new home township.

North Township also offers a free curb-to-curb bus service for residents needing transportation to and from medical appointments, shopping and other activities.

On the other side of this historic transfer, Calumet Township Trustee Kimberly Robinson said her office has been preparing for this day for two years.

It wont have any effect on the assistance we provide our customers, she said.

There will be no new staff cuts at her office either. She said the township began putting together a financial plan in 2020, with the help of consultants, and gradually has already reduced staff to a more sustainable level.

Indiana is divided into 1,008 townships, roughly 36-square-mile-blocks of real estate. In pioneer days, that was all the local government the state provided until towns and cities were settled.

The townships are governed by an elected trustee and three-member board overseeing emergency assistance to low-income residents.

Griffith had been a part of Calumet Township since its founding in 1891, but the high cost of administering Calumet poor relief operations caused the towns estrangement from the township.

Past Calumet Township trustees employed more than 130 deputies alone to hand out assistance. Griffith officials said that was wastefully extravagant, burdening Griffith a tax rate that was 12 times the state average for township poor relief.

Robinson, who was first elected township trustee in 2014, reduced staff from that high level. She argued, cajoled and unsuccessfully sued Griffith to stay in Calumet Township.

Ryfa said Griffiths fight for secession started more than 14 years ago when he and 4,500 town residents signed a petition to the Indiana General Assembly to take the unusual step of letting Griffith switch townships.

As a result of nonstop lobbying, state legislators finally passed a law in 2013 permitting Griffith to hold a referendum on the issue in 2016.

Some 97.2% of the towns voters (3,290) voted that year to leave Calumet Township. Only 70 voted to stay.

Ryfa said, I got the ball rolling, but it was the public, the voters who made this happen."

Griffith initially tried to woo either St. John or North Township to accept the town into their jurisdiction, but both sets of those township officials declined.

Ryfa said that prompted him to lobby the Indiana General Assembly in 2020 to require North Township to accept them starting Jan. 1, 2022.

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OGDEN DUNES  Jason Gast took his video camera with him as he raced into Lake Michigans 42-degree water on New Years Day.

Pictures or it didnt happen, he explained.

Its just the coldest, coldest youve ever felt, Gast said.

Gast said when youre able to go under, hold your breath because the cold will knock the wind out of you.

Swimmer Paul Moran said although the water was cold, I think its worst after than during.

As cold as the water was, though, the air temperature was 34 degrees with a wind chill of 19 greeting him when he emerged from the lake. Thats when the cold really hit him.

But it was New Years Day, and he enjoys the tradition hes followed for more than 10 years.

Its a good way to get the year started, to start fresh, Gast said. Im weird. I like being cold all year.

Amy Ziemer, a pilot for Frontier Airlines, went for a bracing swim before flying to Miami later in the day. I thought it would wake me up for the New Year, she said.

Kevin and Lorraine Fitzgerald, of Beverly Shores, went for a dip. Kevin has done so a couple of times.

Lorraine is impressed with organizing Elsie Anderson, who talked her into participating. Shes little, but shes strong, Lorraine said.

The New Years Day tradition began about 20 years ago, maybe more, Anderson said. She and her siblings decided to take a dip in Lake Michigan for a lark, just something to do on New Years Day. It has become a tradition.

This year my siblings have deserted me, she said.

She had plenty of friends willing to keep up the tradition, though.

Isnt it great to see a bunch of young people here? she said.

For people who decide a New Years Day swim is a good idea, Anderson offered some advice.

Build a bonfire to warm up by, she said. Take your time getting undressed, unfolding socks and laying out your clothes so it will be easier to get dressed quickly afterward.

Ogden Dunes Fire Chief Eric Kurtz had firefighters on hand at the beach just in case anything went wrong.

Despite the waves, strong wind and frigid temperatures, no swimmer got into trouble.

Its a great event, Anderson said. Weve done it forever.

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INDIANAPOLIS  Becoming Indiana's attorney general is not, historically, a path to the governorship, or any other higher office.

Yes, Democrat Attorney General Alonzo Smith served as an interim lieutenant governor from 1886-89, and Samuel Jackson was briefly in the U.S. Senate in 1944. In 1992, Attorney General Linley Pearson won the Republican gubernatorial nomination, but nearly quit before the convention ended in a dispute over composition of the ticket. In 2016, Attorney General Greg Zoeller lost a 9th Congressional District primary to mostly-unknown Trey Hollingsworth, formerly of Tennessee, who used family wealth to win the nomination and the seat.

In the television age of Hoosier politics, Attorney Generals Edwin Steers, John Dillon, Ted Sendak, Pamela Carter, Jeff Modisett, Karen Freeman-Wilson and Steve Carter saw the office as the capstone of their political and legal careers, though the appointed Freeman-Wilson later became the mayor of Gary.

Our governors during this modern era have been lieutenant governors, House speakers, state senators, congressmen or wealthy businessmen.

The notion of the state's top lawyer becoming a governor or U.S. senator began after Republican Attorney General Curtis Hill took office in 2017. By the next year at the GOP convention in Evansville, there was considerable chatter on the evangelical right about a Hill challenge to Gov. Holcomb two years hence over a platform plank dispute. That did not happen after Hill tripped over his own protruding anatomy at a sine die party, disgracing himself to the point that he lost a convention renomination battle to former congressman and secretary of state Todd Rokita in 2020.

Since taking office last January, Rokita has become the most political attorney general in modern times. He has used his office to join the anti-COVID vaccine fight against President Biden, while filing amicus briefs urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. He has attempted to prevent Gov. Eric Holcomb from suing the General Assembly over the constitutional right to convene a special session. Last year, there was a media report that found Rokita was receiving consulting funds from health care businesses after taking office.

Todd Rokita is a walking conflict of interest, and he has voided himself from any credibility while serving as Indianas attorney general, said Drew Anderson, spokesman for the Indiana Democratic Party. Rokita represents an Indiana Republican Party that has no vision for the state and would rather use political offices to push a dangerous ideology than simply get things done for our families.

The Holcomb-Rokita feud entered a blowout phase over the past 10 days after Rokita told WSBT-TV that he didn't believe COVID-19 statistics from the Indiana State Department of Health, coming as a little under half of the population has rejected vaccination and a fifth surge began swamping hospitals (at this writing, only 12.8% of the state's intensive care unit beds were open).

Rokita said he didn't "believe in any numbers any more and I'm sorry about that. They are politicized. This has been politicized since day one."

At a rare press conference on Wednesday Holcomb said, I will say I was stunned and somewhat blindsided by the attorney general. It is quite serious when you accuse anyone of inflating numbers. If there is a thread of evidence, he needs to take that to the state's inspector general."

Holcomb added, "Anyone spreading misinformation or disinformation ... to me is attempting to fan the flames of confusion.

Rokita defended his remarks, saying in a series of Twitter postings on Wednesday, "I stand by the concerns of a significant number of Hoosiers and Americans about the politicization of COVID reporting. Also, there are examples from across the country that I hear daily as I travel the state ... where non-COVID illnesses or deaths are inappropriately categorized as COVID, which further creates fear. Dying with COVID (where the primary cause of death is some other co-morbidity) is not the same as dying of COVID, for example."

This feud comes as the state faces a medical crisis, coming from the delta variant. The omicron variant's full impact is still weeks away, prompting Health Commissioner Kris Box to say, "We expect to see a very steep rise in the next few weeks. Our hospital census is at the highest level in an entire year. The number of people hospitalized with COVID has increased 700% since June. Our positivity rate is hovering around 40% and all of our counties are in orange or red advisory level."

We have never had this many total patients in our hospitals and we will soon match or surpass the greatest number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, says Indiana Hospital Association President Brian Tabor. Serious staffing shortages persist throughout the health care system and our capacity is extremely strained. The vast majority of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in Indiana are unvaccinated.

The University of Washington's Health Evaluation and Metrics site is forecasting 25,931 total COVID-19 deaths in Indiana by April 1. It projects the spike in use of ICU beds will reach its peak on Feb. 22 with close to 3,000 Indiana hospital beds needed, which is 2,000 over current capacity.

This comes as close to 19,000 Hoosiers have died from COVID. A feud atop our state government is the last thing we need during this crisis. Holcomb and Rokita could have used their bully pulpits to energetically advocate people to vaccinate. Instead, this dreary pandemic persists amidst our political divisions.

Brian Howey is publisher of Howey Politics Indiana. Follow him on Twitter @hwypol. The opinions are the writer's.

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Across the nation, civic groups, faith leaders and alarmed citizens are staging hundreds of candlelight vigils and marches in support of voting rights and contacting Congress to mark one year since the ransacking of the U.S. Capitol.

Originally, the Stop the Steal movement sought to reverse the 2020 election results and organized the Jan. 6 attack. But the insurrection isnt over: It was a dress rehearsal for whats coming next. The movement still thrives and is redoubling its efforts at the state level for another effort to subvert our democratic system of government.

Heres a few things we can expect in the year ahead:

 State-level Republicans will continue to pass more voter suppression laws and take steps allowing them to throw out election results they dont like.

Already, the Stop the Steal movement is taking over offices that supervise elections; obstructing mail-in balloting; limiting the number, hours and availability of election polls; imposing harsher voter ID requirements; expanding voter roll purges; and securing partisan oversight over final election tallies.

According to the Brennan Center, so far 19 states have enacted 33 laws to make it harder for Americans to vote, and we can expect more. Many of these anti-voting laws are quite extreme, and all of them will disproportionately affect minorities and low-income people  targeting constituencies that tend to vote Democratic.

For example, Georgia residents may be charged with a crime for handing out water to voters waiting in long lines at the polls. In Texas, election administrators may face felony charges if they encourage voters to request mail-in ballots. And in Iowa and Kansas, people could be criminally prosecuted for helping voters deliver their ballots, for example, if they assist voters with disabilities.

In other states, Republican legislatures have undermined the nonpartisan administration of elections by elevating the role of state lawmakers in overseeing election officials and even inserting themselves into the election count.

 Saving our democracy from these attacks  and confronting the filibuster  will be the most crucial fight of 2022, and it is not at all clear if our democracy will survive.

Democracy is not down and out yet, but it is getting dangerously late.

Two essential legislative measures have been introduced in Congress that would overturn many state voting restrictions: the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

The Freedom to Vote Act would protect and expand vote-by-mail, enact automatic voter registration, simplify voter ID laws, make voting polls easily accessible, and mandate paper ballots, rein in secret political spending, and more. The Voting Rights Advancement Act would restore the Voting Rights Act of 1965, ensuring that no eligible citizen is denied the right to vote.

The U.S. House already passed the Freedom to Vote Act and the Voting Rights Advancement Act. In the Senate, they enjoy the support of a narrow majority, but so far have been blocked by a Republican filibuster.

Calls for modifying the filibuster rules to get these voting rights measures passed into law are mounting, with even President Biden speaking out. This will be the decisive fight of 2022, with consequences that likely will reverberate for decades to come.

 If the election results are close, state-level Republicans will attempt to overturn those that dont go their way using bogus claims of election fraud as the pretext.

Stop the Steal efforts are being coordinated across states by a network of pro-Trump election lawyers, touting their goal of reining in election fraud, despite the reality that no meaningful record of election fraud exists.

Voter-fraud conspiracy theories have been widely debunked by election officials, legislative hearings, academic scholars and the courts. Most recently, three Trump supporters from a Florida retirement community were charged with voting more than once. But the wild notion that voter fraud is pervasive and affected the 2020 election results is accurately known as the Big Lie.

Michigan is one of the key states where Republicans hope to seize control of the election process and decide it for themselves. Under pressure from Republican lawmakers, the state ultimately conducted three separate election audits and found nothing. Now, Republicans are running a Trump election fraud lawyer for state attorney general.

2022 is the year that either will remake our democracy for the 21st century  leveling the playing field and ensuring that everyone can participate  or break it entirely. Its up to all of us and our lawmakers to save it.

Craig Holman is the government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen. He wrote this for InsideSources.com. The opinions are the writer's.

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So much has been written about education in the time of COVID, and it has been chiefly an indictment of the system. Our observations come with data and much self-flagellation. Still, as we close out 2021, we might consider that there has been some good along with the bad, and it will certainly help shape the future of education.

First, the bad. There has been an erosion of faith in our public school systems, evidenced by the significant drop in enrollment. Massachusetts, for example, reported a 4 percent drop in their 2021 student base. NPR, in its investigation of 600 districts across the country, reported a similar loss. If that trend continues, it will have funding implications.

The thinking of families who opted out of public schools is complex but at its core reflects uncertainty about the curriculum and doubt about the educational product being delivered. Considerations about remote learning and hybrid models factored negatively into many parents thinking, and private and homeschooling alternatives flourished. Now that more schools have returned on-premise, there is some enrollment bounce back, but no one is predicting a return to what was.

COVID has also been charged with creating a widening education disparity that impacts our most vulnerable communities. New Hampshire Commissioner of Education Frank Edelblut has remarked that This is not a new problem. We shouldnt let the education system off the hook. COVID has simply exacerbated an existing problem and pointed out the need for new instructional models geared for minority and economically disadvantaged.

As students returned on-premise this fall, it was clear how difficult the adjustment was for many. Everything from modest brawls to escalated violence has been the result. The National Association of School Resource Officers reports that from Aug. 1 to Oct. 1 this year, there were 97 reported gun-related incidents in schools. During the same span in 2019, there were 29. It has been difficult for educators to retain control, though the challenge of reacclimation is expected to dissipate. Students will adjust to the higher level of discipline required at school, but it will take time.

Perhaps most daunting is the anxiety and depression that have affected many children. In the first six months of COVID, emergency department visits for mental health were up 31 percent for children ages 12 to 17. Educators have been tasked with keeping a watchful eye on their students well-being while also meeting educational objectives.

Yet despite the many negative consequences of COVID on K-12 education, COVID has had some long-term positive effects that will shape the systems future. For one thing, parental involvement is much greater. Its very simple, says Edelblut. Where you have engaged parents, you get better educational outcomes. The National Coalition for Parental Involvement has shown that no matter a familys income or background, students with involved parents are more likely to have higher grades and test scores, attend school regularly, have better social skills, and adapt well to school. Parental engagement is most educators dream, even if there is a bit of a shock in the process.

Said another way, Shira Deener, head of Bostons Jewish Community Day School, offers, Our parents have always been involved partners in the enterprise of their childrens education, but the pandemic has brought parents inside in a way they had not been before. Getting proximate has increased our parents appreciation of what it takes and everyone benefits.

Beyond parental engagement, another significant benefit rendered by COVID has been a renewed commitment to expanding the options for how and what education is delivered. As Edelblut explains, We built a factory model that assumed homogeneous learning. Kids are not homogeneous, and what has become evident is that we need to personalize institutions. We need to meet the kids where they are.

For example, while most students do better on-premise both educationally and socially, Edelblut reports that 15 percent of New Hampshire students do better through remote learning because they have more agency. Different needs will mean different systems and continued adaptation.

What education looks like going forward is anyones guess, but there are some smart bets we can place. There will be continued parental involvement. Schools will test out a range of options that aim to meet kids where they are. Mental health and social well-being will remain a focus. New technologies will emerge that will aid in everyones effort to provide the education we can be proud of.

It will be a brave new world, and COVID will have helped.

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. The opinions are the writer's.

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The attack five years ago focused attention on the little-known but crucial role that Nepali security personnel play in protecting officials, diplomats and companies in Afghanistan. Hired by private contractors, many are ethnic Gurkhas who have served in the Nepali, Indian or British military, and they often work under conditions that have drawn protests from labor activists. But Nepal, a landlocked country in the Himalayas, is one of the poorest in Asia, making security jobs abroad look appealing.

Image Amrit Rokaya Chhetri in his home village in Nepal. In 2016, he was injured when a suicide bomber in Kabul, Afghanistan, attacked the minibus Mr. Chhetri was riding in, immediately killing nine of his fellow security workers.

Now Nepal is trying to get thousands of its people out of Afghanistan. The task is daunting. Reports from Afghanistan suggest the Taliban are tracking those who worked with Western countries. The exact number of Nepali nationals in the country is unclear, and the country does not have an embassy in Afghanistan and lacks resources for helping people stuck there.

The government of Sher Bahadur Deuba, Nepals new prime minister, is urging Western nations to help rescue Nepali security guards while they evacuate their own citizens from Kabul.

We have made some diplomatic efforts to coordinate their evacuation, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, Nepals minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs, said in an interview with The New York Times.

Mr. Karki said evacuating Nepali contractors has been complicated by the fact that many have worked in Afghanistan illegally for years, making it difficult to find and count, much less rescue, them.
Mr. Millers most recent market report for Douglas Elliman Real Estate found that during the first three quarters of 2021, the stock of available single-family homes in the suburban markets he follows fell sharply from a year earlier. Westchester County, N.Y., saw a 22 percent drop; Fairfield County, nearly 26 percent; and Long Island (excluding the Hamptons and the North Fork), 22 percent. Going back to the same period in 2019, the gap is even more pronounced.

The lack of inventory has meant more competition, which has driven up prices, putting additional pressure on some buyers and sidelining others. On Long Island, where the median sale price jumped 17 percent, to $550,000, more than half of the homes sold for over the asking price in the third quarter, the Douglas Elliman report found. (In Westchester, the median sale price rose 7 percent, to $639,000; in Fairfield, it rose 13 percent, to $540,000.)

In New Jersey, home prices were up 17 percent over all from the previous year by the end of the third quarter, said Jeffrey G. Otteau, the president of the Otteau Group, based in Matawan, N.J. The recent norm, he said, had been around a 3 percent annual increase.

Salaries are not going up 17 percent a year, Mr. Otteau said. Any time prices rise faster than salaries, affordability gets out of balance.

Some buyers have been scared away by those rising prices. Theyre afraid of buying at the top of the market, said Jennifer Meyer, a Compass agent in Larchmont, N.Y., so theyre taking more time now.

Another cause for the market slowdown has been the decrease in the number of residents from New York and other local cities rushing to the suburbs. The city was once seen as unsafe and the suburbs a refuge, in the early days of the pandemic, Mr. Miller said, but those sentiments have lessened with the availability of coronavirus vaccines and treatments.
In the next scene, walking by a row of gray, forbidding houses and wearing a clownish version of a long black coat and top hat  the vivid costumes are by Catherine Zuber  Rigoletto is visibly shaken by a curse thats just been leveled on him at the palace. As he trudges home, steadying himself with a walking stick, he happens upon Sparafucile (the chilling bass Andrea Mastroni), an assassin for hire. This moment replicates the opening image of the production, when, through that Grosz curtain, we see the jester treading home as the orchestra plays the ominous prelude. You have the striking realization that Rigoletto takes this isolated walk every night; his life and emotions come into new focus.

Rigolettos house is here a humble but comfortable three-story dwelling. This performance made abundantly clear how mistaken he has been to restrict Gildas freedom and put off her questions about her background  even about her dead mother. His treatment just makes Gilda prey to the advances of the dashing young man who has been following her: the duke, pretending to be a poor student. The smitten Gilda sings the aria Caro nome outside her bedroom on the second floor, sometimes leaning over the stair railing  an image at once dramatic and intimate. Feola sang exquisitely.

The most disturbing moment comes in Act II. Having been abducted and deposited in the dukes bedroom, where behind closed doors he forces himself on her, the shaken Gilda emerges wearing only a slip, a white bedsheet draped around her shoulders. As she confesses to her father what has happened, Feolas ashamed Gilda sang with wrenching poignancy. Yet youthful bloom and even sexuality also radiated through her tone, suggesting how confused her feelings were.

During the last act, set at the cheap inn run by Sparafucile and his sister Maddalena, we finally see some trappings of 1920s Berlin. To lure victims for her brother, Maddalena (the mezzo-soprano Varduhi Abrahamyan, in an auspicious Met debut) is styled like Louise Brooks in Pandoras Box. The famous quartet is vividly staged, as Maddalena romances the lothario duke in an upstairs bedroom, while downstairs at the bar the stunned Gilda listens with Rigoletto.
10. And finally, start off 2022 with a good read.

A never-finished hotel that is haunting the southern coast of Spain. Two teenage brothers who have become the best in the world at an old game. How Nicole Kidman learned to love playing Lucille Ball. We handpicked these stories and more for you in The Weekender.

Our editors also suggest these eight new books, 15 songs that fell under the radar in 2021 and the new season of Queer Eye, which is back on Netflix. And heres what our culture critics are looking forward to this year.

The news quiz returns next week. Heres the front page of our Sunday paper, the Sunday Review from Opinion and todays Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. If youre in the mood to play more, find all our games here.

Hope your week is full of new beginnings.

David Poller compiled photos for this briefing.

Your Weekend Briefing is published Sundays at 6:30 a.m. Eastern.

Did a friend forward you the briefing? You can sign up here.

What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes.com.

Browse our full range of Times newsletters here.
The European Union has drawn up plans to classify some nuclear power and natural gas plants as green investments that can help Europe cut planet-warming emissions, a landmark proposal that, if approved, could set off a resurgence of nuclear energy on the continent in the coming decades.

The European Commission said it had begun consultations with European Union countries on the proposal, which is intended to provide a common set of definitions of what constitutes a sustainable investment in Europe. Any final plan can be blocked by a majority of member states or by the European Parliament.

The Commission considers there is a role for natural gas and nuclear as a means to facilitate the transition towards a predominantly renewable-based future, the statement, released on Saturday, said.

The proposal caps one of the most heated political battles in Europe at a time when its leaders have pledged to pull the planet back from the brink of climate catastrophe. It follows months of intense lobbying pitting a pronuclear bloc led by President Emmanuel Macron of France, Europes biggest atomic power producer, over objections from Germany and other countries that are wary of a proliferation of nuclear power on European soil.
Goldman Sachs told its U.S. employees on Sunday to work from home for the first two weeks of the year, joining Wall Street competitors that had already given similar instructions as coronavirus cases have surged.

Employees who are able to work remotely should do so until Jan. 18 in response to rising infection rates, the investment bank said in an email to employees. Just last week, the firm announced new booster and testing requirements, but, unlike many of its peers, did not encourage staff to work from home. Goldman called most workers back to the office in June, and its chief executive, David M. Solomon, is a strong advocate of working in the office. The bank has 43,000 employees, many based in its Manhattan headquarters.

The United States is averaging more than 300,000 new cases a day for the first time in the pandemic. And the Omicron variant has prompted big Wall Street companies, which have been eager to bring back workers, to delay those plans. Before the latest surge, office attendance had remained stubbornly low as bankers staged a quiet revolt: Parents are still concerned about passing the virus to their children, suburban dwellers eschew long commutes and many workers have shown that they are productive while working from home.

As the staff trickles back, the financial industry, which employs 332,100 people in New York City, may also have to ramp up its vaccine efforts. Eric Adams, who was sworn in as mayor early Saturday, said he would maintain his predecessors private-sector mandate.
Image Credit... Giacomo Bagnara

Whats Up? (Dec. 26-Jan. 1)

Waiting for a Flight

It was a bad week for anyone with a flight to catch. With staff shortages partially driven by the spread of the Omicron variant, many airlines began canceling flights the day before Christmas, and the cancellations continued during the week between Christmas and New Years Day. The airlines shoulder some of the blame. While they had begun to fill out the ranks that were thinned early in the pandemic, they have yet to restore their prepandemic work force. Even with all the cancellations, airports were busier than theyve been since the pandemic began. But the number of people screened at airport security checkpoints around Christmas was still down 18 percent from a comparable period in 2019, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

A Change for Sick Workers

In an effort to ease some of the staffing shortages affecting airlines, retailers and other industries, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said some infected Americans could leave isolation after five days, half as long as the previous recommendation. The agency cited science showing that the coronavirus is most contagious one to two days before an infected individual develops symptoms and two to three days after. Some unions have expressed concern that workers could be pressured to come to work sick, especially those whose employers do not provide paid sick leave.

Waiting for a Verdict

After the nearly four-month-long trial of the Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, jurors ended a sixth day of deliberations, with no indication of when they might return with a verdict. They are scheduled to return on Monday. The key question before the jury is whether to believe the prosecutions argument that Ms. Holmes chose fraud over business failure or whether Ms. Holmes acted in good faith  that she believed in her start-ups blood-testing technology and that its failures were not the result of malicious intent.

Image Credit... Giacomo Bagnara

Whats Next? (Jan. 2-8)

Returning to Wall Street. Someday.

One of the most consistent themes of 2021 was companies setting dates for workers to return to the office only to have the dates postponed and postponed again. Wall Street banks were a notable exception, until Omicron and a surge of cases in New York led many banks to tell employees who had been working at the office to return home. Goldman Sachs, however, stepped up its vaccine and testing requirements instead of sending employees home. It announced plans to test workers on-site twice a week starting on Jan. 10 and mandate boosters for eligible employees starting Feb. 1. Some large employers have held off on imposing their own vaccine mandates as legal battles and the rising number of virus cases have complicated their plans. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on Friday on the Biden administrations vaccine mandate.
Federal transportation officials want AT&T and Verizon to postpone their planned release of expanded 5G wireless services this week, citing fears of signal interference that they said could pose risks to flight safety. On Sunday, the wireless companies responded and said no.

In a letter sent on Friday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Steve Dickson, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, asked the two wireless companies to delay their planned introduction, on Wednesday, of new 5G technology for a short period of up to two weeks.

Failing to reach a deal will force the U.S. aviation sector to take steps to protect the safety of the traveling public, the officials wrote. These steps will result in widespread and unacceptable disruption as airplanes divert to other cities or flights are canceled, causing ripple effects throughout the U.S. air transportation system.

On Sunday, AT&T and Verizon said they intended to proceed with their 5G expansion. The aviation industry had nearly two years to upgrade any equipment that might be affected by the new spectrum use, the companies said.
In retrospect, my father and I refused to allow death to have the final word without first, metaphorically, staring it in the face. We were both rebelling against the ways in which so many hide from facing the fact that consciousness, as we know it, will stop  poof!

We know the fact of death is inescapable, and it has been especially so for the nearly two-year pandemic. As we begin another year, I am astonished again and again to realize that more than 800,000 irreplaceable people have died from Covid-19 in the United States; worldwide, the number is over five million. When we hear about those numbers, it is important that we become attuned to actual deaths, the cessation of millions of consciousnesses, stopped just like that. This is not just about how people have died but also that they have died.

My father and I, like the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, came to view death as by no means something in general. We understood that death is about me, him and you. But what we in fact were learning about was dying, not death. Dying is a process; we get to count the days, but for me to die, there is no conscious self who recognizes that Im gone or that I was even here. So, yes, death, as my father put it, is too complex.

It was in February of 2020 that I wrote the introduction to a series of interviews that I would subsequently conduct for The Timess philosophy series The Stone, called Conversations on Death, with religious scholars from a variety of faiths. While my initial aim had little to do with grappling with the deaths caused by Covid-19 (like most, I had no idea just how devastating the disease would be), it soon became hard to ignore. As the interviews appeared, I heard from readers who said that reading them helped them cope with their losses during the pandemic. I would like to think that it was partly the probing of the meaning of death, the refusal to look away, that was helpful. What had begun as a philosophical inquiry became a balm for some.

While each scholar articulated a different interpretation of what happens after we die, it was not long before our conversations on death turned to matters of life, on the importance of what we do on this side of the grave. Death is loss, each scholar seemed to say, but it also illuminates and transforms life and serves as a guide for the living.
We would like to have found life on the surface. We put the Viking landers in a horrible place because we didnt know where to put them  we were just trying to put them down on the surface of Mars. It was like putting something down in the Gobi Desert. We should have put them down in Jezero Crater, in this river delta were at right now with the Perseverance rover, but we didnt even know it existed at the time!

One of the Viking experiments indicated there was microbial life in the soils, but only one of the three instruments did, so we couldnt say we found life. Now well really, definitively know because were going to bring back samples. We didnt know it would need a sample return mission.

Youve previously suggested it might be possible to terraform Mars by placing a giant magnetic shield between the planet and the sun, which would stop the sun from stripping its atmosphere, allowing the planet to trap more heat and warm its climate to make it habitable. Is that really doable?

Yeah, its doable. Stop the stripping, and the pressure is going to increase. Mars is going to start terraforming itself. Thats what we want: the planet to participate in this any way it can. When the pressure goes up, the temperature goes up.

The first level of terraforming is at 60 millibars, a factor of 10 from where we are now. Thats called the Armstrong limit, where your blood doesnt boil if you walked out on the surface. If you didnt need a spacesuit, you could have much more flexibility and mobility. The higher temperature and pressure enable you to begin the process of growing plants in the soils.

There are several scenarios on how to do the magnetic shield. Im trying to get a paper out Ive been working on for about two years. Its not going to be well received. The planetary community does not like the idea of terraforming anything. But you know. I think we can change Venus, too, with a physical shield that reflects light. We create a shield, and the whole temperature starts going down.

In 2015, NASA approved the Europa Clipper mission to search for signs of life on Jupiters moon Europa, set for launch in 2024, following the detection of plumes erupting from its subsurface ocean in 2013. Did you want to see that mission happen sooner?
The VAERS database, which is managed by the Food and Drug Administration and the C.D.C., has been cited in many coronavirus falsehoods to push the idea that side effects from the Covid-19 vaccines have been underreported.

A spokeswoman for the F.D.A. declined to comment, but pointed to an overview of the VAERS database on the F.D.A.s website that said VAERS reports generally cannot be used to determine if a vaccine caused or contributed to an adverse event or illness.

In March, Twitter introduced a policy that explained the penalties for sharing lies about the virus and vaccines. People who violate that policy are subject to escalating punishments known as strikes and could face a permanent ban if they repeatedly share misinformation about the virus.

Ms. Greene won the primary election for Georgias 14th Congressional District in August 2020, after rising to prominence by posting unabashed support for President Trump and for QAnon, a movement tied to the baseless conspiracy theory that a group of global liberal elites run a child sex ring that Mr. Trump would stop.

Ms. Greene repeatedly posted the QAnon slogan on Facebook and Twitter and had previously called Q  the anonymous online account that set off the QAnon conspiracy movement  a patriot who was worth listening to. Last year, Ms. Greene heavily promoted the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Mr. Trump, tweeting in January that there was MASS voter fraud on a scale that should terrify every American regardless of political party.

But it was Ms. Greenes false proclamations about the coronavirus, including opposing vaccines and masks as tools to curb the pandemic, that finally got her suspended from Twitter. In July, Ms. Greene argued that Covid-19 was not dangerous for people unless they were obese or over age 65, and said vaccines should not be required.

In August, Ms. Greene said on Twitter, The F.D.A. should not approve the covid vaccines. She said that there were too many reports of infection and the spread of the coronavirus among vaccinated people, and that the vaccines were failing and do not reduce the spread of the virus & neither do masks.
I figured that over these two weeks of break, everyone has been everywhere visiting everybody. So I really just anticipate January to be a disaster.

TERESA MORRISON, 48, of San Antonio, Texas, who plans to keep her 8-year-old daughter Tristan, who suffers from severe bronchitis, from attending in-person classes.
Tribes around the country have moved in recent years to trim their membership rolls, scrutinizing family trees and cutting out those deemed to have tenuous or insufficient ties to tribal heritage in an effort to strengthen tribal identity. The disenrollment fights have escalated as casinos and other businesses have brought in new revenue, development, growth and job opportunities.

For the Nooksack, whose casino has not been a big money earner, the 306 members who have been purged say their family group was singled out for disenrollment by rivals who, the outcasts say, wanted to maintain tribal leadership and access to the lucrative tribal jobs that come with a grip on power. Opposing groups in the tribe have long feuded over those issues as control has swung from side to side.

Nooksack leaders have said the expelled people are descended from a tribal band based in Canada and should never have been enrolled. None of them had direct ancestors who were included in a crucial tribal census that was undertaken in 1942, and Ross Cline, the tribal chairman, who has led the eviction effort, said the tribal leaderships responsibility now was to preserve the tribes land and resources for qualifying members.

If your neighbor picks up the fence and moves it 10 feet onto your property, do you say thats cool, or do you put up a fight about it? he said.

The battle comes amid an affordable housing crisis across the West. With evictions targeting 21 homes that house 63 people, those facing removal  some of them 80 and older  say they do not know where they will go, especially now, with Washington State paralyzed with unusual instances of snow and cold weather.
The question of how to define Ms. Abrams, 48, the presumptive Democratic standard-bearer in one of the most high-profile races of 2022, takes on new urgency amid the current landscape of the party.

Moderates and progressives sparred in Washington throughout 2021, frustrating a White House struggling to achieve consensus on its priorities and continuing an ideological debate that has raged in the party for years. There is also thirst for new blood across the party, considering the advanced ages of President Biden, congressional leaders, and leading progressives like Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

On a local level, whether Ms. Abrams maintains credibility with both Democratic wings may determine how well she can withstand Republican attacks. Those close to her campaign say they expect an extremely close race, and that the key is holding the suburban moderates who supported her in 2018 while exciting enough of the new Georgia voters who have registered since that election.

Republicans in Georgia  who await Ms. Abrams in the general election  are eager to denounce her as a left-wing radical out of place in a state that was a G.O.P. stronghold until it narrowly tipped into the Democratic column in 2020. Gov. Brian Kemp, who faces a fierce primary challenge in May from former Senator David Perdue, who has the support of former President Donald J. Trump, has released five digital advertisements attacking Ms. Abrams since she announced her campaign on Dec. 1.

Stacey Abrams far left agenda has no place in Georgia, one warns ominously.

But a review of Ms. Abramss policy statements and television advertisements, and interviews with political figures who have known her for years, reveal a leader who has carefully calibrated her positions, making a point to avoid drifting into one Democratic lane or another.
NAIROBI, Kenya  Sudans prime minister, who was ousted in a military coup but reinstated over a month ago, resigned on Sunday, in the latest upheaval to disrupt the countrys shaky transition to democracy from dictatorship.

The decision by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok came as widespread protests gripped the northeast African nation.

Protesters denounced not just the coup that unseated Mr. Hamdok in October but also the deal that returned him to power in November. Opposition political groups and other major political forces rejected it as an unacceptable concession to the military, which has controlled Sudan for most of its history since it became an independent state more than six decades ago.

In a televised address on Sunday evening, Mr. Hamdok said that repeated mediation attempts had failed in recent days and that the country needed to engage in a new dialogue to to chart a path toward a democratic, civilian state.
CAPE TOWN  A large fire at South Africas Houses of Parliament on Sunday sent flames and smoke billowing from rooftops and fire crews racing to save the historic structures.

Officials said the fire spread from an office space on the third floor of a building adjacent to the old National Assembly building toward a gym and to rooftops. The scale of the destruction was not immediately clear, they said, but there were fires burning in two very distinct areas, and they warned that it was likely to be extensive.

Parliaments spokesman, Moloto Mothapo, said on Sunday evening that a man in his early 50s was arrested inside the parliamentary complex on Sunday morning in connection to the fire, but he did not give any further details.

The entire parliamentary complex is severely damaged  waterlogged and smoke damaged, JP Smith, Cape Towns mayoral committee member for safety and security, said, adding that the roof above the old assembly hall is completely gone.
In two short weeks, as 2021 closed out, the Omicron variant drove coronavirus case counts to record levels, upended air travel and left gaping staffing holes at police departments, firehouses and hospitals.

And that was at a time when many people were off for the holiday season. Now comes Monday, with millions of Americans having traveled back home to start school and work again, and no one is sure of what comes next.

Most of the nations largest school districts have decided to forge ahead and remain open, at least for the time being, citing the toll that remote learning has taken on students mental health and academic success. And the rising number of cases has not yet been followed by a proportionate increase in hospitalizations and deaths, though hospitalizations have increased in recent days  a sign that the Omicron variant seems to cause fewer cases of severe illness.

But the highly contagious variant is still racing across the country, and teachers, parents and workplaces are bracing for the impact.
The Souths military said it was still trying to determine who the border-crosser was  whether it was a South Korean citizen, a North Korean spy or an unhappy defector going home, or some other possibility. No South Korean soldiers were missing from their units along the eastern part of the border in Gangwon Province, where the breach occurred, the military said.

Defections across the DMZ are rare and dangerous. The two Koreas have technically been at war for decades, the Korean War having been halted in 1953 with a truce, not a peace treaty. The DMZ is bristling with fences, sensors, minefields, sentry posts and armed patrols, and nearly two million troops are ready for battle on both sides. At night, the southern edge of the buffer zone is flooded with high-powered lights.

Whenever a breach occurs and border guards fail to apprehend a would-be crosser, alarms are raised on both sides of the border.  In 2017, North Korean troops unleashed a hail of bullets in a failed effort to stop a fellow soldier who defected to the South by dashing through Panmunjom, the so-called truce village that straddles the border.

Crossings from south to north are even rarer. When a North Korean defector who had been living in the South fled back to his hometown in the North by swimming across a river in 2020, North Korea locked down the entire town for fear he might have brought in the coronavirus.

Later that year, North Korea caused outrage in the South when its troops shot and killed a South Korean fisheries official in waters near the border. The South, which said the official had been trying to defect, accused the North Koreans of burning his body at sea. The North admitted killing him, but said that its soldiers could not find the body and had burned his floating device only for disease-control purposes. 
BANJA LUKA, Bosnia and Herzegovina  When Bosnias medicines agency inspected oxygen sold to hospitals to treat Covid-19 patients in the countrys Serb-controlled region in September, it made a shocking discovery: The oxygen was meant for use only in industrial machines, not on human beings.

But rather than trying to correct the situation, the regions leader, Milorad Dodik, a pugnacious Serb nationalist, instead tried to tear apart the multiethnic fabric of the Bosnian state, a fragile union created in 1995 by American diplomacy out of the wreckage of war.

First, Mr. Dodik announced that he was creating his own medicines agency and withdrawing his fief, which covers roughly half of Bosnias territory, from the oversight of central government inspectors.

Since then, he has threatened to pull out of Bosnias multiethnic armed forces and form his own, exclusively Serb army. He also wants out of the states tax agency, its intelligence service and its judiciary, vowing to accelerate what he calls the peaceful dissolution of a Bosnian state birthed by a peace deal forged in 1995 in Dayton, Ohio.
VENICE  As tourists wandered obliviously on the glass floor of the footbridge, locals proceeded with caution. Venetians made sure to walk on the narrow stone strip at the center, some lifting fogged glasses to keep their eyes on the ground. When a visitor tripped, they barely lifted their gaze.

That is not a bridge, said Angelo Xalle, 71, a retired port worker, who recalled helping people with broken chins or foreheads get up from its sleek floor. Its a trap.

The bridge, Ponte della Costituzione, by the star architect Santiago Calatrava, is a multimillion-dollar work of glass and steel that opened in 2008. Its smooth curve above the Grand Canal, near Venices train station, was meant to symbolize the citys embrace of modernity, but it has become better known as a stage for ruinous tumbles and dangerous slips.

Now, after years of protests and problems, the city has decided to replace the translucent glass with less slippery  and less glamorous  trachyte stone.
Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland said Sunday that the next few weeks could be one of the worst periods of the coronavirus epidemic yet, and that the state was working against staffing shortages in overflowing hospitals.

We believe that the next four to six weeks are really going to be a terrible point in this crisis, and its potentially going to be the worst part of the whole two-year fight, Mr. Hogan said on the CNN program State of the Union.

Despite having one of the highest vaccination rates in the nation, hospitals were filled with unvaccinated patients, he said.

Were going to take and continue to take every action we possibly can to help our hospitals, our nursing homes and to keep people safe, he said.
Sitting in his office, Mr. Seoane, the mayor, said he regretted if his words had made people think there would be a manhunt for the culprit. But the fact that no one had noticed the cement had been there all those years was telling too, he said.

And it wasnt just the mishandled cement repair job that was now causing people to do a double take. Who had installed the alarm system that seemed drilled into the ancient stone? Or the bulky electrical conduit that jutted out of one of the ancient windows? It appeared to have been there for years, mostly unnoticed.

And why was there wire mesh covering over the rosette window, and who had put it there?

The list of impromptu repair jobs now being noticed at the church all of a sudden seemed endless. But at least the botched cement job  and the mayors colorful if fictional description of the perpetrators appearance  had gotten everyones attention, enough that Mr. Seoane thought he might finally get the funding to fix the other items that needed repair.

If we dont get the job done this time, he said, I dont think we ever will.
For 13 years, Richard Gonzalez had nothing but time. Now he cant find enough. Until a year ago, he had spent his days mostly reading and thinking. In prison. He was serving a sentence for armed burglary when he was released eight months early  in the middle of a global pandemic.

For 13 years, Richard Gonzalez had nothing but time. Now he cant find enough. Until a year ago, he had spent his days mostly reading and thinking. In prison. He was serving a sentence for armed burglary when he was released eight months early  in the middle of a global pandemic.

%> In the fall of 2020, as the coronavirus spread quickly through prison populations, many states, including New York and New Jersey, released people early in an attempt to halt the spread of the virus.



New York State has released at least 3,900 people since the beginning of the pandemic. New Jersey released some 5,300 early. Richard was one of them.

%> The path from an open cell door to home has always had its obstacles. Richards sister  who works with the formerly incarcerated  has guided him in ways overworked agencies often cant.



But for most people, piecing together a patchwork safety net is a daunting task. The recidivism rate in New Jersey is just shy of 30 percent. In New York, 43 percent of people released from prison eventually return. In New York City, more than half of the people leaving prison are sent into the shelter system.

%> During a pandemic, the journey to finding places to live, work and study can become a labyrinth, especially for those who have no one waiting on the other side.



Genisis Goss returned to New York City in June, after serving a sentence for murder and robbery. A transgender woman who has long fended for herself, she came back to a place where waterfront promenades are now lined by luxury towers and her onetime havens have vanished.

%> Still, some, like Mychal Pagan, found a silver lining: His application to a small nurturing community in the Bronx was accepted, providing him with a sanctuary to focus on his studies.

We spent 12 months with Richard, Genisis and Mychal, as they were released into a new and uncertain world.

Richard was released from Northern State Prison in November 2020 after serving 13 years for armed burglary. Perth Amboy, N.J.

%> The best gifts Richard got this year were his drivers license and a beat-up Chevy from a relative. No more spending $12 on taxis to do laundry or buy groceries, or waiting an hour for the bus after finishing a night shift at his warehouse job to get to school the same morning.

%> Those were the final pieces I needed to be normal, said Richard, 44. Once instead of going home, I stayed up 48 hours, just work and school, work and school. By the time I got home I was dying!

%> Normal is good, and Richard doesnt take it for granted as he reconciles his past with his future.



In the year since his release, he has doubled down on school, his family and himself, relishing moments with his nephews and nieces at the mall and the playground, or quiet time in the sunny living room of his new fiancees place.

%> Richards life before prison was marked by poverty, domestic violence and drug use. His mother, he said, had mental health issues, while her boyfriend at the time would beat Richard and his siblings.

%> He started selling heroin, he said, when he was 14. By 16, he was using, and his entanglements with the law began. After endless cycles of arrest-release-relapse-repeat, he was sentenced in 2008 to 15 years. His time inside, along with therapy, led him away from prison gangs and drugs.



He credits his progress to finally confronting his childhood trauma and anxiety. He earned his high school equivalency diploma and began college classes while still in prison.

%> When he was released, the Department of Corrections connected him with an advocacy and service group for the formerly incarcerated that was run by a former New Jersey governor, James McGreevey.

%> While that was helpful, Richard credited his sister Carmen Mercado, who works for the New Jersey Department of Labor, with helping him get a summer internship at an urban farm, as well as finding a local group whose expertise helped him cut through red tape to get a government ID two months after his release.

%> Even if I wanted to work, I couldnt without an ID, he said. I applied to Amazon because theyre always hiring, but I couldnt even go to the warehouse because you needed ID to get in.

%> Lack of an ID also prevented him from opening a bank account, so instead he let a relative deposit the money and give him access when needed. As it is, he only carries $40 with him, enough to satisfy a mugger. Not that he is unaware of his surroundings. When he sees groups of young men outside bodegas or inside parks, he crosses the street.

%> Things could happen with them that could affect me when I walk by, he said. Could be a cop sees a guy throw a bag on the sidewalk. Or a cop might ask what Im doing there. At least I dont look young anymore. These kids who get busted, theyre automatically disqualified from some government jobs because of a conviction.

%> He speaks quietly, his glasses lending him a bookish look, which allows him to fit in at Rutgers University, where he is studying public policy.



He hasnt let too many people know of his past, but when the issue of prison reform arose in a criminal justice class, he spoke from deep experience.

%> Were quick to blame the person and not the conditions that led to that crime, he said. A person commits a crime, and thats wrong, but you have to look at the conditions that led to it. You have to look at systemic racism in schools and housing. Thats not directly under justice reform, but it affects it.

%> With the mobility that comes with his new car and license, he is eager to keep at his commitments to work  he has a new day job operating a forklift  and school, where he has shifted to night classes. He is optimistic heading into his second year of freedom, even though the threat of the coronavirus looms.

%> It seems like it never ends, he said of the pandemic. I was hopeful when I came out. Now we dont know when its going to end. But its not going to affect my plans.

Genisis was released from Attica Correctional Facility in June 2021 after serving 25 years for murder and robbery. Queens, N.Y.

%> Genisis emerged from the Port Authority late one night onto streets lined with ghosts that the gleam of high rises could not dispel.



The piers, streets and clubs  which were often the first stop for transgender women who relied on sex work, and each other, to survive  were memories.

%> She had begun her sentence 25 years ago, after she was found guilty of second-degree murder for her involvement in a robbery in which a person was killed.



Before that she had been arrested a handful of times on robbery and prostitution charges. When she was released back then, she recalled, she could count on the area around Port Authority: We knew if we went there you could get money fast, because there was always that stroll. Its gone. Im not used to this. Sometimes I feel like I want to be back in jail.

%> Her melancholy aside, Genisis, 51, is accustomed to being on her own as a transgender Black woman who ran away from home at 14. Like others of her generation in New York, she found her family in the citys ballroom and dance community in the 1980s.



Transgender youth are particularly more likely to interact with the criminal justice system, according to a 2017 report by the Center for American Progress, which also noted higher rates of homelessness or being placed in facilities for the wrong gender. Genisiss run-ins with law enforcement began as early as 1986.

%> She has reconnected with some from her old community, though many of her friends have left the city or died. The lack of a home to return to made her release more complicated.



She said an aunt she had hoped to live with in Brooklyn told her: Theres only one person who wears a dress in this house.

%> After being released from Attica, Genisis was placed in a hotel in eastern Queens run by Exodus Transitional Community. The commute to Manhattan, where she obtains social services and counseling at Housing Works and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, is often complicated by her lack of subway fare or unexpected emergencies.

%> Several nights she has had to spend away from the hotel after losing her MetroCard; once, she was unable to catch the subway after it shut down early during a severe summer storm.



One night, she slept at Port Authority during a downpour and woke to find that a thief had sliced the strap on her bag and had taken everything.

%> And even though she returned to a city where transgender rights are a topic of concern and advocacy, it is tough for her to get her bearings after being away for so long. She still experiences disrespect at the hotel in Middle Village when other residents use the wrong pronoun or, worse, her deadname.

%> So she mostly keeps to herself. In her room, she rests, grappling with the dating apps on her phone before preparing for a night socializing and working at clubs and bars. She hasnt gotten used to closed doors, she said, even in a pandemic. In prison, she could at least put her arms through the bars.



The world is moving too fast around me, she said. Just getting hold of what I need so I can do what I need to do is hard.

%> She is determined, however, to get a place of her own. And she continues to rely on sex work to pay for her clothes and hormones, not to mention food.



When youre young and pretty, youre gonna get it, she said, recalling nights at Times Square clubs Danceteria and La Escuelita in the 1980s.

%> These kids, she continued, They get everything handed to them. We had to hit the pavement to get what we wanted.



Granted, she said, Times Square and her old hangouts have a worn edge that reminds her to stay alert. She shares this thought with others during virtual meetings hosted by an advocacy group meant to teach other transgender people how to stay safe and aware of their rights.

%> As for herself, she wants to lie low.



Im going to find the first hole to jump into, she said. If I can get one or two people I can save, then my job is done.

Mychal was released from Wallkill Correctional Facility in April 2020 after serving 13 years on a burglary charge. The Bronx, N.Y.

%> The day Mychal Pagan got the key to his room at Ignacio House of Studies in the Bronx, he felt relief for the first time in more than a decade. Inside his sparsely furnished apartment, he thought of the plans he had upon his release.

%> Everything shut down, so I had to reimagine what I was going to do with my life, he said. And that involved focusing on school. He continued: To everybody else on the outside, the pandemic was a nightmare. For me, it was an ideal situation to come home to.

%> Mychal had always been the responsible big brother, the one who helped his mother  who was only 15 when she had him  raise his four siblings in tumultuous existence among homes and apartments on Long Island.



By third grade, he said, he was changing diapers and burping babies while his mother worked overnight as a nurses aide.

%> I was like a father figure in a way, keeping the house clean, keeping the kids clean and well-mannered, said Mychal, who is now 36 and continuing his studies in visual arts and social sciences at New York University through a program he began while in prison. I had to do it. But as I became older it became burdensome. I didnt have a life or childhood.

%> After work one day in 2007, a younger brother asked him to help some friends collect a debt. He agreed, still feeling the tug of brotherly responsibility. The night ended with a home invasion. Mychal agreed to a plea for a 15-year sentence. He was released early for good behavior.



His brother went to trial and is still imprisoned for assault and burglary. He is not eligible for parole until August 2050.

%> He remembered the jolt he felt upon entering prison: This is not me, he thought.



Like many others inside, he embraced books as education and escape, starting with Socrates and Plato and on to Dickens, Dumas, Tolstoy and Byron. I didnt read a book unless the author was dead, he said. At first, it was almost like a sedative. But some part of me also knew this would be over one day and I had issues to resolve.

%> His life has revolved around three places since his release: Ignacio House, New York University and Long Island, where his mother and aunt still live.



Mychal has led other residents in community projects, including building and tending a vegetable garden and painting murals and aphorisms on the walls of a common room.

%> The activities they had just grounded me there, he said of Ignacio House. My interest in photography and film were coming to the surface, and I could just think about them.



At school, his projects reflect that growing interest. He recently won a grant to produce a series of short films on the economic impact of incarceration: from the prisoners who are paid cents per hour for their labor, to the families who have to travel hours to visit relatives.

%> It costs to be in jail, he said. If the male of a household goes to prison, you remove that source of income from that household. He goes from a breadwinner to an expense. Its a depressing paradigm shift.

%> Mychal and his family felt that shift when he went inside. Now, he's trying to make up for it by helping out his mom and sister as much as he can. In October, he visited his mother in Huntington Station on Long Island. It was the first time he had seen her since school began, and he arrived clutching some window blinds he was to install at his sisters house.



He was always a smart boy, she said. When something broke in the house, he wouldnt throw it away, hed fix it.

%> She had prepared food and a cake for her birthday, which he ate before heading to his sisters.



Work, thats what I do, he said, jokingly. I paint things, I fix bathrooms. It doesnt change.
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Fianna Fail TD Brendan Smith has renewed his call for a full investigation into the Belturbet bombings during which a teenager from Offaly lost his life.

Paddy Stanley from Clara was only 16 when he was killed in a bomb blast in Belturbet, Co Cavan on December 28, 1972.

Paddy was working as an assistant, delivering gas cylinders to businesses. He and the driver had just one last stop to make but the shop they were due to make a delivery to was closed which meant they had to stay the night.

Paddy went across to a shop to phone his family to let them know he wouldn't be home until the next day. But the phone was busy so he walked to the post office.

Meanwhile a car had been left primed and waiting on the main street. The no warning explosion ripped through the town, killing Patrick and another teenager named Geraldine O'Reilly (15). Geraldine was buying chips at the time while her older brother waited for her in the car.

Meanwhile, at the Stanley home in Clara, the family believed Patrick was on his way home. They had been watching the television when they heard that three people had been injured in a bombing and the family knelt down to say a prayer for the victims and their relatives not knowing that their son and brother was one of the deceased. That was until the local priest knocked on the door to tell them the devastating news.

No one has ever been brought to justice for the bombings. Deputy Brendan Smith has renewed his call for a proper investigation into the crime.

''I repeat that I believe that there has not been an adequate or comprehensive investigation by the authorities in Northern Ireland into this bombing. I put on the record of this House, in September 2020, information that had come directly to me courtesy of the good work of Professor Edward Burke of the University of Nottingham. Professor Burke's detailed report on the activities of loyalist paramilitaries, particularly in the Cavan-Monaghan area, shows very clearly that there was collusion between some British state forces and loyalist paramilitaries in a series of attacks in Cavan and Monaghan.

One of the subheadings in Professor Burke's detailed article is: "Blowing up Belturbet: Loyalist operations in County Cavan". That article includes the following:

At approximately 9:00 p.m. on the night of December 28, a red ford escort with at least two passengers, a young man and a woman, crossed the bailey bridge at Aghalane and made its way to the nearby town of Belturbet in County Cavan. An hour and a half later, the same car exploded on Main Street, Belturbet, killing two teenagers, Geraldine OReilly (15) and Paddy Stanley (16). Twelve more people were injured, some seriously, including Geraldine OReillys brother.

At my request, the Taoiseach has raised this very important issue with the British Government on the need to address our ongoing request for a full and comprehensive investigation. We need answers and the very least the O'Reilly and Stanley families deserve is the truth having suffered decades of grief. Almost a half-century has passed since that fatal night in Belturbet. We must never forget that it is never too late to get the truth.

That bomb, with such devastating consequences, originated in our neighbouring county of Fermanagh. We talk in macro-terms about legacy issues and dealing with the past but what we are talking about here is life and death.

We cannot deal with the past without getting full cooperation from all relevant security agencies. I know many families who have lost loved ones, including the O'Reilly and Stanley families, who have not got the truth, but those families have acted over the decades with such grace and dignity. They want to get the truth and they fully realise that getting prosecutions will not be easy. Unfortunately, time is passing,'' said Deputy Smith.
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Montreal police say 57 people were ticketed and one was arrested at a protest against Quebec's provincewide curfew on Saturday night.
Match of the Day's Ian Wright and Dion Dublin look at the reasons why Arsenal were able to "impose" themselves so well on Manchester City, despite eventually losing 2-1.
BBC News 03 Jan 2022

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A year after COVID-19 vaccines first arrived in Canada, employers and workers in the country's most populous province are getting a clearer picture of when and what kind of immunization mandates can be enforced in the workplace, legal experts said. But Ontarians shouldn't expect a black-and-white answer on whether such policies can always be imposed.
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In a special edition communique emailed to the Midland Public Schools community on Saturday, MPS Superintendent Michael Sharrow said MPS "strongly urges families" to have their children wear masks at school to curb the spread of COVID-19.

"In order to continue uninterrupted in-school instruction for our students when we return to school on Monday, Midland Public Schools strongly urges families to send their child(ren) to school with a mask and encourage their student to wear their mask during the school day. Mask use has been proven to substantially reduce transmission in school settings and greatly assist as an additional layer in multiple prevention strategies," Sharrow wrote.

Sharrow also referred to a letter sent this past week to Michigan school superintendents by Elizabeth Hertel, Director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and State Superintendent Dr. Michael Rice, which began with these sentences:

"As we start the year 2022, it is a great opportunity to reinforce actions that can help alleviate the risks associated with this COVID-19 pandemicespecially in anticipation of the highly transmissible Omicron variant. The goal of implementing prevention measures is to protect students, teachers, and staff, and maintain in-person learning."

That letter also recommended masking for all teachers, staff and students.

"The CDC and Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) recommends universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors (age 2 and older), regardless of vaccination status," the letter said.

MPS had required students in grades K-6 to wear masks at school from the second week of the school year until lifting the requirement on Monday, Dec. 13, a little over a month after COVID vaccines were approved for ages 5-11.

Sharrow wrote that the school district will review its COVID testing protocols with the Midland County Department of Community Health, and will also review lunch procedures, hallway passing times, and capacity limits for gatherings in the next few days.

He closed the communique by encouraging everyone in the MPS community to consider masking and getting vaccinated and getting a booster shot.

"We encourage all students, staff and families to consider masking as well as rolling up your sleeve for the COVID vaccination/booster to assist Midland PS in continuing to provide a safe in-school instructional environment during the COVID twists and turns in which we continue to navigate," Sharrow wrote.
Photo provided

More than 20 donated coats, freshly pressed and dry-cleaned, now hang from a thin wire rack at the bottom of the basement stairway at Emmanuel Baptist Church, where Midlands Open Door keeps the bulk of its clothing donations for community assistance days.

Officer Joshua Koch of the Michigan State Police Caro Post dropped off the coats just before New Years Day as part of a local coat drive for individuals in need in mid-Michigan and the Thumb.
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Photo: (Photo : John Moore/Getty Images)

For the last 42 years, Nancy Womac has been reliving the trauma of her stolen baby. She was only 16 years old when she gave birth, but the orphanage where she lived took her child away.

Now, after four decades, Womac and her daughter, Melanie Spencer, are sharing their story. In an interview with NBC News, Womac said that she never stopped thinking about her baby, who was forcibly adopted by another family.

Womac said that she was sent to the Bethesda Home for Girls when the orphanage director found out she was pregnant. The facility in Mississippi took in troubled children to find direction in their life.

However, the girls at the Bethesda Home were often physically abused and threatened with fear. Womac said staying there was like a nightmare, and she was in survival mode most of the time.

Read Also: Birth Mother Meets Daughter She Gave up for Adoption 19 Years Ago After Sister Spots Her in the Mall

Coming Home to Her Mom's Embrace

Bethesda Home arranged for Womac to deliver her baby at a Tennessee hospital six months later. She remembered going into labor and was given a shot. She woke up without any recollection of giving birth or being in the delivery room, and she never saw her baby at all.

Meanwhile, Spencer ended up with her adopted family, a pair of missionaries who served communities in South Africa and Indonesia. They told her that her birth mother wanted her to grow up in a Christian home.

Spencer told Today that she always had questions about her biological mother growing up. What stopped her from digging into her past was the fear of getting hurt. She thought her mom did not want her.

When Spencer became a mother herself, that yearning to find her biological mom grew stronger. So, she finally took the plunge and had a DNA test via Ancestry. Her test result led her to Cheryl Blackwell, Womac's sister, a year later. Blackwell filled her in with all the details about her sister, and then mother and daughter were finally connecting via Facebook.

Spencer drove to her mother's place in Georgia from her home in Maryland and spent days catching up and getting to know each other. She also met her other siblings.

"It almost feels like there wasn't any missing time," Spencer said of her reunion with her mom. "It feels like coming home."

More Bethesda Victims

Womac has a support group of former Bethesda Home residents who have been in the same boat and are looking for their stolen babies. At least a dozen women made their story public with NBC.

The news outlet also looked into court records and paperwork of cases relating to abuses at Bethesda Home. The organization, however, has refused to comment on the allegations.

Meanwhile, Womac said she is complete now that Spencer knows her birth mom always loved her. She also wants the other victims not to stop their search because the truth will come out no matter how long it takes.

Related Article: Friends Who Bonded Over Their Adoption Discover They Are Biological Sisters
The Adjabeng District Court in Accra has sentenced Olu Olarusi Toyin Tracy, a.k.a. Tracy Mensah, and one Yvette Mensah, to a fine of 300 penalty units (GHS 3,600) each, for providing false information to the National Identification Authority (NIA).



In default of payment, they will serve six months in prison.



The suspects were charged with the offences of conspiracy to commit crime namely providing false information to officials of NIA, contrary to Section 23(1) of Act 29/60 and Section 17(c) of the National Identification Authority Act 707 (Act 2000) and Providing False Information to NIA Officials.



They both pleaded guilty to all charges preferred against them and were subsequently convicted on their own plea.



Meanwhile, Toyin Tracy, a Nigerian, is to be repatriated to her country of origin after serving her sentence by the orders of the Court.



On November 19, 2021, Toyin Tracy went to the Head Office of the NIA to acquire a Ghana Citizen Card.



She was accompanied by Yvette Mensah.



Tracy had in her possession a Ghanaian Birth Certificate, one of the documents required for acquiring a Ghana Card.



The two were directed by the NIA registration Official to the CID (NIA) Office for the usual vetting, interrogation and authentication of documents that most suspected applicants went through before being allowed to continue with the registration process to acquire the Ghana Card if they were cleared by the Unit.



In the course of Police investigations, it was detected that the birth certificate possessed by Tracy had the name Tracy Mensah with Yvette Mensah as the mother and one Alhassan Fusieni as the father, all Ghanaians.



The birth certificate was issued at the Birth and Death Registry on October 22, 2021 at Bubuashie Office, Accra and had its registration number as 020107-3879-2021 with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital as a place of birth.



Further investigations disclosed that, Yvette Mensah was not the biological mother of Tracy and that, the two were never related in any way.



Investigations also revealed that the name Tracy Mensah was adopted by Olarusi Toyin with the consent of Yvette Mensah to enable her have a Ghanaian lineage.



Again, it was revealed that Tracys biological parents were Nigerians and she was born in Nigeria.



Yvette Mensah in the course of interrogations confirmed to Police that, she was contacted by Tracy to assist her acquire a Ghana Card by playing a mother role on her birth certificate.



She (Toyin) gave her hometown as Agbozume in the Volta Region.







Source: GNA









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Former Emir of Kano and Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, HRH Mohammed Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has commended Ghana's Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for his efforts at spearheading Ghana's acclaimed digitization drive.



The renowned cleric, banker and economist, who is in the country at the invitation of the leadership of the Muslim community to participate in a special end-of-year Quran recitation and prayers for sustainable peace in Ghana and the sub-region, called on the Vice President on Wednesday morning in Accra.



Speaking at the meeting, Sanusi Lamidor, who was Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria before ascending the throne as Emir (King) of Kano, praised Dr. Bawumia for his good works, including leading Ghana's digital reforms and payment systems.



"Your Excellency, I have heard so many good things about your work in Ghana," Sanusi Lamidor told Dr. Bawumia.



"Your digital work I am aware of because I happen to be on the global board of MTN and we have an operating office in Ghana so we get reports in Johannesburg on what is happening in different countries so we do know what is happening in the digital space, Fintechs and so on within Ghana," he added.



The revered banker also commended Ghana's Central Bank for leading the way in digital payment systems, adding that Ghana's success story has been partly due to the enormous experience of Dr. Bawumia in banking and digital payment regulations.



"I must say I am jealous because the Bank of Ghana has gotten ahead of the Central Bank of Nigeria on Fintech and others.



"We all started with banking modules, but I think you quickly realized it was limited and you broke off. But I am happy the central bank of Nigeria is on now, the roles are being reversed and we are now copying from Ghana.



"Im sure that (Ghana's digitization drive) was largely due to your input and experience from central banking and regulation of digital payments."



The renowned banker and economist is also a revered Islamic cleric with the title Khalifa. He is the spiritual head of the Tijaaniya Order in Nigeria.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and Emir of Kano, Mohammed Sanusi Lamido II has extolled the leadership qualities of Vice President Bawumia.



Addressing thousands of Muslims in Kumasi during a special end of year national Quran recitation and prayer session for the country, Mohammed Sanusi II, who is also a revered Islamic Cleric in the West African sub-region, praised Dr. Bawumia for his good works, both as Vice President and his commitment to promoting the work of God.



Showering Bawumia with commendations, the 14th Emir of Kano, drew similarities between himself and Ghana's Vice President as a banker, economist and University lecturer.



"His Excellency the Vice President was in the bank of Ghana at the same time I was Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.



We've seen from his experience, from his biography that after he left the Bank of Ghana, he went to St. Anthony's College Oxford, and I am now at St. Anthony's College Oxford and we seem to have a lot in common.



"I will like to join all of you in testifying that you have in him (Bawumia) a great leader with great potential.



"And these are the kinds of leaders that we need on this continent."



Mohammed Sanusi also commended Bawumia for his immense support in the construction of mosques, especially the Kumasi Central Mosque.



"Your Excellency, I have seen the good work you are doing with this mosque here in Kumasi."



Earlier in the week when he called on the Vice President in Accra, the renowned economist praised Dr. Bawumia for leading Ghana's digitization drive, which he said has positioned Ghana ahead of his own country Nigeria, in terms of digital payments.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Sure, sure, we're all going to eat healthier and get more exercise and drink less and spend less time on social media in 2022, but let's talk about some New Year's resolutions that can improve our financial health.

Most individuals and families in South Carolina don't have large incomes  less than $61,000, for more than half of S.C. families in 2020  so taking small steps that add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars over a year can make a big difference.

Here are my suggestions for some financial resolutions. Many of them require only modest effort.

Review and trim monthly expenses

Many of us have recurring expenses that can add up to lots of money over a year, ranging from streaming services to storage unit fees to meal delivery kits  the list goes on and on. Introductory offers and free trials eventually turn into larger monthly bills. Start by making a list of the things you pay for every month, decide which you really need, then set about driving down the cost of those that remain.

With many monthly costs, you can drive the price down simply by calling and asking for a better deal, or by going online and seeing what happens when you try to cancel your account. That's how I've ended up paying less for satellite radio, a storage unit, and some subscription services.

With unavoidable bills, such as car insurance, it's good to review what you're paying for yearly and consider shopping around. Even if you don't want to shop around, you might be able to pay less. For example, my car insurance costs less now because I drive less, but that only happened because I called and told them so.

Make credit cards work for you

There are two kinds of credit card customers; the ones who carry balances and pay high interest charges, and the ones who pay their bills in full each time and save money by getting cash-back and sign-up incentives. Be in the second group.

With a simple no-fee credit card, you can shave a small amount off everything you buy and never pay any interest, as long as you always pay the monthly bill on time and in full. You might just save 1.5 percent or 2 percent overall, or 3 percent to 6 percent on restaurant meals and groceries, but that can add up to hundreds of dollars over a year.

If you are carrying credit card balances and paying interest charges, do two things: First, come up with a plan to get that balance paid off. Second, if your credit score is high enough, consider finding a better credit card with a zero-interest introductory offer, so that you could transfer that balance and pay it off with no interest charges.

As with credit cards, banks can help or harm personal finances, depending on how you use them. Don't ever pay overdraft fees, and if that's been a problem, either opt out of overdraft protection or switch to a bank that doesn't charge such fees. Don't like your bank? Another might pay you to switch.

Get money back on gas taxes

South Carolina's Refundable Motor Fuel Income Tax Credit will be more valuable than ever in 2022 and, barring legislative changes, this will be the last year it's available. The tax credit was created when the state raised gas taxes from 16 cents a gallon in early 2017 to what will be 28 cents a gallon in the second half of 2022. The credit essentially refunds some of that tax increase and is claimed when filing state income tax returns.

Yes, I've written in the past that this tax credit is meager, and hardly worth the record-keeping effort needed to claim it, but a few things have changed. First, the higher the gas tax, the more valuable the tax credit. Second, there's now an app  I tried it throughout 2021  that makes the record-keeping simple.

The S.C. Gas Tax Credit app costs $4.99 on the Apple Store (iPhones) or Google Play (Android) and can be used to track records for two vehicles (a South Carolina taxpayer can claim the credit for up to two vehicles). In 2020 the average tax credit was just over $43 and should be higher this year. The size of the credit depends, of course, on how much gas you buy. Get the app, record your gas purchases, and claim the credit when you file a 2022 state tax return.

Pay less for groceries, and gas

I've always seen grocery shopping as sort of a financial challenge. How much money can I save, by taking advantage of sales and coupons? Check the circulars, particularly if you get them in the Wednesday print edition of this newspaper. As I write, I have a $20-off-$100 Harris Teeter coupon that came in my Dec. 29 paper, sitting with my grocery list.

Stock up when things you regularly use are on sale. When your favorite cereal or soft drink is half-off, don't just buy one and pay full price a week or two later. Buy six, or whatever the store allows. Also remember that you can find good deals on groceries at stores that don't primarily sell groceries, such as pharmacies or Target.

Grocery stores often have money-saving deals for gasoline purchases. Publix regularly offers discounted gas station gift cards, Harris Teeter offers purchase-based "Fuel Points" and so on.

Pay less for electricity

There's nothing you can do about electricity rates, but there's plenty you can do to use less electricity. If you own a home, adding insulation to the attic and improving weather-stripping are inexpensive steps that quickly pay for themselves and then save money.

Whether you rent or own, adjusting the thermostat when you leave the home, using energy-efficient bulbs and appliances, and turning off the power for "energy vampire" appliances like microwave ovens and televisions can all add up to savings.

Want some professional advice? It's free. Contact your utility company and request a free energy audit.
If any of my 2021 columns left you wondering Howd that turn out?, you may want to read this year-end column. Please consider it my epilogue to a handful of 2021 writings.

For instance, in the years first column, I told you that my brother died of COVID just before Christmas 2020. Milton was mesmerized with conspiracy theories, a COVID denier opposing the vaccines.

Howd that turn out? you might ask.

Well, first of all, I was moved by dozens of sympathy cards you sent from around the country. And your compassion was supplemented by FEMA when they reimbursed us for funeral costs.

Knowing the column might provoke folks to deny COVID as my brothers actual cause of death, I elaborated: Miltons real causes of death were the fabrications spread by the anti-science, anti-vaxxers, anti-fluoride, flat-earthers and 5G coronavirus conspirators. He may not have swallowed their bleach, but he sure drank the Kool-Aid.

A month later, I gratefully received my Victory Vax and wrote about seeking a haircut. I found a young stylist who seemed more than willing to talk about the pandemic.

She was relying on her natural immunities to resist the virus  no vaccines for her.

A few months ago, I revisited that barber shop to answer the burning question, Howd that turn out? The manager invited me to his chair and, as he plowed through my wispy locks, he described working through the quarantine-induced staff shortage.

When I mentioned the naturally immune stylist who last cut my hair, the aging manager wasnt shy about telling me how hed promptly fired her when she brought COVID to work.

Last month, I concluded my Veterans Day column by saying, To a person, most vets will say, 'Thank us, but please dont worship or pity us. Weve enjoyed pretty good pay and benefits for our sacrifices.' 

Sign up for our new opinion newsletter Get a weekly recap of South Carolina opinion and analysis from The Post and Courier in your inbox on Monday evenings. Email

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And speaking of those benefits, I want to thank John and Mary Taxpayer for how things have turned out for me after 28 years of service.

Thanks to the GI Bill, Im working on my Master of Journalism degree at University of Nevada, Reno. Im halfway through the program and remain on the Deans List. Visit my website to read how professors encouraged me to convert several columns into recorded commentary for my local radio station.

In April, having been vaccinated and liberated, I wrote about my return to Honduras, where we go to support Chispa Project. Since the charity was founded by my daughter Sara in 2015, Chispa donated over 35,000 books to establish elementary school libraries.

I shared how the pandemic was hurting Honduras schools, so I pledged to match every donation from readers this year up to $5,000. Buck for buck, lets band together to blanket Honduras with hope and send kids back to school.

By now you should know your line. So go ahead and ask me. Howd that turn out?

Thanks to your help, the program in 2021 was a great success in giving kids free homework materials and library books to check out.

Chispa is now ramping up for 2022, as each year has been better than the last. The ambitious goals plan for several larger libraries which will reach an additional 3,500 students. Will you help us? Donate or come volunteer with me! Find out more at chispaproject.org/volunteertrip

Also in October, I noted the 20th anniversary of this column. I thanked you for buying my books, hosting my speeches and sending me hundreds of compassionate emails and letters.

Its been such a great 20 years that Im setting my sights on 25, I promised.

After all, how else am I going to justify that shiny new journalism degree?
Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 82F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 68F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.
When Donald Cameron moved to Charleston in June 1975 to become a housing authority executive, the city was economically struggling like many and its population had been hollowed out by residential flight to the suburbs.

Charleston was a pretty affordable place to live then but for all the wrong reasons, with boarded-up storefronts and a weak economy. On the Charleston peninsula more than half the White residents  more than 20,000 people  had left during the 1950s and 1960s, amid desegregation.

Cameron arrived in Charleston the same year Joe Riley was elected mayor. The city does not control the Housing Authority but appoints its board, and Cameron and Riley would work together on housing issues over the course of decades.

That's how they ended up in the White House, receiving from President Ronald Reagan the only Presidential Award of Excellence in Design that's been given for public housing. But that came later, in 1985.

Cameron became the director and chief executive officer of the Housing Authority in 1980 and over the more than 40 years that followed helped change what "affordable housing" meant in the Charleston area, and what it looked like. He retired in December at the age of 74.

The reason Don was so visionary was that he was in touch with residents and kept his ears to the ground," said state Rep. Wendell Gilliard, D-Charleston, who was a public housing resident as a child and later a staunch advocate on City Council and in the Statehouse. "It wasnt just words and meetings."

In the more than 46 years since Cameron joined the largest housing authority in South Carolina, he played a leading role in expanding and redefining affordable housing in Charleston. In addition to managing subsidized housing for low-income residents, the authority now owns nearly 950 "workforce housing" apartments that are not subsidized at all, but are rented at below-market rates to people with moderate incomes.

Charleston's Housing Authority is older than the city of North Charleston, and during World War II managed thousands of housing units for members of the military, some of which would later become public housing in North Charleston. The Charleston Housing Authority also built the only public housing in Mount Pleasant, a town with no housing authority of its own.

Still, agencies that primarily house low-income tenants can develop bad reputations if their housing is known for maintenance problems and crime. The Charleston County Housing Authority  separate from the city of Charleston Housing Authority  is a recent example due to well-reported problems at the Joseph Floyd Manor high-rise for seniors.

Cameron said the city's housing authority didn't have a good reputation when he first arrived, and for good reason.

When I came in 1975 the housing authority was not, as a government entity, held in high esteem," Cameron said. I would go to resident meetings and people would complain about everything under the sun. And I would find some truth in most of it."

The housing authority's apartment complexes had mostly been built in the 1930s after the federal Department of Commerce found that barely more than half of Charleston homes had indoor plumbing. Meeting Street Manor, where Gilliard lived until he was 12, was among the first public housing projects in the nation, and was quickly followed in Charleston by Robert Mills Manor, Gadsden Green Homes, Ansonborough Homes and Wraggborough Homes.

Until 1965 the projects were segregated, with Robert Mills Manor and a large portion of Meeting Street Manor being Whites-only. After segregation ended, all of the apartment complexes became majority-Black, as did the Charleston peninsula from roughly the 1950s to 1990s.

All but one of those 1930s housing complexes remain today, and they cover many city blocks on the peninsula. As Cameron departs the Housing Authority, an ambitious plan to renovate or rebuild all of the Housing Authority properties is under way.

Cameron said relations between the Housing Authority and Charleston city officials were bad when he was first hired.

"Something had happened in the late '60s or early '70s, and they just didnt talk any more," Cameron said. "Joe Riley changed that."

A model for public housing

In a notable collaboration, the city and the authority developed a plan for what's known as scattered-site housing. What that meant was, instead of building more projects or large apartment buildings, the Housing Authority built apartments in small buildings meant to blend in with existing neighborhoods.

The Housing Authority had been awarded enough federal money in the 1970s to build 113 apartments, and that's how it was used. With the city's input, the Housing Authority sought out vacant lots that had created gaps in residential neighborhoods.

Not everybody was wild and fuzzy about it," Cameron said. "We got all that NIMBY (not in my back yard) stuff.

We proved that the housing authority could design and build something that was really good  excellent in design, and the awards proved it," he said.

It was the scattered site initiative that received the award at the White House, and others, and it started with a model at 149 Coming St.; an apartment house constructed on a vacant lot that looked like the classic "Charleston single" homes nearby.

It won national awards, and also inspired housing authorities around the country," Riley said. Everyone, irrespective of their income bracket, knows if something looks nice."

Don deserves the credit, really," said the former mayor. He leaves an impressive legacy."

In 2021, about one of every 14 households in the city relied on the Housing Authority. Some lived in government-owned homes for those with very low incomes; others received low-income Housing Choice (Section 8) Vouchers to rent private housing, and thousands of people with moderate incomes lived in unsubsidized housing owned by the authority where they pay below-market rents.

Workforce housing

The unsubsidized workforce housing was a Housing Authority initiative that played out over many years but mostly during the recessions of 2001 and 2007-2009. Both times the authority took advantage of the weak economy and depressed real estate prices to buy small apartment buildings on the open market.

We acquired 356 apartments all over the place," during the 2001 recession, Cameron said. Then, during the Great Recession of 2007-2009 the authority bought an apartment complex at 676 King St., and 25 smaller apartment buildings.

The authority rents those apartments at below-market prices that are enough to cover the costs, repay bank loans and raise money for additional housing efforts. Some of the apartment buildings, including 676 King St., had been privately owned affordable housing that could have been lost, had the authority not purchased them.

That initiative followed an earlier Housing Authority purchase of the William Enston Homes on King Street, a complex of brick buildings that dates to the 1800s and is now on the National Register of Historic Places. The authority expanded the complex, adding new buildings designed to look like the older ones, and renting them as unsubsidized workforce apartments.

Many of the deals involved complex financing, partnerships with for-profit and nonprofit groups and Low Income Housing Tax Credits.

He showed me the ropes as far as the funding of public housing and how to make changes," said Gilliard.

The authority also built the mixed-income Grace Homes in the footprint of the old Grace Bridge that spanned the Cooper River, the workforce housing Blakeway apartments on Daniel Island, and the Williams Terrace apartments for seniors. None involved direct taxpayer subsidies.

Williams Terrace was built along one side of Gadsdenboro Park, near the Charleston Maritime Center and the S.C. Aquarium. That park used to be the site of the 162-unit Ansonborough Homes project.

Ansonborough Homes

Built at grade level  on the ground  Ansonbough Homes was badly flooded during Hurricane Hugo in 1989.

"There was five or six feet of water in every building," Cameron said.

The concrete-block buildings were sturdy, and mostly reoccupied in less than two months. The Housing Authority planned to make improvements, but then came the issue of contaminated soil at what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would call the "Calhoun Park Superfund Site."

Riley said the discovery was linked to the city's construction work on a system of drainage tunnels and pumps in the area.

I remember a member of the staff brought a bag of the earth they had excavated," said Riley. "I took a whiff of it and had a headache for three days.

Following investigations that played out through the 1990s and complicated plans for building the South Carolina Aquarium, the EPA concluded that a power plant that operated from 1855 to 1957 had contaminated the soil and groundwater. A cleanup plan that followed involved, among other things, removing three feet of soil from the area and steps to prevent coal tar from seeping into the Cooper River.

Amid controversy  some suspected the public housing conflicted with plans for the new aquarium  the Housing Authority shut down and demolished Ansonborough Homes and relocated the tenants. The authority built 56 new apartment units off the peninsula, and remaining tenants got housing vouchers.

After the cleanup work, the city used most of the land for a park, selling properties along the edges to developers. Williams Terrace was also built there by the Housing Authority, with 41 one-bedroom apartments for seniors, returning some affordable housing to the site.

"It was the best solution to a serious problem," Cameron said. Even today, construction around the park must follow environmental cleanup guidelines about disturbing the soil or groundwater, he said.

What's next?

The Housing Authority owned about 1,100 apartments for low-income tenants when Cameron arrived in 1975. Today it owns 1,407, administers 1,593 housing vouchers that tenants use to pay rent elsewhere, and owns 1,315 workforce and specialized units (some are designated for seniors, single adults, or people with mental health challenges).

In the coming decade the authority expects to add another 1,200 to 1,500 units, with many of them designated for people with moderate to middle incomes.

Cameron's decades of experience with the complexities of funding affordable housing helped set the stage for the Housing Authority's next big evolution, which will mostly play out after he's gone.

All of the authority-owned low-income complexes and buildings, with a combined 1,407 apartments, will either be extensively renovated or demolished and replaced with larger buildings on the same sites. The ones that will be demolished will be replaced with housing for a mix of income groups, while maintaining at least the same number of low-income units that now exist, Cameron said.

I just find it so exciting," Cameron said. "Time will tell, and people will tell, whether it will work out and people (with different incomes) will live together."

I think its ambitious and idealistic," he said.

The first example of such mixed-income housing, the recently built Grace Homes, is already proving successful, Cameron said. The broader initiative will involve rebuilding most of the Housing Authority's existing low-income housing.

The first, the test case, will be a 12-apartment complex at 275 Huger St. The authority plans to tear the buildings down and replace them with an 85-apartment complex which will have the same number of apartments for very-low-income tenants but also apartments for people with higher incomes whose rent will help finance the new housing, along with tax credits.

Longer-term plans call for taking that same approach to other complexes including Cooper River Courts, which spans five city blocks and houses more than 250 families.

Were not selling any land. Were going to have an ownership stake in whats happening," Cameron said. "Its like we have guard rails, for where we are going and how were going to do it.

Parting honors

With sweeping plans to renovate or replace all of the city's low-income housing in place and a new CEO waiting to take over  Chief Operating Officer Arthur Milligan  Cameron decided during the summer of 2021, at the age of 73, to announce his pending retirement.

"I think the length of his tenure is quite amazing, and he never lost energy," said Riley.

On Dec. 9 Cameron celebrated his 74th birthday and the city of Charleston declared the date "Donald Cameron Day." The city's proclamation noted that Cameron had previously received a humanitarian award from the Charleston Hebrew Benevolence Society, a leadership award from the U.S. Green Building Council, and a lifetime achievement award from the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials.

The walls of Cameron's office on Meeting Street feature many of his past awards, while his closet door is covered with the artwork of his grandchildren. He and his wife, Fay, have five children and 11 grandchildren, and now he'll have more time to spend with them.
Some 18 months since the husband of a College of Charleston official was gunned down during an armed robbery in downtown Charleston, a family court judge still has not decided whether the three teenage boys accused in the case should be tried as adults.

Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson said her office is waiting for the family court to schedule a waiver hearing, during which a judge will determine whether the three teenagers should be tried as adults.

Wilson requested in August 2020 that the case be transferred to general sessions court, where the teens could face charges of murder, armed robbery and attempted armed robbery, among other felonies, in the killing of 63-year-old Tom DiLorenzo during a crime spree the morning of July 17, 2020.

Like many criminal cases, the delinquency case has been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Wilson said. Until October, the court only held emergency hearings virtually, for new juvenile detainees.

A judge must consider several factors when determining whether a juvenile should be tried as an adult, she said, including the juvenile's maturity, delinquency history and the likely success of rehabilitation.

Wilson said several evaluations had to be conducted on the juveniles to help evaluate those factors, which took longer than usual. She said her office is still waiting for an evaluation for one of the juveniles.

The teens remain in custody, Wilson said, but the case is stuck in legal limbo. The juveniles cannot get their day in court until the judge decides in which court, exactly, that should be.

Charleston police Chief Luther Reynolds said in a statement the community continues to mourn DiLorenzo's death, and the department appreciates Wilson's commitment to seeking justice in the case.

"CPD officers and detectives acted swiftly in this case, making multiple arrests within hours of the violent crime spree taking place," he said. "While were grateful that those responsible for this senseless crime have remained in custody, we hope the courts will be able to expedite this waiver process so that Mr. DiLorenzos loved ones can receive the closure they deserve.

The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed criminal proceedings across the country as judges try to steer cases toward trial while ensuring proper safety precautions are being taken to limit spread of the virus.

The criminal penalties for adults are significantly more severe than those for juveniles.

Under state law, the most serious penalty a juvenile can face is an "indeterminant" sentence, meaning the juvenile can remain in state custody up until the age of 21, according to the S.C. Bar Association.

By comparison, murder is punishable by 30 years to life in prison for adults. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that juveniles cannot be sentenced to death.

On the morning of July 17, 2020, the three teens allegedly drove a stolen car from North Charleston to downtown Charleston, according to authorities.

Two of the juveniles, ages 15 and 16 at the time, proceeded to rob a 74-year-old woman on Archdale Street, authorities said, and then rob a 20-year-old construction worker at the corner of Calhoun and St. Philip streets.

The same two teens then approached DiLorenzo, 63, and his wife, Suzanne Austin, who had recently been appointed the College of Charlestons provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. They were also held at gunpoint while the juveniles demanded money.

During the robbery, DiLorenzo was fatally shot. The teens fled to the waiting car and left the area, police said.

The 15-year-old and 16-year-old were arrested the day of the shooting. A third teen, also 15, was arrested almost a week later.

Austin did not respond to a request for comment through the college's media-relations department.
Austin Dodge, a former sailor who admitted to possessing and sharing more than a dozen sexually explicit videos of children while he was stationed at U.S. Naval Base Guam, was denied his request to have the federal government cover his travel expenses so that he could return for sentencing.

District Court of Guam Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood stated the motion was moot after the court allowed for the defendant to be sentenced virtually from his current location in Florida.

Dodge, 23, is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 7.

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He pleaded guilty to advertising material involving child pornography, has since been discharged from the military.

The defense recommends Dodge serve 46 to 57 months in prison, while the prosecution wants him to spend 84 months in prison.

Dodge admitted to federal investigators that he joined multiple online chats that traded child pornography and posted images of naked minor girls between the ages of 10 and 17, according to Post files.
An attorney who represented multiple people allegedly sexually abused by local Catholic priests is now seeking damages against another religious institution: the Guam-Micronesia Mission of Seventh-day Adventists.

According to a lawsuit filed Dec. 31, 2021, by attorney David Lujan, the new case stems from misconduct alleged to have occurred in June 2012.

At that time, the victim in the suit, a U.S. citizen identified only as a man with the initials "AA," came to Guam from the Philippines to complete his high school education.

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The man, who was 16 years old in 2012, became acquainted with Danny Dial, who was serving as the church's director, according to court documents.

"Since Dial was from Mindanao in the Philippines where AA was also from, and both speaking the same dialect, Dial asked AA's guardian if AA could stay with him a few days so he could take AA and show him Agana and other parts of Guam since AA had nothing to do during the summer," according to the lawsuit.

Dial allegedly told the teen they would be sleeping on the same bed because someone else was using the apartment's second bedroom. The victim, however, did not encounter any other person in the residence that evening.

Later, at Dial's insistence, the two prayed together.

"After praying, Dial asked AA if AA ever had sex and whether AA masturbated. AA did not respond to the question," the suit alleges. "Dial then informed AA that the conversation was only 'man-talk' and that Dial was only curious. Again, AA did not respond and became alarmed at the conversation."

Dial allegedly offered AA pornography, and began to tell AA about another teenager he "was supporting."

The conversation led "AA to feel that Dial was attempting to seduce, entice him financially, and be his sweetheart," court documents state.

After a few minutes in bed, Dial allegedly began to sexually abuse the teen, which lasted throughout the night, and attempted to have AA perform sexual acts on him.

"The following morning, ... before he left for work, Dial instructed AA to keep the events a 'secret' and not to answer the telephone," the suit alleges.

Instead, the teen called one of his guardians to pick him up, and recounted the abuse to them.

Pastors involved

Within the next several days, Steven Silva, a pastor at SDA, allegedly found out about the abuse allegation.

Silva allegedly suggested AA contact Dial by phone to "entrap" him. Silva also contacted AA, according to court documents, to recount his abuse in a signed letter.

AA eventually met with Pastor Louis Torres, who served as the church's president from 2009 through 2020.

During that meeting, according to the suit, "Torres asked AA in an accusatory tone 'if AA sells his body for money.'"

The accusation made the teen uncomfortable, concluding the pastor wanted to minimize his claim or didn't believe his story.

Dial "fled" Guam within a few days of that meeting, without church officials reporting the alleged abuse to authorities, according to the suit.

"On information and belief, subsequent to leaving Guam, Dial has been teaching at a school owned by the SDA in the Kingdom of Thailand, apparently being moved from one SDA school to another," the lawsuit states.

Lujan also is alleging the church recently reported to the SDA school in Thailand "that Dial is a 'pedophile.'"

'Extreme and outrageous'

AA is seeking at least $1.5 million in damages, accusing the named defendants and unnamed church entities of charges related to child sexual abuse, battery and assault; negligence; breach of fiduciary duty and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

"The acts and conduct of the Church (and other defendants) in providing Dial, a known sexual predator to children, with direct access to children including AA, and refusing to report or stop his sexual abuses, were extreme and outrageous," the lawsuit states.
Mariquita Tita C. Leon Guerrero doesnt want to take out a loan for her business.

Sometimes they ask me to make a loan. Im scared! 83-year-old Leon Guerrero said. What if I dont pay them?  I dont want to lose anything of what I have. Because these are all inherited from my parents.

The longtime businesswoman said the pandemic inflicted a sizable hit to her company, Titas Bakery.

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The business went down at least 25%, Leon Guerrero said.

Tita Jr. Cookies, the business owned by her daughter Genevieve Genny L.G. Garrett, also has struggled these past 21 months.

Local and federal agencies offered relief aid to business owners during the COVID-19 pandemic. Leon Guerrero said she didnt take them up on any pandemic loan offer.

When tourism came to a grinding halt, so did guyuria orders from hotels and Tumon-based businesses such as DFS, according to Leon Guerrero.

Fortunately, now things are looking up.

Just this morning, Westin called, Leon Guerrero said Dec. 30, 2021. Small orders. But even small orders, even if they want 25 bags, I jump and go deliver the 25 bags.

Leon Guerrero is optimistic about Titas Bakery coming out on the other side of the pandemic intact. Since 1965, she has followed a tried and true financial plan of action.

If I make $1 for the day, I save 50 cents for my ingredients and the 50 cents I spend, Leon Guerrero said. I just budget. I just budget.

There is no company to which she is indebted, she said.

I tell you, no company here in Guam that I charged. I have zero charge. They come? My check is ready, Leon Guerrero said. And I wont order if I dont have money in the bank to pay them.

When other businesses closed following the 9/11 attacks, Leon Guerrero said Titas Bakery was unharmed. She thanked God for surviving that era.

Then, we have this, she said, referring to the pandemic. The business has had to adapt and kept operations going, making and baking and delivering the renowned guyuria  albeit in smaller batches  to clients across the island.

Its near impossible to discuss anything guyuria without mentioning Tita Leon Guerrero. Her name has become synonymous with these classic CHamoru treats. There are several guyuria recipes posted online these days. Some have called the bite-sized, rigid confection a CHamoru jawbreaker. People comment on the websites that post guyuria recipes and, while they are often grateful for a way to placate their cravings, many note that theres nothing as satisfying as guyuria from Titas Bakery.

In addition to guyuria, the bakery also sells rosketti. But thats more of a sideline job, Leon Guerrero insisted.

Because that is hard labor. You have to do it manually, one by one. Its hard, Leon Guerrero said, adding that the cost of ingredients for those cookies can add up.

Guyuria, meanwhile, is straightforward.

With guyuria, just go grind the coconut. Make the juice out of it. Mix it with water and the coconut and mix it all up and youre done, Leon Guerrero said.

Leon Guerrero makes it sound easy, but savvy businesspeople know that launching and sustaining an operation over decades, as Tita Leon Guerrero has done, is not an easy feat.

The 83-year-old still works in the bakery. She still drives and delivers the product to her clients. She reviews her accounting books at night regularly before handing them off to her bookkeeper. Titas Bakery is a small and loyal operation in 2021, just as it was when it launched in 1965.

I have an employee that is here for 20 years, she said. My other employee is like 14 years.

Her granddaughter Mariana Koffend said she grew up with those employees.

They raised me, Mariana Koffend said. I remember them since ever since.

Before the pandemic, Leon Guerrero said she had a staff of four. Leon Guerrero lost one employee during the pandemic. Work stopped in the first three months of the pandemic, but when business started to pick up again, her longtime employees returned.

I hired back two, so now theres four and, including me, is five, Leon Guerrero said of her crew.

From her product to her staff, Titas Bakery is very much a family business. In the early days, Leon Guerreros daughters helped her in the mornings before going to school. Even her husband had a hand in the operations.

My husband one day sat down on a table and started doing a sketch, the 83-year-old recalled. You can see the yellow box with the old lady there, and the man kamyo-ing the niyok.

That design was perfected and became part of Leon Guerreros guyuria packaging, with Titas Guguria scrawled across the top. In addition to the yellow box, the bakery packages its confections in plastic bags, with Titas Guguria displayed in bold, blue print across the front.

Even with decades of dominating the guyuria market, Leon Guerrero said she welcomes competition.

As she puts it, competition makes her move and work to improve the product.

Theres one lady that tried to compete with me. I say, Go for it, girl, Leon Guerrero said. It didnt take long. I dont see her around.

While other businesses clamor for potential customers attention at every possible juncture, advertising on the sides of buildings, in newspapers, in Facebook posts, or mid-roll ads on YouTube videos, Titas Bakery products seem to sell themselves.

You know what? I never look for customer. Never, Leon Guerrero said. Customer comes to me.

Selling her products online doesnt entice Leon Guerrero. When other companies have approached her about expanding operations to Hawaii or the other states, she has rejected the offers.

No way Im going to do that, she said. No. I just want to keep it on Guam. This is original.

Local mom-and-pop stores, grocery stores, gas stations and military bases stock her products.

The guyuria business put her daughters through school, which has led to other improvements for Guam. One of Leon Guerreros daughters, Garrett, earned her Ph.D. in education and teaches future educators at the University of Guam. Her other daughter, Renee L.G. Koffend, also earned her doctorate and returned to Guam as an audiologist and owns Guam Hearing Doctors.

Tita Leon Guerrero and her family have nourished Guamanians for generations now, in more ways than one.
Two Oregon State University students from Guam made the scholastic honor roll for fall 2021.

They are:

 Brandy Deliguin, a freshman from Dededo studying horticulture.

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 Lance Gabriel D. Adriano, a senior from Tamuning studying computer science.

A total of 8,043 OSU students earned a 3.5 GPA or better to make the listing. To be on the honor roll, students must carry at least 12 graded hours of course work.

(Daily Post Staff)
There have been contradictions about our local government's strategy on COVID-19 testing and limitations for those who have come in close cont Read more
The proto-fascists among us have delighted in issuing emergency orders relating to the coronavirus. These have included, among others, shutdowns and mask and vaccine mandates. The Governor of Minnesota went so far as to issue an emergency order prohibiting all residents of the state from leaving their houses without his permission.

Many have speculated that statists overreaction to covid has been a dry run for more emergencies to come. Indeed the supply of potential emergencies is large, particularly when science can reliably be deployed on behalf of the state.

Support for such speculation comes from an article published by Cambridge University Press under the auspices of the American Political Science Association. The article is titled Political Legitimacy, Authoritarianism, and Climate Change and was authored by Ross Mittiga, a young academic who ran unsuccessfully for the Virginia House of Delegates in 2017 as a Democrat.

The following quotes are from the articles abstract. I declined to enrich these miscreants to the tune of $25 by buying the full article.

Is authoritarian power ever legitimate? The contemporary political theory literaturewhich largely conceptualizes legitimacy in terms of democracy or basic rightswould seem to suggest not.

Yes, the contemporary political theory literature, along with writings on political theory from the 17th Century to the present, the U.S. Constitution, etc.

I argue, however, that there exists another, overlooked aspect of legitimacy concerning a governments ability to ensure safety and security.

Of course. Tyranny is always imposed for our benefit. Always.

While, under normal conditions, maintaining democracy and rights is typically compatible with guaranteeing safety, in emergency situations, conflicts between these two aspects of legitimacy can and often do arise. A salient example of this is the COVID-19 pandemic, during which severe limitations on free movement and association have become legitimate techniques of government.

Whether they were legitimate or not is hotly debated, but that is the premise. Now the point:

Climate change poses an even graver threat to public safety.

Of course it does! Actually, a lot of things pose a graver threat than covid.

Consequently, I argue, legitimacy may require a similarly authoritarian approach.

The abstract concludes:

While unsettling, this suggests the political importance of climate action. For if we wish to avoid legitimating authoritarian power, we must act to prevent crises from arising that can only be resolved by such means.

Got that? Do what the Greenies want, or we will declare an emergency and jam our measures down your throats. If we did it with covid, we can do it with global warming, too. The precedent has been set, and we can expect a lot more talk along these lines in the years to come.
Who knew that Elizabeth Warren was part of a movement? Apparently she is one of a great number of people who try to advance their careers by pretending to be American Indians. We noted here a news report to the effect that close to 20 percent of white kids identify as Native American on their college applicationsa strategy that apparently is often successful.

Now the New York Post reports on a list of some 200 people, prominent in academia, politics and the arts, who have falsely claimed to be part Indian. Real Indians, it seems, are outraged that others are trying to horn in on their privileged status.

A list of allegedly fake Native Americans has begun circulating in tribal and academic circles, accusing 195 people of falsely claiming an Indian identity for personal gain. The Alleged Pretendians List is the creation of Jacqueline Keeler, a Native American writer and activist who has spent years busting fakers in politics and academia. Everyone on this list has made public claims through interviews, in books authored, documentaries, and even in Congressional testimony. They are also all monetizing their claims. These are not privately-held beliefs, reads her introduction. We will release the names and findings of all those who are found to have no relation to the American Indian tribe they claim in the United States.

***

The list includes well-known imposters and claimants like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Johnny Depp, but also less well-known figures in media and the arts.

***

Many of the accused sit in prestigious academic perches. Dartmouths assistant undergraduate dean, Susan Taffe Reed, is named. In 2015 Reed was forced out as director of the schools Native American Program over allegedly faking membership in the Eastern Delaware Nations.

***

The issue of Pretendians made headlines last month when Canadas top indigenous health expert, Carrie Bourassa, was ousted after her claims of membership in the Metis nation were debunked. Researchers found her people actually originated from Eastern Europe and Russia.

I was interested in this list, which you can see here, in part because I have been laid up for several days with an appalling cold and have spent the time, inter alia, watching the first three seasons of Yellowstone. One of the principal characters in that series is a young woman named Monica who is married to one of the Dutton sons. Monica is an Indian, and the woman who plays her, Kelsey Asbille Chow, certainly looks like a Native American:

However, as Miss Chows last name suggests, she is not an Indian. She is half white and half Chinese, according to Wikipedia. Her Chinese-American father is a doctor, and she went to Columbia.

The Pretendians list suggests that Chow has falsely claimed to be Native American. But lets put that aside for a moment and ask, why should that matter? She looks the part, and is very attractive, certainly what TV producers are looking for. She is, in my opinion, an excellent actress, and plays the part of Monica well.

So why should we care whether one of her grandparents was an Indian? What bearing does that have on her ability to play the part? Some might say that non-Native American actresses should not steal parts from actual Indians. But casting is a zero-sum game. Many one-quarter Indian actors and actresses are more than capable of playing white or Asian parts. Should they be barred from doing so on racial grounds?

As a society, we are at a crossroads. Are we going to be a racist country, obsessed with genetic qualifications, perhaps adopting the Democratic Partys antebellum one-drop rule? Or will we continue down the path of individual merit and accomplishment that we have been on, although no doubt imperfectly, for more than a century?

Too, what do we make of the rush to claim the evidently privileged status of Native American? Why are there hundreds of Pretendians, falsely alleging they are Indians to advance their careers? If Native Americans are discriminated against and marginalized, whatever that means, why do so many people pretend to be Native Americans?

Pretty much everything that is said about race in the USA is a lie. The prevalence of Pretendians is one more data point indicating the sickness of our race preference-obsessed culture.
A torrent of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in 2021, a year that followed the pandemic outbreak, with all its rage and devastating blow on the world economy, not only suggests the resilience of corporate Nigeria but the gritty resolve of growth-minded corporations to add weight, put the global emergency behind them and move on.

Several Nigerian firms appear to have been bitten by the bug of deal-making during the year, with the number of deals among quoted companies coming to 23, including 15 acquisitions (both outright takeovers and acquisitions of controlling stakes), three mergers and five minority stake purchases, according to PREMIUM TIMES data.

The trajectories M&A took were as varied as the firms involved, a striking dimension to doing deal last year being three reverse takeovers by three private companies targeting firms quoted on the Nigerian Exchange.

Using Refinitiv data, Financial Times estimates that global deal-making hit an unprecedented level in 2021, crossing $5.8 trillion, a trend financial journalist James Fontanella-Khan said had been fuelled in part by the return of animal spirits to corporate boardrooms.

Investment banks garnered as much as $157 billion record-breaking fees for midwifing deals, $47 billion coming from M&A advisory services alone, according to the news outlet.

Africas largest economys M&A market also saw a boom both in value and number of deals that possibly has never before recorded.

Deal value in Nigeria summed up to $1 billion at mid-year, said research house African Law & Business, a 267 per cent surge in value and 17 per cent jump in volume when set beside the figures for 2020, the year of the virus.

The Banking Industry

Right from the start of the year, the banking sector dominated M&A activities, the sheer bulk of the industrys participation coming from Access Bank, which completed four acquisitions and one merger in markets as far-flung as Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana and Zambia.

The scope of Access Banks expansion vision seems to know no bounds, and the lender has stated its grand plan to break into markets in eight countries on the continent in its quest to become Africas gateway to the world, hoping to ride on the back of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement.

On the strength of the latest push, the financial institution is probably the continents fastest-growing bank at cross-border level, given that it delivered two acquisitions in Cameroon and Kenya last year and is in line to ink more deals in the year ahead as it looks to conquer Africa.

That won the lenders chief, Herbert Wigwe, African Banker of the Year award in June for the second year in a row.

The South African acquisition, even though it was not a complete acquisition, accounted for $60 million of Nigerias biggest lender by assets capital expenditure for the year.

Were basically making sure that we have a strong presence in all the major trade centres in the continent, Mr Wigwe told CNN in December 2021.

I think were on track. I think in terms of profitability our different franchises are doing exceedingly well, and I think 2022 perhaps is actually going to be a big, big year for the institution.

But the upset of the year and perhaps the high point of doing deals in Nigeria in recent years was Titan Trust Banks late December launching of a takeover bid for Union Bank.

That came after the acquirer sealed a share purchase pact for an 89.4 per cent holding, a push that could put the 107-year-old Union in danger of extinction.

The reverse takeover signposted the first time a private bank in Nigeria would be acquiring a listed bank.

Largely operating in the shadow since it got a national banking permit in 2018, Titan Trust has strategically positioned itself as a challenger bank with a heart for big things, backed by Tropical General Investment Group, which in 2019 sold Chi Limited (manufacturer of Chi Exotic Juice) to Coca Cola Nigeria in a deal reckoned to be around $1 billion.

In July, the FCMB Group announced its takeover of the majority shareholding in AIICO Pensions, translating to a 60 per cent stake that came from purchasing 33.9 per cent shares from the pension firm and the rest 26.1 per cent from a set of other investors.

The financial services group already operates a pension unit FCMB Pensions Limited and would hope to firm up its footprints on the Nigerian insurance landscape with the new acquisition.

Oil and Gas

The deal-making boom also drew enormous interest and a couple of participants from the energy sector, where the unlisted firm Rainoil purchased the controlling stake of 61 per cent in rival Eterna, a quoted company.

It was perhaps the first time in Nigerias corporate history an outsider would be taking over a quoted company.

In a similar move, Ardova, majority-owned by billionaire oilman Abdulwasiu Sowami who himself purchased the company as Forte Oil from Femi Otedola, chair of Geregu Power Plc, in 2019, took over one of its rival Enyo, a transaction that added ninety retail outlets to the former.

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Ardovas Managing Director Olumide Adeosun said in a CNBC Africa interview that Enyo will run as a separate subsidiary s there are no plans for a business combination with Ardova.

Seplat Energy, Nigerias biggest oil and gas firm by market value, announced in November 2021 it is hot on the heels of the shallow water business of ExxonMobil, which has been marked for sale.

Food and Beverages

In November 2021, Nigerias biggest flour-maker Flour Mills of Nigeria agreed to procure a 71.7 per cent stake in its closest competitor Honeywell Flour based on an enterprise value of NGN80 billion. The transaction also entailed a planned business combination of Flour Mills through its affiliates and Honeywell.

Flour Mills also brokered a deal with FirstBank of Nigeria Limited to buy its 5.06 per cent stake in Honeywell.

Honeywells majority owner Oba Otudeko has been under pressure from the Central Bank of Nigeria to repay his humongous debt said to be around N75 billion at FirstBank after he was dismissed by the watchdog in the most memorable board shake-up of the year.

In the same vein, UACN entered a pact with South African food company Tiger Brands to purchase the latters minority stake in UAC Foods, itself a unit of UACN. The deal would allow UACN boost its interest in the company.

In the beer-making sector, Raysun Nigeria Limited  the special purpose acquisition company of Nigerian Breweries, has disclosed it would initiate a mandatory takeover of Uyo-based Champion Breweries any time soon, having acquired a controlling stake in the target company through a series of transactions.

It plans to buy 15.3 per cent of Champions Breweries shares from other stockholders for the takeover to materialize.

Telecoms

A string of minority stake purchases was made by investors in the mobile money business of Lagos-listed Airtel Africa, which has been drawing tremendous interest since the valuation of that subsidiary alone hit $2.65 billion early in the year.

MasterCard, in November 2021, scaled up its minority stake in Airtel money by $25 million alongside TPG, a US private equity firm, and Qatar Investment Authority, each raising its interest by $50 million.

That puts the combined investment of the three companies in the wireless operator at $500 million since the start of the year.

Two weeks ago, London-based Chimera Investment LLC also acquired a minority equity stake of $50 million in the business.

Insurance

The insurance industry was also caught in the whirlwind of deal-making during the year. Royal Exchange General Insurance Company said in October 2021 that AfricInvest, a pan-African investment and financial services company had acquired a minority stake in it.

The investment was made through its evergreen private equity fund, FIVE, in the form of a subscription to a capital increase, the underwriter said in a regulatory filing.

Towards the butt-end of the year, International Energy Insurance announced a takeover by Norrenberger Advisory Partners Limited, the underwriter having been bogged down by loss-making for nine years.

Industrial Goods

CAP Plc, a subsidiary of UACN, opened the merger market this year following the decision to forge a merger with Portland Paints Plc, also a unit of UACN, resulting in an entity that has become Nigerias biggest paint company.

The proposed merger presents a compelling opportunity to create significant value for shareholders of CAP and achieve the companys strategic growth objectives as a larger company with a broader product portfolio, more corporate-owned brands and diversified revenues, the scheme of the merger read.

TY Danjumas TY Holdings Limited upped its stake in BOC Gases Nigeria Plc (until the deal majority-owned by Britains BOC Holdings UK) to 72 per cent in August 2021.

A name change followed in October when the moniker Industrial and Medical Gases Nigeria Plc was adopted.

Financial Services

Early in August 2021, Custodian Investment announced it had entered a pact with UACN Property Development Company (UPDC) for the purchase of 51 per cent of its shares.

This was followed by another disclosure by the company in May 2021, in which it stated it had received the nod of the Securities and Exchange Commission to proceed with a mandatory offer to be made to minority shareholders of UPDC for the purchase of 34.4 million shares.
In the whole of 2021, Nigerian senators held plenary sessions for just 66 days.

This could mean they held plenary for a little over two months. Or going by the legislative calendar of three days per week, one could say the lawmakers sat for about five months and six days.

The senators are currently on a four-week break to mark the end of the year and observe the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

The holiday, though important, is one of many that the Senate has embarked on in 2021. Between February 23, when the senators resumed for the year and December 22, when they closed, they went on break at least eight times.

The duration of these breaks ranged from one to eight weeks, depending on the reason for the holiday. The holidays were either to mourn a lawmaker that died, mark a celebration, attend to the needs of political parties or conduct oversight visits at committee levels.

By holding plenary sessions for just 66 days in 2021, the lawmakers failed to meet the constitutional requirement of 181 plenary sessions in a year.

Also within the year, the senators violated some of its Standing Rules by adjusting the number of days they sat in a week.

What the law says

According to Section 63 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, lawmakers of both the Senate and the House of Representatives are to sit for a period of not less than 181 days in a year.

Similarly, Order 13(2) of the Senate Standing Rule states that on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, the Senate shall meet at 10:00 a.m. and unless previously adjourned, shall sit until 2:00 p.m. unless before a substantive motion had been moved by the leader of the Senate or a Senator acting in that capacity that this Senate do now adjourn and if such a motion be moved and if the question thereon has not previously been determined, at 2.00 p.m the President of the Senate shall adjourn the Senate without question being put.

Numerous breaks and violations of the law

One major factor that contributed to the Senates poor record in 2021 is the fact that the lawmakers adjusted the days for plenary to two days per week (Tuesdays and Wednesdays) against their own rules.

Although the senators observed plenary sessions three times a week at the start of the year, that practice stopped towards the end of February.

At the close of plenary on Wednesday, February 24, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, announced that there would be no plenary the following day, Thursday.

Some of our colleagues are on oversight functions, was the reason he gave.

He gave the same reason the following week. And subsequently, there was no excuse  plenary sessions became twice per week, save for a few other cases where the lawmakers sat on Thursdays to conduct important legislative duties like the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, the Electoral Act Amendment Bill and budget presentation from President Muhammadu Buhari.

The emergency plenaries on Thursdays usually preceded a break or holiday.

Another factor that contributed to the Senates poor report was the recurring holidays and breaks.

At the start of the year, the resumption date was postponed from January 23 to February 9. This, the Clerk to the National Assembly, said was to enable members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to participate in the registration and revalidation of its membership.

Upon resumption on February 9, the senators adjourned to mourn the death of a member of the House of Representatives, Ossy Prestige.

A similar break was taken on April 13 to mourn the death of two other Rep members, Suleiman Lere and Haruna Maitala. However, prior to that break, the lawmakers took two weeks off between March 24 and April 13, to observe the Easter holiday.

After sitting for eight days between April 14 and May 6, it was time for another break. The next two-week recess would be to celebrate Eid-el-Fitr, an Islamic celebration observed at the end of the month-long fast. The break lasted till May 18.

Two plenary sessions later, the Senate adjourned for a week  to hold public hearings on the Constitutional Amendment.

When they resumed on June 1, they held plenary for four days and proceeded on another two-week break to mark the ninth assemblys anniversary and the mid-term break.

By the middle of the year, the Senate had observed at least five breaks.

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More holidays

The next resumption date was June 22 and legislative activities continued for about 10 days and then it was time for the annual recess. This holiday, nine weeks long, ran from July 25 to September 14.

About a month later, the senators passed the 2022 budget and suspended plenary sessions for three weeks, but this time, it was to allow for budget defence sessions.

Plenary resumed at the upper chamber on November 9 and the break that followed on December 22, is the Christmas holiday.

Other laws broken

Besides adjusting their plenary days to twice a week and failing to meet the 181 days stipulated by the Constitution, the senators have also adopted the habit of lateness and lack of decorum. Thus, violating Orders 13 and Order 56 (2) and (3) which says during a sitting, all Senators shall enter and leave the Senate with decorum and that every Senator when he or she comes to the chamber, shall take his or her seat and shall not at any time stand in any of the passage or gangways  a rule the lawmakers are always reminded of.

While Order 13 demands that lawmakers commence plenary at 10:00 a.m., not one day has the ninth Senate adhered to this rule  a habit which dates back to past assemblies.

PREMIUM TIMES had, in 2017, reported how the eight Senate took lateness and lack of decorum in the chamber as a norm. Nothing has changed in the ninth Senate.

In a mid-term assessment of the ninth Senate, this newspaper mentioned these habits as some of the failures of the Senate. But in a bid to defend the lawmakers, Mr Lawans media office had stated that the senators sometimes extend plenary time past 2:00 p.m. to cover more items for the day.

While this is true, the ratio remains unmatched. The senators commence plenary sessions at least 30 or 45 minutes late every legislative day and have only extended time past 2:00 p.m. a few times.

House of Reps culpable

The nonchalant attitude towards the rules for time and days for plenary sessions is not peculiar to the Senate alone. Their counterparts at the House are guilty of breaking similar rules as well.

As of April, the House had sat for only 14 times, this paper reported. The record, at the time, was less than half of the minimum of 36 sessions  if one were to count the Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in January, February and March according to the provision of the standing rules of the House.

Sometime in April, the House took off an entire week to mourn some of its colleagues. This was against the one day provided for in the standing rules.

When confronted with the issue of embarking on numerous breaks while major legislations were delayed, the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, had said the lawmakers decision to go on these breaks is normal.

To paint a clearer picture, we are only doing what is in keeping with what has been done when I got to the House. The assembly can reconvene when there is a matter of urgency, he said.

Who checks the National Assembly?

For an institution that makes its own rules, the least to be expected is that it obeys the rules.

Nigerias lawmakers seem very unbothered by the violation of these rules which could largely be due to the fact there are hardly any stipulated sanctions for breaking these rules.

Auwal Musa, Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), says apart from the unpreparedness of the leadership of the National Assembly to provide quality leadership, Nigerians are being short-changed by the failure of the lawmakers to fulfil their number of sitting days.

They are actually breaking the laws, including the laws they made for themselves. This is not just impunity but also a question of not taking their job seriously. It is poor management of the National Assembly.

Ahmed Lawan, who has been in the National Assembly, does not want to provide quality leadership. He is supposed to do that. He has been in the National Assembly since 1999. He cannot provide quality leadership because of over romance with the executive arm.

As a result, Nigerians are being short-changed, not only that Nigerians are being short-changed when the legislature fail to fulfil constitutional requirements, the law of the land and responsible governance have also been short-changed, Mr Musa told PREMIUM TIMES.

Normally, to address any crisis within the chamber, the Senate will set up an ad hoc committee to probe such matter  as was the case of Ali Ndume in the eight Senate, Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege and the mace theft saga and more recently, the Adamawa senator, Elisha Abbo, who was caught on camera, assaulting lady.

Recourse can be made to the Senate Committee on Legislative Compliance.

Although the committees primary duty would be to check the excesses of Ministries, Departments and Agencies as well as ensure that resolutions made at plenary are implemented, it is also expected that the panel help to keep the lawmakers in check  with regards to obeying their own rules.

It is, however, difficult to place such responsibility on the panel, seeing that the leadership and members of the committee are part of the Senate that flouts its own rules.

Efforts to get the reaction of the chairman of the committee, Adeyemi Oriolowo, was not successful as he did not take or return calls placed to him. His deputy, Sabi Abdullahi, could not be reached as well.

In the same vein, the Senate spokesperson, Ajibola Basiru, did not respond to phone calls made to him.

In the past, Mr Abdullahi, who was the eighth Senates spokesperson, had said the Senate has absolute power to interpret its laws and determine its activities.

The power to interpret the entire rule itself, the final authority is our presiding officer, the Senate President. The constitution says we shall regulate our own affairs. That is the way it is. The constitution says the National Assembly shall regulate its own affairs. So what is internal to us is our own affairs.

The interpretation of our laws or that order itself is subject to the presiding officer. And remember, we also by motion normally move to amend whatever it is in that document. You are fully aware that at some points we need to stand down and when we stand down, its for a particular purpose. So, there is nothing sacrosanct. That document is not sacrosanct. It is our document. We wrote it and we can change it in our own way.

He had even challenged anyone who seeks to change the status quo to contest and become a senator in order to do so.

Mr Abdullahi probably based his defence on Section 60 of the Constitution which gives the Senate and the House power to regulate its own procedure, including the procedure for summoning and recess of the House.

While the ninth Senate might argue that important legislations like the PIB and Electoral Act Amendment bill were passed in the short period they sat in 2021, the fact remains that citizens are robbed of legislative time for important debates, consideration and passage of bills like the Constitutional amendment.

Also worthy of note, is the fact that irrespective of the time spent at plenary or the number of days observed, the senators also always receive full pay.
At least 20 people were killed by gunmen in various attacks across the country last week (December 26  January 1).

A review of the figure indicates a decline of over 80 per cent when compared to the previous week when over 100 people were killed.

Seven of those killed last week were security personnel including six soldiers and one policeman while another was a traditional ruler.

All the geopolitical zones recorded at least one case except for the North-central where there was no media report of killings last week.

PREMIUM TIMES compiled the incidents from media reports. Thus, unreported cases are not included.

Below are the recorded incidents:

16 in Zamfara

Bandits killed seven people and abducted 33 women in seven villages of Gusau local government area in Zamfara State last Sunday.

The villages attacked include Geba, Kura, Duma, Gana, Tsakuwa, Gidan Kada and Gidan Kaura.

The residents said most of the villages were deserted on Sunday evening for fear of more attacks with residents taking refuge in Damba Estate in the state capital, Gusau.

In a separate incident, armed persons, on Wednesday, attacked Gada community in Bungudu Local Government Area of Zamfara State, killing its traditional ruler, Umaru Bawan-Allah, and five other residents.

The Secretary, Bungudu Emirate Council, Usman Ahmad, told PREMIUM TIMES that the attackers invaded the community around 1 a.m. and unleashed mayhem on the residents.

One in Osun

One person was reportedly killed in Igbaye, Osun state on Monday following a crisis that erupted during the end of the year carnival celebration in the town.

A top security source said the immediate cause of the crisis was a misunderstanding that started at the venue of the end of the year carnival.

The victim was rushed to the hospital after he was shot but died during treatment.

Six soldiers in Borno

Six soldiers were, on Thursday, killed when troops of the Multinational Joint Task Force engaged Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists within the vicinity of Mallam Fatori Town in the fringes of the Lake Chad region.

At least 22 terrorists were also killed during the military operation, an official said.

One policeman in Anambra

A police officer was shot dead in Anambra State, South-east Nigeria, by gunmen.

The officer was providing security for a medical outreach in a local community in Ihiala Local Government Area of the state on Wednesday when gunmen attacked him, according to reports in the local media.

Three in Delta

Three people were killed on Thursday in Delta State, South-south Nigeria, when some gunmen attacked a motor park in the state.

The police spokesperson in the state, Bright Edafe, said in a statement on Friday that the gunmen, whom he said were armed robbers, engaged the police in a gun duel at the park in Udu Local Government Area of the state.

Buhari Speaks on Insecurity

As the insecurity across the country persists, President Muhammadu Buhari has again restated his administrations commitment to addressing the situation.

Mr Buhari said in Maiduguri, on December 24, 2021, that he believes that without addressing the problem of security, the countrys economy cannot grow.

Without securing the country, you cannot grow the economy, Mr Buhari said.

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Also in his New Year Day speech, the president said he was concerned about the killings across the country.

Every life matters and every single death caused by any form of insecurity is a matter of personal concern to me both as a citizen and as the President of this great country, he said.

He said while his government makes efforts to address the security situation, he would not let the insecurity affect the governments other programmes for Nigerians.

The persistent insecurity in certain parts of the country may have threatened to unravel the incremental gains achieved in the real sectors of the economy and in the administrations overall objective to position the nation on the irreversible trajectory of sustainable growth and progress, but I assure you that we will remain resolute in our commitments and shall continue to press ahead with our programmes and plans, he said.
Retired Navy admiral urges U.S. to work with China on climate, pandemic

Xinhua) 12:56, January 02, 2022

WASHINGTON, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- James Stavridis, a retired U.S. Navy admiral, has recently urged the United States to work with China on issues such as climate change and pandemic.

In an article published by Bloomberg Opinion, Stavridis wrote the United States and China "have at times broadly joined arms to pull the rest of the world along," despite differences in timing and methods to address environmental issues.

The former supreme allied commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) also suggested the United States should "work with China on preparing for the next pandemic."

"The world is going to be living with new Covid variants (Pi? Sigma? Tau? I'm Greek and know the letters) for a long time," he said. "And given our overcrowded world, urban masses and frenetic international travel, another pandemic is a certainty."

In addition, Stavridis said 2022 "could be a good year to readdress trade, tariffs and equal business access to the Chinese and American markets."

"The two countries should try to solidify what makes sense from the talks so far, then work to gain headway on bigger trade issues," he continued. "Our interwoven markets and businesses can be a foundation for better communication."

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Bianji)
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No one could have thought that a cut-and-sew tailor would be installed, in the 21st Century, as the Olubadan of Ibadan, one of the top royal positions in the South-west region of Nigeria. But Saliu Adetunji achieved the feat when he emerged as the monarch of Ibadan, succeeding Samuel Odugade, a retired army officer and political elite.

Mr Adetunji, 93, who died on Sunday at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, after a brief illness, had hustled on the streets of Lagos as a local tailor before becoming a royal majesty.

As a king, he was known for his pan-Yoruba ideologies. He had joined other prominent monarchs in the region to criticise the violent agitation for the self-determination of the Yoruba race.

Kabiyesis exit at this time is painful, to say the least, the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, said. His wealth of experience, his immense wisdom and his commitment to seeing a greater Ibadan and a better Oyo State are unrivalled.

No academic background

Incredibly, the late Olubadan had no educational background; yet, he ruled over the largest city in West Africa, competing with other prominent kings, who have more exposure and academic background in the African continent.

Mr Adetunji was born on August 26, 1928, at the Adetunji Compound, Popoyemoja, Ibadan, to the family of Olayiwola. He initially followed his fathers footsteps into tailoring but moved to the music industry as a promoter before his emergence as a first-class monarch.

I have no educational certificate and I never attended any school, he said in an interview with reporters after his inauguration. My job experience with some white men gave me the opportunity to learn their language by relationship.

From tailoring to musical merchant

The late Ibadan monarch was described as a master craftsman versed in making both native and English dresses. He had learned the art of tailoring from a prominent tailor in Ibadan, Disu Igbalajobi, before migrating to Lagos in 1949.

He worked as a fashion designer in the Agarawu area of Lagos for a number of years until he met an iconic music producer, Badejo Okunsanya, who brought him to the music industry. He marketed musical records produced by Okunsanyas customers and later started his first record label, Baba Laje Records in 1957.

The first Nigerian to have a record label, the late Badejo Okusanya, who owns Badejo Sound Studio, baptised me into the world of the music business, the monarch said in an interview with Guardian newspaper. He was my boss because he was responsible for my eventual transformation from tailoring business to the music industry.

He was said to have promoted successful and popular Fuji musicians such as Wasiu Ayinde Marshall, Salami Balogun, Amoda Shijuade, Daudu Epo Akara, Saka Olayigbade, and many more, according to the Guardian.

From chieftaincy to royalty

The sudden demise of two Ibadan high-ranking chiefs in 2015 altered the well-arranged traditional structure of ascendancy to the throne of Olubadan, fast-tracking the emergence of Oba Adetunji as the king in 2016.

In 1976, he became the Mogaji of the Adetunji family, three years after he was first summoned to do so. The late Balogun Olubadan, Sulaiman Omiyale, had pressured him to become the Mogaji of his family, after convincing him that taking the chieftaincy role would not affect his booming business in Lagos.

Since 1976, I have continued to progress steadily on the Balogun chieftaincy line, climbing the 23 steps according to the tradition of Ibadan chieftaincy, till Allah granted me the grace to become Olubadan today, he had told reporters in Ibadan.

But, as fate would have it in 2015, the highest-ranking high chief in the Otun Olubadan chieftaincy line, Omowale Kuye, died two weeks after the demise of another high chief, Balogun of Ibadan land, Sulaimon Omiyale. The duo were qualified to be the next Olubadan, considering the royal succession system of the ancient city.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered the system that would produce the next Olubadan is a system in which members of certain households graduate through stages to mount the throne of their forefathers.

That same system made Mr Adetunji the next Balogun of Ibadan, following the demise of the two high-ranking chiefs in 2015.

Thus, in 2016, Mr Adetunji became an unopposed candidate for the throne of Olubadan when his predecessor, Oba Odugade, joined his ancestors.

Traditional enthusiasts believed destiny was on the side of Mr Adetunji, having jumped the queue of succession to become the king of the land.

Remove your illegal crowns

In 2017, the late Olubadan critised the elevation and installation of some baales (local chiefs) as Obas in the city, ordering them to remove your illegal crowns.

Former Governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi, had ordered the crowning of two new kings, seemingly eroding the status of the Olubadan.

The Olubadan had shunned the coronation of the new monarchs, causing controversies and division within the Olubadan chieftaincy.

The Ibadan council of obas on December 12, 2017, issued a 21-day ultimatum to Mr Adetunji, to conduct his activities according to provisions of the olubadan chieftaincy review or get a vote of no confidence.

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The council of elders accused the Olubadan of inciting people against the then Oyo governor, who had undertaken the review that made him an imperial majesty.

We are, by this conference, giving His Imperial Majesty a 21-day ultimatum to change his stand and work for the improvement of Ibadan, rather than promoting disorderliness, Lekan Balogun, most senior chief to the Olubadan, had said. Failure to do so, the entire Ibadan council of obas will pass a vote of no confidence in the imperial majesty, oba Saliu Adetunji, and declare him persona non-grata, and the government will have no other choice than to move for appropriate action.

He also said: You need to know that we the then Olubadan-In-Council nominated and appointed him and presented the said Kabiyesi Adetunji to the government of Oyo state for inauguration and approval or confirmation as the olubadan of Ibadan, knowing well that under the law, anybody from the position of Ekerin is qualified for the position of the olubadan.

However, Mr Adetunji was vindicated in 2018 when Justice Olajumoke Aiki of the Oyo State High Court nullified the installation of the 21 monarchs in Ibadan by former Governor Ajimobi.

READ ALSO:

The judge described the installation as unconstitutional, illegal, null, void and of no effect, following a legal challenge by Rashidi Ladoja, a former Governor.

A big loss to the Yoruba race

The national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, described the death of the Olubadan as a big loss to Oyo State and Yoruba race.

The APC leader said this in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Tunday Rahman, on Sunday. He condoled with the Oyo State Governor and the people of Ibadan city.

On the throne, the late Olubadan worked assiduously for peace and stability of not only Ibadanland, Oyo State and Yorubaland, but also the entire country, the former Lagos governor said. He superintended over the ancient city with even-handedness.

The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, said the demise of the first-class monarch had robbed Nigeria and the entire Yorubaland of a mature royal personality.

In a statement by his spokesperson, Kehinde Aderemi, the Yoruba leader said Mr Adetunji had the most peaceful reign in Ibadan in recent times.

He said: I feel bad at the news of Kabiesis death, however, I am happy he died a hero. The late Oba Adetunji, in his life, brought immense development to Ibadanland. He was very mature, pleasant and peaceful.
A lawyer to Sunday Adeyemo (popularly known as Sunday Igboho) has announced his resignation as counsel for the Yoruba nation agitator.

Pelumi Olajengbesi, a managing partner at Law Corridor, said he had stated in the beginning that the scope of his work would only be within the purview of his professional duty as a lawyer to Mr Igboho and his aides.

I am a strong believer in constitutional democracy, civil liberty and human rights which includes the right to self-determination but I am not a Yoruba nation agitator nor a member of any like organization, he said.

Mr Olajengbesis action came amidst criticism by a Yoruba group, Ilana Omo Oodua, following a New Year Day statement lamenting the insecurity in the South-west region.

Let it be abundantly clear that I am not at war with President Buhari, the governors or anybody in government, the letter read.

The letter was signed by Mr Olajengbesi on behalf of Mr Igboho.

But a statement by the Ilana Omo Oodua group said the lawyer has no standing to issue a statement on Mr Igbohos behalf.

Read Mr Olajengbesis resignation notice below:

This is to officially announce my resignation as counsel involved further in any matter relating to Chief Sunday Adeyemo Igboho and the Yoruba Nation Agitators.

As a firm, we are satisfied with our little best in contributing to providing legal solutions and representations to Chief Sunday Adeyemo (Igboho) and associated Yoruba Nation Agitators as far as ensuring the protection and enforcement of their rights in this matter. We were able to secure the release of twelve (12) persons brutally and unlawfully arrested by the reckless State Security Service (SSS), and also secured the release of an innocent herbalist equally unlawfully arrested and detained by the SSS. We have two persons with on-going terrorism trials at the Federal High Court and our firm will dutifully continue and close the trial having commenced their matter.

While thanking everyone, particularly Chief Yomi Aliyu SAN for the opportunity, and freehand service, Dr. OLASUPO Ojo for his fair leadership and Chief Femi Falana for allowing his industry to be tapped and for the moral support, I most respectfully wish to now step aside.

I have stated ab initio that the scope of my work will only be within the purview of my professional duty as a lawyer to Sunday Igboho and his aides . I am a strong believer in constitutional democracy, civil liberty and human rights which includes the right to self-determination but I am not a Yoruba nation agitator nor a member of any like organization. My reaction to Prof. Akintoye was not to undermine the Yoruba struggle but is based off my personal convictions which I am entitled to. I do hope my friends in the struggle will allow me enjoy the benefit of my right to such a choice as a person of thought and conscience.

Thank you.

Pelumi Olajengbesi Esq.,

Managing Partner,

Law Corridor.
The police said they have rescued 21 children abducted on Friday night by bandits while being taken to an Almajiri school in Zamfara State.

The bandits were said to have blocked the Gusau-Funtua federal highway in Tsafe Local Government Area in the state and abducted several people in five vehicles.

Most of the affected vehicles were commercial.

But in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES, the police spokesperson in the state, Mohammed Shehu, said some of those abducted have been rescued.

He said the police acting on information that bandits had blocked the road, sent a team to dislodge the gunmen.

The police operatives succeeded in rescuing 21 kidnapped children including two female who were coming from Rini village in Bakura area of Zamfara State to Katsina State for Almajiri Islamic school. Along with their scholar, Lawali Ibrahim, and the driver of the vehicle were among the victims that are currently in captivity, the statement said.

Mr Shehu said the commissioner of police had deployed more officers to complement the effort of the joint security operatives working to rescue the remaining victims and apprehend the perpetrators.

He also called on drivers to avoid night journey.

Bandits in Sokoto, Zamfara and Katsina states now attack highways, forcing the closure of major roads including the Jibia-Zurmi-Kaura Namoda-Gusau road, and Kankara-Sheme road in Katsina and Zamfara states.
The Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kaduna State, John Hayab, has confirmed that 120 abducted students of Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State have been freed so far.

In a statement issued in Kaduna on Saturday, Mr Hayab recalled that in the early hours of July 5, 2021, bandits invaded the school located at Maraban Damishi, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State and kidnapped 121 students.

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He said the number of the released students includes one student who was freed on December 28, 2021, and another one who was freed on January 1.

With the release of these two students, a total of 120 students have regained their freedom so far and only one student is still with the bandits, he said.

(NAN)
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State on Sunday expressed shock at the passing on of the Olubadan of Ibadan, Saliu Adetunji, whom he described as an exemplar in royalty.

The 93-year-old royal father passed on at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, on Sunday. The royal palace is yet to officially announce the death.

Mr Makinde said in a statement issued in Ibadan by Taiwo Adisa, his chief press secretary, that the demise of the royal icon was painful despite his old age.

He added that the wisdom and wealth of experience of the late first class traditional ruler would be sorely missed.

The governor expressed his condolences to the immediate family of the Olubadan, the Olubadan-in-Council and all Ibadan indigenes as well as the Oyo State Traditional Council.

He said Mr Adetunji gave his all to ensure that Ibadan is developed and took its pride of place as one of the major cities in Africa.

The news of the death of our father, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Saliu Adetunji, (Aje Ogungunniso I), came as a shock.

Kabiyesis exit at this time is painful to say the least. His wealth of experience, his immense wisdom and his commitment to seeing a greater Ibadan and a better Oyo State are unrivalled.

Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria and humanity at large will miss Kabiyesi who was ever ready to give his all to see a better society.

I commiserate with his immediate family, the Olubadan-in-Council, the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes and all Ibadan indigenes at home and abroad on the demise of our father.

I extend my condolences to Oyo State Traditional Council and pray to God to keep all our Obas safe and give them more years to direct the affairs of our people, Mr Makinde was quoted as having said.

The Caretaker Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Oyo State, Akin Oke, also mourned the passing away of the Olubadan.

Mr Oke described the late traditional ruler as a passionate and visionary leader who lived a well-spent life.

He had a humble beginning and rose to the pinnacle of his career and became very successful.

He was a very good man with a large heart and compassion; we pray to God to forgive him; be with his immediate family and the entire Ibadan land. The death of Kabiyesi is indeed a great loss to us all, he said.

The UCH has released the remains of the traditional ruler to his family members and may be buried according to Islamic rites later on Sunday.

(NAN)
Governor Aminu Tambuwal has vowed that the end is near for notorious banditry kingpin, Bello Turji, who has continued to terrorise Sokoto State despite being hunted by security forces.

The governor spoke on Saturday at a meeting with community leaders, hours after a large group of bandits killed a local businessman and abducted five people in Kurawa in Sabon Birnin Local Government Area of the state.

Mr Tambuwal met with the community leaders of the eastern part of the state on what government was doing to end the incessant attacks in the area.

According to two witnesses who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES Saturday morning on the latest attack, bandits raided Kurawa between Friday night and early Saturday morning.

During the raid, the bandits killed a popular local trader, Bashar Yellow, who had resisted being kidnapped.

He was asked by the abductors to follow them but he refused. I am sure they had him in mind when they stormed the village because so far he was the only person known to have been killed, Basharu Guyawa, the coordinator of a civil society group, Rundunar Adalci, in Sokoto said.

They took away five other people including two married women. I was contacted early this morning by the husband of one of the women that they took. The other people taken are men, he added.

Sambo Bala, an indigene of Sabon Birni, told PREMIUM TIMES that he saw the bandits passing through some communities to the local government headquarters.

I saw them walahi with my eyes in the morning. Many people also saw them, so nobody should be telling us that bandits have been chased out of this zone. The level of impunity is worrisome,

The police spokesperson in the state, Sanusi Abubakar, did not respond to calls and SMS sent to him. The Commissioner for Security Matters in the state, Garba Moyi, who is from the area, had his known telephone line switched off when this paper tried to contact him.

Tambuwal meets zonal elders, vows Turjis end is near

Mr Tambuwal met with leaders of the Sokoto East Senatorial zone on insecurity in the area.

The governor vowed to bring an end to Mr Turjis reign of terror in the state.

Most of the areas being attacked by bandits in the state are in the zone with Isa, Sabon Birni, Gwaranyo, Raba, Wurno, being the worst hit.

READ ALSO:

At the meeting in Gwadabawa, Mr Tambuwal also inaugurated the Sokoto Eastern Zone Development Association.

He said the state government was re-strategising to introduce new measures in tackling banditry while the review of existing measures is still on course.

The state government had in September anniunced some measures to tackle banditry.

According to Mr Tambuwal, This is not a political or religious gathering. It is meant to tell ourselves the truth and nothing but the truth. We cannot fold our hands to wait for govt to solve our problems. We must unite and help ourselves before government can come in, he said.

The government has donated vehicles and motorcycles to security agencies but are we seeing them.

This will be part of the mandate of this committee to ensure government property are protected and used judiciously, he added.
In accordance with the ancestral arrangement which clearly states how a successor will emerge, Lekan Balogun, a former senator, will ascend the throne as the new Olubadan of Ibadan, in Oyo State.

Mr Balogun will succeed Saliu Adetunji, who died Sunday morning at the age of 93.

According to the arrangement, whoever occupies the Olubadan seat must have passed through about 34 stages to emerge as a member of the Olubadan-in-Council.

Accordingly, the ascension to the Olubadan stool begins from installation from the position of Mogaji to the Otun of Olubadan.

The emergence also put into consideration the two major lineages which are the Olubadan (Civilians) and the Baloguns (Military) lines.

The stool is alternated between the lineages who are all members of the Olubadan-in-council.

This succession plan, which has been adjudged by different quarters as the most coordinated and organised succession plan always, has the Otun Olubadan as the Olubadans successor.

By this arrangement, Mr Balogun, 79, will be crowned the next Olubadan of Ibadan, subject to the approval of the governor of the state, Seyi Makinde.

His background

Mr Balogun is from Ali-Iwo compound in Ibadan North East Local Government Area of the state.

He is a businessman who currently sits on the board of several companies with interests in oil and gas, distributive trade, management consulting, mechanized farming, and export of non-oil items, as well as travels and tourism.

The former senator was an Administrator/Head, Industrial Relations, Recruitment and Scholarships, Planning and Development units at Shell Petroleum Development Company.

He was also a Research Fellow with the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, a director with Triumph Newspaper, Kano; Editor of the monthly magazine-The Nigerian Pathfinder as well as a Management Consultant for multinational organisations such as Leyland, Exiat Battery, and Nigerian Breweries.

He is a renowned technocrat, author, and philanthropist.

Mr Balogun represented Oyo Central senatorial district between 1999 and 2003. He served as the chairman Senate Committee on National Planning and was a member of many Senate committees such as Appropriations, Security and Intelligence, Police Affairs, and Defence (Army).

He holds a Doctorate Degree in Public Administration; Public and Social Administration and Economics from Columbus International University, Brunel University, and Manchester University all in the United Kingdom after his secondary and primary education in Oyo State.

He was a presidential aspirant on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 1992/1993 presidential election

He was also a gubernatorial candidate for the PDP in Oyo State.

Mr Balogun was Mogaji before he was promoted to the position of Ajia Olubadan decades ago.

He was also a research fellow at the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Kaduna State.

His younger brother, Kola Muhammed Balogun, is currently representing Oyo South Senatorial District in the red Chamber on the platform of the PDP. He defeated the late Abiola Ajimobi, immediate past governor of the state, who was the candidate of the APC in the 2019 general elections.

Controversies

The Olubadan-designate is, however, not without his own fair share of controversies. He played a prominent role in the turmoil that rocked Mr Adetunjis reign as Olubadan after the former governor, Abiola Ajimobi, crowned 48 other coronet Obas in Ibadan.

Although according to Section 28(1) of the Chiefs Law Cap 28, Vol. 1 Laws of Oyo State of Nigeria the Governor is empowered to approve the appointment of a monarch, this is in direct contravention of the traditional arrangement in Ibadan since its creation.

In 2018, Mr Balogun alongside other Olubadan council members engaged Mr Adetunji in a battle that saw them crowning 21 kings in Ibadan, with the backing of the former governor.

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Mr Balogun and the others had accused the Olubadan of running a one-man-show in disregard of the Olubadan-in-Council.

They also accused the monarch of appointing Mogajis (first of the 34 stages to the throne) and Baales (village heads) without consulting the council.

Mr Adetunji filed a lawsuit against the crowning of the new kings, maintaining that the governor has no such power.
Whatever happens, this is President Buharis final full year in office. A new helmsman is expected to be sworn in on May 29, 2023. What the president does or neglects to do in the next 12 months will put the final seal on his legacy. What Nigeria as a country does or refuses to do, as we wind down to the end of one administration and eagerly look forward to the beginning of another, will determine the fate of the country and its 200 million people.

Every end leads to a new beginning, which itself contains the seeds of another end. The continuum of life is riddled with ends and beginnings. Depending on where our paths cross or where our sensibilities are rattled or some momentous occurrence jolts us out of our accustomed lethargy, a beginning or end or anywhere in-between could define ones worldview; it could define ones attitude to the many tomorrows ahead.

Just imagine, 2021 has crept into history. It did so with a whimper, like its COVIDised predecessor, 2020. The brand new year, 2022, comes with a newborn babys clenched fists, holding untold possibilities. The temptation to say, Que sera sera is overwhelming, but intellectual indolence has no better personification than a person who, hiding under the babanriga of ill-digested theology, refuses to use lessons of the past to inform the future.

Given where we were coming from, where we are, and the direction we seem to be heading, what is 2022 likely to bring from its storehouse? Will the Senate approval of President Buharis request for an additional $6.2 billion external loan make life better for the people or would the borrowing be metaphorically another train ride to Maradi?

The Obasanjo-led government had dug Nigeria out of the stagnant mud of debt when, in October 2005, Nigeria and the Paris Club announced a final agreement for debt relief worth $18 billion and an overall reduction of Nigerias debt stock by $30 billion. The deal was completed on April 21, 2006, when Nigeria made its final payment and its books were cleared of any Paris Club debt.

Then a combination of economic factors, including lower oil revenues and our refusal to jettison the notorious habit of living above our means, led us to start borrowing anew. By 2014, our external debt had risen to N11 trillion. In five years, it got to N27 trillion, and is expected to rise to over N37 trillion ($94 billion) with the recently approved $6.2 billion.

The crucial question to ask is, are we investing borrowed funds in such a way as to make Nigeria become one of the 10 largest economies in the world, or are we compounding our status as one of the poverty capital of the world?

An economist, Kingsley Moghalu, ex-Deputy Governor of the Central Bank and a former presidential candidate, thinks the latter is the case.

Nigerias borrowing is not sustainable, he says. Forget the nonsense about debt-to-GDP ratio still being within limits at 35%, rising to 42% by 2026. What matters for a developing country is ability to pay relative to revenues and the cost of debt servicing relative to investment in development.

2022 will be a very significant year in Nigerias history, as it will be the eve of another democratic transition. Already, the potential gladiators are perfecting their strategies, while their puppeteers are oiling the social engine in readiness for the inevitable bazaar. If our stomach infrastructure past is anything to go by, quite a bit of money  looted or legit  will be in circulation. At the same time, some public officials gripped in the fever of injury time may embark on the sharks equivalent of a feeding frenzy.

Moghalu explains further: At 90 kobo of every one Naira we earn going to debt repayments, there is nothing left to invest in education and healthcare (human capital), the building blocks of any society. Borrowing supposedly to build infrastructure that cant yield revenues to repay the debt is wrong According to @IMFNews our revenue-to-GDP ratio will decrease from 7.2% in 2021 to 6.5% in 2026, and the general government expenditure-to-GDP ratio will decline from 13.3% in 2021 to 12.6% percent in 2026. Bottom line, revenues going down, ability to spend on essential services going down. Nigeria needs economic salvation!

The issue of investing in projects that can pay their way has been on the front burner of public discourse in 2021. Take the investments in rail transport, for example. If the investments were meant to be sustainable, why are the most economically viable routes not a priority? What is our business in using borrowed funds to extend a rail line to Maradi in Niger Republic when we havent covered our own commercial cities?

In the last five years, the government has been spending more than it earned, ballooning expenditure from N3.9 trillion in 2016 to N10 trillion last year. When you consider that revenues for the same period only increased from N3.1 trillion to N4 trillion, you can see that the country has been living far above its means. Budget deficit within the period increased from 400 billion to 5 trillion. The World Bank has suggested ways of increasing non-oil revenues by N10 trillion in the next three years through a regimen of higher taxes, with VAT expected to rake in additional N3.1 trillion.

These taxes are already affecting the lower classes of the people negatively. Unfortunately for the government, these taxes are coming at a time of unprecedented insecurity when there is so much hardship in the land. Also, small scale firms, which managed to remain open after the COVID blizzard may have to shut down in the face of a higher tax regime. Going forward, the government has to weigh its desire to capture more tax monies against its oft-stated desire to keep people in employment.

2022 will be a very significant year in Nigerias history, as it will be the eve of another democratic transition. Already, the potential gladiators are perfecting their strategies, while their puppeteers are oiling the social engine in readiness for the inevitable bazaar. If our stomach infrastructure past is anything to go by, quite a bit of money  looted or legit  will be in circulation. At the same time, some public officials gripped in the fever of injury time may embark on the sharks equivalent of a feeding frenzy. Havent we heard of looted funds being re-looted?

Whatever happens, this is President Buharis final full year in office. A new helmsman is expected to be sworn in on May 29, 2023. What the president does or neglects to do in the next 12 months will put the final seal on his legacy. What Nigeria as a country does or refuses to do, as we wind down to the end of one administration and eagerly look forward to the beginning of another, will determine the fate of the country and its 200 million people.

Talking about what is hidden in the kernel of Father Time, I take journalistic notice of the Ghanaian governments threat to arrest soothsayers, prophets, para-psychologists and other merchants of new year predictions if they dare foretell doom for the unborn year. Kill bad news before it is spread any further, especially in a brand new year. Thank God I dont live in Ghana.

In the year 2022, may Aseju not tarnish our Iwa (Iwa is Yoruba for character and is believed to be the favourite wife of Olodumare, while Aseju, meaning Excesses or Superfluity is the sole woman Olodumare rejected). May 2022 be abo (female) and not ako (male). 2022 will bring us all sorts of great opportunities. We should accept them. But we must reject Aseju.

What about Nigeria? On a lighter note, with my minds eye, I can see my friend, Professor Moyo Okediji, who teaches Art History at the University of Texas, sitting contentedly beside his latest painting, IWA (Character). A Great Ife talent of no mean repute, Moyo has lately acquired the reputation of a Facebook seer.

In the year 2022, may Aseju not tarnish our Iwa (Iwa is Yoruba for character and is believed to be the favourite wife of Olodumare, while Aseju, meaning Excesses or Superfluity is the sole woman Olodumare rejected). May 2022 be abo (female) and not ako (male). 2022 will bring us all sorts of great opportunities. We should accept them. But we must reject Aseju.

Now, before you dismiss that offhandedly, remember that Moyo holds quite a record in oracular prognostications. In 2019, he predicted a Buhari victory in the elections but cautioned:

The times will be tougher

The sea will be stormier

The clouds will be thicker

The fog will be foggier

The days will be gloomier

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The nights will be longer

The market will be slower

The valleys will be deeper

The hills will be steeper

The rivers will be drier

The winds will be colder

The sun will be hotter

The moon will be duller

The weather will be harsher

The journey will be harder

The struggles will be stiffer

The rich will be richer

The poor, poorer

The pain, the agony, will be worse for the lowly and the humble.

The sick, even sicker

The sad, sadder

The mad will be madder

The hungry, hungrier.

Now that he says 2022 will present great opportunities in this era marking the end of one particular beginning, Ill sip a calabash of palm-wine in anticipation. I wish us all plenty of elbow grease and uncommon common sense. Happy New Year!

Goodnight, Desmond Tutu

President Mandela sent him to Nigeria to plead for the release of MKO Abiola, the winner of the 1993 election who had been detained after the military annulled the result. In an audience with General Sani Abacha, Tutu insisted on seeing Abiola, then publicly lambasted the general for lying to him about the conditions of Abiolas detention (Culled from Desmond Tutu: The Passage of Africas Faithful Fighter by John Allen).

Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu was one of the greatest Africans of our contemporary times. May his valiant spirit continue to inspire Africans and the rest of humanity to strive to make the world better than they met it.

Wole Olaoye is a public relations consultant and veteran journalist. He can be reached on wole.olaoye@gmail.com, Twitter: @wole_olaoye; Instagram: woleola2021.
Outspoken Catholic priest, Ejike Mbaka, has stirred another controversy, alleging that there was a plot to kill him after his row with the Catholic Diocese of Enugu in May last year.

The day you people protested in Enugu while searching for me, it was the night that they would have killed me already, the cleric said, while delivering his usually incendiary cross over night message for the year 2022 on Friday at the Adoration Ground, Enugu.

Mr Mbaka subtly accused the Catholic Bishop of the Enugu Diocese, Callistus Onaga, of having a hand in the plot, although he did not mention names of those directly involved or how he got privy of the information.

He cautioned the bishop against pushing him to the level of rebellion. The priest said he has thousands of followers ready to defend him.

The cleric also warned some Catholic priests whom he said are involved in the attack against his Adoration Ministry.

There was a protest last May in Enugu after Mr Mbaka allegedly went missing for almost 24 hours following a meeting with Bishop Onaga over his exchange of words with Nigerias presidency.

Known before now as a staunch supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr Mbaka had in a surprised move attacked the president, asking him to resign or be impeached for bad governance.

The presidency responded with an accusation that the priest was angry because his request for government contracts was rebuffed.

The exchange was the last straw for Mr Onaga who had repeatedly cautioned Mbaka against meddling in politics.

Consequently, the Bishop asked the fiery priest to shut down his Adoration ministry in Enugu for one-month and embark on a retreat.

But after the priest was summoned by Mr Onaga in the parish, his followers raised alarm that he had gone missing.

The followers thereafter embarked on a protest to the bishops residence where they allegedly destroyed properties within the premises.

The protesters were also said to have destroyed properties at the Holy Ghost Cathedral before Mr Mbaka later appeared and took them away to a location where he addressed them, claiming he was denied access to his phones and ordered to proceed on one-month suspension.

He also alleged that the diocesan leadership wanted to close down the Adoration Ministry.

Meanwhile, Mr Mbaka later apologised to the bishop and other Catholic faithful of the diocese for the destruction of parts of the bishops residence and the Holy Ghost Cathedral.

He also shut down his Adoration Ministry for a month.

Alleged plot to kill

In what appeared a resumption of hostilities with the church, Mr Mbaka in his New Year preaching said to thousands of his followers that the reason behind his summoning by the diocesan leadership was sinister.

You know they gave me order (at the time) not to come here (Adoration Ground) again till 30 days. Somebody that was summoned to a meeting, he said.

It was the meeting I went for, but I didnt know it was a panel. It was in that panel that they gave me an order not to conduct adoration again until 30 days and that I wont enter my house until 30 days, Mr Mbaka told the congregants at the Adoration Ministry, adding that I was asked to just move somewhere else other than Adoration ground or my house.

He said he obeyed the Bishops order, but that the Holy Spirit ministered to him that he should not park anywhere.

I didnt know I was being tracked that night. Before the next day you people started searching for me.

He further stated: Their plan was to capture me that night and drag me to Cubana (Hotel) and take me to Mobil where prostitutes stay and then take me around (there) and then, show video of me in the place (Brothel) so that people would ask what Mbaka was searching for in brothel.

Then, they will again, drag me to Igboeze, another spot for Prostitutes. Thats where they planned to naked themselves, not me. So, then people would begin to ask what I am doing naked in prostitutes spot. Then, they will take me to Abuja and the story will be much, they will kill themselves, not me.

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Mr Mbaka said he has reviewed his initial apology to the church leadership and realised it was people who treated him badly that ought to apologise to him.

He warned people fighting his ministry to steer clear of it. He said he was wondering why the Catholic Church would not appreciate what she has.

He said he and Adoration faithful had never talked ill of the Bishop in the Adoration ground, adding that whoever he takes as a father should also take him (Mbaka) as a son.

Squabble with presidency

Mr Mbaka, in his 2015 New Year Message, was said to have attacked the then incumbent Government of President Goodluck Jonathan, in the build up to the presidential election, declaring that Goodluck had become bad luck and that President Goodluck would give way for the then All Progressive Congress candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, who later won the election, to become president.

But, in his Saturday message, Mr Mbaka said he did not tell Nigerians to vote Mr Buhari. He said he only declared a revelation he received that Mr Buhari would be president in 2015.

When I was saying that Buhari would be President, there was nobody I told to vote Buhari, he said.

People were quoting me out of context. I said it was revealed to me that Buhari would be President (in 2015), does that mean I said you should vote him? It is vision, but I said if he begins to mess up, that I will attack him. It is in the tape. And he messed up and I started attacking him, he said.
PROVIDED PHOTO New mother Kristina Vassar holds newborn Izabella Genevieve Goddeau, who she calls her miracle baby, next to fiance Mason Goddeau in the University of Vermont Health Network, Champlain Valley Physicians Hospitals Alice T. Miner Women & Childrens Institute in Plattsburgh on Sunday.
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NEW YORK, Jan. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of the securities of Zhangmen Education Inc. (NYSE: ZME) in or traceable to Zhangmen Education's initial public offering conducted on or about June 8, 2021 ("IPO"), pursuant to the IPO prospectus (the "Prospectus") and Form F-1 registration statement, as amended (together with the Prospectus, the "Registration Statement"), of the important January 18, 2022 lead plaintiff deadline.

SO WHAT: If you purchased Zhangmen Education securities pursuant and/or traceable to the IPO 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 Zhangmen Education class action, go to http://www.rosenlegal.com/cases-register-2213.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 January 18, 2022. 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. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions. 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, the Registration Statement was false and/or misleading and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Chinese authorities were in the process of implementing sweeping new regulatory reforms on the private education industry in China including, among others, prohibitions on (a) profit-making by private education companies, (b) engaging in core-curriculum tutoring on weekends and vacations, and (c) capital-raising by companies like Zhangmen Education; (2) the known risks, events, and uncertainties noted in the Registration Statement were reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on Zhangmen Education's business; and (3) based on the foregoing, the statements in the Registration Statement concerning Zhangmen Education's historical financial performance, market demand, and industry trends were materially incomplete, inaccurate, and misleading. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

To join the Zhangmen Education class action, go to http://www.rosenlegal.com/cases-register-2213.html or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action.

No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Contact Information:

Laurence Rosen, Esq.

Phillip Kim, Esq.

The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.

275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor

New York, NY 10016

Tel: (212) 686-1060

Toll Free: (866) 767-3653

Fax: (212) 202-3827

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

www.rosenlegal.com

SOURCE Rosen Law Firm, P.A.
Environmentally friendly AI and telecommunications network technologies

AI and telecommunications networks stand at the core of ICT innovation. However, they are also pointed out as a cause of environmental pollution due to the large amount of power they consume. Against this backdrop, SKT is accelerating an ICT revolution through the development and application of low-power high-efficiency semiconductors and energy-saving telecommunications network technologies.

At CES 2022, SKT will be showcasing its self-developed AI chip named SAPEON . SAPEON is optimally designed to process artificial intelligence tasks faster, using less power by efficiently processing large amounts of data in parallel.

With the rapid spread of AI services in people's daily lives and industries, the amount of data that needs to be processed is growing exponentially. However, the existing AI data centers that use Graphics Processing Units (GPU) for inference are receiving criticism for consuming a great amount of energy. SAPEON is an environmentally-friendly solution as it uses 20% less power than GPU, while supporting 1.5 times faster deep learning computation.

SKT will also introduce Single RAN , a technology that reduces the amount of power usage by approximately 53% through integrated operation of 3G and LTE network equipment. The company either replaced the outdated 3G and LTE equipment with new equipment applied with Single RAN or upgraded the software of its existing LTE equipment with Single RAN to operate as both 3G and LTE equipment.

By successfully applying Single RAN to all applicable base stations and repeaters installed in 78 cities in Korea including Seoul in 2020, SKT earned around 10,000 tons of carbon credits.

ICT solutions for reducing carbon generation in daily lives

At CES 2022, SKT will invite visitors to experience its metaverse service, multi-use cup project and other ICT services that can help reduce CO2 emissions such as optimal route navigation service.

The company will introduce its metaverse platform Ifland as a new promising path towards a low carbon society. Ifland allows users to take carbon generating activities such as conferences, presentations and business trips to the virtual world.

It provides a wide variety of virtual spaces including conference halls, outdoor stages and rooftops, and enables users to enjoy rich communication by sharing documents (PDF) and video files (MP4). It can accommodate up to 130 users simultaneously, which makes it an ideal place for large-scale events.

Ifland has been providing users with a new and environmentally friendly experience by migrating diverse offline events to the virtual world ranging from the D-100 event for 2021 Seoul UN Peacekeeping Ministerial and K-pop concerts.

SKT will also present the Habit Cup Project that promotes the use of multi-use cups to reduce plastic waste. Coffee shops participating in the project are serving beverages in multi-use cups named 'Habit Cups' that can be later returned via smart kiosks capable of identifying and accepting only Habit Cups through the use of SKT's vision AI technology. Returned cups are collected everyday to be cleaned and sanitized, and then delivered back to cafes.

At present, SKT is carrying out a trial project joined by around 20 cafes located in central areas of Seoul, where there is a large floating population. The company expects to eliminate the use of 1.2 million disposable cups during the three-month project period. It is also implementing a trial project in Jeju Island, and expects to reduce the use of 630,000 disposable cups per year.

Korea's No.1 mobility platform T Map will also be on display. By providing an optimal route, T Map contributes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and saving fuel. The service also helps save social costs by decreasing the risk of traffic accidents through enhanced safety features like sudden brake alert.

"At CES 2022, we will be showcasing cutting-edge technologies that can drive the green ICT revolution, along with innovative services that hold the power to reduce carbon generation in our daily lives," said SKT. "Through multifaceted efforts, SKT will become a solid leader in the era of Net Zero."

About SK Telecom

SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM) is Korea's leading ICT company, driving innovations in fixed & wireless telecommunications, AI service, and digital infrastructure service. Armed with cutting-edge ICT including AI and 5G, the company is ushering in a new level of convergence to deliver unprecedented value to customers. As the global 5G pioneer, SKT is committed to realizing the full potential of 5G through ground-breaking services that can improve people's lives, transform businesses, and lead to a better society.

SKT boasts unrivaled leadership in the Korean mobile market with over 30 million subscribers, which account for nearly 50 percent of the market.

For more information, please contact [email protected] or visit our LinkedIn page www.linkedin.com/company/sk-telecom.

SOURCE SK Telecom
DENVER, Jan. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Civitas Resources, Inc. (Civitas, or the Company) today announced a pledge of $1 million to the Community Foundation Boulder County to aid in relief efforts following Wednesday's Marshall Wildfire, the most destructive wildfire disaster in Colorado history.

"As community members, neighbors and Coloradans, we are saddened by the devastation these wildfires have caused, and we must do what we can to help these impacted communities," said Civitas CEO Eric Greager. "Our hearts go out to those who were displaced or otherwise affected by these tragic events, and we thank the Community Foundation Boulder County for its work in responding to this unprecedented disaster."

At this time, more than 35,000 people have been evacuated and approximately one thousand homes and businesses throughout the community have been impacted.

"The Community Foundation Boulder County works closely with government and nonprofit partners to meet the needs of the community as they arise," said Tatiana Hernandez, CEO of the Community Foundation Boulder County. "This generous support will enable us to address immediate, short- and long-term needs for those most directly affected."

Civitas will be providing $500,000 immediately to the Community Foundation to aid disaster relief during the triage phase of this crisis and has pledged an additional $500,000 throughout the course of 2022 to meet needs that continue to arise within the community resulting from this disaster.

"This is not a response effort that will end in weeks," Greager said. "This response effort will remain ongoing, and we want to be there for our neighbors as they work to recover."

As Colorado's largest pure-play oil and gas producer, Civitas has become a leader among peers for its commitment to reducing and offsetting emissions from operations. The Company is also committed to exploring community solar developments aimed at reducing utility bills and generating renewable energy within the communities where it operates. In 2022, Civitas will launch the Civitas Community Fund that will provide project grants and scholarships within the communities where it operates, and with special dispensation to those located closest to the Company's operations.

Contact Information

Steven Emmen

[email protected]

About Civitas

Civitas Resources, Inc. is Colorado's first carbon neutral oil & natural gas producer and is focused on developing and producing crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids in Colorado's Denver-Julesburg Basin. The Company is committed to pursuing compelling economic returns and cash flow while delivering best-in-class cost leadership and capital efficiency. Civitas is dedicated to safety, environmental responsibility, and implementing industry-leading practices to create a positive local impact. For more information about Civitas, please visit www.civitasresources.com

SOURCE Civitas Resources, Inc.
New Delhi, Jan 2 : The Ministry of Jal Shakti has said that during 2021, under the Aquifer Mapping programme, an area of 18.4 lakh sq km out of the total 25 lakh sq km area identified for mapping in the country has been covered.

Also, Aquifer Maps and Management Plans for 3.7 lakh sq km have been prepared covering various parts of the country for the duration between January 1 to November 30, 2021, a release from the Jal Shakti Ministry said.

All these exercises have been carried out as part of the National Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme (NAQUIM) wherein studies for aquifer mapping and management plan formulation have been taken up by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) under the scheme Ground Water Management & Regulation.

Under the 'High Resolution Aquifer Mapping and Management In Arid Areas Of India' head, the CGWB, also a body under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, has initiated a high-resolution mapping of aquifers using modern Heli-borne geophysical survey in parts of the arid areas spread over the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Haryana.

"The study has been taken up in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and Technology. Under phase- I of the project, the work has been initiated in nearly 1 lakh sq km. Heli-borne survey under this project was inaugurated by Minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, and Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Science & Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh on October 5 at Jodhpur, Rajasthan," the release said.

Realizing the need for availability of reliable and up-to-date water data for efficient management of water resources of the country, the Government has recently established National Water Informatics Centre as a repository of nation-wide water resources data and as a reliable system for water resources data storage, collation, management, and dissemination. Data on water resources and allied themes like rainfall, river water levels and discharge, ground water levels, reservoir levels, water quality, soil moisture, etc. are disseminated through a GIS enabled public platform "india.wris.gov.in" to all stakeholders and general public.
Paris, Jan 2 : Christmas and the end of the year were once again celebrated in an unusual atmosphere in France. The outbreak of coronavirus, especially the Omicron variant, has disrupted festivities, causing great concern among the population.

In Paris, people queue in long lines in front of pharmacies waiting for a Covid-19 test so that they can spend the holidays with their family or friends, Xinhua news agency reported.

Estelle, a journalist in her thirties, has asked her friends to take Covid-19 tests in order to join the Saint Sylvester celebrations that she hosts each year at her home.

"I have asked my friends to bring the proof of a negative test. But despite the precautions, I feel that the celebrations won't be the same as before (Covid-19). The atmosphere won't be as relaxed with the Omicron variant that is circulating," she said, adding that some friends have preferred staying at their home instead.

This fear of catching the virus has also constrained Sebastien, a French expat living in Africa, who has cancelled all his appointments with his friends.

"I return to France once per year to celebrate Christmas and Saint Sylvester with family but it is also an occasion to see each of my friends according to their availability. Sadly that won't be possible this year. I prefer being careful and calling them just on the phone," Sebastien told Xinhua.

France has reported record numbers of coronavirus infections in the last few days. A total of 104,611 new cases were reported on December 25, and 206,243 on December 30.

Omicron has become the main coronavirus strain in France. "62.4 per cent of screened tests (at the start of the week) show a compatible profile with the Omicron variant," said the last weekly survey by the French Public Health published on Thursday.

Rising infections have also hit restaurants hard, forcing some to close this year. Pascal Boulanger, the owner of bars and restaurants in Mont-de-Marsan, southern France, is one of these restaurateurs.

"It is a choice a little bit imposed. From the moment where conditions are not reunited to do something that looks like a New Year Eve, there isn't any interest to organise something," he explained to France Bleu Radio.

Those who decided to open, such as Bastien d'Andre, a restaurateur in the same city, noted that the "infatuation is not as strong and there are few reservations" this year.

Although the government has decided not to impose a curfew for New Year's Eve, it has increased additional restrictive measures in response to the outbreak of the Omicron variant. In Paris, for example, the police department announced the return of the obligation to wear a mask outdoors in all streets effective from December 31.

The French government is counting on its vaccine strategy to curb the new variant. And recent studies on the efficiency of the Pfizer and Modern vaccines against the severe forms of the Omicron variant are the foundation of that hope.

France has accelerated its vaccination campaign since the appearance of the new variant, and announced recently a draft law bill to transform the health pass to a vaccine pass, to oblige the non-vaccinated to go for it.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Kolkata, Jan 2 : In the last couple of weeks, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has raised at least seven issues - one in every two days - where he has contested the state governments decisions.

Starting with the Howrah Corporation Bill 2021 up to the appointment of Vice-Chancellors in 24 state-run universities, the Governor objected to the functioning and the decisions of the state government, inviting widespread criticism not only from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee but also from the Trinamool Congress in general.

Though the conflict between the Governor and the state government is nothing new in state politics and started way back in 1967, the skirmish between Dhankhar and the state government has gone beyond the corridors of legislative decorum and political etiquette. The media blackout of the governor's speech in the Assembly or the Chief Minister writing to President Ram Nath Kovind for the removal of the governor are some examples where the ruling party has crossed the boundaries of administrative protocol and propriety.

In a recent incident, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee did not suppressed her anger against Raj Bhavan. Without naming the Governor, she said: "Raj Bhavan mein ek raja baitha hai. Kya nahi bolta hai. BJP ke president se bhi bada. All India President BJP ka - aise baat karta hai (There is a king who sits in Raj Bhavan. What doesn't he say? He is even bigger than the President of the BJP. He speaks as if he is the All-India President of the BJP.) The Governor on his Twitter handle wrote: "Stunned @MamataOfficial 'Raj Bhavan mein ek raja baitha hai' stance, while on a political visit to Goa - unexpected act of impropriety. On Dec 16 urged CM for interaction as constitutional functionaries must act in harmony to serve people." In a separate message the Governor wrote: "Neither 'law unto oneself' nor 'state within state' governance @MamataOfficial can be constitutionally sanctified. CM continually in breach of 'duty' under Article 167 & politicized bureaucracy under Article 166." Similarly on the issue of the approval of the vice-chancellors of the state-run universities, Education Minister Bratya Basu indirectly referring to the governor as 'Pagla (Crazy) Jagai (A humorous and crazy character of famous Bengali poet Sukumar Roy) wrote: "It is high time to introspect whether we should continue with the colonial legacy of the Governor being the Chancellor of Universities just by the virtue of his post or we should nominate eminent scholars and educationists as Chancellors." The Governor, being the ex-officio Chancellor of the 24 state-run universities, had alleged that the education system in the state is a victim of shocking unionism and said that the appointments of Vice-Chancellors of 24 universities were made without his approval or in defiance of orders.

Reacting to the allegations of several Trinamool Congress leaders, the Governor wrote: "Functionaries @AITCofficial and Ministers @MamataOfficial have publicly used most foul vituperative language defaming & insulting the Governor. Undeterred by these would continue to earnestly work to secure governance as per constitution & law. Present scenario alarmingly worrisome." That the Governor is dancing to the tune of the BJP has become a signature allegation by the Chief Minister and several ministers.

The controversy even spilled over and entered the corridors of the Legislative Assembly.

The arrest of three legislators of West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress, including two ministers, by the Central Bureau of Investigation took a controversial turn after the Speaker of the State Assembly Biman Banerjee termed the probe agency's action based on the Governor's consent "illegal and unethical".

In a rare instance the Speaker even wrote a long letter to President Ram Nath Kovind alleging hindrances created by the governor in the smooth running of the assembly. The letter written both to the President and Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentions several instances when Dhankhar delayed the process of legislation. Sources close to the development said that Banerjee strongly alleged that the Speaker was taking the opportunity to undermine the position of the Speaker among the people and that is creating a wrong precedent in the democratic infrastructure.

These are not isolated instances but in the last two and a half years after Dhankhar took over, the Trinamool Congress has targeted Raj Bhavan on several occasions exposing the gloomy picture of state politics. Though the relation between the governor and the state secretariat has never been cordial, it has never been so murky.

Though the state had Governors like Gopalkrishna Gandhi and Syed Nurul Hasan who held a position of respect not only among the politicians but also among the people as well but there are several instances when the role of the head of the state has been questioned by the elected government.

In 1967, Chief Minister Ajay Mukherjee clashed with Governor Dharamvir. Dharamvir sent a letter to Ajay Mukherjee asking him to prove the majority of the United Front within three days. Ajay Mukherjee replied that whatever happens will happen in the Assembly as per the predetermined time. After receiving the letter, Dharamvir sent a recommendation to the Centre to dismiss the Cabinet. The conflict escalated.

The late CPM leader Pramod Dasgupta, the former state secretary of the CPI(M), called former Governor B.D. Pandey as 'Bangla Daman Pandey', meaning one who wants to crush Bengal. The biggest resistance before Dhankhar came during the tenure of former West Bengal Governor A.P. Sharma. In 1984, Sharma chose the name of Santosh Bhattacharya by not approving the Left-nominated candidate Ramen Poddar for the post of the Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University.

Ramen Poddar was the Left-Front nominated candidate while Bhattacharya was the candidate backed by the Congress-Janata Party. Sharma appointed him on the ground the Bhattacharya received more votes than Poddar but the Leftists were not ready to accept the ruling. As usual Bhattacharya was prevented from entering the university on the first day and he left the post amidst constant obstacles. The Left Front not only boycotted all the programmes of Sharma but also sent a report to the Sarkaria Commission in the eighties. The Left said that there was no need for a rhetorical Governor.

Thus, conflicts between the state governments and the Governor have a long history. But political experts in Bengal believe that the conflict has never been so disgraceful.

According to a very senior political expert: "The role of the Governor is like that of the Queen of Britain. He will listen, he will say less. Moreover, if he wants to say, he has the authority to send a report to the Centre. You can't even comment publicly by tweeting or commenting on social media, because it is the Chief Minister or the Speaker whose constitutional position is being disgraced." On the other hand, political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty had also acknowledged that the level of conflict that existed in the past and now is not the same. He says: "In the past, they fought with courtesy to each other. Now, the disrespect is out of control. I saw the Governor being called a mad dog. You will never find such a pattern in the past. There were conflicts in the past but it was fought within the boundaries of political decorum. But this time the battle has crossed the boundaries."
Khartoum, Jan 2 : Sudan's Security and Defence Council has ordered to speed up investigations into the December 30 mass protests in the capital Khartoum and neighbouring areas which resulted in the deaths of four demonstrators and injuries of hundred others.

The council held an emergency meeting at the Republican Palace in Khartoum on Saturday, chaired by Chairman of the Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, to discuss the security developments in the country, reports Xinhua news agency.

The council, which groups representatives of the sovereign council and leaders of the security and military bodies, expressed regret over the casualties during Thursday's protests, and vowed to hold those who triggered the clashes between protesters and security forces accountable.

Security forces fired tear gases and live ammunition during the protests, and police confirmed later in a statement that four protesters were killed, while 297 others along with 49 policemen were injured in Omdurman locality, the most populated city in Sudan, situated on the western bank of the Nile River, opposite the capital Khartoum.

The country has witnessed mass protests, and at least 52 people were killed in 11 large-scale street protests since October 25, 2021, when the general commander of the Sudanese army Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan declared a state of emergency and dissolved the government, a move which triggered a political crisis in the country.

On November 21, Al-Burhan and then removed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok signed a political declaration, which included reinstating the latter to his post.

But the deal has so far failed to calm the street and protesters asked the military to stay out of politics and demanded civilian rule.
Lucknow, Jan 2 : Buddha's mahaprasad 'Kalanamak' rice, which is nutritious and aromatic, is soon set to make farmers prosperous.

Saryu canal, which has derived its name from the Saryu river in Ayodhya, Lord Ram's birthplace, will provide irrigation facility to nine districts of Poorvanchal -- Bahraich, Shrawasti, Balrampur, Gonda, Siddharthnagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur and Maharajganj -- for which Kalanamak has got Geographic Indication (GI) tag, and help in boosting its production.

Kalanamak has been declared Siddharthnagar's one district one product (ODOP), but GI signifies that paddy cultivated in districts having a similar agricultural climate will have similar taste, aroma and nutritional value.

Kalanamak has GI tag for 11 districts of Purvanchal (Gorakhpur, Devaria, Kushinagar, Maharajganj, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Siddharthnagar, Bahraich, Shrawasti, Balrampur and Gonda).

Of these, Bahraich and Siddharthnagar are NITI Aayog's aspirational districts.

The governments in Uttar Pradesh and at the Centre focused on the most important aspect of agricultural investment - irrigation facility. The government has given proof of its commitment by completing the Saryu canal project after five decades.

Kalanamak's history dates back to 600 BC. Legend has it that it is the 'prasad' of Lord Buddha who had eaten kheer (rice pudding) made of Kalanamak rice and distributed it among his disciples.

In October, prominent people who had come from countries practicing Buddhism for the inauguration of the international airport at Kushinagar were given Tathagat's prasad kalanamak as a gift.

Kalanamak is matchless not only in aroma but it contains more zinc and iron than other varieties of rice.

As Kalanamak's glycemic index is low, it is good for diabetics.

As per the Regional Food Research and Analysis Centre Lucknow, Kalanamak is the only natural rice variety which provides vitamin.

This research was done at the initiative of PRDF, which has been working in the field of conservation and promotion of Kalanamak.

As per a report submitted by the organisation on November 26, 100 grams of Kalanamak contains 0.42 grams of vitamin A (Beta Carotene) and 0.53 grams of carotenoids.

Agriculture expert Girish Pandey said as Kalanamak is a crop of Purvanchal, Yogi Adityanath, even before assuming office as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, was aware of its nutritional value. That is the reason that Adityanath in January, 2018, on the occasion of the Foundation Day of Uttar Pradesh, announced the ambitious scheme of ODOP.

A discussion was held on this in the previous Union budget.

The Centre's intention was to declare ODOP for important departments. It has been done for agriculture and horticulture crops.

That time Kalanamak was declared ODOP for six districts -- Gorakhpur, Siddharthnagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj and Balrampur.

After the inclusion of Kalanamak in ODOP, the government tremendously branded it.

According to internationally acclaimed paddy breeder R.C. Chaudhary, paddy cultivation benefits from late rain, increasing the produce to nearly one quintal per hectare.

Medium, small and micro enterprise (MSME) Additional Chief Secretary Navneet Sehgal said farmers' happiness is the first priority of the double engine government. In view of this, both the governments (Central and Uttar Pradesh) included Kalanamak in ODOP.

The districts for which kalanamak has got GI are covered by the Saryu canal.

With the availability of abundant water in the productive areas, the chances of Kalanamak production will be better, benefitting thousands of farmers.
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Chennai, Jan 2 : Rising child labour is a major issue plaguing Tamil Nadu amid the state chalking out grandiose plans for marching ahead in 2022. Ever since Covid-19 lashed the country, experts on migration studies had warned of the possibility of orphaned children being taken away for jobs either by luring them into traps or being forced out of homes.

A recent study conducted by the Socio-Economic Development Foundation (SEDF), an NGO working on development and migration studies, has found that child labour among vulnerable communities in the state has increased by more than 200% compared to the pre-Covid times.

The study that was conducted in 20 districts of Tamil Nadu and was led by Dr R. Padmanabhan, Director of the SEDF, found that the number of children working to support their families has increased from 200 before Covid to around 620 after the pandemic. The study also revealed that most of the children who took up employment were from the poor strata of society and vulnerable communities like the SC/ST.

More than 30 per cent of the children are working in the manufacturing sector, while 26 per cent are working in the service sector. Agriculture and cottage industries including the match factories and firecracker units of Sivakasi are a major source of employment to these children.

Padmanabhan told IANS: "The study revealed some startling data. Several children who were orphaned after their parents died due to Covid were forced into the labour market, either by force or by luring them. Around 90 per cent of the children who were going to school have dropped out and they have started earning. Another aspect we haven't touched is bonded labour which we have to study separately but the inputs we receive from the industry is that bonded labour is rampant among child labourers and a detailed investigation under risky conditions has to be undertaken for this." Muralidharan, a 14-year-old boy in Erode who is now a labourer in the agriculture plantation of a nearby wealthy landlord, told IANS: "My mother died and my father has left home. I am living with my grandparents who are not in a position to work and I have opted for agriculture labour near my home. I get money and I am happy." While Muralidharan does not understand the need for education rather than opting for an agriculture labour job at a tender age, the system prevalent is creating an environment where children are forced into the labour market.

Sunitha Maheswari who was part of the survey and study of the SEDF while speaking to IANS said: "Most of the children went for labour following the precarious financial situation at home and the loss of jobs of the parents and guardians due to the pandemic. Pushed to starvation what else can one do. It is alarming and the government has to act. Child protection mechanisms have to work in tandem with the health, education and police departments to prevent the rising child labour or else a large number of bright talents will be lost to the society." To reduce such forced child labour,village-level child protection committees have to be activated and teachers should ensure that children who were studying prior to the pandemic have returned to the classes, which unfortunately has not happened in several cases.

Experts have also suggested that the government machinery must be active and vigilant so that child labour is done away with.

R. Mohanaguruswamy, who retired as a child protection officer in the Tamil Nadu government, said that regular studies of the vulnerable communities must be undertaken and the child protection department must work in tandem with the police and conduct surprise checks in factories and cottage industries.

Another sad fact, according to activists, is the lack of support from the Union government to the flagship National Child Labour project in Tamil Nadu where 4314 children rescued from child labour were undergoing special skills training and getting a stipend of Rs 400 per month. Sources in the child protection committee of the state government said that since the past two years, there has been no financial support from the Centre to this project leading to an uncertain future for the children who were undergoing skill development training.

There are 225 centres in 15 districts of Tamil Nadu and children who are rescued as child labourers undergo two years' training at these centres before they are enrolled in nearby government schools. The Central government is supposed to pay them a monthly stipend of Rs 400 during this period while the state provides them uniforms, books, footwear and midday meals.

A teacher working in such a project told IANS on condition of anonymity that "we are given Rs 7,000 as honorarium by the government but since the last several months we have not been getting any money and there is no other option but to quit. Another fact is that we are not able to convince the parents of the children why they are not getting the monthly stipend".

Nataraj S.C, Director, Service Unit for Development Activities in Rural, an NGO that runs six units in Erode district, told IANS that "the rescued children will not be able to manage in the mainstream schools and they will leave classes and end up as labourers again. The project which was started after conducting proper studies now does not have even the basic support system. Child labour cannot be eradicated by just taking pledges, we have to work for it".

Tamil Nadu Labour Department officials when contacted said that they have already written to the Government of India regarding funds disbursal and student stipends.

A senior officer on condition of anonymity said: "Government procedures as you know are cumbersome, we have written several letters and the reply is that they are taking action but nothing has happened as of now. We have got support from several NGOs who are running many centres but beyond a point, without funding support, it will not work and throw these children into the labour market again where people are waiting to swoop on them."

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Seoul, Jan 2 : South Korea's military announced on Sunday that an unidentified person crossed the eastern inter-Korean land border into North Korea the previous night despite its efforts to stop the move.

The person was spotted moving into the North across the Military Demarcation Line at around 10.40 p.m. on Saturday, some 80 minutes after being detected by surveillance equipment installed on the heavily fortified border, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

The JCS is yet to identify the person, with an investigation underway, Yonhap News Agency reported citing officials as saying.

After first detecting the person in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas at around 9.20 p.m., the military authorities sent troops to the scene to capture the person but failed, according to the JCS.

"Due to various geographical conditions, including the mountain terrain, we failed (to capture the person)," a JCS official told reporters.

In a fact-finding process later, the authorities used monitoring equipment to find the person breaking through the barbed-wire fence to enter the DMZ at around 6:40 p.m. -- an indication they remained unaware of the border breach for nearly three hours.

"In our initial response, we think some part of our efforts were insufficient, something we think should have been done more actively," the official said, noting the military is looking to see what needs to be improved in its border defence.

It remains unknown whether the person in question is a South Korean citizen or a North Korean defector. The military is said to be putting more weight on the person being a civilian rather than a uniformed personnel.

On Sunday morning, the South Korean authorities sent a message to the North over the incident through a western military communication line, the official said.

The fate of the person was not immediately confirmed amid reports the North has a "shoot-to-kill" policy in place as part of tougher border control measures against Covid-19.

After the border crossing, no unusual North Korean military movements have been detected, the JCS said.

In September 2020, a South Korean fisheries official was apparently shot dead by the North's border guard after disappearing from a patrol ship near the Yellow Sea border.

In February last year, a North Korean man swam ashore into the South undetected, leading Defence Minister Suh Wook to offer a public apology.

In November 2020, another North Korean civilian crossed the inter-Korean border undeterred.
Bengaluru, Jan 2 : The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka has again stirred the hornets nest in the state by declaring that it will set more than 35,500 temples that come under the Muzarai department free from the government regulations.

The opposition Congress has said that it will not allow the BJP to enact any such law. State Congress President D.K. Shivakumar stated that a decision will be taken on this matter on January 4, after holding a meeting of its senior leaders.

The BJP's announcement came during the recent state Executive Committee meeting in Hubballi right after the Muzarai department took the decision of getting the temples audited.

Successive Congress governments and the so-called secular leaders have not dared to touch upon the subject of bringing transparency in temple managements and holding powerful temple authorities responsible for accounts. Even the Siddaramaiah government branded as anti-Hindu by the did not address the issue. The recent decision of freeing temples from government control by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has surprised many.

The declaration has kicked-off a debate in the state. Congress' Shivakumar has charged that the decision on temples will be a historical blunder. He said that the decision is a conspiracy to hand over the temples to the RSS and BJP leaders.

Chakravarthy Sulibele, the founder of Yuva Brigade, told IANS, that the BJP has taken a good and wise decision to hand over the temples' management to the Hindu community. The concept of 'taking control' originated during the time of the Mughals and the Britishers. The Britishers, being an occupying force, even brought legislation such as the 'Endowment Acts' to take control of Hindu temples, he said.

"When the government is managing the affairs, there is room for suspicion. Temple administrators take decisions at their convenience rather than the devotees' convenience. Wherever there is less money in the collection boxes before temples, they neglect them totally," he opined.

"The administrators will break all traditions when there is a VIP or minister's visit to the temple. In the temples where there is private management, such things are not encouraged. Here, they go against all the traditions to please ministers and block devotees. The total administration should go to community members," he maintained.

However, Shivakumar questioned how can the temples that come under the Muzarai department be given to local people for administration. It is the wealth of the government. The money is collected in crores by these temples.

Actress and Tamil Nadu BJP leader Khushboo Sundar has praised the Karnataka BJP government for taking a stand to free the temples from the control of the government authorities. "It is an extremely important decision as every other religious institution is free, except temples," she said.

Chief Minister Bommai stated that Hindu temples have suffered a lot under the control of state authorities and bureaucrats. Several rules and bylaws are detrimental to the development of temples. The new bill will be brought before the cabinet before the budget session.

The temple authorities will be under the regulation of the government but they will be able to utilize their funds for the development of temples without having to wait for the nod of the government, he maintained.

After the attacks by Shivakumar, Bommai has stated that "we are not handing over the temples to anyone. The temples are being freed from the regulations of the government. Shivakumar's opinion is against the Hindu temples and Hindu devotees," he underlined.

Siddalnga Prabhu, member of the Rajya Dharmika Parishat, told IANS that it is a good decision. But, the disadvantages are more if one considers the pros and cons of the decision. Presently, Deputy Commissioners and administrators will discuss the issues and there is accountability from the temples.

"The temples have properties and we have seen disputes and attempts to take away the land belonging to temples. Giving independence to 'A' and 'B' grade temples is okay as they have a good source of income. But, what about 'C' grade temples," he stated.

Sources in the Muzarai department told IANS that the matter is yet to be discussed with the ministry. The fears expressed are about the temple money being taken by the government for other purposes. However, the income of temples will be deposited in the bank accounts of the temples and it will be utilized for their development.

The Muzarai department will take 10 per cent of the income and utilize it for the repair and renovation of 'C' grade temples. Since this is the case, what is the scope for freeing the temples, a senior official in the Muzarai department questioned.

Whenever a structure is registered as a mosque and prayer hall, it comes under the Karnataka State Wakf Board which is a government body. There is a misconception and the government has to give more clarity on the issue, the official stated. The efforts by the Muzarai department to streamline the system at the famous Kukke Subramanya temple in Dakshina Kannada district is well appreciated by the devotees, he claimed.

There are 1.80 lakh temples in Karnataka among which 35,500 temples come under the Muzarai department. As per the records of the Muzarai department, there are 207 'A' grade temples that get an annual income of more than Rs 25 lakh. Likewise, there are 139 'B' grade temples that have an income between Rs 5 lakh to Rs 24.99 lakh. These 'A' and 'B' grade temples are required to submit accounts mandatorily as per the law every year.

Only four temples in the state i.e. Chamundeshwari temple of Mysuru, Yediyur Siddalingeshwara temple, Ghati Subramanya temple and Banashankari temple of Bengaluru are submitting audit reports every year. Barring these temples, cash-rich temples and the managements of those temples having huge incomes through commercial activities and commercial complexes have not bothered to submit accounts.

At a time when temple accountability is being sought and powerful temple managements are warned of legal action, the announcement by CM Bommai has raised many questions. With the opposition Congress declaration that it won't let it happen, after the Anti-conversion Bill, the ban on cow slaughter the stage is all set for a 'temple dangal' in the state in the coming days.
Chennai, Jan 2 : Actor Vishal's much-awaited action entertainer that is to be directed by director Adhik Ravichandran has been titled 'Mark Antony'.

Taking to social media, Vishal said, 'Here is the Explosive Title Look of #V33. #MarkAntony." The film, Vishal disclosed, would be a pan-Indian action film that would be released in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam.

The actor also said that shooting for the film would commence in February this year.

Only a few hours before announcing the title of the film, the makers had disclosed that actor S.J. Suryah would be playing a pivotal role in the film.

Suryah himself was super excited about this film, and had gone on to call it a second 'Maanaadu'. The actor had also confessed that he had been amazed by director Adhik Ravi's narration.

"What a narration! Sureshot Thumbs up! We can call this 'Maanaadu 2'. The screenplay is that good. This too will go beyond borders," he wrote.
New Delhi, Jan 2 : General Ved Prakash Malik's endorsement of Shiv Kunal Verma's epic book, "1965: A Western Sunrise" is a show stopper in its own right. It's a classic case where some of the points being made by the former army chief, who was at the helm of affairs in 1999 when Pakistan's Northern Light Infantry, under the guise of the Mujahideen, ingressed into the Drass and Kargil Sectors, are perhaps as interesting as Verma's book itself.

Since Independence, for 75 years a lot of water has flown down the Indus and the Brahmaputra rivers. With India's northern boundary defined by the geographical entity of the Himalayas and the western frontier by the whimsical machinations of the British (the Radcliff Line), the public at large never really knew what happened in the bloody conflict with Pakistan in 1947-48, then with China in 1962, and then again with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971. The complete lack of any worthwhile objective writing on these conflicts reflected the void that existed in India's thinking when it came to understanding geo-politics and matters military.

As General Malik points out, Shiv Kunal is the son of Major General Ashok Kalyan Verma. Having been born and bred in the cauldron of the armed forces, Shiv Kunal's emergence as the country's premier military history 'sutradhar' is not surprising as "he not only has excellent sources but also the ability to separate the chaff from the wheat when it comes to looking into the fog of war and getting to what may have happened".

Shiv Kumar's previous book, "1962: The War that Wasn't", published in 2016, not only chronicled a terrible defeat, did not shy away from looking at both the civilian and military leadership, and calling a spade a spade. As Gen. Malik writes: "Shiv Kunal Verma's ruthless holding of a mirror to the leadership, which some might say is a bit opinionated, his immense research, his very detailed descriptions of each action with the background of the higher political and military leadership juxtaposed" makes his writing very interesting and his books very readable.

Every year, the Indian Army's Shimla-based Training Command, better known as ARTRAC, after researching the entire material available, suggest books that are 'prescribed' and 'recommended' for entrance examinations for various courses. In its latest circular to all commands dated October 20, 2021 (incidentally the 59th anniversary of the PLA's attack on 2 Rajput positions on the Nam ka Chu), "1962: The War that Wasn't" has been prescribed for the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) and Defence Services Staff Course (DSTSC) for 2023-2030. Interestingly, Gen. Malik's "Kargil: From Surprise to Victory" also makes the cut, with "Blood on the Snow", written by Maj. Gen. Ashok Kalyan Verma, coming under the 'recommended' category.

Air Marshal Denzil Keelor who also has high praise for Shiv Kunal's two books, says: "The only reason why '1965: A Western Sunrise' is not on the list is that hadn't been released (at the time the list for 2023-30 list was drawn up). By far the most lucid and detailed account of the war, the book knits the political, the military and the personal aspects in a manner that the quagmire of events become crystal clear. These two books set the bar in military writing." So, are the Armed Forces today more open to hard hitting, objective writing than before?

Probably yes, for earlier any criticism was met with either stony silence or resulted in counter-charges, the Army and the Air Force perhaps being the most sensitive of the lot. It is the complete lack of coordination and planning (in 1965) between Gen. J.N. Chaudhuri and Air Marshal Arjan Singh (the Army and Air Force chiefs at the time) that repeatedly riles Verma in his book. Gen. Malik echoes the sentiment.

"Shiv Kunal, in his narration, is highly critical of the military leadership for poor planning and operational conduct during the war, with most of the blame going to Choudhuri, considered 'an impetuous and unthinking Army Chief'. The disdain Chaudhuri had for the other two services was clear in his handling of affairs. Air Marshal P. C. Lal, who was the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) six years later, said that Chaudhuri treated the whole business of fighting Pakistan or China as 'his personal affair, or at any rate that of the army's alone, with the air force a passive spectator and the navy out of it altogether'," Gen. Malik says.

Can this acceptance of objective criticism spread to other forms of writing that focus on the defence establishments, or will some areas always remain closed to public perception? There are multiple contentious issues, especially when it comes to internal security matters, where the defence forces instinctively pull back when something negative is perceived to tar their image, especially when it is related to AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act). Even if contemporary events require to be handled away from the glare of public scrutiny, other events that are now a part of history perhaps also need to be objectively revisited.

Krishna Kumar Candeth, whose uncle was an Army Commander in 1971, says in response to Gen. Malik's observations: "The book (on 1965) would've more than served its purpose if it leads slowly (beginning with these articles and reviews) to a re-examination of the 1965 war - the egregious mistakes that were made and which are quite likely to be repeated if that re-examination does not take place." "Our military history," says Darshan Singh, the Chairman of Welham Boys' School in Dehradun who with Shiv Kunal's help has initiated introducing the subject at the school level, "has to be an integral part of our education system. Most importantly, it has to be shorn of jingoism and the students, be they be in schools or universities, need to be familiarized with the challenges we have been faced with as a nation. We cannot move forward unless we can look back and draw the lessons from our past, for almost everything has the nasty habit of coming back at us." The question is, having set the bar, will Shiv Kunal's two books now inspire a new generation of writers - and a military hierarchy that will encourage its own junior officers to study our own past in this manner?

"I think we need to go beyond that and look at reaching out to various segments of society," says Pankaj P. Singh of Chandigarh's The Browser Library and Bookstore, who is venturing into publishing military history books under its BlueOne Ink imprint. "For a start, we are looking at translating both the 1962 and 1965 books into Hindi, so JCOs and men can also be brought into this loop. Language versions will hopefully be our next step. We are certainly looking at also expanding the coverage to other major events that have impacted the country's post-Independence history," he adds.

In the recent past, even the events relating to Doklam and Eastern Ladakh are shrouded in mystery. More than information, misinformation seems to be the order of the day.

The Kargil War, now 22 years old, remains the last major conflict and some questions, continue to remain unanswered. Past governments, and in some cases even the Army leadership, have coloured events the way they wanted to project them. Other writers, usually themselves having been key protagonists, have either written self-exonerating versions or built up narratives whose veracity can be questioned.

There are umpteen cliches about history repeating itself and not learning from history. Lessons can only be drawn if we are willing to face the reality of what happened - and we must remember that in the rear-view mirror of time, objects are a lot closer than we think.

(Vishnu Makhijani can be reached at vishnu.makhijani@ians.in)
Dhaka, Jan 2 : Plastic bags containing raw beef were hung on the doors of three Hindu temples and a house in Gendukuri village in Bangladesh's Hatibandha Upazila.

Dilip Kumar Singh, president of the Hatibandha Upazila Puja Udjapan Parishad told IANS that the bags were found on Friday night on the doors of the Gendukuri Camp Para Sri Sri Radha Govinda Mandir, Gendukuri Kuthipara Kali Mandir, Gendukuri Battala Kali Mandir and in the house of a Monindranath Barman.

He said that four complaints have been filed with Hatibandha Police Station.

Hatibandha Police Station Officer-in-Charge Ershadul Alam told IANS that they are investigating the incident.

"All involved will be brought to book," he said on Saturday.

Local Hindus gathered at Sri Sri Radha Govinda temple in the village to protest the incident. They said their religious sentiments were hurt and that they would continue the protest until the culprits were arrested.

The locals informed the matter to the police. After visiting the spot, Singh said: "Police have assured us that the culprits will be arrested." He said they suspect the incident could be linked to the local union Parishad polls held on December 26.
New Delhi, Jan 2 : In an attempt to reach out to youth ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, the BJP has planned a series of events to connect with young voters. BJYM, the party's youth wing, will explain to young voters about the work done by the Narendra Modi government in the last seven years.

BJYM's Uttar Pradesh unit is organising youth conferences in all the districts to highlight the youth centric policies and schemes of the Modi and the Yogi Adityanath governments.

"The Uttar Pradesh BJYM is organising 'Yuva Sammelan' across the state. In the programme, the 'Yuva Morcha' is talking about numerous government schemes that have successfully benefitted millions of people and are also supportive and encouraging for the youth. Some of the policies are Skill India, Startup India and Mudra loan among others," a BJYM leader said.

On January 12, to mark the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanand, the saffron party is organising a youth conference in Varanasi. To make it a grand success, the BJYM has set up various committees at the Centre, state and district levels across the country. The BJYM is expecting one lakh youth to attend the programme.

"Youth from all the 403 assembly constituencies of Uttar Pradesh will reach Kashi to attend the youth conference. Youths from other parts of the country will also participate in the programme," the BJYM leader said.

The series of events started from December 13 - with inauguration of Kashi Vishwanath Dham Corridor - will come to an end with the youth conference on January 12. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had dedicated the redeveloped Kashi Vishwanath temple to the nation on December 13.

Elections for 403 member Uttar Pradesh Assembly will be held in February-March this year along with Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa.
Jerusalem, Jan 2 : Israel has reportedly documented the first case of "Florona" -- a simultaneous infection with the Covid-19 and influenza.

According to the news website Ynetnews, the double infection was first identified in a woman who went into labour at Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva.

As per the hospital, the young mother is not vaccinated against either pathogen.

The report said that Health Ministry is still examining the case, which was relatively mild, and is yet to determine whether a combination of the two viruses causes more severe illness.

Health officials estimate many other patients have also come down with both bugs but have not been diagnosed.

"Last year, we did not witness flu cases among pregnant or birthing women," Arnon Vizhnitser, an obstetrics and gynecology specialist and the director of the hospitals' Gynecology Department was quoted as saying.

"Today, we are seeing cases of both coronavirus and the flu that are starting to rear their head. We are seeing more and more pregnant women with the flu," Vizhnitser added.

According to Vizhnitser, it is a great challenge dealing with a woman who comes in with a fever at childbirth and you do not know if it's coronavirus or the flu, so you refer to them the same. Most of the illness is respiratory.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, Jan 2 : At least 44 naxals, including nine women, have surrendered before the Chhattisgarh Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Sukma, officials said here on Sunday.

According to the officials, the 44 are from the lower rung of the cadre except one Medkam Dula, who was an active member of platoon number 4 and was carrying a reward of Rs 2 lakh.

All the 44 naxals, who surrendered on Saturday, were active in Kistaram, Bheji and Chintanlar areas and they said that they were disappointed with the hollow Maoist ideology, the CRPF officials said.

They added that the rebels were influenced with the state government's naxal rehabilitation programme, called 'Puna Narkom' which means new dawn.

The CRPF officials said that central forces deployed in the state have initiated many welfare schemes for the local population like building of schools and health centers.

In October 2021, 43 hardcore naxals, including nine women, surrendered before the security forces in Sukma. These militants were active in the insurgency hotbeds of Chintagufa and Tongpal and were members of the Maoist's frontal organizations like Chetna Nyay Manch and one of them was also carrying a reward of Rs 1 lakh.

The CRPF officials further claimed that the naxals were appearing to be disillusioned with the leadership and ideology and that they wanted to return to the mainstream.

At least 335 militants have surrendered so far under the new scheme.
Hanoi, Jan 2 : Authorities in Vietnam have tightened health regulations after five more Omicron cases were detected in Ho Chi Minh City, bringing the total infections of the type to 20, local media reported.

All these people were immediately quarantined upon arrival on December 20-25, 2021, Xinhua news agency quoted the local media as saying citing the Ho Chi Minh City Centre for Disease Control.

Their samples were sent for gene sequencing and the result confirmed that the specimens were positive for the Omicron variant.

They are now in stable health conditions and their tests results turned negative after 5-7 days, according to the report.

All 305 passengers travelling on flights with these Omicron variant cases have been quarantined in line with regulations of health authorities and have tested negative for the virus.

The municipal administration is implementing Omicron response measures including closely monitoring arrivals from overseas, taking them to quarantine sites as regulated, and conducting genetic sequencing tests and contact tracing for positive cases.

Since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, Vietnam has reported 1,746,092 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 32,610 deaths.
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Washington, Jan 2 : COVAX, the international vaccine sharing scheme, delivered a record of more than 309 million Covid-19 doses in December, the media reported.

According to provisional tracking by Unicef, about 910 million doses were delivered through the UN-backed initiative as of December 30, The Washington Post reported.

However, the tally is still far short of the 2 billion-plus doses that Covax had initially aimed for.

"We're frankly getting toward a world where supply is not going to be as great a challenge as simply delivering the vaccine and getting it into people's arms," Lawrence Gostin, Director of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, was quoted as saying.

According to Olly Cann, director of communications at non-profit Gavi, a key factor for the accelerated pace is an increased level of advance notice from donors about when doses would be available.

This allowed recipient countries to better prepare to distribute and administer them, as many donated doses have short shelf lives.

"We don't want to be delivering to countries that aren't able to accept doses," Cann was quoted as saying.

Gavi is one of the three principal backers of the programme, along with the World Health Organization and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

More than 70 countries received doses through Covax in December, ranging in scale from Bangladesh, which received over 76 million doses, to Barbados, which received 14,040, the Post reported.

Other large recipients included Indonesia, the Philippines and Pakistan, each of which received at least 25 million doses in December.

Nearly half of the doses delivered in December came from three US-backed vaccine manufacturers: Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer.

Covax was officially formed in April 2020 to ensure that low-and lower-middle-income countries had access to doses. The initiative called on rich countries to pool their resources to build a portfolio of doses that would be shared equitably.

But the initiative struggled to raise funding in 2020 and fell behind national governments in placing orders for doses with vaccine manufacturers.

During a news conference last week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus voiced some optimism about vaccine supply in 2022, but added that the boosters being widely administered in many wealthy nations could skew global inequity further.
Hyderabad, Jan 2 : If the year that ended is any indication, Covid lockdowns and restrictions not withstanding, the Telugu film industry is here to stay.

Imagine, no less than 182 Telugu movies had either theatrical or OTT releases in 2021! This despite a Covid pandemic that is yet to be understood or tamed effectively.

And with a string of big-ticket flicks in various stages of completion, and due for release in 2022, Tollywood certainly seems on course for further consolidation. 2022 is set to see several releases and quite a few of the established stars back on the silver screen after a short hiatus.

Megastar Chiranjeevi's 'Acharya' is among the most awaited Telugu movies this year. Coming after his last release 'Saira Narasimha Reddy' in 2019, there's a lot of buzz around 'Acharya' which also has Chiranjeevi's son Ram Charan giving him company on screen. In 2022, the megastar will also be busy with two more productions in the form of 'Godfather' and 'Bhola Shankar'.

This year will also see a slew of cinematic offerings from the Chiranjeevi clan. This includes Pawan Kalyan's 'Bheemla Nayak' which appears to be a stylised remake of Malayalam hit 'Ayyappanum Koshiyum'. The movie also stars Rana of 'Baahubali' fame. And then, there are Chiranjeevi nephew Varun Tej's 'Ghani' and 'F3' waiting in the wings, for release this year.

Not to forget, the sequel to 'Pushpa: The Rise' will go on the floors from March. The hit movie released in December stars Chiranjeevi's nephew Allu Arjun.

Actor Nagarjuna, with 'Bangarraju' and Mahesh Babu's 'Sarkaaru Vaari Paata' are among the other major releases expected in 2022.

2022 will also see 'Baahubali' fame Prabhas' return to the theatres with 'Radhe Shyam'. The movie is also set for simultaneous release in multilingual versions. And then, the original Telugu version of 'Kabir Singh', actor Vijay Devarakonda is expected to set the silver screen on fire with his mixed martial arts movie 'Liger'. This movie is also being released in several languages.

What has come as good news for the film industry is the eagerness with which movies were lapped up by audiences in 2021. Despite doomsday predictions and restrictions on theatre screenings, Telugu movie releases in the past year have bolstered industry confidence.

'Pushpa' director Sukumar says, "It's heartening to see people returning to theatres. Movie watching is a communal experience. If not, movie theatres should have disappeared in a country like the US. But see people queuing up to see 'Spiderman' in theatres!" In what seems to be a new trend, Tollywood has started actively looking beyond its traditional areas of influence. Although south Indian movies have made a favourable impact on Hindi-speaking audiences down the decades, they were never able to convert into box-office magic. In a way, it was S.S. Rajamouli's 'Baahubali' series that set the stage for presenting Telugu movies to a pan-Indian audience.

Tasting blood, Rajamouli went in with all guns blazing to create his next big screen project 'RRR'. Apart from lead billboarding with Jr NTR and Ram Charan, Rajamouli roped in Ajay Devgan and Alia Bhatt for the movie. The movie has created a buzz across the country.

Capitalising upon the new-born fascination among audiences for Telugu films and stars, Tollywood producers are also looking at these markets with new eyes. They are no longer content with settling down for revenues generated by selling their movies' dubbing rights. The focus is now on straight releases in a whole set of languages.

The stupendous success of Allu Arjun-starrer 'Pushpa: The Rise' released in five languages - Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, and Hindi - has underscored the potential for Tollywood releases in non-Telugu markets.

Meanwhile, 'RRR' was set to release on January 7, but with Covid rearing its ugly head once again in the form of the Omicron variant, the makers of 'RRR' have decided to put off the release for now.

But in a sign of the good times ahead, names like Ram Charan, Jr NTR, Allu Arjun, and Vijay Devarakonda, are no longer unknown beyond the borders of the two Telugu states. In fact, Bollywood seems eager to rub shoulders with their filmy cousins from south of the Vindhyas.

In the face of adversity, the Tollywood industry certainly seems to have hit upon the key to revive itself and build up its fortunes.
London, Jan 2 : The UK National Health Service can avoid becoming overwhelmed only if the Omicron variant turns out to be five to 10 times milder than Delta, according to new modelling.

But if Omicron turns out to be just half as severe as Delta, UK hospitalisations could exceed those seen at the peak of the second wave, suggested the study by the University of Warwick.

"Under these assumptions of no additional control (beyond Plan B), and even assuming omicron is just 10 per cent the severity of delta it is still highly likely that hospital admissions will peak above 1,500 per day," the authors were quoted as saying by the Telegraph.

"If we assume that Omicron is as severe as Delta then admissions will be an order of magnitude larger, peaking at around 27,000 admissions." Data from recent Scotland study suggested Omicron is associated with a two-thirds reduction in risk of hospitalisation when compared with Delta.

A separate study by Imperial College London looking also suggested people with PCR-confirmed Omicron infection were 15 to 20 per cent less likely to require hospitalisation.

But, the Warwick authors noted that assuming the Omicron is 100 per cent as severe as Delta represents a "reasonable worst case", the researchers said.

They also cautioned that if the time it takes Omicron to become symptomatic is shorter than with Delta, as it is now strongly suspected, would radically alter their results for the better.

"If the generation time of Omicron was half that of Delta, once the model is recalibrated... this would approximately halve the predicted peak outbreak sizes", they said.

During the second wave of coronavirus, the number peaked at 34,336 on January 18.

As of Sunday, the UK has registered a total of 13,174,528 Covid-19 cases and 149,251 deaths.
Mumbai, Jan 2 : Bollywood star Ranveer Singh rung in the New Year with a vacation away from the hullabaloo of urban life.

The actor took to his Instagram and uploaded several pictures from his beach holiday, one which shows the actor raising a toast to the coming year.

He wrote in the caption, "First day of the rest of my life". The actor even credited his wife Deepika Padukone for some of the clicks in the set of pictures.

The pictures shared by Ranveer from the Maldives show him basking in the sun and sands.

The actor had a recent release in the form of '83' where he played Kapil Dev along with an ensemble cast.

The coming year will see Ranveer headlining two films 'Jayeshbhai Jordaar' and 'Cirkus' where he will yet again collaborate with his 'Simmba' director Rohit Shetty.
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 2 : Union Minister of state for external affairs and senior BJP leader, V. Muraleedharan said that Kerala opposition leader, V.D. Satheeshan has become the advocate of the Chief Minister and he has taken upon himself the task to save the left front government from embarrassing situations.

He said that Satheesan has turned into a mouthpiece of the Chief Minister and said that the opposition leader was acting without any sense.

Muraleedharan was speaking to reporters here on Sunday. He said that the Kerala Governor has all the right to recommend to the Kerala University to confer a DLitt to the President of India.

The Union Minister asked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan whether the Kerala Government and Kerala University had denied DLitt to the President due to the fact that he was a Dalit. He also said that the Kerala government had insulted the President of the country.
Patna, Jan 2 : In a bid to combat corona's new Omicron variant, the Bihar government on Sunday began genome sequencing in the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) in Patna.

Till now, the hospitals of Bihar were sending samples of Covid-19 patients to the NCDC lab in Delhi to check for the virus strain.

Reports pertaining to infected persons will be available in 7 days. An official of IGIMS said that the lab had the equipment and space for genome sequencing earlier but it is lacking a reagent which is required to conduct the test.

"Now, we have adequately arranged reagents as well as medical equipment to conduct tests. We will conduct 25 tests in one day," he said.

The state Health Department made arrangements for an Omicron testing facility after a 26-year-old was detected with the variant in Patna. In wake of this, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, chairing a high-level meeting, directed genome sequencing tests be started in the IGIMS.

The officer said that the medical staff were already undergoing genome sequencing training in Delhi, and have taken over the charge in IGIMS.

The Omicron or Delta variant of virus can be detected only through genome sequencing.

In Bihar, only one case of Omicron appeared so far, while the number of active cases stands at 749.
New Delhi, Jan 2 : To meet Indian Navy's acquisition plans for carrier deck-based fighters, naval fighter jets will carry out flight-testing at the shore-based test facility (SBTF) at Naval Air Station INS Hansa in Goa.

During the tests beginning next week, these naval fighter jets would mandatorily operate from aircraft carriers.

Manufacturers of naval fighter aircraft like Rafale, F-18 and others making their efforts to meet the Indian Navy's requirement of fighter jets for operations from onboard the two carriers.

"Suitable fighters capable of operations onboard the carrier would first need to be assessed. Trials with the SBTF at Goa is part of the same process," said a source.

Amid this trials, Indian Navy continues to give due impetus to 'Make In India' and encourage indigenisation, for which the twin-engine deck-based fighter is being developed by the DRDO.

Indian Navy had enabled the LCA Navy version's trials at the SBTF followed by the successful trials onboard its aircraft carrier Vikramaditya.

LCA Navy is a prototype, the TEDBF is expected to be ready for trials by 2026, followed by production by 2031, which would then lead of the standard induction.

However, at present to meet the immediate operational requirements for the two carriers, there is a necessity to induct fighters at the earliest.

The trials at the Goa naval station are part of this process.

Lasy year, the US had offered its F-18 naval fighter jets for the Indian Navy's requirements of combat jets for its aircraft carriers.

Similarly, French Defence Minister Florence Parly offered Rafale naval fighter jets to India, if it requires.

"We know that the aircraft carrier will soon be (there)... that aircraft are needed. We are open and ready to provide any other Rafale if this is India's decision," she said during her visit to India on December 17, 2021.

India's first home-made aircraft carrier Vikrant is scheduled to be inducted into the Indian Navy by August this year.
Lucknow, Jan 2 : Bundelkhand's 'Jal Sahelis' (friends of water) -- a group of women working for water conservation and revival of ponds in the Bundelkhand region -- have asked all political parties to include water conservation, revival of water bodies, demarcation of water structures, allotment of land and houses to the landless besides proper implementation of MGNREGA scheme, in their manifestos for the upcoming UP assembly polls.

The Jal Sahelis have already handed over their 'water manifesto' to heads of all political parties.

Shivani Singh, state coordinator of 'Jal Jan Jodo Abhiyan', told IANS, "The geographical location of Bundelkhand region is different in Uttar Pradesh. Spread in the hilly terrain, the region is drought-prone. A few years back, the area was in the grip of drought for a decade and people had to migrate in search of livelihood and water. The 1.3 crore people residing in the region depend on agriculture for livelihood. Around 40 to 50 per cent of the population has to migrate to cities and other states in search of jobs." She further said that 'Jal Sahelis' want to draw the attention of political parties towards the issues and problems faced by the people residing in the seven districts of Bundelkhand region -- Jhansi, Lalitpur, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Banda and Chitrakoot.

"The political parties should address the issue and include the demands of the people in their election manifesto for the 2022 UP assembly elections," she said.

Sanjay Singh, national convener, "Jal Jan Jodo Abhiyan", said, "Along with water conservation, the issues of unemployment, environment, tourism, art and culture have been included in the public manifesto. The people of Bundelkhand region have demanded formation of a Pond Conservation Authority to deal with water crisis and protection of water bodies. Each person should get 55 litre pure drinking water per month. Also, participation of the voluntary organisations in MGNREGA should be encouraged. The state government should appoint a retired judge for hearing the cases associated with the MGNREGA and women should also get farming and land ownership rights." The Jal Sahelis said that before elections, political parties make promises to the people of Bundelkhand region to redress their grievances but after polls, they forget about the issues.
Chandigarh, Jan 2 : An Indian Army helicopter made a "precautionary" landing in a field in Haryana's Jind district on Sunday and all the three persons on board are safe, police said.

The helicopter, flying from Punjab's Bathinda to Delhi, made an emergency landing in Jajanwala village near Narwana town.

Villagers soon gathered at the spot to see the helicopter.
New Delhi, Jan 2 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Manipur and Tripura on January 4 during which he will inaugurate and lay foundation stones of several developmental projects.

In a statement on Sunday, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said, "Prime Minister will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of 22 developmental projects worth over Rs 4,800 crore in Imphal. Thereafter in Agartala, the Prime Minister will inaugurate the new integrated terminal building at Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport and will also launch two key development initiatives." In the poll-bound Manipur, Modi will inaugurate 13 projects worth around Rs 1,850 crore and lay the foundation stone of nine projects worth around Rs 2,950 crore. These projects relate to diverse sectors such as road infrastructure, drinking water supply, health, urban development, housing, information technology, skill development, art and culture, among others.

"In line with the countrywide projects to improve connectivity, the Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of construction of five National Highway Projects to be built at a cost of more than Rs 1,700 crore. The construction of these highways with a cumulative length of more than 110 km, will be a major step to improve the road connectivity of the region," the statement added.

Another important infrastructure that will enhance seamless year-round connectivity to Silchar from Imphal and reduce traffic congestion, is the construction of Steel Bridge built over Barak River on NH-37 built at a cost of over Rs 75 crore. This Steel Bridge will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister during the programme.

The Prime Minister will also dedicate, to the people of Manipur, 2,387 mobile towers built at a cost of around Rs 1,100 crore. This will be a major step in further boosting the mobile connectivity of the state," the PMO said.

Modi will inaugurate drinking water supply projects in the state.

"In an effort to strengthen the health sector in the state, the Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of 'State of the Art Cancer Hospital' in Imphal worth around Rs 160 crore on PPP basis. Further, to boost the Covid related infrastructure in the State, the Prime Minister will inaugurate '200 Bedded Covid Hospital at Kiyamgei' which has been set up at a cost of about Rs 37 crore in collaboration with DRDO," the PMO said.

A step towards realisation of the Prime Minister's relentless efforts for the rejuvenation and transformation of Indian cities, will be the completion of multiple projects under the 'Imphal Smart City Mission' The Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone for construction of Manipur Institute of Performing Arts at Gurgaon, Haryana.

During his visit to Tripura, Modi will inaugurate the New Integrated Terminal Building of Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) Airport and launch key initiatives: Mukhyamantri Tripura Gram Samriddhi Yojana and Project Mission 100 of Vidyajyoti Schools.

New Integrated Terminal Building of Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport, built at a cost of about Rs 450 crore, is a state of art building spread over 30,000 square metres having modern facilities and supported by the latest IT network integrated system. Project Mission 100 of Vidyajyoti Schools is aimed to improve the quality of education in the state by converting 100 existing High/Higher secondary schools to Vidyajyoti Schools with state of art facilities and quality education.

Mukhyamantri Tripura Gram Samriddhi Yojana aims to achieve the benchmark standards for service delivery in core development sectors at the village level.
Rotary and Ham Radio, a winning combination that goes back years

1921 saw many demonstrations of broadcasting.

Perhaps the best documented of these took place on Nov. 15, 1921 in Pine Bluff, Ark., where the president of the Arkansas Power and Light Company, Harvey Couch, had arranged for a broadcast of live and recorded music from Couch's home to a meeting of the city's Rotary Club. (AP&L was a Westinghouse customer, with Couch touring the KDKA operation during a buying trip to Pittsburgh and becoming a convert.)

Couch, the Rotarians, and others were so impressed with this latest miracle of science that shortly after the pre-Thanksgiving demo, Couch applied for a license for Arkansass first broadcast station.

WIA
Chandigarh, Jan 2 : Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday said Gurugram, Faridabad, Panchkula, Sonipat, and Ambala districts have been seeing spike in Covid-19 cases.

"These districts have been kept in Group A as the risk of spread is high in such districts," he said while reviewing the pandemic situation.

The Chief Minister asked the Deputy Commissioners to review the Covid cases on a daily basis.

He said the bus stands, mini secretariats, malls, gyms, and other public places should be kept under surveillance and entry of people without vaccination certificates should be strictly restricted.

Also the night movement should be strictly observed. There is a provision to impose a fine of Rs 500 on individuals and Rs 5,000 on institutions for violating the Covid-19 guidelines.

About 3 lakh vaccination doses are being administered every day and so far about 3.45 crore people have been vaccinated, an official statement said.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Paris, Jan 2 : Seven-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi and three other Paris St Germain (PSG) players have tested positive for COVID-19, the French Ligue 1 club confirmed on Sunday.

In a statement on Saturday night, PSG had said that four players and one staff member had tested COVID-19 but none of them was named. However, in a fresh statement on the team's medical news on Sunday, the club named Messi, Juan Bernat, Sergio Rico, and Nathan Bitumazala.

According to PSG, the players are currently in isolation and subject to the appropriate health protocols.

"The 4 players that tested positive for Covid-19 are Leo Messi, Juan Bernat, Sergio Rico, and Nathan Bitumazala. They are currently in isolation and are subject to the appropriate health protocol," the PSG said in a statement.

The 34-year-old Messi, along with Bernat, Rico, and Bitumazala, will now miss the French Cup clash with Vannes on Monday but pending a negative test, may be available for their clash with Lyon next Sunday.

The France government has announced that they will relax COVID isolation rules in the country from Monday. According to the new rules, from Monday, fully vaccinated people in France who test positive will only have to be isolated for seven days regardless of the coronavirus variant they were infected with but can leave quarantine after five days if they show an antigen or negative PCR test.

The Ligue 1 club also mentioned that Neymar JR will continue his treatment in Brazil until January 9 with members of the Paris Saint-Germain medical and performance staff and his return to training is still expected to be in about three weeks.

PSG are top of the Ligue 1 standings on 46 points after 19 matches, 13 points above second-placed Nice.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Amritsar, Jan 2 : Akali Dal supremo and five-time Punjab Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, on Sunday warned against "dangerous conspiracies" to install "government stooges" in sacred Gurdhams.

"Devious conspiracies are at work to weaken the Khalsa Panth and dilute its separate and unique religious identity. Our sacred Gurdhams and their unique religious ideology are being targeted. The 'qaum' (community) will have to guard against attempts by powerful agencies to create dissensions, disunity and mutual distrust within the community." The elder Badal was addressing a Panthic gathering at Manji Sahib Diwan Hall in Sri Harmandar Sahib Complex here to protest the painful incidents of sacrilege, including the outrage at the sanctum sanctorum of Shri Harmandar Sahib.

Badal also warned against the "dangerous conspiracy to put Punjab on flames again through communal polarisation".

"The hard-earned atmosphere of peace and communal harmony is being put to torch by powers that be. They will finally blame the flames on Punjabis themselves in a repeat of 1980s and 1990s simply to further vested petty political interests," he said during the 'panthic ikath' which demanded a probe into the recent sacrilege incidents by a sitting high court judge.

In his remarks, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal said the Congress had done politics on the issue of sacrilege for five years and did nothing to nab those behind this heinous act.

He said now again a conspiracy was afoot to spoil the peace of the state and create divisions in society for political motives alone.

He said despite nabbing culprits who had committed sacrileges at Sri Anandpur Sahib on September 13 and at Sri Darbar Sahib on December 15, both last year, the government had done nothing to uncover the conspiracy behind the two incidents.

He said even in the case of the Sri Harmandar Sahib sacrilege, no attempt was made to identify the accused till now.

Asking the people how they could expect justice from the Congress which had rolled tanks and guns into Sri Darbar Sahib and had carried out "genocide" against the Sikh community in 1984, the junior Badal said: "It is of utmost importance to strengthen the 'panth' as well as its representative party -- the SAD."
New Delhi, Jan 2 : The Special Cell of Delhi Police has arrested a prime member of an interstate drug cartel responsible for the flow of Heroin consignment from Sasaram, Bihar to other parts of the country by hiding them in secret cavities specifically made for illegal trafficking of drugs.

The accused, identified as Mohd Nadeem Khan, a resident of Seelampur, Jafrabad, North East Delhi, was carrying a bounty of Rs 1 lakh on his head.

Furnishing more details about the case, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Rajeev Ranjan Singh said, last year a team of Northern Range and Special Task Force, Special Cell got information that a cartel headed by Mohd Rafi alias Baboo Khan was running an inter state narcotics trafficking operation out of Bareilly. Two key members namely Shajad and Amir were also identified. Kingpin of the cartel Mohd Rafi, his associates Shahjad and Amir were later identified and arrested. A large consignment of Heroine, over 15 kg valued at Rs 60 crore, was recovered from Shahjad and Amir. Further 520 gm high grade heroin valued at more than Rs 2 crore in the international market had been recovered from Baboo Khan.

During further investigation, prime contact of the cartel in Delhi was identified as Nadeem Khan and efforts were made to nab the accused. On January 1, a tip-off was received that the accused Nadeem would come to supply huge consignment of heroin to his contact at ISBT Kashmiri Gate. Accordingly, a raiding party was set up which laid a trap and arrested the accused from the spot.

"The accused was then produced before a concerned court and police custody has been taken for further investigation," the DCP informed.

The official said that further investigation in the case is being carried out and efforts are on to establish identity of other suppliers and receivers to unearth complete chain of this drug syndicate.
Chennai, Jan 2 : AIADMK leader and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam (OPS) has urged Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to take immediate action against the DMK men who had threatened a Police Sub Inspector at Vepankuppam police station in Vellore district.

OPS in a statement on Sunday said that the police officer, Srinivasan had in an audio tape said that he was about to end his life after being threatened by DMK men of the area not to register a case against a scam and illegal mining.

The AIADMK leader in the statement said, "If a Sub Inspector is forced to this extent, I am afraid what would be the situation of others?" He also said, "I condemn the atrocities and illegal activities of the DMK party men".

The former Chief Minister said that for the past eight months evil forces were on the rise in the state and that the audio statement of the police officer is a clear message that public harmony and peace are at stake under the DMK rule.

He called upon the Chief Minister to prevent the DMK men from intimidating and threatening police officers who were sincerely doing their duty. O. Panneerselvam called upon Stalin to immediately take action against those who had threatened the police officer, Srinivasan, and to bring the culprits to book so that the people at least have a minimum faith in the system.
Visakhapatnam, Jan 2 : Four youth were drowned at Visakhapatnam's RK Beach on Sunday, police said.

Those drowned include three youths from Secunderabad. While two bodies were recovered, the search was on for two others.

A student from Odisha's Bhadrak district was also killed in the tragedy. According to police, a group of people on the beach were washed away when a big wave struck them.

Eight youths from Secunderabad were bathing on the beach. Three of them drowned due to the wave. Life guards pulled out a youth identified as C.H. Shiva. He was shifted to a private hospital, where he succumbed. The search was on for two other youths - K. Shiva and Mohammed Azeez.

Five students from Odisha's Bhadrak were also on the beach at the time of the tragedy. One of them drowned and a few minutes later the body was washed ashore. The deceased was identified as Sunita Tripathi. Remaining four students safely reached the shore.

Police were seeking help from the Navy in the search of two youths.
Chennai, Jan 2 : A sudden spurt in the number of cases of the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus in the country has forced actor Silambarasan to postpone a success meet he had planned to hold for fans.

Silambarasan better known as Simbu had planned to celebrate the success of his latest film 'Maanaadu' with fans on January 6. However, with the numbers of those being infected by the Omicron variant fast rising in the country, the meet has now been postponed.

A statement from his fans club said that the meet was being postponed, keeping in mind the welfare of fans who would be attending it.

"The date for the success meet would officially be announced later," the statement, which was in Tamil, said.
New Delhi, Jan 2 : The Confederation of All India Traders has written to the Centre asking it to ensure that no relaxations are provided to the e-commerce firms.

The Centre is in the final stages of drafting new e-commerce rules, which is expected to be launched "soon".

"... any dilution in the proposed e-commerce rules under CPA (Consumer Protection Act) will percolate a strong feeling across the country that the government has succumbed to some hidden pressures and the e-commerce landscape has been offered to the global e-tailers to twist the e-commerce to their advantage even at the cost of flouting the laws and the policy...," the CAIT said in a letter written to Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

The traders' body alleged that several foreign funded e-commerce companies are indulging into predatory pricing, deep discounting, loss funding, exclusivity, owning inventory, and facilitating illegal items through their channels.

"We are of the considered opinion that provisions prohibiting deep discounts and flash sales, making e-marketplaces responsible for the quality of goods sold on their platforms, setting up of robust grievance redressal mechanisms, stoppage of market-distorting discount offers, mis-selling of goods and services, equal treatment of all sellers registered should be the integral and non-compromising points...," the letter said.

Besides, the traders' body, through the letter, urged the Centre to provide a level playing field to the domestic players.

"If the even level playing field is not granted, the traders of the country shall be compelled to wind up their businesses in phase wise manner because of the manipulative and unethical business practices of the e-commerce companies," it added.
New Delhi, Jan 2 : Northwest India, except Punjab and Haryana, is likely to see some respite from the intensifying coldwave during the next 5-7 days while isolated heavy rainfall activity may continue over south Tamil Nadu during next 24 hours.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), cold wave conditions are very likely to remain in isolated pockets over Punjab and Haryana during the next 24 hours and abate thereafter.

"Cold wave conditions are also likely over Odisha on January 3-4 and in isolated pockets of eastern Madhya Pradesh during next 24 hours," it said.

Minimum temperatures were in the range of 2-6 degree Celsius over Punjab, parts of north Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, west Uttar Pradesh and parts of north Madhya Pradesh. Cold wave to severe cold wave conditions prevailed in some parts of Punjab and in isolated pockets over Haryana in the past one day, the IMD added.

The IMD also said that there will be no significant change in minimum temperatures over northwest India in the next one day and gradual rise by 3-5 degree Celsius for subsequent 3-4 days. Hence, the minimum temperatures will be above normal to appreciably above normal from January 4.

It has forecast that two consecutive active Western Disturbances and their induced systems with moisture incursion from Arabian Sea are likely to affect northwest and adjoining central India during the next seven days.

"Under its influence, scattered to fairly widespread light/moderate rainfall is likely over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi, north Rajasthan and west Uttar Pradesh during January 5-7 and light isolated rainfall is also likely over west Madhya Pradesh on January 5. Isolated thunderstorms activity is likely over Punjab, Haryana, West Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, accompanied with hail storms over Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan on January 5," the IMD said.

It said that for the past 24 hours, Tamil Nadu witnessed a significant amount of rainfall.
New Delhi, Jan 2 : BJP national general secretary and Jammu and Kashmir in-charge Tarun Chugh on Sunday met people who were injured in stampede in Mata Vaishno Devi shrine on Saturday. Twelve people were killed and 14 injured in that stampede.

Chugh along with BJP Lok Sabha member from Jammu, Jugal Kishore Sharma and others met the injured admitted in Katra hospital.

BJP Jammu and Kashmir in-charge wished speedy recovery to the injured.

Stampede occurred when a large number of devotees entered the Mata Vaishno Devi Bhavan without permission slips around 2.45 a.m. on Saturday.

The stampede took place outside the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had expressed deep grief over the loss of lives.

In a tweet, the Prime Minister had said, "Extremely saddened by the loss of lives due to a stampede at Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan. Condolences to the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon. Spoke to JK LG Shri @manojsinha_Ji, Ministers Shri @DrJitendraSingh Ji, A@nityanandraibjp Ji and took stock of the situation." PM Modi had also approved an ex-gratia from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for the victims of stampede at Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan. The Prime Minister's office tweeted: "An ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of those who lost their lives due to the stampede at Mata Vaishno Devi Bhavan. The injured would be given Rs 50,000. PM @narendramodi"
MONROE, La. (AP)  President Joe Biden cannot require teachers in the Head Start early education program to be vaccinated against COVID-19, a Louisiana federal judge ruled Saturday, handing a victory to Florida and 23 other states that had sued the federal government.

U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty wrote that the Biden administration unlawfully bypassed Congress when ordering that workers in Head Start programs be vaccinated by Jan. 31 and that students 2 years or older be masked when indoors or when in close contact outdoors.

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Head Start is a federally funded program that promotes education for children under the age of 6 who are from low-income families.

Doughty, an appointee of then-President Donald Trump, wrote that the separation of powers is crucial to the countrys founding and quoted former President Ronald Reagan, who said the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, Im from the government and Im here to help.

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[ COVID-19 update: Florida reports 56,865 new cases; positivity rate over 30% in parts of South Florida ]

If the Executive branch is allowed to usurp the power of the Legislative branch to make laws, then this country is no longer a democracy  it is a monarchy, Doughty wrote.

Republican attorneys general who were among the 24 states involved in the lawsuit praised Doughtys decision.

This victory will help ensure that numerous Head Start programs will continue to operate rather than have to fire teachers and cut back services to children, Alabama Attorney General Marshall said in a news release. And this win will forestall the nonsensical and damaging practice of forcing masks on two-year-olds.

It was not immediately clear whether the federal government would appeal the decision to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

[ Heres where to find coronavirus testing sites in South Florida ]

Doughtys ruling is similar to a Friday ruling in which a federal judge also blocked the Head Start mandate in Texas.

Saturdays ruling affects Florida, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Wyoming and West Virginia.
Hyderabad, Jan 2 : Telangana Industry Minister K. T. Rama Rao on Sunday urged the Centre to reopen the Cement Corporation of India (CCI) unit in the state's Adilabad town that saying there are a lot of favourable conditions and opportunities for the unit now.

He wrote letters to union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Heavy Industries Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey in this regard.

KTR, as the minister is popularly known, wrote that 772 acres of land is available for the unit. An additional 170 acres for the CCI township and 1,500 acres for 48 million tonnes of limestone deposits are available.

Stating that there was enough water and 2 KV electricity supply readily available for the unit, he said that reopening of the CCI unit will not just help Telangana but also neighbouring states like Maharashtra.

"Reopening of CCI will help develop Adilabad in a big way, mainly new jobs will be created for the local youth. I request the Union government to immediately reopen the unit," he said.

He also stated that all the facilities and subsidies given to a new company will be provided to the CCI, if reopened. KTR also assured that the Telangana will provide complete support in reopening of the CCI unit.

He lamented that in spite of Telangana government offering to provide all the assistance needed, the Central government is not coming forward to revive the plant.

He brought to the notice of the Central ministers that the construction industry is on a boom in Telangana and the demand for cement will always be high. There is a growing demand for cement across the country today and the private cement companies are making huge profits, he wrote.

He pointed out that Athat cement manufacturers associations like ICRA and CRISIL see major construction activities in the country with the Prime Minister Narendera Modi introducing the Gati Shakti Master Plan to strengthen the national highways. All the state governments are constantly working on developing infrastructure in their States, apart from the regular housing construction, leading to huge demand for cement.
Chandigarh, Jan 2 : Rebutting Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi's assertions regarding regularisation of the services of contractual employees, Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Sunday described them as "factually incorrect".

The Governor, in a statement, said the file regarding regularisation of the services of contractual employees was sent back to the office of Chief Minister with six queries which need to be clarified by the state government.

The copy of the queries raised on the said file is released to the media.

"This file was duly received by CMO on December 31, 2021, and the reply to queries is awaited," said the statement.

"I advise the Chief Minister to give reply to the queries raised on the file," said Purohit, adding: "Once the reply comes, the bill will be re-examined at Governor's Secretariat." The bill regarding regularisation of the services of contractual employees was passed in the Assembly on November 11, 2021.

After a lapse of nearly 20 days, the said file was sent to Punjab Raj Bhawan on December 1, 2021. In December, the Governor was on tour to various districts of the state. The tour ended on December 21 and thereafter on December 23, the Chief Minister came and met him at Punjab Raj Bhawan.

"The file was duly studied and reverted with observation/queries to the CMO on December 31," added the statement.

Blaming Governor Purohit for "deliberate" and "inordinate" delay in clearing the file regarding regularisation of services of contractual employees, Chief Minister Channi on Saturday said categorically that the Governor being the Constitutional head of the state is functioning under the political pressure of the BJP in the wake of the forthcoming Assembly polls in the state.

Addressing the media here, Channi had said the Chief Secretary and even he himself had personally met the Governor to get the file cleared, adding that earlier he thought the Governor might be busy elsewhere, but now "it is crystal clear that he is unnecessarily sitting over the file".

"It is the question of the future of several employees who have been anxiously waiting for a day when their services would be regularised, at par with their peers working in the state government," he added.
Washington, Jan 2 : Even after causing mild illness, people infected with Omicron are likely to suffer from long Covid, top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has said.

Data emerging from studies in South Africa, the US and the UK, has shown that Omicron causes mild illness, as well as causes lower hospitalisation rates. However, it is still too early to affirm how severe omicron is.

"Long Covid can happen no matter what virus variant occurs. There's no evidence that there's any difference between Delta or Beta or now Omicron," Fauci was quoted as saying in an interview with Spectrum News.

"We should always be aware that when people get symptomatic infection - anywhere from 10 to up to 30 plus per cent of people will go on to have persistence of symptoms," he added, noting that even mild cases are included in that possibility.

Long-term symptoms usually include shortness of breath, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, insomnia, and brain fog.

Fauci also noted that the words used to define vaccination status could soon change.

He said the label will likely evolve from "fully vaccinated" to "up to date," to identify when someone has been boosted, which Fauci called critical for protection against the virus, the report said.

"People should put aside this concern about a definition and say 'If I want to be optimally protected, I should get boosted'," he said.

According to Fauci, reaching a high vaccination rate will drive down Covid infections once and for all.

"I'm hoping that more people who are being recalcitrant about getting vaccinated wind up getting vaccinated, so we can have a uniform blanket of protection over the country," he said.

That blanket of protection, Fauci explained, could help the US diminish Covid-19 to "such a low level that it doesn't interfere with our function as a society".

"I'm always cautiously optimistic," Fauci said. "But I'm quite realistic. We need to do better with regard to vaccinations."

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 2 : CPI National Secretariat member and MP Benoy Viswam on Sunday said that the legacy of the Congress cannot be wiped out and its continued existence was very important in the democratic process of India.

At a seminar here on Sunday, the CPI leader said that while Sangh Parivar was tightening its grip on all institutions of the country, the Congress must survive in the country for the democracy to continue in the nation.

He said that the Left parties do not have the strength to step into the vacuum of Congress and that the legacy of leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru must continue in the country.

Lashing out against the BJP and RSS for trying to convert India into a monolithic entity by forgetting its unity in diversity principle that was the basis of India as a nation, Viswam said that the people of the country are concerned at the RSS and BJP creating a separate version of India and trying to exclude the minorities and the backward classes and Dalits from the idea of India.

The CPI leader, who was a former Kerala Minister, also said that the Congress must make a strong comeback. He, however, said that this was his opinion and that the political and ideological differences of the CPI with the Congress continue.
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 2 : Even as CPI leader Binoy Viswam has said that the Congress is indispensable for Indian democracy, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that Congress is turning into a political party that supplies leaders to the BJP.

The Chief Minister, while addressing CPI-M's Palakkad district conference, said that several senior leaders of the Congress have found a new address in BJP and have joined the saffron fold without any shame. He also lashed out at the statement of former AICC president Rahul Gandhi on a Hindu leader becoming Prime minister of India.

Pinarayi Vijayan meanwhile took stringent action against the dissident activities in the CPI-M at the Palakkad district conference by stating that dissidence and group activities will not be tolerated in the party.

The Chief Minister did not allow an election for the post of district secretary of the Palakkad district committee and wanted party delegates to unanimously select a district secretary.

Senior CPI-M leader from Chittoor in Palakkad district, E.N. Suresh Babu was declared as the Palakkad district secretary of the party. Chief Minister in his speech said that certain leaders were trying to create an island for themselves and added that such leaders will not have a place in the party.

It may be noted that the CPI-M's national conference is scheduled to take place in April at Kannur which is the home district of the Chief Minister and CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

Presently CPI-M is holding district conferences and the state conference will take place in February 2022. With the CPI-M being in power only in Kerala, the party Congress or national congress will be a major show of strength for the Kerala CPI-M.
Bhopal, Jan 2 : Madhya Pradesh has reported 151 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, while total active cases in the state have risen to 647. The state has so far reported as many as 11 cases of Omicron variant of the coronavirus, of which all have recovered, according to the state government's report on Sunday.

Out of the total new Covid cases reported in the last 24 hours, 80 were registered in Indore and 42 in Bhopal, while the rest of the cases were reported from districts. So far, 28 districts of Madhya Pradesh have reported new Covid cases.

During a review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, health officer stated that Indore has become hotspot for Covid like previous two waves. The health official also informed that daily sample testing has been increased to 75,000 per day.

In Madhya Pradesh, up to 95 per cent eligible persons have received their first dose of anti-Covid vaccine and up to 91 per cent have received their second dose. "Madhya Pradesh has administered around 5.21 crore doses of Covid vaccines so far. Vaccination for school children of 5 to 18 age groups will be started from Monday. All these vaccination centers have been set up in government and private schools and people other than school children will not be allowed. District administration has been directed that children of 15 to 18 age groups will be administered Covaxin only," the official said while briefing about Covid preparation to the Chief Minister.

The state government has targeted to complete the first dose of jab to the children in the next two weeks. "We have set a target to vaccinate up to 15 lakh school children on January 3 onward and for that total 18 lakh doses of vaccines have been provided," the officer added.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister has asked district administrations to remain alert as the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic seems more alarming. He said that the number of daily cases is increasing faster than the last two waves and therefore, hospitals, Covid care centres and other preparations should be done as early as possible.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Hyderabad, Jan 2 : Telangana's ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has called for week-long celebrations to mark crediting of Rs 50,000 crore into the accounts of farmers since the launch of Rythu Bandhu scheme three years ago.

The state-wide Rythu Bandhu celebrations will be organised from January 3 to January 10.

TRS Working President K. T. Rama Rao, Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy, and Rythu Bandhu Samiti President Palla Rajeshwar Reddy held a teleconference with the TRS MLAs, MPs, MLCs, ZPTCs, Rythu Bandhu Samithi district Presidents on Sunday and gave directions on how to take forward the celebrations while following Covid restrictions.

KTR, as Rama Rao is popularly known, stated that no other State in the country has brought in a scheme such as Rythu Bandhu. He added that TRS Party President and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao has introduced this scheme for the welfare of the farmers community. Nowhere in 70 years of Indian history such a great scheme was introduced, he added.

He also said that Telangana stands at the top of charts when it comes to the implementation of initiatives for the welfare of the agriculture sector.

KTR noted that the Chief Minister introduced various schemes such as Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bheema and also built the Kaleshwaram Project which widely provides water for irrigation in the state.

He asked the party leaders and workers to conduct programs such as Sankranthi Muggulu, essay writing and painting competitions for students based on Rythu Bandhu theme. On January 10, all the celebrations will take place at the 2,600 Rythu Vedikas across the state.

KTR gave directions to conduct these celebrations by following Covid restrictions. He also asked the party leaders to share pamphlets on the schemes and works done by the TRS government for the farming sector. He also asked them to write letters to the people regarding the celebrations, asking them to become a part of it.

Niranjan Reddy said the government is providing Rythu Bandhu funds to 63 lakh farmers.

Under the investment support scheme for farmers launched in May 2018, the government is providing financial assistance to all farmers for two crops every year.

When the scheme was launched the amount was Rs 8,000 per acre per year (for both Rabi and Kharif seasons) and the TRS government enhanced the amount to Rs 10,000 since the year 2019.

The government is crediting Rs 5,000 per acre into the farmers' bank accounts before beginning of every crop season.

For coming Rabi season, the disbursement of Rs 7,646 crore began last week and on January 10, the cumulative assistance under the scheme will touch Rs 50,000 crore mark
Chennai, Jan 2 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Sunday announced a solatium of Rs 3 lakh to the families of the five people killed in a firecracker unit blast in Virudhunagar district on New Year's Day.

The blast occurred at the firecracker unit at Watrap when workers had arrived for pooja at 8.30 a.m. to welcome the New Year.

Ten other persons were also injured in the accident.

In a statement, Stalin said that a solatium of Rs 3 lakh to the families of each of the deceased would be granted from the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund, and an amount of Rs 1 lakh to those injured in the blasts.

Nathampatti police in Virudhunagar has already registered a case against the firecracker unit's owner Murugan under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and also under the Indian Explosive Substance Act.

The license of the firecracker unit was suspended following the accident.
New Delhi, Jan 2 : Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday called for making India fully self-reliant in all areas, including strategic domains.

Addressing scientists and staff of the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory at Kochi, he stressed the need for increasing indigenous content in the defence sector and cutting down on imports.

"To achieve that, we need to not only give greater thrust to Research and Development activities, but also allow private collaboration, wherever it is possible and feasible, with stringent quality controls", Naidu observed.

On this occasion, the Vice President virtually laid the foundation stone of the "Towed Array Integration Facility", essential for the development of towed array sonar systems, which is critical to underwater defence. The towed array sonar system is expected to enhance the Navy's capabilities to detect quieter enemy submarines underwater.

Referring to the fact that India is still one of the largest importers of defence equipment, Naidu said that in this context, the contribution of a small lab like Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) in empowering the nation in its defence needs is truly commendable.

Keeping in view the geo-political scenario in our neighbourhood, the Vice President said, NPOL's role towards national security is paramount as all warships or conventional submarines in the fleet of the Indian Navy are installed with NPOL-developed sonars. "Besides bringing in the socio-economic gains by stopping imports in this niche domain, NPOL has been able to master a very complex and critical technology that is giving a strategic edge to the Indian Navy in anti-submarine warfare capabilities", he added.

Appreciating NPOL for building a strong network with industry and contributing towards improving financial performance of the Public Sector Unit, the Vice President noted that this lab has also nurtured more than 100 local industries, including MSMEs and startups, for developing niche technologies.

On the occasion, the Vice President also inaugurated Dr APJ Abdul Kalam memorial and an installation on the occasion of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav near the laboratory. Describing the memorial as 'truly befitting', he said that it will inspire countless people from all walks of life every day.
Bengaluru, Jan 2 : Haryana Steelers rode on superb performance by Vikash Khandola and Meetu to beat Gujarat Giants 38-36 in Match 28 of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 8 at The Sheraton Grand Whitefield.

Vikash Khandola and Meetu both scored Super 10s in the see-sawing encounter that saw Haryana race to a 12-point lead at half-time only to trail by three points in the final minutes of the match due to a 19-point performance from Gian's' raider Rakesh Sanrogya. But the team from Haryana kept their cool in the final raids to clinch an important win.

The first half belonged completely to Haryana Steelers who completed two all-outs. Captain Vikash Khandola in sublime form, moving across the mat with the quick-feet you often associate with him and taking on Gujarat's defenders at will. The star-studded defence line-up of Gujarat had no answers for Khandola as his seventh-minute two-point raid gave Haryana an opportunity to inflict the match's first all-out.

Young raider Meetu also stepped up for the Steelers who targeted Giants' captain Sunil Kumar for the points. With six minutes remaining in the half, Haryana inflicted another all-out to open up a 12-point gap, leading to questions on Gujarat's defensive strategy. The half ended 22-10 in favour of the Steelers with defenders Jaideep and Surender Nada also picking up two tackle points.

Gujarat Giants started the second half with a completely changed attitude. They picked up the first four points of the half with their raider Rakesh impressing. Haryana's Esmael delayed an all-out with a Super Tackle and an important raid point but the Giants finally claimed it in the 8th minute. Rakesh clinched his Super 10 and by the end of the 10th minute, Gujarat had reduced Haryana's lead to just 5 points. The Giants, through their raider Rakesh, kept putting pressure on the Steelers' defence which started leaking easy points.

Gujarat got their second all-out and a lead with under four minutes remaining. Meetu then picked up a 3-point Super Raid with under two minutes to level the score. Vikash Khandola then kept calm to ensure the Steelers won the match.
Fort Lauderdale  Expectant mothers hoping to deliver their babies at Holy Cross Health in the coming days will have to find another hospital thanks to the pandemic.

The Fort Lauderdale hospital was forced to temporarily close its Labor and Delivery Unit due to a surge in coronavirus cases among staff, hospital spokeswoman Christine Walker confirmed on Sunday.

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People are out sick due to the surge in COVID cases, she said. Its just temporary for the labor and delivery unit. The NICU [Neonatal Intensive Care Unit] and Post-Partum are still open.

The news comes as hospitals across the country are battling the surge in cases in the face of widespread staffing shortages.

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Due to the COVID-19 surge, Holy Cross Health has reached critical staffing levels in Labor and Delivery, Walker said. In the best interest of patient safety, the Labor and Delivery unit is on diversion until further notice.

Walker said the hospital doesnt have an opening date yet for the Labor and Delivery Unit.

Holy Cross Health in Fort Lauderdale, seen here on Sunday, closed its Labor and Delivery Unit temporarily due to a surge in COVID-19 cases among staff. (John McCall/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

One tipster sent an email to the South Florida Sun Sentinel saying hed heard of the pandemic-related shutdown.

It has placed at least one expecting mother in jeopardy of finding a hospital to deliver her baby, said Ken Kohl, a Lighthouse Point resident whose daughters friend is now scrambling to figure out where to go to deliver her baby.

She was expecting to go in tomorrow and have an induced delivery, Kohl said. Im sure there are many expecting moms in a bad place because of this. Its an awful situation.

Kohl said two doctors who deliver babies at Holy Cross have nowhere else to take their patients who are expecting.

Theyre telling her to go to Northwest [Medical Center] or Broward General, Kohl said. But they wont take [pregnant moms who want to induce labor]. Theyd just have to show up while they are in labor.

[ RELATED: Nursing shortage hits a crisis point in Florida, and it is taking a toll, leaders say ]

A doctor with knowledge of the situation said the Labor and Delivery Unit was hit pretty hard.

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They have so many people out, its not safe to operate, he said. The risk is to the patients. And you cant just pull a nurse from NICU and put them in Labor and Delivery. Its a different skill set.

It was unclear Sunday whether Holy Cross sent any patients to other hospitals when it closed the Labor and Delivery Unit.

Walker did not respond to an email asking whether patients who were expecting to deliver their babies at Holy Cross in the coming days were being directed to any specific hospital.

Holy Cross is a nonprofit, 557-bed Catholic hospital and member of Trinity Health that operates in the spirit of the Sisters of Mercy, according to its website. The hospital is located at 4725 N. Federal Hwy. in Fort Lauderdale.

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com or on Twitter @Susannah_Bryan
Imphal, Jan 2 : Manipur Forest, Environment and Climate Change Minister Awangbow Newmai after holding a meeting with the Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav on Sunday, said that the Centre has assured to provide Rs 97 crore to protect the famous Loktak Lake.

Loktak lake in Manipur's Bishnupur district, Deepor Beel in Guwahati and Rudrasagar lake in western Tripura are the three lakes in northeast India which are categorised as wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.

This convention provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.

Minister Newmai told the media that the Sunday's review meeting in presence of the central minister was held with an objective to save the Loktak Lake. He said the Union Minister gave assurance to give his full support to all the plans to preserve and protect the lake, which has floating land masses and 'phumdis' (series of floating lakes) available which cannot be found in other places in the world.

"The Union Minister gave his commitment to provide Rs 97 crore to undertake various protection measures of the Loktak Lake," the state minister said.

Loktak Development Authority Chairman L.S. Meitei said that the Union Minister is concerned with the conservation efforts of the Loktak Lake. "A detailed conservation plan was put up in the Sunday's review meeting. The plan also included to provide sustainable livelihood for fishermen in the periphery area," Meitei said.

The Union Environment Minister's meeting was the second within a week on the development and protection of Loktak Lake. Yadav earlier said that the Loktak is not only a lake but also an important historic landmark of India's independence struggle. It is a sacred place from where Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose showed the dream of an independent India to the people of the country.

Chief Minister N. Biren Singh earlier said the government is unable to timely and wisely utilise the gift given by nature in the various forms of flora and fauna which is abundantly found in the state.

In Sunday's review meeting representatives of various NGOs including Good Will Mission Manipur, Joint Coordination Committee on Wildlife and Biodiversity, Environmental Social Reformation and Sangai Protection Forum, the Yaralpat Integarted Farming Cooperative Society, Loktak Lake Tourism Development Cooperative Society Ltd Sendra and Loktak View Point Development Organisation were present.

The meeting was also attended by the senior officials of the Forest Department including Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Forest Force Dr Aditya Kumar Joshi.
Chandigarh, Jan 2 : Sharing her concern over recent surge in the Covid-19 cases throughout the country, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Sunday directed Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Channi to be fully prepared to combat any eventuality arising out of the pandemic, especially in the wake of the new variant of Omicrcon.

Pointing out further, she said there should be no complacency in this regard and concerted efforts should be made to face any possibility of emergency efficaciously.

Apprising Gandhi, the Chief Minister said he was constantly monitoring the current situation with the Health, Medical Education and Research and other departments to put in place all requisite health and medical infrastructure in place to effectively tackle any emergency in case the situation so warrants.

He apprised her the testing has already been intensified coupled with ramping up the available primary and secondary medical services to provide the best possible treatment to patients infected with Covid.

Channi further said the overall situation in the state was under control and people were being sensitised to take all precautionary measures as per health protocols to check the further spread of the virus.

The Chief Minister said all-out efforts are being made to arrange sufficient stock of medicines, ventilators and oxygen in case of any emergent situation.

Assuring Gandhi, Channi said he has already directed the Chief Secretary to be in touch with all Deputy Commissioners to meticulously review the current situation on a daily basis and brief him accordingly to keep a close tab over the pandemic scenario.

Sonia Gandhi on Sunday also spoke to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and sought information about the prevention and preparations for the third wave of Covid-19 in the state.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Cape Town, Jan 2 : South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday said he "believes" somebody is being held and questioned for the fire at the parliament in the early morning in the legislative capital Cape Town and promised a deep investigation into it.

"We need to go a lot deeper, a lot deeper into how this type of event can take place and what measures we will need to take going forward," Ramaphosa addressed media outside the parliament.

The president said the fire first started at the hall of the old assembly building, then moved to the lower house National Assembly, Xinhua news agency reported.

He also commended key officials for their great capability, speed and resource mobilization in response to the fire, and said Speaker of the National Assembly Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is rushing to the scene from the neighboring province the Eastern Cape by car as she couldn't get a flight.

The fire, which the city initially said was reported to the Fire and Rescue Services at 5.03 a.m. but later corrected the time to 6.12 a.m., has affected both the Old Assembly Wing and the National Assembly Wing of the buildings of the parliament, which house the National Assembly and the upper chamber of National Council of Provinces, the parliament said in a statement.

The fire has been contained in the old wing and firefighters are currently trying to control the fire in the new wing, where the fire has affected the National Assembly chamber, it said, adding that no person has been injured.

The cause of the fire has not been established and investigations are underway by the relevant authorities, it said.

The National Department of Public Works and Infrastructure led by Minister Patricia De Lille, the Deputy Minister of State Security Zizi Kodwa, the South African Police Services and security personnel of Parliament are in the parliamentary precinct to assess the situation, according to the parliament.

Jean-Pierre (JP) Smith, Cape Town's Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, had said the city's Fire and Rescue Services first received a call of a building alight in Parliament Street, which is within the precinct of the parliament, and arrived at the scene minutes later.

The fire gutted the 3rd floor of the old wing, including the office space and the gym, and its roof collapsed and has gone, Smith said in an update, adding that the old wing's chamber does not appear to be damaged although it may be damaged by water.

The structural ceiling of the the National Assembly Wing collapsed, he said.

According to him, about 70 fire staff members are on the scene.

Initial reports indicated the fire started in an office space.
New York City, NY (11385)

Today

Cloudy with occasional rain...mainly in the morning. High 57F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Mainly cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low near 50F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
OAKLAND PARK  A woman died from her injuries on New Years Eve after the BMW she was riding in collided with a Porsche along Commercial Boulevard in Oakland Park, police said.

The woman was taken to a hospital by Oakland Park Fire Rescue Friday along with three others  the drivers of both cars and a boy in the BMW who were all injured in the 5:40 p.m. crash, said Gerdy St. Louis, a spokeswoman for the Broward Sheriffs Office.

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The agency is not naming any of the crash victims, citing Marsys Law.

According to detectives, the driver of the BMW was traveling west on Commercial Boulevard and preparing to turn south onto Northeast 15th Avenue. As the BMW crossed the eastbound lanes, a Porsche Taycan heading east on Commercial Boulevard slammed into the passenger side of the BMW.

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The impact caused both cars to spin.

A woman died Friday after the BMW she was riding in was T-boned by a Porsche on Commercial Boulevard in Oakland Park, detectives said. (Tyler Oneill/Dreamstime/TNS)

The BMW, spinning out of control, skidded across the sidewalk and hit a light pole on the drivers side. The Porsche spun until it came to a stop in the eastbound lanes.

The woman passenger in the BMW died at the hospital at 8:45 p.m., three hours after the crash.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com or on Twitter @Susannah_Bryan
Scores of protestors crammed Federal Highway in Boynton Beach on Saturday afternoon to demand accountability in the death of a 13-year-old who died after fleeing police on his dirt bike.

Also, Saturday, nationally known civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump confirmed he has taken the case. We have to say you cant do this to our children, he said.

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He vowed a very public demand for transparency.

Last Sunday, Stanley Davis III had been at a Chevron gas station, filling up the tank of his dirt bike he got for Christmas the day before.

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Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 5 Protesters gather at the makeshift memorial for 13-year-old Stanley Davis III on Federal Highway in Boynton Beach on Saturday, January 1, 2022. The teen died in a crash, after he left a gas station on his brand-new, red dirt bike - darting off as a police SUV approached. His family and protesters argue the child's death could've been avoided had the officer not followed behind. (Mike Stocker / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Davis was followed by police, and soon lost control, crashing into the curb in the median. He died at the scene.

The officer was dead wrong, said protestor Todd Johnson. I need him to go to jail.

Protestors revved up dirt bike and motorcycle engines for 45 minutes at the Chevron and in the parking lot of the neighboring ACE Hardware, many people holding signs along the roadway. There was no police presence on that stretch of highway until after the protest moved to another location.

People are angry right now, Johnson said. Its what the officer did, he could have gone about it a whole different way.

Protestors want video. Although the police vehicle involved in this incident is not equipped with a dashcam, a police spokeswoman said bodycam video has been turned over to the Florida Highway Patrol.

We want transparency, said protestor Olen Whitely. Were here for justice.

Protesters gather at the makeshift memorial for 13-year-old Stanley Davis III on Federal Highway in Boynton Beach on Saturday, January 1, 2022. The teen died in a crash, after he left a gas station on his brand-new, red dirt bike - darting off as a police SUV approached. His family and protesters argue the child's death could've been avoided had the officer not followed behind. (Mike Stocker / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

The police agency has refused to identify the officer or how long he has been with the agency, invoking Marsys Law, a state law intended to protect the rights of victims. Nor will they give details of how the accident happened other than saying that after the driver was observed driving recklessly, the police attempted a traffic stop, and the dirt bike went down in the 800 block of North Federal Highway.

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Off-road vehicles are prohibited from being used on public roadways according to Florida law.

Family and friends accuse the police department of conducting a PIT maneuver, which is when police can force a fleeing car to lose control and stop by bumping it. But Police Chief Michael Gregory said at a news conference last weekend he has not seen or heard any evidence that the officer struck Stanley or his bike.

Still, police officials wont say under what circumstances the dirt bike stopped. When asked Saturday whether there was a PIT maneuver, police spokeswoman Stephanie Slater referred questions to the Florida Highway Patrol, which is conducting the investigation. A spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol could not be immediately reached for comment.

Crump said hes not yet convinced dashcam video doesnt exist, and hell be taking the police department to court to find out who the officer is so he can comb files to see if theres a history of problematic chases.

Crump said he wants to make sure the agency doesnt sweep it under the rug as if this 13-year-old black childs life doesnt matter.

He said witnesses have reported it was the police officer driving recklessly in pursuit of this 13-year-old child on this motorbike and the fact they believe this police officer caused this young man to be killed.

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We have to have police officers look to protect and serve our children like they do children in other communities.

[ RELATED: Family mourns Boynton child, 13, who died in dirt-bike crash; Police say officer has received threats amid the outcry ]

The family of the 13-year-old told the Sun Sentinel at the protest that the child will be buried next Saturday.

The childs father, Stanley Davis Jr., said the family has questions. When theres no more breath left in me, Ill stop, he said.

Stanleys mother, Shannon Thompson, said her heart was ripped. She said he was her only child. She said despite earlier reports identifying her child as Stanley Davis, Jr., he is Stanley Davis III.

Hes all I have, she said.

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com or 954-572-2008 or Twitter @LisaHuriash
As part of the traditional dive to welcome the new year 2022, four divers risked their lives and jumped into Romes Tiber River on Saturday. Hundreds of spectators gathered in Rome to witness the men jumping off the bridge into the Tiber River, reported NHK WORLD - Japan. This year, the event of traditional dive took place amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in the country.

Divers express wish for pandemic to end before plunging into freezing Tiber River

The divers welcomed 2022 with a traditional dive into Romes freezing Tiber River, however, they expressed their hopes as they head into a fresh year before the event. A 68-year old man who attended the event for the 34th year in a row shared his New Years wish, where he mentioned that he wanted the pandemic to end, so that life returns to normalcy, reported NHK WORLD - Japan. He expressed hope that the people would finally be able to hug and kiss their loved ones soon. The diving event is a New Year tradition that dates back to 1946, according to AP. In 1946, a lifeguard who was unemployed and was trying to find work as a stunt man jumped into the waters from Cavour Bridge to showcase his skills. Since then, it has become an annual event, where people gather to watch the men jump off the bridge into the river.

COVID-19 situation in Italy

According to Worldometer, as of 2 January 2022, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Italy is 6,266,939. The number of people who have died due to COVID-19 is 137,513 and 5,107,729 people have recovered from the virus. According to the Italian Health Ministry, 88.99% of the population above the age of 12 have been administered at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. 85.87% of the population over the age of 12 have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. According to the Italian Health Ministry, 8.59% of children aged between 5 to 11 years of age have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

With inputs from AP

Image: PTI/Pixabay/Representative
The Tabuk region in Saudi Arabia witnessed heavy rain and snowfall on Saturday morning, reported Gulf News. People took to social media to share pictures and videos of snowfall on social media. The visuals posted on the social networking sites show Jabal al-Lawz, which was completely covered in snow. A Twitter user who goes by the name Mohammed Alyahya has posted a video of the sand-covered in the snow in Saudi Arabia.

Netizens share videos of snowfall in Saudi Arabia

Mohammed Alyahya shared the clip alongside the caption, "Sand covered snow in the desert in Saudi Arabia." The video shows snow-covered with layers of sand and a person tries to break the sand layer to show the snow. The clip has garnered millions of views and likes. Another Twitter user shared a clip of the Tabuk region which is covered in white and snow continues to fall in the region. Another Twitter user shared a video of the Jabal Al-Lawz which is covered with snow. The 34-second video has garnered thousands of views and several reactions. Watch the videos here:

Sand covered snow in the desert in Saudi Arabia pic.twitter.com/GTFbekTnaj  Mohammed Alyahya   (@7yhy) January 1, 2022

        

      

      https://t.co/R8rgofAYIV # #_ # pic.twitter.com/2Gqp6OuPrE    (@Eid_Tabuk) January 1, 2022

National Centre of Meteorology predicts thunderstorms in some parts of Saudi Arabia

The snow will continue to fall in the region until Sunday, reported Gulf News citing Al Ekhbariya Channel. The National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) has predicted that thunderstorms will be witnessed in some parts of the Kingdom from Friday to Monday. According to NCM, Riyadh, Al Baha, Eastern Province, Mecca, Medina, Asir, Jazan, Hail, Al Jouf, Tabuk will be receiving moderate to heavy rains. As per the news report, Saudi Arabia Civil Defence urged the people to be vigilant as the snowfall has resulted in low visibility. Furthermore, there is a possibility of heavy rainfall and thunder until Monday.

(Image: Twitter/@7yhy)
A day after the tragic stampede at the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine in Katra, the Enquiry Committee set up by Jammu and Kashmir Government on Sunday asked the general public to furnish evidence regarding the incident. The Committee said that the evidence can be shared via E-Mail, WhatsApp or landline on or before January 5. Also, those who want to meet in person and share the evidence can do so on January 5 between 11 AM to 1 PM in the office of Divisional Commissioner at Rail Head Complex in Jammu's Panama chowk.

The incident is being probed by a high-level, three-member committee headed by Principal Secretary to the Government, Home Department of Jammu and Kashmir.

The general public asked to share evidence

"It is for the information of the General Public that any person who desires to furnish any facts, statements, electronic evidence etc. regarding the said incident, may share the same on email id: divcomjmu-jk@nic.in or Whatsapp No: 09419202723 or Landline No: 0191-2478996 by or before 05-01-2022. Any person who desires to meet in person may appear before the said Enquiry Committee in person between 11:00 AM to 01:00 PM on 05-01-2022 in the office of Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Rail Head Complex, Panama Chowk, to furnish any statements/facts/ evidence," the Committee stated in a release.

12 pilgrims lost their lives while 16 others were injured as a crowd surge led to a stampede near gate no.3 of the popular cave shrine's sanctum sanatorium in the Trikuta hills of Jammu and Kashmir on New Year's.

What happened at Vaishno Devi? Witnesses reveal

Meanwhile, Republic had an exclusive conversation with witnesses of the horrific stampede. A youngster who had come to visit the shrine with his cousin and was injured in the incident, said, "A huge crowd gathered at the temple site. Police began to lathi-charge to manage the crowd, after which the chaos unfolded with people running here and there in a bid to escape and ultimately falling on each other."

Underlining that many lost their lives in the stampede, He said that he somehow managed to get out of the stampede in time and also pushed out his cousin, who got badly injured.

Another injured pilgrim from Delhi informed that the people started running and that caused a stampede like situation. "They were stepping on each other in a bid to escape and save their lives," he said, underlining that he was accompanied by his wife and kids, who escaped unhurt while he twisted his ankle as someone pushed him from behind. "There was no lathi-charge," he added.

PM Modi under Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) has announced ex gratia for the families of the deceased as well as those injured in the incident.

Image: Republic World
In a bid to crack down on illegal spying the Technical Committee appointed by the Supreme Court on Sunday, issued a public notice urging citizens to contact them if they feel their mobile devices were infected by Pegasus malware. The notice, issued in a leading daily, has urged citizens to also divulge reasons as to why they believe their device may have been infected with Pegasus. The mails can be sent to the Technical Committee at inquiry@pegasus-india-investigation.in by January 7, 2022.

SC committee seeks citizens' responses on Pegasus

Public Notice by Technical Committee of Hon'ble Supreme Court seeking devices for possible #pegasus malware examination. https://t.co/tvYelWd1kE pic.twitter.com/2ZRWM1SQnn  Dr Gaurav Gupta (@TweetsOfGauravG) January 1, 2022

SC order on Pegasus row

In October, the SC bench of of CJI NV Ramana, Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli constituted a technical committee comprising of Dr. Naveen Kumar Chaudhary, Dr. Prabhakaran and Dr. Ashwin Anil Gumaste to probe into the spying allegations. The committee will be overseen by retired SC judge RV Raveendran and will be assisted by ex-IPS officer Alok Joshi and cyber security expert Dr. Sundeep Oberoi. The panel has been directed to prepare the report and place it before the SC expeditiously.

As per the order, the committee has been tasked to investigate if Pegasus spyware was used on phones or other devices of Indians, details of victims, steps taken by Centre in 2019 after reports of Whatsapp hacking, inquire if Centre, state govt or any govt agency acquired Pegasus and if any domestic entity/person used the spyware on citizens and whether this use was authorised. The committee has also been told to advise on amendments to existing laws for securing privacy, improving cyber security, establish a mechanism for citizens to raise grievances of illegal snooping and any adhoc arrangement by SC to protect citizens' rights. Both Opposition and BJP have hailed the order, terming it a 'victory'.

What is the Pegasus snoopgate?

In July, French non-profit Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International accessed a leaked database of 50,000 phone numbers that were allegedly targeted by Pegasus. A report by sixteen media houses claimed that of the 50,000 numbers, 300 verified Indian mobile telephone numbers were allegedly spied upon using Israeli surveillance technology firm Pegasus - which only has 36 vetted governments as its clients. As per a 'leaked' database, numbers of those allegedly spied upon include over 40 journalists, three major opposition figures, one constitutional authority, two serving cabinet ministers, current and former heads, and officials of security organizations and businessmen. The target also includes the eight activists currently accused of the Bhima Koregaon case. The report claimed that the leaked numbers mainly belong to ten countries - India, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
In a shocking threat to AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, a supporter of controversial Hindu monk Yati Narasinghanand's Pinky Chaudhary has called for beheading him. In an open meeting on Saturday, Chaudhary is heard pronouncing that as long as 'protectors' of the Hindu faith were there, Owaisi will be beheaded. The Hyderabad MP has blamed CM Yogi Adityanath for promoting such hate mongers. The 403-seat UP assembly where Yogi rules with an iron-clad majority of 314 seats, is up for grabs in February 2022.

Ghaziabad: Hindu leaders call for 'beheading Owaisi'

"I want to tell Owaisi, as long as Hindu warriors are present, you will be beheaded," says Chaudhary to loud chants of 'Jai Shri Ram'. Highlighting the increase in hate speech, Owaisi said, "Evidence of open leeway of narcissistic idiots in Modi-Yogi's Nizam. Is this possible without his blessings? Time is a witness that there will be punishment for every oppressor."

-  **                ?                      .... 1/2pic.twitter.com/lgk5fnVTXj  Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) December 31, 2021

Recently, Home Minister Amit Shah coined a 'NIZAM' term for the Opposition. Addressing a rally, Shah said, "Nizam' means governance, but for Akhilesh Yadav, it means N for 'Nasimuddin, I for 'Imran Masood', ZA for 'Azam Khan' and M for 'Mukhtar Ansar'". He added, "Do you want governance on the lines of Naseemuddin, Imran and Azam of Akhilesh Yadav? Or do you want the governance akin to the development model of Modi Ji and Yogi Ji?"

In response, Owaisi told UP citizens that if they wish to replace the current regime of Uttar Pradesh, a rule of the people was needed. Describing the Yogi govt as one of atrocity and unjust rule, he said only if they were voted out will UP find peace. Owaisi's AIMIM is set to contest on 100 seats in the upcoming UP polls.

UP polls 2022

BJP has announced that it will fight along with allies Nishad Party and Apna Dal (S) under the leadership of CM Yogi Adityanath. On the other hand, SP has refused to ally with big parties like Congress or BSP, opting to ally with smaller parties like Mahan Dal, NCP, SBSP, RLD, PSPL and has kept his doors open for AIMIM, AAP. BSP chief Mayawati has already announced that her party will fight polls alone in UP and Uttarakhand, while allying only with Akali Dal in Punjab. Congress has aggressively campaigned under the leadership of Priyanka Gandhi in the state, eyeing its solo return. Other parties like AIMIM, SP, JDU, AAP, Shiv Sena have announced that it will contest polls.
Ensuring a strong start to the new year, scientists have successfully unfurled the majestic sun shields of the James Webb Space Telescope. In a blog post shared by NASA on January 1, the US space agency informed that the five-layered sun shields were unfurled following the successful extension of Webbs second sun shield mid-boom structure marking another critical deployment milestone. The sun shield deployment process had been a nail-biting one for the scientists as it is one of the most important components of Webb.

Now that the unfurling is complete, the James Webb Space Telescope's sun shields, which measures 69.5 feet long and 46.5 feet wide, have taken the shape of a diamond, NASA revealed. "Shine bright like a diamond With the successful deployment of our right sunshield mid-boom, or arm, Webbs sunshield has now taken on its diamond shape in space", the agency's tweet read.

Shine bright like a diamond 



With the successful deployment of our right sunshield mid-boom, or arm, Webbs sunshield has now taken on its diamond shape in space. Next up: tensioning the 5 sunshield layers! https://t.co/6G2caS1djY #UnfoldTheUniverse pic.twitter.com/q0iuHdnKlN  NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) January 1, 2022

'Stop, assess, and move forward methodically'

The unfurling process was extremely delicate and required utter precision as there were 107 membrane release devices associated with the sun shield deployment. According to NASA, Webb has 178 devices or 'pins' called non-explosive actuators, and it was these 107 of those pins that kept the sun shield safe and folded prior to deployment. Owing to their expertise, scientists were able to release each of those pins making the unfurling possible. The process lasted two days and was initiated with the extension of the mid-booms that stretched the sun shields into a kite-like shape.

Keith Parrish, Webb observatory manager at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center said as per NASA's blog, "The mid-booms are the sun shields workhorse and do the heavy lifting to unfold and pull the membranes into that now-iconic shape. The team did what we had rehearsed for this kind of situation  stop, assess, and move forward methodically with a plan. We still have a long way to go with this whole deployment process".

As for the coming days, Webb engineers will separate and then individually tension each of the five sun shield layers to create space between the layers and allow the heat to radiate out. The Webb telescope was launched on December 25 to the second Lagrange point (L2) to detect even the faintest light in the infrared that emerged billions of years ago. And to do that, Webb's instruments must remain extremely cool, a job that will be done by the telescope's sun shields, NASA informed.

(Image: @NASAWebb/Twitter)
An unknown part of the body has been discovered by researchers, which consists of a deep layer of muscle in the masseter at the University of Basel, Switzerland. The deep layer of muscle in the masseter lifts the lower jaw and is essential for chewing, as per the reports of Live Science. The anatomy textbook says that the masseter muscle has two layers, one deep and one superficial. The researcher stated that a few historical sources suggest the possible existence of a third layer as well, but they are exceedingly inconsistent as to its position. Now, the team sought to investigate whether the prominent jaw muscle had a secret, super-deep layer, as suggested by historical writings.

The researchers dissected 12 human corpse skulls that had been preserved in formaldehyde, as well as taking CT scans of 16 fresh cadavers and reviewed an MRI scan from a living person. These studies revealed an anatomically distinct third layer of the masseter muscle. The layer extends from the zygomatic bone, which forms part of the cheekbones and can be felt immediately in front of the ear to the coronoid process, which is a triangular projection on the lower jawbone.

Distinguishable from the two other layers

According to the University of Basel's official website, the first author of the study Szilvia Mezey, who is a senior lecturer in the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel in Switzerland stated that the deep segment of the masseter muscle is clearly distinguishable from the two other layers. The muscle layer most likely helps support the lower jaw by elevating and retracting the coronoid process. Mezey also claims that the newly discovered muscle layer is the only component of the masseter capable of pulling the jawbone backward.

Senior author Dr. Jens Christoph Turp, who is a professor and clinician at the University Center for Dental Medicine Basel stated that although it is widely assumed that anatomical research in the last 100 years has left no stone unturned, their discovery is equivalent to zoologists discovering a new species, according to Live Science.

Significant in a clinical setting

The authors named discovered muscle layer "Musculus masseter pars coronidea" which means "coronoid section of the masseter" according to Live Science. The researchers stated that the discovery could be significant in a clinical setting because understanding the muscle layer could help surgeons perform better procedures in that region of the jaw.

Image: Shutterstock
In a significant development, after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen advised the Chinese government to curb its military adventurism, Beijing warned Taipei of "decisive measures". The Chinese government has stated that the main cause of tension between Beijing and Taipei is the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which denies considering the 1992 consensus. The Communist regime of China has often claimed the democratic island of Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to seize control of it by military invasion.

Chinas Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson, Zhu Fenglian, said on Saturday, "The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administrations refusal to recognise the 1992 consensus, unchecked plotting for independence and provocations, and collusion with outside forces to fight against the mainland in a bid to change the fact that "both sides of the Strait belong to one China," reported ANI, citing Taiwan News. Fenglian's remark came after the Taiwanese president, Tsai Ing-wen, called on Beijing to resolve the ongoing tension peacefully, saying Beijing should halt the spread of "military adventurism."

In her New Year address, Tsai Ing-wen expressed concern over Chinas "military incursions" and stated that there was "no benefit to the preservation of regional peace and stability," reported ANI, citing an NHK World report. In response to Tsai's remark, Zhu said if Taiwan "continues to provoke and force us, and even goes past the red line, we will have no choice but to take decisive measures." The latter claimed that the current government in Taiwan "constantly produces lies, hikes up animosity, and sells hatred for political gains." Zhu asserted that China is ready to put in the maximum effort to fight for the "peaceful prospect of unification." However, the demand for independence will only push Taiwan into a pit and cause its fellow Taiwanese comrades to suffer a heavy disaster, she added.

Recently, state councillor and foreign minister of China, Wang Yi, said the United States is at risk of paying an "unbearable price" due to its action over Taiwan. China, on the other hand, claims that the United States encourages Taiwan to fight for independence against the nation's military forces. The political conflict between China and Taiwan has escalated over the years as self-ruled Taiwan views itself as an independent nation, and its leaders, including the pro-independence President Tsai Ing-wen, have vowed to fight for its sovereignty against Beijing's goal of "reunification". However, Taiwan is dependent on the United States for its defense against the Chinese invasion.

Image: AP

With Inputs from ANI
PARKLAND  Real estate agent Sara Trost sat in her Jeep in front of a home in Coral Springs, waiting to meet with a potential buyer.

Hours later, she was dead, shot by a man, an arrest warrant says, who had been evicted  and who thought he was shooting the landlord who evicted him.

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It was just a mistaken identity. She never even got out of the car, said Rabbi Shuey Biston of Chabad of Parkland, where Trost was an active, involved member.

Coral Springs Police arrested Raymond Reese, 51, of Boca Raton, that day on one count of first-degree murder after Reese called 911 on himself.

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Can you send an officer to pick me up, I shot somebody, an arrest warrant says Reese told the dispatcher, giving his name, birthday and address.

Real estate agent Sara Trost was shot and killed in her car on Dec. 23. She had been waiting outside a home she was going to show to potential buyers.

Reese told the dispatcher he shot his former landlord and believed she was dead. The gun he used could be found inside of a Ford Fusion in the parking lot outside of his home in Boca Raton, Reese said, according to the warrant. There, police found the Ford Fusion with damage to the front passenger-side headlight and drops of blood on the passenger side of the car.

At the police station, Reese confessed to shooting someone at the home in Coral Springs where he used to live, saying he was upset at his former landlord over an email she sent him the previous day, which he had read that morning, the warrant says.

When officers went to the Coral Springs home, they found Trost dead in the drivers seat of the Jeep. She had been shot in the left arm and chest, police said.

[ RELATED: Coral Springs real estate agent shot dead in her car ]

The warrant says that a dark blue sedan with a man behind the wheel approached the home at 5730 NW 48th Court on Dec. 23. Shortly after 12:30 p.m., the man drove his sedan up to Trosts car, hitting the front right tire.

Witnesses in a nearby driveway watched Trost open her car door when the driver of the sedan pointed a gun out of the window, shot at Trost multiple times and fled, according to the warrant.

The woman who had recently evicted Reese told police she believed it was her who Reese was after, because of the eviction, the warrant says.

Raymond Reese, 51, of Boca Raton, is accused of shooting and killing Sara Trost, 40, of Parkland, on the afternoon of Dec. 23. Reese is facing one count of first-degree murder.

Karen Johnson, 2021 president of Broward, Palm Beach and St. Lucie Realtors, where Trost was a member, said the news of Trosts death hits close to home for the Realtor community.

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People think its easy, and its not easy. Theres a risk that comes along with it, Johnson said.

From starting a dog-walking business to becoming a home designer to flipping homes and then to becoming a broker, Trost excelled at it all, said Rabbi Biston, who knew Trost and her family since she moved to Parkland several years ago.

Biston is the organizer of the Sara Trost Memorial Fund, along with Broward, Palm Beaches and St. Lucie Realtors, which had raised over $13,000 by Friday.

To all of us who knew Sara, she was larger-than-life. There was always a smile on her face and a good word to share. Sara was the most giving and caring person to both those she personally knew and those whose paths happened to cross hers, Biston wrote on the fundraising website.

Those who knew Trost remember her as a selfless person always willing to give, someone with a captivating energy and a doting mother to her 3-year-old daughter, Avery. It was a common occurrence for Trost to pay for someones groceries in line at the store or offer her time and money to the synagogue without any desire to be recognized for it, Biston told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

[ RELATED: It was a wild real estate ride in 2021. Here are the five biggest trends that shaped the past year ]

Everyone is searching for answers when tragedy hits home like this. Everyone wants to understand or they want me as a rabbi to explain the unexplainable, and there are no words. There are no answers, Biston said. We dont understand gods ways. I explained at the funeral we dont have an answer to this, but Sara in the way she lived her life gave us many answers to many questions.

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Johnson said she hopes Trosts memorial fund will raise awareness of the safety concerns and keep the legacy of a woman dedicated to her community and family alive.

In her situation she was totally helpless ... Johnson said. You never think about things like this.

Realtors across the state have been reminded of the safety concerns their job brings, posts circulating on social media from Realtor groups and real estate agents show.

#RealtorSafety is a serious issue, said one Florida realtor on Facebook recently of Trosts death. Stay safe Realtor family, please please please let this be a reminder for us to be just a tiny bit more cautious.

Another Realtors post urged fellow realtors to take precautions  pre-screen clients before meeting, avoid going to meetings alone, and stay aware during showings.

Alongside the immensely rewarding career we have chosen, we have unfortunately also made ourselves targets. We make a living meeting strangers in homes where were typically the only people present. While some of our requests may seem unnecessary to you, were just trying to make sure we get back home to our families every night, the post read.
Denmark has launched the worlds largest wind turbine in Thy. The wind turbine is 271-metre high and manages to generate electricity for 18,000 households, reported DR.DK. The worlds largest wind tribune stands tall at the National Test Center in Osterild in Thy and it is one of the tallest freestanding structures in Denmark.

Siemens Gamesa started the operation of the largest wind turbine before Christmas. Jens Moldrup, Project Manager from Siemens Gamesa, revealed that the team of hundreds of men took a few years to construct the wind turbine, as per the DR.DK. Moldrup called it a fantastic experience to see the wind turbine operating and producing electricity. As per the news report, when the turbines long wings spin at full speed, the turbine can produce up to 14 megawatts which can provide electricity to around 18,000 European Union households per year.

Wind Turbine with low speed manages to charge one Tesla Model 3

The wind manufacturer informed that the turbine with three rotations at low wind speed manages to charge one Tesla model 3. Speaking to DR.DK, Jacob Pederson, the Wind turbine analyst at Sydbank, highlighted that the size of the wind turbines matters, especially for those built at sea. Pederson mentioned that if the wind turbine is larger, they would be able to carry out the work with fewer turbines. As per the news report, many countries are in the process of making wind farms to boost the Green transition. Siemens Gamesa has been a leader in the world market for wind turbines for several years with a market share of around 60%. However, its competitor Vestas has also announced its plans to establish an even larger turbine.

Vestas plans to launch even bigger turbine

Tommy Rahbek Nielsen, production director at Vestas, told DR.DK, that they have designed the world's turbine which they have planned to establish in the next year. Nielsen, however, did not reveal the technical details of the mill and added that it is expensive to establish turbines at sea. Meanwhile, Jacob Pedersen underscored that Siemens and Vestas will not be overtaken by foreign competitors in the coming five to ten years.

(Image: Pixabay/Representative)
On January 1, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said Europe should not just listen to Russia and NATO discuss a new security architecture for Europe, which he claimed was 'incompatible' with the current system. In his New Year's message, he claimed that Russia's December proposals to the US and NATO to ensure that the alliance did not expand eastward or station mid-range nuclear weapons on Finland's border were "in conflict with the European security order" and posed a threat to Finland's sovereignty.

Despite the fact that Finland is not a member of NATO, it has been one of its most active allies. Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded assurances from Finland that it will not join NATO. In a statement issued by the Kremlin, President Putin stated that Russia seeks international legal security guarantees that rule out further NATO expansion eastward.

President Niinisto replied in his New Year's message, "Finlands room to manoeuvre and freedom of choice also include the possibility of military alignment and of applying for Nato membership, should we ourselves so decide."

On Thursday, US President Joe Biden spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the second time in a month on NATO tensions, vowing a tough response, including unprecedented sanctions, if Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia has stationed 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border, threatening to invade if NATO does not give guarantees that it will not expand.

In less than two weeks, senior US and Russian officials will meet in Geneva to try to find a mechanism to de-escalate tensions. Moscow is asking that the alliance remove offensive equipment from nations bordering Russia, in addition to written security guarantees that Ukraine and other former Soviet countries will be excluded from any NATO expansion. The demands of Russia, according to the US and NATO partners, are unworkable.

'EU must not settle merely with...'

In this situation Europe cannot just listen in. The sovereignty of several member states, also Sweden and Finland, has been challenged from outside the Union. This makes the EU an involved party. The EU must not settle merely with the role of a technical coordinator of sanctions, President Niinisto said.

His remarks came as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was chastised for taking a more conciliatory tone toward Russia in his New Year's message. One of Ukraine's soldiers was killed in battle with pro-Moscow rebels on Saturday, just a day before President Volodymyr Zelensky was scheduled to meet with Vice President Joe Biden. Meanwhile, Russia has pledged to take all necessary measures to protect its interests.

(With inputs from agencies)

Image: Twitter/@niinisto
As Europe hit over 100 million coronavirus cases accounting for more than a third of all infections worldwide, France became the sixth country to register nearly 10 million COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic. As per the countrys official data published on Saturday, France has broken the record of its highest tally yet as health authorities registered a whopping 219,126 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus driven by the hyper transmissible Omicron b.1.1.529 strain in the last 24-hour. For the fourth consecutive day, France has recorded more than 200,000 cases, according to local media reports.

Macron rules out more restrictive health measures

Europe, which became the pandemic's epicentre in November has been battling a sporadic upsurge of infections driven by Omicron. And France has now joined the United States, India, Brazil, Britain, and Russia with a mounting caseload of more than 10 million as Saturday's figure was second highest after 232,200 confirmed cases recorded on Friday. Despite the alarming spike, French President Emmanuel Macron ruled out a need for more restrictive health measures in his New Years address as he stressed that the government cannot limit individual freedom but wearing masks in public spaces would now be mandatory.

The rule is also applicable to children as young as six, down from age 11 before, according to several reports. By lowering the age of children that are now required to mandatorily wear masks, the French government is planning to avoid shutting down schools post the holiday break, sources told TRT. In Paris and Lyon, masks were mandated in the outdoor settings. The entire European region which constitutes 52 nations in total, adding the territories across the Atlantic coast as well as Azerbaijan and Russia recorded 100,074,753 cases of the novel coronavirus as of Saturday, which is more than a third of the globes total tally, according to the agencies data.

In Europe, more than 4.9 million have been reported over the past seven days. While France has recorded one million COVID-19 cases in the last week, accounting for 10 percent of all positive cases since the outbreak of the pandemic. Worldwide, 9.1 billion vaccinations have been administered, and yet more than 289 million COVID-19 cases were recorded globally on Saturday according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center data.

Image: AP
A team of Iranian archaeologists have been successful in locating more than 50 historical sites and relics in Isfahan. The archaeologists have been able to discover the historical sites and relics during the expedition on the eastern basin and lands of the Zayandeh River, reported Tehran Times. The archaeologists conducted a survey to discover the sites of historical prominence.

The archaeologists attempted to gain knowledge about the cultural landscape and the changes that developed over time in the region. The team explained that they wanted to determine the pattern of settlements in the area that covered approximately 200 square kilometres. Yaser Jebraeili, who presides over the archaeological expedition, informed that the relics and ruined sites dating back to the Bronze age, Sassanid era were found during research carried out from Gavkhouni wetland to the southern plains of Varzaneh, reported Tehran Times.

Isfahan was made capital of Al-Jibal

The history of Isfahan nicknamed as Nesf-e-Jahan dates back to at least the Achaemenid era, however, there is not much information available about the area before the rule of the Sassanid dynasty. The Shahrestan Bridge, spanning the Zayandeh River, dates back to the Sasanian era. After the Arab conquest in 642, the city came to be called Isfahan and was named the capital of Al-Jibal province.

Abbas I rebuilt Isfahan as one of the beautiful cities of 17th century

Isfahan grew prosperous under the Persian Buyid dynasty and later, Toghril Beg, the founder of the Seljuq dynasty, made Isfahan the capital of his domains in the mid-11th century. Following the fall of the Seljuks, Isfahan temporarily witnessed a decline, however, in 1598, the Safavid ruler Abbas I made Isfahan his capital and rebuilt the city as one of the most beautiful cities of the 17th century, as per the news report. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Isfahan became a place for international trade and diplomacy and presently, Isfahan is one of Irans famous tourist places.

Image: Pixabay/Representative
Ahead of the second anniversary of the killing of General Qasem Soleimani, Iran has urged the United Nations to issue a resolution condemning the slaying of the countrys top anti-terror commander, reported PressTV. Iran called on the UN to issue a resolution protecting international peace and upholding human rights.

The Legal Department of the Iranian Presidents office issued a statement marking the second anniversary of the assassination of General Soleimani. In the statement, The Legal Department of the Iranian Presidents office insisted that the former United States President Donald Trump at that time, had claimed responsibility for the crime, reported PressTV. In the statement, the Iranian side called on the UNGA to bear all legal measures within its authority, including the adoption of a resolution condemning the assassination of government and diplomatic officials by (another) government.

Furthermore, the Legal Department of the Iranian Presidents office highlighted that the UN needs to take action in order to stop such crimes in the future. In the statement, the Iranian side also alleged that the US government breaches international laws, however, the world remains silent, as per the report. Iran, in the statement, asserted that giving immunity to perpetrators behind the killing of Qasem Soleimani threatens international peace. General Qasem Soleimani was killed near Baghdad International Airport on 3 January 2020 along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

Rally in Baghdad on the second death anniversary of Iran's top general

Earlier on Saturday, hundreds of people took to the streets in Baghdad to mark the second anniversary of the slaying of Iranian top general and top Iraqi militia leader General Soleimani, reported Associated Press. General Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were allegedly killed in a US drone strike. The people who rallied on the streets chanted Anti-United States slogans and demanded the expulsion of remaining American troops from Iraq. As per the report by AP, the people on the streets brought placards with them and a few of them read, "We will not let you stay after today on in the land of the martyrs."

Inputs from AP

Image: AP
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh recently slammed the US and France's criticism of Tehran's space launch, saying that the Islamic Republic doesnt really care about the opinions of others regarding the matter. On Thursday, Iran had launched a rocket carrying three satellites into space. Following this, US and France condemned the launch and called it a proliferation concern.

In response, according to Sputnik, Khatibzadeh said, "As previously stated, the Islamic Republic of Iran has the right to use peaceful technologies in the path of its scientific research development according to international standards, and in so doing, it will not await the opinions of some countries that seek to impose their dictates."

It is pertinent to mention that after Iran's launch of the Simorgh space rocket, a US State Department spokesperson had reportedly said that Washington 'remains concerned' with Irans development of space launch vehicles. The spokesperson stated that the launch poses a significant proliferation concern, adding that these rockets 'incorporate technologies that are virtually identical to, and interchangeable with, those used in ballistic missiles, including longer-range systems'.

According to the spokesperson, US believes that Iran's rocket launch was a violation of UNSC Resolution 2231, which calls on Iran not to conduct any nuclear-capable missile testing. France also slammed Iran for launching the rocket with a satellite carrier bearing three devices into space.

"France condemns this launch, which is not in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2231," a ministerial spokesperson said during a press conference. France also called Irans rocket launch regrettable amid progress in the nuclear negotiations in Vienna.

Citing UNSC Resolution 2231 is purely fallacious

In response to the criticism, Khatibzadeh dismissed France and US logic, saying "No resolution prevents the Islamic Republic from continuing its space programme and related experiments, including in the field of satellite carriers; thus, citing UNSC Resolution 2231 is purely fallacious and fundamentally untrue."

The Iran Foreign Ministry spokesperson further also praised the efforts of the nations rocket scientists' and their homegrown scientific innovations in the field of aerospace technologies. Khatibzadeh pointed out that Iran has been accomplished in the face of illegal foreign sanctions.

It is worth noting on December 30, Thursday, Iran aired footage of the blastoff against the backdrop of negotiations in Vienna to restore Tehran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers.

(Image: AP)
Naftali Bennett, Israel's prime minister, said Tuesday that while he is not opposed to a 'good nuclear' deal between Iran and international powers, he is sceptical that such a deal will emerge from the current talks. Bennett also refuted assertions made by former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that he had agreed to a policy of no surprises with Washington, implying that the US would be open about its military plans toward Iran with its most important ally and therefore be hampered.

Bennett told Israeli Army Radio that Israel will always maintain its freedom to act and defend itself independently. Bennett's remarks came a day after Iran's nuclear negotiators and five Western powers resumed negotiations in Vienna on reviving the shattered 2015 nuclear deal. He stressed that Israel was not bound by any agreement, giving them military leeway.

In recent weeks, European nations, Russia, and China have resumed discussions with Iran, which Israel has watched with anxiety. In the negotiations, Tehran has maintained a tough position, implying that everything discussed in earlier rounds of diplomacy may be renegotiated and demanding sanctions relief even as it steps up its nuclear programme.

Bennett urged negotiators to be more aggressive in their approach to Iran

Bennett has urged negotiators to be more aggressive in their approach to Iran. Israel is not a party to the talks, but it has conducted a diplomatic blitz on the sidelines in a bid to persuade allies to increase pressure on Iran to curtail its nuclear programme. Iran was granted sanctions relief in exchange for limits on its nuclear programme as part of a landmark 2015 agreement. However, in 2018, then-President Donald Trump pulled America out of the agreement and reinstated harsh sanctions on Iran. The agreement's other members have fought to keep it alive.

The eighth round of talks in Vienna began on Monday, ten days after they were postponed to allow the Iranian negotiator to return home for deliberations. Tensions over new Iranian demands highlighted the last round, the first after a more than five-month break caused by the installation of a new hard-line government in Iran.

Iran claims that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes. Israel considers Iran to be its most dangerous adversary, and it was a vocal opponent of the 2015 nuclear deal. It says it wants a better deal that tightens sanctions on Iran's nuclear programme and addresses Iran's long-range missile development and support for hostile proxies near Israel's borders. Israel also claims that the talks must be accompanied by a realistic military threat in order for Iran to not procrastinate indefinitely.

(With inputs from agencies)

Image: AP
A day after rockets were fired from Gaza, Israel's military on Sunday announced that it launched strikes against militant targets in the Hamas-ruled territory. According to AP, a video filmed in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, showed three huge explosions. Israeli fighter jets were also heard flying overhead. There was no confirmation on possible casualties, authorities informed.

As per reports, the Israeli military said that the attacks targeted a rocket manufacturing facility and a military post for Hamas. The Jewish state blamed the militant Islamic group for any violence emanating from the territory it controls. The attack came in retaliation for two rockets from Gaza on Saturday, which landed in the Mediterranean Sea off central Israel. There were no reports of casualties from Saturday's rocket launches.

It is pertinent to mention that apart from a single incident in September, there has been no cross-border rocket fire since a cease-fire ended a 11-day war between the two sides in May. The cease-fire was brokered by Egypt and other mediators, but it still remains fragile. The militant Hamas group has repeatedly said that Israel did not take serious steps to ease the blockade it imposed on Gaza when the Islamic movement seized control of the coastal enclave in 2007.

Gantz-Abbas' once-in-a-decade meeting

Meanwhile, Israel and Palestine have been engulfed in decades of conflict and contestation over territory, particularly Jerusalem, which both of them claim as their capital. Earlier this week, in a rare move, Israel's Defence Minister Benny Gantz approved a raft of measures aimed at improving relations with Palestine.

The new measures, which came following Gantz's meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, focused on 'confidence-building' and catered to issues such as taxes and the residency status of the Arabs.

A statement from Gantz's office said that the measures included the transfer of tax payments to the Palestinian Authority, the authorization of hundreds of permits for Palestinian Merchants & VIPs, and approving residency status for thousands of Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

It is pertinent to note that the Jewish regime collects millions of dollars worth of taxes on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a part of an agreement inked in the 1990s. While the taxes have the potential of pulling out the cash strapped region from what Palestinians call economic crisis, Israel has withheld the funds asserting that the money could incentivize terror organisations including Hamas.

(Image: AP)


Amid the rapid spread of the new Omicron variant, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced that it will ban citizens who have not had three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from travelling abroad. Taking to Twitter, the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) informed about the latest travel guideline which will come into force on January 10. The officials also said that the ban would not be applicable for those medically exempted from taking the vaccine, humanitarian and treatment cases.

#NCEMA and @MoFAICUAE: Ban on Travel on UAE citizens unvaccinated with #Covid19 vaccine, starting Jan 10, 2022, with a requirement to obtain the booster dose for the fully vaccinated. With an exemption for medically exempted from taking the vaccine, humanitarian & treatment cases pic.twitter.com/zUw1FoSLBt  NCEMA UAE (@NCEMAUAE) January 1, 2022

It is to mention that several nations have imposed strict restrictions on unvaccinated people before they are allowed in. This varies from a requirement for a negative COVID-19 test before travelling to mandatory quarantine upon arrival. The Omicron variant, which was first reported by South Africa, has created havoc across the world, especially Europe and the United States.

Studies have found that a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine offers better protection against the heavily-mutated Omicron variant. In UAE, according to Our World in Data, more than 90% of the population has been fully vaccinated against the virus. Around 34% had also received the booster jab as of December 24. The UAE has reported over 750,000 cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began, and more than 2,000 deaths.

PM Modis visit to UAE postponed amid Omicron surge

Meanwhile, amid the surge of Omicron cases, PM Narendra Modis visit to UAE has been postponed. The visit was scheduled to take place on January 6, 2022. The visit is likely to be rescheduled now, according to sources.

The ties between India and UAE has grown since PM Modi's visit to the UAE in 2015. In 2016, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, visited India. He again visited India in January 2017 as the Republic Day chief guest. At that time, the bilateral relations were upgraded to 'Comprehensive Strategic Partnership'.

(Image: UNSPLASH/PTI)




Former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) chief Bashir Memon was probed on January 1 for assisting a man accused of conducting international financial crimes and failing to prosecute the individual's money laundering allegations. An official told Dawn, "Memon appeared before a combined investigation team via video link. He was quizzed about allegedly facilitating Omar Farooq Zahoor in two cases of financial crimes in Zurich and Oslo, and for human trafficking reported during his tenure as the FIA Director-General".

It is learned that when Memon was pushed for answers, he left the meeting abruptly. Also, two Foreign Ministry officials appeared before the FIA Lahore probe team via video link for their failure in getting the suspect arrested.

As per the Dawn reports, "Two Foreign Ministry officials, Middle East Director Saeed Sarwar and Dubai Deputy Consul General Giyan Chand responded to allegations as to why they did not help the agency extradite the suspect (to Pakistan". According to the officials, the suspect was currently in UAE and the agency was not backed by the officials in question.

Memon granted protective bail

Earlier, Sindh High Court granted a 15-day protective bail to Bashir Memon in connection to allegedly facilitating international fugitive Zahoor. Memon mentioned that FIA DG and Lahore director as respondents and apprehended that agency might arrest him and frame him before approaching the trial court. He cited 'political reasons' and further pleaded for four weeks of protective/transitory bail.

After he made an explosive claim during his tenure as the FIA Director-General, Menon has been in news for quite a while now. According to Dawn report, he was summoned to the 'highest office' in the country and asked to file a case related to terrorism against Vice President of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's (PML-N), Maryam Nawaz's social media cell following a photograph of the premier's wife Bushra bibi was circulated online.

According to Memon, corruption cases against PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif and his family were pursued by him as he was pressured to do so. He further mentioned that Prime Minister Imran Kahn, Law Minister Farogh Naseem, and Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior and Accountability Mirza Shahzad Akbar pressured him to register a case against Justice Qazi Faez, Dawn report stated.

(With ANI inputs)

Image: AP
Feature: Chinese cultural elements shine at NYC Times Square New Year's Eve countdown

Xinhua) 13:50, January 02, 2022

NEW YORK, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- A six-minute performance featuring Chinese Kung Fu and Chinese folk dances amazed thousands of people at New York City (NYC)'s Times Square Friday night by kicking off one of the most famous New Year's Eve countdowns around the globe.

Co-organized by the Sino-American Friendship Association and the Times Square Alliance, the performance brought traditional Chinese culture alive with flowing moves of Taijiquan blending firmness with softness, the magnificence of Shaolin Kung Fu and the charm of the fan dance.

"The martial art also looks like a dance, so it's cool," Victoria Christensen, 19, who had traveled from the U.S. state of Nebraska, told Xinhua, after watching the show.

"The martial art demonstration was great, and the dancing was my favorite," said Adela Magallanes, a reveler from the U.S. state of California, who had traveled to New York with her husband specifically for the New Year's Eve celebration.

Magallanes, a pharmacy technician who works with a lot of Chinese people and also a fan of Chinese desserts, said the cultural elements at the event help her understand more about China.

Chinese Consul General in New York Huang Ping, who made brief remarks before the show, wished everyone a happy new year both in English and Chinese.

Huang said that he sincerely invites the world to visit China and enjoy the splendid landscapes and rich culture.

A video on various LED screens atop the square displayed the scenery of China such as the Songshan Mountain, the archaeological site of Yin Xu, and Longmen Grottoes, in central China's Henan Province, as well as the Yellow River.

The hours-long event culminated in the 60-second countdown to the new year. Cheers and confetti filled the square when the traditional midnight drop of a multi-colored crystal ball signaled the start of 2022.

The history of New Year's Eve countdown at Times Square goes back more than 100 years.

After banning visitors from the event a year ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Big Apple rang in 2022 with a scaled-back bash as COVID-19 infections continue to surge in the city and around the nation.

A 15,000-person cap on Friday night's event was well short of the 58,000 people who typically attend.

New York City reported a record number of almost 44,000 new confirmed cases on Thursday, according to New York state figures.

The current seven-day average daily increase of cases in the United States reached more than 316,000, a 293.4-percent spike from a month ago, fueled by a rapid spread of the Omicron variant, showed latest statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Peace, health and happiness for the world, no more Covid, said Magallanes, sharing with Xinhua her new year's wishes.

New York City's new mayor, Eric Adams, took the oath of office in Times Square early Saturday shortly after the ball dropped. He detailed a six-pillar plan for battling COVID-19 to start 2022 on Thursday.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Bianji)
People hold up signs during a rally against "critical race theory" being taught in schools at the Loudoun County Government center in Leesburg, Virginia on June 12, 2021. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/AFP/TNS)

America is immersed in a culture war that is a new manifestation of its age-old problem with race. School board meetings across America have devolved into ugly protests about critical race theory. The strategy to rebrand CRT was created, organized and executed intentionally as a political wedge issue. Right-wing operative Christopher Rufo publicly admitted: We have decodified the term and will recodify it to annex the entire range of cultural constructions that are unpopular with Americans.

CRT, like all wedge issues, is forcing the public into binary thinking, further polarizing the right against the left. Anti-racism allies on the left have made things worse by belittling the arguments, defending CRT and ultimately adding to the already dangerous polarization of our country. Instead of this divisive debate, what is needed is a nuanced dialogue grounded in compassion, one that can surface legitimate concerns on both sides.

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David Campt, a dialogue specialist, is a principal at The Dialogue Company. (Courtesy photo)

One key claim of the anti-CRT operatives is that some K-12 educators are required to teach children that all white people  and America itself  are irredeemably racist. Most people, unless they are among the most hyper-woke activists, bristle at this assertion. Why? Because America learned during the civil rights movement that being racist was wrong  so wrong that, today, even the Ku Klux Klan denies that it is a racist organization; now, its members describe themselves as simply pro-white. Even those on the left who agree that racism in America was and is an acute problem feel uneasy about burdening their children with debilitating white privilege guilt.

Amid the melee, this anxiety is being funneled into local and state elections. Activists on the right hope to build more momentum toward the U.S. House and Senate elections in 2022. As we saw in Virginias gubernatorial race, using CRT as a weaponized wedge issue works. So instead of fighting harder, adding to the dangerous polarization, we suggest people who consider themselves anti-racist shift the focus and instead ask: What should we teach our children about race and racism?

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Allison Mahaley, an anti-racism organizer, is a principal at The Dialogue Company.

This question is actually a very useful conversation for Americans to have. This will require some very different behaviors, particularly by people on the left who claim to deplore all matters of violence. In fact, people on the left (and anyone who is tired of endless divisive culture wars) need to embody non-violence in their communication style and end these bitter and divisive debates.

How do they do that?

Start with ginning up your own compassion. Before a conversation, take active measures like deep breathing while consciously trying to transcend the frustration, anger or hatred for the opponent.

Ask questions and listen. People often enter these conversations with preconceived notions of how people on the other side think. In addition to their opinion, ask them to tell you about an experience they had that led to that conclusion. Conversations focused on experiences beneath opinions create more interpersonal connections than ones based solely on opinions.

Look for common ground, especially around values and goals. People on the right and the left want their children to love our country. Each side wants America to be great. Highlighting what you have in common builds trust and the possibility of influencing each other.

Be honest about our racial predicament. Acknowledge that sometimes people accuse each other of racism too quickly and harshly. Admit that sometimes peoples discomfort about racism causes them to downplay the role that racism has always played in Americas journey. Most importantly, admit that racism is still a problem because you sometimes notice yourself having racist thoughts and feelings, even though you usually dont tell anyone. Invite others to do the same as part of more honestly analyzing our racial situation.

In addition to diffusing the CRT argument, engaging in ways that allow opposing sides to talk openly and candidly (ideally in small groups) about their fears, hopes and values will lead to better curriculum choices. School boards and superintendents need to create settings where people can actually talk to each other instead of just managing the circus of public comments at meetings. Public officials and non-educational civic organizations need to plan public engagement events for dialogue. We need many groups  including churches  inviting people to dialogues not about CRT but to answer the question What should we teach children about race?

We can expect to see political operatives on the right continuing to focus on critical race theory as a wedge issue in a culture war. Anyone who considers themselves opposed to racism can use compassion to transform this culture war and create a long-overdue dialogue about how people on all sides collaborate toward Americas promise of equality.

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David Campt, a dialogue specialist, and Allison Mahaley, an anti-racism organizer, are principals at The Dialogue Company. This article was originally published by The Fulcrum, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news platform covering efforts to fix our governing systems.
As the series of kidnappings, converting and marriage of the Hindu girls continues in Pakistan, one more girl was forcibly converted and married to a 35-year-old Muslim man. Najma Kolhi was kidnapped from Badin district's Golarachi Taluka and was forcibly married to a man named Amanullah. After the marriage, the girl's name was also changed to Fatima, told Ashiknaz Khokhar, Pakistan's Human Rights Activist, to Republic TV on Sunday. He further stated that such cases are being reported daily, especially in interior regions where young minorities are targeted by some extremists who do not want minorities of Pakistan to live peacefully.

Speaking on the issue to Republic TV, BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa stated that it's been a continuous process in Pakistan to convert minorities into Islam for the last 70 years. "We have been raising the voice again and again, but no steps have been taken as of now. In fact, a few months back, a law was supposed to be brought in the Parliament, and a Select Committee was constituted for it. But the Committee outrightly rejected the proposal stating there could be no law to safeguard the rights of minorities for conversion," he added.

United Nations must intervene in this matter: Sirsa

Sirsa further stated that there is a law to safeguard the conversion of a Muslim in Pakistan but there is no law to safeguard the forced conversion of minorities. There is a continuous endeavour by the government and its agencies to pressurise the poor class people of the country, he claimed. "There is also a report by the University of England which suggested that at least 13,000 people every year get forcefully converted to Islam and then girls are either trafficked to China, Dubai and other countries. This is a very serious issue and the United Nations must intervene in this," Sirsa concluded.

Image: Republic World/AP
Afghanistan has recorded the highest number of verified child casualties since 2005, which accounts for 27% of all verified child casualties worldwide, and nearly 28,500 children have been killed in conflicts so far, a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) report released on Friday has found.

Children have been dying and suffering due to the callousness, the agency stressed, adding that every effort should be made to keep these children safe from mishaps. Since the past 16 years, Afghanistan has had the highest verified child casualties in the world, ANI reported, citing the Tolo News.

"Afghanistan, for example, has the highest number of verified child casualties since 2005, at more than 28,500 - accounting for 27 percent of all verified child casualties globally," UNICEF said in a statement.

Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, and northern Ethiopia are some of the places worldwide with the highest child casualty due to the armed conflict, inter-communal violence, and insecurity continued, the release further informed. Meanwhile, globally the Middle East and North African nations have recorded the highest number of verified attacks on schools and hospitals since 2005. Of these at least 22 such attacks were verified in the first six months of this year, the release stated.

"Year after year, parties to the conflict continue to demonstrate a dreadful disregard for the rights and wellbeing of children," UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in the release, according to ANI. "Children are suffering, and children are dying because of this callousness. Every effort should be made to keep these children safe from harm," Fore added.

Data of Child casualty in 2021 unavailable

UNICEF stressed that the data of the child casualty for the year 2021 is not yet available but in 2020, nearly 26,425 violations against children were recorded by the agency. UNICEF then called on all parties to the conflict to take steps to protect children in case of conflict in the region. "As we approach the end of 2021, I call on all parties to the conflict to end attacks against children, uphold their rights, and strive for peaceful political resolutions to war," UNICEF Executive Director stressed.

According to the release, the UN has verified at least 266,000 cases of child casualty in more than 30 conflict situations across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America over the past 16 years. These cases were verified by UN-led monitoring and reporting mechanisms, and the actual figure may be far higher than that, as per Tolo News.
Singapore, Jan 2 (PTI) An Indian has been arrested in Singapore for allegedly killing a compatriot with a wooden plank embedded with nails following a dispute on New Year's Day, a media report said on Sunday.

Paneer Vetrivel, 26, is alleged to have hit Rajendran Shanmugasundran, 37, with the plank near 20 Woodlands Industrial Park E1 between 1 AM and 1.25 AM on January 1, The Straits Times newspaper reported.

He was charged with voluntarily causing grievous hurt by a dangerous weapon at a migrant workers' dormitory in a special sitting of the Criminal Mentions Court on Sunday.

The report said Paneer faces a charge of fatally attacking the man with a wooden plank embedded with nails on New Year's Day.

If convicted of voluntarily causing grievous hurt with a dangerous weapon, he can be jailed for life and caned, or jailed for up to 15 years, caned and fined, it said.

The police said that they were involved in a dispute at the dormitory in Woodlands Industrial Park.

Officers were alerted to the fight at about 1.25 AM and found Rajendran lying motionless on the ground with head injuries. He was rushed to hospital where he later died.

Paneer was arrested and has been remanded for further investigations.

His case is expected to come up in court again on January 7. PTI GS CPS

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
The United States has identified the suicide bomber who killed 13 American troops outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul back in August. According to The New York Times, the Islamic State (IS) terrorist attack was carried out by Abdul Rahman Al-Logari - a one-time engineering student who was freed from a high-security prison by the Taliban. Four months after the attack that killed scores of people, US and foreign intelligence officials have pieced together Al-Logaris profile and now they will use the information to focus on an IS cell that they believe was involved in the attack, including its leadership and foot soldiers.

Abdul Rahman Al-Logari profile

As per the media outlet, Al-Logari was one of several thousand militants freed from at least two high-security prisons after the Taliban seized control of Kabul on August 15. The Taliban had emptied the facilities indiscriminately, releasing not only their own imprisoned members but also fighters from IS-Khorasan (ISIS-K), the groups branch in Afghanistan and the Talibans nemesis. It is to mention that Al-Logari was not unknown to the world as in 2017, the CIA tipped off the Indian intelligence agents that he was plotting a suicide bombing in New Delhi.

The Indian authorities then foiled the attack and turned Al-Logari over to the CIA, which then sent him to Afghanistan to serve time at the Parwan prison at Bagram Air Base. The former engineering student remained in Afghanistan jail until he was freed amid the chaos after Kabul fell. Then, eleven days later, on August 26, the bomber, wearing a 25-pound explosive vest under his clothing, walked up to a group of American troops who were frisking those hoping to enter the Kabul airport.

The US officials said that Al-Logari waited until he was about to be searched before detonating the bomb, which was large for a suicide vest, killing himself and nearly 200 others. According to the report, Al-Logari is the son of an Afghan merchant who frequently visited India and Pakistan for business. He moved to India in 2017 to study engineering at Manav Rachna University near New Delhi.

He was recruited by ISIS-K and was later arrested in relation to the New Delhi plot. Al-Logari was handed over to the CIA by Indias foreign spy services, the Research and Analysis Wing, in September 2017. He had spent time in Afghanistan's both Pul-e-Charki and Parwan prisons. But it still remains unclear how he linked up with the ISIS-K attack cell in Kabul.

(Image: Twitter/RepublicWorld)


Nearly 85% of Omicron patients in Englands hospitals have not had their COVID-19 booster doses, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data revealed. According to Daily Mail, the UKHSAs confirmed toll in its weekly surveillance update revealed that 608 out of 815 hospitalised COVID-19 patients struck down with the ultra-infectious variant were not triple jabbed. Additionally, a quarter of patients were also unvaccinated.

UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said that the UKHSA figures reinforced the importance of vaccines in saving lives and preventing serious illness. It is to mention that health officials have unveiled further data showing that COVID-19 booster doses cut the risk of hospitalisation with Omicron by up to 88%. It also revealed that two doses of vaccine slashed the odds by up to 72%, for up to nearly six months after the jab.

UK PM urges Britons to take booster shot at earliest

Therefore, amid the rise in Omicron cases, UK ministers have ramped up the COVID-19 booster dose drive with the aim of hitting one million jabs a day in an effort to give every eligible Briton the third dose and stop the NHS from being overwhelmed. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, on the eve of New Year 2022, urged adults to take the booster jabs at the earliest. In a pre-recorded video message, Johnson urged those who havent yet been jabbed to take up the offer of a booster, or even their first or second dose.

UK PM appealed to the country's unvaccinated population to make a new year resolution of having themselves inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine jab at the earliest. "So, make it your New Years resolution  far easier than losing weight or keeping a diary  find a walk-in centre or make an online appointment. Get that jab and do something that will make 2022 a happy New Year for us all," he said.

Johnson said his government would not invoke COVID-19 lockdown or strict measures and advised people to go ahead with their plans but asked them to remain cautious before moving outdoors. However, he added that his government will keep tracking all the activities and strict measures might come into force after the new year celebrations.

(Image: AP/Pixabay/Unsplash)




As the highly mutated and transmissible B.1.1.529 Omicron variant threatens to cause disruption across the UK workplaces, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday, January 1 asked his ministers to draw robust contingency plans to address the coronavirus-related staff absences.

According to several reports, the UK is mulling another mega staff shortage due that threatens to disrupt supply chains and businesses over the coming few weeks. Johnson has demanded the MPs to formulate a plan to tackle the discrepancies within their respective sectors as health officials and Prime Ministers chief medical advisor predicts high COVID-19 levels that will potentially hit businesses hard.

Prepare for a 'worst-case scenario': UK PM

British Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Steve Barclay was asked by Johnson to chair the regular meetings with the British ministers and assess how the highly mutated Omicron would affect the workforce across the businesses and supply chains. The public sector across the UK, meanwhile, has been cautioned about the workplace disruptions due to workforce shortages and has been asked to prepare for a worst-case scenario. UKs Cabinet Office told the LBC that nearly a quarter of staff is expected to be off work in the weeks ahead due to the fast-spreading Omicron wave.

Workplaces are set to face up to 25 percent absences but Johnson has asked the ministers to set up a plan to address 10 percent, 20 percent, and 25 percent workforce absence rates. The cabinet office, though, also claims at this time that the workforce disruption caused by the Omicron variant had been somewhat controlled in "most parts of the public sector in the UK. Some of the sectors that are already suffering from the workforce shortage are the UKs transport, the NHS, and schools.

The sea of Omicron cases has left umpteen Britons isolated at homes and unable to report to workplaces, particularly across sectors where work from home is impossible.

Johnson has instructed Cabinet Office Minister Steve Barclay to chair regular meetings and take stock of the workforce absences and supply chain disruptions across various sectors as the Omicron spreads. UK Prime Minister asked the ministers to test preparations and contingency plans to mitigate the looming crisis. Currently, in case of a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, people are asked to self-isolate for at least seven days in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and for up to 10 days in Scotland.
In order to reach a trade agreement with India, the UK plans to soften immigration regulations by granting cheaper and easier visas for Indian tourists, students, and professionals, according to a media report published on January 1. According to The Times, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the UK's international trade secretary, is due to fly to New Delhi later this month to begin formal negotiations on a planned India-UK free trade agreement (FTA).

According to the newspaper, Trevelyan is anticipated to use his visit to open the possibility of reducing immigration requirements for Indian citizens, which is a crucial demand from New Delhi. While she has the support of Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who has put strengthening ties with India at the top of the government's priority to counter China's growing influence, Home Secretary Priti Patel is opposed to the idea, according to the source.

Patel & Jaishankar inked a bespoke and reciprocal MMP in May '21

Priti Patel and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar inked a bespoke and reciprocal Migration and Mobility Partnership (MMP) in May last year to allow roughly 3,000 students and professionals every year to obtain work experience benefits in either country. Both sides have committed to work toward an April 2022 deadline for implementing the new system as part of the MMP, with work already started at the High Commission in London and the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi.

However, under new immigration policies in the works, one alternative being considered is a programme similar to the one agreed to as part of the UK's FTA with Australia, which would allow young Indians to come to the UK and work for up to three years. Another alternative would be to reduce student visa payments, allowing them to stay in the UK after graduation for a period of time, maybe building on the Graduate Route visa under the present points-based immigration regulations, according to the research.

Fee reductions for employment and tourist visas

According to the media report, there may also be fee reductions for employment and tourist visas. Currently, an Indian citizen can spend up to GBP 1,400 for a work visa, while students pay GBP 348 and visitors pay GBP 95. These expenses contrast sharply with visa fees for nations like China, which are much lower. The UK government has stated repeatedly that it wants a deal that lowers trade obstacles with India.

Since the conclusion of bilateral working groups, preparations for the start of discussions for the UK-India FTA 'remain underway,' according to the Department for International Trade. Trevelyan and her Indian counterpart, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, met last October in Sorrento, Italy, during the G-20 trade ministers meeting to discuss "final preparations" for the start of India-UK FTA discussions this year.

(With inputs from agencies)

Image: Unsplash
As Omicron cases are growing in the UK, schools in England has ordered the students to return to the class wearing masks. As per the reports of the Guardian, the new guidance comes as the government faces rising criticism over its failure to secure the availability of COVID testing kits in time for the resumption to school. The Department of Education stated that this order is short-term solely to support kids and staff as they return to schools and will be in effect until January 26.

However, scientists and the medical profession are increasingly concerned about a fast surge in infections is possible, particularly in England, where limits on socialising over Christmas and New Year's were eased. The number of confirmed cases in England reached an all-time high of 1,62,572 cases yesterday, according to the Guardian. A scarcity of testing equipment is also contributing to public-sector personnel issues.

7,000 extra air-cleaning devices to delivered to schools

Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi said that 7,000 extra air cleaning devices will be delivered to schools and institutions to increase classroom ventilation. Zahawi stated that they are doing everything to guarantee that the education of young students is not jeopardised, according to the Guardian. He stated that the Prime Minister and he have been clear that education is their number one priority and these steps will strengthen the support for schools as they will do everything in their power to minimise disturbance.

Labour leader Keir Starmer stated that parents should test their children at least twice a week to ensure that they do not spread the disease to the elderly and frail. He also said that that it is up to the government to ensure that tests were available for them, according to the Guardian. Another Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn expressed his concerns about the reopening of schools stating that schools reopen next week, and in the past, this has resulted in COVID spreading among students, who then bring it home to their families.

Face covering guidance to schools

The Association of School and College Leaders general secretary, Geoff Barton, welcomed the mask-wearing guidance. He stated that for students in grade 7 and higher, face coverings are already recommended. He continued by saying that children are used to wearing them, and they are confident that the reinstatement of wearing maks in classrooms would be well received by schools and institutions.

(Image: AP)
After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August, many members of the Afghan military fled the country. Belal Khohestani, former Afghan pilot of Afghanistan's elite military unit, is one of them. He has now relocated to Chicago, the US where he has found a place to live. As per the reports of CNN, he stated that he is adjusting to life in a new country, admitting that everyone who would genuinely make America home for him, his wife and four children, his two sisters and his mother all are thousands of kilometres away, locked in his native Kabul. He said that he is starting from scratch to construct his life in the US.

In mid-August, Belal and other Special Mission Wing pilots flew across the border to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in a desperate attempt to prevent some of the Afghan military's most advanced weaponry from falling into Taliban hands and establishing their own air force. During the escape, several people departed the country without their families and they have been waiting to see their family since then.

Khohestani is concerned about retaliation against his family

Khohestani urged his family to meet him outside Kabul International Airport in late August as the US and its allies evacuated thousands of Afghans. However, the suicide explosion on August 26, which killed 13 US servicemen crushed Khohestani's hopes of his family escaping the country. He stated that he is ashamed that he abandoned his family, according to CNN. Despite the Taliban's assurances of amnesty, Khohestani is concerned about retaliation against his family.

There are still many people in Afghanistan who still want to flee the country. Last Monday, State Department press secretary Ned Price stated that the United States is continuing its endeavour to evacuate at-risk Afghans, as well as American residents and green card holders, according to CNN. He also stated that they have also continued to do everything they can to support Afghans to whom they have a specific obligation, including those who fall under the category of the Special Immigrant Visas.

Looking at alternatives

Price further said that they are looking at alternatives to processing for the larger cohort. He claims that while their presence on the ground in Afghanistan is no longer there, they are doing what they can from other posts and looking at solutions to continue their efforts to safely relocate those individuals who wish to leave the country.

Image: AP
Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) held the fourth meeting of the steering committee to activate the national strategy for the aviation sector.

The meeting was held in the presence of GACA President Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Duailej, with the participation of officials from the Red Sea Development Company, Amaala Company, chief executives and representatives of companies operating in the Kingdom's civil aviation sector, Saudi Press Agency SPA reported.

Al-Duailej stated that the Cabinets approval of the civil aviation sector strategy contributes to achieving the goals of the Kingdoms Vision 2030. This is in order to advance and develop the sector to achieve the best results locally, regionally and internationally; and to be an important contributor to the country's economic development.

He noted the importance of improving the general performance of the sector and to strengthen the role of civil aviation to raise the level of the sector and increase its competitive value to serve citizens and travellers in general. He praised all employees of the sector for their team work in light of the serious challenges facing it.

The participants also discussed the recent developments in the project to activate the civil aviation sector strategy, and what has been achieved regarding the recommendations of the third meeting of the committee.

Furthermore, the meeting covered the extent of the sectors recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. This is in addition to presenting the latest achievements and projects of the aviation sector for 2021, plus the strategic initiatives for aviation for the year 2022.
Anti-coup protesters run around a makeshift barricade they burn to form a defense line during a demonstration in Yangon, Myanmar, March 28, 2021.

Southeast Asias longtime conflicts cooled in 2021, a development overshadowed by the Feb. 1 coup in Myanmar and ensuing civil war.

Since the coup, the Burmese military has killed at least 1,375 people, according to reports. While fighting the National Unity Government (NUG) and a myriad of armed ethnic groups this year, the Tatmadaw, as Myanmars military is known, has attacked civilian populations, especially in Chin State, Kayah State, and the Sagaing region.

It has razed villages and carried out wholesale massacres of civilians.

With the civil war spreading, especially after the NUG declared war on the Tatmadaw in September, it was easy to lose sight of developments in some of the other conflicts in the region.

Rohingya and Arakan rebels

Despite a broader civil war in Myanmar, the Arakan Rohingya Solidarity Army (ARSA), a rebel group which has endorsed the National Unity Government, was not a factor.

A rival group, the Buddhist Arakan Army, has not joined the National Unity Government and other armed ethnic groups taking part in the post-coup civil war, but it has engaged the military in a few small-scale skirmishes despite agreeing to a ceasefire with the Tatmadaw in late 2020.

The Arakan Army has also taken advantage of the military being preoccupied with other conflicts to consolidate its political power and enhance its autonomy. It has threatened to fully resume hostilities should the Tatmadaw try to quash its autonomy, something the army can ill afford to do.

ARSA, meanwhile, has been moving aggressively to consolidate its control over the sprawling refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh, where uprooted Rohingya seem destined to stay until a political resolution is reached in Myanmar.

According to U.N. investigators, ARSA killed a leading Rohingya activist, and then six others at the camps in Coxs Bazar, where Bangladeshi forces are trying to control security for the massive refugee population.

Hospital workers and volunteers unload the body of a Rohingya who was killed in an attack at a madrassa in a local refugee camp, for an autopsy at a hospital in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, Oct. 22, 2021. Credit: BenarNews Rebellion in southern Thailand

In 2021, the insurgency in Thailands restive Malay-majority southern border provinces remained at historically low levels. Thirty-four people were killed and 48 wounded  the first time that total casualties were in the two digits since the separatist conflict reignited in 2004.

Early last year, Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) rebels announced a unilateral humanitarian ceasefire so public health officials could respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the violence began to pick up again, starting in July 2020, there was no formal end to the ceasefire.

In September 2021, the BRN called for a resumption of violence via a social media post. In a statement, it urged combatants to resume self-defense operations because, Siams security forces set up raids and conducted summary executions despite COVID difficulties.

The rate of COVID infections in the Deep South, meanwhile, far surpassed the rest of Thailand.

As of October 2021, only 33 percent of the population had been vaccinated, the lowest rate in the country. There clearly was vaccine hesitancy among the local population, coupled with mistrust of the Thai government. This spoke to the low priority the Thai government has placed on the provision of social services in the border region.

The rate of violence intensified in August. Since then, there were 19 IED attacks, almost equal to the number of bombings in 2020. Targeted assassinations fell from 2020, but picked up during the last five months of the year.

Security forces remained the BRNs primary target: Some 25 soldiers, police, rangers and defense volunteers were killed and 38 were wounded, compared with 11 civilians who were killed and six wounded.

There were 14 prolonged firefights with security forces, down from 16 in 2020. But several of them stood out: Militants who refused to surrender in prolonged standoffs in Pattanis Sai Buri district, Yalas Krong Pinang district, and a 17-day standoff in Narathiwats Bacho district.

In all these cases, public opinion turned on the security forces, who used disproportionate firepower. The militants were buried as martyrs.

It was a reminder that public sentiment is very much still against the Thai government.

In December, the Malaysian government announced that face-to-face talks between the Thai government and the BRN would resume in January 2021 for the first time in nearly two years.

But with low levels of violence, the Thai side is unlikely to make any concessions, ensuring that the insurgency will go on.

A woman (center) walks with Thai soldiers and family members during the funeral ceremony for her son, a soldier killed during fighting with suspected separatists, at Narathiwat airport in southern Thailand, Oct. 3, 2021. Credit: AFP Extremism in Indonesia

In the worlds most populous Muslim-majority country, 2021 began on a sour note in the fight against terrorism.

Indonesian authorities released the leader of the pro-Islamic State Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), Abu Bakar Bashir, after he had served only 11 years of his 15-year sentence. Although he has been fairly reticent publicly, he retains a large following.

There was only one major terrorist attack: a young couple blew themselves up at a cathedral in Makassar in South Sulawesi, wounding 20 people.

No people other than the bombers were killed. The wife was four months pregnant. The couple was tied to another couple who blew themselves up at a cathedral in Jolo in the Southern Philippines in January 2019.

Overall, there were four important trends in terrorism in Indonesia during the calendar year.

First, JAD continued to weaken both in terms of operational capability and resources. The investigation into the Makassar bombings led to the arrest of nearly 30 people.

Second, Indonesian security forces began to take the revival of Jemaah Islamiyah very seriously.

There were nearly as many arrests of JI members in 2021, as there were JAD members, and JI hadnt perpetrated a terrorist attack since 2011.

Indonesian security forces no longer view JI as an ideological off ramp for the Islamic State groups, and are seriously concerned about the groups resilience and resourcefulness.

And there were clear signs that JI, which has never renounced violence, is contemplating the resumption of militancy: In March, security forces arrested an Afghan-trained JI member, who had established a training camp in Malang for new JI members.

Related to this, was a third trend: the move by JI to infiltrate government organizations.

Security forces arrested, among others, a senior member of the Indonesian Council of Ulemas fatwa committee on suspicion of being a JI leader.

Fourth, though down to just a handful of members, the Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT), a pro-Islamic State group, kept terrorizing the local population in the Poso region of Central Sulawesi. MIT members rampaged against local communities whom they believed were providing intelligence to security forces.

Poso remains central to narrative of every militant group in Indonesia.

Inspector-General Abdul Rakhman Baso, the police chief in Indonesias Central Sulawesi province, shows a poster of wanted members of the Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen militant group, in Palu, March 2, 2021. Credit: BenarNews Volatile Philippine South

Violence in the conflict-prone southern Philippines was at its lowest level in years.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front continued to implement the peace agreement in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BAARM).

Due to the pandemic and the Herculean task of passing a host of implementing and electoral legislation, the Philippine Congress passed a law that extended the appointed Bangsamoro Transitional Authoritys power until 2025, when elections for a regional government would be held.

While there was some public backlash, especially by the MILFs rivals, the public did not view the extension as a power grab.

Meanwhile, the MILF carried on with their decommissioning of weapons, after the pandemic had slowed down the normalization process. As of September 12,000 weapons had been put beyond use.

Despite the success in the peace process, there remained several militant groups that continued to wreak havoc.

Philippine security forces kept fighting Abu Sayyaf militants in Sulu and Basilan provinces, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, the Mautes, and other groups in Mindanao.

While the Philippine government called on the BARMM to assist in combating these militant groups, the autonomous government actually has no legal authority to do so, after the Philippine Congress stripped those provisions from the 2019 implementing legislation.

In 2021, the various militant groups continued to engage in low-level violence, bombings, kidnappings, and other terrorist attacks in a bid to scuttle the peace process.

The local population remained angry about the governments continued failure to rebuild Marawi City, where pro-Islamic State fighters took over for five months in 2017. The pandemics negative impact on the economy, has further fueled grievances that militants have sought to exploit.

A motorcyclist passes an arch marking the limits of Marawi City in the southern Philippines, May 21, 2021. Credit: BenarNews With national polls scheduled for May 2022, there is ample concern about the 150 private armies that operate across the country; many of which are concentrated in Mindanao.

The decline in political violence around the region is an opportunity for the respective governments to take stock and address some core grievances.

Sadly, few governments are willing to expend the political capital to reach durable political solutions, while security forces, many of which have increased authorities, will still be unable to soundly defeat militant groups.

As such, many of the conflicts will continue to simmer in 2022.

Zachary Abuza is a professor at the National War College in Washington and an adjunct at Georgetown University. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of the U.S. Department of Defense, the National War College, Georgetown University or BenarNews
U.S. President Joe Biden is scheduled to speak by phone with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on January 2 as the two leaders plan to review preparations for upcoming diplomatic engagements aimed at de-escalating tensions over a Russian military buildup near Ukraine.



During the call, Biden intends to "reaffirm U.S. support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russian aggression," a White House official said.



The call will be the second in three weeks between the two leaders as the White House attempts to address the military threat, which has alarmed NATO, while authorities in Kyiv have expressed concerns that Russia could invade Ukraine in the coming weeks.



The call follows on the heels of talks between Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 30 in which Biden said the United States and its allies would impose severe sanctions on Russia if it invades Ukraine.



Russia has amassed about 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine as it makes demands for sweeping security guarantees from the United States and NATO.



In particular, Moscow wants NATO to deny membership to Ukraine and other former Soviet countries and roll back military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe.



Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on December 31 reinforced that Russia stands by its demands for written security guarantees.



If no constructive answer comes in a reasonable time and the West continues its aggressive course, Russia will have to take all necessary measures to maintain a strategic balance and remove unacceptable threats to our security, he told the state news agency RIA Novosti.



The Biden administration and NATO have repeatedly said that the alliance has an open-door policy and that no country should have a veto over the aspirations of another country to join. It also has said it would not discuss Ukraine's security without consulting Kyiv.

The Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, reiterated Ukraines aspiration to join NATO in an interview with RFE/RL broadcast on January 1.



Markarova also said Ukraine will receive more armed Mark VI patrol boats in the first half of 2022. She said the United States and Ukraine are cooperating on arranging the delivery of the boats. The number of boats that will be sent is under discussion, she said.



In his comments to RIA Novosti, Lavrov noted an increase in weapons supplies to Ukraine and the growing scope of joint military drills, charging that Kyiv "naturally perceives this support as a carte blanche for the use of force.

In his annual New Year's message, Zelenskiy expressed defiance amid the buildup of Russian forces.



"No army on the other side of the border frightens us because a great army on our side of the border protects us, he said. I am happy that today [Ukraine's armed forces] have the biggest budget in the history of Ukraine."



During their call on December 30, Biden and Putin set the groundwork for three sets of upcoming talks aimed at defusing the crisis.



U.S. and Russian officials will meet January 9-10 in Geneva to discuss arms control and the mounting tensions over Ukraine under their bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue. That will be followed by a separate meeting of the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels on January 12.



Another meeting will be held in Vienna a day later within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which includes the United States, its European allies, Ukraine, and Russia.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
Russia entered 1922 with a shaky government ruling largely by martial law, a civil war still raging, a famine spreading across the Volga region, parts of the country still occupied by foreign intervention forces  and isolated as an international pariah.



But by the end of the year, the Bolsheviks had marked the fifth anniversary of the 1917 coup known as the October Revolution, had all but ended the civil war against so-called White monarchist and capitalist forces, largely pushed out the foreign troops, and signed their first peacetime international treaty -- with Weimar Germany. And on December 30, 1922, representatives of the Soviet governments of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Transcaucasian Republic took to the stage of Moscow's Bolshoi Theater to proclaim the formation of a new country that within less than two generations would become a global superpower -- the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.



But with the 20/20 hindsight of a century's distance, 1922 emerges as a fateful year for the peoples of Russia and its neighborhood, a year in which the country broke decisively with its past. In terms of politics, foreign affairs, and culture, events transpired and decisions were made that laid the rails for decades of institutionalized totalitarian oppression. This year will see many centennial anniversaries that Russian President Vladimir Putin and others who argue that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a geopolitical catastrophe might prefer not to remember. The Rise Of A 'Sociopath' "This is the first year that we have had the opportunity of devoting our efforts to the real, main, and fundamental tasks of socialist construction," revolutionary leader and Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin told the closing session of the 11th congress of the Bolshevik party in Moscow on April 2, 1922, in a speech focused on his economic plans.



"Over the past year we showed quite clearly that we cannot run the economy," Lenin conceded. "Either we prove the opposite in the coming year or Soviet power will not be able to exist."



But in retrospect, the most portentous decision of the congress was the appointment of a new party general secretary: Josef Stalin, a 43-year-old former seminary student turned revolutionary.

"This was one of the most fateful moments of the Russian Revolution and, indeed, of the 20th century," English cultural historian Kevin Jackson wrote in his 2012 book Constellation Of Genius: 1922 Modernism Year One. Although the post was still far from the total power Stalin would wield in later years, it positioned him to control the bureaucracy that would increasingly dominate the country.



The decision to name Stalin general secretary was one Lenin would live to regret -- even though he would be dead less than two years later.

Already experiencing poor health in 1921, Lenin suffered a stroke in May 1922 and a second in December. That month, Stalin took over personal control of Lenin's care and of who had access to him. In the final weeks of 1922 and the early days of the new year, Lenin dictated a final testament in which he famously urged his comrades to "think about a way of removing Stalin" from his post.



The call for Stalin's removal was the only concrete proposal in Lenin's entire testament.



"This circumstance may appear to be a negligible detailbut it is a detail that could assume decisive importance," he wrote.



"Stalin was a sociopath," said Princeton University historian and Stalin biographer Stephen Kotkin in a 2017 interview with RFE/RL. [H]e did not demonstrate even elementary compassion or doubts in his policies." 'More Organized' Terror On February 2, 1922, the notorious All-Russian Extraordinary Commission -- abbreviated as ChK, or Cheka -- was transformed into the State Political Directorate (GPU) under the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD).



Under the ruthless Feliks Dzerzhinsky, the Cheka secret police had enforced Lenin's policy of "Red Terror," which was proclaimed in September 1918.



"We are not fighting against single individuals," wrote Bolshevik revolutionary and Cheka officer Martin Latsis in the journal Red Terror in November 1918. "We are exterminating the bourgeoisie as a class. This is the essence of the Red Terror."

Ostensibly, the move to transform the Cheka into the GPU was part of an overall drive to establish stable institutions and political control over government agencies. Already, however, complaining about the booming bureaucracy was becoming so prominent that it spawned an entire Soviet satirical genre, beginning with Vladimir Mayakovsky's 1922 poem Conference-Crazy (Prozasedavshikhsya). The reorganization of the Cheka could have reined in the Red Terror. Instead, however, it institutionalized many of the campaigns most egregious practices, including the targeted persecution of political opponents.

"The ChK was transformed into the GPU, which put it under some degree of political control, meaning a reduction in the terror," St. Petersburg historian Boris Kolonsky told RFE/RL's Russian Service in 2021. "On the other hand, the terror became more organized. In 1922, they held the trial of the Social Revolutionaries, Kolonsky said, referring to the Bolsheviks' main remaining political rival. And one of the major tightenings of the screws was the restriction on free discussion and factionalism within the Bolshevik party itself."



As the threat posed by the White armies in the civil war waned, this new structure turned inward. The reform meant that the Cheka's authority to carry out extrajudicial executions was temporarily eliminated, but the GPU quickly expanded the practice of sending political and economic "enemies" into exile in Siberia and the Far North. The first camp in what grew into the gulag system was opened on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea in 1923.



One year later, GPU agents were again authorized to carry out executions "under certain circumstances." 'Generous HelpTerrible Calamity' By far the most horrific event in Russia and the world in 1922 was the ongoing famine throughout the Volga region and beyond. It is estimated that at least 5 million people died in what at the time was one of the worst nonmilitary catastrophes in Europe since the Middle Ages.



"In 1921-22 we saw a massive famine with a horrific number of victims," Russian historian Viktor Kondrashin told RFE/RL in September. "It was something reminiscent of the early 17th century, the famine of the Time of Troubles, both in terms of the number of people in the affected region and the number of the dead."

The famine was caused by a perfect storm of events -- a major drought struck a country already depleted by World War I and the Civil War. On top of that, the Bolsheviks -- deprived by the White armies of access to food-producing regions in Ukraine and Siberia -- carried out inhumane grain requisitions in the region.



"Horrific facts have been documented," Kondrashin said. "Cannibalism, mass graves, and the suicide of whole families driven by hunger."



In 1918, Lenin sent Stalin to the southern city of Tsaritsyn -- later called Stalingrad and now Volgograd -- to requisition food. His order: Be merciless.



"Be assured our hand will not tremble," Stalin replied. "We won't show mercy to anyone."



In July 1921, writer Maksim Gorky issued an appeal "to all honest people" seeking famine relief. The appeal landed on the desk of U.S. Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover, who wrote back that he was ready to create a program of the American Relief Administration (ARA) in Russia if the Soviet government requested it formally and with the understanding that the assistance did not mean American recognition of the Bolshevik government.

The offer was extremely controversial in the United States, where many on the right argued that the famine might bring an end to Bolshevism in Russia. Hoover, however, insisted that "we must make some distinction between the Russian people and the group who have seized the government."



Many in the Soviet government, particularly firebrand Leon Trotsky, also opposed the plan, arguing the aid was the thin edge of a wedge that would soon see American businesses and banks setting up in Russia, according to The Russian Job: The Forgotten Story Of How America Saved The Soviet Union From Ruin, a 2019 monograph by Douglas Smith.



The Soviets, nevertheless, accepted Hoover's conditions immediately. An agreement was signed in August 1921 and the U.S. Congress allocated $20 million for the program. Counting the Russian government's $18 million contribution and private donations, Hoover collected about $78 million for the effort.

In 1922, the ARA was feeding 10 million people per day, bringing in at least 768 million tons of food. The program also employed 125,000 Russians in the affected areas. The ARA also provided clothes, shoes, and medicine. It aided some 16,000 hospitals treating more than half a million people daily. The project improved sanitation and prevented outbreaks of cholera and other diseases in the region. It also brought in thousands of tons of seed grain that contributed to bumper crops -- and lucrative export profits for the Soviet government -- in 1922 and 1923.



"The government of the Russian nation will never forget the generous help afforded them in the terrible calamity and dangers visited upon them," Bolshevik leader Lev Kamenev, the deputy chairman of the Russian famine relief effort, wrote in a letter to ARA representative William Haskell.



In February 1923, with the ARA estimating that 8 million Russians still needed famine aid, the Soviet government announced plans to resume grain exports. Western support for the ARA Russia program was further eroded in March when the Soviet government put a dozen Russian Orthodox clergymen and one Catholic priest, Konstantin Budkevich, on trial for organizing peaceful protests against the state seizure of church property. All the defendants were sentenced to long prison terms except for Budkevich, who was executed on Catholic Easter weekend and buried in a mass grave.

The ARA decided to wrap up its operation. "Mr. Hoover said that he had never been so glad to finish a job as this Russian job," a State Department official reported. "[H]e was completely disgusted with the Bolsheviks and did not believe that a practical government could ever be worked out under their leadership."



Under Stalin in the 1930s and beyond, "the history of the ARA was being expunged or distorted beyond recognition," Smith wrote in his book. Officials and ordinary Russians who had participated in the project were purged and persecuted into the 1950s. The 1950 edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia wrote that the ARA was intended "to create an apparatus in Soviet Russia for spying and wrecking activities and for supporting counterrevolutionary elements." A 1962 school textbook said the purpose of the ARA was "to secretly organize an insurrectionary force," adding that the purported plot was thwarted by the GPU.



The ARA effort was comparable, Smith argued, to the assistance provided by Europe and the United States to former Soviet countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union.



"Between 1992 and 2007, the U.S. government provided $28 billion in assistance to the countries of the former Soviet Union," Smith wrote. "In 1999 alone, Russia requested 5 million tons of food aid from the United States, worth nearly $2 billion. For 1999-2000, U.S. and European food aid to Russia surpassed that given to the entire continent of Africa." Secret Meetings On April 16, 1922, Soviet Russia broke through its total international isolation by signing the Treaty of Rapallo with Weimar Germany. Following World War I and the Treaty of Versailles, both countries were diplomatically isolated pariahs.



The Rapallo Treaty reestablished diplomatic relations between the two countries and paved the way for boosted economic cooperation. Although the pact contained no military provisions, it opened the way for intense collaboration -- in violation of the Versailles treaty -- that was initiated in a series of secret meetings in the summer of 1922. Over the next few years, Germany opened an aviation school, a chemical weapons plant, and a tank-warfare testing ground in the Soviet Union.



"These bases helped to modernize the Red Army and played a central role in developing the military technologies that would enable the rebirth of the German military under Hitler," analyst Ian Johnson wrote in the War On The Rocks blog in 2016.



In Germany, the signing of the Treaty of Rapallo was seen by some as an indication of a looming "Jewish-Bolshevik threat" to their country. It led to increased activity by the extreme right and those who financed them. In June 1922, just two months after he signed the treaty, German Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau was assassinated by a right-wing terrorist group. In one of his first major speeches in Munich in August 1922, Adolf Hitler warned of the approaching Jewish Bolshevism under the protection of the republic at a rally where his storm troopers made their first appearance in their notorious brown shirts. In Italy, fascist leader Benito Mussolini became prime minister that October. No Room For 'Heretics, Dreamers, Rebels' 1922 was also a fateful year for Russia culturally. Comparing the contours of Russian culture in 1920 -- from the visual arts to literature to music to dance to the applied arts and beyond -- with those found just 15 years later, one is struck by the drastic transformation that took place in such a short span. Art historian Camilla Gray, in her study The Russian Experiment In Art: 1863-1922, considered 1922 the cutoff year for one of the most remarkable cultural explosions in history.

In 1922, Boris Pilnyak published The Naked Year, an impressionistic masterpiece that is the first Russian novel written entirely after the October 1917 coup. On April 21, 1938, he was convicted of plotting to kill Stalin and, on the same day, shot in the back of the head and buried in a mass grave at the Kommunarka shooting range in Moscow. Also in 1922, Yevgeny Zamyatin was holding private readings of his dystopian novel We, which hed completed the previous year -- the same year in which he wrote a prophetic essay titled I Am Afraid, which argued that there seemed to be no space in the Bolshevik state for madmen, hermits, heretics, dreamers, rebels, and skeptics. Zamyatin died in exile, in Paris, in 1937. Although the novel We was published in New York in English in 1924 and finally in Russian in 1952, it was not published in the Soviet Union until 1988, three years before its collapse. In 1967, Russian-born emigre critic Mirra Ginsburg wrote: Like [Mikhail] Bulgakov and [Isaak] Babel, Zamyatin gives us a glimpse of what postrevolutionary Russian literature might have become had independence, daring, and individuality not been stamped out so ruthlessly by the dictatorship.

As the Bolsheviks secured power with the waning of the civil war, the leadership increasingly turned its attention to remaking society. In 1921, the government set its sights on the Russian Orthodox Church. Initially, the purpose of the campaign was to confiscate as much church property as possible, but by 1922 Lenin had more ambitious plans. In a memo dated March 19, 1922, Lenin called for a secret meeting between political leaders and the heads of the GPU and the Peoples Commissariat of Justice. A secret resolution would be adopted, he wrote, ordering the complete dispossession of the church to be carried out with ruthless resolution, leaving nothing in doubt, and in the very shortest time.

The greater the number of the reactionary clergy and the reactionary bourgeoisie that we succeed in shooting on this occasion, the better, because this audience must precisely now be taught a lesson in such a way that they will not dare to think about any resistance whatsoever for several decades, the Bolshevik leader wrote. St. Petersburg historian Aleksandr Margolis told RFE/RL in a 2016 interview that the campaign against the church was carried out in the most barbaric fashion. Of course, the clergy tried to stop it somehow, he said. But the answer was clear: The more of them we hang, the better. On the night of August 12-13, Bolsheviks shaved the beards of Petrograd Metropolitan Veniamin and several other senior clergymen from the city and dressed them in rags. The subterfuge was necessary so that the soldiers in the firing squad would not know that they were executing clergymen. They were executed on the outskirts of the city and buried in a mass grave. In 1992, a few months after the Soviet Union ceased to exist, Veniamin and several of those executed with him were canonized as Russian Orthodox saints and a cenotaph was erected for them in St. Petersburgs Aleksandr Nevsky Lavra. The canonization decree orders that their precious remains, should they ever be found, shall be considered holy relics. Lenin had similar plans for Russias intellectual elite. In an article published on March 12, 1922, and titled On The Significance Of Militant Materialism, Lenin denounced intellectuals as graduated flunkies of clericalism and democracy as nothing but the freedom to preach whatever is to the advantage of the bourgeoisie, to preach, namely, the most reactionary ideas, religion, obscurantism, defense of the exploiters, and so on.

The campaign culminated in September-November 1922, when three ships sailed from Petrograd to the West. On board, GPU agents had bundled many of the countrys most prominent thinkers and their families, largely dispossessed and sent into exile. The so-called Philosopher Ships carried away philosophers Nikolai Lossky, Yuly Aikhenvald, Nikolai Berdyayev, Sergei Bulgakov, and Semyon Frank. They also took away Ivan Ilyin, a fascist thinker who wrote a 1933 article titled National Socialism: A New Spirit. Ilyin has been praised by Putin and, in 2005, Putin was personally involved in the effort to have Ilyins remains reinterred in Moscow. He consecrated the grave in 2009.

Not all of the nearly 300 intellectuals who were shipped out of the country in 1922 were famous. They included doctors, lawyers, educators, economists, and others. Russian filmmaker Aleksei Denisov, whose 2002 documentary Russian Exodus chronicled the first wave of Russian emigration, said in 2012 that, all told, it is estimated that the Russians exiled from the country between 1922 and 1939 published more than 13,000 academic works after leaving the Soviet Union.
Russian warplanes have bombed a pumping station that provides water to rebel-controlled Idlib city in northwestern Syria, potentially depriving hundreds of thousands of people in the overcrowded city of water, according to witnesses and a monitoring group.

Russian Sukhoi jets dropped bombs in Idlib and several surrounding villages on January 2, witnesses and the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

Reliable sources said that Russian fighter jets have so far carried out nearly 10 air strikes targeting the vicinity of Al-Sheikh Yusuf village in western Idlib countryside, the vicinity of the central prison near Idlib city, and the vicinity of Sejer water station, which feeds Idlib city and its western villages, leaving the station out of action as pipes have been damaged, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

An official at the city's water utility service confirmed the pumping station was out of action as a result of the strikes.

There was no immediate comment from the Russian or the Syrian armies.

More than 3 million civilians live in jihadist and rebel-controlled Idlib Province, many of them displaced from other parts of Syria during the countrys decade-long civil war. Most of the population in Idlib is dependent on UN humanitarian assistance to survive.

In March 2020, Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces, and Turkey, which supports some opposition groups, agreed to a de-escalation zone in Idlib. However, rebel attacks and Russian and Syrian bombing have continued despite the cease-fire.

Turkey has thousands of troops deployed at bases in Idlib to deter a Syrian Army offensive, which it fears would push millions of people across the border as refugees.

Syrian and Russian planes have carried out deadly aerial strikes on schools, hospitals, markets, and other infrastructure in Idlib Province that UN investigators and rights groups say may amount to war crimes.

Jihadist factions have also been accused of carrying out possible war crimes.

With reporting by Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have vowed to boost ties, both sides said.

In a phone call, Putin and Erdogan reviewed bilateral cooperation and reaffirmed their determination to continue boosting the mutually beneficial partnership between Russia and Turkey," the Kremlin said on January 2.

"The parties also touched upon global issues, including the recent proposals on developing legally binding agreements that will guarantee Russias security, the situation in the South Caucasus, and efforts to resolve the Syrian and Libyan crises," the statement added.

Turkeys Communications Directorate said the call focused on steps to improve relations.

The Caucasus, Syria, and Libya alongside regional and international developments were discussed in the meeting that reiterated the determination to advance Turkey-Russia cooperation in all fields, the Turkish side said.

The call comes as NATO-member Turkey, which has the alliance's second-largest army, has angered Moscow by supplying weapons to Ukraine, including armed drones that were used for the first time against Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in late October.

Turkey has good ties with both Kyiv and Moscow, but it has criticized Moscow's seizure of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and voiced support for Ukraine's territorial integrity.

Russia has amassed about 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine, raising concerns it is preparing for a possible offensive as it demands sweeping security guarantees from the United States and NATO.

In particular, Moscow wants NATO to deny membership to Ukraine and other former Soviet countries and roll back military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe.

Russia and Turkey are also cooperating in a diplomatic push to bring stability to the South Caucasus following Azerbaijans victory against Armenian forces in the late 2020 war over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Turkish and Armenian special envoys are expected to meet in Moscow this month to kick-start talks on normalizing relations as part of a broader Russia-mediated regional peace effort involving Armenia and Turkeys ally, Azerbaijan.

In Syria and Libya, Russia and Turkey back opposing sides but have generally cooperated in trying to reduce conflict.
U.S. President Joe Biden has told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that the United States and its allies will "respond decisively" if Russia further invades Ukraine, according to a White House statement on January 2.



Biden reaffirmed the United States commitment to Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in the statement, which came after the two leaders spoke by phone.



The leaders expressed support for diplomatic efforts, starting next week with the bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue, at NATO through the NATO-Russia Council, and at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Psaki said.



The first of the three high-level U.S. and Russian talks are set for January 9-10 in Geneva.



Zelenskiy noted that the call came early in 2022 and said he and Biden discussed the cooperation between the United States and Ukraine and other partners.



"The first international talk of the year with @POTUS proves the special nature of our relations," Zelenskiy wrote on Twitter. He said he and Biden discussed the joint actions of Ukraine, the United States "and partners in keeping peace in Europe, preventing further escalation, reforms, deoligarchization.



We appreciate the unwavering support of Ukraine, he added.



The call was the second in three weeks between the two leaders as the White House attempts to address a Russian troop buildup that has alarmed NATO, while authorities in Kyiv have expressed concerns that Russia could invade Ukraine in the coming weeks.



The call follows on the heels of talks between Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 30 in which Biden said the United States and its allies would impose severe sanctions on Russia if it invades Ukraine.

Russia has amassed about 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine as it makes demands for sweeping security guarantees from the United States and NATO.



In particular, Moscow wants NATO to deny membership to Ukraine and other former Soviet countries and roll back military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe.



During their call on December 30, Biden and Putin set the groundwork for three sets of upcoming talks aimed at defusing the crisis.



The talks in Geneva next week are to discuss arms control and the mounting tensions over Ukraine under their bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue.



That will be followed by a separate meeting of the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels on January 12.



Another meeting will be held in Vienna a day later within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which includes the United States, its European allies, Ukraine, and Russia.



Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on December 31 reinforced that Russia stands by its demands for written security guarantees.



If no constructive answer comes in a reasonable time and the West continues its aggressive course, Russia will have to take all necessary measures to maintain a strategic balance and remove unacceptable threats to our security, he told the state news agency RIA Novosti.



The Biden administration and NATO have repeatedly said that the alliance has an open-door policy and that no country should have a veto over the aspirations of another country to join. It also has said it would not discuss Ukraine's security without consulting Kyiv.



The Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, reiterated Ukraines aspiration to join NATO in an interview with RFE/RL broadcast on January 1.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
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Residents complain about lack of transparency in Rivian deal

Staff Photo: Alice Queen Residents gathered Tuesday to express their concerns about the planned construction of a massive electric vehicle assembly and battery plant in Walton and Morgan counties. Staff Photo: Alice Queen Morgan County County Commissioner Andy Ainslie listens to residents concerns about the Rivian plant at a meeting of the Joint Development Authority Tuesday. Rutledge resident Jo Ellen Art raises her hand to speak during public comment at the JDA meeting Tuesday. Art said she is concerned about the loss of farmland if the Rivian plant is constructed in Morgan County.

SOCIAL CIRCLE  Several residents expressed concerns about the Rivian Automotive plant that is planned for Stanton Springs North at a meeting of the Jasper, Newton, Morgan and Walton Counties Joint Development Authority Tuesday.

About 10 residents of Walton and Morgan counties spoke during the public comment period of the JDAs regular meeting, held at the Bioscience Training Center at Stanton Springs.

The lack of transparency about the $5 billion deal, which was announced by Gov. Kemp on Dec. 16, was one of the primary concerns expressed by residents. The electric vehicle assembly and battery plant is expected to hire 7,500 employees, with production slated to begin in 2024. The plant will be located in Walton and Morgan counties and inside the city limits of Social Circle.

To say that this is a surprise is an understatement, said Social Circle resident James Evans. The timing of it is questionable here at Christmastime with holidays and everything else. The biggest concern is just the lack of information. Weve received nothing from the city of Social Circle, Walton County, the JDA, the state of Georgia, Rivian  nothing.

Christina Wertz said she and her family had moved to Social Circle six months ago.

Had I known what was planned for this area  I would never have moved here, she said.  The lack of transparency in all of this is deeply concerning to me.

Jeanne Sutyak said she had just spent $30,000 replacing windows and floors in her Morgan County home, which she had believed would be her forever home.

Am I going to be eminent domained out of my home? she asked.

Rutledge resident John Strickland asked why the JDA had signed a non-disclosure agreement with Rivian and when it would expire.

Shane Short, executive director of the Development Authority of Walton County and who provides economic development services for the JDA, said the JDA will host a town hall meeting in the coming two weeks to address residents concerns. He said Rivian will follow up with another town hall meeting to hear from residents.

While Short said the deal is done and Rivian is coming to the area, the company is open to listening to your concerns.

Its a big impact, and we understand that, said Short. We did not recruit Rivian; Rivian came to the state of Georgia, and the state of Georgia came to this JDA. We were not the only community in Georgia that they looked at. They actually they looked at three other sites in Georgia. At the end of the day, the company selected Georgia. This is where they felt like they wanted to be. And we look forward to that town hall meeting where we can tell you more about the company and their footprint.

Short said virtually every economic development project involves a non-disclosure agreement to protect companies interests. He said legally the JDA could not have commented on the project before it was announced by the governor.

Short said there was no intention to keep the project secret, because, quite frankly, it benefits us. We love to tell good news, but we are legally bound by what we can and cant say.

He also explained that no eminent domain proceedings were used to acquire the 2,000-acre footprint that Rivian will occupy, and none is planned in the future.

There has been zero eminent domain on this project, he said. Every property owner gave us a price of what they wanted for their property. Thats how it worked.

Verner Lane resident Neil Fitzgerald expressed concerns about upgrading the infrastructure, roads in particular, prior to the plant being constructed.

My concern is with this plant coming in and with more people coming in from everywhere, weve got to work on infrastructure first, he said.

Short said there are existing engineering plans by the Georgia Department of Transportation to help control traffic.

He also said it is unlikely that many of the 7,500 employees at the auto plant will live in the area, similar to what happened at West Point with the development of the Kia plant.

We dont have the housing. The housing doesnt exist, and you cant build enough homes in that time period to house that many people, said Short.

Short said West Point hasnt changed much from what it was 20 years ago.

Not many people moved to live in a rural community near that plant, he said. Most all of them commute. We anticipate that is what is going to be the case here because we dont have the housing in Walton County, we dont have the housing in Jasper, we dont have the housing in Morgan County. They are going to have to commute to work.

There will be some new homes built, he added, but said that the affected counties are already working to control growth with stricter zoning regulations. He said the lack of sewer will also limit development in unincorporated Walton and Morgan counties.
Born in the Basra pearls family, the first private jewelers to royal families, Ashraf Motiwala is the fourth generation to carry forward the legacy of A S Motiwala. Spearheading the prestigious family legacy, Ashraf Motiwala felt the need to breathe new life into the business. As demand for fine jewellery escalated both in India and abroad, the changing scenario required him to re-invent A S Motiwala, while keeping the reputation intact.

In 2002, Ashraf Motiwala acquired the nuance of the trade from the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) right from mining, cutting, polishing to assorting (grading) diamonds and precious stones, and worked towards translating the heritage value to high finished bespoke pieces.

In 2018, Faith received the prestigious Diamond of Asia International Award for Quality Excellence from the Economic Growth Society of India. In 2020, Ashraf Motiwala was presented with the Inspirational Leader award for his impressive achievements in the realm of the jewellery business. Under Ashraf Motiwalas direction, the brand A S Motiwala received a fresh perspective on the shifting consumer behaviour by launching Faith, which embodies A S Motiwala's trustworthiness, values, and craftsmanship.

In 2021, Ashraf Motiwala, as Founder & Creative Director at Faith By ASM, has taken their newest brand extension online to reach a global audience.

Here, in an exclusive Interview with Rough&Polished, Ashraf Motiwala speaks about the company and its mission

Some excerpts:

Can you walk us through A S Motiwala... right from the inception of the company to date? Where are your manufacturing unit/s situated; and from where do you source your raw materials diamonds, colour gems, gold, etc.?

A S Motiwala was founded in the year 2012, but the brand enjoys over a century-long legacy (1905-present). Since its inception, the brand has attracted global patronage and the trust of celebrities, social figures, members of the film industry, and more. Over the years, A S Motiwala has positioned itself as an industry leader and has earned many honors and accolades in the gem and jewellery industry.

Our manufacturing units are in and around Mumbai. We source our diamonds from Debeers and Alrosa.





Image credit: A S Motiwala



Please give us more information about the kind of jewellery you deal in. Known more as a high-end, couture jeweller offering fine jewellery, do you cater to the average jewellery buyers too with entry-level everyday jewellery?

A S Motiwala was initially perceived as a legacy jeweller catering only to high-end customers has now also entered the everyday jewellery industry with its auxiliary brand faith by ASM.

Faith started as an idea, a relentless pursuit to take a century-long legacy brand and translate it into a luxury brand that would resonate with the youth. Taking the brilliance, expertise, and trust of the century-old legacy, with faith we aim to elevate everyday jewellery and offer our customers the best fine jewellery experience possible

Faith by ASM is now online to cater to a larger audience. The brand has made significant advances in exports and expanded its retail footprint in over 10 TAJ locations pan India.



And how important is the design aspect in your jewellery. Also, tell us your story  on your passion for designing! Can a jewellery connoisseur recognize AS Motiwala jewellery? Do you customize jewellery pieces for clients?



Were a design-first brand Everything is design and design is everything. We are very specific when it comes to the finish and quality check of every piece that we produce. Our designs are usually inspired by nature in all its glory, inspirations that come from travels, new places, cities with brilliant architecture or from the serenity of the mountains. We customize jewellery for our clients and strive to achieve perfection in all that we do. We have multiple layers of Quality control to ensure we retail only the finest quality.





Image credit: A S Motiwala



Over the years what transformations have you seen in jewellery demand in the local market - in terms of design, diamond content, gold content, etc.; and what is the trend at present?



There has been a big shift in design thinking over the past two decades, Indians being well-travelled now expect a better-finished product. Design is the king when it comes to jewellery but finish and wearability are also very important factors.

We have seen a majority of customers moving away from heavy gold sets to fine diamond jewellery, sets that have lesser gold and more diamonds are a winning combination. Also rose gold has been a market leader, this whole new colour of metal has taken a lot of liking in the Indian market. The Indian customers are now liking the R&D, earlier the designs were monotonous and would look mostly the same now people have started liking the innovations that there are in jewellery. Innovations like enamel in their jewellery are preferred by most well-travelled customers. Additional customers are very receptive to innovation and they also encourage us to innovate rather than imitate

Whenever we do sit to design, we always have the consumer in mind we do always think of the well-travelled customer and then design the pieces.

Is AS Motiwala into the jewellery export business? If not, any plans on the horizon?

We are into jewellery export business... we export to over 4 continents.

Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished
A man receives Chinese aid in Shiberghan, capital of Afghanistan's Jawzjan Province, Jan. 1, 2022.

Authorities in Jawzjan province began distribution of Chinese aid to 500 destitute families on Saturday, said Abdul Qayum Nazari, head of the refugee and repatriation affairs in the province. (Str/Xinhua)

SHIBERGHAN, Afghanistan, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in Afghanistan's northern Jawzjan province began distribution of the China-donated aid to 500 destitute families here on Saturday, head of Refugees and Repatriation Affairs in the province Abdul Qayum Nazari said.

"In the first day of distribution which began today, 100 families received the aid including blankets and coats," the official told Xinhua.

The remaining 400 families would receive the aid in the next four days, the official said.

Saying that around 20,000 displaced and poor families living in Jawzjan province are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, the official called on the international community to help the needy Afghans at this critical moment.

"I am thankful to China for sending humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan," Nazar Mohammad, who received the China-donated aid in Shiberghan city, told Xinhua.

China has recently sent batches of humanitarian assistances including foodstuff, COVID-19 vaccines and winter clothes to Afghanistan. Enditem

A man receives Chinese aid in Shiberghan, capital of Afghanistan's Jawzjan Province, Jan. 1, 2022.

Authorities in Jawzjan province began distribution of Chinese aid to 500 destitute families on Saturday, said Abdul Qayum Nazari, head of the refugee and repatriation affairs in the province. (Str/Xinhua)
Connecticut-based Pratt & Whitney is at the center of a National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the weekend failure of its PW4000-112 engine mounted on a United Airlines passenger jet that rained debris on a Colorado town.

On Sunday, NTSB ordered the grounding of Boeing 777-200 jets with the Pratt & Witney engines. Japans aviation regulatory body followed suit after a PW4000 engine had a similar failure last December during a Japan Airlines flight.

The United Airlines 328 engine failure was reminiscent of a 2018 incident when a PW4000 fan blade broke free during a United Airlines flight to Honolulu, resulting in similarly uncontained engine damage and fire. As the case with the Colorado and Japan flights, pilots made emergency landings relying their remaining engine with no injuries.

Pratt & Whitney offered no comment beyond a general statement pledging to continue to work to ensure the safe operation of the fleet and that investigative updates will be at the discretion of the NTSB in its words.

The PW4000-112 is one of three PW4000-series engines of varying sizes and thrust that Pratt & Whitney has manufactured since 1984, under former parent company United Technologies  which was acquired last April by Waltham, Mass.-based Raytheon Technologies.

It is the largest engine produced by Pratt & Whitney with a diameter of 112 inches. Boeing 777-200 and 777-300 aircraft are the only models that use the engine, with smaller PW4000 engines used for other Boeing jets as well as Airbus planes and McDonnell Douglas MD-11 models.

With its headquarters plant in East Hartford and another major facility in Middletown, Pratt & Whitney is Connecticuts second largest private-sector employer with about 11,000 employees split between the two facilities at last report. Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes initiated massive job cuts last year at Pratt & Whitney as the COVID-19 pandemic ground air travel to historic lows, but with only hundreds of job cuts for its Connecticut workforce.

Pratt & Whitney is counting on the newer PW1000 engine for future orders. The engine features a geared turbofan design with design efficiencies it calculates as saving airlines $1 million annually for each aircraft. The company also makes jet engines for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Boeing had 10 orders last year for the 777 series of airplane, with its outlook dominated by the 737 with 130 on order despite hundreds more canceled orders. As of the end of January, Boeing lists only about 30 unfilled orders for airplanes powered with Pratt & Whitney engines, with GE Aviation and its CFM International joint venture with Safran the dominant engines used on Boeing models today.

Global fleets for the Boeing 737-MAX were grounded in early 2019, after investigators attributed a pair of crashes to faulty sensors that recorded lower air speeds than was actually the case; and software that pushed the aircraft into steep descents to recover air speed, over the efforts of pilots unaware of the glitch as they struggled to pull the nose of the aircraft back up.

General Electric reported a $10.8 billion decline in GE Aviation revenue last year to $22 billion, with airlines having canceled 1,500 of the Leap-1B engines used on the 737-MAX but thousands more remaining on order.

Boeing replaced former CEO Dennis Muilenburg with Dave Calhoun, who earlier in his career led GE Aviation.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman
Safe drinking water, better clothes, warm quilts... No matter how busy he is, Chinese President Xi Jinping has spent time visiting people at the grassroots level, inquiring about the matters of their concern. Find out what are the things Xi has always kept in mind.
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Steps from the white sands of Stinson Beach, Gary Bisson went from one house to the next on a blustery blue-sky December day, setting out the garbage and recycling bins at vacation properties. A self-described survivor of the Summer of Love, Bisson found refuge here 50 years ago and never left.

At times during those decades, the ocean had all but devoured the beach during big El Nino storms. Bisson recalls in 1982 watching seals bob along Calle del Arroyo, the only egress for oceanfront neighborhoods, when a 100-year storm swept about a half-dozen beachfront homes into the sea and flooded the streets.

That storm decades ago illustrates what sea level rise could do to this coastal community, one of the most vulnerable on the Marin County coast. A 2016 assessment of the countys shoreline towns found that without intervention, flooding linked to rising seas could damage or destroy 200 to 400 of Stinson Beachs 775 homes by 2030.

The solutions are imperfect. Some communities are preparing to move infrastructure, homes and any new development away from coastal lowlands. Others are building seawalls and different types of structural armor.

Marin County officials are considering a temporary, more ecologically oriented solution: build dunes to absorb some of the pressure from king tides and big storms heightened by rising seas.

Dunes are natures storm absorbers, with tall sand mounds and deep-rooted grasses that can soak up some of the deluge.

Supervisor Dennis Rodoni, whose district encompasses most of the countys coast, said he believes the cost and effort are worth it, even for a system that might work for only several decades.

Thats what were trying to learn from the studies  to see how well (dunes) might work to delay the inevitable, Rodoni said.

It is an existential threat for Stinson Beach, a white-sand crescent beach beloved despite frigid waters and fog, the end of the 116-year-old Dipsea race where Mount Tamalpais western flank tumbles into the sea. Its population of about 600 swells to more than 10,000 on summer weekends.

The sands of Stinson Beach could disappear as soon as 2050. By the end of the century, nearly 600 homes with a collective market value of $1.5 billion could be damaged beyond repair.

Encroaching seas threaten to put $8 billion to $10 billion worth of California properties underwater by 2050, according to a 2020 report from the Legislative Analysts Office. In Marin County, more than a quarter of properties are at risk.

Across coastal California, dunes, long trampled by human development along the water, are increasingly under discussion as a potential tool to stave off the effects of damaged ecosystems and climate change.

The county released a feasibility study last fall for dunes that found that these structures could offer real protection for the community from the impacts of 1 feet of sea level rise by 2045 and 3 feet by 2068, scenarios recommended by the states latest guidance. The cost was estimated at $48 million to $55 million, compared with an estimated $155 million for more permanent structures such as seawalls, according to the study.

One consideration in the study is whether to include cobble-gravel berms, artificial embankments under some areas of beach leading up to the dunes, which could lessen erosion but, if wind sweeps the sand away, make it uncomfortable for barefoot beachgoers.

A key challenge will be securing enough sand to build the dunes and maintain them. James Jackson, a civil and coastal engineer with Environmental Science Associates, the San Francisco firm hired to conduct the study, said the most likely scenario involves getting sediment dredged from San Francisco Bay, a plan that will require complex approvals from state and federal agencies, including the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.

Sand is a hot commodity, Jackson said.

Stinson Beach has always been a seasonal post ruled by the whims of the ocean.

Dan and Teri Fruchtman bought a beachfront home in 1987, five years after that infamous storm most locals bring up during conversations about rising seas. Dan Fruchtman said he takes it as a good sign that his A-frame home right on the beach has survived. Its built on infill and protected by a modest dune he and his immediate neighbors are trying to repair, removing old buried railroad ties, trucking in soil and sand, and planting native dune grasses.

Fruchtman, who retired from a career running a security firm, said he is trying to do what he can while accepting that nothing lasts forever.

Stinson Beach is part of the National Park Services Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which manages the southern end of the beach, the most protected and broad section of sand, said Kristen Ward, an ecologist with the recreation areas division of natural resource management and science.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

The park service is collaborating with the county to find ways to protect the community. Ward said dunes are an ideal solution because of the potential ecological benefits.

The park service began taking twice-yearly measurements of the beach several years ago to start tracking both seasonal changes and beach loss over time. It has not yet collected enough data to draw any conclusions, but similar measurements collected for decades at Ocean Beach shows how its southern shoreline is quickly eroding.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers embarked on a $7 million project completed last fall to develop a 3,000-foot-long, 30-foot-tall berm to fortify the beach.

The public meetings, reports and discussions over Stinson Beachs tenuous future are increasingly dominating talk in the community. Bisson said he had just assumed his children, grandchildren and future generations could inherit this place, but now realizes that may not be true.

The Arctic is melting. Its only logical, said Bisson, 74. The Earth is so fragile. Its a shame what weve done to it.

His son, Toby Bisson, said the discussions can feel dystopian, especially when it seems officials from outside the area are suggesting that coastal residents abandon their homes. He is a supervisor with the water district, assistant fire chief and president of the community center, and serves on a community board on flooding. He said he believes other communities will be watching how they handle this issue and wants to be a model of resilience.

Were definitely in the bulls-eye, and people are looking at what were doing here, Toby Bisson, 53, said.

But he knows the ocean too well to believe any defenses will last forever. Hes built countless castles in those sands as a child and later with his own children. When the tide comes in, you build a wall to defend it, then a moat to let the waters circumnavigate its walls. Then a wave comes and washes everything away.

We should be allowed to protect ourselves, Toby Bisson said. But ultimately the ocean will win.

Julie Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: julie.johnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @juliejohnson
America is two years removed from nationwide racial justice protests that signaled a new civil rights era and only one year removed from anti-democracy riots at the U.S. Capitol, which foreshadowed something much darker.

That window perfectly captures the often painful ebb and flow of progress in this country.

Radical change inevitably gets followed by organized backlash. The Bay Area isnt immune to the cycle. And while we dont know what awaits us in 2022, my hope is we find the right answers to a few questions critically important to the states future.

Can California fix its broken recall system? Following Republicans costly and misguided attempt to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom, state officials have been exploring ways to make it harder for both sides of the political aisle to weaponize the recall process  and a majority of likely voters want them to do just that.

Lawmakers are in the middle of hearings to re-evaluate the recall process at local and state levels. The Little Hoover Commission, a bipartisan oversight agency, is crafting its own study for the Legislature.

But as my colleague Joe Garofoli wrote, the Legislature wont decide whether to pursue

reforms until the spring, meaning the public may not vote on any options  be it increasing the signature threshold required to trigger a recall election or raising the bar for what merits one in the first place  until November.

Heres what shouldnt be lost on Californians in that time: Woven into the recall wave of 2021 was the same right-wing fear-mongering over crime that helped pushed Donald Trump into office, made conservative talk show host Larry Elder a potential replacement for Newsom and now has San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin facing his own recall election in June.

California voters have had the ability to oust politicians for any reason since 1911. But last years explosion of recall activity highlighted a changing social climate: Even in our blue state, conservative fear can trump nonpartisan facts, and socially regressive sentiments can be made to seem almost mainstream.

If state leaders dont fix the recall system soon, it might not be long before a Larry Elder gets voted into the governors mansion.

Will the Bay Area abandon criminal justice reform in 2022? Along with the Boudin recall, weve seen other progressive prosecutors like George Gascon in Los Angeles and Diana Becton in Contra Costa County either have recall efforts launched against them or become recipients of vitriolic condemnation from the right for their less carceral approaches.

Meanwhile, there were Oakland city leaders who vowed to decrease police spending in 2020 only to raise the departments budget in 2021 by $38 million over two years. Richmond explored diverting about 15% of the citys $67 million police budget, or about $10 million, to nonpolice response units last year. But officials ultimately approved a less aggressive $3 million redistribution.

In San Francisco, Mayor London Breed championed redirecting $120 million from the citys law enforcement budget to Black communities in February. But her proposed budget for this year could push the departments funding back to all-time highs.

Pandemic surges in homicides in Oakland and thefts in San Francisco have forced both cities leaders to gut-check themselves about promises they made right after George Floyds murder, but before the defund slogan was weaponized by the right.

Bay Area leaders have to decide whether they truly intend to reimagine policing, or just keep rebranding it in the cynical hope that we forget those promises.

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.

Whats next for Californias Reparations Task Force? The best way to sum up the state reparations task forces work in 2021 is by calling it re-education. The legacy of slavery in America is so deeply intertwined with inequalities in housing, education and economic power that it took the nine-member task force months to unpack the insidious tendrils for the public.

But there remain more questions than answers.

The task force is still torn over who should receive reparations: Should it be Black Californians who can directly trace their ancestry to enslaved people, or all Black people who have suffered from slaverys legacy?

The task force is also still far from having a solid vision of what reparations could look like. We may get some answers in the first of two reports the task force will issue to the Legislature this summer. A second report will come in 2023, and will include the task forces formal reparations recommendations.

Much is riding on this work. Reparations doesnt poll well as a concept nationally, especially among the right, and last year we saw conservative political winds blow stronger. If 2022 is the year the task force takes a stance on who should receive reparations, itll pave the way for California to have a better idea for how to address the wounds left by the vestiges of slavery, including mass incarceration, housing discrimination or education inequality.

Right now, the task force has a deeply-divided Americas attention. And since the statewide body is the first of its kind, its successes or failures could shape the reparations conversation in this country for years to come.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Justin Phillips appears Sundays. Email: jphillips@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JustMrPhillips
Wanda Johnson was awake at 2 a.m. on New Years Day, lamenting the phone call she received at the same time 13 years ago notifying her that her son, Oscar Grant, had been killed by a BART Police officer at Fruitvale Station in Oakland.

I was up, tossing and turning, thinking, What could I have done?  when in reality I couldnt have done anything to change what occurred, Johnson told The Chronicle on Saturday afternoon, standing outside of the BART platform where her son was killed.

But one thing I learned from his death is (that) we got to learn how to protect our communities by helping people realize that the person standing next to them matters, she added.

Johnson was hosting the 12th annual vigil for Grant at the platform, where more than 100 people gathered to memorialize him through prayer, performances and speeches by Bay Area advocates and city leaders.

The vigil marked 13 years since the killing of 22-year-old Grant, who was unarmed when then-BART Officer Johannes Mehserle shot him in the back while another officer pinned Grant down. Mehserle was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced in August that his office would conduct a review of the shooting, focusing on the actions of the second BART officer, Anthony Pirone. His announcement came months after Alameda County District Attorney Nancy OMalley said her office would not file charges against Pirone after its own reopened investigation into the shooting.

Pirone first detained Grant and his friends in a chaotic confrontation on the train platform. OMalleys office called Pirones handling of the situation offensive and unacceptable, but concluded it did not have enough evidence to determine whether anyone but Mehserle was responsible for Grants death.

On Saturday, the four-hour event focused on healing communities impacted by police brutality and gun violence through action and accountability.

Yalonda M. James/The Chronicle

Several Bay Area leaders and advocates gave speeches about the importance of mentoring youth, building community, improving mental health and holding city officials accountable.

Brenda Grisham, whose son, Christopher LaVell Jones, was fatally shot 11 years ago on New Years Eve in Oakland, said she attended the vigil Saturday to support Johnson and to encourage people to make a conscious effort to make our city a safer place.

Its going to take us as a community, Grisham told the crowd. Theres a role for everybody.

Michael and Dwayne Holland, who are brothers and mime artists, performed an emotional dance to the gospel song Stand by Donnie McClurkin while people clapped and cheered them on.

Michael said he hoped the performance encouraged people to stand, just as the song says, regardless of what youre going through.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and Council Member Loren Taylor also attended the vigil.

Schaaf called Grants killing a senseless death and commended Johnsons advocacy work with the Oscar Grant Foundation.

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.

Theres so much more work to be done, but thats why we come here every year. We never forget Oscar, Schaaf said.

Taylor, who represents part of East Oakland and is running for mayor this year, told the crowd that city officials and the community must work together to make sure young people reach their fullest potential.

I am here, rolling up sleeves in partnership with you, so that we can commit to both the action and accountability. Holding those accountable but also standing up to serve, he said.

Despite the pain Johnson feels each year on New Years Day, she said she was happy to see the community gathered to memorialize her son and what he stood for.

Oscar was a person who loved people, and we have to learn how to love one another and work to change our communities by stopping the violence thats occurring, she said.

Jessica Flores is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jessica.flores@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jesssmflores
Twitter on Sunday permanently suspended an account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., for repeated violations of the companys COVID-19 misinformation policies, a company spokesperson said.

The company suspended Greenes personal account @mtgreenee account on Sunday. Her official congressional account, @RepMTG, was still active Sunday morning.

We permanently suspended the account (@mtgreenee) for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation policy. Weve been clear that, per our strike system for this policy, we will permanently suspend accounts for repeated violations of the policy, a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement.

Greene blasted the move in a statement on the Telegram messaging app, the Associated Press reported.

Twitter is an enemy to America and cant handle the truth, Greenes statement said. Thats fine, Ill show America we dont need them and its time to defeat our enemies.

Under Twitters COVID-19 misinformation policy, users are given up to five strikes for spreading potentially harmful and misleading information before their accounts are permanently suspended.

According to the New York Times, Twitter suspended Greenes account after she falsely tweeted about extremely high amounts of Covid vaccine deaths and a chart with figures from a government database with unverified raw data.

The permanent Twitter ban came after two temporary suspensions during the summer, the Washington Post reported. Greenes account was suspended for a week in August after she tweeted falsely that COVID-19 vaccines were failing. The account was also barred for 12 hours in July after Greene falsely claimed that the coronavirus was not dangerous for non-obese people and those under 65.

Jessica Flores is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jessica.flores@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jesssmflores
Smoke rises from the National Assembly building of the South African parliament in Cape Town, South Africa, on Jan. 2, 2022.

South Africa's parliament in the legislative capital Cape Town on Sunday confirmed a fire on its precinct and said it has been partly contained. (Xinhua/Lyu Tianran)

CAPE TOWN, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's parliament in the legislative capital Cape Town on Sunday confirmed a fire on its precinct and said it has been partly contained.

The fire, which the city initially said was reported to the Fire and Rescue Services on 5:03 a.m. but later corrected the time to 6:12 a.m., has affected both the Old Assembly Wing and the National Assembly Wing of the buildings of the parliament, which house the lower chamber of National Assembly and the upper chamber of National Council of Provinces, the parliament said in a statement.

The fire has been contained in the old wing and firefighters are currently trying to control the fire in the new wing, where the fire has affected the National Assembly chamber, it said, adding that no person has been injured.

The cause of the fire has not been established and investigations are underway by the relevant authorities, it said.

The National Department of Public Works and Infrastructure led by Minister Patricia De Lille, the Deputy Minister of State Security Zizi Kodwa, the South African Police Services and security personnel of Parliament are in the parliamentary precinct to assess the situation.

Jean-Pierre (JP) Smith, Cape Town's Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, had said the city's Fire and Rescue Services first received a call of a building alight in Parliament Street, which is within the precinct of the parliament, and arrived at the scene about minutes later.

Jean-Pierre (JP) Smith in an fire update said the fire gutted the 3rd floor of the old wing, including the office space and the gym, and its roof collapsed and has gone.

"The structural ceiling of the the National Assembly Wing collapsed," he said.

About 70 fire staff members are on the scene, according to him.

Initial reports indicated the fire started in an office space, he said.

About 36 firefighters from different firefighting crews are on the scene and they requested more resources to contain the fire, according to him.

The parliament complex has century-old buildings. Enditem

Smoke rises from the South African parliament in Cape Town, South Africa, on Jan. 2, 2022.

South Africa's parliament in the legislative capital Cape Town on Sunday confirmed a fire on its precinct and said it has been partly contained. (Xinhua/Lyu Tianran)

Smoke rises from the South African parliament in Cape Town, South Africa, on Jan. 2, 2022.

South Africa's parliament in the legislative capital Cape Town on Sunday confirmed a fire on its precinct and said it has been partly contained. (Xinhua/Lyu Tianran)

Smoke rises from the South African parliament in Cape Town, South Africa, on Jan. 2, 2022.

South Africa's parliament in the legislative capital Cape Town on Sunday confirmed a fire on its precinct and said it has been partly contained. (Xinhua/Lyu Tianran)

Smoke rises from the National Assembly building of the South African parliament in Cape Town, South Africa, on Jan. 2, 2022.

South Africa's parliament in the legislative capital Cape Town on Sunday confirmed a fire on its precinct and said it has been partly contained. (Xinhua/Lyu Tianran)

Policemen stand near fire engines at the parliament in Cape Town, South Africa, on Jan. 2, 2022.

South Africa's parliament in the legislative capital Cape Town on Sunday confirmed a fire on its precinct and said it has been partly contained. (Xinhua/Lyu Tianran)

Smoke rises from the South African parliament in Cape Town, South Africa, on Jan. 2, 2022.

South Africa's parliament in the legislative capital Cape Town on Sunday confirmed a fire on its precinct and said it has been partly contained. (Xinhua/Lyu Tianran)

Policemen stand outside the parliament in Cape Town, South Africa, on Jan. 2, 2022.

South Africa's parliament in the legislative capital Cape Town on Sunday confirmed a fire on its precinct and said it has been partly contained. (Xinhua/Lyu Tianran)

Firefighters are seen outside the parliament in Cape Town, South Africa, on Jan. 2, 2022.

South Africa's parliament in the legislative capital Cape Town on Sunday confirmed a fire on its precinct and said it has been partly contained. (Xinhua/Lyu Tianran)
A billboard showing late Iranian General Qassem Soleimani is seen at the entrance to a park in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 2, 2022, one day ahead of the second anniversary of his assassination by the United States in Iraq. Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that the U.S. assassination of the country's top general two years ago has raised "hatred" in global opinion. A U.S. airstrike on Jan. 3, 2020 killed Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, along with an Iraqi militia commander, near the Baghdad International Airport. (Xinhua/Gao Wencheng)

TEHRAN, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that the U.S. assassination of the country's top general two years ago has raised "hatred" in global opinion.

"The world's reactions to the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani were that all nations have strongly despised the U.S. bullying and hegemonic policies," the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on its Twitter account.

"If the U.S. officials failed to see the images of hatred on the streets of the countries worldwide, they are puppet of their own media empire," the ministry added.

A U.S. airstrike on Jan. 3, 2020 killed Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, along with an Iraqi militia commander, near the Baghdad International Airport.

Tehran Prosecutor General Ali Qasi Mehr said earlier that Iran had filed a case with the Interpol to arrest a number of U.S. political and military officials "who were involved in the assassination of Soleimani." Enditem

People walk past a billboard showing late Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 2, 2022, one day ahead of the second anniversary of his assassination by the United States in Iraq. Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that the U.S. assassination of the country's top general two years ago has raised "hatred" in global opinion. A U.S. airstrike on Jan. 3, 2020 killed Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, along with an Iraqi militia commander, near the Baghdad International Airport. (Xinhua/Gao Wencheng)

People walk past a billboard showing late Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 2, 2022, one day ahead of the second anniversary of his assassination by the United States in Iraq. Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that the U.S. assassination of the country's top general two years ago has raised "hatred" in global opinion. A U.S. airstrike on Jan. 3, 2020 killed Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, along with an Iraqi militia commander, near the Baghdad International Airport. (Xinhua/Gao Wencheng)

Vehicles drive past a billboard showing late Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 2, 2022, one day ahead of the second anniversary of his assassination by the United States in Iraq. Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that the U.S. assassination of the country's top general two years ago has raised "hatred" in global opinion. A U.S. airstrike on Jan. 3, 2020 killed Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, along with an Iraqi militia commander, near the Baghdad International Airport. (Xinhua/Gao Wencheng)
Afghans take part in a protest in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, Jan. 2, 2022.

Thousands of Afghans took streets in national capital of Kabul Sunday to protest against freeze of the country's assets by the United States, calling the release of Afghans assets.

The Afghan economy, since the Taliban's takeover in last August, has suffered from the freeze of over 9 billion U.S. dollars in assets belonging to the Afghan central bank by the United States as well as a halt in funds by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

KABUL, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Afghans took streets in national capital of Kabul Sunday to protest against freeze of the country's assets by the United States, calling the release of Afghans assets.

The Afghan economy, since the Taliban's takeover in last August, has suffered from the freeze of over 9 billion U.S. dollars in assets belonging to the Afghan central bank by the United States as well as a halt in funds by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The demonstrators were holding placards that said "our seized money should be handed over!" and "Give us our frozen money!"

"The special demand of Afghan people and my demand is to unfreeze our money, it is our rights, they should give our rights, otherwise we will continue our demonstration to make our voice heard," a protester Zekrullah said in a diplomatic district near the shuttered U.S. embassy, adding that the demonstrators came from different provinces.

The protesters said a ban on Afghan assets was an act against the international laws and a violation of international principles.

A couple of days ago a group of Afghan women also held a similar protest at the same district. Enditem

Afghans take part in a protest in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, Jan. 2, 2022.

Thousands of Afghans took streets in national capital of Kabul Sunday to protest against freeze of the country's assets by the United States, calling the release of Afghans assets.

The Afghan economy, since the Taliban's takeover in last August, has suffered from the freeze of over 9 billion U.S. dollars in assets belonging to the Afghan central bank by the United States as well as a halt in funds by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)
NEW YORK, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Over 2,000 flights have been canceled on New Year's Day as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 continued to upend airline operations during the holiday travel season in the United States.

According to FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, 2,311 flights entering, leaving or within the United States were canceled as of 7:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, and another 424 flights were delayed.

Southwest has the most cancellations among major U.S. carriers with 457 scrapped flights as of 7:30 a.m. ET. Meanwhile, nearly 190 American Airlines flights were canceled in addition to 180 Delta and 142 United flights. JetBlue had 118 canceled flights and Spirit had 91.

"The disruptions have continued throughout the holiday week, stranding holiday travelers at airports across the nation," reported Fox Business.

Major carriers such as Delta, United and JetBlue have all blamed the Omicron variant for causing staffing problems that ultimately lead to flight cancellations, according to the report.

Earlier this week, a United spokesperson noted that it was unclear when normal operations would return.

Flight delays and cancellations tied to staffing shortages have been a regular problem for the U.S. airline industry over the past year.

The latest disruptions come at a time when the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) projected that travel volume will near pre-pandemic levels. Enditem
Cities and states are shelling out serious cash to lure remote workers.

Tulsa, Oklahoma, will pay you $10,000 to move there and telework. West Virginia is offering $12,000 and two years of free outdoor gear rental.

Move to Maine, and the state will help you pay off your student loans.

These incentives are appealing, especially for newly minted remote workers who want to capitalize on their newfound flexibility. But a snap decision could cost more than the money you're chasing.

Read the program fine print, talk to your employer and assess your own deal breakers before you pack your bags and head to Topeka, Kansas, where remote workers can get up to $10,000.

Most remote relocation programs have an application process with several rounds of interviews to screen prospective residents. Only a fraction of applicants are accepted.

Tulsa Remote accepted just 3% of its 30,000 applicants in 2021, according to Justin Harlan, managing director of Tulsa Remote.

The Opportunity Maine Tax Credit doesn't cap participation, but it does have a host of other stipulations. Whether the tax credit is refundable, for example, depends on the year you graduated and your field of study.

And the Ascend West Virginia program only accepts applicants for certain cities, at certain times of the year.

Relocation incentives are designed to boost the local tax base, so most programs pay the benefit over a year or two. And many encourage you to put down roots.

Tulsa Remote will pay the $10,000 in a lump sum if you buy a home (the cash is otherwise spread out over the first year). In Topeka, remote work applicants need to buy a home to get the full $10,000.

And don't forget, any bonus may be taxed as income, so you need to set some money aside for the IRS.

Remote work still has some limits. Understand your employers' expectations before applying or moving, as certain things can impact your quality of life in your new locale.

If your company and colleagues are all on the West Coast, for example, you may be expected to keep those hours, even if you relocate to Maine. That can make for some late nights.

Your new city may have a lower cost of living than your current home base  that's typically part of the appeal. Will your company adjust your salary to your new cost of living? You want to be crystal clear on that before taking the leap.

"Financially, you should be prepared to take a pay cut if you're relocating from a major city to somewhere less costly," says Tina Hawk, senior vice president of human resources at GoodHire, which provides employee screening and background checks for businesses.

Most relocation programs are only open to those who already have full-time employment with an out-of-state company (Maine is an exception ). But no job is guaranteed forever, so you need to research the local job market.

How easy will it be to find a new gig if you are laid off? Are there opportunities locally if you outgrow your current company? If you dream of someday starting a business, is your potential new home friendly to entrepreneurs?

While money is important, it's not what makes a place liveable. Take stock of what's important to you  things like restaurants, networking, walkability or outdoor activities  and identify your deal breakers.

"The incentive can get your attention, but the meat of the matter is, when you get there, you gotta stay," says Nate Wildes, executive director of Live + Work in Maine.

Even "Vacationland" is not for everyone, Wildes admits. "We're a four-season place. If you hate snow and you hate snow shoveling, look somewhere else, please."

Don't just assume you'll like or dislike a place. Experience it firsthand to get a true sense of the city's vibe. You might be surprised.

Maria Kim, 28, certainly was. The former Washington, D.C., resident moved to Tulsa as part of the Tulsa Remote program in March.

Initially on the fence, Kim decided to take the leap after visiting the city and meeting with other members of the program, which puts a strong emphasis on networking and community.

"I've been pleasantly surprised," says Kim, who freelances full time as a copywriter. "The city is busy. You're able to get the small-town benefits with big-city energy, and you can explore without so much excess."
With more freezing temperatures and potential rain on the horizon, Santa Clara County has set up an overnight warming shelter for unhoused people in downtown San Jose.

A new shelter opened Thursday night at the California Army National Guard building, located at 251 W. Hedding St. in San Jose. Shaunn Cartwright, a homeless advocate and founder of the Unhoused Response Group, said a county official notified her and other activists about the shelter.

Consuelo Hernandez, director of the county's Office of Supportive Housing, told San Jose Spotlight several partners collaborated to open the overnight warming location, including San Jose, Abode Services, Goodwill of Silicon Valley, Destination: Home and others.

The site, run by the county and its partners, is open 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. each day for roughly the next week, Hernandez said. The shelter has the capacity to house 60 to 70 people.

Cold weather is posing a growing threat to unhoused people in the South Bay. San Jose opened two temporary overnight warming centers earlier this month as temperatures started to drop. For several years, the city has relied on a state law that allows it to transform publicly-owned buildings into temporary shelters, serving about 3,000 people since 2015. San Jose's warming centers are scheduled to stay open for more than 130 consecutive nights this winter.

People in Santa Clara County seeking shelter can call the shelter hotline: (408) 385-2400. To access overnight warming locations, call (408) 510-7600.

Caltrans plans to temporarily close the Webster Tube -- state Highway 61 -- between Oakland and Alameda for maintenance work.

The westbound-only tube will be closed overnight Jan. 4 and 5, with each closure beginning at 10 p.m. and lasting until 5 a.m. the following morning.

A Caltrans spokesperson said the maintenance work will be postponed in the event of rain.

The eastbound-only Posey Tube, which parallels the Webster Tube, will remain open to traffic.

The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors next week will consider promoting Deputy County Manager Peggy Jensen to the position of assistant county manager, the number-two job in county government.

In nominating Jensen, a 33-year county employee, County Manager Mike Callagy noted her leadership during the pandemic. Jensen most recently led the County Recovery Initiative in addition to her role with Home for All, aimed at making housing accessible for residents at all economic levels; ending homelessness; and promoting board initiatives that improve the quality of life.

The Board of Supervisors meeting is set for 9 a.m. Tuesday.

San Mateo County health officials are urging residents to get tested and vaccinated for COVID-19, especially those who are planning to travel or anticipate a return to in-person schooling.

Health officials attribute the increase to holiday gatherings and the Omicron variant, which is more contagious. The risk of community transmission of COVID-19 is currently very high, with more than 2,000 new cases in San Mateo County since last week -- including the Omicron variant.

Health officials said there are two types of COVID-19 testing: rapid antigen tests, which return results quickly, and polymerase chain reaction tests, or PCR, which typically return results within 72 hours although times may vary depending on demand.

San Mateo County only offers PCR testing at 10 sites, which it operates through contracted providers Curative and LHI/OptumServe. The county is not distributing rapid antigen tests to the general public or to cities.

San Jose's Children's Discovery Museum and the Santa Clara County Public Health Department will co-host a COVID-19 vaccination clinic Sunday, offering free museum access for families that get vaccinated.

The clinic will be open to residents ages 5 and up for those who are in need of their initial vaccination series and for adults seeking a booster vaccine dose. Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines will all be available.

Each family that has a child or adult get vaccinated at the clinic will receive a pass to the museum for up to eight guests. Museum passes will be valid for up to six months after the clinic date.

The museum plans to offer a second clinic Jan. 23, as well as at least two more before spring.

The museum and the county are conducting specific outreach to participants in Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, ahead of the clinic.

While 91.8 percent of Santa Clara County residents age 12 and up have completed their initial vaccination series, just 63 percent of the county's Medi-Cal members age 12 and up have done so.

Vaccinations will be administered on a walk-up and first-come, first-served basis during the clinic, scheduled to run from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

A caregiver age 13 or older is required to accompany children under 12 who get vaccinated at the clinic. Proof of immigration and insurance will not be required.

Information about the clinic and getting museum passes for getting vaccinated can be found at https://www.cdm.org/vaccination.

General information about the vaccine can be found at https://covid19.sccgov.org/covid-19-vaccine-information.

The National Weather Service forecast for Sunday for the San Francisco Bay Area calls for a mostly sunny day with cool temperatures around most of the region. Overnight lows Sunday morning will range from the upper 20s to the low 40s. Highs will range from the mid-40s to the mid-50s.

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Copyright  2022 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
In the latest air travel news, large numbers of flight cancellations over the Christmas holidays are continuing into the new year due to airline staffing problems and weather; the CDCs rule change for COVID quarantines helps airlines put sidelined staff back to work; arguments flare up about whether the U.S. should require domestic air travelers to be vaccinated; United starts free in-flight text messaging; JetBlue makes some changes to its TrueBlue loyalty program; United and Delta make more cuts to their regional route networks; international route news from Japans ZIPAIR, Singapore Airlines, Delta and United; Reno-based Aha! Launches Palm Springs flights; Avelo Airlines joins TSA PreCheck; and ExpresSpa Group opens a new full-service health center at New York JFK.

Air travel in the U.S. and around the world ended 2021 in a huge mess, and the operational chaos now shows signs of continuing into the new year. U.S. carriers canceled hundreds of flights every day this week, starting just before Christmas Eve, leaving thousands of passengers stranded during the busiest travel time of the year; re-accommodating them within the next few days was often impossible because flights were mostly fully booked. Flyers trying to rebook their cancelled flights by phone were often faced with hours-long waits to speak to someone. The schedule disruptions were partly due to winter storms, especially in the western U.S., but were mostly due to the COVID omicron variant decimating the airlines labor forces  not just employees who tested positive for the virus, but also those who were exposed to it and had to go into quarantine.

Even though passenger demand will ease up after New Years, there are troubling signs that the airlines wont quickly pull out of this mess as heavy cancellations continue into January. Delta said it will cancel 200 to 300 daily flights on Saturday and Sunday (Jan. 1-2). JetBlue is preemptively canceling more than 1,280 flights from now through mid-January  or almost 10% of its schedule  as the virus continues to present staffing problems. CNBC reported it saw an internal JetBlue memo that said: The exponential growth in omicron cases over just a couple of days is at a level that no one could reasonably prepare for. It noted that most of the airlines crew members are in the northeast, where omicron cases arent expected to peak for another week or two. The Canadian carrier WestJet said it is canceling 15% of its January flights due to COVID-related staffing problems.

In Europe, the giant discount carrier Ryanair said it is slashing its overall January capacity by 33%, due not only to COVID but also to a big drop in passenger demand as various European governments issue tough new restrictions on entry in a bid to slow down the spread of the virus. The airline said its December traffic was about 10% less than expected due to tighter travel restrictions. And Lufthansa will cut its winter flight schedules by 10% because it is seeing a significant fall-off in reservations as COVIDs omicron variant continues to spread. (Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in recent weeks has continued to expand its Level 4 do not travel list based on spiking levels of COVID. The Level 4 warning list now includes virtually all of Europe, including the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Greece, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.)

Mary Altaffer/Associated Press

As for U.S. weather disruptions, Delta took one of the biggest hits due to winter storms in the western and north central states. The carrier this week issued weather-related travel waivers for customers booked on flights in and out of Seattle, Salt Lake City and Detroit, letting them rebook flights without penalty. Seattle was hit with a rare major snowstorm, and Alaska Airlines on Wednesday and Thursday said it was proactively thinning Seattle departures by about 20% to allow for the additional time it takes to deice aircraft. Alaska also urged customers planning non-essential travel before Jan. 2 to rebook their flights to a later date.

The airlines got a break in their COVID-related staffing woes this week when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a new rule shortening from 10 days to five the required self-isolation for individuals  regardless of vaccination status  who test positive for COVID but show no symptoms at the end of that quarantine period. Airlines were quick to embrace the rule change to get more sidelined employees back to work. The updated guidance allows more flexibility for Delta to schedule crews and employees to support a busy holiday travel season and a sustained return to travel by customers, Delta said. Major airlines, led by Delta and JetBlue, had lobbied for the change, and some employee groups were not happy about it. Sara Nelson, president of the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA International, said the CDC gave a medical explanation about why the agency has decided to reduce the quarantine requirements from 10 to five days, but the fact that it aligns with the number of days pushed by corporate America is less than reassuring.

With the COVID omicron variant steamrolling through the population  vaccinated and unvaccinated alike  the federal government is facing renewed calls to order that all domestic airline passengers show proof of vaccination before being allowed to board. And President Joe Biden this week indicated that he might be open to issuing such an order if his medical advisors recommend it, although there was some confusion about his intentions.

According to an article in The Hill, Biden was asked by a reporter outside his Delaware home on Tuesday when he would make a decision about a vaccine order for domestic air travel, and Biden replied: when I get a recommendation from the medical team. Bidens comment came just a day after Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief White House medical advisor, said on MSNBC that a vaccine mandate for domestic air travel is something that seriously should be considered  not so much as a way to prevent transmission aboard aircraft, which are generally considered safe, but as another incentive to get more people vaccinated.

And heres the confusion: A week earlier, Biden told ABC that such a mandate has been considered, but based on the recommendations Ive gotten, its not necessary. Then Dr. Fauci appeared on CNN later on the same day after he seemed to recommend such a mandate and tried to dampen expectations. In that interview, Fauci said: Right now, I dont think people should expect that were going to have a requirement in domestic flights for people to be vaccinatedIts on the table, and we consider it. But that doesnt mean its going to happen. I doubt if were going to see something like that in the reasonably foreseeable future.

Before Christmas, several members of Congress  led by Sen. Diane Feinstein (D.-Calif.)  sent a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urging the Biden administration to impose a vaccine mandate on domestic flights. Travel at our nations airports has essentially returned to pre-pandemic levels but the risk from COVID-19, including its new variant Omicron, continues to present a major public health threat, the letter said. Requiring proof of vaccination or a negative test for domestic flights would improve public health and address concerns that passengers have about flying.

Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images

An article in the Los Angeles Times noted that airlines are opposed to a domestic mandate in part because verification of vaccination status at the airport might slow down the boarding process and/or TSA check-in. It noted that the airlines trade group, Airlines for America, said it was informed by the White House that there is no imminent policy proposal for such a mandate. But the article also cited a study that found 14% of domestic air travelers are not vaccinated and it said the loss of those passengers would present a financial hardship for the airlines.

In The Washington Post, op-ed columnist James Hohmann charged that the airlines have for months successfully thwarted a push by public health experts to require passengers to show proof of vaccinationThis is maybe the most important lever that President Biden could pull  and so far has refused to pull  that might increase the countrys vaccination rate. Hohman said Biden should stop pretending his resistance to a vax-to-fly rule is about public health  and not politics. The truth is that requiring vaccines to fly, even with a testing opt-out, would provoke a backlashFox News would have a field day.

One voice opposing a domestic air travel vaccine mandate came from Viewfromthewing.com blogger Gary Leff, who argued that the virus is already spreading in the country, so limiting travel to those who are vaccinated wont prevent spread. He also said that air travel isnt a less safe environment than other indoor congregant activities that have no such legal restriction, and he suggested a mandate might draw legal challenges because the Supreme Court has consistently held that theres a fundamental right to interstate travel.

United is the latest airline to roll out free in-flight text messaging for its customers. The new perk is currently available on the bulk of Uniteds mainline fleet. The services available include Apple iMessage, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger, provided as an option when a customer connects to the in-fight wi-fi network. Its not yet available on every aircraft; some 757-200s and 767-300s wont have it until March, and a handful of 787-9s will get it in June. The free messaging is available on CRJ-550 and -700 regional aircraft and should be on all E170s and 175s in January, but not on CRJ200s or E145s, which do not support in-flight wi-fi. Free text messaging is already offered by Delta, Southwest, Alaska and JetBlue.

Mosaic-level elite members of JetBlues TrueBlue loyalty program are getting some additional benefits in the new year, including the creation of a new tier called Mosaic+. That new level requires members to earn 45,000 Mosaic qualifying points or spend $150,000 on a JetBlue Plus Card or JetBlue Business Card. In addition to the usual Mosaic perks, Mosaic+ benefits include four upgrades from the main cabin to Mint seating (except on London flights) depending on availability 24 hours before departure; the upgrades can also be used for a travel companion. Mosaic+ qualifiers will also be invited to enroll as a FoundersCard Elite member, which will bring 500+ premium travel, business, and lifestyle benefits, including exclusive member pricing and privileges, loyalty status upgrades, and more, JetBlue said. Starting Jan. 5, all Mosaic members will be able to purchase an extra-legroom Even More Space seat with points. In 2022, it will never exceed 200 points  and Mosaics will be given a 200-point rebate after flying, the airline said.

Boarding1Now/Getty Images

Major carriers are continuing to trim routes and destinations from their regional networks. United CEO Scott Kirby said last month that his carriers United Express operation, which uses six different regional airlines, has had to ground almost 100 aircraft due to a pilot shortage  mainly smaller planes like the CRJ-200 and Embraer 145. In its latest cutbacks, United is dropping United Express flights from its Washington Dulles hub to Akron/Canton, Ohio; Asheville, Greensboro, and Wilmington, N.C.; Bangor, Me.; Erie, Pa.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C.; and Milwaukee, Wis. United is also shifting five regional routes from Dulles to its Newark hub, including Harrisburg, Philadelphia, State College and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; and Ithaca, N.Y. Delta is also cutting more routes to mostly secondary airports. From its Salt Lake City hub, Delta is ending service to Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio; Des Moines, Iowa; Madison, Wis.; and Pittsburgh, Pa. From Minneapolis-St. Paul, Delta is ending service to Lansing and Freeland, Mich., and to Tulsa, Okla. Also getting the axe are Delta flights from Atlanta to Rochester, Minn., and from Boston to Bermuda.

In international route news, Japan Airlines low-cost subsidiary ZIPAIR Tokyo has started flying from Tokyo Narita to Los Angeles. The carrier is using a 787-8 to fly the route three days a week, which will increase to six a week starting Jan. 14. Singapore Airlines recently started a Los Angeles-Taipei-Singapore route operating three days a week, but now it will suspend that service after Feb. 16, although it still operates non-stop LAX-Singapore service. Delta has introduced new service from Los Angeles International to Panama City, Panama; the 757 flight operates just once a week. Delta has also launched weekly service to Panama City from Orlando along with three weekly flights from New York JFK. Meanwhile, Delta announced it will add another European spoke to its JFK hub this summer, with a daily flight to Stockholm beginning June 1. United Airlines has also made some additions to its transatlantic plans for 2022. It will increase frequencies between Washington Dulles and Accra, Ghana from three flights a week to daily service effective May 6; and resume daily service from Newark to Edinburgh, Scotland on May 5, followed by the resumption of seasonal summer service to Edinburgh from Chicago OHare and Washington Dulles on May 7; United will also bring back daily flights from Newark to Stockholm on May 14.

On the domestic side, Reno-based Aha!, the new incarnation of regional carrier Expressjet Airlines, will begin service between Reno and Palm Spring on Jan, 3, operating three flights a week. Meanwhile, the Burbank-based low-fare carrier Avelo has been accepted into the Transportation Security Administrations PreCheck program, so Avelo passengers who belong to PreCheck can now take advantage of expedited security screening.

In airport news, XpresSpa Group has opened a new health-and-wellness concept facility in New York JFKs Terminal 4. After building up a network of spas in various U.S. airports, the company expanded during the coronavirus era by adding COVID testing services at several locations. And now it has cut the ribbon on a full-service outlet at JFK called Treat, which it describes as a fully operational upscale health and wellness center with access to on-site care with medical professionals, through technology and personalized services such as COVID-19 rapid PCR tests, IV drip infusion therapy, flu shots, and on-site virtual sessions like yoga and fitness.
jeremyborkat/Getty Images/iStockphoto

People around the Bay Area woke up to frost on their plants and windshields this weekend as several areas experienced freezing and near-freezing temperatures, the National Weather Service reports. Some Bay Area locations even dipped into the 20s.

Temperatures were especially chilly in the North Bay Sunday morning with the early morning mercury dropping to 26 in Santa Rosa and 28 in Petaluma. Of the region's big cities, San Jose and Oakland both saw a nippy 34 degrees, and SFO's weather gauge hit 36 before sunrise.
Since Independence, for 75 years a lot of water has flown down the Indus and the Brahmaputra rivers. With India's northern boundary defined by the geographical entity of the Himalayas and the western frontier by the whimsical machinations of the British (the Radcliff Line), the public at large never really knew what happened in the bloody conflict with Pakistan in 1947-48, then with China in 1962, and then again with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971. The complete lack of any worthwhile objective writing on these conflicts reflected the void that existed in India's thinking when it came to understanding geo-politics and matters military.

As General Malik points out, Shiv Kunal is the son of Major General Ashok Kalyan Verma. Having been born and bred in the cauldron of the armed forces, Shiv Kunal's emergence as the country's premier military history 'sutradhar' is not surprising as "he not only has excellent sources but also the ability to separate the chaff from the wheat when it comes to looking into the fog of war and getting to what may have happened".

Shiv Kumar's previous book, "1962: The War that Wasn't", published in 2016, not only chronicled a terrible defeat, did not shy away from looking at both the civilian and military leadership, and calling a spade a spade. As Gen. Malik writes: "Shiv Kunal Verma's ruthless holding of a mirror to the leadership, which some might say is a bit opinionated, his immense research, his very detailed descriptions of each action with the background of the higher political and military leadership juxtaposed" makes his writing very interesting and his books very readable.

Every year, the Indian Army's Shimla-based Training Command, better known as ARTRAC, after researching the entire material available, suggest books that are 'prescribed' and 'recommended' for entrance examinations for various courses. In its latest circular to all commands dated October 20, 2021 (incidentally the 59th anniversary of the PLA's attack on 2 Rajput positions on the Nam ka Chu), "1962: The War that Wasn't" has been prescribed for the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) and Defence Services Staff Course (DSTSC) for 2023-2030. Interestingly, Gen. Malik's "Kargil: From Surprise to Victory" also makes the cut, with "Blood on the Snow", written by Maj. Gen. Ashok Kalyan Verma, coming under the 'recommended' category.

Air Marshal Denzil Keelor who also has high praise for Shiv Kunal's two books, says: "The only reason why '1965: A Western Sunrise' is not on the list is that hadn't been released (at the time the list for 2023-30 list was drawn up). By far the most lucid and detailed account of the war, the book knits the political, the military and the personal aspects in a manner that the quagmire of events become crystal clear. These two books set the bar in military writing."

So, are the Armed Forces today more open to hard hitting, objective writing than before?

Probably yes, for earlier any criticism was met with either stony silence or resulted in counter-charges, the Army and the Air Force perhaps being the most sensitive of the lot. It is the complete lack of coordination and planning (in 1965) between Gen. J.N. Chaudhuri and Air Marshal Arjan Singh (the Army and Air Force chiefs at the time) that repeatedly riles Verma in his book. Gen. Malik echoes the sentiment.

"Shiv Kunal, in his narration, is highly critical of the military leadership for poor planning and operational conduct during the war, with most of the blame going to Choudhuri, considered 'an impetuous and unthinking Army Chief'. The disdain Chaudhuri had for the other two services was clear in his handling of affairs. Air Marshal P. C. Lal, who was the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) six years later, said that Chaudhuri treated the whole business of fighting Pakistan or China as 'his personal affair, or at any rate that of the army's alone, with the air force a passive spectator and the navy out of it altogether'," Gen. Malik says.

Can this acceptance of objective criticism spread to other forms of writing that focus on the defence establishments, or will some areas always remain closed to public perception?

There are multiple contentious issues, especially when it comes to internal security matters, where the defence forces instinctively pull back when something negative is perceived to tar their image, especially when it is related to AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act). Even if contemporary events require to be handled away from the glare of public scrutiny, other events that are now a part of history perhaps also need to be objectively revisited.

Krishna Kumar Candeth, whose uncle was an Army Commander in 1971, says in response to Gen. Malik's observations: "The book (on 1965) would've more than served its purpose if it leads slowly (beginning with these articles and reviews) to a re-examination of the 1965 war - the egregious mistakes that were made and which are quite likely to be repeated if that re-examination does not take place."

"Our military history," says Darshan Singh, the Chairman of Welham Boys' School in Dehradun who with Shiv Kunal's help has initiated introducing the subject at the school level, "has to be an integral part of our education system. Most importantly, it has to be shorn of jingoism and the students, be they be in schools or universities, need to be familiarized with the challenges we have been faced with as a nation. We cannot move forward unless we can look back and draw the lessons from our past, for almost everything has the nasty habit of coming back at us."

The question is, having set the bar, will Shiv Kunal's two books now inspire a new generation of writers - and a military hierarchy that will encourage its own junior officers to study our own past in this manner?

"I think we need to go beyond that and look at reaching out to various segments of society," says Pankaj P. Singh of Chandigarh's The Browser Library and Bookstore, who is venturing into publishing military history books under its BlueOne Ink imprint. "For a start, we are looking at translating both the 1962 and 1965 books into Hindi, so JCOs and men can also be brought into this loop. Language versions will hopefully be our next step. We are certainly looking at also expanding the coverage to other major events that have impacted the country's post-Independence history," he adds.

In the recent past, even the events relating to Doklam and Eastern Ladakh are shrouded in mystery. More than information, misinformation seems to be the order of the day.

The Kargil War, now 22 years old, remains the last major conflict and some questions, continue to remain unanswered. Past governments, and in some cases even the Army leadership, have coloured events the way they wanted to project them. Other writers, usually themselves having been key protagonists, have either written self-exonerating versions or built up narratives whose veracity can be questioned.

There are umpteen cliches about history repeating itself and not learning from history. Lessons can only be drawn if we are willing to face the reality of what happened - and we must remember that in the rear-view mirror of time, objects are a lot closer than we think.

(Vishnu Makhijani can be reached at vishnu.makhijani@ians.in)

--IANS

vm/ksk/




BEIJING, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Uzbek counterpart, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, on Sunday exchanged congratulations on the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In his message, Xi said that in the past 30 years, China-Uzbekistan relations have kept pace with the times and forged ahead, setting a fine example of international relations featuring harmonious coexistence and win-win cooperation.

In particular, the two sides have learned from each other in the course of reform, opening-up, development and revitalization, and have worked together and assisted each other in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, making them genuine comprehensive strategic partners, Xi said.

Xi stressed that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Uzbekistan relations, and stands ready to work with Mirziyoyev to take the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties as an opportunity to jointly write a new chapter in the history of the development of the China-Uzbekistan comprehensive strategic partnership, so as to benefit the two countries and two peoples.

For his part, Mirziyoyev said that the past 30 years have been a glorious chapter in the age-old history of friendly exchanges between the two peoples.

Under President Xi's personal attention, Mirziyoyev said, the Uzbekistan-China comprehensive strategic partnership is thriving, adding that bilateral cooperation in various fields has seen smooth progress, people-to-people and cultural exchanges are being enhanced continuously, and the two countries have maintained close communication within the frameworks of international and regional organizations.

The Uzbek side stands ready to deepen the Belt and Road cooperation with China, and promote friendly relations and all-round cooperation between the two countries to a new historical stage, the Uzbek president added. Enditem
SRAM and Shimano both offer wireless shifting. In my workshop Ive got SRAM AXS bikes, 1x and 2x, gravel, road and tri, and a Shimano 9200 bike, and they all shift great and with no wires running from the front of the bike  where the shifters are  to the back of the bike, where the derailleurs execute their functions. But



Neither company has made this available for bar-end shifting (if we're talking the shifter as a standalone product). You still have to run wires from the front to the back of the bike, with some form of junction or junction box and, in SRAMs case, the universally disliked Blip Box: It works, and its gotten smaller over time, but it needs to (at some point) retire from service. In this bike shown here there is no Blip Box. No junctions, no wires. There are 4 shifters here and theres not even a wire that runs from the master shifter to the slave on the pursuit bars. There are 4 tiny shifters, each smart enough to send and receive signals on their own; each powered by their own tiny batteries; each working in unison with the others; each programmable in a smart phone app.

These are SRAMs Wireless Blips and theyve been the subjects of spy shots on bikes ridden by pro cyclists. I wrote about them way back in February. Ive had 4 of these  enough for 1 bike  for some weeks now, and here is the good and the needed. Im not saying the good and the bad because these shifters are not for sale yet. I suspect they will be, soon, this spring perhaps, and its pretty clear SRAM is moving from proof-of-concept to for-sale-product because of the molds for carrier systems that are not worthy of the tooling cost were this simply a thought experiment.



About those carriers. I found them pretty much useless for tri bikes because they dont place the shifters where my hands are. What you see below is the carrier that came with the Wireless Blips. You clip the Blip into the carrier and clip the carrier onto a round tube. You see below a Blip and its carrier, separate, and a Blip in a carrier.

This carrier may work fine if the point is to use this as a remote switch on a road bar (shifting while hands are in the drops, or on the tops for seated climbing). But I never even investigated this because I was only focused on the greatest need I have in electronic shifting: the tri bike. Now, SRAM did anticipate this, because in the shipment I got you could either mount these on your bike with these carriers or with 2-sided tape.



I chose to use my own 2-sided tape, which I rely on with confidence, though Im pretty sure SRAMs included tape is fine. If you see below, this is where I placed these Blips on my pursuit shifters, and theyre here, on the side of the body of the shifter, to keep from the inadvertent shift that always seems to happen if I place the pursuit shifter on the bar itself.

As to the bar-end placement, I took the round end plugs that went into the Vision Metron TFE Pro Extensions (which I placed on the Quintana Roo PRsix pictured here), and I cut them flat (I put the plugs into the bar ends, put the bar ends into a miter box, and decapitated the round head with a Sawzall). I did this so I would have a flat surface on which to mount the Blip with the 2-sided tape.



Which brings me to the first thing SRAM needs to do to finish this product off right: Include a bar plug with a flat surface and, for extra credit, mount 2-sided tape on that bar plug so that all I need to do is peel off the plastic sheet exposing the tape and push the shifter onto it.

So far (in this narrative) all Ive done is stick 4 shifters in the bike. There is no charging going on here, because theres no capacity to charge the batteries or to even change the batteries. If you hold up a 2032 coin cell battery to the shifter, that battery is the same diameter as the shifter, which means this shifter would need to be a lot bigger to have a standard coin cell battery in it. Instead, you basically have a disposable shifter, that will give you about 2-years-worth of service. A lot of you are going to balk at that, right there, but it just depends on the price of the shifter. (See my late add at the bottom of this article, where SRAM responded saying that battery life is more likely 4 to 7 years.)



This does, however, lead me to the second thing Id like to see before I call this product finished: Id like to know when the battery is going to fail before it fails. Some sort of warning. A battery condition readout. Either a percentage or a yellow light between the green and the eventual red. I dont want the battery to fail during a race. (That said, remember that you have 2 shifters on each side, each with its own battery  one on the bar-end, one on the pursuit  so, worst case, you still have shifting after one unit performs its final shift.)



How do you pair these to the derailleurs? You have to understand how the AXS app works.

What seems intuitive to me is that you pair the components via the app. But no! If you try to do that, youll spend a lot of time cursing, because youre asking the app to do something it was not designed to do. You configure in the app, after you pair, but you pair the shifters to the derailleurs without using the app. This is the case regardless of the AXS shift system: road, gravel, mullet, offroad, tri.



You press the rear derailleur AXS button until it blinks slowly. Then you press the front derailleur AXS button until the rear derailleur light blinks fast for just a moment. Then, in the case of this system Im writing about today, you press the AXS button on the Blip Box (more on that in a moment). Then you press the bar end shifter on the right extension, then the left extension, then the right pursuit shifter, then the left. Each time you press the AXS button on a device, that green AXS light on the rear derailleur will blink fast for about a second. After youve gone through this cycle, press the AXS button the rear derailleur and the green light will stop blinking. Youre done.



You must follow this process exactly. Once done youll be able to pull up these connected devices in the AXS app (as you see in the screen shot above), and when you see them on the screen (above left) you can click Configure Controls, at which point you pull up the screen above right and can tell each shifter what you want it to do exactly, if something other than the default operations. Me? I like the default operations, which are, the left-side shifters make the RD shift to the left, the right side shifters execute a shift to the right, and if you press a left and right shifter simultaneously it makes the front derailleur shift.

Now, that Blip Box. I thought we were done with it? Well, we are. Kind of. As it now is, these Wireless Blips need a kind of master pairing device. Anything will do. What constitutes a master pairing device? A road shifter (left or right). A Blip Box. A Zipp Vuka Shift AXS 90 extension. All these devices have a lobe to their brains that Blips (wired or wireless) lack. These devices act like Match.com. They not only are shifters, they mate other shifters with derailleurs.



In fact, just as a test, I tried to go through this pairing process without the Blip Box, that is, I clicked the RD into pairing mode; paired the FD, then went right to the Wireless Blips and paired them. No go. Then I took one Vuka Shift AXS 90 extension and used it the way I would have used the Blip Box. Everything paired fine. Then I tried pairing using a road shifter on another bike as the Blip Box. Worked fine.



So, here is one kind of bad thing about these Wireless Blips. You dont need a Blip Box in order to ride with these, but you need a Blip Box (or something like it) to initially pair the system. This is fine if you are already a SRAM AXS user, because you can use a road shifter or Blip Box or anything you have off of another bike, and you only need to do it once, and youre done. (You place your TT bike next to your road bike, and ask one of your AXS road shifters, "Can you do a brother a solid?", use it to pair these 4 Wireless Blips on the tri bike, which takes all of 30 seconds.) This doesnt affect relationship between my road bike's paired components.



But, what if youre new to SRAM AXS, and you buy a groupset, with 4 Wireless Blips, and you have no pairing device?



This brings us to the next thing that will help make this a really nice product. I dont know how hard what Im asking for is to execute, but it would be nice if the AXS app had an emulator in it that served as the system matchmaker. Mind, Im not asking that the AXS app change how it functions. Im not asking that pairing happen inside the AXS app. Im just asking that whatever the code is that sits inside a SRAM shifter or Blip Box be written into the AXS app, so that the app takes the place of the Blip Box during pairing.



Okay, one more thing the app needs to do before Im done here, and SRAM tells me that this is coming. As of now, the RD micro-adjust function does not work with Wireless Blips. As with pairing, I can borrow an AXS component off another bike to micro-adjust my derailleurs (I pair the shifters from another AXS bike with my tri bike's derailleurs to adjust the RD but, again, that' a temporary hack).

Here's what I did do: These Wireless Blips replaced a set of Zipp Vuka Shift 90 AXS extensions, so, even though they were off the bike I just paired the derailleurs with the Vuka Shift 90 extensions and performed the RD adjustment. As with road shifters, you press the AXS button on the Vuka Shift AXS 90 and simultaneously shift and the RD moves very slightly. Because there is no AXS button to push on these Wireless Blips they dont now enjoy this function. But its coming, and the app will act as an emulator for RD micro-adjust.



(Let me remind you what the Zipp Vuka Shift 90 extensions are. They really were the first wireless bar-end shifters. But you had to use the entire extension and, prior to this Wireless Blip, the slave shifter on the pursuits was wired. Imagine if the Vuka Shift 90 was made in a continuous-forearm rest design, like this Vision Metron TFE Pro shown here? Mated with a set of Wireless Blips for the pursuits, that would be formidable. But that's another discussion.)



Because of the features these shifters have; and the features they lack; my instinct tells me they were never designed as bar-end shifters, but as wireless replacements for Multiclics (SRAM's wired slave auxiliary shifter). But somebody along the way asked, "Hey! What if we..?" and presto, they're reimagined as TT shifters. So what if bar-end shifting is an afterthought? These shifters are really cool. Theyre lightweight, spare, easy to place, ergonomic, and by far the cleanest and easiest shifters to affix, route and configure that Ive yet seen in our sport. They let you use whatever aerobar you want. But as bar-end shifters theyre not quite a finished product yet, as we see. I havent the faintest idea how much these will cost if they do in fact launch; nor do I know how many of the asks that I list above will make their way into the product if and when it launches.



But at least the promise  or the hint of the promise  of true wireless tri/TT shifting is here.



[LATE ADD: Since the publication of this article, SRAM has responded to my comment about battery life: "SRAM eTap AXS Wireless Blips have a battery life well beyond 2 years. Our testing shows that depending on level of use, batteries can last from 4 to more than 7 years. Wireless Blips are built with new batteries that are able to be dormant for several years between uses. Use the SRAM AXS Mobile App to see battery levels for all SRAM AXS components, including Wireless Blips."]
Researchers have also been interested in this question. A widely cited study from Iceland found that reducing work hours while keeping pay steady increased productivity. It also lessened rates of burnout among employees, who reported higher levels of wellbeing. Shortened workweeks can also be applied to jobs that require manual, in-person labor. Workplace consultant Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, author of Shorter: Work Better, Smarter, and Less, documented the case of a Virginia nursing home that transitioned from a 40-hour workweek to a 30-hour one to help improve retention (the pay remained the same). Although more nursing assistants had to be hired, the facility saved money on recruitment expenses and overtime pay, had better call-bell response times, and reported lower numbers of falls and skin tears for residents, according to the Atlantic magazine. But a 2021 Gallup poll comparing the wellbeing of people who worked four-, five- and six-day workweeks complicated that rosy picture. In March 2020, Gallup asked 10,364 full-time employees the number of days they typically worked. Just 5 per cent said they work four days a week, while 84 per cent said five days and 11 per cent said six days, Gallup reported.

Those who worked four-day workweeks were more likely to say they were thriving (63 per cent) and reported the lowest levels of frequent burnout (23 per cent). Employees working five days reported slightly higher levels of burnout (26 per cent) and were less likely to say they were thriving, at 57 per cent. Although rates of engagement across the week were similar for all three work schedules, those with four and six-day workweeks reported higher rates of active disengagement than those with five-day schedules: 17 per cent compared with 12 per cent. Gallup researchers concluded that shorter workweeks provided more opportunities for promoting social, physical and community well-being, and could offer employees more flexibility - a consistent desire from workers and one that usually creates higher employee engagement. But the quality of the work experience has a bigger impact on people, researchers noted: If the goal is to build an engaging workplace culture, reducing the workweek may not be the place to start. they wrote. The real problem is that most employees are poorly managed. Similarly, a recent Harvard Business Review article found that four-day workweeks were a promising way of improving worker wellbeing without affecting productivity, but only if implemented correctly.

For Laura L. Carstensen, director of the Stanford Centre on Longevity, the main problem with the five-day workweek is that it reflects a society we no longer live in. Were continuing to work as we needed to 100 years ago. In doing so, were failing to realise new opportunities, she said. Theres nothing magic about that number. Carstensen has argued that work needs to change to reflect the fact that people have longer, more complex lives. More people now seek education throughout their life, not just when theyre young, she noted, and people leave and re-enter the workforce throughout their lives. Caregiving has also changed, with workers caring for children and elderly parents at various points in their careers. Shorter workweeks can help them manage those responsibilities, which disproportionately fall to women, Carstensen said. But they could also potentially narrow gender gaps, giving men more opportunity to parent and provide care.

Parents arent the only ones who can reap the benefit of a shortened workweek. Childless workers who recently transitioned to a four-day workweek told The Lily they were unlikely to revert to a longer schedule. Natalie Green, 29, says she was in perpetual burnout before her company moved to a four-day workweek this year. Green, who lives in Los Angeles, does political advocacy at a non-profit. When she had a Monday to Friday work schedule, she never felt adequately rested, she said  at least half the weekend was spent just catching up on personal work: running errands, prepping meals for the week, cleaning her home. I felt like I was living from vacation to vacation, or from long weekends to a long weekend, Green. She has been working a shortened workweek since this summer, and said it has probably been one of the best job benefits Ive ever gotten.

Green said shes seen a huge shift in her work-life balance, which has made her more motivated at work and more conscious about prioritising her tasks. Some research has shown that the benefits of four-day workweeks may be mitigated if workers try to squeeze a 40-hour workweek into four days. This has not been the case for Green, who said she hasnt been working longer hours during the week. Occasionally, she might need to do some work on Fridays, but Green said she enjoys being able to do so without being interrupted by emails or meetings. When another company attempted to recruit her, she didnt think twice about turning down the job. She doesnt want to go back to a longer workweek unless the pay is substantially higher or the work is less stressful, she said. International Coalition of Sites of Conscience staff and clients have also been happy with the shortened schedule, Silkes said, and shes seen really positive levels of engagement among employees. To preserve these new boundaries, Silke said it is important that she lead by example.
Nightclub closures and event cancellations will be lifted tomorrow but proof-of-vaccination requirements at high-risk venues and events will be extended across Perth.

West Australian Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson revealed the new restrictions after the state recorded two new community cases linked to the Case 1133 backpacker cluster.

West Australian Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson speaks at a press conference on Monday. Credit:Peter de Kruijff

With a low caseload, high vaccination rates and appropriate public health measures, we are confident we can remain on top of this outbreak, she said.

The restrictions have been in place since December 23, when a Delta-variant COVID-19 cluster in the backpacker community emerged.

They saw the return of mask-wearing and seated service at bars and restaurants while nightclubs and major events were shut down.

Under the new rules, seated service will end and events will allowed to run but mask-wearing will continue until at least 6pm Friday.

Loading

The proof-of-vaccination requirements that were trialled at the Perth Cup on New Years Day will continue for other high-risk venues.

Ms Sanderson said high-risk venues included nightclubs, music festivals and major events of more than 500 patrons, as well as pubs and taverns with capacity of 500 or more people.

The number of new cases has remained low but a new unrelated community infection involving a hotel quarantine security guard was recorded over the weekend.

Potential exposure sites also continue to rise with several cases linked to the backpacker cluster in recent days involving people out and about in Perth and the South West.

Read more here
We had been all so happy to put on the wedding, he said. When COVID spread, Shells venues ran short of team members - including waiters and chefs who were difficult to replace. We had to cancel a huge New Years Eve. I couldnt guarantee peoples safety, I couldnt guarantee that our staff would remain safe, or that we would have enough staff to be successful.  Brett Robinson at Shell House. Credit:Carlos Walters Wes Lambert, the chief executive of Restaurant and Catering Australia, said nearly every Australian restaurant or cafe had been affected in some way by the rise in daily COVID-19 cases to Sundays 18,278. To help hospitality recover when the worst was over, his organisation had asked the NSW government to follow South Australias example and provide stimulus grants and relaunch another program like last years Job Saver.

At the moment, thousands of hospitality businesses have chosen simply not to open for the holidays and thousands more were forced to shut due to lack of staff or lack of bookings, or limit their services, opening hours due to a lack of staff, he said. The biggest problem is how to help business recover from lost sales due to the density restrictions and abysmal consumer confidence. The only way to solve the problem is to learn to live with COVID-19 so that we can increase confidence, said Mr Lambert. Wes Lambert, the chief executive of Restaurant and Catering Australia, is asking the NSW government to help the hospitality industry recover from the latest outbreak in covid cases. Credit:Renee Nowytarger The Minister for Hospitality and Racing Kevin Anderson said he recognised the challenges that hospitality venues faced with staffing. He was continuing to monitor what options were available to help businesses stay open, to keep the lights on and keep people at work. Reacting to Mr Lamberts call for funding, a NSW Treasury spokesman said though JobSaver and the Business Grant program ended in November and October respectively, NSWs COVID-19 economic recovery strategy provided $2.8 billion. Some ongoing programs that would assist the hospitality sector included last years extension of Dine and Discover and Stay NSW vouchers, reductions in payroll tax, and a range of rebates, including funds to expand or create outdoor eating areas.

Mr Lambert said the sector welcomed the change in the definition of close contacts and the decision to reopen the economy but COVID-19 was raging through the community, and many hospitality staff are infected or close contacts. The dramatic turnaround in approach had confused the public, said Mr Lambert. The spread of COVID in December affected sales at popular venues like Bungalow 8 on King Street Wharf. Credit:Sydney Morning Herald The government spent two years conditioning the public every day at 11am to be worried about case numbers. You cant just stand up and say: Dont worry about case numbers, but by the way we have had more case numbers this week than we have had in the entire two years. People are voting with their feet, and what we are hearing about is cancelled bookings mainly due to customers simply not wanting to get COVID-19 [or worried about] vulnerable family members or about travel plans, he said.

Mr Lambert - whose organisation represents 47,000 cafes, restaurants and catering businesses across Australia - said it opposed lockdowns. But policies on mask-wearing and social distancing in place from mid-October to December had helped hospitality grow to exceed levels in 2019/2020. Loading Some restaurants also saw bookings rise again when the government introduced a new definition of close contacts, which meant someone visiting a restaurant was unlikely to be defined that way. In Sydney and Melbourne, about 50 people who had cancelled bookings for New Years Eve rebooked after the governments announcement, said Paul Waterson, the chief executive of the Australian Venue Co. Sales had slumped 15 per cent nationally, said Mr Waterson, the operator of 180 hospitality venues.
Bonner waits

Queenslands Aboriginal senator, Senator Bonner, does not look like getting an apology from the owner of the Mt Isa hotel which refused to serve him last week. The Liberal senator is returning to Brisbane today and so far, there has been no response from the owner of Boyds Hotel, Mr Marshall Boyd. Senator Bonner said if he did not get the apology today he would report the matter immediately to the Commissioner for Community Relations, Mr Grassby.

A visit to the doctor

A South African doctor who pioneered an aerial medical service which flies voluntary specialists to remote areas of Southern Africa is visiting Australia to examine the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Dr George Cohen said: Our flying doctor service is nowhere near as big or well financed as the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Yours is much larger than ours both in the number of people and the area covered, and it uses full-time remunerated doctors.

More rain needed
What did the Inner West Council give the Defence Department for Christmas? A key approval that will advance the departments plans to sell off 19,000 square metres of land in sought-after Haberfield that has been growing weeds since the army stopped using it more than 20 years ago.

The Defence Department owns 1.9ha of disused army land in Haberfield, where a 695 square metre property was recently sold for $7 million. Credit:Kate Geraghty

Situated below sea level and prone to flash flooding, the former council had lobbied Defence to donate the land for open space, but the department said it had to be sold at market value. On Christmas Eve  between the local government elections and the swearing-in of new councillors  council staff approved the construction of drainage works that will pave the way for it to be subdivided into 22 lots. Real estate agents have valued the land at $50 million.

Its essentially the first domino to fall, said neighbour Brett Burton, who chairs the Army Land sub-committee of the Haberfield Association. Ive always said that if that happens, the whole thing will go ahead, because theyre going to spend $4-5 million putting drainage in, so the Inner West Council cant turn around and say you havent met the conditions of the DA.

The land has been stuck in bureaucratic limbo since 2003, when the Defence Department sold 21 lots at auction for $18 million, only for the buyers to discover that the land had not been approved for subdivision. That would be dependent on Defence installing a drainage system that would ensure it was habitable  a requirement that has proved difficult to fulfil.
After six gruelling lockdowns and seven stages of grief, there was only one way out  to flee the most locked down city in the world and head to the coast. Bobbing about in the ocean attached to a fibreglass longboard is my preferred form of salvation.

On Saturday morning, I took to the ocean with Dugald, an old friend. The exigencies of the virus meant we had not seen each other for almost two years. Until the pandemic struck, Dugald worked in the live music industry. Like all others in the arts and entertainment industries, his work evaporated along with his income during the pandemic.

Bobbing about in the ocean is my preferred form of salvation. Credit:Glenn Hunt

As our conversation was occasionally interrupted by the need to catch waves, we were joined by the local coastal real estate agent. Like me, he had been lucky enough to continue working. In fact, he had experienced a radically different pandemic  run off his feet with surging demand for coastal property by wealthy city folk seeking a sea change. Im selling beach houses for $3 million on Zoom sight unseen, he explained.

The class divide doesnt rest during a pandemic; rather crises tend to amplify the brittle fault lines underpinning the systems and institutions that we otherwise prefer to ignore. The under-funded health system. The cruelty of aged care. The dysfunctional labour market. The degradation of the public sector. Above all else, the pandemic has highlighted entrenched inequality.
The future of the states anti-corruption watchdog hangs in the balance after it lost several high-profile cases and was hammered by a parliamentary inquiry.

Two remaining high-profile cases will come to a head in court early this year, and the decisions on whether those cases should go to trial could be crucial for the Crime and Corruption Commission.

Paul Pisasale as mayor in 2005 with his plan for Ipswich. Credit:Robert Rough

In September 2020, the CCC had a big win when former Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale was sentenced to 7 years in prison on 33 charges ranging from sexual assault to official corruption.

However, last year was marred by high-profile CCC cases repeatedly falling over in court.
RTHK: South Korean defects to Pyongyang

A South Korean has crossed the heavily fortified border in a rare defection to North Korea, South Korea's military said on Sunday.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it carried out a search operation after detecting the person around 9:20pm on Saturday on the eastern side of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas.

"We've confirmed that the person crossed the Military Demarcation Line border about 10:40pm and defected to the North," the JCS said.

The JCS said it could not confirm whether the person was alive, but sent a notice to the North via a military hotline asking for protection.

The border crossing, which is illegal in South Korea, came as North Korea carries out strict anti-coronavirus measures since shutting borders in early 2020, though it has not confirmed any infections.

A public and political uproar emerged after North Korean troops shot dead a South Korean fisheries official who went missing at sea in September 2020, for which Pyongyang blamed anti-virus rules and apologised.

Two months earlier, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared a national emergency and sealed off a border town after a North Korean defector who he said had Covid-19 symptoms illegally crossed the border into the North from the South.

The North's prolonged lockdowns and restrictions on inter-provincial movement have also pushed the number of North Korean defectors arriving in the South to an all-time low.

Cross-border relations soured after denuclearisation negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington stalled since a failed summit in 2019. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2022-01-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Underground fire leaves 9 dead in northeast China

Xinhua) 14:19, January 02, 2022

DALIAN, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- A fire that broke out Friday in an underground area below a market in northeast China's Dalian City has left nine people dead, local authorities said.

The accident happened at 11:11 a.m. Friday, and the open fire was put out at 1:00 p.m.

One fireman, among the nine victims, was dead while battling against the fire. Five people were slightly injured and sent to treatment. Four are still in hospital for observation and one has been discharged.

Further investigation on the cause of the accident is still underway.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Bianji)
CHENGDU, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Eight people were killed and 19 injured after a heavy-duty tanker semi-trailer collided with a bus, a mini-bus and a car Sunday in southwest China's Sichuan Province, local police said.

The semi-trailer loaded with coal fly ash first crashed with a bus with 21 people aboard in Shuanghe township in the city of Jiangyou at 2:53 p.m. Sunday, the Jiangyou municipal public security bureau said. After losing control following the crash, it then hit a mini-bus and a car.

The injured have been sent to hospital for treatment. The driver of the semi-trailer has been held by police and is under investigation. Enditem
Several doctors and nurses have tested positive to COVID-19 at one of Queenslands largest hospitals, reducing the intensive care units capacity and forcing the cancellation of surgeries, as the health system braces for substantial COVID caseloads.

The QEII hospital in Brisbanes south is the latest to be affected by Queenslands significant COVID case increase, with the ICU now at reduced capacity.

QEII Hospital in Brisbanes south has reduced ICU capacity due to staff shortages.

All surgeries, except category 1 and emergency surgical procedures, have been postponed.

A Queensland Health spokeswoman said staff were expected to return to work in coming days.
One year ago, the world was given a chilling insight into just how fragile our most cherished systems of democracy can be. On January 6, 2021, a legion of neo-Nazis, pro-fascists, fringe conspiracy theorists and more smashed their way into the halls of the US Capitol.

For hours, they roamed the Capitols inner sanctum, literally hunting for democratically elected representatives and threatening to kill them.

Incited by the dishonest rhetoric of defeated former president Donald Trump, who falsely claimed the 2020 US election had been stolen, the mobs aim was about more than protest and mayhem. They wanted to halt Congresss affirmation of Joe Biden as the rightfully elected US president and reinstate the demagogue of their choosing: Mr Trump.

The deadly events of January 6 plainly underscored the need for eternal vigilance against those who would destroy the governmental systems that we cherish. It exposed just how easily false prophets can emerge and take hold of popular sentiment, then turn that sentiment into a treacherous force.

Most importantly, it powerfully highlighted the need for competent, truthful and solidly trustworthy elected leaders who will honour the commitment to guide and govern for all.
The trial of Ghislaine Maxwell in New York has been one of the most watched in recent years. Maxwell, a former partner of the deceased child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, is now facing decades in jail after being found guilty last week of five offences including recruiting and trafficking of young girls to Epstein who sexually abused them.

While the jury verdicts have been acclaimed by victims groups and commentators as a welcome development in the hunting down of sexual assault perpetrators, this case shows the deep flaws in the US justice system that fails to protect against adverse pre-trial publicity and which imposes sentences that are disproportionate to the point of cruelty.

Ghislaine Maxwell, the worlds highest profile sex trafficker. Credit:AP

To be clear, this is not an analysis of whether Maxwell has been wrongly or rightly convicted, but is about justice not only being done, but being seen to be done.

We can assess the integrity of the concept of justice in the Maxwell case by looking at how it might have been dealt with in Australia. While this country is a long way from perfect in how it ensures an accused person is treated in the criminal trial and sentencing process, it does seek to prevent potential juries being tainted by trial by media and sentencing is driven generally by the need for proportionality.
Seoul: South Koreas military said on Sunday that an unidentified person crossed the heavily fortified border into North Korea.

South Korea had earlier spotted the person with surveillance equipment at the eastern portion of the border and sent troops to capture him or her on Saturday night. But the troops failed to find the person and the surveillance equipment detected the person crossing over the border, Joint Chiefs of Staff officers said.

South Korean army soldiers patrol along the demilitarised zone in Goseong, South Korea. Credit:AP

Weve confirmed that the person crossed the Military Demarcation Line border about 10.40pm and defected to the North, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

South Korea sent a message to North Korea on Sunday morning to ensure the safety of the person, but the North hasnt responded, the officers said requesting anonymity citing department rules.
PHILIPSBURG:--- A thirteen-year-old girl is dead after she was reportedly stabbed in the chest by an eighteen-year-old girl. The stabbing took place after 7:00 pm today, January 1, on L.B. Scott Road in the vicinity of the John Cooper/Jose Lake Ballpark.

The suspect has been arrested by police.

Police received the call about the stabbing and at the scene the patrol and paramedic found the teenager bleeding and showing very little signs of life. She was quickly transported to St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC), but she subsequently succumbed to her injury.

The circumstances that led to this fatal stabbing are under investigation. What is known is the two were part of a group of friends gathered together in the area where the stabbing occurred.

The Police Force of St. Maarten expresses condolences to the family of the deceased.

KPSM Press Release.
Shaheed Al Hafed, 1 January 2022 (SPS) - The President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), Secretary-General of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali commended the "firm and principled" position of Algeria for the Sahrawi issue and the struggle of the Sahrawi people for self-determination, said the Sahrawi News Agency (SPS) Friday.



In his closing remarks at the Conference of the General Staff of the Sahrawi People's Liberation Army (SPLA), the Sahrawi president praised Algeria for its firm and principled position supporting the right of peoples to self-determination and independence, saying that Algeria supports just causes and oppressed peoples, particularly the Sahrawi people.



"We are proud of our relations with Algeria, a country of pride and dignity," he said.



President Ghali also greeted all brothers, friends and allies of the Sahrawi people and their just cause throughout the world and particularly in Africa, "the continent of struggle against colonialism and apartheid, which will be completely free after the decolonization of the last African colony, Western Sahara.



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Shahid Al-Hafed, 2 January 2022 (SPS) - Prime Minister, Bushraya Hamoudi Bayoun, on Sunday chaired a meeting of the Council of Government at the Prime Ministry's headquarters.

The meeting was devoted to responding to questions from members of the National Council (Parliament) on assessing the government's 2021 program.

In a statement to the national media, the government's spokesperson, Minister of Information, Hamada Salma, praised the good conduct of the representatives of the National Council in the context of coordination between the legislative and executive bodies.

The spokesperson indicated that the government will return to the National Assembly in order to reply to the questions, prepare and enrich its program for the year 2022.

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If you're like around half of the country, then youre probably already making New Years resolutions like losing weight, getting organized, spending less money and saving more and living life the fullest.

While admirable, only 8 percent of people are successful in achieving their resolutions. If you want to join that exclusive group, then take these eight approaches for making your New Years resolutions stick.

1. Choose the right whys.

"Whys, as described by Michelle Segar, Ph.D, are the reasons for making those resolutions in the first place. In other words, these are the foundation of the entire behavior change process and have a domino effect. For instance, when you claim that you want start exercising in order to lose weight, thats not the right why because its thats not enough motivate enough for following through with the resolution.

Motivation is our fuel for doing anything, and the quality of our motivation affects whether our resolutions stick or fade away, adds Dr. Segar. Research shows that our primary reason for initiating a change determines whether we experience high- or low-quality motivation.

Instead of the should-based "whys, people who stick to their resolutions resolve to change their behavior because they truly want to improve areas of their daily life in concrete ways that energize them  not deplete them.

Related: 25 Best Habits to Have in Life

2. Start small.

The "go big or go home" mentality rarely works when it comes to New Years resolutions. If youve never exercised before, it's unlikely you will suddenly start working out for an hour every single day. Instead, start with small and attainable goals, such as going to the gym three days a week or short daily walk. Once this becomes a habit, you can tack-on larger goals.

3. Make one change at a time.

Lets be honest here. Theres only so much willpower we human beings possess. Hence, thats why having multiple resolutions isn't likely to work, according to Ian Newby-Clark, Ph.D., a psychologist at the University of Guelph in Canada.

While some resolutions are simple -- like taking a Vitamin C pill daily -- ambitious resolutions require behavior changes. For example, weight-loss takes more than a vague resolution to "eat less." Losing weight means you start shopping and cooking completely different and commit to an exercise routine. "Thinking through these substrategies boosts success rates," says Newby-Clark. "But it would take too much attention and vigilance to do all that and also decide it's time to brush your teeth for the full two minutes and become better informed about world events."

Related: 5 Steps You Can Take Now to Get Wealthy in 2017

4. Share your experiences with others.

Dont keep your resolutions to yourself. Talk about them with your family and friends. The American Psychological Association recommends you join "a support group to reach your goals, such as a workout class at your gym or a group of coworkers quitting smoking.

When you have someone else to share your struggles and successes, it makes the journey easier and less intimidating. Most importantly, it keeps you inspired and motivated. I know that I was most dedicated about working out when I had a workout buddy. We pushed each other whenever one of us was slacking.

5. Increase your feelings of control and use your frustration.

Research has found that people give-up on their goals when they experience setbacks or failure. However, Michelle Solis writes in Scientific American that, if you approach setbacks and your ensuing negative emotions with the right mind-set, you will be more likely to bounce back.

This includes increasing your feelings of control by;

Learning about the process of achieving your goal.

Seeing the journey to your goal as an adventure.

Reexamining your actions to find things you might have done differently.

Realizing the fact that you have a second-chance is a gift.

Knowing that persistence is a choice.

Seeking specific critical feedback.

You also need make use of your frustration by;

Letting it fuel your focus.

Viewing frustration as a sign that you care.

Not blaming yourself and feeling inadequate.

Decreasing stress.

6. Make a monetary commitment.

One study found that people who had a financial incentive to lose weight lost 14 more pounds than those who dont have such incentives. You can apply this to any resolution, but if getting fit is your goal, try the free GymPact app, says Dr. Joseph Mercola.

Dr. Mercola adds that you first must set goals, such as how many times you'll go to the gym in a week, as well as set a monetary amount you'd be willing to pay if you don't. If you reach your goals, you earn a cash reward. If you don't, you donate your money to a community pot that pays others who reach their goals.

Related: 11 Beliefs These Moguls Use to Win Big

7. Keep a log.

Tracking your progress may one of the easiest, and effective, ways to making your resolutions stick. In fact, one study at University of Washington discovered that the more that you monitor your performance, the more likely you are to achieve your goals. Why? Because youll receiving frequent feedback, which encourages you to do better.

A survey from Fidelity found two-thirds of those who set financial goals find progress to be a motivating factor.

Related: Why I Refuse to Own a Car

8. Set prevention goals.

According to Tory Higgins, a professor of psychology and business at Columbia University, there are two distinct types of goals: Promotion goals and prevention goals.

The promotion goal is typically a hope or aspiration, or what wed like to achieve. For a New Years resolution, that might could be, Id like to lose 10 pounds, so that I look better in my clothes. The problem with setting these types of goals is that theyre vulnerable if a better option pops up. That kills you in the promotion system, says Higgins. Theres no concern about maintaining the status quo.

The prevention goal, on the other hand, is something that we believe we are responsible for doing. This makes it a duty and obligation. So, that New Years resolution about losing weight would be, Id like to lose 10 pounds, because it is my responsibility to my family that I remain healthy. A prevention goal is more likely to stick because, When someone starts to do something in the prevention system, theyre very likely to continue. Its as if, once they do it the first time, it becomes the status quo, he said.

Additionally, a prevention goal is also a better motivator when an individual slips up or has a setback because they feel anxious about not maintaining their new habit and they become more vigilant.

Copyright 2022 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
TEHRAN, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. political expert said the progress in Iran's missile program has posed challenges to the U.S. regional military plan, Iran's news network Press TV reported Sunday.

Iran's missile program has changed U.S. strategic military calculations by restoring an actual balance in the Middle East region, Moscow-based Andrew Korybko was quoted by Press TV as saying.

"The United States fears that Iran is upsetting the hitherto American-enforced regional balance of power, where Washington and its allies were supposed to have a decisive military advantage over Tehran," he explained.

Last week, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) staged a large-scale military drill along the southern coast of the country where the IRGC fired 16 surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, which according to its commanders has sent a warning signal to Israel, the main ally of the United States in the Middle East.

Iran on Thursday launched a rocket into space carrying three research devices. Enditem
Every year, the state of Connecticut sweeps up millions of dollars in uncashed checks, forgotten insurance policies and long-ignored investments with the promise of seeing those assets safely returned to their owners.

But a state program that was created to return so-called unclaimed property is operating in ways that can make it nearly impossible for people to learn the government owes them money.

From the 2000 to 2021 fiscal years, the Connecticut Treasurers office collected more than $2.3 billion through that program. Yet it returned less than 37 percent of that amount to its owners, according to an analysis by the CT Mirror.

There are clear incentives for politicians to keep the money: Most of the unclaimed cash goes into the general fund, making it easier to balance the state budget. And part of it also goes to the Citizens Election Fund, the public financing apparatus for political campaigns.

While other states such as Rhode Island take a more aggressive approach to returning taxpayers money, the Connecticut Treasurers office barely markets its program.

As a result, the burden falls to individuals and organizations to seek out their own cash. That task is made even more difficult by the fact that the state effectively hides any unclaimed assets valued at less than $50.

The Mirror requested data through the states Freedom of Information Act in an effort to understand how much unclaimed property the state accumulated in recent decades and how much of that money remains shielded from the public. But simply obtaining an up-to-date list of all the people, businesses and groups that are owed money through the program was a challenge.

The treasurers office said its computer system generates a full list only once every two years, and it charged the CT Mirror $200 for a 300,000-page PDF file that contained data that was more than five years old. That format makes it nearly impossible for an average citizen to search all of the unclaimed property on their own, and it took The Mirror months to convert the data into a searchable list.

After analyzing the data, The Mirror found that more than $40 million of unclaimed property collected through 2015 was valued at less than $50. All of that money is currently concealed from public view when people search ctbiglist.com. The CT Mirror is making it available for the first time here.

Does Connecticut owe you less than $50? Visit CTMirror.org and enter your name above to find out.

The amount collected and returned to citizens varies by year. Between July 2020 and June 2021, for example, the state acquired more than $151 million from various financial assets, but the treasurers office returned less than a quarter of that amount to its owners. It was the worst return rate in more than a decade for the program, which effectively serves as a giant lost-and-found department for the financial world.

The rest of the money commandeered by the treasurer was quickly spent. Every penny that isnt immediately returned to its owner is either funneled into the state budget or redirected to the Citizens Election Fund, a special account that politicians can tap to pay for their election campaigns.

But that doesnt absolve the state of those debts. And, according to the treasurers most recent estimate, the state now owes more than $1.1 billion to nearly 2 million residents, businesses and other groups.

Shielding money from the public

Connecticuts unclaimed property program enables the state treasurer to seize cash, checks, bonds, stocks, deposits, dividends and insurance proceeds.

Banks, utilities, insurance companies and other businesses are all required to turn over those assets to the state if they lose track of the individual or entity the money belongs to for more than three to five years.

That happens often. People move and forget to update their contact information with a bank, or they are unaware they are listed as a beneficiary on an insurance policy.

Every state in the country has a similar system that collects the remnants of peoples financial lives. Those programs were set up in the 1900s  including Connecticuts, which got its start in the 1930s.

The Connecticut treasurers office is largely operating the way it did in past decades, when it advertised its list of unclaimed property intermittently in local newspapers.

The treasurer currently relies on an online tool called the CT Big List, where people can search their names for free to find out if the state swept up any of their assets. But even that has a major loophole built into the system by state law.

Anyone with an uncashed check, forgotten savings account or uncollected security deposit worth less than $50 wont find their money listed there. Yet nowhere on the state website is that fact mentioned.

Its obstacles like that, critics argue, that have contributed to the programs record over the past two decades.

Rep. Vincent Candelora, the Republican Minority Leader the Connecticut House, said he wrongly assumed that all of the assets the state swept up were viewable on the treasurers website. The fact that they arent, he said, is problematic and raises questions about whether the unclaimed property program is being operated primarily as a public service or a revenue generator for the state.

I think we need to have openness and transparency, he said. I assumed the CT Big list included all of the money in the states possession.

Technological upgrades

Connecticut Treasurer Shawn Wooden, who was elected to office in 2018, declined through his spokesman to be interviewed for this story. Instead, his staff answered a long list of questions via email about how the program currently operates.

The reason the treasurers office returned so little money in the most recent fiscal year, they said, was because of the unprecedented conditions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

At that time, the program still required paperwork for everything. People seeking to retrieve their money submitted claims using hand-written forms. And they had to mail in paper copies of their drivers license, social security numbers and other personal information to prove they were the rightful owner of the missing assets.

That made it difficult for the two dozen state employees who regularly manage the unclaimed property program to do their job last year. Not all of them could be in the office at once because of the public health restrictions during the pandemic. And they couldnt take the paperwork  and the sensitive information it contained  home with them.

That meant anyone who attempted to reclaim their missing money last year was stuck in line.

The treasurers office said those problems were fixed following upgrades to its computer systems and public website in early 2021.

Those improvements now enable people, for the first time, to file a claim online, submit the necessary paperwork over the internet and check on their request through the website. Those upgrades, the treasurers office said, are expected to make the process more user-friendly and should increase the amount of money that is returned each year.

But the changes wont fix other fundamental issues with the program, like the millions of dollars in smaller assets that are still not listed on the state website.

The treasurers office said state law requires it to hide all of the unclaimed property valued at less than $50 from public view. They argued that other states do the same thing by only advertising assets above a set price, and they emphasized that Connecticut residents can still claim those small-dollar assets by calling a phone number maintained by the treasurers office.

But there is no way for residents to know if the state owes them such a small sum.

The treasurers office claims it doesnt have the power to close the loophole on its own. To do that, it would require the Connecticut legislature to pass a new law.

That could be a difficult sell. There is a big incentive for the states leaders to embrace the status quo.

A record of accomplishments

Anyone who is listed as the owner of unclaimed property can ask for their money back at any point, even if the state took control of their assets years or decades ago.

But the cash that remains in the states possession doesnt just sit idle, waiting for people to come and collect. Its redirected for other purposes.

Connecticut legislators use some of that money to help pad the states general fund each year. Over the past two decades, state lawmakers redirected more than $1 billion from the unclaimed property program to help supplement that annual budget. It provided a $98 million cushion for lawmakers during the last legislative session alone.

That use of the money could make it difficult to rally political support behind reforms to the program. The more people who are able to recover their checks, deposits and insurance payouts from the treasurer, the less money state lawmakers will have to spend each year.

The treasurers office said it is proud of its record when it comes to reuniting people and businesses with their unclaimed property, but thats not the statistic it chose to highlight in its most recent annual reports. On the treasurers single-page record of accomplishments, the only mention of the unclaimed property program is the millions of dollars it provided to state lawmakers.

The money the treasurers office spends to operate the unclaimed property program raises questions about its priorities, as well.

Over the past five years, the treasurer spent roughly $4.9 million to audit banks, utilities, insurance companies and other financial institutions in order to force them to turn over an additional $50 million in unclaimed property to the state.

But over that same time period, the office spent less than $26,000 to advertise the program and its website to let Connecticut residents know the state might be in possession of their money.

State lawmakers did away with advertising the list of unclaimed property in newspapers in 2016, but the legislature left it up to the treasurer to decide how much to spend on marketing on Facebook, Google, television and other digital media to get the word out.

Meanwhile, other efforts to reform and improve the program have fallen by the wayside.

Mary Mushinsky, one of the longest-serving state lawmakers in Connecticut, said the reason the legislature hasnt taken a hard look at the unclaimed property program is because very few people are actually advocating for changes to the program.

It doesnt have a built-in constituency, said Mushinsky, D-Wallingford. There isnt a single organized group complaining that they didnt get their money back.

Several years ago, Mushinsky ran into her own difficulties trying to retrieve money from the unclaimed property program. The state, she learned, had swept up her $50 refund from a local utility company, but after numerous attempts, she was unable to provide enough documentation to the treasurer to regain possession of her cash.

So, after growing tired of trying to jump through the hoops, she eventually gave up.

There could be a lot of people who are completely unaware that the state owes them money, Mushinsky said. But there are likely many other people, like her, who stopped trying to regain control of their money after several failed attempts.

The program comes off as hugely and unnecessarily complex, she said.

For the greater good

Connecticut isnt the only state that dips into its unclaimed property fund to help cover government spending. Many other states use the programs to help fill in yearly budget gaps, too.

But Connecticut has a unique use for the money that other states dont: political campaigns. Since 2006, the leftover cash from the unclaimed property program has served as the financial backbone for Connecticuts public campaign finance system.

Candidates for the legislature, governor and state treasurer have all relied on money collected through the unclaimed property program to fund their runs for office over the past 16 years.

In all, roughly $219 million from the unclaimed property program was spent on the grants that are handed out to political candidates to finance their campaigns.

Tapping that source of money allowed lawmakers to argue in past legislative hearings that Connecticuts public campaign finance system is not funded by state tax revenue  at least not technically.

Denise Nappier, who served as Connecticuts treasurer from 1999 to 2019, testified during some of the same legislative hearings and emphasized that using the unclaimed property to bankroll the campaign finance system was a proper use for the money.

One of the major goals of the unclaimed property program, she said, was to use the leftover cash in the fund for the greater good. Its meant to turn what would have been private profits for banks and insurance companies into a public benefit, she explained.

The right of the owner to claim those funds never waivers and remains in effect forever, Nappier said. It is a system that works, both for claimants, who sometimes come forward years later, staking their claim to assets they lost or inherited, and for the general public.

In other states, a proactive approach

A number of other states moved to modernize their unclaimed property programs in recent years in an attempt to boost the amount of money they are returning to peoples bank accounts.

Illinois, Louisiana, Delaware, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Rhode Island, for instance, have all taken on the burden of locating owners of unclaimed property and automatically mailing checks to those people.

To do that, those states enabled officials to cross-check their lists of unclaimed property with the most recent tax records, social security information and other government data. And many of those systems are already showing results.

Rhode Island, for example, started automatically issuing checks to the owners of unclaimed property in 2017 after its Treasurer Seth Magaziner asked his state legislature to change the law. The setup allowed anyone with unclaimed property valued at less than $2,500 to immediately get their cash. It also informed people with assets above that amount about how to contact the Treasurers office to get their money.

Since then, Magaziners office has been able to proactively pay out $10.5 million to more than 70,000 individuals. And those numbers are likely to grow even larger in the coming years now that Rhode Island also made the program applicable to businesses and nonprofits.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the treasurers office hasnt even been successful in returning money to the governor and his family. According to the data obtained by the CT Mirror, Gov. Ned Lamont and his wife, Annie, are owed somewhere around $15,000 from insurance policies and other assets that the state took control of in the past.

The governors office did not respond to questions about the money the Lamonts are owed or whether they had ever attempted to reclaim that cash.

But its not just the Lamonts who could stand to benefit from enhancements to the states unclaimed property program. Local governments  and their taxpayers  could also stand to gain.

California, for example, established a special initiative in 2020 to automatically return unclaimed property that belongs to its towns, cities and other municipalities. Over the past year and half, the program has been able to return more than $4.7 million to local governments throughout the state.

That entire effort, according to the California Controllers office, is only expected to cost the state around $72,000 per year to operate. Yet nothing like that exists in Connecticut.

The Connecticut treasurers office said it previously sent out notifications to cities and towns informing them about unclaimed property, but it did away with that practice sometime around 2018.

The office said many municipalities did not follow through by submitting a notarized request to reclaim their money. And other cities and towns could not come up with the evidence the program requires to finalize their claims.

Woodens staff also said it proactively contacts some unclaimed property owners by mailing postcards to them if their tax information is included in the data the state collects from financial institutions. Over the past five years, the treasurers office sent out 51,000 postcards.

But, again, those efforts did not include anyone with unclaimed property valued at less than $50. And that process still required every person who received a postcard to follow up with the Connecticut treasurer and prove that the assets belonged to them.

The Connecticut treasurers office voiced apprehension about other states that now send checks directly to individuals and businesses.

Some of those states, it said, reported that a significant number of the checks they sent out were later returned uncashed. The office also argued that the hurdles it makes everyone jump through before releasing their money help to deter fraud.

Our offices documentation requirements are designed to balance the goal of reuniting rightful owners with their property against the necessity of ensuring that claims are properly paid, they said.

Its unclear how Connecticuts rate of return stacks up to the programs in other states. The CT Mirror reached out to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, which the Connecticut Treasurers office belongs to, but the group did not respond to emailed questions.

Grossly inefficient

There have been attempts to change Connecticuts unclaimed property program in recent years, but those efforts gained little attention and ultimately went nowhere in the states Democratic-controlled legislature.

Ron Lizzi, a resident of the small town of Bethany, was the primary driver behind those proposals. Even though he lives in Connecticut, Lizzi has positioned himself as an unofficial watchdog on unclaimed property programs throughout the United States.

He was introduced to the programs several years ago, and he said he quickly went down a rabbit hole. He became obsessed with the way states collect unclaimed checks, security deposits and insurance proceeds, and he was troubled by the laws and systems that prevent more of that money from being returned.

That obsession led Lizzi to help uncover a scandal of sorts in Colorado earlier this year. He alerted a news reporter about numerous search terms that seemed to be blocked from that states online database of unclaimed property.

The story that followed out of the CBS News affiliate in Denver led the Colorado Treasurers office to admit their website was blocking a long list of words, like city, county, college and hospital, from being searched.

That made it impossible for some unclaimed property to be seen by the public, including the names of nearly 100 individuals who were owed money. Colorado leaders called the findings shady and some called for an investigation into the blocked terms.

Lizzis efforts to shine light on the unclaimed property program in Connecticut have been less effective, however. He has pushed the Connecticut legislature repeatedly since 2018 to pass a bill that would again require the Treasurer to notify cities and towns when the state is holding money that belongs to them.

Those bills were supported by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and Connecticut Council of Small Towns, which argued that any money returned to their members would lessen the need to raise local property taxes.

Requiring 169 towns to periodically review this database is grossly inefficient, the groups told state lawmakers. Instead, the state has an obligation to proactively provide this information, clearly and without confusion, to its rightful owners.

But those pleas went unheeded. The treasurers office told lawmakers that sending letters to municipalities was unnecessary because the towns and cities should already have been notified by their banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions before the state took possession of the assets.

Responses like that have led Lizzi to believe the real purpose of Connecticuts unclaimed property program is to rake in as much cash as possible.

This poor performance is not a bug, but a feature, he said. The only reason people arent demanding reforms to the program, he argued, is because most people dont even know it exists.

The entire system needs an overhaul to bring it into the 21st century, in Lizzis opinion. But improving the program could present financial risks for the state in the short term.

Millions of creditors

Connecticuts unclaimed property fund has historically been a profit-maker, but it might not take much to transform it into a financial loser for the state.

Connecticut leaders effectively took out a loan when they repeatedly used the leftover cash from the unclaimed property program to finance political campaigns and supplement their annual budget. And there are now nearly 2 million individual creditors who could demand that money back.

Between 2010 and 2021, the total amount of money the state owes through the unclaimed property program more than doubled.

Its unlikely that every person included on the list of unclaimed property will be able to retrieve that money. Some of the assets, for instance, may not have enough personal information available to find the owners. Others are so old it is unlikely that someone would come forward to claim them.

Even so, the Connecticut treasurers office reported in June 2020 that there is a reasonable possibility that up to $698 million will need to be repaid to the owners of that unclaimed property in the future. That is roughly the same amount of unclaimed property the state swept up over the most recent five year period.

The treasurers office said it is not concerned about that potential liability because it leans on the states roughly $20 billion general fund to pay each claim as it comes in.

But that doesnt mean the liability cant make the state legislatures job more difficult. If a large number of people ask for their money back in a short period of time, the program could run a deficit over several years.

The stream of money would reverse. Instead of the treasurer sending extra revenue to the general fund, lawmakers would need to shell out taxpayer money to the treasurers office to help them repay the claims.

If that were to happen, lawmakers could also be required to find another source of cash to bankroll the states public campaign finance system  at least temporarily.

That loss, according to state law, would need to be filled by more than $12 million in corporate tax revenue.
When Gov Ned Lamont announced last week that the state would distribute 6 million N95 face masks, he was asked if he would be reinstating a statewide mandate.

He responded by pointing to New York City. Masks have been required indoors in New York City for months, and Lamont said it was proof that mandates are not effective.

Its not curbing the spike down in New York City, which is probably ground zero for omicron, he said.

Mark Siegel thinks the distribution of masks without issuing a mandate is something of a contradiction.

On the one hand, hes conveying an important message of concern by giving out medical grade PPE, while undermining that message by failing to state clearly that masks must be worn at all times in indoor public spaces, he said.

Recently, Siegel, a pulmonary and critical care physician at the Yale New Haven Health, put together an online petition in an attempt to get Lamont to issue a mask mandate, among other requests. Siegel stressed that he does not represent either Yale New Haven Haven Hospital or the school of medicine.

The governor, Siegel said, has made anemic comments encouraging mask wearing, but those comments pale in comparison to the more definitive statements we need about the importance of masks, which would be the clear message he would send by issuing a mandate.

Lamonts spokesman, Max Reiss, said the governor has been consistent in his message that masks work.

What the governor is saying is that you can only have a mandate thats enforced, Reiss said. By providing 6 million N95 masks what were saying is, masks work. If you're somebody who wants to wear a mask, we want to help you with an even higher quality mask.

By distributing 6 million N95 masks, Were trying to augment what individuals are already doing, Reiss said.

Its not masks but mandates, which Reiss said are unenforceable, that the governor is against.

If we expect it and it has the power of law and it's not getting enforced then were back to where we just were, Reiss said. If you're not going to enforce it its as if it doesn't exist.

Connecticut is not completely without mask mandates. Children and staff in schools are required to wear masks, unvaccinated individuals are required to wear masks indoors and Lamont has left it to individual municipalities to issue more restrictive mask mandates as they see fit.

Its the job of our politicians to weigh the science against the economics, said Kevin Dieckhaus, chief of UConn Healths infectious disease division. Im hoping the prevalence comes down. My recommendation is that people wear masks in public.

Certainly every town in Connecticut and most towns in the United States are in a rate of high transmission, Dieckhaus said. Going to the YMCA, nobody in my town is wearing a mask. We dont have a mask mandate in my town.

Ben Proto, chairman of the state Republican Party, issued a statement condemning the governors decision to allow mask mandates in schools.

The haphazard policy decisions, which sometimes require each town to decide how to move forward or, with the case of schools, the governor setting a one-size-fits-all pronouncement, continues to confuse and frustrate the public and have led to a huge increase in positive test results, Proto said.

Proto was arguing against mandates in general, but Reiss said the in-school mask mandate has been effective, as its possible for schools and teachers to enforce it.

We know that masks work when it comes to infection control, he said. In schools it's a rule for everyone, so the enforcement is there.

But Siegel said asking schools statewide to enforce a mask mandate for students without requiring their parents to do the same is a complete contradiction.

A frustrating theme throughout the pandemic has been the internal contradictions within public policies, Siegel said. Whats the point, or the value, of requiring masks in some places, like supermarkets, while allowing people to go mask-free in restaurants? Or, closing bars while keeping restaurants open? Or requiring curfews, as if the virus spreads more easily later in the evening than earlier?

I suspect the governor, like the current CDC director, is reluctant to issue mandates that he perceives people wont tolerate, he said.
STAMFORD  For a handful of hours, Stamford was stuck in gridlock.

Long lines streamed down city streets across Shippan, Downtown and the South End as volunteers, civil servants and Stamford employees geared up to give out thousands of free antigen COVID tests amid the nations unprecedented groundswell of new cases.

The citywide distribution effort suffered many of the same hiccups that characterized recent weeks of testing. Cars jammed the streets surrounding distribution centers at Scalzi, Cummings and Kocziusko parks as residents rushed to get a hold of the 20,000 tests from California-based company ACON Labs across the city.

Director of Public Safety Ted Jankowski told The Stamford Advocate that each of the three park sites had received approximately 4,000 kits. The remainder would be distributed through community-based organizations and senior residences.

Cars began to line up before 10:30 a.m. at the Scalzi Park location in advance of the noon distribution.

Mariliana Cubor, 24, was among the first to queue up and watched the traffic build in every direction as the minutes ticked by. Though the city announced Saturday that cars would only be allowed to enter the park from eastbound from Bridge Street, Cubor could see a line snaking down Washington Boulevard, causing a stoppage down one of Stamfords busiest roads.

The entire city is on line, joked one of the Scalzi Park volunteers while handing a box of test kits to a car full of masked residents.

Ive been exposed to COVID, Cubor said just as the testing line opened to cars 10 minutes after the noon kickoff, and it seems like everyone else has too.

Along with the lines of cars circling all the parks, each site also distributed tests through a walk-up line, and steadily, packs of residents trudged through the cold and mist to secure their boxes. But even the pedestrian effort caused hiccups for the distributors, as residents started hopping out of their cars to join the faster push.

People are parking in our driveway, and its ridiculous, Stamford resident Tanya Field told one of the volunteers after walking over to get her own set of tests.

From the entrance point of the park, the line at Scalzi was so long, it wrapped down Stillwater Avenue and onto West Broad Street, making a horseshoe of traffic around the distribution center.

Gun Sharp, 78, attempted to join the line on Bridge Street from Halliwell Drive at 11:45 a.m. before the handouts started in earnest.

After only a few minutes of wading through the standstill traffic, Sharp decided to try her luck at another site. But down at Cummings Park, she encountered a parking lot of cars and was back at the same impasse as before. If she went down Shippan Avenue, she knew she could easily get a test.

But, I realized if I did that, I wouldnt be able to get back home because its only one lane going the other way, she said.

In the end, Sharp thinks she got lucky; while driving home, she found two boxes of rapid tests at the CVS Pharmacy on Long Ridge Road. Yet even her little victory came at a cost. Because of all the traffic, it took her about an hour to get back to her Westover home.

The city announced via social media that distribution at the Kocziusko Park location ended around 2:30 p.m.

Cummings Park and Scalzi Park are almost at the end of their supplies, and we expect these sites to finish soon, the city said in a tweet. Less than 45 minutes later, Mayor Caroline Simmons announced that teams across Stamford had fully distributed the supplies.

Simmons and her administration tried to focus test distribution on high-risk populations throughout Stamford and individuals with known exposures or symptoms. Residents were limited to two tests per household.

veronica.delvalle@hearstmediact.com
by Misbah Saba Malik

ISLAMABAD, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. ban on Xinjiang cotton will badly disturb the global supply chain, a Pakistani expert has said.

All parts of China, including Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, have witnessed profound economic development, but the United States chose to turn a blind eye to it and signed the so-called "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act" into law as part of its scheme to use Xinjiang to contain China's development, Khalid Taimur Akram, executive director of the Center for Global and Strategic Studies in Islamabad, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"The bill had been criticized by many big companies," as it will only disturb the global supply chain and lead to a massive loss of revenues for those companies, he said.

Lamenting the U.S. propaganda to portray Xinjiang as a subject of abysmal poverty and injustice, he said that all the allegations are merely manifestations of a politicized campaign against China.

"Being an international expert and scholar, I have often visited China, especially the Xinjiang region. During my visits, I have witnessed that China has eliminated poverty and maintained sustainable development in Xinjiang. The employment level is stable and a large number of job opportunities have been created by the policies of the Chinese leadership," he added.

According to the expert, all his visits to Xinjiang have allowed him to see that people there enjoy a happy and prosperous life, and modern infrastructure development along with technological advancement has transformed the region.

"There is religious freedom and unity among people. Thus, fabricating a false narrative to disengage and restrict Xinjiang's cotton supply would be detrimental for the cotton availability in the international market," Akram added.

Calling the bill a futile attempt by the United States to disturb peace and harmony in Xinjiang, he said that the United States is unscrupulous to launch smear campaigns against China and sow discord among the Chinese people, "but such attempts will fail miserably."

He said that the prosperity in Xinjiang is indisputable evidence of how misleading the U.S. rhetoric against the region is.

"China is a state that works for the well-being of its people, including ethnic minorities. The dynamic leadership of China has taken robust initiatives to enhance the living standard of the Xinjiang region."

Questioning the U.S. track record of killing innocent people worldwide, he said that the country is trying to falsely accuse China of something that Washington has repeatedly done.

"In the name of democracy, the United States has always meddled in the internal affairs of other countries. However, the world has witnessed the true vicious face of the country through its systematic ambiguity and failed democratic model," he said. Enditem
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) informs that it has completed the works of extension and modernization of the working space with the public at the Consulate General of Romania in Edinburgh, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The approach aimed at renting an additional space and works for the interior design of the working space with the public, the counters and the space for consular officers, a MAE release sent to AGERPRES informs.Thus, the new reconfiguration of the working space with the public has increased the number of counters to five, compared to three previously available. This allows for a considerable increase in the capacity to take over and process requests for consular services, as well as to streamline workflows at the level of the consular office, according to the MAE."The operationalization of the new working space of the Edinburgh consular office continues the MAE's efforts to improve the quality of consular services and to increase their processing capacity and is part of the extensive program of measures to expand and modernize the network, initiated in 2020 by the decision of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu, in order to ensure prompt and quality services to the Romanian citizens abroad", the MAE informs.Currently, Romanian citizens in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland benefit from consular services, consular assistance and protection provided by three diplomatic and consular representatives: Consular Section of the Romanian Embassy in London (https://londra.mae.ro/ ) - in the process of being transformed into the Consulate General, the Consulate General of Romania in Edinburgh (https://edinburgh.mae.ro/) and the Consulate General of Romania in Manchester (https://manchester.mae.ro/).
Most new cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to the last report are in Bucharest - 280 and in the counties of Cluj - 78, Iasi - 60, Ilfov - 45, Suceava - 44, Arad - 43, the Strategic Communication Group (GCS) informed on Sunday, agerpres reports.

No new cases were registered in Arges, Calarasi, Covasna and Teleorman, and only one new case was reported in Mehedinti county.280 new cases were registered in Bucharest, the incidence being 0.79 per thousand inhabitants, increasing compared to the previous day.
KHARTOUM, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Mass demonstrations demanding civilian rule started on Sunday in the Sudan's capital Khartoum and other cities.

The protesters gathered at Sharwani bus station in the capital, and then marched to the Republican Palace, eyewitnesses told Xinhua.

Earlier in the day, the internet service on mobile phones was interrupted in Sudan.

Khartoum State Police announced the closure of all bridges linking the three major cities of Khartoum, Omdurman, and Bahri, except for Al-Halfaya and Suba ones, where eyewitnesses said military units have been deployed at the entrances of these bridges.

Sudanese security forces also closed the roads around the headquarters of the army's general command with concrete barriers and barbed wire, while the roads leading to the presidential palace in the center of the capital were also closed.

Sudan has been suffering a political crisis after General Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan declared a state of emergency on Oct. 25 and dissolved the Sovereign Council and government.

On Nov. 21, Al-Burhan and then removed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok signed a political declaration, which included reinstating the latter as prime minister, but the deal has so far failed to calm the street. Enditem
Zip up your coat or you'll catch a cold.

Most people have probably heard some variation of that parental plea while growing up, or even directed such advice to their own children. It's a sensible request, though when it comes to avoiding illness when temperatures dip, it's not quite so simple.

"It's multifactorial. Just given cold weather alone doesn't make you sick," said Dr. Virginia Banks of Northeast Ohio Infectious Disease Associates in Youngstown. "There are just a lot of variables."

Some viruses thrive in winter

For one, viruses may survive and reproduce more easily in the cold, dry air of winter. Plus, cold weather keeps people indoors, and viruses can spread more easily in close quarters. And although laboratory research suggests cold temperatures can make immune cells less effective, Banks said in the end, viruses  not the cold weather  are what make you sick.

While many respiratory viruses cause the common cold, rhinoviruses are the most common trigger for those runny noses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rhinoviruses also can cause asthma attacks and have been linked to sinus and ear infections.

Most versions of rhinoviruses replicate more robustly in nasal passages, where the temperature is usually about 91 to 95 degrees, lower than the core body temperature of 98.6. "Viruses tend to enter the body through your nasal passages, and the temperature being lower lends itself to them replicating," Banks said.

Influenza viruses and the virus that causes COVID-19 also can enter the body through the nose.

How to avoid getting sick

Banks is eager to see how active this winter's flu season will be after the CDC said activity for the 2020-21 season was "unusually low." Likely explanations included the introduction of pandemic mitigation measures.

To avoid getting sick this winter, Banks said those measures  wearing masks, especially indoors; social distancing; staying home; and hand-washing  provide an important layer of protection. And she urged people to get their flu and COVID vaccines. Other tips to keep the immune system strong include exercising, eating a healthy diet and getting enough sleep.

She also implored people to schedule checkups with their doctor if they have avoided visits during the pandemic. That's because viruses aren't the only health issue people should be thinking about this winter.

Some research shows an association between colder air temperatures and adverse impacts on cardiovascular health. For instance, a 2018 study in Sweden published in JAMA Cardiology found more heart attacks happened on days with low air temperatures, low air pressure, higher winds and shorter duration of sunlight.

Why low temps are associated with sickness

A 2016 study in the Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases found lower average air temperatures and bigger 24-hour temperature swings were associated with hospitalizations for stroke. The authors cited a need for more research to determine why.

Theresa Beckie, a professor in the College of Nursing and College of Medicine Cardiology at the University of South Florida in Tampa, urged those diagnosed with heart disease to be particularly cautious in the cold.

"A really good example is that there have been several studies of sedentary individuals shoveling snow after a heavy snowfall," Beckie said. "These weekend warriors, if they have ischemic heart disease, have a risk of precipitating a heart attack."

Sudden exertion stimulates adrenaline and a stress response in your body that may increase heart rate, Beckie said. "So yes, there is a risk, but it's not so much due to the cold but the sudden physical activity of holding your breath, shoveling snow and creating sudden stress on the heart."

It's still important to stay active in the winter, though Beckie said people should be mindful of their physical fitness before jumping straight into too strenuous of an activity. For instance, someone who is not as active should take breaks while clearing a foot of snow from their driveway, or to pay a service to do it.

"Acclimation is everything," Beckie said. "Just take things slowly."

American Heart Association News covers heart and brain health. Not all views expressed in this story reflect the official position of the American Heart Association. Copyright is owned or held by the American Heart Association Inc., and all rights are reserved. If you have questions or comments about this story, please email editor@heart.org.
JEFFERSON CITY  Lawmakers return to the capital city Wednesday for their last regular session before the November elections, with debates in store over congressional redistricting, abortion, school curricula, vaccine mandates and more.

The GOP-controlled Legislature will move fast on new boundaries for Missouris eight congressional districts, said Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan. He said it is more likely that lawmakers will agree to a status quo map that gives Democrats two seats  one in Kansas City and one in St. Louis  versus one that attempts to deliver the Kansas City district for Republicans.

Theres been some talk about trying to draw a 7-1 map, versus 6-2, Schatz said. I think the reality is that, you know, its more likely that we have a map that reflects something close to what weve got right now.

A plan filed Thursday by Rep. Dan Shaul, an Imperial Republican who is chairman of the House Redistricting Committee, would likely maintain the status quo by placing most of Democratic Jackson County in the 5th Congressional District and by keeping the 1st Congressional District, represented by Rep. Cori Bush, D-St. Louis, heavily Democratic.

The map that is 6-2 will probably be the outcome, although, again, I dont think it truly reflects the values of the people of Missouri, said Sen. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur. The Democrats, as far as were concerned  you know, Id love to see a 5-3 map.

Republicans have also filed more than a dozen pieces of legislation in some way aimed at vaccine mandates.

Multiple pieces of legislation seek to censor how schools teach students about race.

Schatz said in regard to budgeting, the state will have a historic amount of resources.

Hopefully (well be) making wise investments, addressing some of the challenges that we can and being responsible with it, Schatz said.

This will be the last legislative session before the 2022 midterm elections, increasing pressure on lawmakers to act on proposed ballot questions so that voters may weigh in this year.

Multiple measures would ask voters to raise the bar on ballot initiatives, which interest groups have successfully used in recent years to usher in policies such as Medicaid expansion and medical marijuana, which the Legislature has rejected.

Proposals would ask voters to increase the threshold by which constitutional changes may be approved. Currently, a simple majority is required for constitutional changes, but legislation would raise that threshold to 66%.

I believe that there needs to be a higher threshold, Schatz said. Its our states constitution, and I think thats a good discussion.

Backers of the change, if they were to place their question on the ballot, would need only a simple majority of support from voters to pull off limiting ballot initiatives in the future.

Encouraged by a conservative supermajority on the U.S. Supreme Court, Republicans are poised to push new abortion restrictions modeled after a Texas law.

Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, R-Arnold, who is running for state Senate in Jefferson County, has proposed a measure similar to Texas law that would deputize citizens to sue clinics, physicians and others involved in abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

The legislation follows Texas lead by providing a civil course of action for those who break the law by performing, aiding or abetting unlawful abortions, Coleman said.

This is an election year, Schupp said. We are going to see a barrage of extremist kinds of legislation like that Texas abortion bill being pushed by people who are catering to a fringe base.

She added, this is designed to create vigilantism around the state in terms of chasing women off or following them around to report for money.

Old battles over how to conduct elections will be new again. Should Missouris primaries be open only to political party members or open to all? Should photo ID be required to cast a ballot?

In the wake of the 2020 election, which former President Donald Trump lost, there will also be new pushes to limit election authorities.

A University of Massachusetts Amherst poll released last week found 71% of Republicans nationwide didnt believe in the legitimacy of President Joe Bidens election victory.

Rep. Hardy Billington, R-Poplar Bluff, has proposed banning election officials from sending out unsolicited absentee ballot request forms.

A proposal by Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, would forbid election authorities from accepting outside money in the form of grants or gifts. Republicans have attacked grants in the 2020 election by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Look for some Democrats to make deals in the GOP-dominated Legislature.

Schupp is partnering with Sen. Elaine Gannon, R-De Soto, on an effort to allow Medicaid health coverage for low-income women for one year after giving birth.

Were excited to be moving forward together in a bipartisan way to promote health care for low-income women postpartum, Schupp said.

Missouri lawmaker wants Texas-style ban on abortion At least 17 bills have been filed in Missouri that would limit abortions or defund abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.

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Do at-home COVID-19 tests detect the omicron variant? Yes, but U.S. health officials say early data suggests they may be less sensitive at picking it up.

Government recommendations for using at-home tests haven't changed. People should continue to use them when a quick result is important.

"The bottom line is the tests still detect COVID-19 whether it is delta or alpha or omicron," says Dr. Emily Volk, president of the College of American Pathologists.

Government scientists have been checking to make sure the rapid tests still work as each new variant comes along. And this week, the Food and Drug Administration said preliminary research indicates they detect omicron, but may have reduced sensitivity. The agency noted it's still studying how the tests perform with the variant, which was first detected in late November.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said the FDA wanted to be "totally transparent" by noting the sensitivity might come down a bit, but that the tests remain important.

There are many good uses for at-home tests, Volk says. Combined with vaccination, they can make you more comfortable about gathering with family and friends.

If you've been exposed to a person who tested positive but you don't have symptoms, a rapid test five days later can give a good indication of whether you caught the virus. It can also help if you're not sure whether your runny nose or sore throat is COVID-19.

But consider the context when looking at results. If you feel sick after going out to a nightclub in an area with high infection rates, for example, you should look at a negative result from an at-home test with a little more skepticism, Volk says.

Following up with a PCR test is a good idea, she says. Those tests are more accurate and are done at testing sites and hospitals.
Bill McClellan Bill McClellan is a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Bill McClellan 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

The old year was not good, but the new one will be worse. I have resigned myself to that. Why pretend the light at the end of the tunnel is anything but the beam from an oncoming train?

I am not talking about national politics. That disaster is too profound for me. I cannot pretend to understand it. If you would have told me 10 years ago that my political heroes would be Liz Cheney and Dan Quayle, I would not have believed you. But Cheney has stood up to Donald Trump and Quayle advised Mike Pence that a vice president ought not overturn a national election.

I used to despise Cheneys father, and I was convinced that Quayle was an empty suit. I obviously saw things in a superficial way.

Fortunately, I have earned the right to ignore national politics. I have done my bit. I was patriotic enough to flunk out of college and get drafted. Eventually, I became a taxpayer and a voter. That is not a great resume, but it is good enough that I can say, Let the young people save the Republic.

I am too old to rush to the barricades. Whats more, I would probably get lost. Thats another thing about a new year. Navigating through life does not get easier with the passing of time.

For that reason, I seldom go out. I made an exception in November when comedian Greg Warren came to the Funny Bone at Westport Plaza. I bought two tickets online. I try not to do stuff like that, but I decided to reach a little, test myself, and I did quite well. I made the online purchase and printed out my two tickets.

An anthropologist once surmised that a Neanderthal, tossed into our modern culture, could probably learn to do a complicated thing like use the proper change to ride mass transit.

Perhaps. But could he order online?

On a Friday night in mid-November, we drove to Westport. Even during daylight, I get lost as I approach Westport. Its like trying to get to the city of Oz through a maze. You look for shiny gold building and head toward it. One pass is seldom enough.

With the help of my longtime navigator  we celebrated 42 years of marriage this past Wednesday  we arrived at Westport. I had forgotten our tickets. You didnt bring the tickets? Mary asked. It wasnt really a question. Actual tickets are old news, I said cheerfully. Because I bought them online, the ticket office would surely have a record of that. Arent computers supposed to make life easier?

I had an ace in the hole. I knew Warrens mother. Yes, that is the new me. I am the guy who knows the drummers parents. The late Colleen Kelly Warren used to write occasional columns for this newspaper. I was hoping I wouldnt have to act like a big-shot and ask to speak to the headliner, but I was ready to do it.

I projected an air of self-confidence as I walked up to the ticket window. I dont have the actual tickets with me for Greg Warrens show, I said. Im sure you have a record of the purchase.

Greg Warren is here next Friday night, she said.

I told that story to my grandkids a couple of weeks ago as we headed to the Fabulous Fox to see Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Musical. I remembered the tickets this time and I double-checked the date, I said.

I let my wife and grandkids out and found a place to park. I got to the theater in time for the show, but I did not have proof of vaccination. I went home, got my vaccination card and returned in time for the second half.

Like I said, I dont go out much.

Just because I have difficulty getting to the mall and back does not mean I dont crave adventure. When the year began, I had several road trips in mind. One was especially grand. We would head to the northwest to visit an old pal who lives in the state of Washington. On the way there, we would visit a nephew who lives in Oregon and a friend in Nebraska. Wed take a southern route home  down into California and then through Arizona to Texas. Maybe wed stop in Branson on the way home.

The continuing drama with the pandemic stopped all that. Plus, I had planned on getting a new car for the big trip, but new cars were scarce this past year. Supply chain problems.

I was able to find one new car I liked, but it didnt have a spare tire. It had a repair kit. I would like adventure, but not that much adventure. Sitting on the side of the road with a flat tire and a repair kit, waiting to be towed to some town where I might be able to find a new tire? That does not sound like a plan,

What is up with these supply-chain problems? Its well beyond new cars. My local grocery store doesnt even have eggnog. Are the chickens in on this?

Lets go Brandon!

I know. I know. Its not his fault. He was brought in to save the Republic, but the task was just too big, the opposition too well organized and too fierce, and hes too old, too worn out. Its really quite depressing. Its not as if this hasnt happened before in other countries. I would mention the movie Cabaret, but I dont want to encourage a movement to ban Christopher Isherwoods Berlin Diaries from our school libraries.

On a more personal note, the Cubs had a terrible year. An 11-game losing streak and a 13-game losing streak. We not only finished 24 games out of first place, but we also traded our three best players  Javier Baez, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. What did we get for them? Teenagers. We might be able to field a high-level American Legion team. Maybe someday some of those kids will grow up to be big-league players, but it wont be soon.

The Cubs will not be competitive in 2022.

So what else do we know about this new year?

Well have elections. Half the country doesnt believe in them and will refuse to accept the results if their side loses, but well have them anyway, for old times sake.

The results will be especially depressing here in Missouri. Eric Greitens is currently the favorite to win the Trumpian senatorial primary. If he implodes, it could be Eric Schmitt. Or maybe Mark McCloskey. Whichever one emerges out of the ooze will be the heavy favorite to join Josh Hawley in the Senate. By the way, Hawley would be my choice to lead a movement to ban Isherwoods book. After all, it was just a gay guys take on the manly men of the Third Reich.

Long before the primary election in August, there will be a showdown at the Missouri Supreme Court over St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner. The states chief disciplinary counsel has found probable cause that she committed professional misconduct during her ill-advised foray into the Greitens mess.

Will the court have the resolve to punish her, knowing that her side would immediately condemn the punishment as racist?

What a black eye that would be for the city and the state. A crusading circuit attorney attacked by the racist establishment. I predict riots.

Or the Supreme Court could try to finesse the whole thing and say that she committed misconduct, but that is not such a serious thing for the leading law enforcement official of the states second largest city. Just move along, folks. Nothing to see here.

The only promising thing I can say about the new year is, I have been wrong often before. Like with Cheney and Quayle. Who couldve guessed that?

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Regarding Missouri lawmaker wants Texas-style ban on abortion (Dec. 17): It seems like most TV commercials target the sufferers of erectile dysfunction and Peyronies disease. I think it is fabulous that defects in male sexual performance and anatomy are being researched and treated so extensively. However, I must have been out of earshot for the commercials for male contraception. Or the quickly spoken small print at the bottom of the screen cautioning that pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease may result from sexual activity.

Roe v. Wade and a womans right to determine her own life is under threat. Everyone has the right to privacy and it should stay that way. Government and pro-life supporters are looking in the wrong direction by trying to outlaw and limit access to abortion. Men are the cause of unplanned pregnancies. Men are responsible for their actions and the consequences.

Red people, blue people and purple people are concerned about the lives of children. That is why we need to support expanded public education and an equitable funding method, which includes free meals for all students. We should support free birth control, including vasectomies; fact-based sex education; prenatal care; paid maternity and paternity leave; well-baby and well-mother care; and an expanded earned-income tax credit. These are investments, not expenses.

Angela White  Hazelwood
US is close to 1930s Germany; KC can run a trolley and more top letters
For over a decade AUVs (autonomous unmanned underwater vehicles) have been used commercially for underwater research. For a decade the military has been using AUVs to monitor underwater conditions to assist submarine operations or even detect the presence of a passing submarine. What the navy wanted was a surface version, or ASV (autonomous unmanned surface vehicle). Now they have one; the Saildrone Explorer. This is a seven meter (23 feet) long vessel propelled by a five meter (15 foot) high sail and powered by solar panels on the sail. Underneath the Explorer are two fins that stabilize the ASV and maintain or change direction. Average speed is nearly six kilometers an hour. Range and endurance are virtually unlimited as the Explorer was designed to withstand rough seas and high winds. Many missions last up to a year, at which point the Explorer is directed to a location where it can be picked up, checked out and, if needed, have repairs made, upgrades added or a new sensor package installed.

Currently there are three sensor packages. The Metocean package monitors and records water salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, wind speed/direction and wave height/duration. The Carbon package monitors atmospheric and dissolved carbon dioxide. The Fisheries package monitors ocean currents, fish biomass and backscatter. The navy wants to add an intel package that would monitor the presence of surface ships using day/night cameras, radar and radio receivers to detect the automated transponders all large vessels are supposed to carry. The Explorer has onboard GPS and a computer containing software that can determine which data is most significant and use the encrypted satellite data link to send it back to the Saildrone control center in California, where operators monitor the location of many Explorer ASVs and can send them instructions on where to move to next. Usually, an Explorer is given a route to monitor or traverse. This was tested, along with the durability of Explorer, when one made a 196-day voyage around Antarctica. During that voyage the ASV endured freezing temperatures, detected and avoided icebergs, and bumped into a few, while surviving 16-meter (50 foot) waves and winds of up to 140 kilometer (80 miles) an hour. This voyage covered over 24,000 kilometers (nearly 14,000 nautical miles). This epic test began and ended in New Zealand. So far Explorer ASVs have spent over 15,000 days at sea and none have been lost.

Explorer carrying a military intel sensor package would be more expensive and vulnerable to detection and destruction by hostile ships and aircraft. Saildrone is continually lowering the cost of the Explorer, which is already much cheaper than using a manned ship for this kind of data collection. The navy might find this ASV too vulnerable for wartime use, but effective when there is not a war going on.

Meanwhile the navy has lots of less detectable ASVs and AUVs in service. The latest is the Wave Glider SV3 AUV which also contains an underwater component, connected to the surface AUV float by an eight-meter (25 foot) cable that transmits power and data from the float to the underwater component, and data collected by the underwater component to the AUV float that contains solar panels and communications equipment to transmit position back to a land base via a satellite phone. This enables a surface ship to get close enough to use to collect all accumulated data from the Wave Rider and send new instructions about where Wave Rider is to search. The surface component weighs 90 kg (198 pounds) while the underwater portion weighs 155 kg (340 pounds).

Wave Rider has been around since 2007 as a commercial product. There have been two upgrades, the latest in 2017, enabled Wave Rider to operate in rough seas and farther north and south than previous models. Wave Rider can be used individually or in small groups to monitor ocean conditions as well as weather. Individual Wave Riders stay at sea for up to six months, or more, before being hauled aboard a ship for repairs, maintenance or upgrades. Basic Wave Riders cost about $300,000. That can increase by a third or more with some of the more expensive sensors available. Wave Rider data can be used for military purposes, but that is secondary to the task of monitoring the state of oceans in general. In 2012-2013 the record for Wave Rider duration was one that remained at sea for a year and traveled 14,000 kilometers from central California to northeastern Australia. Normally single or groups of Wave Riders monitor one portion of the ocean.

For over a decade the waters of the western Pacific have been increasingly populated by UUVs (Unmanned Undersea Vehicle) set loose to collect technical data on the water all the way from the surface to the sea bottom. The UUVs have been getting cheaper, more capable and proliferating.

These AUVs are silent, very small, and able to operate on their own for up to a year. The first models were two meters (six feet) long, weighed 59 kg (130 pounds) and operated completely on their own, collecting valuable information about underwater weather. What this AUV does is automatically move slowly (30-70 kilometers a day) underwater, collecting data on salinity and temperature and transmitting back via a satellite link every hour or so as the AUV briefly reaches the surface. This data improves the effectiveness of sonars used by friendly forces, making it easier to detect and track enemy submarines. Thats because the speed of sound traveling through water varies according to the temperature and salinity of the water. Having more precise data on salinity and temperature in a large body of water makes your underwater sensors (sonar, which detects sound to determine what is out there) more accurate. This data can also assist submarines in better avoiding detection. The first of these navy AUVs could dive as far down as 200 meters (620 feet) and later models were able to go down to 1,000 meters or more.

The Wave Rider is simply an advanced design based on the earlier underwater only AUVs. Wave Rider and the earlier UUVs use a unique form of propulsion. They have wings, and a small pump that fills and empties a chamber. This changes its buoyancy, causing it to glide down, then back up. This maneuver moves the UUV forward. Equipped with GPS and a navigation and communications computer, the UUV is programmed (or instructed via the sat link) to monitor a particular area. The small pump uses less electricity than a propeller moving the UUV at the same speed. As a result of this all UUVs UAVs can remain at sea for up to a year on one battery charge. Before the battery runs out the owner has to direct the UAV and a ship to a rendezvous where the AUV will remain on the surface and the ship will haul it aboard, replace the battery and perform any other needed maintenance.

Wave Rider uses the surface component to carry solar panels to recharge the battery and power more sensors. Small UUV maintenance detachments (of two or three sailors) can be flown to a ship that is close enough to make the rendezvous. In some cases, you can direct the UUV to move close to land, which makes it even easier to find a boat to go out and get the AUV. These UUVs can be launched from ships or shore. In 2009 an UUV of this type crossed the Atlantic on its own, as part of a civilian research project. A few years later a Wave Rider traveled even farther and crossed the Pacific.

The U.S. Navy currently has over 2000 of these UUVs and about twenty Wave Riders in service or on order and plans to keep increasing this robotic UUV fleet as long as they keep demonstrating they can do the job. This is part of a plan to have UUVs replace many of the ocean survey ships currently used for this kind of work. The survey ships take temperature and salinity readings from instruments deployed from the ship as well as a global network of several thousand research buoys. Unlike the survey ships the UUVs could be deployed in areas where hostile subs are believed to be operating, and be kept at it as long as needed. If successful in regular use, larger versions are planned, equipped with more sensors and longer duration.
Tyler joins the Detroit Free Press ranking in large company category

TROY, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Tyler Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: TYL) has been named to the Detroit Free Press 2021 Top Workplaces list in Michigan for the fifth year in a row. Tyler was ranked 15th in the large company category, which comprises companies that have more than 500 local employees.

We are pleased to once again be recognized by the Detroit Free Press as a top workplace in Michigan this year, said Bryan Proctor, president of Tylers Public Safety Division, which is headquartered in Troy. Especially during a year where many of our employees worked remotely, were proud to have maintained a strong company culture and a reinforced commitment to serving the public sector. Im humbled to work alongside such a driven team.

The Detroit Free Press partnered with Energage, an employee research and culture technology firm, to administer an employee engagement survey related to workplace culture. The rankings are based solely on employee survey feedback, which is analyzed based on Energages objective criteria.

More than 3,300 employers in Michigan were invited to have their employees take the survey. Of employees who received questionnaires, nearly 57,000 responded. There were 174 employers who earned recognition as top workplaces this year among the small, midsize, and large employer categories.

More than 550 employees work in Tyler's Troy office, home to its Public Safety Division, which develops software solutions for police, fire, and EMS agencies. The Troy location is also home to the company's New World ERP staff, who provide integrated public administration solutions. Tyler has more than 6,600 employees nationwide.

About Tyler Technologies, Inc.

Tyler Technologies (NYSE: TYL) provides integrated software and technology services to the public sector. Tyler's end-to-end solutions empower local, state, and federal government entities to operate more efficiently and connect more transparently with their constituents and with each other. By connecting data and processes across disparate systems, Tyler's solutions are transforming how clients gain actionable insights that solve problems in their communities. Tyler has more than 37,000 successful installations across more than 12,000 locations, with clients in all 50 states, Canada, the Caribbean, Australia, and other international locations. Tyler has been named to Government Technology's GovTech 100 list five times and has been recognized three times on Forbes' "Most Innovative Growth Companies" list. More information about Tyler Technologies, an S&P 500 company headquartered in Plano, Texas, can be found at tylertech.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211228005008/en/

Jennifer Kepler

Tyler Technologies

972.713.3770

[email protected]

Source: Tyler Technologies, Inc.
KHARTOUM, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on Sunday announced his resignation from his post in the wake of the political crisis in the country.

"I announce to you my resignation from the post of prime minister to make way for another person from the daughters or sons of this generous country," said Hamdok in a speech to the Sudanese people broadcast by the official Sudan TV.

"You have granted me the honor to be prime minister at this delicate and hopeful circumstance, and I have tried my best to prevent our country against the danger of sliding into disaster," he said.

"Under the differences within the political forces and the nihilistic conflicts among all the components of the transition, and despite what I have done to achieve the desired and necessary consensus to fulfill what we have promised the citizens with of security, peace, justice and stopping of bloodshed, yet that did not happen," he added.

Hamdok stressed the importance of initiating a comprehensive dialogue to end the political crisis in the country.

"The key word towards a solution to this dilemma, which continued for over six decades of the nation's history, is to resort to a round-table dialogue involving all components of the Sudanese society and the State to agree on a national charter and set a road-map to complete the civil democratic transformation," he said.

It is not immediately clear who will succeed Hamdok and there seemed to be no visible candidates as the country has been experiencing a political crisis after General Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, declared a state of emergency on Oct. 25 and dissolved the Sovereign Council and government.

On Nov. 21, Al-Burhan and then removed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok signed a political declaration, which included reinstating the latter as prime minister, but the deal has so far failed to calm the street.

The street protests were also fuelled by popular discontent with rising prices of food, gases and household essentials in the country. Enditem
BEIJING, Dec. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On December 30th, 2021, DCP announced that it has officially signed the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI), promising to further implement the six Principles for Responsible Investment. UNPRI is the world's leading proponent of responsible investment, with more than 4,000 signatories. It encourages its signatories to incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations into investment, due diligence and portfolio management to create a more sustainable environment for global financial and investment activities.

As an internationally renowned private equity firm, DCP has long considered ESG impact on value creation, long-term company performance, and society as a whole since its foundation. DCP believes that highly responsible investment behavior will create value, enhance returns, build trust and confidence, and above all, contribute to a more prosperous world through positive commercial and social impact.

To fully comply with UNPRI's Principles for Responsible Investment, DCP established an ESG Special Management Committee to drive a complete ESG governance framework, which carefully considers ESG factors into investment decision making. By incorporating these factors into due diligence and portfolio management, DCP applies a standardized working procedure for ESG related issues and translates ESG awareness into concrete actions.

DCP values ESG factors highly within the investment analysis framework. When making investment decisions, ESG due diligence is required to be performed on each deal and systematically incorporated into its investment evaluation process. Such undertaking allows DCP to balance commercial benefit with environmental and social responsibilities.

The impact of ESG factors on industry trends are also fully considered by DCP when it comes to selecting investment themes. For instance, DCP invested extensively in the food safety sector, believing it to be one of the cornerstones of China's stable economic development. Through investing and supporting a series of modernized and large-scale breeding portfolio companies, including Mengniu Dairy, COFCO Joycome, Modern Dairy and Asia Dairy, DCP promoted the development of standardized breeding and high-quality production in China's animal agriculture sector. Going forward, DCP will continue to closely follow ESG related themes which will benefit from China's "Carbon Peak & Carbon Neutrality" goals, including the rapidly growing electric vehicle and renewable energy sectors.

During its portfolio management work, DCP actively encourages portfolio companies to form ESG improvement plans, create ESG performance tracking systems and establish ESG standardized operation processes. Together with its portfolio companies, DCP's operations team regularly reviews ESG related initiatives, tracks implementation status, and assists portfolio companies to ensure their commitment to sustainable development, help them realize both commercial and social benefits, and improve their sustainable development ability and core competitiveness.

On the environmental front, DCP is dedicated to promoting strict compliance with national EHS requirements, driving companies to substitute traditional energy with clean energy and explore energy-saving and emissions reduction measures such as distributed photovoltaic power generation and waste heat recovery. As for social responsibility and governance, DCP actively encourages companies to participate in public welfare projects, such as national poverty alleviation. For instance, DCP's portfolio company Tonghua Dongbao Pharmaceutical launched campaigns to provide long-term free consultation and front-line doctors' training programs relating to diabetes, which benefited thousands of doctors from more than 32 provinces and spread awareness of a serious medical condition and its treatment options.

DCP team is also dedicated to charity work that promotes general welfare. Through cooperation with Heart to Heart, a non-profit organization, DCP has created a support system for under-privileged children with congenital heart disease by enabling free heart surgeries.

ESG and Responsible Investment is highly consistent with the Chinese national goal of green and low-carbon transformation. To achieve this objective, DCP team, together with its portfolio companies will strive for low-carbon transformation and more sustainable results. DCP is committed to the ESG investment concept, and will partner with its portfolio companies to improve operational efficiency and promote green and low-carbon transformation of the economy, while remaining dedicated to being a socially responsible partner to all stakeholders and working towards a better future.

About DCP:

DCP is a leading international private equity firm founded by experienced private equity investors in Greater China. The DCP team previously led KKR and Morgan Stanley's private equity businesses in Asia, with an outstanding long-term track record across multiple economic cycles. DCP is supported by a diverse group of world-class long-term institutional investors, including leading sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, endowments, family offices and funds of funds around the globe.

Over the past 28 years, the DCP team has led a number of successful transactions and nurtured numerous industry leaders in China such as Ping An Insurance, Mengniu Dairy, Haier Electronics, China International Capital Corp, Venus Medtech, Dongbao Pharmaceutical, Oriental Yuhong, AAC Dairy, Xingsheng Preferred, Simple Love, Nanfu Battery, COFCO Joycome, Far East Horizon, Hotwon, Hengan Intl., Belle Intl., Modern Dairy and United Envirotech. Combining its global investment experience and extensive local network, the DCP team has accumulated deep industry knowledge and strong operational capabilities. As a disciplined and operationally focused investor, DCP is committed to building long-term, win-win partnerships with portfolio companies and support value creation initiatives.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dcp-officially-joins-united-nations-supported-principles-of-responsible-investment-unpri-301451781.html

SOURCE DCP
(Tribune News Service)  The next generation of military jet engines will be tested at Tennessees Arnold Engineering Development Complex as the military facility in Tullahoma undergoes upgrades to prepare for new tasks.

Arnold Air Force Base  or AEDC as it is known by the military and most Tennessee residents  is modernizing two of its altitude testing cells at the air bases Engine Test Facility to enable testing of next-generation, full-scale propulsion systems under simulated flight conditions made as realistic as possible, according to a news release on the work.

The Next Generation Turbine Engine Test Capability project is a multiyear effort to update the facility that already has decades of jet and rocket engine testing under its olive-drab belt.

Its pretty technical work but boiled down it means the two aging testing cells must be restored and improved before they can properly test the latest and greatest in Americas jet technology.

Test facilities like those Arnold is planning are a rarity.

New tech, new testing facilities

The next-generation turbine engines may incorporate new technologies that will require test facilities to provide higher inlet temperatures and potentially up to 50% more mass flow than the largest fighter engine in the fleet, Rick Hutchings, technical lead for the AEDC Future Capabilities Branch, said in a news release.

No other test facilities have the required capability or expertise to test these new engines, qualify them for flight release and assure they are suitable to operate in the entire flight envelope, he said.

To do it right, Hutchings said testing facilities need to match jet engine development and that means having the capacity to test at higher temperatures produced by todays engines. The two testing cells targeted for upgrades no longer fit the bill.

Exhaust gases from jet engine can be up to 3,000 degrees and must be cooled to less than 120 degrees. As new engines with greater flows are developed, the exhaust gas cooling system must be able to cool more exhaust from those same temperatures in the same distance within the facility.

Upgrades include replacing rusted spray bars that cool the exhaust by spraying water into the airflow and the installation of 24 heat exchangers to do more cooling. The exchangers are made of coils of piping for water to flow through, which Jaron Northcutt, the project manager, compared to radiators in cars, providing more surface area with a lower temperature to cool the high temperature exhaust.

The project will give Arnold the ability to add to a long list of valuable contributions to the nation in the area of aeropropulsion, Northcutt said in the news release.

AEDC marks 70th anniversary in 2021

The air bases history of testing jet engines goes back six decades at Arnold, which celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2021. The air base was built on the site of the Armys World War II-era Camp Forrest, which existed between 1941 and 1946.

Arnold also tests rocket engines for missiles and spacecraft.

We were designated as the Arnold Engineering Development Center  now Complex  on June 25, 1951, 70 years ago, the bases chief of public affairs Jason Austin said Wednesday in an email.

Arnold was dedicated by President Harry Truman and named for Henry Hap Arnold, a five-star U.S. Air Force general, according to historical information. Construction of more facilities continued.

Two years later we conducted our first test when we tested the J-47 jet engine, Austin said.

By 1961 AEDCs jet engine testing facilities were fully functional.

For the last 60 years, AEDC turbine engine ground test facilities have tested turbine engines for the majority of the [ U.S.] Department of Defenses fighters, bombers, cruise missiles, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms, Hutchings said.

The air base and complex are really central to the way that we develop air and space power for the nation, AEDC Test Division chief Col. Lincoln Bonner said in a news release on the anniversary. Nearly every high-performance aircraft and missile since 1951 in operation today in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and United States Air Force has part of its roots here at Arnold Air Force Base. And thats not something that most of the public gets to know or gets to see.

Since its beginnings, organizations and locations have been added to Arnold bringing the total number of test cells, facilities and offices operated nationwide by base personnel to 68, with more under construction, Bonner said.

The two testing cells to be updated in the project are an example of ongoing work to keep pace with technology.

Today we continue that legacy as we make investments in the Next Generation Turbine Engine Test Capability project, Austin said Wednesday.

(c)2022 the Chattanooga Times/Free Press (Chattanooga, Tenn.)

Visit the Chattanooga Times/Free Press at www.timesfreepress.com
Two 19-year-old men who went missing on a camping trip near Swastika Mountain in Oregon helped rescuers find them by writing SOS in the snow, officials said.

These young men did a lot of things right to give themselves the best chance of being rescued, Lt. Maggie Champin of the U.S. Coast Guard said in a news release.

By writing SOS in the snow, staying near their vehicle and staying near logging roads, we were able to find them relatively quickly, Champin said.

The two men had gone camping near the mountain about 32 miles southeast of Eugene around Christmas Day and were reported overdue Wednesday, Dec. 29, the release said.

Rescuers from the Lane County Sheriffs Department searched for the two men but were hampered by heavy snow.

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter found the teens Saturday, Jan. 1, and hoisted them aboard, the release said. Neither had medical concerns.

The helicopter also spotted two other people in distress and notified sheriffs search crews, the Coast Guard reported.

Swastika Mountain got its name from a town named after a nearby cattle ranchers swastika-shaped brand years before the Nazis claimed the symbol, the Mail Tribune reported.

2021 The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer.

Visit charlotteobserver.com .
Mask mandates. Remote classes. Outdoor dining.

As 2022 dawns, it's beginning to look a lot like March 2020  so much so that President Joe Biden sought to reassure Americans they would not return to those dark days, instead promising a future made safer by vaccines and tests.

Those breakthroughs, along with genomic sequencing that can identify new variants and the promise of powerful antiviral pills, represent a revolutionary assault on the coronavirus. But biomedical advances are only half the battle, experts say.

"We have seen it isn't enough to have testing and vaccines; you have to have a public health system that can deliver testing and vaccines," said Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean for public health practice and community engagement at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The country is at a pivotal moment, Sharfstein said, full of opportunity if the lessons of the past two years lead to a new focus on getting shots in arms, swabs up noses and pills into mouths.

But some experts contend that the imbalance between the country's scientific advances and its public health response is starker than ever, looking back in wonder on spring 2020 when a largely compliant population submitted to wide-ranging restrictions.

"We are going backward," said Alfred Sommer, an epidemiologist and former dean at Hopkins.

"People are infinitely less responsive now," said Sommer, who has tackled outbreaks of cholera and smallpox around the world. "This is different from anything that any public health person I know would have predicted in March 2020."

When the most striking technological achievement of the pandemic  the mRNA vaccines  became available last winter, Sommer and others predicted the pandemic would be brought under control within months.

Instead, a year later, with little more than 60% of the U.S. population fully immunized with two mRNA shots or a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson product, the vaccines are providing huge benefits to individuals while failing to fulfill their public health potential of protecting the entire population.

For anybody who trusts science, this is "vastly different than March 2020," said Francis S. Collins, who in December stepped down as director of the National Institutes of Health, the nation's medical research agency. But those who don't trust science and haven't been vaccinated are in a vulnerable place, he said, endangering everyone around them.

"People should ask themselves which group they want to be in," Collins said.

In a recent Washington Post Live interview, Collins warned about the dangers of overlooking the lessons of this pandemic. On the research side, he said, scientists are working toward new vaccines and antivirals that will leave Americans less vulnerable to another pathogen that may come our way.

But that half of the equation needs to be matched by improvements on the delivery side, Collins said, by increasing staffing and funding for local health departments, many of which have been running on a shoestring. Officials in some local health departments still transfer data by fax.

There "needs to be a real reset button for the whole system to try to figure out how to be better prepared," Collins said.

During the past two years, there has been little appetite for organizational overhauls to keep up with the evolving enemy  or prepare for future pandemics  according to Jay A. Winsten, director of strategic media initiatives at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The United States has largely relied on legacy public health systems. One example: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's external advisory board, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, typically makes recommendations for routine vaccines that affect small portions of the population  often children  rather than responding to the minute-by-minute shifts of a worldwide outbreak.

The "processes are designed for a very different moment," said Ashish K. Jha, a health policy researcher and dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. "They are not functioning well in a pandemic."

The CDC did not respond to a request for comment.

Those organizational shortcomings are coupled with incomplete and sometimes contradictory messages. There was, for example, the early assertion that the general population would not need to wear masks and, later, a months-long disagreement among federal officials about the importance of booster shots, Winsten recalled.

Officials should speak with greater transparency about what they do and do not know, Winsten said, especially in the face of developments such as omicron, even as scientists scramble to learn more about that variant.

"What's been missing all along, I think, is a publicly visible contingency-planning process that provides a window into the government thinking and advance planning for a range of possible future scenarios," Winsten said.

The issue, Winsten said, is that misinformation fills the void, leaving local public health officials reacting on the fly instead of focusing on implementing the innovations that science makes available.

"What we have learned is that science isn't enough; data isn't enough; research isn't enough," said Jennifer Bacani McKenney, a health official from rural Wilson County, Kan., who has faced growing resistance. "We have learned all the science. How do we reach people is the big part."

Funding from the Cares Act, the economic stimulus legislation passed in 2020, and other sources of pandemic-related federal support have helped with outreach, but the future of those funds is uncertain.

Nilesh Kalyanaraman, who became health officer in Maryland's Anne Arundel County a couple of months before the pandemic hit, has seen the benefits of investing in delivery systems. The county has partnered with community organizations to provide health ambassadors who knock on doors in census tracts with the highest rates of infection to educate residents about vaccines and other public health measures.

A successful pilot program that was launched in May allowed the initiative to continue through next July. Kalyanaraman would like to make it permanent, bolstering public health measures for chronic conditions and positioning the country to respond more effectively to omicron or any other variant, by reducing the inequities that have characterized the pandemic.

"The question is funding," Kalyanaraman said. Public health departments still haven't fully recovered from the financial collapse of 2008, leaving them in a precarious financial position when the pandemic hit, he said.

"That's what we are looking at  how to invest in the long term. I don't have the answer for that," Kalyanaraman said.

While the pandemic's first two years raised awareness of public health's antiquated infrastructure, those systems still had not been adequately revamped in time for omicron, according to Sara Cody, the Santa Clara County, Calif., health officer, who described developing homegrown databases to track cases.

"We are the health department in Silicon Valley, and we still get information about hospitalized cases faxed to us," she said.

The biggest  and fastest-growing  impediment involves staffing. The politicization of the pandemic has exacted personal and professional tolls, even in Maryland, where elected officials have largely supported public health measures. Kalyanaraman said county health officers have been worn down by threats  and that he has endured verbal attacks in public.

Cody received police protection after a man was charged with stalking and threatening her.

After a particularly contentious meeting on masks in a school gym, McKenney, the Kansas health officer, was surprised when the sheriff's department offered to escort her, concerned for her safety.

"This is my hometown, wow," McKenney recalled thinking. "I kind of thought I might be shielded from that in my hometown."

Beth A. Resnick, assistant dean for public health practice at the Hopkins School of Public Health, who testified before Congress in September, said her team of researchers identified at least 1,500 incidents of harassment and violence against public health workers nationally between March 2020 and January 2021. That included sharing private information on the Internet, death threats, protests, intimidation, even shots fired at employees' homes.

By September 2021, Resnick said, more than 300 state and local public health leaders nationally had retired, resigned or been fired.

Complaints include fatigue and frustration with the hobbled infrastructure and the political attacks on public health, which limited emergency powers in some parts of the country, or shifted authority from health departments to elected officials or other entities, such as schools boards.

"They have their hands tied," Resnick said of public health officials.

McKenney said she sees reason for hope - though not in time to respond to the threats a new variant may bring.

She spoke recently at a conference of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, where she was struck by the number of students who came up to ask about her work in public health. Their enthusiasm is reflected by a 40% increase in applicants to 2021 graduate-level degree programs compared with March 2020, according to the association.

But turning students' academic aspirations into jobs in local public health departments will depend on sustained funding.

"Everybody gets it. They know that's where the work needs to be done," McKenney said. "The upcoming generation is willing to take on that challenge."

For now, the short-term challenges keep mounting as fresh gaps emerge between biomedical innovations and delivering them to where they are needed.

Shantanu Nundy, a primary care physician who works with low-income populations, has been listening with concern to praise being heaped on the potential benefits of antiviral pills. He anticipates the next problem will be getting pills into mouths. Nundy saw something similar play out with self-administered tests, which he began advocating in March 2020 only to see tests remain difficult to access and often expensive.

The new antiviral medication should be taken within three to five days of onset of symptoms. And it requires a prescription - an almost insurmountable barrier for the 25% of the U.S. population who don't have a primary care physician and others who would have trouble making a prompt appointment, particularly given the wait time for many test results.

"There is an implicit assumption that biomedical innovation will infuse its way into where it's needed. And we absolutely know that's not true," Nundy said.

"Have we not learned anything in the past two years?"
GOYANG, South Korea - No singalongs, no high-fives with the band, and please try to keep the squeals of joy to yourself. A strange new reality greeted live audiences at a New Year's Eve concert in Seoul after a long pandemic hiatus.

"Did you all miss us?" said glitzy lead dancer of K-pop supergroup Seventeen to a muted crowd in the Seoul suburb of Goyang. Conspicuously absent was the familiar explosion of cheers. A "no shout" warning was beamed throughout the half-full venue.

Live music cautiously resumed in November under South Korea's "living with covid-19" reopening plans, but concerts were quickly scrapped in December amid a spike in hospitalizations and concerns about the omicron variant. For New Year's Eve, some shows went ahead, but under strictly enforced rules on social distancing, masks and the disorienting quiet from the audience - which is normally belting out the tunes along with the bands. In Goyang, the crowd size was trimmed from about 5,000 to 2,700.

It was a sobering message that the pandemic is still holding tight in 2022. Last summer in Japan, similar no-cheering hush was contemplated for the Olympics before organizers decided to run the Tokyo Games with largely empty venues.

"Clap for us at least? . . . It's our first in-person concert in such a long time," said Hoshi, a member of boy band Seventeen. "If you've missed us, clap, clap, clap, clap until you set your hands on fire."

And fans also waved light sticks synced by Bluetooth to flash along to the music. A statement from the concert organizers - management agency HYBE, the Seoul-based K-pop powerhouse that manages popular acts including BTS - said it hoped to prevent the "physical distance from resulting in a psychological distance between fans and artists."

"It's disappointing, but I think I am more excited just to be able to see them," said Mikaela Hayes, a 25-year-old international schoolteacher who traveled from South Korea's southern Jeju Island to attend her first concert since the pandemic began.

The concert brought some of HYBE's main acts such as Seventeen, Tomorrow X Together, Enhypen and fromis_9. But mega-band BTS did not make an appearance after announcing an "extended period of rest" starting December.

Three members of BTS have been diagnosed with covid-19 last week after returning to South Korea from the United States, where the group had its first concerts in two years.

The Goyang concert was live-streamed across more than 100 countries. The K-pop stars at the New Year's Eve concert shared their wishes for 2022 to cap off the night.

"The biggest wish for the new year is to have far more opportunities like tonight's to be together with our MOAs," said Soobin, leader of boy band Tomorrow X Together, referring to the name given their fan base. Earlier during the pandemic, the quintet gave a teenage account of how the coronavirus restrictions took a toll on their generation in a song called "We Lost The Summer."

"From a cultural perspective, resumption of live music is desirable but we are still concerned about infection risks," said Choi Jong-hyun, a Goyang city government official who inspected the venue ahead of the concert. "We are trying to strike a fine balance here."
Phil Spampinato had never contemplated the question of whether violence against the government might be justified  at least not in the United States. But as he watched Republicans across the country move to reshape election laws in response to former president Donald Trump's false fraud claims, the part-time engineering consultant from Dover, Del., said he began thinking differently about "defending your way of life."

"Not too many years ago, I would have said that those conditions are not possible, and that no such violence is really ever appropriate," said Spampinato, 73, an independent.

The notion of legitimate violence against the government had also not occurred to Anthea Ward, a mother of two in Michigan, until the past year  prompted by her fear that President Joe Biden would go too far to force her and her family to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

"The world we live in now is scary," said Ward, 32, a Republican. "I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist but sometimes it feels like a movie. It's no longer a war against Democrats and Republicans. It's a war between good and evil."

A year after a pro-Trump mob ransacked the Capitol in the worst attack on the home of Congress since it was burned by British forces in 1814, a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll finds that about 1 in 3 Americans say they believe violence against the government can at times be justified.

The findings represent the largest share to feel that way since the question has been asked in various polls in more than two decades. They offer a window into the country's psyche at a tumultuous period in American history, marked by last year's insurrection, the rise of Trump's election claims as an energizing force on the right, deepening fissures over the government's role in combating the pandemic, and mounting racial justice protests sparked by police killings of Black Americans.

The percentage of adults who say violence is justified is up, from 23% in 2015 and 16% in 2010 in CBS News-New York Times polls.

A majority continue to say that violence against the government is never justified  but the 62% who hold that view is a new low point, and a stark difference from the 1990s, when as many as 90% said violence was never justified.

While a 2015 survey found no significant partisan divide when it comes to the question of justified violence against the government, the new poll identified a sharper rise on the right  with 40% of Republicans and 41% of independents saying it can be acceptable. The view was held by 23% of Democrats, the survey finds.

Acceptance of violence against the government was higher among men, younger adults and those with college degrees. There was also a racial gap, with 40% of White Americans saying such violence can be justified, compared with 18% of Black Americans.

People's reasoning for what they considered acceptable violence against the government varied, from what they considered to be overreaching coronavirus restrictions, to the disenfranchisement of minority voters, to the oppression of Americans. Responses to an open-ended question on the survey about hypothetical justifications included repeated mentions of "autocracy," "tyranny," "corruption" and a loss of freedoms.

The growth in the share of Americans willing to accept violence against the government identified by The Post-UMD poll may be partly due to methodology. Previous surveys were conducted by phone, while the new poll was largely conducted online, and studies have found respondents are more willing to voice socially undesirable opinions in self-administered surveys than when asked by an interviewer.

Recent surveys, though, have identified a similar trend, and subsequent interviews of some of the 1,101 respondents who participated in the Dec. 17-19 Post-UMD poll found that the events of the past two years have prompted people to reconsider their views. (The new poll has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.)

It wasn't until Jan. 6 that 75-year-old Beverly Lucas considered the fact that people could attempt to violently attack the government. Lucas, who voted for Trump and identifies as a Republican, said she was horrified watching the images of people clad in "Make America Great Again" apparel storming the Capitol, assaulting police officers who were guarding the building.

"That never should have happened in this country," she said. "It's a sobering idea that elected representatives should fear for their lives because of a mob."

Still, Lucas said she had not ruled out the possibility that she would agree with violence if there was no available nonviolent alternative, referencing the Revolutionary War.

"When in the course of human events the government no longer represents the people, and there is no recourse, then it might be time," she said.

"I don't think that will ever happen," she added.

The Capitol attack also set off alarms for Rob Redding, 45, a New York political independent who has been a talk-show host and runs a website focused on Black-oriented news. He said he has since considered arming himself to protect his loved ones.

The insurrectionists, he said, were attempting to "subvert American democracy because now it's becoming equal for all people."

"We are in a state where we're going to have to arm ourselves, absolutely," Redding said. "I'm a Black man in America. . . . I believe in protecting myself."

Redding added that he doesn't believe in breaking laws "unless laws are unjust." "To sit up here and say that I support violence against our government, I don't. I support government being level and equal for all people."

Taylor Atkins, 29, who lives in Atlanta and works in health-care administration, said she "absolutely" believes it is justifiable to take arms against the government in situations where those in power use their positions to oppress Americans, particularly those of ostracized identities.

Atkins, a Democrat, described the Jan. 6 riot as "insane," saying "there wasn't a need for violent outrage just because the president that you wanted to didn't win."

But, she added: "For people of color  I'm Black  we're actually losing our lives. We're actually fighting over if my life is valuable."

A new mom, Atkins said she didn't join Black Lives Matter protests during the summer of 2020 because she had a baby back home. She also said she doesn't support looting  but often, she noted, that's the only way demonstrators can get attention.

Atkins said she has considered arming herself for her own "protection," especially as the pandemic continues heightening tensions between civilians and the government. She pointed to clashes in Europe last year, where thousands of civilians protesting coronavirus measures fought police across the continent.

"I feel like that's justified because, obviously, we do all care about each other . . . but everybody has the right to be a person and be free and make their own decisions," she said. "As long as they're not truly impacting somebody else, as far as they have covid and are not going to the store and actually coughing on somebody, they should be allowed to leave their house."

Ward, the Michigan mother of two and self-employed housekeeper, said she would not participate in violence that she anticipates could come in her lifetime if the government imposes stricter rules such as an expansive vaccine mandate. She said she believes other people could be justified to "express their Second Amendment right" if the government infringes their freedom of choice and nonviolent action such as protests were unsuccessful.

Despite voting for Trump, Ward and other Republicans expressed disappointment with the insurrection on Jan. 6, saying they did not believe rioters had justification to commit violence.

Many respondents, particularly Republicans, cited the hardening battle lines over public health measures  and how far the government might go to combat the coronavirus - as a factor in their shifting views.

Don Whittington, 62, who lives in Prattville, Ala., and works in construction, said the pandemic has shown how easily it can be for some Americans to lose control over their freedoms, sparking angst among some groups, though he said he believes America is still far from a scenario that would push civilians to rebel against their government.

"What I can see across the country  there is going to come a point where people, both Democrat and Republican, are going to quit putting up with the things that are taking place," said Whittington, a Republican.

Still, Whittington, a devout Christian and a firearm owner, said he wouldn't be one to fight in a revolution.

"Because of my worldview, and because of my belief in God, I don't know that I would ever use a weapon against a government or anybody else," he said.

Matthew Wood, 37, a call center operator in Nampa, Idaho, said he has gotten more involved in local politics since the start of the pandemic, demanding fewer restrictions. If officials won't listen to people like him, he said, violence would be acceptable as a last resort. "If governments aren't willing to work and make changes, then so be it," said Wood, a Republican.

Tomasz Antoszczak, a 39-year-old Democrat from New Jersey, said he did not believe justified violence could happen any time soon, stressing that such action would be "a very last resort." But he said that the last administration's attempts to overturn the results of the election could have gone differently, potentially tipping the scales.

"With last year's insurrection, if things had gone in a different direction for some reason, and if the folks who stormed the Capitol were successful, and if the election was overturned and the results were overturned, and if Trump would have stayed in power," Antoszczak said. "That's just a lot of ifs."

Antoszczak expressed concern about the lawmakers he said "caved in" to the demands of the last administration.

"The last couple of years definitely opened my eyes a little bit more as to how fragile our government can be," he said.

James Lee, a Democrat in Florida, argued that American democracy was built on negotiation based on conflict, meaning that it took the Revolutionary War to achieve the political system the country has now.

"Whenever you lose that negotiation factor or the democracy itself, then, yeah, violence is going to have to be used in order to reestablish the democracy that we have," he said.

Still, Lee said he wouldn't be one to fight a despotic government.

"If I have to resort to firearms, in my opinion, I've already lost the battle," he said.

- - -

The Washington Post's Scott Clement and Emily Guskin contributed to this report.
The House staffer quit after awakening one night and imagining a pack of Proud Boys amassing outside his apartment door. Another left after questioning whether strangers he encountered had helped plot the attack. A police officer resigned, still agitated by the frantic voices of co-workers she recalled hearing on her radio scanner that day.

Whats the plan? one had asked.

Ive got an officer down! another had shouted.

A year ago, they all worked at the U.S. Capitol, a citadel of American democracy they believed was as impervious to attack as any center of Washington power. But Jan. 6, 2021, upended all that. An invading mob destroyed that sense of security - not only on that day but in the long year that followed.

Theres a dark cloud over Capitol Hill, said Jodi Breiterman, a Capitol Police officer who submitted retirement papers in November after almost 21 years on the force, and will officially leave the agency in mid-January. I look at officers faces, and theyve changed. Theyve lost weight and they dont know why.

In the months since the insurrection, senators and representatives have chronicled the trauma of Jan. 6, recalling how they cowered behind seats in the House chamber and barricaded themselves in offices as Trump acolytes pounded on doors and shouted threats of violence.

Yet alongside the political leaders, there were hundreds of Capitol workers who suffered their own trauma that day. They are the supporting cast on the edges of Washingtons biggest stage: the legislative aides, police officers, custodians and cafeteria workers who keep the business of government moving and ensure that the Capitol is safe, clean and well-functioning.

In many cases, they soldiered on after the insurrection, entrenched in positions that can be high-pressure and demanding even on routine days. But for other Capitol workers, Jan. 6 became a psychic tipping point, a reason to leave jobs that had made them targets for threats and potential danger.

The idea that youre in a place where your life is at risk was just - on top of everything else - the clinching factor for me, said Rich Luchette, 35, a former senior adviser to Rep. David N. Cicilline, D-R.I.. It becomes overwhelming at some point.

A sign of the enduring trauma, Luchette said, occurred a week or so after the insurrection, when the sounds of partying neighbors woke him up in his Navy Yard apartment. As he opened his eyes, his first thought was: Are there Proud Boys out in the hallway?

Luchette had considered looking for a new job before Jan. 6. By July, he had found one.

In any given year, staff turnover at the Capitol is constant, making it difficult to quantify the number of employees who quit or retired because of the insurrection. More than 100 U.S. Capitol Police officers had departed as of early December, a figure that was a sharp increase over the previous year.

On a typical day, the 290-acre Capitol complex is a veritable city unto itself, spread out over multiple blocks, with its own subway system, an array of cafeterias and a workforce approaching 30,000 people.

Jan. 6 was anything but typical, with the coronavirus having kept many employees at home. Yet, no matter where they were as the riot unfolded, Capitol employees could not help but feel violated as they saw rioters invade and vandalize their workplace.

Another former House staffer, a Democrat who quit months after Jan. 6, said the toll of that day grew as time passed.

I got to the point where my mental health just took an absolute nose dive because I was still trying to process all this stuff, said the former aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she fears retribution from Trump supporters.

Death threats continued to arrive daily by phone from constituents who were convinced that Democrats had stolen the election. It absolutely broke me to know that people would be fine if my boss was dead, if I was dead, if my co-workers were dead, she said. The American people stopped believing in the institution. And if they dont believe in it, what the hell are any of us doing working for it?

Tyree Douglas, 34, knew long before Jan. 6 that he wanted out of his laborer job at the Capitol, where he felt underpaid and trapped after 10 years of picking up garbage, delivering cups and ice to members offices, and cleaning bathrooms, if needed.

Douglas, a cancer survivor, had taken a medical leave at the start of the pandemic. Although he was not working on Jan. 6, he said the riot was another signal that he should not return.

The dangers, the risks were not helpful, he said. I did not need that in my life.

But Douglas, who was then president of AFSCME union Local 626, which represents hundreds of laborers and custodians, said few blue-collar workers could afford to quit after the attack, even if they wanted to leave.

Hours after the riot ended, some were back at work, repairing doors, removing broken furniture and cleaning up cigarette butts, shattered glass and other trash left behind.

- - -

By Jan. 6, the usual rigors of working at the Capitol had mushroomed after four years of the turbulent Trump presidency, the unceasing acrimony between Republicans and Democrats, and hostility from constituents. The pandemic, in its 10th month, added another level of unprecedented strain.

After the insurrection, heavily armed platoons of National Guard troops and 10-foot-high fencing surrounded the campus.

Yet there were additional incidents that caused alarm. Later in January, police arrested a 71-year-old man from West Virginia after noticing him leaving his car improperly parked near the Capitol. In his vehicle, they found a handgun, 20 rounds of ammunition, paperwork related to the Jan. 6 rally, and a list of U.S. and state lawmakers.

A few months later, a motorist rammed his car into two Capitol Police officers, killing one and injuring the other.

Then, in August, a Trump supporter who had expressed disgust for President Joe Biden parked his pickup truck outside the Library of Congress and told police he had a bomb. That his claim turned out to be false did not ease the anxiety engulfing the Capitol.

There is definitely just this large sense of doom, said Aaron Fritschner, who has remained in his job as deputy chief of staff to Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va.. Theres definitely an ever-present fear about what kind of threats are out there, but at this point its not as much a question about, Is there going to be another one? Its like, How long is it going to be and what form is it going to take?

- - -

Brian Baird, a former Democratic congressman from Washington state and a longtime clinical psychologist, visited the Capitol in early December for a series of meetings. As he walked between offices, Baird said he was astonished by the sorrow he detected as he greeted police officers, some of whom he had known from his days as a legislator.

Whereas before the people would always be very positive, upbeat, conversational and positive, there was now more a sense of withdrawal, tension, sadness, resignation, Baird recalled in an email. He described the mood as heartbreaking despondency.

I saw one officer who I hadnt met before and I asked him point blank, How are you all doing? Baird said. His answer in words was Were doing okay but the way he said it and the expression did not look or sound at all okay.

By early December, a total of 135 officers had left the 2,000-member Capitol police force in 2021, compared with the 80 who departed the previous year, said Tim Barber, a department spokesman. He added that not all of these departures are because of Jan. 6.

A police officer who confronted the rioters that day said he remains on the job only because he has not worked long enough to retire with adequate benefits and has no other options available. He described his emotional recovery as difficult, in part because he did not get time off. On Jan. 7, he was back on the job.

The officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said an especially painful part of his post-Jan. 6 experience was hearing Republicans minimize the insurrections significance. One even compared the rioters to tourists. At moments, the officer said, he has had to pass those same lawmakers in the halls of Congress.

You sign up to do your job for the right reasons and all that stuff and then you see people dont even appreciate what youve been through, he said. Youve got people that we protect that were literally out there pumping the crowd up. What the f---?

Jodi Breitermans two-decade career with the Capitol Police had its ups and downs. She was honored as officer of the year in 2011. But after she leaked a photo of an unattended police firearm to a reporter in 2015, she was demoted from sergeant, and later filed a lawsuit against the agency alleging gender discrimination. But through it all, she loved her job and envisioned staying another 10 years - until Jan. 6.

The events of that day and the ensuing weeks of distress altered her plan.

On the day of the insurrection, Breiterman was part of a group of officers who responded to a bomb threat near the Capitol. Away from the worst of the fray, Breiterman listened as her police radio transmitted the panicked calls for help from fellow officers who were battling the mob outside the Capitol. Months later, she said the voices from her radio still intrude on her thoughts at the most unlikely moments.

When I take a shower, I hear the radio, she said. The calls were terrible.

For 22 consecutive days beginning on Jan. 6, Breiterman worked around the clock, staying in a Washington D.C. hotel where the department put her up with other officers whose grueling schedules kept them away from their families.

She eventually resumed a normal schedule, commuting from her home in Maryland. As weeks stretched into months after the attack, the National Guard troops eventually left their posts and lawmakers returned to work. But something was different, she said. The anger, terror and despair that had consumed the Capitol on Jan. 6 never seemed to recede.

All the while, Breiterman said, officers seldom talked about what had transpired.

Are you okay? she recalled asking a fellow officer whose vacant stare alarmed her.

No, the officer replied. Im not.

- - -

When he left the Capitol complex late on Jan. 6, Jabir McKnight, then the communications director for Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Tex., arranged for a friend to pick up him and a co-worker in a car.

At another time, McKnight might have called an Uber. But in the hours after the insurrection, he wondered if his driver could have been part of the mob at the Capitol, some of whom carried Confederate flags and shouted racial epithets.

You didnt know who was who, said McKnight, who is Black, describing a feeling of uncertainty that metastasized as the days passed. He found himself questioning how the insurrectionists had been able to traverse the Capitol as if they knew where they were going and gain access to places he himself could not get into.

The way they were navigating the building was among the most frightening parts of the experience, he said. Were you let in? Did you have prior understanding?

McKnight, 24, had started his job only seven months earlier, arriving in Washington from Philadelphia, where he grew up before graduating from Lincoln University. Although he had no set plan, he expected to work at the Capitol for a year or two, maybe longer, gaining exposure to politics, policy and the ways of Washington.

But Jan. 6 created a fork in the road, he said. The riot echoed the vitriol of the white supremacist march in Charlottesville in 2017 and a 2020 plot orchestrated by extremists to kidnap Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

McKnight began to re-evaluate his purpose and how he could be part of positive change in a way that is most authentic for me. He also was concerned about his safety at work, where he now felt like anything could happen.

It wasnt a one-day event, he said of Jan. 6, recalling the weeks of round-the-clock news coverage, mounting security and fear of new attacks. I wasnt comfortable. We were all uncomfortable.

By the end of February, McKnight had taken a new job at an IT consulting firm.

Others such as Gabby Richards were already exhausted by the tumult of Trumps presidency, his tweets, the debates over his border policy, impeachment, the Mueller report and the pandemic.

But Jan. 6 became the decisive factor in her departure, the moment that pushed me over the edge, said Richards, 28, who left her job in February as communications director for Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa.. You get to the point where youre like, Okay, were done.

Richards was working from home in Philadelphia on Jan. 6, communicating throughout the riot with her boss, who was alone, barricaded inside her Capitol office. In the ensuing days, Richards found herself cataloging the what-ifs from that day - what if there had been no pandemic and the Capitol had been open? What if there had been the normal retinue of staffers on hand? What if there had been school tours and tourists?

The what-ifs associated with that day are terrifying in the same vein as what happened, she said.

A month after the insurrection, Richards returned to the Capitol and walked with Scanlon through Statuary Hall, a setting that typically inspired in her a sense of awe. Instead, she could not help but think about the insurrectionists who had been there, an association she compared to the stench of a house fire that takes forever to get out.

It felt like something bad had happened, and I didnt want to be there anymore, she said.

Democrats were not the only ones who felt anguish.

A former Republican staffer who was at the Capitol complex on the day of the riot said it was difficult for aides within her caucus to cope with what had occurred as many GOP leaders began downplaying the attacks severity.

There was just a lack of candid conversations about what had taken place, said the staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the politically sensitive nature of the subject. She said she was shaken to know that a mob riled by a Republican president - the leader of her party - had gone to the Capitol and done the worst possible thing they could do.

These were the very people we were supposed to be working on behalf of, she said.

- - -

Months after the insurrection, Jay Rupert has grown accustomed to recurring dreams of the mob storming into his office inside the Capitol, above the entrance to the East Front, where he had locked himself in with a cluster of journalists.

In actuality, the rioters had screamed, Were gonna get you! and Were gonna kill you! as they banged on the door. But no one had made it inside, except for in his dream, where he is prepared to fight.

I want to bash them in the face, said Rupert, 49, deputy director of the House Periodical Press Gallery. I can only do it in my dream.

Another House employee, a friend hes known for more than two decades, was shaken enough by Jan. 6 to leave. But Rupert said that the mob had only made him more committed to the Capitol, where he has worked in various capacities for 25 years.

I came to that defiant conclusion that night, he said. Youre not going to stop me from doing what I do.

The constant reminders of that day - the ubiquitous video footage, the unrelenting news coverage - have made the past year daunting.

When he walks downstairs from his office to the area inside the entrance of the East Front, he often thinks about what he saw that day as the mob assembled outside - the faces in the windows, their expressions twisted with rage.

He remembers the police officer who looked at him and warned, You gotta get the f--- outta here. He remembers looking at his boss and saying, How did this happen? In his office, he remembers grabbing a fire extinguisher he would use to pummel anyone if they got through the door.

Several months later, after reading an article about police miscommunications on that day, he punched his kitchen wall out of frustration. On another day, when a relative compared the insurrectionists to people who protested the Vietnam War, he replied: Dont go there with me. It wont end well.

A year removed, he said he largely feels secure at the Capitol, that the riot was a once in a lifetime occurrence. But he also acknowledges a sliver of doubt when he thinks about the complex reopening to the public.

When that happens, he said, it will be impossible to know if someone who had been part of the mob is in my hallway taking a tour.

What if they sneak a knife in? he wonders. What if they find his office?

The thought, he said, makes my head want to explode.

- - -

The Washington Posts Meagan Flynn, Tom Jackman, Peter Hermann and Aaron C. Davis contributed to this report.
KHARTOUM, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Two protesters were killed during demonstrations in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors (CCSD) and dissolved Health Ministry said on Sunday.

Two people were killed in Omdurman after being shot in the heads, increasing the total death toll to 56 since Oct. 25, when thousands of Sudanese citizens demonstrated in the capital and other cities to demand civilian rule, the dissolved ministry said in a statement on its Facebook page.

CCSD, a non-governmental organization, also confirmed in a statement on its Facebook page that two persons died during Sunday's rally.

Early on Sunday, protesters gathered in Khartoum's busiest bus station Sharwani, and marched to the Republican Palace.

The internet service on mobile phones was suspended on Sunday. Khartoum State's police declared in a statement that bridges connecting the three major cities of Khartoum, Khartoum Bahri, and Omdurman, Sudan's most populated city and located opposite the capital, had been closed.

Military personnel had been stationed at the entrances to the Al-Halfaya and Suba bridges, according to eyewitnesses.

Sudanese security forces also erected concrete barricades and barbed wire around the army's general command headquarters, as well as the routes leading to the presidential palace in Khartoum.

Sudan has been suffering a political crisis since General Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan declared a state of emergency on Oct. 25 and dissolved the Sovereign Council and government.

On Nov. 21, Al-Burhan and then removed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok signed a political declaration, which included reinstating Hamdok as prime minister, but the deal has so far failed to calm the street. Enditem
(Tribune News Service)  Political candidates use as many techniques as they can to persuade you to vote for them.

They target you in standard ways, like collecting email addresses of people who attend rallies and filling up available commercial space with advertisements. But it also gets more sophisticated. They can target you based on the neighborhood you live in and what websites you visit. They can appeal to some of your core fears in order to get you to the polls.

Some of the targeting techniques employed in the political world have drawn attention from the military as it prepares for warfare in a world where misinformation and disinformation has taken hold.

The main difference between political microtargeting and military information operations is who is doing the targeting and who is the target, wrote Maj. Jessica Dawson a professor at the Army Cyber Institute . Substantively, the methods of analysis, information gathering and actions used to influence behavior are all the same. The fact that one is used on perceived enemies whereas another is used to influence elections is a distinction without difference  meaningless.

Dawson helped create  Invisible Force in 2020 , a collaboration of the Army Cyber Institute and Arizona State University to create a graphic novel that includes essays exploring some of the threats the military may face in the future.

It contains examples of how political tactics can be adapted to target people, influence governments and spread disinformation, making it difficult to determine what is true and what is false.

Lee McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University who wrote the book Post-Truth also contributed an essay to the graphic novel. He said the struggle to interpret fact from fiction in anti-vaccination campaigns or conspiracy theories about the 2020 election poses dangers.

We really are in a post-truth era, we really are in an era in which its the political subordination of reality, McIntyre said.

He said governments have always spread disinformation to maintain power. But the rise of the internet makes it much easier to influence public discussion and create confusion around issues.

Creating disinformation is trivial, McIntyre said. Amplifying it is where the work is done. And the internet takes care of the amplification. Thats a huge difference between the leaflets that were dropped from planes back in my dads era when he was in World War II and what they can do with Twitter now.

Part of the problem, McIntyre said, is a disinformation technique called the fire hose of falsehood. With torrents of information being pushed out, it becomes difficult for to distinguish between fact and lie.

The point is not to convince you that the false thing is true, McIntyre said. The point is to just tell so many falsehoods, one after the other after the other, some of them self-contradictory, that you just go, I give up. Maybe we cant know the truth outside a political context. Who knows? Because when you do that, thats when youre pliable.

One form of information warfare, called the storyweapon, spreads falsehoods to influence decision making. Advertising expert Ronnie Gleeson, who coined the term, wrote earlier this year that President Donald Trumps claims that the 2020 U.S. presidential election was stolen was a storyweapon.

In an essay included in the graphic novel Invisible Force to help prepare the military for targeted spreading of misinformation work, Gleeson says that you cant combat a narrative that people want to believe with things such as fact checks. Stories that resonate, as politicians have learned, usually focus on emotions. Fear is an easy one to activate, because it can motivate people to vote.

But stories that create a positive image about the country can also be effective storyweapons, such as former President Barack Obamas hope and former President Ronald Reagans morning in America.

Gleeson argues that combating negative storyweapons with more positive stories that tap into American patriotism could help push back.

You cant fight off a storyweapon with bullets, Gleeson wrote. And if the intended targets are told stories they want to believe, the truth wont work, either. The only way you beat a storyweapon is with a better story.

McIntyre said he still thinks telling the truth is the best way to combat the post-truth era. He said post-truth doesnt mean that people no longer care about telling the truth. Instead, it means the truth is in danger so it needs public relations.

Im scared, McIntyre said. I dont know about you but Im really scared to be living in these times because I remember reading 1984 as a kid and thinking, oh, that couldnt happen here. Here we are. I mean, nobodys being tortured in the basement of the Ministry of Love, but were setting up the infrastructure for this problem to get even worse.

2022 McClatchy Washington Bureau.

Visit mcclatchydc.com .
Donald Trumps actions while his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol show the former president is unfit for future office and could be held criminally responsible, said members of the House panel investigating the deadly 2021 riot.

Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, one of two Republicans on the bipartisan committee, described Trumps dereliction of duty as he watched from the White House while events unfolded and resisted calls from his children and allies to intervene.

Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who chairs the select committee, said the panel is looking at whether Trumps actions were part of a broader plan and whether they merit criminal referral to the U.S. Justice Department.

Trump demonstrated hes at war with the rule of law, that hes willing to blow through every guardrail of democracy, Cheney said Sunday on CBSs Face the Nation. Were in situation where people have got to understand the danger of President Trump.

Those warnings are taking on greater urgency approaching Thursday, the one-year anniversary of the attack. Trump, 75, continues to repeat false claims about his 2020 electoral defeat, and has hinted at plans to run for the White House in 2024. The House committees final report is expected by the end of the year, potentially coinciding with midterm elections in November.

Thompson, on CNNs State of the Union, warned that the threats to U.S. institutions havent subsided.

We came perilously close to losing our democracy on Jan. 6, Thompson said. Had those insurrectionists been successful, were not sure what we would have had.

Cheney, the House panels vice chair, said the committee is learning more about what transpired at the White House during more than two hours from the start of the siege to Trumps eventual suggestion that his supporters leave the Capitol building.

In that time, the rioters reached the doors of the House chamber where a joint session of Congress, lead by then-Vice President Mike Pence, was certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

Any man who would watch television as police officers were being beaten, as his supporters were invading the Capitol of the United States, is clearly unfit for future office, Cheney said on ABCs This Week.

Cheney, at the time the most senior female lawmaker in House Republican leadership, was one of 10 GOP House members who voted to impeach Trump for incitement of insurrection. The Republican caucus removed her from its leadership ranks in May.

A year removed from the riots, threats to members of Congress continue to increase, U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger said on Fox News Sunday.

While law enforcement has addressed some of the intelligence failures of Jan. 6, the biggest challenge is a staffing shortage after 130 officers retired or resigned following the capitol siege, Manger said.

The House committee is also investigating the role that sitting members of Congress played in helping to plan the Trump rally that ended with the attack on the Capitol. The panel has asked Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry to cooperate, and Thompson said on NBCs Meet the Press that the committee wouldnt hesitate to issue subpoenas.
New Zealanders are urged to make getting their booster dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine a New Years resolution as Aucklands biggest vaccination centre reopens.

On January 5 2022, the interval between the second dose and the booster reduces from 6 months to 4 months. From this date, anyone aged 18 and over who had their second vaccination at least four months ago can have their booster dose.

Speeding up the booster rollout is a key part of our response to Omicron, says Director General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield.

The shorter interval means more than 82 per cent of vaccinated New Zealanders will be eligible for a booster by the end of February 2022.

More than 326,000 people who were vaccinated in the early part of the rollout have already had their booster doses, which is more than 70 per cent of those who were eligible in 2021.

I urge everyone who is eligible to get their booster as soon as possible to protect themselves, their whanau and the wider community.

Vaccination providers and staff across the country are working through the holiday season to ensure New Zealanders have options to access their booster dose, wherever they are in the motu.

In Auckland the popular Airport Park and Ride drive through vaccination centre reopened today to increase the availability of booster doses and as part of preparations to protect New Zealanders against Omicron.

Located at 42 Verissimo Drive, Mangere, the Park and Ride is operating from 10am-5pm, no appointment needed. It can vaccinate over 4,000 people a day and adds significant surge capacity to the network of general practices, Hauora providers, urgent care clinics and community pharmacies providing vaccinations across Auckland through the holiday period.

The good news is that there is clear evidence that the Pfizer vaccine provides protection against Omicron, says Dr Bloomfield.

We also know that a booster dose with Pfizer provides better protection against the Omicron variant than the two-dose course.

While two doses provide some degree of protection against severe disease from Omicron, a third dose is likely to offer greater protection against transmitting Covid-19 to others and reducing the chance of more serious infections.

From January 5, people aged 18 and over who have gone four months or more since their second dose can get a booster dose at vaccination sites that accept walk-ins or drive-throughs.

From January 5, they can also book a booster by calling the Covid Vaccination Healthline on 0800 28 29 26 or by making an appointment directly with general practices, Hauora providers, or community pharmacies that operate their own booking systems. Bookings will be available via BookMyVaccine.NZ from 17 January.

Covid-19 continues to present us with new challenges as we begin the New Year, Dr Bloomfield says.

I want to thank all the healthcare workers who continue to go above and beyond to respond to these challenges and keep our communities safe, particularly those working over the holidays.

Our vaccination teams had a huge 2021 and did an outstanding job. They deserved as much of a break over Christmas and the New Year as is possible - and our heartfelt thanks.

From next week, that work starts again. With the majority of New Zealanders able to get the extra protection of a booster dose in the coming weeks, and the rollout of the vaccine for 5 to 11 year-olds starting on 17 January, we are as well placed as any country in the world to meet the additional challenges that Omicron brings and to protect our communities.
The Bangladesh batters' patience has put the visitors in a prime position at stumps on day two of the first cricket Test against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui.

Bangladesh will begin the third day of the Test 153 runs behind New Zealand's total, thanks in a large part to a 104-run second wicket partnership.

After setting a strong foundation on the first day of the Test, including a century from the returning Devon Conway, New Zealand lost their last five wickets for 70 runs on Sunday.

The Black Caps were all out for 328 in their first innings.

Henry Nicholls pushed on from his overnight score of 32 to bring up his 12th half century before he was eventually dismissed for 75.

Rachin Ravindra was the first to fall on day two, dismissed for four, 15 minutes into the day's play for Shoriful Islam to claim his third wicket.

Off-spinner Mehidy Hasan then did the damage for Bangladesh.

He dislodged Kyle Jamieson after the drinks break for six and Tim Southee was also out for the same score four overs later and Neil Wagner followed Southee out on the next ball for a duck.

Nicholls was the last man out to end New Zealand's first innings before the lunch break.

In reply, Bangladesh's top order started accumulating runs patiently in the sunny conditions at Bay Oval.

The opening pair put on a 43-run partnership which was broken with the first ball after drinks in the second session when Shadman Islam was out to an athletic caught and bowled by Neil Wagner for 22.

Wagner continued to be miserly but could not take another wicket before tea as New Zealand's four-strong pace attack shared the load and Ravindra snuck in a over of spin before the break.

Ravindra was called on again after tea as New Zealand's stand-in captain, Tom Latham, searched for a way to unsettle the visitors.

However, Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Najmul Hossain Shanto were untroubled as both batters moved through to half centuries.

The left-handed Shanto brought up his second Test 50-run milestone with a six off Ravindra.

Shanto was out for 64 caught off Wagner's bowling with nine overs remaining in the day's play.

Joy, in his second Test match for Bangladesh, brought up his maiden Test 50 off 165 balls at the start of the last hour of play for the day.

A fired-up Wagner kept attacking the Bangladesh batters late in the day but he did not get third wicket and ended with figures of 2-27 from his 16 overs.

Bangladesh will resume play on day three on 175-2 with Joy on 70 and captain Mominul Haque on 8.

-RNZ.
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Residents of Elizabeth Towers and locals alike have another reason to get excited about the Thirty Eight Elizabeth development with another stunning food and beverage terrace offering.

Cafe and unique design concept, Philia, will be a place to refresh and grab a leisurely bite to eat from a menu of nutritious local whole foods from nature, including sea, land, and forest. There will be numerous vegetarian and plant-based options available.

The cafe itself has a grand entrance opening into the new Thirty Eight Elizabeth | Elizabeth Towers development and another dining options alongside new eatery Picnicka.

Philia owners Sangeeta and Gurwant Dhot are looking forward to treating Tauranga to a very unique experience.

Philia is a fresh, nourishing, exciting, and innovative food offering with an emphasis on vegetarian and vegan options using unprocessed products," says Sangeeta.

"We will be utilising local, sustainable, and mostly plant-based products. Sustainability is at the heart of our business, not just with food but as a whole concept for the entire business.

The couple are planning to provide a full immersive hospitality encounter with their food, interior and design choices.

They are passionate about food, nature, sustainability as well as contributing to the community.

Sangeeta and Gurwant say their goals are to ensure a warm and welcoming atmosphere, source and use local ingredients and bring together the pure taste of good food together with their teamwork and commitment.

The cafe will be open for breakfast and lunch. A range of cabinet style food as well as selection of beverages including coffee, smoothies, shakes, and fresh juices will be offered.

The holistic philosophy and the Dhots love of food is reflected in the name of the cafe.

Philia is one of the four ancient Greek words for love. It is often translated as the highest kind of love. A love of life or living things.

The word is also embraced in Philias biophilic design concept, used within the building industry to increase connectivity to the natural environment and echo our love of nature, says Gurwant.

Philia will be a comforting place to be in contrast with the bustle of inner city, a space to rebalance, reflect and share time with friends. Large spaces and high ceilings cultivate interaction through clean spatial relationships.

The design is comforting, with the addition of natural elements, planting, and nature, improving our sense of wellbeing, qualities ever so important in a frantic high energy world.

The developments shopping and dining precincts are set to transform Tauranga CBD. The north-facing food and beverage terrace will bask in all-day sun and add an exciting new dimension to the citys burgeoning foodie scene.

Thirty Eight Elizabeth | Elizabeth Towers project manager Brett Nicholls says Philia joins Picnicka in a premiere food offering.

We are excited to have secured a beautiful cafe, along with Picnicka  the brainchild of Clarence restaurant owners Kim and Noel Cimadom.

The shared community space and streetscaping beneath the terrace, including tree planting and greening, is also really taking shape on Elizabeth Street thanks to Tauranga City Council. The outlook looks bright and we are excited about launch in early 2022.

The development was due to open this year thanks to extra investment to keep to an ambitious schedule for the project.

But Taurangas lockdown and the closed boundaries with Auckland and Waikato have seen a delay. Brett says a new schedule is being put together, which should be available early next year.

Its been a challenging time in terms of keeping to the ambitious self-imposed deadlines we set for this build. A build of this size would normally command a much longer schedule for completion. Its incredible to think how quickly we have come to this point with hard work and dedication from our teams since 2018 when the first sod was turned, says Brett.

There is no question that we would have been now open for business with the residences on the market had Covid not got in the way. But like everyone else in New Zealand, we are dealing with an evolving set of circumstances and making the best we can of it all.

Brett says, now the borders with Auckland and the Waikato have opened the completion of the build will progress more rapidly.

We built up a lot of momentum in the lead up before lockdown and this helped. We are now starting to see some of the expertise we need from Auckland to be able to bring the development to completion and are working very hard to land on a new set of firm dates for opening the retail, food and beverage terrace, and residential offering, in that order. We will announce these new dates as soon as possible.

The end is certainly in sight, and we cant wait to throw the doors open, not only to our development, but to the transformation and revitalisation of Tauranga city.
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Source: Xinhua| 2021-07-26 00:39:42|Editor: huaxia

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KATHMANDU, July 25 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing lockdown in Nepal's Kathmandu Valley was extended for 10 more days on Sunday till Aug. 4, though most of the restrictive measures have been relaxed in past weeks.

"We extended the lockdown by keeping certain activities under the prohibited list," Kali Prasad Parajuli, chief district officer of the Kathmandu district, told Xinhua. "The health protocols should be followed to carry out activities in the sectors where the provisions of lockdown have been relaxed."

Sporting events, swimming pools, theaters, mass meetings, rallies, cultural and religious events are still banned, as decided by the Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts in the valley.

Meanwhile, long and medium-distance transportation services have been reopened in a separate notice issued on July 23. On July 4, the authorities in the Kathmandu Valley allowed public and private transportation services within the region.

Under the new rules, schools can take examinations but with no more than 25 persons inside each room, and restaurants can offer takeaway services till 7:00 p.m. local time.

The Kathmandu Valley and many other parts of Nepal have been put under lockdown since April 29 to contain a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with the reduction in new cases since June, the restrictive measures have been eased in the valley while the lockdown was extended time and again.

"We know that health protocols have not been fully followed," said Parajuli. "It is difficult to enforce the health protocols fully because of the large population in Kathmandu."

He insisted that it is the duty of every citizen to follow the health protocols for themselves. "We also cannot allow economic activities to remain suspended forever as the livelihoods of many people are at stake," he said.

Nepal's Health Ministry, citing "a spike in the infection rate" following the relaxed measures, warned on Thursday of an increasing possibility of a third wave of the coronavirus to hit the country.

Nepal has reported a total of 680,556 COVID-19 cases and 9,713 deaths by Sunday, with 1,539 new cases and 18 new fatalities recorded in the last 24 hours. Enditem
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Re: Pics: Accidents in India Quote: aerohit Originally Posted by Regarding the BMW/Swift incident - this happens when everyone tries to squeeze in a small lane all at once with a "me too" mentality.



There are only 2 lanes, for 2 cars, but people squeeze in 4 cars leaving no margin at all!



See Pic - This is how i place my vehicle whenever possible.



Dont place your car on the extreme right or left. Place it in the lane that is meant for you , such that the car behind you cannot steal the lane from either side. In fact this has helped reduce bottlenecks sometimes.



Quote: RijuC Originally Posted by Also, I faced similar things on roads. Bigger and stronger cars drive recklessly in NCR (at least in Gurgaon). And they would bully smaller cars or peace loving drivers always. Monday night I was driving in KMP and DL/ HR cars kept on blinking their projector LED or whatever XYZ string lightbeam headlamps despite of the fact I was driving in the middle lane at a comfortable 70-80 kmph speed and acres of free space were available on both sides.



Quote: Thad E Ginathom Originally Posted by



Many of us know very well how much it costs to repaint a panel. Yes, there are cheaper tinkers and painters shops than I have used, but if there was a 45% chance of that being my fault, I would offer, or be prepared to be bargained up to, around 10k.



If the guy is in business, his time alone, spent trying not to pay anything, might have cost him more.



I don't think anyone has commented on this, but I find it disgusting that the owner of such a BMW would give Rs.1,000 in such a case. That probably hurt him as much as giving Rs10 to a beggar. Even if the principle is to repay the loss of NCB, it is still nothing. NCBs take several years of higher premiums to recover.Many of us know very well how much it costs to repaint a panel. Yes, there are cheaper tinkers and painters shops than I have used, but if there was a 45% chance of that being my fault, I would offer, or be prepared to be bargained up to, around 10k.If the guy is in business, his time alone, spent trying not to pay anything, might have cost him more. I did not want anyone to think that I was trying to profit from the situation, and I was also relieved that there were no dent, so I didn't name a higher figure (The last time I claimed insurance, it was a dent and repaint of the right fender and it probably cost less than 1k from my pocket). I really would not have gone through all this trouble if he admitted to his fault, but he brazenly kept on insisting that he was not at fault. Only after the officer at the police station spoke to him, he owned up. And I agree, I found his behavior very unbecoming for a BMW owner... not sure if it was his car in the first place, as the police took lots of photographs but did not check any documents like driving license, RC etc. As venkyhere explained previously, I also don't think you can drive like that in our conditions. In Delhi, its certain that 2 wheelers will creep up to your right and to your left, you will probably have 2 cars there.At least you were doing 70 KMPH... I have faced cars in Dwarka who blink away to glory even if they see a red light with cars standing ahead (i.e. they cannot run the red light). What do they get by blasting away only to stop at the traffic signal ahead and repeating the same thing again and again is something I probably will never understand.. And I have seen all types of cars doing this, from SUVs to hatchbacks and sedans as well.Actually, the police told me to name a price what I thought to be fair, but I have not claimed insurance in 6+ years, so I really did not know what to say to himI did not want anyone to think that I was trying to profit from the situation, and I was also relieved that there were no dent, so I didn't name a higher figure (The last time I claimed insurance, it was a dent and repaint of the right fender and it probably cost less than 1k from my pocket). I really would not have gone through all this trouble if he admitted to his fault, but he brazenly kept on insisting that he was not at fault. Only after the officer at the police station spoke to him, he owned up. And I agree, I found his behavior very unbecoming for a BMW owner... not sure if it was his car in the first place, as the police took lots of photographs but did not check any documents like driving license, RC etc.
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Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: NSEW Posts: 3,236 Thanked: 14,180 Times

Re: Mumbai - Ahmedabad : Route Queries



1. the new Narmada Maiya Bridge connecting Bharuch and Ankleshwar

2. the state highway via Hansot and Olpad



Both the above were experiences in their own right which we'll all see through this post.



I was scheduled to depart Vadodara 12noon after a call, but decided late the earlier night that an early morning departure might be a better option. Got up at 0440hrs and I was ready to leave at 0545hrs. Here is a timeline post that:



1. Departure Vadodara Central 0555hrs

2. Arrival Bharuch 0701hrs

3. Arrival Surat 0900hrs



The new Narmada Maiya Bridge connecting Bharuch and Surat was an experience - zero traffic at that time of the day, flying over some of Bharuch over the Narmada River and landing on the Ankleshwar side onto a decent stretch of highway. There is a second bridge in Ankleshwar. Go straight and it lands into the eastern side of Ankleshwar from where one can get back to NH48/64. There is this right angle turn on the bridge that diverts towards the old state highway to Surat via Hansot and Olpad.



After encountering a few vehicles in Ankleshwar town west, I was hoping to have a smooth passage to Surat but providence had other plans - help me encounter thick fog. I have, so far in life, never navigated fog for more than a km but this time was different, and scary. It took me 2 hours to do the 72km from Bharuch to Surat, thanks to some fog related delays approx 2km upstream and downstream of Hansot, and then again all the way from Olpad to Jahangirpura. Fog cleared immediately after the buildings appeared in Jahangirpura.



While in Surat, I also got to visit the Tapti River front at Hazira where the river is just a few meters from the road. There was also this chance visit to a farm that had a mangrove, sugarcane plantation and coconut trees bordering the farm, and the owner treated us to some fresh farm produce - tender coconut water. Summing up the trip in pics and a video.



Entry to the Narmada Maiya Bridge - exit the highway, turn right near the GNFC Bus Station and follow map directions to reach the Narmada Maiya bridge





Flying over Bharuch - speed limit on this bridge is 80kmph





Flying over the Narmada - the old Golden Bridge can be seen to the right





Fog building up before Hansot





Encountering fog after Olpad - scary ride



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o31VT-LDUys?



Tapti River very close to the Hazira road (past the AM Naik Heavy Engg. Complex of L&T)





The farm near Maroli





Extra coconuts that I got at the farm





Trip FE on the Vadodara - Surat leg which was fog ridden. This is a Mitsubishi Pajero Sport FYI





Key takeaways



1. Take the Hansot - Olpad route only in the late morning hours and that too if the destination in Surat is closer to this highway. The highway is arrow straight in sections but I personally would prefer the NH anyday.



2. The Narmada Maiya Bridge is worth taking if



a) one is going from Vadodara towards Mumbai as the regular Narmada bridge(s) on this sector is pathetic.

b) map shows a traffic hold up on these pathetic bridges and the toll plaza ahead.



The good cable stayed bridge is on the Mumbai - Vadodara side which is still fine.



3. For first time fog navigators, drop speed to comfort levels, switch on parking lights and fog lamps, and DO NOT overtake unless sure of what is ahead. Follow, with some safe distance, the vehicle ahead that's volunteered to be the pilot if you know the pilot is driving sensibly.



4. Expect some surprise delays on the bridge between Nabipur and Varediya just after the Grand Vatika restaurant. I don't understand why these traffic build ups occur, and this highway, touted as one of the best in the country, just doesn't deserve that title. One can never predict when one's plans will go for a toss.



If one has to hit the NH towards Navsari/ Mumbai from Ring Road Surat, please take either of the following to avoid the "rip off" Bhatia toll plaza:



a) the state highway to Navsari after Sachin and then move to NH-48viz. Udhna Darwaza - Sachin - Lajpur - Kasbapar - NH-48 OR Udhna Darwaza - Sachin - Lajpur - Navsari - NH

b) the road via Dindoli and Kharvasa to hit Palsana on NH-48. For the first time since Feb-2020, I took the car on NH48/NH64 towards Surat. This time I attempted a new route:1. the new Narmada Maiya Bridge connecting Bharuch and Ankleshwar2. the state highway via Hansot and OlpadBoth the above were experiences in their own right which we'll all see through this post.I was scheduled to depart Vadodara 12noon after a call, but decided late the earlier night that an early morning departure might be a better option. Got up at 0440hrs and I was ready to leave at 0545hrs. Here is a timeline post that:1. Departure Vadodara Central 0555hrs2. Arrival Bharuch 0701hrs3. Arrival Surat 0900hrsThe new Narmada Maiya Bridge connecting Bharuch and Surat was an experience - zero traffic at that time of the day, flying over some of Bharuch over the Narmada River and landing on the Ankleshwar side onto a decent stretch of highway. There is a second bridge in Ankleshwar. Go straight and it lands into the eastern side of Ankleshwar from where one can get back to NH48/64. There is this right angle turn on the bridge that diverts towards the old state highway to Surat via Hansot and Olpad.After encountering a few vehicles in Ankleshwar town west, I was hoping to have a smooth passage to Surat but providence had other plans - help me encounter thick fog. I have, so far in life, never navigated fog for more than a km but this time was different, and scary.It took me 2 hours to do the 72km from Bharuch to Surat, thanks to some fog related delays approx 2km upstream and downstream of Hansot, and then again all the way from Olpad to Jahangirpura. Fog cleared immediately after the buildings appeared in Jahangirpura.While in Surat, I also got to visit the Tapti River front at Hazira where the river is just a few meters from the road. There was also this chance visit to a farm that had a mangrove, sugarcane plantation and coconut trees bordering the farm, and the owner treated us to some fresh farm produce - tender coconut water. Summing up the trip in pics and a video.1. Take the Hansot - Olpad route only in the late morning hours and that too if the destination in Surat is closer to this highway. The highway is arrow straight in sections but I personally would prefer the NH anyday.2. The Narmada Maiya Bridge is worth taking ifa) one is going from Vadodara towards Mumbai as the regular Narmada bridge(s) on this sector is pathetic.b) map shows a traffic hold up on these pathetic bridges and the toll plaza ahead.The good cable stayed bridge is on the Mumbai - Vadodara side which is still fine.3. For first time fog navigators, drop speed to comfort levels, switch on parking lights and fog lamps, and DO NOT overtake unless sure of what is ahead. Follow, with some safe distance, the vehicle ahead that's volunteered to be the pilot if you know the pilot is driving sensibly.4. Expect some surprise delays on the bridge between Nabipur and Varediya just after the Grand Vatika restaurant. I don't understand why these traffic build ups occur, and this highway, touted as one of the best in the country, just doesn't deserve that title. One can never predict when one's plans will go for a toss.If one has to hit the NH towards Navsari/ Mumbai from Ring Road Surat, please take either of the following to avoid the "rip off" Bhatia toll plaza:a) the state highway to Navsari after Sachin and then move to NH-48viz. Udhna Darwaza - Sachin - Lajpur - Kasbapar - NH-48 OR Udhna Darwaza - Sachin - Lajpur - Navsari - NHb) the road via Dindoli and Kharvasa to hit Palsana on NH-48. Last edited by Sheel : 30th December 2021 at 09:19 . Reason: As requested.
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Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Bombay Posts: 1,568 Thanked: 10,779 Times

re: Yet another BMW X3 20d on Team-BHP! Now 5 years, ~40000 km



I therefore went through the car with a fine tooth comb, and discovered two issues which needed to be addressed:



1) A disintegrating driver door handle coin holder







Everyone who owns a BMW has heard of the tendency of the door handles to discolor and turn sticky over time. And while that has not yet happened to my car, I noticed that the coin holder plastic had started disintegrating.



2) Some suspension noise



There was also slight suspension noise from the front left suspension, which I decided should be dealt with asap



Sent the car to BMW Infinity Lalbaug. After inspecting the car, they agreed to deal with both of these issues under warranty. Parts were not available, but they said the suspension parts would come in a few days, while the door handle would take a while. However, they agreed to cover the handle under warranty even if the part arrived after the warranty expired. This process meant that the car was off the road for a few days



The suspension parts arrived a few days later, and I sent the car once again - and it was duly repaired. I was relieved, and thought I was all set for my journey. But when my driver went to pick up the car, he found the following error - they key fob battery needed to be replaced. Fortunately, that was available in stock, and the replacement was duly carried out.







I got the car back, and drove it for a couple of days. I had to travel out of town on work, and my driver tried to start the car the next morning. And he found that the car was refusing to move, and the following error message appeared







It turned out that the electronic parking brake actuator had failed, and this meant that the car was jammed in parked position. A call to Infinity led to their dispatching an engineer who released the brake - but the car had to go back to Infinity for the third time in just over a week.







The required parts were not in stock - but my service advisor was very proactive realizing I was just a few days away from a long drive, and managed to source the parts from Poona. Repairs were duly done, and I was finally set for my driving holiday. More on the driving holiday in a subsequent post - but suffice to say the car worked flawlessly through the nearly 3000 kms I drove in the last 8 days. The door handle still needs to be dealt with of course. As many of you know, I purchased my car in January 2017, and it is now getting close to completing 5 years. That of course implies that both the extended warranty and BSI package would expire in coming weeks. Further, I planned to take the car on a driving holiday to South India, and wanted to be sure that it is in fine fettle before the journey.I therefore went through the car with a fine tooth comb, and discovered two issues which needed to be addressed:1) A disintegrating driver door handle coin holderEveryone who owns a BMW has heard of the tendency of the door handles to discolor and turn sticky over time. And while that has not yet happened to my car, I noticed that the coin holder plastic had started disintegrating.2) Some suspension noiseThere was also slight suspension noise from the front left suspension, which I decided should be dealt with asapSent the car to BMW Infinity Lalbaug. After inspecting the car, they agreed to deal with both of these issues under warranty. Parts were not available, but they said the suspension parts would come in a few days, while the door handle would take a while. However, they agreed to cover the handle under warranty even if the part arrived after the warranty expired. This process meant that the car was off the road for a few daysThe suspension parts arrived a few days later, and I sent the car once again - and it was duly repaired. I was relieved, and thought I was all set for my journey. But when my driver went to pick up the car, he found the following error - they key fob battery needed to be replaced. Fortunately, that was available in stock, and the replacement was duly carried out.I got the car back, and drove it for a couple of days. I had to travel out of town on work, and my driver tried to start the car the next morning. And he found that the car was refusing to move, and the following error message appearedIt turned out that the electronic parking brake actuator had failed, and this meant that the car was jammed in parked position. A call to Infinity led to their dispatching an engineer who released the brake - but the car had to go back to Infinity for the third time in just over a week.The required parts were not in stock - but my service advisor was very proactive realizing I was just a few days away from a long drive, and managed to source the parts from Poona. Repairs were duly done, and I was finally set for my driving holiday. More on the driving holiday in a subsequent post - but suffice to say the car worked flawlessly through the nearly 3000 kms I drove in the last 8 days. The door handle still needs to be dealt with of course.
Windows 11 is about to have its yearly update, specifically the upcoming 22H2 version or the Sun Valley 2 update. What makes this new software version of Microsoft interesting is the return of Taskbar features.

After Microsoft released Windows 11, some functions were removed, such as the popular Taskbar features. But, since consumers demanded the return of these integrations, Microsoft decided to include them in the new Windows 11 version.

However, fans still need to wait longer since Microsoft is expected to release the Sun Valley 2 update in October 2022. But, since the exact launch date is not yet confirmed, there's still a chance that it could be released earlier.

Windows 11 22H2 Brings Back Taskbar Features

According to The Win Central's latest report, the new Windows 11 Sun Valley 2 will mainly focus on enhancements that were not previously prepared for the first version of Microsoft's latest software.

Also Read: Free Microsoft Word 2021-Is This Legal? No Cracks or Other Tools Needed

If this is true, then you can definitely see the return of power user elements (time and date display, app icons, customizable system tray icons, etc.). But, you can also take advantage of new integrations, such as the system-wide dark mode.

This new Windows 11 feature is expected to be compatible with the Legacy and Modern UI (User Interface) sections. Aside from this, the upcoming 22H2 version will also support third-party widgets.

This simply means that Microsoft consumers will be able to update their native widget panels and install third-party ones from the official Microsoft Store. Since the release date is still far away, the giant tech firm might consider adding more enhancements in the new Windows 11 22H2 update.

Will There Windows 11 Enhancements?

Right now, the features mentioned above are the only ones confirmed by reliable sources. However, MS Power User recently reported that the software giant is testing a new blur effect for Windows 11.

However, it is still unclear if it will be included in the upcoming Sun Valley 2 or if Microsoft will release it earlier.

In other news, Microsoft joins other companies that are not physically attending CES 2022. Meanwhile, Windows Android apps are expected to arrive.

For more news updates about Windows 11 and other Microsoft products, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Microsoft Delays Surface Duo Android 11 OS! Employees on Vacation to Blame?

This article is owned by TechTimes

Written by: Griffin Davis

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Tehachapi, CA (93561)

Today

Mostly sunny skies with gusty winds developing during the afternoon. High 68F. Winds WNW at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low 41F. Winds WNW at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.
NICOSIA, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Omicron variant has become the main source feeding the COVID-19 pandemic in Cyprus, representing an estimated 80 percent of new infections, Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantelas said on Sunday.

Hadjipantelas told journalists after a tour of COVID-19 hospitals in two cities that it is likely the Omicron variant to fully replace the Delta strain as the only source of infection, a little over a month since it was first identified.

"We know very well the positivity rate of Omicron and we consider that in the coming days it will prevail in all our cases," he said, adding that the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant will cause a further rise in infections in the coming days.

New COVID-19 infections in Cyprus reached a record high of 5,048 on Dec. 31, more than doubling in three days, with the positivity rate standing at 2.98 percent.

On Jan. 1, the figure dropped back to 2,332 because of a reduced number of tests, but the positivity rate rose to 5.98 percent.

Hadjipantelas said that current figures show that the Omicron variant is less severe but warned that "there can be no complacency."

He also said that the government advisory committee of experts will on Tuesday discuss "how people's movements will be restricted or the reopening of schools will be affected by the rising cases." Enditem
December brought the heat this year in Baton Rouge.

After ending the holiday season with a string of days reaching the low-to-mid-80s Fahrenheit, the city surpassed 1971s previous record of 62.7 degrees, coming in at an average of 63.9, according to preliminary year-end numbers provided by the National Centers for Environmental Information and the National Weather Service.

Although some may point to climate change as the reason behind the unusually high temperatures, Dr. Barry Keim, the state climatologist and researcher at Louisiana State University, said that's not necessarily the biggest factor at play.

While some regions of the U.S. have seen average temperatures rise steadily over the last decade or so, Keim pointed out that Louisiana's month-by-month numbers for 2021, as well as its yearly averages since the 1930s, fall widely across the board.

Despite Decembers record-breaking heat, he noted that a few other months this past year maintained average or even below-average temperatures, including November, which came in at 1.6 degrees below average, and September at 1.4 degrees below average.

Basically, (the pattern behind these warm temperatures) is what we call a long-wave trough over the western U.S. and a ridge over the eastern U.S., Keim said. As a result, things are pretty cold (in the Northwest) while the East has been relatively warm.

+10 COVID, Hurricane Ida, Amazon: Here was some of Louisiana's biggest business news in 2021 South Louisiana was dealt twin blows by the Hurricane Ida and the continued COVID pandemic during 2021, events that hit foundations of the loc

The reason for this, he explained, is likely due to oscillating climate patterns in the Pacific Ocean that have wide-ranging effects on weather across the globe.

Called La Nina and El Nino, the two weather phenomena  named centuries ago by South American fishermen  are opposing phases of something known as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, which describes the fluctuation of the oceans temperature and air pressures above it.

During El Nino, trade winds weaken and warm water is pushed east toward the west coast of the Americas. This warmer water causes the Pacific jet stream to shift south of its usual position, which in turn causes dryer and warmer weather in the northern U.S. and Canada and wetter weather with increased flooding in regions along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

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La Nina has the opposite effect, with strengthened trade winds that push warm water toward Asia while cold Pacific water pushes the Pacific jet stream northward, leading to drought and warmer temperatures in the south and cooler temperatures in the north.

El Nino tends to create cool and wet conditions here, Keim said. La Nina tends to create warm and dry conditions, and thats kind of whats been playing out over the last month or so.

The past months conditions are typical of a La Nina winter, he added, although he noted that Baton Rouges year-end temperature average fell squarely in the middle of the chart at 68.5 degrees, landing between 1999 (also 68.5 degrees) and 1931 (68.6 degrees).

This pattern is consistent with what we see during La Ninas in the winter time, Keim said. Storms start tracking to the north, we get less rain and were basking more in Gulf tropical air than we are in air coming out of Canada.

When it comes to all-time averages for December based on records dating back to 1930, 1933 comes in third warmest with an average of 62.2 degrees, followed by 2015 (61.7 degrees), 1984 (61.2 degrees) and 1931 (60.7 degrees).

However, Keim emphasized that just because Louisiana isnt seeing a long-term pattern of rising temperatures doesnt mean the region isnt susceptible to other effects of climate change.

Thanks to an overall rise in temperatures globally, the southeast is perhaps the most vulnerable region in the U.S. when it comes to rising sea levels, he said.

The bottom line for Louisiana, what makes us so vulnerable, is all the land we have thats very near sea level, Keim said. With melting glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland and thermal expansion of the water  there are projections that by the year 2100, sea levels may go up anywhere from one to three feet.

A considerable rise in sea level will have catastrophic impacts on some of the states most populated areas, he added.

You start talking about the upper ends of some of these worst-case scenarios, it doesnt look good for south Louisiana, he said. Were hoping and praying that it doesn't play out.
Plants overflow from a rain garden planted by Water Wise NOLA in the Treme neighborhood as Healthy Community Services executive director Angela Chalk leads a tour of neighborhoods working to reduce flooding through storm water management and gardening practices during the Water Fall Fest in New Orleans, La., Saturday, Nov. 23, 2019. The festival, hosted by the Greater New Orleans Foundation, connected residents with local businesses and non-profits promoting green infrastructure and working to fight climate change.
The beef and veal, wine and seafood industries have proven particularly vulnerable to fraud. This is because theres a huge difference between the cheap end of the market versus the high end of the market  thats certainly where you can make the most money. Loading At its worst, food fraud can lead to serious illness or even death. The 2008 Chinese milk scandal, in which milk and infant formula was laced with the chemical melamine to artificially increase protein content, resulted in the death of six babies who died from kidney damage. Some 54,000 children were hospitalised. Food fraud can be recognised and placed into at least six different categories: mislabelling, dilution, substitution, adulteration, counterfeiting and concealment. Mislabelling, in which a product is simply not what it says it is, is one of the most common types of product fraud, says Professor Lester: you think youre buying snapper  its not.

Concealment occurs when fraudsters slap an organic or halal label on something that isnt and charge more. Meanwhile, dilution is known to occur with milk, juice and especially wine. Substitution is common in processed foods, such as ground meat. A 2019 study from Egypt found that 87 per cent of ground red meat contained chicken or donkey meat. Adulterated products contain lower-quality ingredients, such as honey-flavoured syrup in honey, to bring costs down. Murky origins: Where does it all go wrong? Somewhere along the way of getting a product from the farm to the supermarket shelf, something goes wrong, said Professor Lester. An unscrupulous farmer could be spraying all sorts of things on their crop, but labelling it as organic. An abattoir might be covering up buffalo or donkey meat as beef. It could easily happen in packaging, she added. If you think about fruit and vegetables, they often come in really big boxes, and the labelling is all on the box or the sticker. Its not that difficult to take one box and put on something that has an organic label.

Tony Battaglene, chief executive of the Australian Grape & Wine Association, believes Australia does not have a major issue of wine fraud domestically. The fake wine brand Benfolds mimics the calligraphy of the famous Penfolds brand. The same cant be said about Australias exported wines. The more common way that we see [wine fraud] is copycat products, he said. Bottles of Benfolds wines have been sold in mainland China for more than a decade. If you dont know what youre looking for, and if English isnt your native language, these can be passed off as that. Mr Battaglene said major online Chinese retailers have told him that 70 per cent of the products sold on their website were copycats. Chinas trade restrictions on wine have limited Australian producers access to the Chinese market and reduced visibility over the scale of the problem. At the end of the day, just about everyone is worse off. [Wine] producers are enormous losers because their brand can get trashed  consumers are big losers because in some cases, there are products unfit for consumption.

The only winners are the crooks. What we can do about it Addressing the slippery issue of product fraud would involve a number of factors. If consumer awareness of food fraud was elevated, businesses would probably respond in kind, according to Professor Lester. I think theres a misconception that this isnt a problem, and people are able to trust what it is theyre buying, she said. Another part of the problem is that some industries and businesses are choosing to bury their heads in the sand. Technology also has a major role to play, but it comes at a significant financial investment. It almost takes someone whos willing to be a trailblazer for it.
Also, real life, even the real lives of great women, is mostly boring. Would you watch three seasons of a show in which Emily Dickinson sits alone at her desk scratching out verse with a pencil? But there are telling emphases in these shows and equally telling excisions. This new breed of heroine is ambitious and sex positive, with impeccably modern politics. Rather than understanding these women as products of their time, we make them creatures of ours. This new breed of heroine is ambitious and sex positive, with impeccably modern politics; Chloe Fineman, Anna Baryshnikov and Hailee Steinfeld in Dickinson. Credit:Apple TV+ Schwartz told me that she understands the impulse to sex up historical women. It lavishes attention on them, correcting the dismissiveness of earlier historians. But that then has the collective effect of making these women less interesting and less honest in who they were within their periods, she said. At least Dickinson, created by Alena Smith, plays with this dishonesty purposefully and boldly, taking the wildness and desire that suffused Emily Dickinsons poetry, if not her life, and externalising it through scenes in which Hailee Steinfelds Emily twerks at house parties and takes carriage rides with Wiz Khalifas Death.

The real Dickinson was introverted and, despite her on-trend eyebrows, not a particular beauty. Loading In terms of being a cool girl, I dont really know if she was, said Monica Pelaez, a Dickinson scholar who has advised the show. She chose to seclude herself. The historical Dickinson doesnt seem to have dressed as a man or protested as an eco-warrior or taken multiple lovers or heaved her bosom in a daring red dress. But her poetry and letters conjure vivid emotional states, so Dickinson colours Emilys life with this dynamism, colliding reality and fantasy. What the show does is bring that sensibility from her poetry and dramatise it, Pelaez said.

The Emily who emerges is confident, career-minded, fascinating to men and women, a corrective to previous works (even recent ones like Terence Davies 2016 movie A Quiet Passion) that ignored the queerness her letters and poems suggest. But while Dickinson seems acutely aware of the sociopolitics of 19th-century New England, the show often argues for Emilys exceptionalism by differentiating her  and to a lesser extent her sister, Lavinia (Anna Baryshnikov), and sister-in-law, Sue (Ella Hunt)  from the other women of Amherst, Massachusetts. Rather than looking for solidarity among the women of her progressive community, Emily emphasises this difference. Im just not made for traditional feminine handicrafts, she complains during a sewing circle scene, the implication being that women who are made for them dont deserve a prestige TV series. Hailee Steinfeld in Dickinson. Credit:Apple TV+ In this way Emily resembles Catherine, of The Great. Created by Tony McNamara (who also co-wrote the lightly counterfactual battling-British-royals comedy The Favourite), the series stars a luminous Elle Fanning as a German princess who arrives at the Russian court as a teenager and promptly claims the tsardom for herself. Liberated from chronology and fact, the comedy-drama twiddles the timeline of Catherines career and marriage. (Lets just say that the real Peter struggled to consummate their relationship and the Peter of The Great, played by Nicholas Hoult, does not.)

Bright, colourful and cruel, like a dish of poisoned candies, the show occasionally portrays Catherine as naive. But she learns fast, and her emergent politics and commitment to hustle are beautifully modern. She wants to end Russias wars, free its serfs, teach women to read, inoculate her subjects. (This is more or less true of the historical Catherine.) And in her ball gowns? An absolute smoke show. The legacy of the real Catherine, who came to the throne not as a dewy teenager but as a more seasoned 33-year-old, was of course more complicated. She actually increased serfdom, said Hilde Hoogenboom, a professor of Russian who has translated Catherines memoirs. Hoogenboom describes The Great as the Disneyfication of the real Catherine. To make her a fairytale princess, the series also insists on differentiating Catherine from the other women at court, representing her as a savvy It Girl, more beautiful and powerful than her peers. Bitch, one noblewoman sneers.

Empress bitch, Catherine corrects her. The real Catherine was different. (And as someone who routinely elevated her lovers and male allies, not so big on sisterhood.) But she was one of several 18th-century female heads of state, including Empress Elisabeth, her immediate predecessor, a fact that The Great conveniently elides. Instead it presents Elizabeth (Belinda Bromilow) as a dithery nymphomaniac, raising Catherine up by pushing Elizabeth and her underwear down. Six, created by Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow, puts its women in competition even more explicitly, structuring the show as an American Idol-style vocal contest. A blingy take on trauma porn, it demands that each woman sing not about her character or integrity but about the wrongs she suffered at Henrys meaty hands. Here are the rules, as detailed in the opening number: The Queen who was dealt the worst hand / The Queen with the most hardships to withstand / The Queen for whom it didnt really go as planned / Shall be the one to lead the band. Before ending in a mostly empty gesture of solidarity, Six simplifies and updates many of these women, turning Anne Boleyn, an astute political player, into a foxy goodtime girl, framing Katherine Howard, a blatant victim of abuse, as a barely legal tease. (Lock up your husbands, lock up your sons / K-Howard is here, and the funs begun. ) The costume design, in a nod to pop norms, sexualises each woman, coupling their worth with their hotness. In her song, Katherine Parr, Henrys widow, reminds listeners of her accomplishments: I wrote books, and psalms, and meditations, / Fought for female education / So all my women could independently study scripture / I even got a woman to paint my picture / Why cant I tell that story?

Well, why cant she? Instead, the songs from Six centre the womens relationships to Henry, emphasising his attraction to them (or rejection of them) over any of the wives accomplishments. The things that these women were doing should be of historical interest, regardless of whether or not they were all married to this (expletive) dude, said Jessica Keene, a history professor who studies the Tudor period. This substitution of sexuality for excellence can extend even into more enlightened shows. That sewing circle episode of Dickinson includes a dynamic cameo from Sojourner Truth, played by writer and talk show host Ziwe. Because Dickinson remains exquisitely self-aware, it jokes about Ziwes youthful appearance (Im roughly 66, but I look good as hell) and Truths 19th-century sex bomb vibe (Oh, theyre going to know Im a woman in this dress). But the real Sojourner Truth, who came to public life in middle age, didnt lead with sex. Corinne T. Field, who has written on Truth, described her as a figure who critiqued girlish beauty and sexuality. Her whole public career is built as someone who had already aged beyond youth and was occupying a position of power and charisma that did not rely on girlish beauty, Field said.

I asked Field what we miss when Dickinson depicts a woman like Truth this way. An investment in intergenerational networks of mutual care, Field said without pausing. We need to think about how you sustain female empowerment over the course of a whole life. Helen Mirren in the 2019 miniseries Catherine The Great, which is more accurate historically but less fun. Credit:Sky Atlantic If creators, even creators with explicitly feminist aims like Smith and Moss, believe that audiences wont pay attention to female protagonists absent of youth and beauty, they will likely frame empowerment narrowly. And maybe thats necessary on some level. The recent and more accurate versions  like A Quiet Passion, 2019s Catherine the Great and this years Anne Boleyn  tend to be less fun. If girlbossification is the price to elevate female historical figures to the mainstream consciousness, so be it, Schwartz said.
One year ago, the world was given a chilling insight into just how fragile our most cherished systems of democracy can be. On January 6, a legion of neo-Nazis, pro-fascists, fringe conspiracy theorists and more smashed their way into the halls of the US Capitol.

For hours, they roamed the Capitols inner sanctum, hunting for democratically elected representatives and threatening to kill them. Incited by the dishonest rhetoric of defeated president Donald Trump, who falsely claimed the 2020 US election had been stolen, the mobs aim was about more than protest and mayhem. They wanted to halt Congress affirmation of Joe Biden as the rightfully elected president and reinstate the demagogue of their choosing, Mr Trump.

Protesters scale a wall at the US Capitol on January 6 last year. Credit:AP

The deadly events of January 6 plainly underscored the need for eternal vigilance against those who would destroy the governmental systems we cherish. They exposed just how easily false prophets can emerge and take hold of popular sentiment, then turn that sentiment into a treacherous force. Most importantly, they powerfully highlighted the need for competent, truthful and solidly trustworthy elected leaders who will honour the commitment to guide and govern for all.

Looking back, it seems January 6 was the culmination of four years of turmoil and increasing disquiet across the US. The country had endured widespread deaths and economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic. As well, many cities had experienced violence and destruction in the wake of street protests stemming from the Black Lives Matter campaign.
In the first 18 months, there were ... a lot of genuine attempts from men to be more present and do more of the juggle and asking for more flexible work. Now weve got this real risk there will be a snap back that will reinforce penalties to men and make no progress in caring and sharing domestically. Men have got to really push back ... were only going to see a change of community attitudes if men stand up and fight for it. Jarrod Dunn has changed his work pattern to allow him to miss fewer milestones, and do more caring, for his second child, Florence, than he could for his first, Jude. Credit:Scott McNaughton A dramatic game changer? When she saw the flash migration to large-scale working from home, Dr Jennifer Baxter, long-time senior research fellow at the Australian Institute of Family Studies, thought this could be the something dramatic she had long believed it would take to make real change to Australias highly gendered and sticky parental work patterns.

I thought this was an amazing thing. I have been saying all along through doing this research that [progress on the ability to share care] was a slow, slow burn and it would take something really dramatic to change things: so I kind of thought this was the thing that could actually make a difference, says Baxter of the pandemic. Loading I was quite excited about looking at the statistics and looking forward to seeing what was going to happen. Nearly two years on, her longitudinal study into the impact of COVID-19 on Australian family life has not shown a shift. Instead, Baxter, like other national researchers, saw that after a little bit of a bump early in the pandemic, there was no lasting change in family patterns. Were very stuck in this way of sharing [care, domestic loads and work], I think some of it is due to the workplace, and some of it [is because] weve still got to make it easier and more acceptable  more the standard  that men can work part-time, take flexible work and work at home, Baxter says.

We need to make it so its not even a question: of course, men can do it. Noting early indicators that men were more likely to return to the office, as women stayed at home, Baxter says there is a danger womens economic equality and opportunity to participate in the workforce could slip backwards after the pandemic. Weve got to keep an eye on that: will it make things even more gendered. If its the women who all opt to work at home to balance work and home, that is a shift backwards in a way. Not just wallets Melbourne father Jarrod Dunn, a manager in a gas company, chose to take primary carers leave when his second child, daughter Florence, was born at the height of the pandemics first wave. Having spent 11 months at home with his two children, he wants to keep the close bond going by continuing a hybrid work pattern.

I dont want to just be seen as a wallet for my children, I want to be someone who is emotionally involved in their lives, not just financially involved. Thats the big driver for me, he says. Even at those times when theyre vulnerable, I want them to be able to be like that with Dad, too, not just Mum  and its also to support my wifes career. I dont want to just be seen as a wallet for my children, I want to be ... emotionally involved in their lives, not just financially involved. Father of two Jarrod Dunn, who took primary carers leave during the pandemic As he attended new parents groups, he saw more fathers join: Its funny, once they see other dads doing it, it normalises it a bit. But Dunn is still questioned about why he took the year as primary carer and wants to keep doing so much at home. He puts this down to fear of stigma among other working fathers. Theres a void of information out there to explain how a dad can do it, how it works, how youre viewed by your organisation. Is it a threat to your job? Does it put a target on your back, or are you seen relatively positively. Theres a perception, maybe its not always viewed positively, but thats starting to change a little bit, he says.

Academics who have measured changes in attitudes and patterns of work and care in Australia during the pandemic have found despite the enforced flexibility during lockdowns, assumptions about who should do the breadwinning and who is primarily caring have not moved. Blake Woodward, a management consultant and fathering blogger, believes while there was good progress towards fathers doing more flexible work and hands-on parenting early in the pandemic, it is now dropping off. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Lyn Craig, professor of sociology social policy at the University of Melbourne, has been studying with colleague Dr Brendan Churchill how heterosexual family life played out during long lockdowns. They found that men participated more in care and household care and work during lockdowns but womens share increased from an already higher base. There is some emotional desire among fathers to be more involved, and weve noticed both men and women thinking over the years that more father involvement is a good thing and the physical care was creeping up, she says. But policy and structural settings and workplace norms still prevent noticeable change. Even with all the goodwill fathers felt about being more involved, [regarding] the practicalities of making it fairer with the workplace expectations of men who are full-time employed ... it will be tricky to make big change.

Weve stuck to things such that it is the women who work part-time, and thats because of the tax disincentives to do otherwise for families with children ... if both members of a couple work part-time, they are taxed more highly than if one works full-time and one works part-time hours. Loading Churchill is pessimistic about any loosening of expectations around fathers and office hours, despite the pandemic hiatus. I hate to say this, but I do think we are going to snap back ... I dont think this is going to be transformative, he says. There will be some dads who will have enjoyed it ... some will be able to remote work, but for fathers, there is this penalty when they try and do flexible work. It is seen as gendered, as something women do. So when men take on flexible work, they get punished and dont get promoted, they get looked down upon. Its really hard to shift this stuff, and thats what made the pandemic so novel.

Younger men planning families say they want egalitarian relationships, and want to be equal fathers and be there for their children and wives, he says, but theres nothing to support them [doing so]. Theres all the stuff that goes on at work that says, you cant be that kind of dad, or you wont get that promotion. Men ... know flexible work means youre going to be shifted off onto the mummy track, its not feasible to have two parents on that. Associate Professor Elizabeth Hill, University of Sydney Signs of hope are evident to fathering advocates such as Blake Woodward, a Canberra-based management consultant and father of two who started the fatherhood website, Suit Tie Stroller. He ran a global survey during the pandemic on the effect of lockdown restrictions on fathers and found 70 per cent said they were more involved with children than before COVID-19 and 85 per cent wanted to make changes into the future around changing work conditions, adopting flexible work permanently. One-third was considering changing their role or employer if they couldnt achieve the balance they wanted with their current employer.

Young fathers to break stereotypes Woodward notes, though, that research from key academics, including Professor Marian Baird and Associate Professor Elizabeth Hill at the University of Sydney, has found that what progress was made towards flexibility and participation at home for fathers has eroded. Luke Benedictus (with his wife, Sarah Eagle and sons Joe and Marc), is co-proprietor of fathering network The Father Hood. He is optimistic men will not have to make their families so invisible to employers from now on. Credit:Eddie Jim All the positive narrative around men getting involved seemed to drop off in 2021, says Woodward. Now were at a real crossroads as to how to make that continue. He hopes new fathers, who have been at home to see their babies develop from birth, will insist on bringing change to workplaces. I look at them, in time, to break the stereotypes because theyve had the experience many older fathers havent had, he says. I think first-time fathers in the last 18 months, or those that had their second or third child, having compared being at home this time with what they experienced previously  theyre the ones that will influence the desire and influence their friends who are yet to have children. That is where the change will follow.

For this to happen, politicians and policymakers must adopt a carers mindset  something many parenting lobby groups have also argued. Hill believes there are few reasons for optimism about the gender division of family labour improving in the immediate future because as the pandemic stretched on, COVID demonstrated how intransigent social norms are, and how the social norms around the gender division of paid and unpaid labour deepened in a time of crisis. Some fathering advocates believe young fathers who have worked at home since their babies births in the pandemic will bring change back with them to the workplace. Credit:iStock There are some households, in the context of that natural experiment [lockdowns] that reorganised and realigned their visions, but we know from good national data that the aggregate picture is quite grim, she says. While COVID delivered this intensification of unpaid labour, the distribution continued in its old pattern and piled the lions share onto women who were already bearing the majority of unpaid labour ... this occurs within a broader context of an economy and society, a culture and labour markets and a care system that do not support gender equality in the division of labour.

It means the institutional and policy context within which individual households operate changing, and that means really big change. Are governments and businesses up for doing what it takes ... to incentivise structures within which individual adults make decisions about how they care for kids, elderly family members and communities? That is the key piece. Working from home isnt some kind of magic solution to move the dial on fathers participation, she says, because men and women are not supported equally to do so. The flexible working model has to be available to both, not just women. Men look around and they know flexible work means youre going to be shifted off onto the mummy track, its not feasible to have two parents on that. How Zoom-bombing toddlers actually helped Loading

A positive sign of at least some potential for progress is that by virtue of toddler video conference-bombing or a six-year-old coming in wanting another sandwich during a call, fathers family life was once and for all made visible to employers, according to Luke Benedictus, who runs the network, The Father Hood. To me, the big thing is workers families used to be invisible in the professional sphere, and what COVIDs done is to expose that desperate juggle. Men in particular maintain the whole illusion the two worlds are separate, he says. Perhaps because [wanting to be present at home] tacitly suggests lack of vocational commitment, or maybe its because our public identities are defined by our place of work. During the pandemic, he says, every dad has had a Zoom call gatecrashed. Youd hope this nudged employers to acknowledge the two roles parents are forced to juggle, which has been particularly missing for men.

Loading Benedictus hopes this awareness will carry over into men not feeling that leaving early regularly to collect a daughter from netball is potential career suicide, and you dont have to hide the reality of the two roles. Employers have an unprecedented opportunity to make flexible work more culturally safe. What were finding is a lot of companies have increasingly progressive policies, but flexible working policies are not enough: youve got to make it culturally safe, so men feel they can take advantage of those things. Gender, work and employment professor Rae Cooper is also hopeful that employers will view the big experiment of lockdowns as something that worked, and conclude there were useful lessons about how work could be run differently. Most employees say, I think its more possible to work from home than I thought it was before, I think its more possible and more desirable to have flexibility ... They also think its more possible for their employer to provide it, she says. Its really going to be about what employers do.
A permanent increase in funding for the National Archives must be delivered or its collection will once again fall off a cliff, the institutions retiring director-general has warned while arguing its burgeoning collection acts as a bulwark against official corruption.

David Fricker, who has overseen the archives for the past decade, said despite an injection of desperately needed cash by the federal government in recent months, the archives would soon face another funding crunch that would put at risk the national memory.

The outgoing director of the National Archives of Australia, David Fricker, has pleaded for the archives to be sustainably funded. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Mr Fricker also warned ministers and officials on the public coin had to be held to account as he argued information passed through private messaging systems such as WhatsApp needed to be properly brought into the nations historical collection.

Last months midyear budget update confirmed $67.7 million in additional funding for the archives that will go towards saving almost 300,000 individual documents and collections at risk of disintegration.
Cairo: Sudans Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has announced his resignation amid political deadlock and widespread pro-democracy protests following a military coup that derailed the countrys fragile transition to democratic rule.

Hamdok called for a dialogue to agree on a national charter and to draw a road map to complete the transition. The October coup had upended Sudans plans to move to democracy after a popular uprising forced the militarys overthrow of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019.

Protesters in Khartoum on January 2, 2022, have been gathering to denounce the October coup almost daily, despite fatalities. Credit:AP

Shortly before his resignation on Sunday local time (Monday AEDT), Sudanese security forces violently dispersed pro-democracy protesters, in the latest demonstrations to denounce the takeover and a subsequent deal that reinstated the prime minister but sidelined the pro-democracy movement. A medical group said at least two people were killed.

The Sudan Doctors Committee, which is part of the pro-democracy movement, said one of the dead was hit violently in his head while taking part in a protest march in Khartoum. The second was shot in his chest in Khartoums twin city of Omdurman, it added. The group said dozens of protesters were injured.
Its motto once read, Till the day all feminists are exterminated! The backlash against feminism in South Korea may seem bewildering. South Korea has the highest gender wage gap among the wealthy countries. Less than one-fifth of its national lawmakers are women. Women make up only 5.2 per cent of the board members of publicly listed businesses, compared with 28 per cent in the United States. Anti-feminists shouting stop the misandry! during a rally in Seoul. Credit:Woohae Cho/The New York Times And yet, most young men in the country argue that it is men, not women, in South Korea who feel threatened and marginalised. Among South Korean men in their 20s, nearly 79 per cent said they were victims of serious gender discrimination, according to a poll in May.

There is a culture of misogyny in male-dominant online communities, depicting feminists as radical misandrists and spreading fear of feminists, said Kim Ju-hee, 26, a nurse who has organised protests denouncing anti-feminists. The wave of anti-feminism in South Korea shares many of the incendiary taglines with right-wing populist movements in the West that peddle such messages. Women who argue for abortion rights are labelled destroyers of family. Feminists are not champions of gender equality, but female supremacists. Bae In-kyu, head of Man on Solidarity, one of South Koreas most active anti-feminist groups, leads a rally in Seoul. Credit:Woohae Cho/The New York Times In South Korea, women and feminists are two of the most common targets of online hate speech, according to the countrys National Human Rights Commission. The backlash represents a split from previous generations.

Older South Korean men acknowledge benefiting from a patriarchal culture that had marginalised women. Decades ago, when South Korea lacked everything from food to cash, sons were more likely to be enrolled in higher education. In some families, women were not allowed to eat from the same table as men and newly born girls were named Mal-ja, or Last Daughter. Sex-preference abortions were common. As the country has grown richer, such practices have become a distant memory. Families now dote on their daughters. More women attend college than men, and opportunities in the government and elsewhere are no longer rare, though a significant glass ceiling persists. Men in their 20s are deeply unhappy, considering themselves victims of reverse discrimination, angry that they had to pay the price for gender discriminations created under the earlier generations, said Oh Jae-ho, a researcher at the Gyeonggi Research Institute in South Korea. If older men saw women as needing protection, younger men considered them competitors in a cutthroat job market. Anti-feminists often note that men are put at a disadvantage because they have to delay getting jobs to complete their mandatory military service. But many women drop out of the workforce after giving birth, and much of the domestic duties fall to them.

What more do you want? We gave you your own space in the subway, bus, parking lot, the male rapper San E writes in his 2018 song Feminist, which has a cult following among young anti-feminists. Oh girls dont need a prince! Then pay half for the house when we marry. The gender wars have infused the South Korean presidential race, largely seen as a contest for young voters. With the virulent anti-feminist voice surging, no major candidate is speaking out for womens rights, once such a popular cause that President Moon Jae-in called himself a feminist when he campaigned about five years ago. Yoon Suk-yeol, the candidate of the conservative opposition People Power Party, sided with the anti-feminist movement when he accused the ministry of gender equality of treating men like potential sex criminals. He promised harsher penalties for wrongfully accusing men of sex crimes, despite concerns it would discourage women from speaking out. But Yoon also recruited a prominent 31-year-old leader of a feminist group as a senior campaign adviser last month, a move intended to assuage worries that his party has alienated young female voters. By law, Moon cannot seek reelection. His Democratic Partys candidate, Lee Jae-myung, has also tried to appeal to young men, saying: Just as women should never be discriminated against because of their gender, nor should men suffer discrimination because they are men.

Lee sees the gender conflict largely as a problem of dwindling job opportunities, comparing young South Koreans to chicks struggling not to fall off a crowded nest. We must make the nest bigger by recovering growth, he has said. It is hard to tell how many young men support the kind of extremely provocative and often theatrical activism championed by groups like Man on Solidarity. Its firebrand leader, Bae, showed up at a recent feminist rally dressed as the Joker from Batman comics and toting a toy water gun. He followed female protesters around, pretending to, as he put it, kill flies. Tens of thousands of fans have watched his stunts livestreamed online, sending in cash donations. During one online talk-fest in August, Bae raised 9 million won ($10,400) in three minutes. Womens rights advocates fear that the rise of anti-feminism might stymie, or even roll back, the hard-won progress South Korea has made in expanding womens rights. In recent decades, they fought to legalise abortion and started one of the most powerful #MeToo campaigns in Asia. Lee Hyo-lin, 29, said that feminist has become such a dirty word that women who wear their hair short or carry a novel by a feminist writer risk ostracism. When she was a member of a K-pop group, she said that male colleagues routinely commented on her body, jeering that she gave up being a woman when she gained weight.

The #MeToo problem is part of being a woman in South Korea, she said. Now we want to speak out, but they want us to shut up. Its so frustrating. On the other side of the culture war are young men with a litany of grievances  concerns that are endlessly regurgitated by male-dominated forums. They have fixated, in particular, on limited cases of false accusations, as a way to give credence to a broader anti-feminist agenda. Son Sol-bin, a used-furniture seller, was 29 when his former girlfriend accused him of rape and kidnapping in 2018. Online trolls called for his castration, he said. His mother found closed-circuit TV footage proving the accusations never took place. The feminist influence has left the system so biased against men that the police took a womans testimony and a mere drop of her tears as enough evidence to land an innocent man in jail, said Son, who spent eight months in jail before he was cleared. I think the country has gone crazy. As Son fought back tears during a recent anti-feminist rally, other young men chanted: Be strong! We are with you!
New York: Prince Andrews effort to immediately block the progression of a lawsuit by a woman who says he sexually assaulted her when she was 17  on the grounds that she no longer lives in the US  was rejected by a federal judge as oral arguments were set to proceed on Monday on the princes request to dismiss the lawsuit.

Judge Lewis Kaplan, in a written order on Friday (US time), told the princes lawyers they must turn over documents on the schedule that has been set in the lawsuit brought in August by Virginia Giuffre. Giuffre says she was abused by the prince on multiple occasions in 2001 while she was being sexually abused by financier Jeffrey Epstein. The princes attorney, Andrew Brettler, has called the lawsuit baseless.

Attempts by Prince Andrews team to halt the trial on jurisdictional grounds have been rejected. Credit:PA

The order was filed three days before the scheduled public release Monday of a 2009 settlement agreement between Epstein and Giuffre. Lawyers for Andrew say that the agreement protects the prince from claims like those brought by Giuffre and will be sufficient grounds for the lawsuits dismissal.

The princes lawyers had claimed that the evidence was so strong that Giuffre does not reside in the United States that it was pointless to exchange evidence until that question is resolved because it could result in the lawsuits dismissal.
Polar researchers in Antarctica have contracted coronavirus despite being fully vaccinated and living far away from civilisation.

At least 16 of the 25 staff based at Belgiums Princess Elisabeth Polar Station have caught the virus, the Le Soir newspaper reported, proving there is no escape from the pandemic.

Princess Elisabeth polar station in Antarctica. Credit:Rene Robert/International Polar Foundation

The outbreak took hold despite all staff passing multiple PCR tests, quarantining and living in one of the most remote places in the world.

While it has been an inconvenience to have to quarantine certain members of the staff who caught the virus, it hasnt significantly affected our work, Joseph Cheek, a project manager for Belgium-led outpost, told the BBC.
Central Arizona Project (CAP), is designed to bring about 1.5 million acre-feet of Colorado River water per year to Pima, Pinal and Maricopa Counties
Heavy traffic backs up on the Williamsburg Bridge during rush hour in New York City in 2016. The bridge connects Lower Manhattan with the borough of Brooklyn.
Batavia, NY (14020)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 57F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. Low 42F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.
World's largest free trade deal boosts confidence of enterprises

Xinhua) 14:31, January 02, 2022

BEIJING, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Soon after midnight on New Year's Day, a freight train departed from south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region for Vietnam, a member country of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

The RCEP -- the world's largest free trade deal -- came into force on Saturday.

The X9101 train carried electronics, daily necessities and chemical products worth more than 10 million U.S. dollars. It is expected to reach Hanoi in 28 hours after leaving Nanning, the regional capital of Guangxi.

Also on early Saturday, 5.6 tonnes of imported reflective films from Japan arrived at a port in south China's Shenzhen City, which will be used for the production of mobiles, digital cameras and other electronic products.

The implementation of the RCEP agreement has helped lower the cost of customs duties by 6,000 yuan (about 940 U.S. dollars) for the films worth 1.33 million yuan, said Chen Guogang, a director from a Shenzhen-based supply chain service provider called Jiuli.

The RCEP was signed on Nov. 15, 2020, by 15 Asia-Pacific countries -- 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Australia and New Zealand -- after eight years of negotiations that started in 2012.

With optimized trade rules among signatories, streamlined procedures and wider opening-up in the sectors of services trade and investment, it will bring tangible benefits to companies of member countries.

"The company and overseas partners both benefit a lot from following the trend of regional economic integration in East Asia, and I believe the RCEP will further promote this process," said Li Dongchun, a manager of Guangxi Liugong Machinery Co., Ltd., a machinery manufacturer based in the city of Liuzhou in Guangxi.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the first 11 months of 2021 saw the company's exports up by 70 percent year on year to reach 15,000 units, of which 3,000 units were sold to ASEAN countries, said Li.

In central China's Hunan Province, customs authorities issued RCEP certificates of origin to companies including Zhuzhou Cemented Carbide Works Imp.& Expo. Co. on Saturday.

"With the RCEP in effect, tariffs will be gradually reduced to zero. We will further expand our overseas market," said Li Yuhong, a manager of the company that exports products to ASEAN countries, Japan and the ROK.

Experts said that under the RCEP, a higher level of opening up, a larger market and better policies will bring more new development opportunities and potential, which will inject sustained momentum into the post-pandemic recovery of the global economy.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Bianji)
NEW YORK, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- More than 4,000 flights were cancelled globally on Sunday, more than half of which were in the United States, as new coronavirus infections driven by the Omicron variant continue to cause staff shortages at airlines and airports amid a busy holiday travel season.

Worldwide, 4,020 flights had been cancelled by Sunday afternoon, according to flight tracker FlightAware, with 2,393 of the cancelled journeys being within, into, or out of the United States. Another 4,519 U.S. flights were delayed on Sunday.

U.S. news portal Axios said that some 4,700 domestic flights have been canceled this weekend, with poor weather conditions contributing to delays already exacerbated by the Omicron variant in the United States, where the COVID-19 record was shattered again on Thursday with over 580,000 daily cases reported nationwide.

"The airport most affected by cancellations is Chicago O'Hare, where 273 flights -- 26 percent of those planned -- were shuttered on Sunday, as the surrounding Cook County grapples with a record number of coronavirus infections and a snowstorm," reported Forbes on Sunday.

Regional carrier SkyWest Airlines cancelled 510 flights Sunday, or 21 percent of its scheduled trips, while airlines like Southwest, JetBlue and Delta also reported more than 100 cancellations each.

"Snowstorms, freezing temperatures and severe weather across the country have also compounded airlines' woes by preventing flights from operating as scheduled," said the business magazine.

Mass flight cancellations were first reported in the days before Christmas as both air travel and COVID-19 infections gained momentum. Last week, Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to the White House, told MSNBC that the government should consider requiring coronavirus vaccines for domestic flights.

The surge of coronavirus cases reported in the United States has been driven by the Omicron variant, which early studies suggest is more transmissible with milder symptoms and makes up the majority of new infections in the country. Enditem
Tim Lomperis is a Maryville resident, former military intelligence officer, author and political science professor emeritus at Saint Louis University. He worked in the Vietnamese Resettlement Program from 1975-76. Email him at tjlomperis@gmail.com.
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SYDNEY, AustraliaA man is due to face a NSW court accused of misappropriating about A$2 million after allegedly entering loan and lease agreements using illegitimately created shelf companies.

NSW police say the 15 charges he faces follow an investigation into reports illegitimate companies had been created using the identities of employees of a printing management company without their knowledge.

On Saturday, officers arrested the 37-year-old man in Guildford.

He was charged with seven counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, and eight counts of publishing false misleading material to obtain advantage.

Police will allege approximately A$2 million was misappropriated by the man, after he entered into a number of loan and lease agreements using the illegitimate companies.

He was refused bail to appear at Parramatta Local Court on Sunday.

By Liza Kappelle
A coal-burning power plant behind a factory in the city of Baotou, China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on Oct. 31, 2010. (David Gray/Reuters)

Chinese Utility Terminates Green Energy Plant in Xinjiang Due to Pollutant Emissions

Shanghai Electric Power Co. Ltd. plans to terminate a project that was supposed to provide green energy in Chinas Xinjiang region but instead discharges polluted wastewater.

In a Dec. 28, 2021, filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the company stated that owing to the malfunction of an exhaust gas purification system, the operation of its Hami Xuanli Gas Power project had improperly discharged a considerable amount of wastewater containing phenol, or carbolic acid.

The state-owned utility stated it had decided to shut the project and dispose of related equipment.

Hami Xuanli was started for the purpose of utilizing the exhaust gas emitted by coal tar in an Industrial Cluster Park, and through combined gas and steam turbines to generate electricity, according to a 2014 official introduction to the project.

The utility stated that after on-site inspections in 2021, a team of external experts concluded that the purification facilities needed large-scale renovation to meet environmental requirements. However, they concluded that it is costly, and the effect remains uncertain.

The projects losses will cost Shanghai Electric Power $91 million in impairment provisions, the exchange filing stated, adding that apart from the $47 million impairment for Hami Xuanli Gas Power Generation Co. Ltd., there is also a $44 million impairment for another subsidiary, Luojing Gas Turbine Power Plant.

Luojing Power Plant leased facilities linked to the project. Its facilities will be dismantled since theyre nonstandard and cant be used in domestic power plants of the same type.

The Shanghai-listed companys stock declined sharply on Dec. 29, the last trading day of 2021.

The project was approved in 2014 by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, also known as XPCC or Bingtuan.

The major goal of the project is to make maximum use of the exhaust gas produced by the industries in the park, while also purifying the gas to fulfill environmental protection regulations, project manager Xu Jihui said in May 2020, according to bingtuan.com.

In the report, the state-run outlet covered a groundbreaking ceremony held by XPCC for Hami Xuanlis second gas station, adding that the project is to further relieve the industrial parks pollution condition, and move forward with high-quality development while preserving the parks efficient and green environment.

China is the worlds largest carbon emitter. The Chinese regime stated that its countrys carbon emissions will peak in 2030, and then begin to fall, with the objective of reaching carbon neutrality by 2060. The regime has argued that China is still a developing economy and shouldnt be held to the same standards as developed countries in terms of cutting carbon emissions.

XPCC is a unique state-owned economic and paramilitary entity in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region that is subordinate to the Chinese Communist Party. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned the entity in 2020 for human rights violations.

On Dec. 23, 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law legislation that bans all imports from the Xinjiang region over concerns of forced labor.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is part of the United States response to Beijings treatment of Chinas Uyghur minority, which Washington has called genocide.

In 2020, Shanghai Electric Power Co. settled $66 million in asset impairment for the Hami Xuanli project because of pollution, according to local outlet Time-Weekly.com.
A view of a Boulder County neighborhood that was destroyed by a wildfire is seen from a Colorado National Guard helicopter, during a flyover by Gov. Jared Polis, on Dec. 31, 2021. (Hart Van Denburg/Colorado Public Radio via AP)

Colorado Authorities Reveal Possible Cause of Destructive Wildfire

Authorities in Boulder County, Colorado, havent ruled out arson as a possible cause of a wildfire that destroyed hundreds of homes in the area last week.

We have a number of tips were working on, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said. Weve executed a search warrant at one particular location were investigating.

Earlier, Pelle and other officials said blown-down power lines may have been the cause of the Marshall fire. But on Jan. 1, Pelle said investigators found no downed power lines, and officials are now involved in a very active investigation that involves federal and state resources.

If it turns out to be arson or reckless behavior with fire, were taking appropriate actions, he said. It was a red flag day, the day of the fire, so there shouldnt have been any burning of anything.

His office is also actively investigating a number of tips that came in yesterday and last night from the community, he said.

One of those tips has resulted in us executing a search warrant on a property.

So far, about 991 homes were destroyed in the fire in Boulder County, mainly impacting the cities of Louisville and Superior.

Snow covers the burned remains of a car after wildfires ravaged the area, in Superior, Colo., on Jan. 2, 2022. (Jack Dempsey/AP Photo)

Late last week, at least six inches of snow and temperatures in the single digits cast an eerie scene amid the still-smoldering remains of homes destroyed in the wildfire that raced through the suburban area that lies between Denver and Boulder. Despite the shocking change in weather, the smell of smoke still permeated empty streets blocked off by National Guard troops in Humvees.

Because of the snow, investigating the fire is more challenging, Pelle said.

The snow is an awesome thing for fire behavior, and its a hard thing for crime scenes and recovery efforts and damage assessment and all of those thingsso its a mixed blessing, he said.

The blaze, which burned at least 9.4 square miles, is no longer considered an immediate threat.

For 35 years I walked out my front door, I saw beautiful homes, area resident Eric House said. Now when I walk out, my homes standing. I walk out my front door, and this is what I see.

Resident Cathy Glaab found that her home in Superior had been turned into a pile of charred and twisted debris. It was one of seven houses in a row that were destroyed.

The mailbox is standing, Glaab said, trying to crack a smile through tears. So many memories.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
COVID-19 Outbreak Among Fully Vaccinated Cruise Crew Ends New Years Trip in Portugal

A cruise ship is stuck in Lisbon, Portugal, amid a COVID-19 outbreak among fully vaccinated crew members, officials said Sunday.

The AIDAnova, with 2,844 passengers and 1,353 crew onboard, docked in Portugal on Dec. 29 while en route to Madera for New Years celebrations, officials said. But the ship was unable to continue pressing forward after 52 COVID-19 cases were detected among the fully vaccinated staff, authorities said.

The company told German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur, or DPA, that all passengers aged 12 and older are fully vaccinated and have to take an antigen and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test before departing.

The companys protocol was immediately actioned, with those infected, who are asymptomatic or displaying light symptoms, immediately isolated on the ship  and the company decided to end the cruise and disembark the passengers, Lisbon port official Diogo Vieira Branco was quoted by Reuters as saying.

AIDA Cruises, the German operator of the ship, couldnt be reached for comment on Sunday. AIDA Cruises told DPA that it was trying to find new crew members.

Its not clear when the AIDAnova would depart to the Canary Islands or when the fresh cruise staff will arrive.

Everyone on board had passed a COVID-19 screening test and were vaccinated with two doses before the ship sailed out of Germany, officials told The Associated Press. They told the AP that no passengers on board the vessel tested positive for the virus.

Reuters footage showed passengers still enjoying the afternoon sun on decks with their drinks, and local media said the disembarking would begin after 6 a.m. on Monday. The crew who had tested positive between Wednesday and Friday were transferred to Lisbon hotels and were in isolation there.

On Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advised people to avoid traveling on cruise ships regardless of their vaccination status.

Avoid cruise travel, regardless of vaccination status, the CDC alert says. Even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants  the virus that causes COVID-19 spreads easily between people in close quarters on board ships, and the chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is very high, even if you are fully vaccinated and have received a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose.

It came after several cruise ships, including ones operated by Royal Caribbean and Carnival, were forced to divert their trips due to COVID-19 outbreaks. The cruise lines require all staff and guests who are eligible for vaccines to show proof of vaccination before entering.

The CDC, meanwhile, is monitoring dozens of cruise ships after COVID-19 cases were detected on board in recent days.

COVID-19 is the illness caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

Reuters contributed to this report.
BRISBANE, AustraliaTropical Cyclone Seth is expected to trigger dangerous surf and abnormally high tides as it begins to head south off the Queensland coast.

The category one system was about 630 kilometres east northeast of Hervey Bay and 720 kilometres northeast of Brisbane, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said early Sunday morning.

It was moving south southeast at 29 kilometres per hour.

Although maintaining its intensity, Seth is forecast to slow and shift southwest on Sunday afternoon.

While unlikely to directly impact the coastline over the following 48 hours, the BoM said the cyclone would cause dangerous surf and abnormally high tides about the southeast Queensland and northeast NSW coastlines from Sunday.

Severe weather warnings are current for both regions.

The bureau says Seth should weaken as it transitions into a sub-tropical system on Monday.

Movement beyond this time becomes uncertain, it said.

However there is a general indication that it will drift westward closer to or over the Australian coast during next week.

Seth was downgraded from category two to a category one on Saturday.

Meteorologist Helen Reid told AAP indications were that it would only be a tropical cyclone for another day or two and that if it crossed the coast it would not be as a tropical cyclone.

A strong wind warning was issued from Mackay to Sunshine Coast on Saturday, with gales expected to impact the southeast by Sunday after gusts of more than 100 km/h off the coast on Friday night.

BoM also issued a severe weather warning from Wide Bay to the southeast coast with high tides expected to reach an astronomical peak over the next few days, easing on Wednesday.

Areas that may be affected include Gold Coast, Maroochydore, Coolangatta, Moreton Island, Noosa Heads, Caloundra, North Stradbroke Island, Rainbow Beach, and Redcliffe.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said authorities were doing some modelling on Saturday to see what impact the expected high tide would have on low lying areas.

The area was expected to be hit on Sunday with waves of up to four metres.

Wild conditions forced Surf Life Saving Queensland to close 14 beaches on the Sunshine Coast on Saturday afternoon.

By Laine Clark
Did Dismissals of Safe Outpatient Drugs Cause Needless COVID Deaths? Dissenting Doctors Say Yes

For the first nine months of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were no officially approved outpatient treatments for combating the disease. From March 2020, when the virus first emerged in the United States, until that November, when the Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use of monoclonal antibodies, health authorities advised that the infected do little but quarantine themselves, drink plenty of fluids and rest unless hospitalization was necessary.

During those chaotic final months of Donald Trumps presidency, the medical establishment expressed extreme caution regarding outpatient treatments for the virus, and these warnings were amplified by major media hostile to the president, for example when he touted the anti-malaria medicine hydroxychloroquine.

Although an estimated 12 percent to 38 percent of prescriptions (pdf) are written for FDA-approved drugs used off-label (including Botox and Viagra), Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, declared early on that providers should dispense only medicines proven to be safe and effective for COVID patients through randomized, placebo-controlled trials. These can take months or years to conduct, and often at great cost.

Given the time involved, some governments and independent practitioners considered that standard a recipe for inaction that meant likely death for untold numbers of victims. These medical dissenters instead treated COVID-19 as physicians have long responded to newly emerging infectious diseases: by administering designer cocktails of cheap, safe and readily available agentsin this case including hydroxychloroquine, antibiotics, aspirin, and vitaminsthat had proven effective in treating similar illnesses or otherwise demonstrated theoretical promise due to mechanisms of action.

Dr. Brian Tyson, a primary care physician and former hospital intensivist in Imperial County, Calif., who has championed outpatient treatment, explained the calculation: If Im wrong with the treatment Im giving, people are still going to die. If Im right, how many lives have we saved? How many can be saved? Why are we erring on the side of death instead of treatment?

RealClearInvestigations spoke or corresponded with 12 such advocates for early outpatient treatment globallyfrom California, Texas and Honduras to France, Israel and India. Their track record appears to challenge the prevailing official clinical guidance under which more than 500,000 Americans, among nearly 3 million globally, died from the pandemic in its first year ending March 2021. These physicians used their years of clinical experience to make educated guesses about what combinations of drugs might work. Few used the same cocktail; there is no consensus about which drugs worked best, though some were adamant about the benefits of specific agents; but all insisted the treatments proved most effective when administered as early as possible in the course of illness. Although the efficacy of the cocktails has not been verified in clinical trialswhich could rigorously account for myriad factors including the age, weight, gender, medical history and level of illness of patientsall report that their improvised efforts improved care without doing harm.

A chemist displays hydroxychloroquine tablets in New Delhi, India, on, April 9, 2020. (Manish Swarup/AP Photo)

The dissenters became proactive early on, among them:

Dr. George Fareed, an Imperial, Calif.-based former National Institutes of Health virology researcher and Harvard Medical School grad who with his primary care colleague, Dr. Tyson, reports an early outpatient treatment track record of 7,000 COVID patients with only seven deaths.

Dr. Fernando Valerio, a former Dartmouth trainee who came to national prominence in Honduras for pioneering inpatient and outpatient protocols eventually implemented nationwide. As one of only four intensive-care doctors in San Pedro Sula, a city of 1.2 million, he quickly ruled out a hospitalization-heavy approach as impractical. Instead, he prodded the government to send medical providers door-to-door in virus hotspots to distribute at-home drug kits. And Honduras mortality rate declined markedlyto roughly half that of the United States at current count.

Dr. Darrell DeMello in Mumbai, India, who has treated patients, including employees of some of the worlds largest multinational firms, with a drug regimen similar to Dr. Fareeds, and with similar results. Out of an estimated 7,500 patients, he reports, he has lost 16.

Their work raises hard questions about what the responsible practice of medicine should look like when there are no approved medical treatments in the face of likely widespread death. Could there have been more and earlier life-saving innovation before the pharmaceutical industrys remarkable development much later of vaccines and novel therapeutics? Is trying something better than doing nothing until lengthy clinical trials are completed? Or, especially when the risks of fake news and its viral spread are high, do the demands of providing authoritatively endorsed treatments override all?

Researchers knew fairly early in the pandemic that COVID infections progressed through several stages marked by specific symptoms treatable with a slew of safe, FDA-approved medications.

For example, it was known in March 2020 that the illness progressed from a viral phase to massive inflammation across the body. Anti-inflammatory drugssuch as colchicine, the choice of Dr. DeMello in Mumbaicould have been administered at clinicians discretion.

By June 2020 it was known that COVID could cause major blood clotting. The blood thinner Plavix, another choice of Dr. DeMello, is commonly used to prevent and treat clotting. As Dr. Tyson explained, if patients are showing inflammatory changes, lets use an anti-inflammatory. We see people getting clots, dying of coronary artery clogs, lets use a blood thinner.

Authorities have been slow to accept this if, then approach. Many medical leaders have seemingly interpreted the Hippocratic dictum of first, do no harm as a call to wait for explicit guidance from regulatory agencies. But they were not wholly blind to or dismissive of the idea of developing early treatment regimens, including repurposed drugs, to prevent the diseases progression in infected patientsat least in theory.

In November 2020, nine months into the pandemic, Dr. Fauci co-authored an article in the authoritative Journal of the American Medical Association titled Therapy for Early COVID-19: A Critical Need. In the article, Fauci and colleagues asserted that interventions that can be administered early during the course of infection to prevent disease progression and longer-term complications are urgently needed. They stipulated that such treatments must be safe with few adverse effects, easy to administer, and scalable. Yet the doctors dismissed the efficacy of a number of drugs that might fit such a regimen, including hydroxychloroquine (HCQ). Instead, they favored more expensive repurposed antivirals and endorsed investments into targeted de novo drug design approaches for early treatment. They acknowledged that [a]lthough this effort will be lengthy and more costly than repurposing, discovery of novel targeted antivirals may prove useful not only for COVID-19, but also in future pandemics.

Screenshot of the beginning part of article Therapy for Early COVID-19 A Critical Need. (JAMANetwork.com/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

It wasnt until April 2021 that the National Institutes of Health announced it would fund a large clinical trial to study repurposed drugs, including some of those favored by several of the doctors RCI intervieweda trial that did not commence until June, and is not estimated to be fully completed until March 2023, three years after the initial, widely repeated public health goal of two weeks to flatten the curve of infection.

Why wasnt there greater urgency to conduct studies like this one?

President Trumps early advocacy of HCQ put him at odds with the Washington media and medical establishment. This may in part have colored public perceptions of the use of off-label drugs in the United Statesjust as his early suggestion that COVID might have originated in a Chinese lab sparked a powerful backlash against that possibility.

White House coronavirus adviser Dr. Scott Atlas speaks during a press conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on Sept. 18, 2020. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

In both cases, articles in the highly influential medical journal The Lancet played a significant rolewith one that pooh-poohed HCQ being retracted after proving fraudulent. Although HCQ is used around the world every day to treat a variety of illnesses in adults and children, including lupus and malaria, health officials cast it as potentially dangerous; they largely dismiss the findings of those like Yale School of Public Health Professor Dr. Harvey Risch in favor of HCQ in treating COVID. As a result, Dr. Scott Atlas, the often-dissenting adviser to the Trump White House Coronavirus Task Force, writes in his new tell-all, A Plague Upon Our House, urgently needed clinical trials by the NIH and FDA were never performed. In another unprecedented move, doctors were blocked from prescribing the drug, even though prescribing any other approved drug for an off-label use was routine.

U.S. tech giants censored much discussion of outpatient treatment, branding it misinformation. YouTube in particular has silenced heterodox thinking, suspending the YouTube channel of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a proponent of early treatment who convened two hearings on the matter in late 2020, and removing several of Senate colleague Rand Pauls (R-Ky.) YouTube postings.

Now today, I get word that @YouTube is suspending my channel for another week because of my November 2 expert panel giving voice to people who just want to be seen, heard and believed. Apparently, the Biden administration and federal health agencies must not be questioned. pic.twitter.com/lFfgvIOUbk  Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) November 13, 2021

Such debates had far less resonance in resource-constrained, poorer countries. Dr. Valerio in Honduras explained to RCI that Americas approach of keeping the infected home until they needed hospitalization was impracticable given his countrys lack of large, state-of-the-art hospitals, and insufficient ICU beds for worsening patients. Instead, Honduras, India, Peru, and Mexico were among the countries that achieved promising results by combining cheap and widely available medicines long proven safe in treating other medical conditions. These included HCQ; azithromycin (AZM, an antibiotic sold under the brand name Zithromax with antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties); doxycycline (used to treat a variety of bacterial infections, and also with antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties); steroids; Tylenol; aspirin and the supplements Vitamins C, D, and zinc.

Most of these regimens also included ivermectin (IVM), a common drug that became increasingly controversial in the U.S. after the podcaster Joe Rogan said his doctor prescribed it off-label to him once he contracted COVID as part of a larger drug cocktail. Media voices opposed to unapproved treatments described the drugwhich is widely given to people and livestockas a horse dewormer. The FDA has a picture of a horse on its web page addressing IVM and COVID, advising that currently available data do not show ivermectin is effective against COVID-19. Yet IVM is one of the repurposed drugs being tested in the NIH-sponsored trial that began in June. The NIH calls IVM generally well tolerated. In an October 2021 letter to Biden administration health officials, Sen. Johnson and colleagues expressed concern that the anti-IVM biases demonstrated by the FDA, Dr. Faucis NIAID, and the CDC cast doubt over the integrity of this studys eventual results.

You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, yall. Stop it. https://t.co/TWb75xYEY4  U.S. FDA (@US_FDA) August 21, 2021

Hondurass government deployed medical brigades to the homes of the infected to distribute kits filled with basic medicines, including a mouthwash of sodium hypochlorite and hydrogen peroxide, azithromycin, ivermectin, and zinc. If symptoms persisted more than seven days, the patients were given colchicine (an anti-inflammatory), prednisone (a steroid), and rivaroxaban (an anti-coagulant). The country also pursued more aggressive inpatient treatment. A study found the protocols led to a significant decline in fatalities. Dr. Valerios self-reported record of employing this protocol for outpatientswith the addition of fluvoxaminehas shown one death out of 440 patients.

After Mexico City implemented an outpatient treatment protocol last winter involving the distribution of some 83,000 at-home treatment kits containing IVM for COVID-positive outpatients, medical researchers observed a 55 percent70 percent reduction in the risk of hospitalization among those who used them. Critics observed that a causal link  cannot be ascertained between the positive result and the drug. The kits also included aspirin, which has now been shown to reduce the severity of illness in inpatients receiving it prior to hospitalization.

A detailed analysis of Perus drug deployment planwhich also featured IVMappeared to demonstrate that, at least for a time, its door-to-door strategy showed a 14-fold decrease in deaths in provinces where it was employed.

In Indias most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, COVID cases and deaths declined rapidly with the implementation of door-to-door visits, during which infected patients were given kits including IVM and doxycycline. Based on this success, Indias national government quickly followed suit, issuing outpatient treatment protocols as cases nationwide reached their apex. For mildly afflicted outpatients, treatment included HCQ or IVM and, for patients who were not improving by day five, inhaled budesonidea steroid used to fight lung inflammation in asthmatics that has been authorized for use in Britain, but not in the United States. India hasnt seen a spike since.

Reached in India, Dr. DeMello shared his theories about the causes and best treatments for Covid. This is not [primarily] a viral disease, he told RCI. This is a vascular, CNS, inflammation disease.

He said he gives his patients colchicine, which is commonly used to treat gout, because its like a fire retardant against inflammation from COVID that can lead to severe, systemic illness in susceptible patients. If authorities really wanted to treat people effectively in the U.S., he says, medical providers should put the obese, diabetics, and older people on colchicine so their bodies wont erupt into flames.

While Dr. DeMello is most emphatic about the importance of colchicine, he also typically prescribes IVM, and the blood thinner Plavix, since COVID also is a clotting disease. The idea is to address what in his view are the three pillars of the illness: inflammation, viral replication, and coagulation.

To critics of Indias approach, Dr. DeMello points to the decline in total mortality since India adopted outpatient treatment. The government had no choice, he says. People were dying left, right, and center. There was not enough space at the crematoriums, at the morgues.

People wait to receive their second dose of COVISHIELD, a COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India, outside a vaccination centre in Kolkata, India, on May 12, 2021. (Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

While these countries reported success with outpatient treatments, some researchers in the West who investigated the efficacy of various early treatments said they faced pushback from the medical establishment.

Dr. Stephane Arminjon, a doctor in southeastern France with an advanced degree in systemic diseases from Frances Universite Grenoble, ran afoul of the countrys National Council of Doctors for reporting that antihistamines like Benadryl, Zyrtec, Allegra and Claritin could be effective against COVIDs extreme inflammation. He based his claim on his own hypothesis (subsequently echoed at Oxford and elsewhere) and on his teams small study of 26 patients who showed 100 percent improvement within 72 hours.

Dr. Arminjon told RCI that the long-established safety of antihistamines makes them a perfectly applicable mass treatment. A larger study in Spain also supports his hypothesis, though the researchers conclude: Clinical trials are necessary to determine its efficacy. As there are no commercial interests, they should be promoted by national health systems as a social responsibility.

Nevertheless, Dr. Arminjon was attacked after advocating that officials test his hypothesis in larger studies. A national medical columnist called him a little doctor, since antihistamines are only for treating allergies. The Conseil National de lOrdre des Medecins (National Council of the Order of Physicians) lodged a challenge that, Arminjon said, accused him of quackery in a case that is still pending. The council did not respond to a request for comment.

When COVID first emerged, Dr. Eli Schwartz, Israels preeminent specialist in tropical diseases, suspected that IVM might help. So he conducted a double-blind randomized controlled study to test his hypothesis. It showed conclusively that a three-day course of IVM both reduced viral load within COVID patients and the viability of the remaining virus, suggesting an ability to severely limit transmissibility. This finding appears significant because it suggests the medicine might fill a gap left by vaccines, which provide protection but do not prevent transmission.

Despite the possible significance of the study, Dr. Schwartz said major journals have not only declined to publish it, but some have even declined to review it. After publishing some 300 peer-reviewed papers in his career, he said he finds this strange: Look, I thought that to have a double-blind randomized study, especially with our findings on culture viability  I submitted it to the New England Journal of Medicine  and they turned it down. Then the Lancet. They turned it down in a matter of hours. Sent to the journal of Clinical Infectious Diseases  and again in a few hours they said its not for us.  Its strange, lets say. To be sent back within a few hours, it means they dont want to look at it.

The medical journals were not the only ones shunning IVM. In February 2021, as the drug began garnering greater coverage, its original developer, Merck, put out a curious press release. It reaffirmed its position that IVM not be used to treat COVID, emphasizing that there was no scientific basis for potential therapeutic effect, no meaningful evidence for clinical activity, and a concerning lack of safety data in the majority of studies. Given that IVM is off-patent, it is not clear why Merck felt it needed to make this authoritative statement. Its claim that IVM raised safety concerns was also odd considering that the company had commissioned a study in 2013 confirming it was safe at 10 times the normal dose. More notable than the strangeness of the statement was that it made a glaring material omission.

A medical staff cleans her hands as she attends to a COVID-19 patient in the coronavirus disease ward of Sheba Medical Center, in Ramat Gan, Israel, on Oct. 12, 2021. (Nir Elias/Reuters)

For months Merck had been developing a new outpatient, antiviral pill for COVID called molnupiravir. In early October 2021 it announced that the pill reduced hospitalization and death by 50 percent, though subsequent data indicates only a 30 percent reduction. There are some questions about its long-term safety. Nevertheless, in late November, the FDAs advisory committee narrowly endorsed the drug for high-risk adults, putting it on the path to potential FDA authorization. The Biden administration reserved $1.2 billion worth of the drug, pending FDA emergency-use authorization. The cost works out to $141 per day of treatment for an individual. By comparison, a 12 mg. daily dose of IVM costs roughly $19. A 24 mg. dose could be had for $38. Unlike molnupiravir, the drug has been around since 1981.

Asked about its February press release and its failure to mention that it was developing an antiviral that was a potential competitor to IVM, Merck responded that it had nothing further to add.

To learn why only a handful of doctors publicly endorsed outpatient treatment during the first months of the pandemic, RCI reached out to more than 20 primary care physicians around the U.S.many chosen from the Castle Connolly Top Doctors listand asked if they would be willing to discuss early treatment of COVID. No one returned requests to discuss this issue. Reaching beyond primary care, RCI did hear back from one doctor who urged caution.

Dr. Russell Buhr, a pulmonary critical care specialist at UCLA who used to work in primary care, told RCI, The single best thing primary care physicians can do now for preventing serious disease is to encourage their patients to get vaccinated. When asked why primary care physicians may have felt uncomfortable prescribing even relatively benign, long employed treatments to their COVID patients in the pre-vaccine era, he replied: Its really tough to make those decisions and thats why clinical research studies are so important as they help us better understand what is safe and what actually works. I would encourage my colleagues to enroll patients in studies so we can expand our knowledge about what therapies truly help.

The dissenters see this as an insufficient approach in the context of a raging pandemic. Dr. Miguel Sierra-Hoffman, an associate professor of infectious disease at Baylor Scott & White Hospital and of pulmonary medicine at Texas A&M University, who has overseen the care of thousands of COVID patients at multiple hospitals, remains convinced that the embrace of outpatient treatments early on would have been a difference makerand an economical one at that.

We could have prevented this tragedy for $1. Dexamethasone, 5 cents. Ivermectin, 1 cent. Colchicine, 50 cents. Aspirin, 100 pills for four bucks, he said. If we had given people aspirin, ivermectin, colchicine, and if they get complicated, a little dexamethasone, we could have saved the world with one dollar.

When RCI queried the NIH about why the outpatient guidelines remain devoid of strong recommendations for any of these repurposed agents, despite studies showing their promise, it replied:

The NIH COVID Treatment Guidelines Panel reviews available information with an emphasis given to adequately-powered, well-conducted, peer-reviewed clinical trials; regardless of where they are published. Each section of the guidelines provides a description of the data reviewed and rationale behind the recommendation. This information is there to help guide providers. The final decisions rest with the provider and the patient. The panel works diligently to review new information as it becomes available. The latest information on NIH COVID Treatment Guidelines Panel can be found here.

For his part, Sen. Johnson blames public health authorities for orchestrating a broader campaign against early treatment with repurposed drugs. Rather than seriously consider evidence showing the potential of early treatments including ivermectin, your agencies prefer to mischaracterize, conflate and misconstrue anything that goes against the mainstream narrative and the financial interests of the pharmaceutical industry, he wrote in his October 2021 letter.

This article was written by Clayton Fox for RealClearInvestigations.
El ministro Cevallos informo que los casos confirmados de #omicron ascienden a 309. Estos estan presentes en casi todo Lima Metropolitana y Callao, ademas, en Piura, Ancash, Ica, La Libertad, Arequipa, Huanuco, Loreto y Apurimac.



?? Mas informacion en https://t.co/EEFNSgsoin
The logo of Exxon Mobil Corporation on a monitor above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York on Dec. 30, 2015. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

Energy Department Approves Release of 2 Million Barrels of Crude to Exxon

The U.S. Department of Energy approved the release of 2 million barrels of crude oil to ExxonMobil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) on Dec. 30 as part of an initiative begun in November by the federal government to reduce gasoline prices in the country.

This is the third exchange of crude oil with ExxonMobil. Currently, the Department of Energy (DOE) has supplied more than 7 million barrels from the SPR in an effort to boost the fuel supply. An exchange refers to a situation in which oil entities such as refineries borrow critical supplies from SPR, which the companies have to replace in full, along with an additional amount thats dependent on how long they kept the oil.

Exchanges usually occur during severe weather events, such as hurricanes or in response to temporary disruptions, such as pipeline blockages and ship channel closures when a facilitys normal scheduled deliveries are interrupted, according to the DOE.

The White House announced the plan to release 50 million barrels from the SPR as a coordinated worldwide response to high oil prices after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries allies turned down a U.S. appeal to release more crude into the market and stabilize the price.

Out of the 50 million barrels, 32 million are in the form of exchanges, which are to be replenished. As of Dec. 24, there are 595 million barrels currently in reserve. With a storage capacity of 714 million barrels, the SPR is the largest of its kind in the world, and accounts for about half of total global strategic reserves.

The SPR is supposed to be tapped in times of manmade or natural contingencies, and the release isnt predicted by experts to have much of an effect on prices.

President Bidens decision to tap Americas strategic reserveswhich will release just 3 days worth of oil onto the marketis not about a real solution to our energy crisis, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) wrote on Twitter in November.

As such, the SPR release was priced in by the market and barely affected surging oil prices, which recently hit a seven-year high.

The spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus has disrupted the quick pace with which economies around the world were recovering from pandemic-related shutdowns. Decreased demand has mitigated the increase in oil prices, but the surge hasnt ended, with fuel savings platform GasBuddy claiming that a $4 per gallon national average might occur sometime this year.

Most major U.S. cities could see prices peak around or just short of $4 per gallon, though some California cities such as San Francisco and Sacramento could see average prices soar to over $5 per gallon, according to GasBuddys 2022 Fuel Price Outlook (pdf).
English Secondary School Pupils Asked to Wear Masks in Classrooms

The UK government has asked secondary school students in England to wear masks in classrooms in a bid to limit the spread of the Omicron variant of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

Face coverings are already recommended in outdoor communal areas and corridors for pupils in year 7 and above, who are usually aged 11 and above. But in its latest guidance (pdf) issued on Jan. 2, the Department for Education (DfE) recommended that masks should also be worn inside classrooms when the new terms begins after the Christmas break.

An additional 7,000 air cleaning units will also be provided to schools, colleges, and early years settings to improve ventilation in teaching spaces, the DfE said.

The recommendation will be temporary, remaining in place until Jan. 26, when the governments Plan B regulations on COVID-19 are scheduled to expire.

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said that he looks forward to seeing pupils back to school next week to continue their face-to-face learning, as being in the classroom is undoubtedly the very best place for children.

He said there is no doubt that the Omicron variant presents challenges, but lauded the education sector for its Herculean response.

Zahawi said that both he and Prime Minister Boris Johnson see education as the number one priority, and said the new measures will help minimise disruption.

The move has been welcomed by the main opposition Labour Party. Wes Streeting, Labours shadow health secretary, said he would rather have masks worn in classrooms than children out of school.

If the choice is between having masks at schools or children missing schools in huge numbers, of course we want to keep pupils learning. Thats got to be the priority, he told Sky News.

But senior Conservative lawmaker Robert Halfon said that he fears mask-wearing in schools could damage childrens mental health.

Halfon, who chairs the education select committee in the House of Commons, said the risks from COVID-19 need to be balanced against the risks to childrens wellbeing.

There is a lot of evidence out there from Belgium, to Canada, to the United States, suggesting that masks on children have a damaging effect, or can have a negative effect on their mental health, their wellbeing, their ability to communicate, their emotional awareness, he said.

He added: There is no requirement to wear masks in offices for adults. So why is there a requirement for children in schools, in classrooms, when children are at least risk from COVID? I dont get it.

PA contributed to this report.
Steam rises from the cooling towers of the Grohnde nuclear power plant near Grohnde, Germany, on Dec. 29, 2021. (Julian Stratenschulte/dpa via AP)

EU Proposes Green Certificate for Nuclear and Gas Energy

The European Union has drafted a proposal that allows consideration for natural gas and nuclear energy to be included within the scope of green investments as countries and environmentalists battle over the complicated classification system.

Later this month, the European Commission is expected to suggest recommendations on the environmental criteria needed in order to classify an energy source as green and whether projects can be included within the EUs sustainable finance taxonomy. According to draft conclusions viewed by multiple media outlets, the commission has suggested adding gas and nuclear energy to the green mix, resulting in immediate criticism from some governing political parties and environmental activists.

Gas projects would be temporarily labeled green if they were utilized in place of coal and emitted less than 270 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilowatt-hour (e/kWh), receive a construction permit before the end of 2030, and plan to switch to a renewable energy source by 2035.

Similarly, nuclear energy would fall within the green category if new plants granted construction permits by 2045 meet specific criteria that present no significant harm to the surrounding environment, as well as water resources. Presently, countries in Europe are at varying stages of energy transition.

Taking account of scientific advice and current technological progress as well as varying transition challenges across member states, the Commission considers there is a role for natural gas and nuclear as a means to facilitate the transition toward a predominantly renewable-based future, the European Commission said in a Jan. 1 statement.

EU advisers have contended that gas projects shouldnt be given green labels unless the amount of emitted carbon dioxide is less than 100 grams per e/kWh, failing which there could be disastrous consequences for the climate. Nuclear power, likewise, can have adverse effects on the environment, especially when it comes to the disposal of radioactive waste.

By including them  the commission risks jeopardizing the credibility of the EUs role as a leading marketplace for sustainable finance, European Greens President Philippe Lamberts said, Reuters reported.

Several European countries that operate nuclear plants, such as France, want the bloc to consider the nuclear option to be included in the so-called taxonomy to make it eligible for green financing.

French Minister for European Affairs Clement Beaune said on Jan. 2 that the EU cant become carbon-neutral without nuclear energy. Other countries, such as Germany, are against considering nuclear sources as a viable renewable energy option. The country is in the process of shutting down all of its nuclear plants.

Proponents of the EU plan claim that gas will make the transition from coal smoother and safer, while nuclear power produces zero carbon emissions. Opponents say that the plan weakens the current transition process toward net-zero emissions.

The EU Commissions proposals water down the good label for sustainability, German Economy and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck, who represents the environmentalist Greens in the countrys coalition government, told German news agency dpa.

Habeck also accused the commission of greenwashingmaking policies appear climate-friendly for the purpose of receiving investments and incentives when theyre actually not.

The EU has been a global trend-setter for fighting environment-damaging energy sources such as coal, and the new proposal will define how the bloc meets its future commitments. If a majority of member states support the proposal, it will become law and take effect in 2023.
Fauci: CDC May Add Negative COVID-19 Test to Quarantine Guidelines

White House pandemic adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said federal health officials are considering amending COVID-19 isolation guidance for people who test positive after pushback.

Fauci told ABC News on Sunday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is now evaluating a recent rule revision that allows people who tested positive to leave if they havent received a negative COVID-19 test.

The CDC, in a revision last week, said that it shortened the COVID-19 isolation time from 10 days to five days for asymptomatic patients. For the next five days, the health agency now recommends that those asymptomatic people wear a mask around others at all times.

There has been some concern about why we dont ask people at that five-day period to get tested. That is something that is now under consideration, Fauci said. The CDC is very well aware that there has been some pushback about that, he added.

Fauci added that when looking at it again, there may be an option in that, that testing could be a part of that, and I think were going to be hearing more about that in the next day or so from the CDC.

If the CDC issues another major revision of its quarantine guidance, its likely to spur more questions about the federal health agency, which has faced criticism about its messaging since Director Rochelle Walensky took over earlier this year. Walensky, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal several months ago, admitted that she is struggling with communicating to the American public about the agencys guidelines amid the pandemic.

In a separate interview on Sunday with CNN, Fauci attempted to clarify the rules, saying that theres no doubt that you do want to get people out into the workplace if they are without symptoms.

In the second half of a ten-day period, which would normally be a ten-day isolation period, the likelihood of transmissibility is considerably lower, Fauci said. With the rule change, I, myself, feel that thats a reasonable thing to do, he added.

Theres a big picture of trying to do it in a way that is scientifically sound, but that also gets people back to work, he continued. The CDC is doing their very best in trying to get the right balance of getting people back, but doing it on a solid scientific basis.

The five-day quarantine rule, according to Walensky in a news conference last week, was based on what the federal government thought people would be able to endure.

The 10-day isolation guidance, she added, was conservative  in the context of the fact that we were going to have so many more cases, many of those would be asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, people would feel well enough to be at work.

COVID-19 is the illness caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
Parta Canfield and Tom deMartino at the Shen Yun Performing Arts at Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Costa Mesa, Calif., on Jan.1, 2021. (Jack Bradley/The Epoch Times)

COSTA MESA, Calif.For retired professional dancer Patra Canfield, preserving traditional dances is very important. So she was very happy to see Shen Yun Performing Arts revive Chinas classical Chinese dance, an art form with thousands of years of history.

Im very impressed by it, Ms. Canfield said after seeing the performance at Costa Mesas Segerstrom Center for the Arts on Jan. 1.

I think its very important to keep all traditional arts alive.

Besides story-based dances presented with classical Chinese dance, alongside folk and ethnic Chinese dances, New York-based Shen Yun boasts a unique orchestra that combines traditional Chinese instruments with classical Western instruments, and a patented digital backdrop technology.

The animated backdrops create seamless interaction between the projections and the actors on the stage.

Ms. Canfield praised the incorporation of this technology into the dances.

I appreciate the melding of tradition with the technology of today, she said.

Ms. Canfields friend, Tom deMartino, a DJ, also found Shen Yuns performance impressive.

Its absolutely beautiful, and its captivating with all the different colors and how they are incorporating different symbolism and qualities. Its fabulous to watch, he said.

Mr. deMartino had high praise for Shen Yuns orchestra and the way it blends classical Western and Chinese instruments.

You can hear that in the music. It melded really well. Its great, he said.

Shen Yuns website explains what makes its orchestra unique.

First, the Western orchestra serves as a foundation, accentuating the distinct sound of Chinese instruments. Second, the bedrock of soul-stirring melodies from the ancient Middle Kingdom is fully brought to life by a Western symphony, it says.

Traditional Chinese music emphasizes the expression of inner feelingsthe ancients always used musical instruments to relate their states of mind. Western music, meanwhile, focuses on the overall effect of the musical ensembleand to achieve that, arrangement and harmony are of utmost importance. Shen Yuns music combines these approaches to capture the essence of both East and West.

Shen Yuns performance is a must-see for those who appreciate arts and culture, Mr. deMartino said.

If you have an interest in traditional Chinese culture, if you are any kind of fan of dance and history, its a must-see.

Reporting by Jack Bradley and Diane Cordemans.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
A 6-year-old boy poses with a mask in Paris, France, on Nov. 8, 2020. (Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images)

France Imposes Indoor Masking for Ages 6+ to Avoid School Shutdowns

Previously required masks for those over age 11

The French government has announced it will require everyone aged six and older to wear masks in indoor areas amid the spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, which marks the fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.

Previously, children aged 11 and above were required to wear masks but the government has lowered the age to avoid shutting down schools. Classes resumed on Monday.

The new requirement comes after outdoor masking became mandatory in Paris on Dec. 31 for everyone over age 11, except for drivers in vehicles, and people on bicycles and scooters. Lyon also re-imposed an outdoor mask mandate.

COVID-19 has been confirmed in at least 123,000 people who died in France.

On the first day of the new year, France registered 219,126 new infections, down only slightly from the daily record of 232,200 noted on the last day of 2021.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen speaks at a rank conferral ceremony for military officials from the Army, Navy, and Air Force, at the defense ministry in Taipei, Taiwan, on Dec. 28, 2021. (Annabelle Chih/Reuters)

Taiwan President Warns China Against Military Adventurism, in New Years Speech

TAIPEI, TaiwanTaiwan President Tsai Ing-wen had a New Years message for China on Jan. 1: Military conflict is not the answer.

The Chinese communist regime claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has increased military and diplomatic pressure in the past two years to assert its sovereignty claims.

We must remind the Beijing authorities to not misjudge the situation and to prevent the internal expansion of military adventurism,' Tsai said in her New Years speech, which was broadcast live on Facebook.

Taiwan is a de facto independent country, with its own military, democratically elected government, and constitution.

Taiwan officials have repeatedly vowed to defend its freedom and democracy.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping said in his New Years address on Dec. 31 that the complete unification of the motherland is an aspiration shared by people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. On Jan. 1, after Tsais speech, the Chinese regime responded with a stern warning that if Taiwan crossed any red line, it would lead to profound catastrophe.

In recent months, Beijing has sent repeated air missions over the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan has said it wont give in to threats.

The military is definitely not an option for solving cross-strait disagreements. Military conflicts would impact economic stability, Tsai said.

To ease tension in the region, both Taipei and Beijing must work hard to take care of peoples livelihoods and calm the hearts of the people in order to find peaceful solutions to problems together, she said.

Tsai also said Taiwan would continue to monitor the situation in Hong Kong, adding that interference in the recent legislative election and the arrests last week of senior staff at the pro-democracy media outlet Stand News made people worry even more about human rights and freedom of speech in Hong Kong.

We will hold fast to our sovereignty, uphold the values of freedom and democracy, defend territorial sovereignty and national security, and maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, Tsai said.
At first glance, this decline appears to be occurring in tandem with the rollout of COVID shots. January 1, 2021, only 0.5% of the U.S. population had received a COVID shot. By mid-April, an estimated 31% had received one or more shots, and as of July 13, 48.3% were fully vaccinated.

However, as noted in a July 12, 2021, STAT News article,cases had started their downward trend before COVID shots were widely used. Following patterns from previous pandemics, the precipitous decline in new cases of Covid-19 started well before a meaningful number of people had been vaccinated, Robert M. Kaplan, Professor Emeritus at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, writes. He continues:

Nearly 50 years ago, medical sociologists John and Sonja McKinlay examined death rates from 10 serious diseases: tuberculosis, scarlet fever, influenzae, pneumonia, diphtheria, whooping cough, measles, smallpox, typhoid, and polio. In each case, the new therapy or vaccine credited with overcoming it was introduced well after the disease was in decline. More recently, historian Thomas McKeown noted that deaths from bronchitis, pneumonia, and influenza had begun rapidly falling 35 years before the introduction of new medicines that were credited with their conquest. These historical analyses are relevant to the current pandemic.

Case Decline Preceded Widespread Implementation of Vaccine

As noted by Kaplan, COVID-19 cases peaked in early January 2021. January 8, more than 300,000 new positive test results were recorded on a daily basis. By February 21, that had declined to a daily new case count of 55,000. COVID-19 vaccine injections were granted emergency use authorization at the end of December 2020, but by February 21, only 5.9% of American adults had been fully vaccinated with two doses.

Despite such a low vaccination rate, new cases had declined by 82%. Considering health authorities claim we need 70% of Americans vaccinated in order to achieve herd immunity and stop the spread of this virus..

Natural Immunity Explains Decline in Cases

As noted by Kaplan, the most reasonable explanation for declining rates of SARS-CoV-2 appears to be natural immunity from previous infections, which vary considerably from state to state. He goes on to cite a study by the National Institutes of Health, which suggests SARS-CoV-2 prevalence was 4.8 times higher than previously thought, thanks to undiagnosed infection.

In other words, they claim that for every reported positive test result, there were likely nearly five additional people who had the infection but didnt get a diagnosis. To analyze this data further, Kaplan calculated the natural immunity rate by dividing the new estimated number of people naturally infected by the population of any given state. He writes:

By mid-February 2021, an estimated 150 million people in the U.S. (30 million times five) may have had been infected with SARS-CoV-2. By April, I estimated the natural immunity rate to be above 55% in 10 states: Arizona, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Wisconsin. At the other end of the continuum, I estimated the natural immunity rate to be below 35% in the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington  By the end of 2020, new infections were already rapidly declining in nearly all of the 10 states where the majority may have had natural immunity, well before more than a minuscule percentage of Americans were fully vaccinated. In 80% of these states, the day when new cases were at their peak occurred before vaccines were available. In contrast, the 10 states with lower rates of previous infections were much more likely to experience new upticks in Covid-19 cases in March and April  By the end of May, states with fewer new infections had significantly lower vaccination rates than states with more new infections.

COVID Shots Cannot Eliminate COVID-19

So, SARS-CoV-2 cases were actually higher in states where natural immunity was low but vaccination rates were high. Meanwhile, in states where natural immunity due to undiagnosed exposure was high, but vaccination rates were low, the daily new caseload was also lower.

This makes sense if natural immunity is highly effective (which, historically it has always been and theres no reason to suspect SARS-CoV-2 is any different in that regard). It also makes sense if the COVID shots arent really offering any significant protection against infection, which we also know is the case.

The survivability of COVID-19 outside of nursing homes is 99.74%. If youre under the age of 40, your chance of surviving a bout of COVID-19 is 99.99%.

Vaccine manufacturers have already admitted these COVID shots will not provide immunity, meaning they will not prevent you from being infected. The idea behind these injections is that if/when you do get infected, youll hopefully experience milder symptoms, even though youre still infectious and can spread the virus to others.

Kaplan ends his analysis by saying that COVID shots are a safer way to achieve herd immunity, and that they are the best tool available for assuring that the smoldering fire of [COVID-19] is extinguished.

Vaccine Provides Far Less Protection Than Natural Immunity

While some claim vaccine-induced immunity offers greater protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection than natural immunity, historical and current real-world data simply fail to support this assertion.

As recently reported by Attkisson and David Rosenberg Israeli National News, recent Israeli data show those who have received the COVID jab are 6.72 times more likely to get infected than people who have recovered from natural infection.

Among the 7,700 new COVID cases diagnosed so far during the current wave of infections that began in May 2021, 39% were vaccinated (about 3,000 cases), 1% (72 patients) had recovered from a previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and 60% were neither vaccinated nor previously infected. Israeli National News notes:

With a total of 835,792 Israelis known to have recovered from the virus, the 72 instances of reinfection amount to 0.0086% of people who were already infected with COVID. By contrast, Israelis who were vaccinated were 6.72 times more likely to get infected after the shot than after natural infection, with over 3,000 of the 5,193,499, or 0.0578%, of Israelis who were vaccinated getting infected in the latest wave.

Breakthrough Infections Are on the Rise

Other Israeli data also suggest the limited protection offered by the COVID shot is rapidly eroding. August 1, 2021, director of Israels Public Health Services, Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, announced half of all COVID-19 infections were among the fully vaccinated. Signs of more serious disease among fully vaccinated are also emerging, she said, particularly in those over the age of 60.

Even worse, August 5, Dr. Kobi Haviv, director of the Herzog Hospital in Jerusalem, appeared on Channel 13 News, reporting that 95% of severely ill COVID-19 patients are fully vaccinated, and that they make up 85% to 90% of COVID-related hospitalizations overall.

Other areas where a clear majority of residents have been vaccinated are also seeing spikes in breakthrough cases. In Gibraltar, which has a 99% COVID jab compliance rate, COVID cases have risen by 2,500% since June 1, 2021.

Natural Immunity Appears Robust and Long-Lasting

An argument were starting to hear more of now is that even though natural immunity after recovery from infection appears to be quite good, we dont know how long itll last. This is rather disingenuous, seeing how natural immunity is typically lifelong, and studies have shown natural immunity against SARS-CoV-2 is at bare minimum longer lasting than vaccine-induced immunity.

Heres a sampling of scholarly publications that have investigated natural immunity as it pertains to SARS-CoV-2 infection. There are several more in addition to these:

Science Immunology October 2020 found that RBD-targeted antibodies are excellent markers of previous and recent infection, that differential isotype measurements can help distinguish between recent and older infections, and that IgG responses persist over the first few months after infection and are highly correlated with neutralizing antibodies.

The BMJ January 2021 concluded that Of 11, 000 health care workers who had proved evidence of infection during the first wave of the pandemic in the U.K. between March and April 2020, none had symptomatic reinfection in the second wave of the virus between October and November 2020.

Science February 2021 reported that Substantial immune memory is generated after COVID-19, involving all four major types of immune memory [antibodies, memory B cells, memory CD8+ T cells, and memory CD4+ T cells]. About 95% of subjects retained immune memory at ~6 months after infection. Circulating antibody titers were not predictive of T cell memory.Thus, simple serological tests for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies do not reflect the richness and durability of immune memory to SARS-CoV-2. A 2,800-person study found no symptomatic reinfections over a ~118-day window, and a 1,246-person study observed no symptomatic reinfections over 6 months.

A February 2021 study posted on the prepublication server medRxiv concluded that Natural infection appears to elicit strong protection against reinfection with an efficacy ~95% for at least seven months.

An April 2021 study posted on medRxiv reported the overall estimated level of protection from prior SARS-CoV-2 infection for documented infection is 94.8%; hospitalization 94.1%; and severe illness 964%. Our results question the need to vaccinate previously-infected individuals.

Another April 2021 study posted on the preprint server BioRxiv concluded that following a typical case of mild COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8+ T cells not only persist but continuously differentiate in a coordinated fashion well into convalescence, into a state characteristic of long-lived, self-renewing memory.

A May 2020 report in the journal Immunity confirmed that SARS-CoV-2-specific neutralizing antibodies are detected in COVID-19 convalescent subjects, as well as cellular immune responses. Here, they found that neutralizing antibody titers do correlate with the number of virus-specific T cells.

A May 2021 Nature article found SARS-CoV-2 infection induces long-lived bone marrow plasma cells, which are a crucial source of protective antibodies. Even after mild infection, anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike protein antibodies were detectable beyond 11 months post-infection.

A May 2021 study in E Clinical Medicine found antibody detection is possible for almost a year post-natural infection of COVID-19. According to the authors, Based on current evidence, we hypothesize that antibodies to both S and N-proteins after natural infection may persist for longer than previously thought, thereby providing evidence of sustainability that may influence post-pandemic planning.

Cure-Hub data confirm that while COVID shots can generate higher antibody levels than natural infection, this does not mean vaccine-induced immunity is more protective. Importantly, natural immunity confers much wider protection as your body recognizes all five proteins of the virus and not just one. With the COVID vaccine, your body only recognizes one of these proteins, the spike protein.

A June 2021 Nature article points out that Wang et al. show that, between 6 and 12 months after infection, the concentration of neutralizing antibodies remains unchanged. That the acute immune reaction extends even beyond six months is suggested by the authors analysis of SARS-CoV-2-specific memory B cells in the blood of the convalescent individuals over the course of the year.These memory B cells continuously enhance the reactivity of their SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies through a process known as somatic hypermutation. The good news is that the evidence thus far predicts that infection with SARS-CoV-2 induces long-term immunity in most individuals.

Another June Nature paper concluded that In the absence of vaccination antibody reactivity [to the receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2], neutralizing activity and the number of RBD-specific memory B cells remain relatively stable from 6 to 12 months. According to the authors, the data suggest immunity in convalescent individuals will be very long lasting.

What Makes Natural Immunity Superior?

The reason natural immunity is superior to vaccine-induced immunity is because viruses contain five different proteins. The COVID vaccine induces antibodies against just one of those proteins, the spike protein, and no T cell immunity. When youre infected with the whole virus, you develop antibodies against all parts of the virus, plus memory T cells.

This also means natural immunity offers better protection against variants, as it recognizes several parts of the virus. If there are significant alternations to the spike protein, as with the Delta variant, vaccine-induced immunity can be evaded. Not so with natural immunity, as the other proteins are still recognized and attacked.

References:
Israels Top Health Official Says Omicron Surge Could Lead the Nation to Herd Immunity

Surging CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus infections could push Israel further toward herd immunity, the nations top health official said Sunday as the government plans to push more vaccine shots.

Israel last week became one of the first countries to begin administering a fourth dose of the vaccine to people most vulnerable to the CCP virus. In an interview with Radio 103FM, Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash confirmed that the Israeli government will move on to approve the fourth shot for more citizens.

That being said, Ash admitted that there isnt enough knowledge to say the fourth vaccine will really prevent the mass infections, reported The Times of Israel. He added that its possible that the nation achieves herd immunity because of the current wave of infections driven by the Omicron variant.

The trend is upwardsthere will definitely be a surge, Ash said, reported the Times. We will see bigger numbers. Where will it stop? Its hard to know. The price of herd immunity is very many infections, and that may end up happening. The numbers need to be high to reach herd immunity, its something that is possible.

But we dont want to reach it by means of infections, we want it to happen as a result of many people vaccinating, he said.

The Omicron variant of the CCP virus is found to be more transmissible but less likely to cause severe symptoms than other variants. According to Israels Health Ministry, the nation has seen a jump in new daily cases from around 1,000 to almost 5,500 on Friday in a week. Sunday also reported 4,206 new infections, and a 195.8 percent overall increase over the past week. The death toll since the beginning of the outbreak is at 8,244, with only four COVID-related deaths since Dec. 21.

Ashs remark comes as Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that a fourth dose will be given to health workers and people over the age of 60, warning that the nation could see as many as 50,000 new cases a day in the upcoming days, or about five times more than in previous waves.

The decision was made based on the best professional considerations and after the Health Ministry consulted with experts, Bennett said, reported Jerusalem Post.

In an effort to address the increasing number of Israelis who have been placed in quarantine, Bennett changed quarantine and testing policies for individuals exposed to the virus, allowing those above the age of 5 to not have to isolate so long as they test negative for the CCP virus.

Bennett also announced that travel restrictions would soon likely be lifted.

I closed the skies five weeks ago when everything was fine, and in the coming week, it is likely that we will reopen the skies, he said.
Mike Ammirata, president, Resource Solutions Plus, at the Shen Yun performance in Jacksonville, Florida, on Jan. 1, 2022. (NTD Television)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.Mike Ammirata, president of printing company Resource Solutions Plus, who attended a Shen Yun Performing Artss matinee, was grateful for the passion shown in the performance.

I wish we could capture some of that spirit in the States right now, he said after watching Shen Yun at the Thrasher-Horne Center at St. Johns River State College.

New York-based Shen Yun is a classical Chinese dance and music company that tours the globe each year, mesmerizing audiences with its exhilarating dance performances.

Mr. Ammirata thinks Shen Yun can have a positive impact on society as it tours the world. He said Shen Yun asks people to look to God when searching for answers. We need more compassion, and we dont have enough of that.

He hopes that people will open their hearts and accept the message Shen Yun is trying to convey.

He commented on the skill and commitment of the performers. They work so hard, its obvious that its a commitment from inside. They are committed to share their faith with the world, so they work hard to do that. Its very exciting.

Hope for the Future

I loved how everything comes to life, said Senior Director and Project Management, for Mesoblast, Michael DiMuro. He loved the visual experience of the performance and how it seemed divinely inspired.

Human life is precious and needs to be enjoyed and celebrated. And thats the message Im getting from  [the performance] because the whole show is a celebration of life.

He said the whole show is uplifting.

Michael DiMuro, a senior director, attended the Shen Yun performance in the Thrasher-Horne Center, Jacksonville, Fla., on Jan. 1, 2022. (Linda Li/The Epoch Times)

Mr. DiMuro said the last few years have been depressing, but the show reminds us of whats important: that life is important.

Shen Yun shows theres hope for the future. No matter how dark things look, there is always hope. Even though in China there is oppression and communism, but still the culture transcends and goes beyond and continues, and it cannot be suppressed or destroyed, he said.

Reporting by Linda Li, NTD Television, and Yvonne Marcotte.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. Audiences have responded in a resoundingly positive way since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
" " Rob Stothard-Getty Images/ Soon Koon -Flickr ( CC BY-ND 2.0 )/HowStuffWorks The Maine Coon cat (top left) and the Norwegian Forest cat (bottom right) are both big breeds, and while there lots of similarities between them, there are many differences as well.

We'll never resolve the "cat versus dog" debate, but when it comes to diversity, man's best friend is the clear winner. Domestic dogs are way more variable than their feline counterparts. On top of the vast differences in ear shape, snout length and limb proportions, our canine pals come in a huge range of sizes  the largest dog breeds are around 40 times bigger than the smallest ones.

Still, it's not like all cats are created equal. Here's an overview of two plus-sized breeds with personalities to match their statures: the Maine Coon and the Norwegian Forest cat.

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Winter Furs

As they say in Norway, there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. To endure the harsh winters of Scandinavia, the Norwegian Forest cat  also called the "Wegie" (pronounced "wee-gee")  evolved a double layer of thick, waterproof fur. Mystery surrounds the breed's origins; it may be descended from Siberian cats or Turkish longhair cats who entered present-day Norway.

Regardless, written records tell us that a new and distinctive type of domesticated cat had arisen in this corner of Europe by about the year 1000 C.E. The ancestors of today's Wegies were likely used to keep Viking ships and settlements clear of mice.

Full-grown adults of both sexes are very muscular animals  and heavy, to boot. Mature females usually weigh 9 to 12 pounds (4 to 5.4 kilograms) while males regularly tip the scales at 16 pounds (7.3 kilograms) or more. Accordingly, the Norwegian Forest cat is one of the biggest breeds available.

But the Maine Coon has it beat. Capable of weighing 25 pounds (11.3 kilograms), this all-American beauty is downright gigantic. In fact, on May 22, 2018, a Maine Coon named Barivel set a new Guinness World Record as the longest known domestic cat. From one end to the other, he measures 47 inches (120 centimeters) in length. By the way, the previous record-holder in this category was another Maine Coon. Sounds like they've got a furry dynasty going.

True to its name, the Maine Coon is a product of northern New England. Here again, we've got a creature whose backstory is unclear. According to one popular fable, the first Maine Coons can be traced to (of all people) Marie Antoinette. During the French Revolution, she supposedly had her beloved cats shipped to North America, where they interbred with local felines. The truth may be less glamorous, but Maine Coons probably do have European roots. Historians think the breed is descended from long-haired cats whom seamen ferried across the north Atlantic.

Like Scandinavia, New England gets a lot of snowfall and some serious windchill every winter. Shaggy coats help protect Maine Coons from these frigid conditions. They've also got wide, tufted "snowshoe paws" that occasionally sport extra digits.

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Heads and Tails

Some enthusiasts think the Norwegian Forest cat is the Maine Coon's direct ancestor. (After all, we know Norse settlers occupied modern-day Newfoundland during the 11th century C.E.)

The idea speaks to the many similarities between these long-haired, big-bodied breeds. Yet as Sandra Cagan will tell you, there are plenty of differences as well.

A resident of Florida, Cagan owns the Orlando Cat Cafe, a coffee shop where the patrons get to hang out with adoptable felines who need good homes. She personally owns two purebred Maine Coons and is well-acquainted with the breed's idiosyncrasies.

"The Maine Coon has a wider muzzle than a Forest cat," Cagan explains via email. In contrast, the latter breed has a flattened forehead, straight nose and triangular-shaped skull, giving it what Cagan describes as "more of a 'regular cat face.'" Meanwhile, with its high cheekbones and broad snout, the Maine Coon looks rather lion-esque  at least facially.

Other distinctions reside in the fur. Although Wegies and Maine Coons are available in lots of different colors, there's an iconic hairstyle specific to each breed.

"Both breeds have distinctive ear tufts, but the Maine Coon's are larger," says Cagan. Also, while Wegie tails end in pointed tips, the end of a Maine Coon's tail is bushier and less shapely.

Beyond looks, the felines may communicate differently. "Maine Coons tend to be very vocal; they are known for their chirping sounds," Cagan tells us. "Norwegian Forest cats tend to be quieter." That said, they both like to emit contented purrs, which can get fairly loud.

In terms of disposition, Wegies and Maine Coons are often described as "dog-like." Norwegian Forest cats love socializing with their favorite people while Maine Coons engage in all sorts of canine behaviors. "I know of several Maine Coon owners who have taught their cats to give 'high fives' or 'shake paws' like a dog would do," says Cagan.

Not only are the big guys easy to train, but they've got an endearing habit of carrying their toys around like excited terriers. "Many of them also play fetch," Cagan adds. What's more, she notes that several owners have taught their Maine Coons to use leashes. "One of my two loves to walk on his leash, the other not so much," she tells us.

So come to think of it, maybe we can settle the whole cat versus dog debate. If you're in want of a pet and feeling indecisive, just split the difference and get yourself a Maine Coon. Or a Wegie.

Now That's Interesting Norwegian Forest Cats and Maine Coons might be considered examples of Bergmann's Rule  which states that warm-blooded animals in cold places tend to be bulkier than members of their own species who live in warmer regions. This is because larger individuals with compact physiques may have an easier time retaining body heat.

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Originally Published: Nov 12, 2019
Judge Blocks Vaccine Mandate in San Diego Schools

SAN DIEGOA judge has ruled in favor of a parent group that filed a lawsuit against the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) for implementing a vaccine mandate for students 16 and older.

The legal challenge was filed by the group Let Them Choose on Oct. 12 after the SDUSD school board unanimously approved the vaccine mandate for students. Let Them Choose is a group formed by Let Them Breathe, an organization against mask mandates for K12 students. Let Them Choose was launched to advocate for choice in education, including the right to refuse the COVID-19 vaccine.

Superior Court Judge John Meyer ruled on Dec. 20 in favor of Let Them Choose, which argued the mandate contradicts state law, according to the organizations website.

The ruling concluded that school districts dont have the power to implement mandates that dont allow exemptions and go against state law, especially if the mandates arent established by the state.

We are thrilled that the law was upheld in our lawsuit against San Diego Unified School Districts vaccine mandate, Sharon McKeeman, founder of Let Them Choose, said in a statement. The decision that school districts do not have authority to require the COVID-19 vaccine echoes statewide, and it shows that parents coming together in a grassroots movement to uphold our childrens rights is powerful and effective.

Under the vaccine mandate implemented by the school district, students 16 and older who were not fully vaccinated by Dec. 20 would be required to transition from in-person learning to an online independent study program effective on Jan. 24.

Meyer further stated in the ruling that only vaccines required by the state are necessary for students to attend school, and the COVID-19 vaccine isnt on the list.

Weve been very confident this entire time that the legal issues were very clear cut, McKeeman told The Epoch Times. Were thankful that the judge was fair.

Shortly after the ruling, the San Diego Board of Education met on Dec. 21 and unanimously agreed to file an appeal to keep the vaccine mandate in place for students 16 years and older. SDUSD sent a notice to staff and families informing them of the decision.

Vaccines remain the best way to protect the health and safety of our students, and we are 100 percent determined to maintain the vaccination mandate, SDUSD said.

The school district further informed recipients that the mandate for all school staff remains in place, as that hasnt been challenged in court.

As SDUSD proceeds to appeal the decision, the Let Them Choose group advised the district to use its resources elsewhere in the community.

We are confident that if they do go forward with that, it will not reinstate the mandate, McKeeman said.
A Chinese worker dressed in a Santa Claus suit welcomes customers as part of a Christmas event at a shopping mall in Beijing, on Dec. 24, 2020. (Kevin Frayer, Getty Images)

Local Authority Bans Western Festivals From Chinese Schools

A recent official notice from southern China circulating online bans foreign festivals from local schools, sparking public concerns.

In a Dec. 20 notice, the Education Bureau of Rongan county, Guangxi Province, requested local primary and secondary schools and kindergartens to prohibit any foreign festival celebrations on- and off-campus. The notice claimed to uphold the spirit of the higher-level documents, and all teachers and students, especially members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) should follow it strictly, according to Lianhe Zaobao, a Singapore-based Chinese language media, on Dec. 24.

The official department warned that Western festivals like Christmas with strong religious overtones have been promoted by some Western countries to implant Western values and lifestyles in China through cultural communication and its growing social influence seriously affects our countrys traditional culture.

At the end of the notice, a local public security agencys telephone number was left for reporting incidents.

On Dec. 21, Chinas five departments including the Administration of Religious Affairs and Ministry of State Security, jointly issued regulations stating that any religious-related doctrine, knowledge, culture, and activities on the internet must first obtain official approval, otherwise it is considered a violation of regulations.

Boycotts of foreign holidays have become popular in many parts of China. Since November 2017, CCP leader Xi Jinping proposed in the Central United Front Work Conference that we must be alert to the danger of religious infiltration.

In December 2018, an elementary school in Si County, Anhui Province, conducted an educational program on the theme of resisting foreign festivals. The principal gave a speech titled Christmas is a Disgrace to the Chinese People, saying that Western festivals bring a great disgrace to China, according to Sina, a Chinese portal site, on Dec. 26, 2018.

In the same year, the Langfang municipal authority in Hebei Province asked law enforcement to completely ban Christmas trees, Santa Claus models, and other items placed along the streets, and clean up Christmas-related window stickers, banners, and lightboxes.

Meanwhile, the CCP regime doubled down on instilling the Partys ideologies in various school subjects. On Dec. 18, the Grade 6 English exam administered by the Ministry of Education contained a Chinese to English translation question about the CCPs developing history including: the CCPs first conference, the red cradle of revolution, the red army, remembrance of revolutionary Martyrs, and so on.

Mr. Xue, who works as a Chinese to English translator in the United States, told Radio Free Asia that English is more than just a language, it carries the Anglo-American civilization, a culture that respects freedom and tradition. However, the Chinese authorities cut off the relationship between this culture and this language by inserting communist propaganda into the English exam.

It is like a virus that has been implanted in English learning. Even if people learn this Western language, they still can not escape the clutches of the CCP brainwashing, he said.
Jeff Pace and his wife attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at Marcus Performing Arts Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Jan,1, 2022. (Stacey Tang/The Epoch Times)

MILWAUKEE, Wis.Shen Yun Performing Arts was once again delighting its audience in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with an exquisite display of authentic Chinese traditional culture through the medium of classical dance and music.

Its beautiful, said Mrs. Pace, who was attending the performance at the Marcus Performing Arts Center with her husband Jeff Pace.

Shen Yuns mission is the revival for posterity of Chinas 5,000-year divinely-inspired culture, which virtually disappeared under the rule of communism.

The costumes really draw out the story by the movements and the colors. And I love  the synchronicity with [the] background and the dancers appearing on stage. It timed perfectly. The music is beautiful, Mrs. Pace said.

Jeff Pace, the owner of a business that sells architectural building products, agreed with his wife.

Its beautiful. [Shen Yun] gives a history  of China and what happened compared to [todays] communist China. So its a beautiful education, Jeff said.

Shen Yun presents a series of stories that go back through Chinas colorful dynasties. Its dancers also depict stories woven around more recent events in China, including the persecution of spiritual groups and their freedom of belief by the atheist regime.

Jeff gave his view on what is happening in China today.

I think the traditions are still thereI think they are suppressed right now. I think [Shen Yun] lets everybody know how it used to be and how beautiful the country really is, he said.

Although Shen Yun can be seen throughout the world, it is banned by the Chinese regime.

I find it very, very, heartbreaking to find out that [Shen Yun] cannot perform in China. It is all about the Chinese culture but they cant perform it in [China itself], Mrs. Pace said, adding she was grateful that the American people have the freedom to see it.

Shen Yun means the beauty of divine beings dancing. The ancient Chinese believe that Chinese culture was passed down to humankind by heavenly beings.

We also believe in a higher being, Jeff said. He said he believes that different cultures present different interpretations.

I think [Shen Yun] is a beautiful representation of that [higher being], he said.

Many audience members have said they appreciate Shen Yuns message of hope to humanity. Mrs. Pace strongly agreed.

She felt that Shen Yun showed that despite mankinds suffering, God was able to bring about a greater good.

If you dont have a belief that there is something after this life, you lose your morals. You lose your caring for other people, you lose your caring for yourself. You take things for granted. Your appreciation for things is non-existent.

I think people can become reckless in their decisions, thinking that there is no ownership to [their] actions. And to know that you are not alone, that God does not abandon youhe brings about a greater good, Mrs. Pace said.

Shen Yun Performing Arts New Era Companys curtain call in Milwaukees Marcus Performing Arts Center, on Dec. 31, 2021. (Hu Chen/The Epoch Times)

An Anniversary to Celebrate

Seeing Shen Yun was a delightful surprise for Jerry Heijkoot from his wife to celebrate their wedding anniversary, which falls on Jan. 4.

I loved [Shen Yun] very much. I think it was an interesting cultural experience. I loved the costumes, the colors, the music, said Heijkoot, who is an accountant.

The colors and the vibrancy of the whole show and just the different stories  I think it is very interesting blending the past with some of the modern [day events].

After watching Shen Yun, one feels hopeful and uplifted, Heijkoop added.

Reporting by Stacey Tang and Diane Cordemans.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
NC Voter ID Law Challenge Delayed Until Supreme Court Hears Case

The judge in a federal lawsuit on North Carolinas voter photo identification law scheduled for trial on Jan. 24 has decided to delay the proceeding until the U.S. Supreme Court can decide in coming months whether North Carolina legislative leaders should be allowed to help defend the statute in court.

U.S. District Court Judge Loretta Biggs, an Obama appointee, ordered the trial delay on Dec. 30, saying it wasnt reasonable to move forward without first obtaining feedback from the high court. Moving ahead prematurely could force the court to try the matter twice, needlessly expending tremendous resources of time and effort and possibly confusing voters, Biggs wrote in the court order.

North Carolinas voter ID requirements have already been subject to extensive judicial intervention at both the federal and state levels, occasionally resulting in conflicting orders, she wrote.

Two state judges struck down the law in September even though the federal case continues.

The statute was motivated at least in part by an unconstitutional intent to target African American voters, Superior Court Judges Michael OFoghludha and Vince Rozier wrote in their majority opinion.

Other, less restrictive voter ID laws would have sufficed to achieve the legitimate nonracial purposes of implementing the constitutional amendment requiring voter ID, deterring fraud, or enhancing voter confidence.

The Supreme Court appeal is Berger v. North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, court file 21-248. The high court agreed on Nov. 24, 2021, to hear the case, which is an appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, but hasnt yet scheduled oral arguments.

The North Carolina branch and various local chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) sued, claiming the states voter ID law ran afoul of the federal Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution.

Two Republican leaders, State Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore, asked to be allowed to participate in the lawsuit in order to properly defend the law. They argued that state Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat, wasnt doing a good job representing the states interests.

Republicans generally favor strengthening electoral integrity measures such as requiring photo identification by voters; Democrats generally oppose photo IDs, arguing that the requirement is overly burdensome and disenfranchises voters.

On June 7, 2021, a divided 4th Circuit rejected the request from Berger and Moore.

Writing for the circuit, Judge Pamela Harris, an Obama appointee, stated that the case was unusual in that the state was already being represented by its attorney general while the legislative leaders twice asked the federal district court to allow them to intervene so that they also can speak for the State, insisting that this case requires not one but two representatives of the States interest.

The district court turned them down both times, and we see no abuse of discretion in that decision. The only way they could intervene is if a federal court finds the attorney general is in dereliction of his duty to represent the state properly.

In dissent, Judge Harvie Wilkinson, a Reagan appointee, suggested Stein may have a conflict of interest.

Every attorney general who looks in the mirror sees a governor.  When a challenge is brought to an unpopular or controversial state law, an attorney generals defense of the law may be less than wholehearted. If the plaintiffs in the case are politically influential, the temptation to pull punches becomes even stronger. It casts no aspersions on anyone to note the obvious: North Carolinas voter photo ID law is a very controversial statute.
More Than 2,200 Flights Canceled on Jan. 2 Amid COVID-19 Staffing Issues, Snowstorm

More than 2,200 flights have been canceled on Jan. 2, the day after New Years, amid staffing shortages and poor weather conditions in some parts of the United States.

Some 2,233 flights within, into, or out of the United States were canceled on the morning of Jan. 2, according to tracking website FlightAware. About 3,000 delays have been reported, the websites data show.

Chicagos OHare International Airport had the most delays and cancellations, with more than 500 flights being canceled, according to FlightAware. Denver International Airport had nearly 300 cancellations.

The mess of flight cancellations can be blamed, in part, on snowstorms that have affected OHare and Denvers airport. Some have suggested that flight crew shortages are also to blame amid a bevy of COVID-19-related sick calls in recent days, which have likely been exacerbated by airlines vaccine requirements for staff.

SkyWest Airlines, which operates flights for American, Delta, United, and Alaska airlines, saw the most cancellations on Jan. 2. About 20 percent of its scheduled flights, or 479 flights, were scuppered, the data show. Mesa Airlines, Envoy Air, and Air Wisconsinalso regional carrierscanceled dozens of flights on Jan. 2.

Among national carriers, Southwest Airlines canceled about 11 percent of its flights, or about 411 of them, on Jan. 2. The Dallas-based firm told media outlets that it suspended operations in Chicago over the weekend due to a snowstorm.

Delta Air Lines also saw about 160 flights, or 6 percent, get canceled on Jan. 2. Delta Chief Executive Ed Bastian asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in December to cut the isolation time for people who test positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, from 10 days to five daysand the CDC has recently changed its recommendations to five days.

Travelers at Love Field in Dallas, Texas, on Dec. 31, 2021. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

JetBlue canceled about 169 flights, or 16 percent, on Jan. 2, coming after the New York-based firm recently said it would proactively cancel about 1,300 flights due to staffing issues. In 2021, JetBlue Chief Executive Robin Hayes announced that employees at the firm, which is a federal contractor and must comply with the Biden administrations vaccine mandate, would have to get vaccinated, leading to some layoffs.

On Jan. 1, about 2,300 flights in the United States were canceled, continuing a trend of widespread cancellations that has lasted for more than a week. Some carriers have blamed the rise in Omicron coronavirus variant cases, leading to staffing shortages, while others have said the travel demand for Christmas and New Years is high.

Over the past week, about 15,000 flights have been canceled in the United States, according to an analysis of reports.

The nationwide spike in Omicron cases has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation, a United Airlines spokesperson told media outlets on Jan. 1. As a result, weve unfortunately had to cancel some flights and are notifying impacted customers in advance of them coming to the airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned on Dec. 30 of even more travel delays in the coming days due to COVID-19 infections among FAA employees, as well as weather and heavy seasonal traffic. On Dec. 30, the TSA screened about 2,049,604 people at airport checkpoints across the United States, down slightly from 2,392,331 in 2019but much higher than 2020 levels.

Also, outside of the United States, about 1,500 flights have been canceledwith the bulk apparently occurring among Chinese carriers, FlightAware data show.
A view of a Boulder County neighborhood that was destroyed by a wildfire is seen from a Colorado National Guard helicopter, during a flyover by Gov. Jared Polis, on Dec. 31, 2021. (Hart Van Denburg/Colorado Public Radio via AP)

Officials: 3 Missing in Devastating Colorado Wildfire

SUPERIOR, Colo.Colorado authorities were searching Saturday for three people reported missing from a wind-whipped winter-season wildfire in Denvers suburbs that destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and left thousands of people trying to salvage what belongings they could from the fast-moving blaze.

Authorities had said earlier no one was missing in the area hit by Thursdays blaze, but Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said Saturday they were now trying to find three people who were later reported as unaccounted for after sheriffs deputies, firefighters, and other officials located hundreds of people who initially were reported missing.

Were very fortunate that we dont have a list of 100 missing. But unfortunately we do have three confirmed missing people, Pelle said.

The news came as an overnight dumping of snow and frigid temperatures Saturday compounded the misery of hundreds of Colorado residents who started off the new year trying to salvage what remains of their homes.

At least 6 inches (0.15 meters) of snow and temperatures in the single digits cast an eerie scene amid the still-smoldering remains of homes destroyed in Thursdays wildfire that raced through the suburban area that lies between Denver and Boulder. Despite the shocking change in weather, the smell of smoke still permeated empty streets blocked off by National Guard troops in Humvees.

For the thousands of residents whose homes survived the conflagration, Red Cross shelter volunteers distributed electric space heaters as utility crews struggled to restore natural gas and electricity.

At least seven people were injured in the wildfire that erupted in and around Louisville and Superior, neighboring towns about 20 miles northwest of Denver with a combined population of 34,000. More than 500 homes were feared destroyed.

The blaze, which burned at least 9.4 square miles, was no longer considered an immediate threat.

Families forced to flee the flames with little warning began returning to their neighborhoods Friday to find a patchwork of devastation. On some blocks, homes reduced to smoking ruins stood next to ones practically unscathed by the fires.

For 35 years I walked out my front door, I saw beautiful homes, Eric House said. Now when I walk out, my homes standing. I walk out my front door and this is what I see.

Cathy Glaab found that her home in Superior had been turned into a pile of charred and twisted debris. It was one of seven houses in a row that were destroyed.

The mailbox is standing, Glaab said, trying to crack a smile through tears. She added sadly, So many memories.

Despite the devastation, she said they intend to rebuild the house she and her husband have had since 1998. They love that the land backs up to a natural space, and they have a view of the mountains from the back.

Rick Dixon feared there would be nothing to return to after he saw firefighters try to save his burning home on the news. On Friday, Dixon, his wife and son found it mostly gutted with a gaping hole in the roof but still standing.

We thought we lost everything, he said, as he held his mother-in-laws china in padded containers. They also retrieved sculptures that belonged to Dixons father and piles of clothes still on hangers.

As the flames swept over drought-stricken neighborhoods with alarming speed, propelled by guests up to 105 mph, tens of thousands were ordered to flee.

The cause of the blaze was under investigation. Emergency authorities said utility officials found no downed power lines around where the fire broke out.

Pelle said that appropriate action would be taken if the cause was found to be arson or reckless behavior with fire.

He said authorities were pursuing a number of tips and had executed a search warrant at one particular location.

With some roads still closed, people walked back to their homes to get clothes or medicine, turn the water off to prevent the pipes from freezing, or see if they still had a house. They left carrying backpacks and pulling suitcases or wagons down the sidewalk.

David Marks stood on a hillside overlooking Superior with others, using a pair of binoculars and a long-range camera lens to see if his house, and those of his neighbors, were still there, but he couldnt tell for sure whether his place was OK. He said at least three friends lost their homes.

He had watched from the hillside as the neighborhood burned.

Ive never seen anything like that.  Just house after house, fences, just stuff flying through the air, just caught on fire.

President Joe Biden on Friday declared a major disaster in the area, ordering federal aid be made available to those affected.

The wildfire broke out unusually late in the year following an extremely dry fall and winter until the overnight snowfallconditions that have been associated with the prevailing La Nina.

Pelle and Gov. Jared Polis said as many as 1,000 homes might have been lost, though that wont be known until crews can assess the damage.

Superior and Louisville are filled with middle- and upper-middle-class subdivisions with shopping centers, parks, and schools. The area is between Denver and Boulder, home to the University of Colorado.

Ninety percent of Boulder County is in severe or extreme drought, and it hadnt seen substantial rainfall since mid-summer. Denver set a record for consecutive days without snow before it got a small storm on Dec. 10, its last snowfall before the wildfires broke out.

Bruce Janda faced the loss of his Louisville home of 25 years in person Friday.

We knew that the house was totaled, but I felt the need to see it, see what the rest of the neighborhood looked like, he said. We all know each other and we all love each other. Its hard to see this happen to all of us.

By Brittany Peterson, Patty Nieberg, and Colleen Slevin. The Epoch Times contributed to this report.
A lone flame flickers as smoke roils from the remains of a home destroyed by a pair of wildfires in Superior, Colo., on Jan. 1, 2022. (David Zalubowski/AP Photo)

Officials: Nearly 1,000 Structures Destroyed in Colorado Fire

SUPERIOR, Colo.A Colorado official says nearly 1,000 homes and other structures were destroyed, hundreds more were damaged, and three people are missing after a wildfire charred numerous neighborhoods in a suburban area at the base of the Rocky Mountains.

Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle also said Saturday that investigators are still trying to find the cause of the wind-whipped blaze that erupted Thursday and blackened entire neighborhoods in the area located between Denver and Boulder.

Pelle said utility officials found no downed power lines around where the fire broke out. He said authorities were pursuing a number of tips and had executed a search warrant at one particular location. He declined to give details.

A sheriffs official who declined to provide his name confirmed that one property was under investigation in Boulder Countys Marshall Mesa area, a region of open grassland about 2 miles west of the hard-hit town of Superior. A National Guard Humvee blocked access to the property, which was only one of several under investigation, the official said.

The totals given by Pelle include destroyed barns, outbuildings, and other structures, but the vast majority were homes, Boulder County spokesperson Jennifer Churchill said late Saturday.

Officials had previously estimated that at least 500 homesand possibly 1,000were destroyed in the fire, which by Friday was no longer a threat. Residents have slowly started returning to see the scale of the devastation.

Authorities had said earlier no one was missing. But Churchill said that was due to confusion inherent when agencies are scrambling to manage an emergency.

Pelle said officials were organizing cadaver teams to search for the missing in the Superior area and in unincorporated Boulder County. The task is complicated by debris from destroyed structures covered by 8 inches of snow dumped by a storm overnight, he said.

The remains of a home destroyed by a pair of wildfires is draped by nearly a foot of snow in Superior, Colo., on Jan. 1, 2022. (David Zalubowski/AP Photo)

At least 991 homes and other buildings were destroyed, Pelle said: 553 in Louisville, 332 in Superior, and 106 in unincorporated parts of the county. Pelle cautioned that the tally was not final.

At least seven people were injured in the wildfire that erupted in and around Louisville and Superior, neighboring towns about 20 miles northwest of Denver with a combined population of 34,000. It burned at least 9.4 square miles.

The snow and temperatures in the single digits cast an eerie scene amid still-smoldering remains of homes. Despite the shocking change in weather, the smell of smoke still permeated empty streets blocked off by National Guard troops in Humvees.

The conditions compounded the misery of residents who started off the new year trying to salvage what remained of their homes.

Utility crews struggled to restore electricity and gas service to homes that survived, and dozens of people lined up to get donated space heaters, bottled water, and blankets at Red Cross shelters. Xcel Energy urged other residents to use fireplaces and wood stoves to stay warm and keep their pipes at home from freezing.

Families filled a long line of cars waiting to pick up space heaters and bottled water at a Salvation Army distribution center at the YMCA in Lafayette, just north of Superior.

We have a house, no heat but we still have a house, Noah Sarasin said. I just want to make sure that everyone else has heat on this very cold day.

Hilary and Patrick Wallace picked up two heaters, then ordered two hot chocolate mochas at a nearby cafe. The Superior couple couldnt find a hotel and were contemplating hiking 2 miles back to their home; their neighborhood was still blocked off to traffic. The family slept in one room on New Years Eve.

Both teared up when a man entered the shop and joked aloud that hed lost his coffee mugsand everything elsein the fire. The man was in good spirits, laughing at the irony of the situation.

I have a space heater and a house to put it in. I dont even know what to say to them, Hilary said, wiping away a tear.

Superior resident Jeff Markley arrived in his truck to pick up a heater. He said he felt lucky to be just displaced since his home is intact.

Were making do, staying with friends, and upbeat for the new year. Gotta be better than this last one, Markley said.

Not everyone felt as positive.

Its bittersweet because we have our house, but our friends dont. And our neighbors dont, said Louisville resident Judy Givens as she picked up a heater with her husband. We thought 2022 might be better. And then we had omicron. And now we have this, and its not starting out very well.

Dozens trudged through the snow to determine the condition of their homes and take belongings.

Snow covers the burnt remains of homes after the Marshall Wildfire in Louisville, Colo., on Jan. 1, 2022. (Jack Dempsey/AP Photo)

Viliam Klein bent over in grief when he saw the ruins of his 100-year-old home in Superior for the first time Saturday. Smoke rose through the snow-covered ashes; a few neighbors walked past, carrying what they could from their own destroyed homes.

At this point Im just honestly overwhelmed and I cant feel much anymore, Klein said. He sifted pieces of ash with his hands; wisps of smoke rose from his glove-covered palms. He surveyed what remained of the neighborhood.

You know the kids playground is just down the street over there. And I can buy new books. I can buy new furniture. But its really hard to build back a community and friends and a social network like that, Klein said. Im sad for my kids that theyre gonna lose all this. Im sad for everybody elses kids.

Donna OBrien bundled up with her son Robert to make the 1.5-mile trek to check on their home. I think were still in kind of shock, she said. This is our neighborhood and it happens everywhere else, but its not supposed to happen where you live.

The wildfire broke out unusually late in the year, following an extremely dry fall and amid a winter nearly devoid of snow until the overnight snowfall. High winds pushed flames that fed on bone-dry grasses and vegetation on farmland and open spaces interspersed with suburban subdivisions.

Ninety percent of Boulder County is in severe or extreme drought, and it hadnt seen substantial rainfall since mid-summer. Denver set a record for consecutive days without snow before it got a small storm on Dec. 10, its last snowfall before the wildfires broke out.

It didnt snow all winter of 2021. No wonder this all went up like kindling, Klein said.

By Brittany Peterson and Eugene Garcia
Clashes erupt between police and anti-COVID-19 rule protesters on January 2, 2022 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Pierre Crom/Getty Images)

Police Use Dogs as Thousands Protest Against Dutch COVID-19 Lockdowns

Thousands of people in the Netherlands capital of Amsterdam gathered Sunday to demonstrate against the Dutch governments COVID-19 lockdown measures before police cracked down.

It came after Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema issued an emergency ordinance giving more police to clear the central Museum Square after the protesters violated the citys ban on public gatherings amid an increase in COVID-19 cases.

The protesters also walked along a main thoroughfare in the capital city, playing music and holding yellow umbrellas in a sign of opposition to the government restrictions.

Some participants had a banner that said: Less repression, more care, while a group in white masks and white overalls held up signs, reading: Its not about a virus, its about control. Another held a Trump 2024 flag.

Photos and video footage uploaded online showed what appeared to be police releasing dogs on anti-mandate protesters. Netherlands authorities deployed water cannons, footage showed, as other videos appeared to show alleged Dutch Army veterans clashing with police.

At the protest against government restrictions in Amsterdam, Netherlands the police used dogs on protesters. pic.twitter.com/bESSeZZwMo  Marie Oakes (@TheMarieOakes) January 2, 2022

Before police moved in, other footage showed that several thousand people attended the protests on Sunday.

Outside the Netherlands, demonstrators in Germany last week clashed with police in the eastern portion of the country over new COVID-19-related restrictions. At least 23 people now face criminal charges.

In Holland, gatherings of more than two people are prohibited under the current set of restrictions.

Like other European countries, the Netherlands imposed the measures due to the Omicron variants spread, although studies and even some U.S. health officials have said the strain presents milder symptoms and far fewer hospitalizations.

People attend an anti-lockdown demonstration in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on Jan. 2, 2022. (Sanne Derks/Getty Images)

On Dec. 19, the Netherlands went into sudden lockdown as the government ordered the shuttering of all stores except for those it deemed essential. Restaurants, hairdressers, gyms, museums, and other public places were also closed until at least Jan. 14, the government ordered.

The lockdown orders came despite studies that suggest the Omicron variantwhile highly contagiouspresents significantly less severe disease than the Delta variant. The hospitalization rate in the United States is also comparatively lower now than during previous COVID-19 surges, said Centers for Disease Control Director Rochelle Walensky last week.

COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

Reuters contributed to this report.
The Lipps family (L-R) Michael, Terri, and Kaitlyn, attended the performance of Shen Yun at the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium in Raleigh, N.C., on New Year's Day, 2022. (Henry Wang/The Epoch Times)

RALEIGH, N.C.Business executives and their families enjoyed the color and pageantry of Shen Yun Performing Arts as a wonderful way to celebrate the New Year.

The Lipps family; Michael, Terri, and their daughter Kaitlyn, enjoyed everything about New York-based Shen Yun.

Kaitlyn liked how much she learned about each dance as it was performed. We went into it not knowing a whole lot about the specific stories of each dance. It was really cool to see how they tied it all together; it was beautiful, she said.

Terri agreed: Very beautiful pageantry with all the colors.

Michael Lipps, CEO of a healthcare computer company, noted expressive differences between traditional Chinese culture and post-Communist China. Obviously, I think the tie to ancient Chinese culture has been fantastic. This is a very expressive form of artistry.

Mr. Lipps said hes heard great things about the production and his daughters fascination with history and the performing arts drove us here  I think its wonderful.

Terri said people should come to see the show. Michael agreed. I would recommend people to come see it because it is a blend of a history lesson with a beautiful form of performing arts, and the combination of those two things playing out on stage with all of the colors and the music has been very impressive.

He said its very important to participate and support the arts at this difficult time. I think the ability to get out and do this again is a blessing.

Message of Strength and Hope

Patric Daly, an executive in the healthcare industry, enjoyed Shen Yun with his wife Tina and daughter Reagan.

It was a great message of strength and hope, he said. Its a fine line between being too critical, but actually showing the history. I think they did a nice job with that. Very good job.

He said there was a message of hope for a country with many cultures. I think it shows a diverse culture, so its not only about order and discipline, but its about individuality in the different regions of the country, as well as an expression of their faith without persecution.

The Daly family (L-R) Tina, Patric, and Reagan, attended the Shen Yun performance in the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, on Jan. 1, 2022. (Maggie Xie/The Epoch Times)

The Water Sleeves dance amazed Tina. It just was very symbolic to water and movement, and it was amazing when they all work together, doing it all at the same time.

Message of God and Freedom

Jason and Margie York brought their children, Nick and Natalie, at the urging of their daughter to see Shen Yun.

I absolutely loved it, Jason said. I loved the message about God and light, and I really enjoyed the different costumes and performances, the instruments. Everybody was super talented, and it was very enlightening.

The York family (L-R), Margie, Nick, Natalie, and Jason, attended the New Years performance of Shen Yun in Raleigh, N.C. (NTD Television)

Margie, a banker and commercial underwriter in the financial industry, said she learned more about Chinese culture from Shen Yun.

Shen Yun, this season, is presenting China before Communism to its audiences.

I really liked the diversity of themes and the history behind it to teach us more about the culture. And you know, I empathize too, with the struggles that the people have to endure with the communism.

Jason, a wealth advisor, noted how the show educates children as well as adults. To learn about the themes of unity, God, creation, working together, and freedom, and you know, having independent thought, I think, is very important, independent expression. Being very proud of your culture, I think, is very important, and sharing it with the world is very important.

Shen Yun is the worlds premier classical Chinese dance and music company, which went on to become a global phenomenon after its debut in 2006.

Each year, the company puts on a brand new performance with fresh choreography and original music, performed by a live orchestra that blends Eastern and Western instruments, combined with a patented digital backdrop that, together with colorful costumes and props, create exhilarating scenes onstage.

Reporting by Henry Wang, Maggie Xie, NTD Television and Yvonne Marcotte.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
Johnnie Hernandez said Shen Yun is "just spectacular" after seeing the performance at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, Calif., on Jan. 1, 2022. (Jack Bradley/The Epoch Times)

COSTA MESA, Calif.Retail executive Johnnie Hernandez thought Shen Yun provides inspiration at a time that normal life has been disrupted by the pandemic and shutdowns.

[Shen Yun] is about faith, its about inspiration, about coming together, said Mr. Hernandez, who saw Shen Yun at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa on Jan. 1.

Its nice seeing people get out, and it shows you that people can go out, follow certain rules, and we can be safe and do social things again.

New York-based Shen Yun is a classical Chinese dance and music company that tours the globe each year, mesmerizing audiences with its exhilarating dance performances.

The companys dance performances are accompanied by a unique orchestra that combines traditional Chinese instruments and classical Western instruments, as well as beautiful animated backdrops on the stage that interact with the dancers using patented technology.

Mr. Hernandez had high praise for Shen Yuns dancers and the colorful scenes on the stage.

Theyre so talented. The colors are so beautiful, theyre so bright. The men and women were so stunning, he said. The talent and all the things they have to remember, and all the moves, its just spectacular.

You cant help but feel good and be inspired by every single dance that theyre doing.  Johnnie Hernandez

The business executive noted that there is positive energy in Shen Yun, and said the performance leaves the audience with an uplifting feeling.

You cant help but feel good and be inspired by every single dance that theyre doing, he said. Its such a positive energy.

Shen Yun Brings Hope

Lily Francis, a lawyer, and her daughter have been coming to see Shen Yun for the past four consecutive seasons, disrupting their routine only last year when no performances were staged due to the pandemic shutdowns.

I love it, its wonderful, said Ms. Francis, who thinks Shen Yun brings hope amid the pandemic.

Ms. Francis noted that the performance is different each year, with the company putting on a completely new program of dance and music each season. But, she said, each year, we always have the same feeling: We love it.

We feel really lucky that we get to see something like this here in the United States, Ms. Francis said. Were really excited that it came back this year, and I took my sister and her daughter for the first time.

Shen Yun features classical Chinese dances, as well as folk and ethnic dances. Many of the dances feature storylines, which are like little excerpts from Chinese history, according to the Shen Yun website.

Ms. Francis said she loved the stories in the dances and praised the beauty of the dances and the colorful costumes.

It is a phenomenal show. The colors, and the costumes, and just how beautiful they areso well done.

Reporting by Jack Bradley and Jana Li

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
(PA) (PA Archive)

There is a spectrum of views within the police on UK Government proposals to deal with Northern Irelands troubled past.

Mark Lindsay, chairman of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, described the legacy of the Troubles, which saw almost 3,000 people killed, as a dark cloud that hangs over not just policing but society.

He said some within the police see the proposals  which include an effective amnesty on convictions  as a way forward, but others want to see all perpetrators brought to justice.

Mark Lindsay (Brian Lawless/PA) (PA Wire)

In July, the Government published a command paper outlining its intention to prohibit future prosecutions of military veterans and ex-paramilitaries for Troubles incidents pre-dating April 1998.

The proposals are opposed by all the main parties at Stormont the Irish government and many victims groups.

Mr Lindsay said some of the political narrative around legacy does not help modern day policing, adding that police officers attended every scene in all communities throughout the Troubles.

What has been lost has been the context of what had happened at the time. Its very much focused at the moment on the police were responsible for this, that and the other, and ironically a lot of the people making the calls for openness and transparency from the police are the people who know the answers themselves because they were involved in groups that actually led to much of this, he told the PA news agency.

There are proposals on the table at the moment which, if they come into play, may allow us to move forward and take it away at least from where we are at the moment, of this continual grinding of current policing.

I think legacy continues to feed into the narrative that every issue in policing is orange and green when in fact it is not, there is a far bigger society in Northern Ireland now than orange and green, but I think legacy perpetuates this, that everything is a green-orange issue.

Mr Lindsay said many former and current officers feel hurt that legacy proposals will not look at what happened to colleagues who died in the Troubles.

Story continues

People have different ways of dealing with all these things, but one that sticks in my mind is a family who lost their son about 30 years ago, and they said they just had to put it to the back of their mind, they know theyll probably never, ever get justice for what happened to their son a more dignified family you could never meet, he said.

It saddens me to see so much talk about legacy, investigations and what comes out of legacy with absolutely no talk of dealing with what happened to people who were public servants out trying to serve our society.

He said police officers believe nobody should evade justice.

Chief Superintendent Harry Breen, the most senior RUC officer to be killed by paramilitaries during the Troubles (John McBurney Solicitors/PA) (PA Media)

Were also very conscious that there should be no equivalence either  police officers doing their job and certain things happened that werent premeditated, and theyre now being looked at in the same way as people who sat and planned and plotted for weeks and months on end to take life, he said.

I think that hurts a lot of people because that is not the ethos of policing, it wasnt then and it certainly isnt now.

Weve certainly never hidden away from the fact if there were police officers involved in any criminality like that, they should be before a court.

I would just doubt how much of that actually did happen that hasnt been dealt with through the courts, because we have had continual investigations by the Ombudsman and others, and I havent seen any police officers in court for serious crime yet. And that could be the fact that not too many were involved in serious crime and the ones who were have actually been through the courts process.

He said it is for politicians to decide how to deal with legacy, but police must not be the only ones investigated.

We will work with whatever (politicians decide) but one thing were very conscious of is, in all these proposals, we dont want police officers left as the only people being investigated when everyone else is skipping down the country path thinking they have got away with stuff, because there will be an absolute tsunami of funding put into trying to pull out the slightest errors made by police officers and we dont think thats proportionate and we dont think its fair either, he said.
Students at a third grade class summer school in Chicago. Teachers are now being 'graded' based on their students' performance in an effort to tie teacher performance to student test scores. (Tim Boyle/Getty Images)

Statistics Show Americas Education System Is Failing: CRT and Lower Expectation Equals Fewer Literate Graduates, Expert Says

'Learning has been replaced by an aggressive political agenda designed to instill doubt, mental pain, and low expectations in students'

According to government statistics, Americas education system is failing. According to one expert, lower expectations and the shift in focus from academic excellence in mathematics, science, reading, and history toward the implementation of social constructs like critical race theory equals fewer literate graduates.

Public records and other evidence show that state-level and some local education officials are no longer focused on maintaining high academic standards and providing the best public education possible to students, Liv Finne wrote in her September 2021 report (pdf) regarding the lowering of academic standards by school officials in Washington state as they implement CRT. Instead, a concern for learning has been replaced by an aggressive political agenda designed to instill doubt, mental pain and low expectations in students. This race-centered agenda also seeks to divide children from teachers, their own communities and from each other. This harmful trend can only be resolved through policies that return high-quality academic standards to public education and well-funded and supportive education-choice programs that allow families to access alternatives services to meet the learning needs of all children.

Finne, a former adjunct scholar now serving as Director of the Center for Education at Washington Policy Center, has been analyzing education policy for the past 13 years. Her research suggests the unmistakable decline in the literacy of Americas students from fourth to twelfth grade is a direct result of the shift from academic excellence toward social constructs such as CRT.

Internationally, we do pretty well at the fourth grade, Finne told The Epoch Times, but we decline from there. Recent statistics support her claim.

Government data for 2019 shows the average fourth grader has a 41 percent proficiency level in mathematics. By the eighth grade, the proficiency level drops to 34 percent. By the twelfth grade, Americas students have an average math proficiency level of only 24 percent. In reading, fourth graders have an average proficiency rate of 35 percent. By eighth grade, the proficiency level drops to 34 percent, and by the twelfth grade, Americas average student shows only a slight proficiency improvement to 37 percent. In writing, the proficiency levels are 28 percent in fourth grade with eighth and twelfth graders sharing a score of 27 percent.

Americas students fare worse in science, with fourth-graders having only a 36 percent proficiency rate and eighth-graders dropping to 35 percent. Twelfth-graders have only a 22 rate of proficiency in science. The worst scores come in history, with fourth-graders starting out with only 20 percent proficiency and dropping to 15 percent by the eighth grade. By grade 12, Americas students have a paltry 12 percent proficiency level in history.

Recent numbers from USA Facts show similar results.

According to Finne, there are a number of reasons for the steady decline in literacy among Americas students the longer they remain in school. Number one is the low expectations we have of our teachers.

The Shortage of Qualified Teachers

We dont expect our teachers to be particularly well educated and they are not trained to teach the science of reading, Finne said. So basically, we have a public school system that is negligently instructing children how to read, and its been going on for decades.

Conversely, teachers blame other factors for the academic decline among Americas students.

According to a March 2021 report (pdf) by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the decline in academic achievement begins with the shortage of teachers. This shortage has triggered a domino effect, forcing principals to hire less qualified teachers or unqualified substitute teachers, which leaves students receiving instructions from teachers who lack sufficient skills and knowledge, which inevitably leads to poor levels of proficiency in basic subject matter. A May 2019 EPI study (pdf) showed nearly 30 percent of the teachers blamed low academic achievement on students coming to school unprepared to learn. Nearly 22 percent of teachers blamed parents who are struggling to be involved in their childrens education.

More than one in five teachers (21.8 percent) report that they have been threatened and one in eight (12.4 percent) say they have been physically attacked by a student at their current school, the 2019 report stated further. Compounding the stress, teachers report a level of conflict withand lack of support fromadministrators and fellow teachers, and little say in their work. More than two-thirds of teachers report that they have less than a great deal of influence over what they teach in the classroom (71.3 percent) and what instructional materials they use (74.5 percent), which suggests low respect for their knowledge and judgment.

Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University School of Education blames inequity of funding and resource allocation for the low scholastic skills of Americas students, insisting that the analyses of recent data reveal that on every tangible measurefrom qualified teachers to curriculum offeringsschools serving greater numbers of students of color had significantly fewer resources than schools serving mostly white students. Darling-Hammond further suggests that policies associated with school funding, resource allocations, and tracking leave minority students with fewer and lower-quality books, curriculum materials, laboratories, and computers; significantly larger class sizes; less qualified and experienced teachers; and less access to high-quality curriculum.

Finne suggested another reason why the system doesnt correct itself is that the education system is a monopoly run by the government and theres no way to hold the system accountable for results. We have tried for 40 years, since the report during the Reagan yearsA Nation at Riskrevealed we were in real trouble in our education system, Finne said.

Since then, Finne said other top-down efforts like Common Core, pushed by the Obama administration, also failed. Rather than improving education, the testing standards set by Common Core actually furthered illiteracy because those standards were based on good intentions and policies to make everyone feel good, but they failed because its based on a government monopoly system that ultimately degrades the quality of education.

Lowering the Academic Achievement Bar

Rather than develop curriculum that provides students with the qualifications needed to graduate high school, Finne says the education system has opted to lower the bar of academic standards.

Theyre lowering the bar in a couple of ways, Finne explained. Like the Ethnic Studies framework passed by the State of Washington in 2019, critical race theory concepts are now woven into the learning standards of all of the different subjects.

As Finne explains, traditional educational standards have been reorganized into systems of oppression and the whole CRT constructa false philosophy from radical professors in higher education is now being imposed as the truth in the standards of learning in K-12 schools.

When you take attention away from the basics, and focus on teaching this ideology, youre going to get a lowered level of knowledge and skill acquisition of the basics in reading, math, history, and science; not to mention learning falsehoods in history like the 1619 Project, Finne insisted. Its astonishing.

Finne also cited the movement to get rid of testing.

I see the state board of education is now working on eliminating the need for tests, Finne noted, and while she is not a big proponent of testing and believes students are currently being over-tested, she believes the elimination of all testing would be a disaster because we would not know which kids are falling behind and we would lose the proof that the current standards are failing.

Finne explained that one of the things the top-down reforms did was to require state tests to measure student knowledge in math, reading, and science. Those tests revealed a huge academic achievement gap of 20 to 30 points between white and Asian students and those of black, Hispanic, and Native American children.

So, the CRT concepts come along by virtue of the radicals, Finne said. Educators no longer learn how to teach reading writing and science. They learn how to teach social justice to the children. So, their priorities have been turned completely upside down. Were not focused on teaching children who arent doing well in schools to a higher level. Were lowering the bar.

According to Finnes September 2021 (pdf) report for Washing Policy Center, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction in Washington State is now in the process of lowering learning standards in the areas of English language arts, history, social studies, math, and science, and replacing them with standards that incorporate best practices in Ethnic Studies. They are also developing Ethnic Studies materials for K-12 grades. The decision follows Washington State Governor Jay Inslees signing of SB 5044 J (pdf) in April, which requires CRT training for all school staff, board directors, teachers, and administrators in public schools across the state. Earlier, in 2019, the legislature voted to weaken the official definition of Basic Education by shifting learning resources away from core academic standards to producing global citizens in a global society with an appreciation for diverse cultures.

The Status Quo System

According to Finne, the new push by the school system to abandon efforts of academic achievement and shift toward social constructs like CRT is an effort to hide the fact that they have failed in their jobs to educate our children. The whole idea is that if the community knew that their schools are not educating their children to basic levels they would rise up, Finne said. Just look whats happening now with the uprising of parents against CRT in places like Loudoun County [Virginia] and theyre still going forward with it. Its a huge uphill battle for parents.

The whole system has promoted children whether they learn the content or not, Finne said. So why should they care if a whole generation of children lost the content of a year? Its consistent with their practice. They do not individualize education. They dont make sure each, individual child is ready to go on to the next grade. They move them along, especially minority children. The only people blocking real reform are the defenders of the status quo, the ones who like it just the way it is.

Teachers Unions are indeed the ones who fight against charter schools, school choice, and parental involvement and fought to keep kids out of classrooms during the COVID-19 outbreak. According to Finne, if they really cared about black lives, they would be expanding their options for charter schools. But theyre not. If these critical race theorists are truly intent on helping the children, they would be going after the unions. But theyre not.

Remove all Indicators of Failure

Through the years, schools have sought to eliminate the concept of winning to protect the feelings of those who lost. It started when teachers stopped using red pens in grading because it was suggested by experts that the use of a red pen may convey unintentional negative emotions. It was later suggested that teachers stop using behavior charts because rewards are for training pets, not people and treating behavior as good or bad is part of an antiquated paradigm that doesnt take into consideration a childs temperament, developmental stage or emotional needs. Schools went on to do away with keeping score in sports, eliminating valedictorians and trophies. Now schools are trying to eliminate standardized testing because its supposedly racist.

With test scores going down, now they want to take tests out altogether, Finne lamented. Thats not the way forward. If you study CRT ideology, its consistent with their thinking, that the system is racist, whites are oppressors, the only reason why minority children arent getting ahead is because theyre unfairly treated compared to whites. So how do we fix that? We remove all indicators that show we arent doing well as educators.

On July 14, 2021, Oregon Democratic Gov. Kate Brown quietly signed a bill that drops the requirement that high school students demonstrate proficiency in reading, writing, or math before graduation.

In the effort to address learning loss due to the 2020-2021 school closures, Virginias Alexandria City Public Schools instituted a new policy (pdf) that stopped requiring students to complete homework assignments on time, declared final exams grades will only be counted if it does not lower the students final grade for the course, and ruled that the lowest grade that may be awarded on a final exam is 50 percent.

In November 2021, California State University proudly announced the dramatic growth in the number of graduates after lowering the standards for graduation.

In July of 2021, Nevadas Clark County School Board voted to revise the districts grading policy to only allow grades above 50 percent, to allow students to revise assignments, retake tests, and to eliminate some behavioral factors like attendance and participation from grades.

Citing racial inequity as the motivation, several schools in Southern California have directed teachers to ditch the standard A-F grading system and apply grades based on whether or not they believe students have learned what was expected of them rather than penalizing them for behavior, work habits, and missed assignment deadlines. New York did the same thing in January 2021.

The Silver COVID-19 Lining

Ironically, Finne believes the greatest hope for the education of Americas children will rise from the ashes of the COVID-19 school lockdowns.

The silver lining is we will eventually figure out how terrible it has been, Finne said. Through the COVID shutdowns it has become clear how far behind so many kids are and the movements to expand school choice is not going away, because parents have woken up. Thats whats so exciting about the COVID school shutdowns. Together with the takeover of the schools by this crazy critical race theory idea that children are bad and if theyre white theyre racist and if theyre not white theyre victims, that is going to lead to lawsuits.

Maybe out of the ashes of this, school choice will arise, Finne opined of the educational chaos that ensued during the lockdowns. This is still a democracy. The exchange of ideas is still happening in education because we do care about our children. Thats what Im hoping; that people will see the wisdom of giving parents real control, not just window dressing like involving parents and having parent involvement coordinators, but real control.
A view of the South China Sea between the city of Xiamen in China, in the far distance, and the islands of Kinmen in Taiwan, in the foreground, as seen from the airspace above Kinmen, Taiwan, on Feb. 2, 2021. (An Rong Xu/Getty Images)

Taiwanese Businessman Seeks Compensation From Chinese Regime for Forced Demolition of Factory in Xinjiang

After Taiwanese corporate Far East Group was fined heavily $72 million by the Chinese communist regime in November 2021, increasing difficulties that Taiwanese businesses are facing in mainland China have attracted wider attention.

On Dec. 5, 2021, when Taiwans Vice President Lai Ching-te went to visit Kinmen, he met a Taiwanese businessman surnamed Wang. Wang had been doing business in China for decades and came to make a petition.

Kinmen is a group of islands governed by the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the frontline facing Xiamen, controlled by communist China in the mainland. Lai went to Kinmen in December to explain the Taiwan governments policies prior to Taiwans referendums on four political and social issues.

Wang wanted to inform the Taiwan government that his environmental technology factory in Xinjiang, China, was suddenly torn down at the end of November by the Chinese regime without warning. He was hoping to get the Taiwanese governments help to get justice. Wang said later that the Taiwanese government has promised to assist him.

Wang told the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times he temporarily returned to Kinmen in 2019 to send his child to school and then was unable to return to China due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During this period, he communicated remotely to handle the work and business of his factory in Xinjiang, keeping in touch with Chinese employees and keeping the factory in operation. Everything was normal and he didnt notice anything unusual.

But last November, employees told him that the Chinese regime sent personnel to the factory to demolish it without warning, tearing it down to the ground in a short time. Wang said that several equipment in the factory that was used for processing oil dehydration, each worth more than 500,000 yuan ($79,000), went missing. He estimated that the overall loss amounted to tens of millions of yuan (millions of dollars). He said that after the incident, he immediately contacted the Chinese authorities, but did not receive any response.

After he made a petition to Lai, the Chinese regimes Taiwan Affairs Office addressed this incident on Dec. 15, claiming that his land in Xinjiang was not used for planting and breeding in accordance with the agreement, and in violation of regulations. The Chinese officials claimed that they had repeatedly communicated with the Taiwanese businessman Wang, but saw no results.

What the Taiwan Affairs Office said is absolute nonsense, Wang said, I bought the land use rights with my own money. He explained that in 2007, because the local government banned breeding, he submitted documents to the local government to change the use of land. The local Bureau of Land and Resources also went to the land for surveys. The change was approved by the relevant governmental departments. However, the local authorities went directly to the factory to demolish it without notice.

Wang said hes seeking compensation of more than 40 million yuan ($6.3 million) from China, including compensation for compulsory land expropriation and loss of the factory plant and equipment. I hope to get a reasonable explanation and justice.

He thinks that hes fortunate to have petitioned the Taiwan government and the relevant departments are actively contacting the mainland Chinese authorities.

I used to be very pro-China, and now I finally know why people want to oppose the Chinese communist party (CCP), Wang said. He explained that the change in his mind was due to this incident and he realized the CCPs bullying nature. They dont care about human rights and principles, persecuting the people however they want, I am now starting to oppose the CCP. He compared it with Taiwan, here [in Taiwan] we value the law and democracy, and we protect private property very much. I feel that Taiwan is precious, and I must cherish it.

Zhang Yuanzhang contributed to the report.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) speaks during a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 5 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Twitter Permanently Suspends Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greenes Account

Twitter permanently suspended the personal account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Jan. 2, claiming that she was posting false information relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We permanently suspended Marjorie Taylor Greene for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation policy, a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement to media outlets, repeating a boilerplate message that it has offered after other recent suspensions were handed down. Weve been clear that, per our strike system for this policy, we will permanently suspend accounts for repeated violations of the policy.

Representatives for Twitter and Greenes office didnt respond to requests for comment by press time. Its not clear which of Greenes posts drew the ire of Twitter on Jan. 2, and Twitter didnt elaborate on the alleged misinformation that Greene had posted.

Account suspended. Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter Rules, her page now reads.

Greenes House of Representatives account is still online.

Greene responded to Twitters suspension on Gettr, a social media platform started by Jason Miller, a former adviser to former President Donald Trump.

When Maxine Waters can go to the streets and threaten violence on Twitter, Kamala and Ilhan can bail out rioters on Twitter, and Chief spokesman for terrorist [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] can tweet mourning Soleimani but I get suspended for tweeting VAERS statistics, Twitter is an enemy to America and cant handle the truth, Greene wrote on the platform. Thats fine, Ill show America we dont need them and its time to defeat our enemies.

Greene was referring to VAERS, or the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, which people use to report adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination.

Her ban comes about a year after Twitter suspended Trumps account following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach incident.

Greene issued an additional statement following her ban.

Social media platforms cant stop the truth from being spread far and wide, she wrote. Big Tech cant stop the truth. Communist Democrats cant stop the truth. I stand with the truth and the people. We will overcome!

Greenes ban suggests that Twitter is taking a more hard-line stance against users who post COVID-19 or vaccine information that runs contrary to official narratives.

Recently, prominent mRNA technology contributor Dr. Robert Malone told The Epoch Times that Twitter suspended his account, which had more than 500,000 followers. Malone had become a prominent skeptic of mandatory vaccinations among children.

Today it did. Over a half million followers gone in a blink of an eye. That means I must have been on the mark, so to speak. Over the target, Malone wrote on Substack. It also means we lost a critical component in our fight to stop these vaccines being mandated for children and to stop the corruption in our governments, as well as the medical-industrial complex and pharmaceutical industries.
A general view of JBR from the Bluewaters Island in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Dec. 8, 2021. (Satish Kumar/Reuters)

UAE Bans Unvaccinated Citizens From Leaving Country

The United Arab Emirates will ban its citizens from leaving the country if they havent been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Starting Jan. 10, only citizens who are fully vaccinated and have received booster shots will be allowed to leave, state news agency WAM reported, citing the UAEs foreign ministry and the National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority.

The new rules do not apply to non-citizens.

Exemptions will be made for citizens who cite medical reasons, as well as those who are seeking medical treatment overseas, or cite humanitarian reasons.

Some countries around the world, such as Israel, have barred COVID-19 unvaccinated people from entering, rather than leaving. Meanwhile, in Canada, the government barred COVID-19 unvaccinated people over age 12 from boarding a plane or train inside the country in late November 2021 and has announced a policy to bar most categories of unvaccinated travelers into the country as of Jan. 15.

Many countries and airlines have otherwise imposed restrictions on unvaccinated people, such as requiring them to test negative within 72 hours before entering.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Correction: This article has been updated to clarify UAEs rules apply to citizens, as well as clarify Canadas policy with regard to air travel. The Epoch Times regrets the errors.
British households are expected to see a steep rise in energy costs. Undated file photo of a boiler. (PA)

UK Conservatives Urge Removal of Environmental Levies as Energy Prices Soar

Some 20 Conservative lawmakers have urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to scrap environmental levies and other taxes to ease the pressure caused by energy price rises to British households.

Households are expected to see a steep rise in energy costs in April as suppliers are due to increase prices after the cost of gas in wholesale markets rose by more than 500 percent in less than a year.

In a letter published in The Sunday Telegraph, the lawmakers, from both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, argued that UK government policy was partly to blame for the rising energy costs.

They wrote: It would be easy to dismiss these as due entirely to international cost pressures that all economies are facing. However, we have almost uniquely caused our energy prices, through taxation and environmental levies, to increase faster than those of any other competitive country.

The letter urged the government to scrap VAT on domestic energy, which will mean a 5 percent reduction in energy prices.

It also called for the removal of the environmental levies on domestic energy, which it said amount to 23 percent of electricity bills.

The letter is signed by politicians including former work and pensions secretary Esther McVey and Craig Mackinlay, chairman of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group of Conservative MPs, which monitors the potential consequences of the governments environmental commitments.

Commenting on the British governments commitment to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the letter said that gas and oil will continue to play a big part in our energy needs for a generation.

It added: We are seeing the effects of high gas demand and limited supply in the international markets, pushing wholesale energy prices to historic highs. We hardly need to point out the risks of relying on other countries for our energy needs, especially those hostile to us.

The lawmakers appealed for a new approach to energy security, which supports increased oil and gas exploration in the North Sea and shale gas extraction.

Conservative MP Robert Halfon, who was among the signatories of the letter, said that green levies are 25 percent of our energy bills.

He told BBC Breakfast that the levies should be suspended at a time when people are struggling with their bills, though he said he has not called for them to be scrapped for ever.

In response to the letter, health minister Ed Argar said that the government recognises the challenges people face with household bills and with the cost of living.

He told Times Radio that the government has put in a whole range of measures to help protect poorer families and pensioners from rising costs.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Upskirting Has Become a Hidden Industry in China, and Its Everywhere

At 2 a.m., a woman walked into the bathroom to take a shower not knowing that there was a spy camera hidden in a ventilation opening of the bathroom ceiling. An undercover reporter with the Chinese Communist Partys official media said that he viewed the secretly filmed footage in an online chat group that people had to pay money to enter, and that hundreds of people were watching.

According to a Dec. 22 report from official media Legal Daily, Chinas spy camera business has become almost ubiquitous to every part of society, with the privacy of the public being sold at very low prices.

The hidden industry of upskirting has existed in China for many years, with the reporter having joined numerous chat groups and finding that the current business of selling pictures through upskirting has become increasingly specialized; some have their with spy cameras in toilets and hotels, while other offer live broadcasts of upskirting. There are even people who film females who wear skirts in case they can catch the moment when the skirt is accidentally lifted. In addition, business even branches down to professions: flight attendants and students are two of the main victim groups.

The reporter found many online stores on e-commerce platforms selling products such as spy cameras, but the stores do not state this explicitly on their product descriptions. These products are everyday necessities that have been changed into spy cameras, such as lighters, USBs, car keys with night vision, camera-type glasses, rechargeable batteries, and even facial cleansers, electronic alarms, razors, and Bluetooth speakers. The seller said that these can be ultra-long standby cameras, but also remote monitoring cameras, with prices ranging from a few hundred yuan to 2,000 yuan (roughly $310).

There are also modified phones, in which the extra spy camera is extremely hidden. A cell phone camera custom seller said that the modification of the phone looks no different from ordinary phones. The spy camera is on the side of the phone, so if one puts it flat on the table, the items or people next to it can be filmed. This kind of phone is priced at 1,000 or 2,000 yuan ($157 to $314). If the buyer ships their own phone, the modification only costs 120 yuan ($19).

In addition to the above-mentioned cases of intentional spying, nowadays, many people install surveillance cameras in their homes for safety and security. But some people take advantage of this market by using hacker technology to crack and control the home cameras, turning them into spy cameras targeting home owners.

Many home monitors use the default username and password, and the offenders take advantage of that, using hacking software to scan devices for a weak password, and then to break into the cameras. They subsequently use a Trojan horse program to access the camera, so as to remotely control the surveillance camera, to achieve the function of online viewing and playback of surveillance video.

In addition to a variety of spy cameras, there are some cell phone apps that allow phones to take pictures or film when the screen is locked, as well as backstage shooting functions and support for silent photography.

Enormous Profits

Pictures and videos taken secretly have been sold for a huge profit.

In a number of group chats, hundreds to thousands of pictures or videosnamed as worksare priced between a few yuan to a few hundred yuan for viewing. Some groups include a one-time membership fee, such as 88 yuan or 128 yuan (equivalent to $14 or $20), to join the group and see the content, which may be updated in the future. Group owners encourage more people to participate by saying if they bring their own original works, they can join for free.

There are also people selling decrypted camera IDsa couple of hundred yuan can buy hundreds of IDs.

In one group chat, some sellers claim that 220 yuan ($35) can buy viewing of 30 cameras of home toilets, private bedrooms, spa massage stores, locker rooms, and hotels; while 320 yuan ($55) can buy viewing of 60 cameras and 420 yuan ($65) can buy access to 100 cameras. Also, the higher the price, the more private the location of the camera.

Spy camera shooters make money because it can all be sold over and over again at no additional cost to the seller. According to a case published on Chinas official court website in June this year, each camera can generate 100 invitation codes for 100 people to watch online at the same time.

Apart from selling the pictures, some sellers use a faster approachblackmailing the victim. According to an analysis article by official media Pengpai.com in March this year, nearly 30 percent of the sellers take this approach.

Weak Prevention and Crackdown

Almost every major city in China has had reports of spy cameras filming in hotels, from hostels to five-star hotels, and the reports have been of increasing frequency in recent years.

A report from Sohu.com in 2019 quoted a hotel owner with 10 years of experience saying, legally speaking, that the hotel does not have to bear any collateral responsibility in the case of spy camera photo-taking. Hotels have no incentive to do a better job protecting customer privacy and cover the costly and complicated tests involved in checking for spy cameras.

Although the CCP has ostensibly cracked down on spy camera phototaking, penalties for offenders remain very light.

According to Article 42 of the CCPs Public Security Management Punishment Law, anyone who peeps, secretly films, eavesdrops, or invades the privacy of others shall be detained for not more than five days or fined not more than 500 yuan ($78). In more serious cases, they shall be detained for five to 10 days, and fined not more than 500 yuan.

In March, Zhou from Xiamen City was sentenced to 6 months in prison and fined 3,000 yuan ($470) for illegal control of a computer system after he illegally cracked 235 cameras on 43 devices.

Mr. Lai Yiming, a media personality living in Japan, told The Epoch Times that the nature of the Chinese regime dictates that police have no interest in cracking down on spy camera photo crimes.

He said, The main job of the CCP police is to maintain the stability of the CCP regime, and ordinary people are the target of police surveillance and crackdown, so how can they provide good service to those under their control?

Kane Zhang contributed to this report.
As temperatures tip lower and lower, emergency shelters are opening their doors, making room and providing a safe haven for those stuck out in the cold.

Since November, more than 1,000 people throughout the state have sought emergency shelter. More than 360 of them were previously unsheltered, according to data from the states Coordinated Access Network.

Shelter really does truly save lives, particularly in the winter, said Michele Conderino, the executive director of Open Doors in Norwalk. Its such a critical service.

Winter began Dec. 21, signaling the start of below freezing temperatures that could harm anyone left out in the elements for too long. Emergency shelters are ready to provide a place of refuge for Connecticuts homeless. And though the pandemic has done a lot of damage, it has also inadvertently made it easier for shelters to accept more people when they need it most.

Shelters typically see an uptick in clients during the winter. From November 2018 to April 2019, emergency shelters saw 400 more entering clients than in the spring and summer period, or May through October 2019. From November 2019 through April 2020, there was again an uptick  430 more entering clients, according to state data.

People definitely come in when it is colder out, Conderino said. All of us survive, right? Some of us have more resources to do that than others. I have seen people have very pretty expansive camps and really feel like theyre able to meet their needs outside, but when the temperatures drop significantly, people will come in.

Were just happy to be able to provide them a safe place, and if we can convince them to stay, even better, she added.

Winter changes

During the winter months, shelter staff are on-call 24/7. Especially when a snow storm is in the forecast, typically shelter staff stay the night to help, according to Jessica Kubicki, the director of programs for Supportive Housing Works.

Our capacity to address the need increases, Kubicki said, whose organization serves western Connecticut, including all of Fairfield County. We want to make sure that with the outside elements were addressing somebody as quickly as possible.

For most of the year, if someone is stuck on the streets of Connecticut, unsheltered and looking for a place to stay, they need to call 211 to get placed in an emergency shelter. Most shelters dont accept walk-ins.

In the winter, That goes away, Conderino said.

We dont want people to freeze to death outside, Conderino said, adding that it is a real possibility if people are outside and unprepared.

The states Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said it would be difficult to get an accurate number of how many people experiencing homelessness have died in the cold. However, the office doesnt see too many deaths caused by hypothermia  maybe a handful a year  and those also typically involve dementia or drug/alcohol abuse.

Open Doors has 50 beds year round  half of its usual capacity due to the pandemic. It also used to have 15 overflow beds for those walking in on frigid nights.

The pandemic did have a silver lining for emergency shelters, though. COVID allowed for homeless providers to use something they hadnt before: Hotels.

The state started using federal FEMA funds to help shelters pay for these hotels when the pandemic first hit. The state also provides additional funding to organizations for staff, food and personal protective equipment.

How to help Many emergency shelters and homeless providers need hygiene items for newcomers, as well as warm clothing like socks, hats, gloves and scarves during the winter, according to Rafael Pagan, the executive director of Stamford's Pacific House. Michele Conderino, the executive director of Norwalk shelter Open Doors, said warm coats, sweatshirts and hoodies, especially in larger sizes, are needed. Residents can also volunteer their time to serve meals and help at the shelters. To view a list of volunteer opportunities across the state, visit www.DART-CT.CommunityOS.org. Individual shelters typically have volunteer opportunities listed on their websites. Additionally, monetary donations help these organizations further assist people in need. See More Collapse

Conderino said shelters will be able to use these hotels through at least March 2022.

Now, Open Doors, as well as Stamford-based Pacific House and others, use spare hotel rooms to provide shelter for residents close to finding stable, permanent housing. This opens up a few beds for newcomers.

If somebody comes in and its really inclement weather, we dont turn them away and we will certainly keep them for the night until we figure out what were going to do the next day, said Rafael Pagan, the executive director of Pacific House. We always have a backup to the backup plan. We make sure that no one is left out.

Importance of outreach

But no matter how low the temperature gets, there are still people who refuse to take shelter.

In December 2020, despite the temperature getting as low as 30 degrees on average each night, 24 people who attended their appointments with a Coordinated Access Network specialist from 211 still refused shelter, according to data from the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness.

This is why outreach workers who go out and build relationships with people experiencing homelessness are so important.

Outreach has become a critical point in our system, Kubicki said.

Open Doors in Norwalk launched its outreach effort in June 2020. Conderinos outreach specialists meet people where theyre staying  by a train station, at an encampment in the woods  and try to keep them safe while they stay outside.

Ultimately, though, these outreach specialists respect their clients and their decisions.

Pagan said outreach efforts could take months or even a few years before a person accepts help. Some of this can be attributed to the prevalence of mental health issues in the unsheltered community.

Homeless providers have also been focusing on preventing homelessness in the first place.

Through the 211 system, callers will get an appointment with a specialist who can put them in an emergency shelter or on a wait list for housing.

These specialists can also help people on the verge of homelessness, or couch surfing, find stable shelter. This could include staying with a relative, going into supportive housing or sharing an apartment with a few others, which Pagan says makes housing a lot more accessible, especially to people who are on a limited income.

The specialists can also connect people with services and financial assistance to keep them afloat.

Its transformative, Pagan said.

Anyone who needs shelter or housing, utility assistance, food or other services should call 211. Resources can also be found by searching through www.211CT.org.

liz.hardaway@hearst.com
The TomatoFest Board of Directors would like to thank everyone responsible for making TomatoFest 2021 a success.

In May 2021, TomatoFest, with support from the Auburn Police Department, Cayuga County Sheriffs Department and Perform4Purpose, held a drive-through non-perishable food collection event at BOCES. Over 3,000 non-perishable items were collected and delivered to the 10 participating pantries: Moravia, Fair Haven, Weedsport, Cato, Port Byron, Salvation Army, Calvary, Saint Alphonsus, King Ferry, and Union Springs. Proceeds from the sale of fried dough by the Cultural Italian-American Organization and community donations contributed to the success of this event.

In September, TomatoFest returned to Downtown Auburn with craft, commercial, non-profit and food vendors as well as amazing musical and dance performances. A drive-through non-perishable food collection was held at the entrance to the parking garage, netting hundreds of donations for the pantries. Vendor fees, donations, a 50/50 raffle, silent auction, mum sales, product sales and a special concert with Joe Whiting and Mark Doyle made TomatoFest 2021 a huge success! Thank you to all the vendors and performers! Thank you to the volunteers from the food pantries and Grace House!

A special thank you to all of our sponsors and donors: Aversa Agency, Bouley Associates,Cayuga-Onondage County Teachers Association, Buschman Consulting, Heieck-Pelc Funeral Home, Lilly Plumbing and Heating, Moondogs Lounge, R.G. Wright Agency, The Citizen, Contiguglia Law Form, Daniel Cuddy/Cuddy Financial Services, Dickman Farms, Jacobs Press, Midstate Mutual Insurance Company, Mier Tool, Medent, Savannah Bank, Xylem, Cayuga Lake National Bank, Buffington and Hoatland CPAs and Michele Driscoll Law Office. Also, thank you for the continued support of: The City of Auburn, Auburn Downtown BID, Auburn Police Department, Auburn Fire Department, Cayuga County Sheriffs Department,Auburn Party Rental, Coburn Design, IMS, Inc, Auburn Public Theater and the Genesee Center.

On December 4th, the TomatoFest Board of Directors presented 5 pantries: Union Springs, King: Ferry, Calvary, Salvation Army, and Moravia Hope with checks for $2,255.

Looking forward to TomatoFest 2022, September 10, 2022! Donations are always welcome at TomatoFest of CNY, P.O.Box 1611, Auburn, NY 13021 or via PayPal on our website cnytomatofest.org.

The CNY TomatoFest Board of Directors consists of Gilda Brower, Janice Sanders, Mike Mancini, Terry Mahoney, Jim VanArsdale, Tom Falicchio, Connor VanEpps, Margie Stuart, Christine Siddall, Cathy Capeling, Kelly Logue, Robert Auchman, Bev Denninger, Debbie Pinckney and Donna Wolfgang. All thank you letters are reprinted as submitted.

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Anantara Phuket among B3.5bn Minor resorts deal to Abu Dhabi Development Fund

PHUKET: The Anantara Layan Phuket Resort is one of five properties in Thailand of which Minor International Public Company Limited (MINT) has sold 40% of shares to the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD).

transporteconomics

By The Phuket News

Sunday 2 January 2022, 05:16PM

Photo: Anantara Layan Phuket Resort

In a deal reported with an aggregate selling price of US$104.8 million (about B3.5 billion), the shareholding structure will be in a new joint venture, with 60% held by MINT and 40% by ADFD, said a release announcing the deal issued on Dec 22.

The other four properties are the Anantara Riverside Bangkok Resort, Avani+ Riverside Bangkok Hotel, Riverside Plaza Bangkok and Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui.

This valuation reflects ADFDs strong confidence in MINT asset management performance and the future economic projections for Thailands tourism sector, said the release.

The net proceeds from the sale of 40% MINTs interest in these five assets are primarily intended for deleveraging and strengthening of MINTs balance sheet position. These five assets will continue to be operated under the existing brands and under the control of MINT, the release added.

ADFD was described as a government linked entity established in 1971 which has invested in more than 500 projects and companies with more than US$40 billion in assets.

The fund focuses on two investment areas: liquidity management through various financial instruments including bonds and bank deposits, and equity through full ownership or equity sharing in partnership with public or private companies, the release explained.

ADFDs investment strategy is to invest in companies that play a crucial role in stimulating economic growth and creating job opportunities across key strategic sectors such as tourism, industry, holding companies, real estate and private equities. it added.

Dillip Rajakarier, Group CEO of Minor International commented, The transaction signifies our continuous commitment to strengthen our balance sheet and solidify our liquidity position to ensure that we are poised for the recovery to come.

MINT is pleased to be in a long-term partnership with ADFD and is looking forward to working together in the future to bolster impact in the countries in which we operate, he said.

His Excellency Mohamed Saif Al Suwaidi, the Director General of ADFD expressed, The tourism sector has long been a vital driver of Thailands economy and a large component of Thailands employment base.

Despite the current volatility from COVID-19, ADFD is looking beyond the pandemic and believes in the long-term trajectory of Thailands tourism sector.

This is our first foray in [the] Thailand market, and we are very excited to partner with MINT. Moreover, given MINTs leading position as the strongest hospitality operator in Thailand, ADFD is proud to form this long-term investment partnership which complements our investment strategy to collectively promote economic growth of our partner countries.

Minor International is a global company focused on three core businesses: hospitality, restaurants and lifestyle brands distribution.

MINT is a hotel owner, operator and investor with a portfolio of over 520 hotels under the Anantara, Avani, Oaks, Tivoli, NH Collection, NH Hotels, nhow, Elewana, Marriott, Four Seasons, St. Regis, Radisson Blu and Minor International brands in 56 countries across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Europe, South and North America.

MINT is also one of Asias largest restaurant companies with over 2,300 outlets system-wide in 23 countries under The Pizza Company, The Coffee Club, Riverside, Benihana, Thai Express, Bonchon, Swensens, Sizzler, Dairy Queen and Burger King. MINT is one of Thailands largest distributors of lifestyle brands and contract manufacturers. Its brands include Anello, BergHOFF, Bodum, Bossini, Charles & Keith, Esprit, Joseph Joseph, Radley, Scomadi, Zwilling J.A. Henckels and Minor Smart Kids.
Army probes Democrat claims of poll meddling

BANGKOK: Army chief Gen Narongphan Jitkaewthae has ordered a probe into a report of soldiers interfering in the Democrat Partys preparations for a by-election in Chumphon, said army deputy spokeswoman Sirichan Ngathong.

Sunday 2 January 2022, 10:29AM

Narongphan: Orders urgent inquiry

Gen Narongphan said he had been informed of the Democrat concern and instructed 4th Army Region commander Lt Gen Kriangkrai Srilak to gather the facts as a matter of urgency, reports the Bangkok Post.

If any army personnel were involved, they would face action for violating disciplinary rules and the law, Col Sirichan said, adding that the army is a state agency which must strictly remain neutral in elections.

She was responding to claims by Democrat spokesman Ramet Rattanachaweng that a senior-ranking army officer with the alias Seh Tor has led a team of about 100 soldiers in Constituency 1 in Chumphon where a by-election has been called.

Mr Ramet said the Democrat has learned of a local complaint that the soldiers were pressuring the partys pre-election campaign.

The Democrat urged Gen Narongphan to investigate. If the allegation has grounds, the army chief must order the soldiers to leave the constituency at once. Maintaining neutrality in elections is crucial. If state powers are exerted to favour a particular candidate or party, the system of democracy is no longer functioning, he said.

The Democrats are fielding Issarapong Mak-ampai as its candidate in Constituency 1. Mr Issarapong is a young politician with a high profile and impressive credentials, and has worked hard to help constituents, said Mr Ramet.

By-elections will take place in Chumphons Constituency 1 and Songkhlas Constituency 6 to find replacements for Democrat veterans, Chumpol Julsai and Thaworn Senneam, who have been stripped of their MP status.

The Constitutional Court ruled early last month that the pair, along with three list MPs, could no longer be MPs after being convicted by the Criminal Court in February last year. A royal decree calling for by-elections within 45 days of the trio losing their status will be issued following the courts ruling.
Phuket suffers first death in New Year road-safety campaign

PHUKET: Phuket has suffered its first death in a road accident in the Seven Days of Danger accident prevention and reduction campaign for the New Year.

transportSafetyaccidentsdeath

By The Phuket News

Sunday 2 January 2022, 05:59PM

Udomporn Kan, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office (DDPM-Phuket), announced the news at the daily briefing of the campaign held at Phuket Provincial Hall this morning (Jan 2).

Present to chair the meeting was Phuket Vice Governor Amnuay Pinsuwan.

The accident occurred on Day 4 of the campaign, from midnight New Years Eve to midnight New Years Day, Mr Udomporn said.

The victim was male, he added.

No other details of the accident or the death were revealed, according to a report of the meeting by the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department (PR Phuket).

Day 4 of the campaign saw 10 accidents across the island, Mr Udomporn said, resulting in nine people  seven males and two females - being injured, he added.

Of note, for the purposes of the campaign officials only recognise a person as injured in a traffic accident if their injuries require that they be admitted to hospital.

Mr Udormporn reported a total of 19 accidents resulting in 18 people  15 males and three females  being injured and one death so far during this years campaign, which began at midnight on Tuesday night.

Dangerous driving and drunk driving were key factors in the accidents, he said.

From an analysis of the causes of daily accidents in Phuket, it was found that the prevention and reduction of road accidents during the New Year festival 2022 during the intense control period found drinking and driving still the main cause of accidents, Vice Governor Amnuay said.

V/Gov Amnuay, like he did yesterday, repeated his call for officials enforcing traffic laws to also enforce COVID prevention measures to help prevent the spread of infections across the island.

Of note, police and other officials still have yet to reveal any information on the number of people caught and fined and/charged for traffic violations since the campaign began.
Montreal, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun this morning followed by increasing clouds with showers developing this afternoon. High 18C. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Overcast with rain showers at times. Low 9C. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
GODFREY  Bakers and Hale is my favorite farm-to-table restaurant, its happy hour-priced menu is generous and it has a warm, cozy fireplace.

One of my besties, Jerika Burton, works part time at Bakers and Hale, 7120 Montclaire Ave., in Godfrey, and loves the atmosphere, too, and working for the owners while shes an honor student at Lewis and Clark Community College and a stylist in Brighton. Id just finished bell ringing for the Salvation Army at the Godfrey Schnucks when I went to grab some munchies, see my friend for Christmas during her shift and warm up by the fire. It was one of those cold days, not like the balmy days of Christmas week. I warmed up while I waited for my to-go snacks, which were a meal.

Bakers and Hales happy hour prices are good, and the food is great, so I got three things. I saved the wood-fired chicken bacon ranch pizza for the next day. Bakers and Hales pizzas are phenomenal. The one I ordered is topped with grilled chicken, bacon jam, green onion, pickled red onion and drizzled with house-made ranch. Other pizza varieties include pepperoni, Italian sausage and mushroom, bacon kale, Margherita and veggie.

I also ordered spinach artichoke dip, served with house-fried tortilla chips, and shrimp tacos, full of shrimp tossed in house-made sweet chili sauce, chopped romaine, fresh roasted corn salsa and cilantro ranch.

I took my finger foods with me for a trip down memory lane to Homer Adams Park behind the Godfrey Village Hall, recalling my research for a book I wrote in 2013 about Godfrey for Arcadia Publishing.

Charles Lindbergh used to land his plane in that area on mail runs, to rest in a small storage shed. Each airmail pilot had a key to the shed and sometimes used it as an overnight bunker.

Around 1925, Lindbergh flew the U.S. mail from St. Louis to Chicago. Godfrey resident Francis F. Crivello (1916-2012), took a picture of Lindbergh smiling from his cockpit with his 1920 Kodak box camera when he was 9 years old. Crivellos original photo is displayed in the Missouri Museum of Aviation. A framed copy hangs at Godfrey Village Hall in Mayor Mike McCormicks office. The Crivello brothers gifted the photograph to the mayor.

Lindbergh also visited the Godfrey home of the Droste family, which was built on Airport Road, now named Lars Hoffman Crossing, after the villages first mayor. Lindy talked to the Droste patriarch about a place to have an emergency landing field and beacon light along the U.S. mail route that he piloted.

The U.S. government subsequently leased part of William L. Waters farm, located at the north end of the road, where now the Walmart Supercenter sits, on the same road as the flying field, where a tall steel tower topped by a bright, rotating beacon light was erected. Lindbergh landed in Godfrey several times, mostly due to inclement weather.

Electric location lights outlined the landing strip to aid pilots during emergency nighttime landings. At that time, a beacon light was located in St. Louis and St. Charles, Missouri, as well as in Godfrey, Medora and on up the line to Chicago. Lindbergh later flew his Ryan airplane, The Spirit of St. Louis, in the first successful transatlantic flight, which opened the era of modern aviation.

Local volunteers renovated the original storage shed around 2001. It now stands near the Godfrey Village Hall municipal building at 6810 Godfrey Road.
After she was sworn in as a member of Auburn City Council Saturday afternoon, newcomer Ginny Kent acknowledged other women who had also served the city.

Standing at a podium to give her first remarks as a councilor before a crowd at a special meeting at Memorial City Hall Saturday, Kent, recognized former Mayor Melina Carnicelli, former councilors Ann Bunker, Gilda Brower and Dia Carabajal and Debby McCormick (a two-term councilor whose final year was 2021, she announced she would not run again).

Kent, a Democrat was sworn in as a council member along with incumbent Terry Cuddy, mentioned the names of those five women, saying "it's on their shoulders that I stand."

"I look forward to the day that women in public office are ubiquitous and it may not even occur to us to mention them, but these women who blazed the trail shall not be forgotten," Kent said.

Saying Auburn is "a great community" where people work hard and support each other, Kent praised the city's institutions, businesses and citizens for their efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two years.

"I look forward to joining my fellow councilors now to guide the city of Auburn to the next four years of growth and continue positive change. My priorities include helping create a healthy future for Owasco Lake and protect our safe drinking water. I want to help our businesses thrive and I want more people to consider Auburn when purchasing their first home," Kent said. "And like all of you, I want to help us finally see this pandemic in our collective rear-view mirror."

Kent praised city staff and added, "It's with tremendous pride that I now step into this role and begin to do the people's work. Happy New Year, everyone, and thank you."

Cuddy, a Democrat who first joined the council in 2014, and Kent, were the confirmed victors in the council race in November after absentee votes were counted.

At the beginning of the meeting Saturday, the proceedings were kicked off by the ringing of Old Wheeler, the bell at the top of city hall. The invocation and the blessing at the end were both given by the Rev. Louis Vasile. After Linda Lambe sang "America the Beautiful," the final 2021 council roll call, with McCormick, was done. The council, led by Mayor Michael Quill recognized McCormick, who was city clerk before she joined the five-person body.

"I'm so honored to have been elected and to come in this building every Thursday and then five days a week previous to that, was unbelievable. So much history, so much of where Auburn is today, happened because of the people that served here," McCormick said.

The oaths of office were administered by Cayuga County Judge Thomas Leone. Cuddy had his nephew James Cuddy with him when he took the oath. When Kent went up, her sister Joanne Mitchell and brother-in-law Joe Mitchell were alongside her. With Kent in McCormick's former seat, Bobbie Panek read a poem. Cuddy then gave his remarks, followed by Kent.

Cuddy said he was proud to swear another oath of service to the people of Auburn. While he said he feels many things have changed in the eight years since he was first elected, he said his approach to the councilor position has not been altered, saying "I still champion this city, I see value in all that Auburn offers."

Adding that he has cultivated relationships with the mayor, his fellow councilors, the city manager and the public to enhance and promote the city's stature, Cuddy said he is excited to work with Kent to build on the city's progress.

"There are challenges the city faced back in 2014 and there are arguably more challenges today in 2022. We are in the middle of a global pandemic and our democracy is being threatened from within. But despite these very real problems, I see Auburn as a beacon of government that is actually working, living up to its mission," Cuddy said. "This is made possible by the excellent people and staff that serve the citizens of Auburn on a daily basis. I look forward to serve this great city for another four years and I'm grateful for the trust granted to Ginny and me through the Democratic process. Thank you all."

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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ALTON  Police are investigating a Friday night hit-and-run accident that left two injured.

At about 7:38 p.m Dec. 31, Alton Police and the Alton Fire Department responded to the area of the Clark Bridge in reference to a traffic crash with injuries.

Preliminary investigation revealed a maroon Cadillac failed to yield while turning left onto the Clark Bridge from Landmarks Boulevard and collided with an oncoming motorcycle which had two riders.

Both occupants of the motorcycle were ejected, said Alton Police Chief Marcos Pulido. One suffered a severe leg injury and was transported to an Alton area hospital before being flown to a St. Louis area hospital by an air ambulance service.

The driver of the Cadillac fled the scene into Missouri, according to police.

Alton Police is currently following up on leads in an attempt to locate this vehicle and identify the driver.
MADDY BARRETTE, Chariho, Softball, Sophomore; Barrette hit a two-run single in the seventh inning, lifting Chariho past Cumberland. For the week, Barrette was 4 for 8 with three RBIs and a double in three games.

MADDIE STEPSKI, Stonington, Softball, Senior; Stepski hit two home runs in back-to-back games for the Bears. In three games during the week, she was 10 for 13 with four homers, two doubles and 12 RBIs. Stepski is hitting .750 for the season with 22 RBIs and six home runs.

MICHAEL POOLE, Westerly, Baseball, Freshman; Poole struck out 14 Rogers batters to earn his second win of the season. Poole pitched a four-hitter and allowed just one earned run. For the season, Poole has 19 strikeouts in 12 innings with a 1.14 ERA.

SEAN BERGEL, Wheeler, Baseball, Sophomore; Bergel pitched a complete-game two-hitter in a 1-0 win against Putnam. Bergel struck out seven and did not walk a batter. He is 2-1 with a 1.68 ERA this season.

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P.C. writes: I read your recent article about pension company Mercer.

Our mother-in-law lost her husband last February. He was a Whitbread employee of 20 years, and Mercer tried it on by saying she was not eligible for a pension. It was a real struggle.

We had to call countless times, and it did the same as you reported, asking her to pay it first.

Big names: Mercer runs pensions for big corporations including Whitbread, Scottish Power and Morrisons

My dad also worked for Whitbread and is keen not to see this repeated, as Mercer administers the Whitbread pension which would go to my mum if dad passes away first.

Tony Hetherington replies: Since I wrote in November that Mercer is a global giant in the pensions industry, administering the retirement schemes of household name companies such as Whitbread and Morrisons, complaints have flooded in.

It seems I was right when I described it as a Big Unfriendly Giant, even demanding wrongly that widows return a slice of the pension paid to their late husband before the widow can have her own pension.

Lots of readers have had similar problems. Melvyn told me: When I retired in 2018, it took four to six months to start receiving my pension. I was lucky in that unlike some colleagues, I was not dependent on it.

Pat wrote: Thank you so much for the article about Mercer and pension payments. Just to let you know, this is nothing new for Mercer. Twelve years ago, I had to involve the Pensions Advisory Service to obtain payment.

Stephen complained: I retired seven years ago, and my state pension was reduced because of a pension due from Mercer. I found that when I left an employer who ran a contracted-out private scheme, Mercer had never returned payments to the state scheme.

It took me 13 months to get it to accept it was responsible for the shortfall in my state pension. It finally paid me 3,000.

John says he was left permanently out of pocket: I was informed that I and other pensioners had been overpaid for some time.

I was told in no uncertain terms that it was entitled to recoup the money in full. As a result of their incompetence, I now have a reduced pension.

And Bill reports that he is still waiting for his pension: I applied for my pension, administered by Mercer, on December 29, 2020  now just over a year ago. I have still not received a penny, despite my efforts to obtain it. Take a look at the reviews online. It is a national scandal.

Bill is not alone. Lynn told me: You are so correct to refer to Mercer as the Big Unfriendly Giant. I have been trying to get my pension money since I retired in June.

Month after month after month goes by, and if I ring I am told it is still working on it, and that I will receive a letter shortly that says when my money will reach my bank account. I have lost faith in this company completely.

Not surprisingly, complaints like these make others wary.

Patricia wrote: I am a Scottish Power pensioner, and I have been told that from January 17 our scheme will be administered by Mercer. I am concerned that we have not been balloted on this decision. I will try to contact our scheme trustees, but would be grateful if you could bring this change to the attention of others.

I put every one of these complaints and concerns to Mercer. It refused to comment, even if complainants signed a legally binding authority.

The Big Unfriendly Giant told me: As per our company procedure, we do not comment on individual client or member issues. We can confirm our team is reviewing each of the cases and will be contacting the individuals as a priority to ensure all matters are resolved.

If your complaint is here, and you hear nothing from Mercer, let me know. If your complaint is not here and Mercer is ignoring you, let me know.

I doubt if there is a carpet at Mercer HQ that is big enough for it to brush every pensioners problems under. It is time they were dragged out into the light.

Your premium bond number really is up!

Missing prizes: NS&I Premium Bonds remain highly popular

Ms R.B. writes: I invested 50,000 in NS&I premium bonds in June 2020, and a few months later I received 75 in prizes.

However, I have since received four emails from NS&I, congratulating me on winnings covering other months, yet when I use the online prize checker, it tells me I have not won. I have had no joy when trying to contact NS&I about this.

Tony Hetherington replies: I asked officials at the head office of NS&I to look into this and they quickly found the answer. You cashed in all your premium bonds in 2006, and held none until you invested again in 2020.

This meant you were given a new bondholders number  but when you used the online prize checker, you entered your original 2006 number.

If you go back online and enter your new number, you will find that you really have won prizes totalling 300.

And if you check your bank account, you will find that all these prizes are sitting there.

Coinbase has frozen my account

Frozen: Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has locked a reader out of their account

L.W. writes: I recently inherited some money. I decided to invest in cryptocurrency and was doing well until Coinbase froze my account for no apparent reason, under the guise of fraud prevention.

I have contacted the firm and been told to be patient and someone will review my account, but it has now been a few months and I feel completely fobbed off.

Tony Hetherington replies: A spokesman for Coinbase told me that it allows investors to open an account and deal in Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies, and only later does it take up any queries.

I would have imagined that any necessary checks  particularly to reject potential money launderers  would have been carried out the moment an investor applied for an account, but apparently not.

The result, of course, is that an account can be frozen just when it is inconvenient or damaging for the customer, so I asked Coinbase whether customers should regard it as normal to be able to invest money instantly, deal instantly, yet face potential long delays in making withdrawals. It seems the answer is yes.

The spokesman offered his apologies, but explained: As part of our robust compliance procedures, there are occasionally circumstances where we are required to temporarily freeze a customers account.
Beleaguered tech giant THG has been dealt a fresh blow by a record surge in City traders betting on a fall in its share price, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The number of contracts out on loan  so-called short positions which controversially allow investors to profit from a drop in the share price  have doubled in the past fortnight, hitting a new high.

The value of shares held by short-sellers is now 110million.

Control: There have been persistent rumours that THG's billionaire founder Matthew Moulding (pictured), also its largest shareholder, may seek to take it private

The sustained short attacks are threatening to derail a recovery in the share price. They come despite persistent rumours that the companys billionaire founder Matthew Moulding, also its largest shareholder, may seek to take it private.

Moulding, 49, who is chairman and chief executive of THG, complained in October that shorters were largely to blame for the plummeting share price.

But THG  known as The Hut  has also been facing pressure from shareholders since a blockbuster 5.4 billion float failed to deliver.

Investors have been spooked by concerns over Mouldings powerful role as well as by the growth prospects for THGs much vaunted Ingenuity e-commerce division.

The shares initially rocketed after the float in September 2019, hitting a 7.99 peak last January.

But in September, they plummeted below the 5 float price amid warnings from some City researchers who alleged there had been myriad strategic and corporate issues. The shares closed at 2.29 on Friday.

The Mail on Sunday reported in September that secretive research house The Analyst had recommended that City traders take short positions. Growth prospects at Ingenuity were described as unrealistic. The Analyst reversed that recommendation on December 6 shortly before the shares hit a low of 1.67.

But traders taking short-selling contracts, a practice dominated by hedge funds, appear to have shrugged off the advice and the bid rumours despite a bounce in the price.

Sinking: THG shares initially rocketed after the float in September 2019, hitting a 7.99 peak last January. But in September, they plummeted below the 5 float price

By last Wednesday, the number of short positions had doubled in just 16 days to 4 per cent of the stock, according to data from research firm IHS Markit for The Mail on Sunday.

The number held in such positions is currently three times greater than when Moulding complained about short trading activity in October.

The majority of THG is owned by Moulding and his associates so the slice of shares being shorted represents a larger portion of those that are available to trade on the open market.

That means the level of short positions has a bigger impact on the share price than if the shares were more freely traded.

Short-sellers are often criticised, but they have recently been lauded for spotting fundamental flaws in stock market-listed companies, as well as concerns about company culture and even fraud. The Analyst is credited as the whistleblower that sounded the alarm in 2014 over Wirecard, which in 2019 filed for insolvency with debts of more than 3 billion.

The research house declared shares in Carillion and Debenhams were worthless well ahead of their collapse and last year it forecast that shares in Deliveroo, then at 2.47, would fall 40 per cent. The shares closed at 2.09 on Friday  just over half of the 3.90 float price in March.

One City source said The Analyst had changed its recommendation on THGs shares because there wasnt much further they could go [down]. The source added: They believe there is a good underlying business there, but just think it has been overhyped.

In November, Moulding said the slump in the share price and ensuing criticism had been a sh***y time and he branded the flotation a mistake.

Last week, financial information service Bloomberg reported that the company had held internal discussions about selling off its prize health nutrition or beauty assets or even exiting the stock market through a private buyout.

THG has been criticised over its founders dual role at the firm and Moulding has faced calls to pay back an 830 million share-based bonus. The company has said it will seek a new chair and that Moulding will relinquish his golden share which gives him the power to veto any takeover.

THGs Beauty and Nutrition divisions  which include websites Myprotein and Lookfantastic  account for more than 80 per cent of sales, while Ingenuity accounts for just 9 per cent.
Virgin Money boss David Duffy is under scrutiny from shareholders after delaying profit targets while seeing his pay packet double.

Sources told The Mail on Sunday some shareholders have become increasingly disgruntled with the banks performance since the 1.7 billion merger in 2018 with Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banking Group (CYBG), previously owned by National Bank of Australia.

Shares in Virgin Money  Britains sixth largest bank  have halved from a 3.64 peak in 2018 to 1.78. Duffy saw his pay more than double to 2.7 million in the year to the end of September, boosted by the vesting of a share-based scheme. He received just 12 per cent of his potential bonus.

Virgin Money boss David Duffy (pictured) saw his pay more than double to 2.7m in the year to the end of September, boosted by the vesting of a share-based scheme

But it is understood some shareholders are annoyed that the bank has watered down and deferred its statutory profit target and weakened other performance goals. A source close to the bank said the new targets have no relation to his pay.

In 2019, Duffy  who was chief executive of CYBG when it struck the deal to acquire Virgin Money  said he would generate more than 12 per cent return on equity by 2022.

But Virgin Moneys latest annual results, published in November, reveal that this target has been kicked back to 2024 and been diluted to 10 per cent. A source said: The Australians [shareholders] are the disgruntled ones.

Shareholders will be raising questions about why the bank is only now devising a plan to focus on its digital services, the source added.

Ian Gordon, analyst at Investec, said the markets were seemingly unimpressed by the banks annual results, even though it posted a 417 million profit and reversed a loss from the previous year.

He said a delay in delivery of cost reductions and further material restructuring costs were to blame.

Virgin Money has made numerous branch closures, and said in September that it would shut a further 31 early this year  incurring a 25 million restructuring cost.

Gordon said the bank is now suggesting its cost base will remain the same during its 2022 financial year, rather than be reduced.

Luke Hildyard, of the High Pay Centre, said: 2.7 million was the median pay award for a FTSE 100 boss last year so it might be considered excessive for a smaller FTSE 250 firm, particularly given the deferral of performance targets and the economic uncertainty that remains due to the pandemic.

Virgin Money said its 2021 financial performance was strong and that it has a strategy to become fully digital with clear targets.
The family behind one of Britain's oldest holiday park operators could be in line for a multi-million pound payday after hiring advisers to sell part of the business.

City sources said Haulfryn Group, controlled by the Minoprio family, has appointed advisers from Harris Williams to carry out a 'strategic review' that could result in a sale of its caravan parks.

It thought the division could be worth between 100 million and 150 million.

Split: City sources said Haulfryn Group has appointed advisers from Harris Williams to carry out a 'strategic review' that could result in a sale of its caravan parks (file picture)

The Haulfryn Group can trace its roots back to the Minoprio family, originally from Pavia in Northern Italy.

In 1908, Frank Minoprio bought a strip of land in Abersoch on the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales. His children later developed it into an upmarket holiday park called The Warren.

Haulfryn Group now runs residential and holiday parks in Devon, Cornwall, Wiltshire, Surrey, Cheshire and Wales. Its latest accounts show a 4.5 million profit from sales of 49.9 million.

The move comes as investment firms take a slice of the so-called 'staycation' market. Most recently, US-based Sun Communities bought Park Holidays, Britain's second largest holiday park operator, for 950 million.

A Haulfryn spokesman said: 'We have engaged advisers who will be conducting a strategic review of the business to maximise its potential.

'Our priority is a first-class service for all our residents, homeowners and holidaymakers.'
Just trying to arrange a meeting with Travelodge chief executive Craig Bonnar tells the story of the past few weeks.

The budget hotel chain boss had planned to discuss his strategy with The Mail on Sunday over breakfast at the Chiltern Firehouse restaurant in Marylebone, Central London  until, that is, Omicron hit.

Instead, the glamorous setting of a celebrity hotspot frequented by David Beckham and Rita Ora has been replaced...with a Zoom call.

Positive: Travelodge chief exec Craig Bonnar (pictured) is upbeat about the outlook for his groups 595 budget hotels

Which means Im at my kitchen table and Bonnar is in Travelodges London office. For the 47-year-old, it is becoming a familiar feeling.

Discussing the latest twist in the pandemic, Bonnar says cancellations at his own chain doubled as Omicron killed off Christmas parties, and that customers are making plans later than ever before. We see about half the bookings coming within the same week they want to stay, he says.

Yet, despite the lack of festive cheer for the battered hospitality sector, Bonnar is upbeat about the outlook for his groups 595 budget hotels. Not least because pandemic-hit workers and employers are increasingly seeking cheaper stopover options, while hybrid workers who moved out of town need temporary boltholes in big cities for days they are in the office.

Bonnar says 2022 will be a year of growth, with seven new hotels set to open across the UK and Ireland followed by faster expansion from 2023 when Travelodge gets back to normal targets of 15 to 20 new sites a year.

In total, 250 to 300 locations are being scouted as possible sites and further growth in mainland Europe is on the cards, adding to Travelodges franchise business in Spain.

Bonnar says: We have a diverse target list which should keep us busy for a few years, so growth and continuing to open new hotels is very much part of the plan. We have real shareholder support for that, which is great.

Bonnar, a former executive at value supermarket chain Asda, is banking on a boom in the budget end of the economy as the pandemic lingers on.

While wealthier Britons are able to splash out using lockdown savings, a report by the Resolution Foundation think-tank last week warned April could bring a cost of living catastrophe due to soaring household bills and major tax hikes.

Bonnar says: Whats interesting is that the budget segment of the retail market has grown far faster than the premium segment. Thats what were seeing within hospitality now too  and that trend will accelerate as people have less money to spend.

Bonnar, 47: Checkout to check-in Classic: The 1986 film The Color Of Money Lives: In Harrogate with wife Karlyn and three children Jack, 21, Craig, 19, and Lauren, 16. He commutes to the Travelodge HQ in Thame, Oxfordshire. Bonnar says: I stay in our hotels three days a week.

In Harrogate with wife Karlyn and three children Jack, 21, Craig, 19, and Lauren, 16. He commutes to the Travelodge HQ in Thame, Oxfordshire. Bonnar says: I stay in our hotels three days a week. Career: Started as a checkout boy at Asda in Kirkcaldy while studying economics at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. Rose to become Asdas vice-president of store propositions then joined Travelodge in 2017 as chief operating officer. Became chief executive in May 2020.

Started as a checkout boy at Asda in Kirkcaldy while studying economics at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. Rose to become Asdas vice-president of store propositions then joined Travelodge in 2017 as chief operating officer. Became chief executive in May 2020. Career mentor: Former Asda chief executive Archie Norman, now chairman of M&S, who was his sponsor on Asdas graduate scheme. Archie was fabulous. Some of the totems he introduced  taking your jackets off, first-name terms  were all about creating parity in the workforce.

Former Asda chief executive Archie Norman, now chairman of M&S, who was his sponsor on Asdas graduate scheme. Archie was fabulous. Some of the totems he introduced  taking your jackets off, first-name terms  were all about creating parity in the workforce. Favourite music: Shivers by Ed Sheeran.

Shivers by Ed Sheeran. Favourite film: The Color Of Money, starring Tom Cruise.

The Color Of Money, starring Tom Cruise. Favourite book: Crime thrillers by John Grisham and Ian Rankin.

Crime thrillers by John Grisham and Ian Rankin. Last holiday: A family city break in London in December, staying in the Travelodge in Farringdon. We paid more travelling down to London than we did for the accommodation.

He describes the chain as the staycation champions after July 19  Freedom Day  unleashed a flood of customers visiting its hotels for domestic holidays.

He says Travelodges guests are split equally between those staying for leisure and business, paying a nightly average of 45 per room on a sliding scale of prices to maximise revenues according to demand  similar to the model used by airlines.

Its biggest corporate customers include the Government and a diverse spread of FTSE 100 firms that Bonnar is too discreet to name.

He says: Corporates will become far more prudent in what they spend, because costs everywhere are going up. If you can save money without diluting the experience, thats what people will do this year.

Bonnar is currently finalising a strategic review of the business  spanning everything from growth plans to sustainability  in consultation with its three shareholders, investment bank Goldman Sachs and hedge funds Avenue Capital and GoldenTree Asset Management.

The trio pumped in undisclosed funding during the pandemic, alongside government support. They are now backing a plan to spend up to 70 million on maintenance and upgrading hotels this year after a 175 million programme to open 17 new sites in 2021.

Former Travelodge boss Grant Hearn, who also rebuilt the group after a CVA restructuring, said in 2013 he felt the business was the Asda of the budget hotel world, while Premier Inn was the more upmarket Sainsburys.

Drawing on his 23-year career at Asda, Bonnar says the comparison is no longer relevant. I dont think theres a quality gap now between us and Premier Inn. I believe we offer a better product at better value and we will continue to do that.

Travelodge, once part of the Forte hotel empire, is Britains second biggest budget hotel chain after Whitbreads Premier Inn

He says the majority of the firms new hotels are built from scratch, with Travelodge leasing the buildings from private landlords and even local councils.

Bonnar says the group will also take over more existing high street premises as retailers go bust, adding: High streets are under pressure, and if we get into March and a lot of the government support is finally removed, that will create some further turnover [of sites].

Already in the pipeline is a 70-bedroom hotel in Braintree in Essex, which is being developed by the council. Travelodge will split the mixed-use lease with retailer M&S.

Bonnar says it will see Travelodge work with the council to regenerate the town centre. We see more opportunities in that space, he says.

Shortly before Christmas, he signed off plans for a 75-bedroom hotel on the seafront in Skegness, Lincolnshire, and a flagship hotel will open in Dublin city centre in February.

Travelodge, once part of the Forte hotel empire, is Britains second biggest budget hotel chain after Whitbreads Premier Inn.

Bonnar took over as chief executive from Peter Gowers last year following a stand-off with around 350 landlords over rent payments early in the pandemic.

The spat resulted in a painful CVA restructuring forced through the courts and 17 hotels defected from Travelodge to rival operators in protest over rent cuts that knocked around 144 million off the hotel chains bills.

Bonnar plays down the feud: We were one of the first within the hospitality industry to enter a CVA in the pandemic  whenever you move first, you get more attention.

He adds: We had support from over 90 per cent of our creditors and 85 per cent of our landlords. So while it felt noisy from the outside in, I think the outcome was really good.

He admits the CVA put strain on the relationships but Travelodge returned to paying full rents for all its hotels last week.

He says regular meetings and a two-way dialogue with property owners has led to step-change in relations with his biggest landlord, property investor Nick Leslaus Secure Income investment trust.

Record trading over the summer has also lightened the mood. Revenues soared almost 10 per cent above 2019 levels to 229.5 million in the three months to September. That compared to 88.2 million a year earlier.

Bonnar says: I think [summer trading] was a real positive indication that the challenges we went through over the last 18 months were the right decisions we made at the right time. But everyone can see we are now coming out the other end stronger than we went in.
Christina and Michael Inman greeted their youngest child, and Cayuga County's first 2022 resident, on Saturday morning.

Wesson Inman, who came into the world at 11:32 a.m., was the first baby born at Auburn Community Hospital in 2022. Christina and Michael, who live in Moravia, spoke with The Citizen over the phone at the hospital later that day. The boy's gentle cries and coos could occasionally be heard in the background.

Christina said Wesson was born earlier than expected, but said he was doing well. She described what it was like seeing her boy's face and holding him in her arms.

"It's just totally amazing seeing him be so tiny but so perfect," she said. "It's just the best thing ever."

Michael added that meeting his son was "overwhelming."

The couple said their other children, son Kovin, 12, and daughter Elliana, 3, were not able to join their new brother at the hospital due to COVID-19 restrictions. Everything with the birth "went just as good as could be expected," Christina said.

She and Wesson are currently expected to be able to get out of the hospital in a couple days.

"Now we just relax and enjoy our time getting to know him," Christina said.

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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SPARKS [mdash] Mrs. Mattie L. Clements Martin, 93, of Sparks, Georgia, passed away at her granddaughter's home on April 25, 2022. Mrs. Martin was born on January 17, 1929 in Colquitt County to the late Ivey Lane Hart and Ola Gay Hart. She lived most of her life in Cook County and was of the 
Kingsport, TN (37660)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. High 81F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 56F. Winds light and variable.
From left, Dr. Amanda Stoltz and Dr. John Culp are among physicians from ETSU Health Family Medicine Bristol who have partnered with Helen Scott, director of Healing Hands Health Center, to provide health care to low-income and uninsured individuals in the region.
New Vision Youth worked with different organizations, churches, school groups and businesses to put Christmas wreaths on veterans graves at Mountain Home National Cemetery on Dec. 18. New Vision Youth and Daniel Boone High School Marine JROTC both supported this event.

New Vision Youth plans to help each year with the support of Gretta Simon of Nashville, Tennessee, and the Victor Simon (Vic Danger) Leukemia Foundation of Nashville.

Those who volunteered at Wreaths Across America on Dec. 18 included (from left) Gretta Simon, Erza Howard Smith. Deion Butts, Kingsport veteran Rodney Dye, Johnnie Mae Swagerty and David Carter, who coordinates the Wreaths Across America ceremony at Mountain Home.
An aerial photo shows houses going up in the West Gate development site, once home to a Walmart shopping center. This is among about 2,500 new housing units in progress in Kingsport over a three-year period, City Manager Chris McCartt told the Board of Mayor and Aldermen on Tuesday.
Despite increasing concerns about the omicron variant, higher education institutions will keep their plans for the spring semester.

According to a Dec. 27 update from Northern Arizona University, spring classes will start Jan. 10 as planned and the university will open for business Monday. Coconino Community College (CCC) has the same schedule listed on its website and had not announced any changes as of Dec. 28.

As we head into the new year, we have reason to be both vigilant about omicron and optimistic about our ability to meet this now dominant pandemic variant head on, NAU president Jose Luis Cruz Rivera wrote.

The update comes as other colleges have considered changes to their spring semesters in response to omicrons spread. There have been 160 sequenced cases of the variant in Arizona as of Dec. 28, according to TGens sequencing dashboard.

Cruz Rivera said in the update that the universitys leadership team had been communicating daily about the best way to both promote health and safety and deliver on our educational mission. He also cited the universitys success at managing a delta-related surge during the fall semester.

In thinking about these commitments, we must also factor in the reality that COVID-19 will be with us for the long haul, that each day that passes brings with it new knowledge, new therapeutic treatments and new public health strategies and that to date -- in the case of NAU -- we have amassed an impressive track record of success through intentional mitigation practices and the deep commitment of our Jacks to the safety of all in our community, he said.

NAU and Coconino Community College are continuing to encourage mitigation measures, such as boosters, masks and testing. Both have on-campus masking requirements and NAU has mandated vaccinations for its employees.

NAUs update said it would continue to pay attention to COVID developments and keep the community informed. COVID strategies for both schools can be found on their respective websites.

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Far-right leader Marine Le Pen protested on Saturday against the placing of a European Union flag on the Arc de Triomphe for the start of Paris six-month presidency of the bloc.

Le Pen, whom polls show to be President Emmanuel Macrons main rival for the spring presidential election, was joined by other right-wing politicians in outrage against the EU flag fluttering on the Paris landmark.

To adorn the Arc de Triomphe with the sole colours of the European Union, without the presence of a national flag, is a real attack on our nations identity, because this monument honours our military victories and houses the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, she said in a statement.

There was no immediate comment from the pro-EU Macron, whom Le Pen accused of giving a direct order to hang the flag.

But Junior European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune said the display was only temporary. The French flag has not been replaced. The election campaign is not a free pass for petty lies and controversies, he tweeted.

Macron, who has yet to say if he will run for re-election in April, defeated Le Pen in the 2017 run-off by 66%-34%. All polls show him favourite to win another five-year term.

Le Pen said she would appeal to the Council of State, which acts as legal adviser of the executive, to remove the EU flag.

SOURCE: REUTERS
The Omicron coronavirus variant could ease pressure on the German health system if it turns out to produce milder illness, even though infections are rising, the head of the countrys association of senior hospital doctors (VLK) said on Sunday.

VLK President Michael Weber said coronavirus would no longer be a threat to the health system if Omicron became as dominant in Germany as it is in South Africa, Britain or Denmark and if the infections are as predominantly mild as there.

There is a realistic probability that the pandemic will also become endemic in this country, Weber told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

As Omicron spreads in Germany, daily infections have been rising again in recent days after falling steadily in December, and the number of beds occupied in intensive care wards has also ticked up.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has also expressed optimism that Omicron seems to be less dangerous than previous variants, but he noted that it still posed a risk to older people who are not vaccinated.

The first vaccination drastically reduces the risk of death after only 14 days. I appeal to people: Get vaccinated!, Lauterbach told Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

The highly infectious Omicron variant has caused a surge in coronavirus cases across the globe. Worldwide infections have hit a record high, with an average of just over a million cases detected a day between Dec. 24 and 30, according to Reuters data. But so far deaths have not risen at the same pace, bringing hope the variant is less lethal.

On Sunday, Germany reported 12,515 new infections, with the seven-day incidence per 100,000 people rising to 222.7 from 220.3 the previous day. Another 46 people died, bringing the death toll in the pandemic to 112,155.

Lauterbach also said wearing face masks remained important.

The viral load of those infected with Omicron is lower, which is why masks are more effective. Everyone should wear masks when meeting other people.

SOURCE: REUTERS
Palestinian militants in Gaza fired two rockets toward the Mediterranean Sea on Saturday which exploded off the coast of Tel Aviv and prompted retaliatory strikes, Israel said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility from Gaza militants for the rocket firing or comment from Hamas, the Islamist armed group that rules the coastal Palestinian enclave.

Hamas has occasionally test-fired rockets, launching them toward the sea. Hamas-affiliated Paltimes news website said, however, that Saturdays launch was probably a malfunction.

After dark fell, Israels military said it struck at terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas Radio said some of the groups security posts and a training camp were struck by Israeli aircraft and tanks. There were no casualties.

In a rare countermeasure, Hamass Aqsa TV said militants fired two surface-to-air missiles towards Israeli planes. Israels military confirmed that a missile had been launched at one of its planes, which was unscathed.

In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem blamed Israel for the escalation.

The Israel-Gaza frontier has been largely quiet since an 11-day war in May. But on Wednesday, gunfire from Gaza that wounded an Israeli civilian drew tank fire from the Israeli military, wounding three Palestinians.

SOURCE: REUTERS
EAST GREENBUSH  As a Native American, Black and Roman Catholic woman, Edmonia Lewis overcame prejudices that saw her rise in the late 19th century to win international fame and become acknowledged as the foremost female sculptor in the United States, although she had to travel to Europe to work.

Lewis was born in 1844 in a cottage in rural Greenbush  now the city of Rensselaer and towns of East Greenbush, North Greenbush and Sand Lake. Her mother was an Ojibwa/Chippewa Native American from Albany known for her work embroidering moccasins and her father was Black, a man who may have been a freed slave and worked as a gentlemans servant.

Lewis, who disappeared from history after her death in the United Kingdom in 1907 and reappeared in the late 20th and early 21st century in art museum shows, will make another mark on Jan. 26. Lewis portrait will appear on the 45th stamp in the United States Postal Services Black Heritage series.

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution c. 1870

She identified first as a Native American. Later she identified more as an African American. She was in two worlds. She deserves her stamp, said Bobbie Reno, who has campaigned with other people across the country for Lewis to be honored since 2016 when she first became East Greenbush town historian and first learned about the sculptor.

Reno has researched Lewis life and lobbied for her stamp. The Rensselaer County Legislature supported Renos campaign with a resolution sent to the Postal Service.

Reno raised funds to restore Lewis gravesite in St. Marys Roman Catholic Cemetery in Kensal Green in the London Borough of Brent in Greater London, England where she was buried. Reno has also written and illustrated a childrens book about Lewis entitled Edmonia Lewis: A Sculptor of Determination and Courage.

When her mother died, Lewis went to live with her maternal relatives where she was known as Wildfire. Lewis brother Samuel Lewis, a prospector and entrepreneur, paid for her to attend Oberlin College, where she was accused of poisoning two white female students with Spanish Fly, an aphrodisiac. Reno said it appears Lewis was sent up as a scapegoat and acquitted. She eventually left Oberlin and made her way to Boston where she was inspired by a statue of Benjamin Franklin, decided to become a sculptor.

The story of her life is exciting, inspirational, Reno said.

Paul Buckowski/Times Union

Lewis bust of Col. Robert Gould Shaw after he was killed leading the all-Black 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was embraced by the public and sales of copies helped pay for her to travel to Rome, Italy, to study and work as a sculptor. She would do many Black- and Native American-themed works, busts of historic figures and classical subjects adopting a neo-classical style.

At the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, Lewis Death of Cleopatra was considered by many critics to be the most significant sculpture at the show. The statues journey to eventually reach the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. could be considered a metaphor for Lewis as they both found acclaim, disappeared and resurfaced to new public appreciation.

Not long after its debut, however, Death of Cleopatra was presumed lost for almost a centuryappearing at a Chicago saloon, marking a horses grave at a suburban racetrack, and eventually reappearing at a salvage yard in the 1980s, the museum says about the piece that is now on exhibit.

Its at the museum at where the first-day-of-issue event for the Edmonia Lewis Forever stamp will be held at 12:30 p.m. Jan. 26. Reno is working on holding an event in East Greenbush to mark the issuing of the stamp.

In addition to portrait busts of prominent people, Lewiss work incorporated African American themes, including the celebration of newly won freedoms, and sensitively depicted her Native American heritage as peaceful and dignified. A Roman Catholic, Lewis also received several religious commissions. The work she produced during her prolific career evokes the complexity of her social identity and reflects the passion and independence of her artistic vision, the Postal Service said in announcing the stamp

The Edmonia Lewis portrait stamp is based on a photograph taken by photographer Augustus Marshall sometime between 1864 and 1871, according to the Postal Service.
ALBANY Devout Muslim, nurse and gourmet cook Tyhisha Ghaffar-Adjei is known as Queen in the Albany neighborhoods she helps. For the past 14 years, shes celebrated her March birthday and Decembers religious holidays by throwing huge lunch parties in one of Albanys low-income apartment towers.

This year, she felt drawn to the 23-story Capitol Green Apartments at 400 Central Ave. In Google reviews, residents praised the maintenance staff, modest rents and security staff. But they worry about nearby drug dealers, addicts and prostitutes. When Ghaffar-Adjei chatted with residents, she learned how hard hit financially by the pandemic they were. Many worried because they had fallen behind in rent.

All her talents and bonds of friendship came in handy one recent day when pandemonium and danger struck high in the apartment complex. The memorable party was a triumph over a fire and a fight.

Building bonds

It's a tribute to Ghaffar-Adjei's reputation as an activist and her networking power that when she flashes her bat signal in the sky, heroes volunteer to help  including a volunteer whose nickname is Batman. The volunteers for her Dec.18 fest are a multiracial, interfaith whos-who of activists, including Kristin Hernandez of GROW (who helped raise money for $10 gift cards for each apartment) to David Pena of the Kids Club Discovery Center who delivered meals, And there is former SUNY chef Keith McGee.

In 2007, Ghaffar-Adjei founded her charity, Guardians of Al-Fitrah, named for the state of purity Muslims believe humans possess when they are born. She chose not to apply for 501(c)3 status so she had more decision-making freedom. For example, when Capitol Green management didnt return her calls, she decided that meant they wouldn't mind her setting up the Dec. 18 party's headquarters on the 23rd floor.

Thanks to McGee, the food was ready. Raised as a Christian, he met Ghaffar-Adjei in 2010 when he was searching for a religious belief that would connect him to a higher purpose. Ghaffar-Adjei told him how her mother revered Malcolm X when he was preaching in Harlem before and after his break with the Nation of Islam. She embraced the Quran's mandate to rescue the elderly from loneliness and help the poor, blending activism with Muslim faith.

"I was up all night with my mom and auntie cooking curry chicken, fried chicken when Keith rescued me," she said.

McGee is a busy man, the educational director for New York's Black Elks, where he's organizing the annual student oratory contest (which Martin Luther King Jr. won as a teen in Georgia). McGee also has his own company, International Comfort B Enterprise, to run.

McGee is working on launching an Albany food hall for Black and minority cooks who can't afford their own restaurants or food trucks. He wants to buy a former Key Bank building near the Armory for its location. He hopes Mayor Kathy Sheehan might allocate a fraction of Albany's $85.2 million in federal relief funds toward his plan.

But when Ghaffar-Adjei called, he put everything else momentarily aside.

I figured, God willing, Id get it done, make it delicious, drop the lunch boxes off and still make my own deadlines, McGee said.

Miraculously, the boxed lunches were ready and Troy food insecurity activist Steven Figueroa donated enough artisanal bread to feed the skyscraper.

And then ... mayhem

At 1 p.m., volunteers were busy loading the lunch boxes onto carts when they smelled smoke.

Law student Gianabou Diallo helped deliver lunches and gift bags to apartments.

There were lots of disabled folks, elderly people, Diallo recalled. Some couldnt believe we were giving away free meals, free $10 gift cards. They kept asking if they needed to do something to earn one.



Then a six-alarm fire interrupted the party. Someone put burning garbage down the trash chute, Ghaffar-Adjei recalled, exasperated.

Volunteer Paul Collins-Hackett, known as "Batman" by the Albany kids he mentors, has a gray hoodie emblazoned with the words "Save the City" instead of a black cape. Normally, he's dispensing free books to children or helping them learn a skill like filmmaking. At the party, he helped evacuate the apartment building's top floors. When sprinklers soaked the halls and the elevator shut down, he helped residents down the stairs.

Albany Fire Chief Joseph Gregory said firefighters responded within three minutes. The fire is still under investigation.

The sprinklers worked the way they should, thanks to the buildings maintenance team, Gregory said.

Small children who were unnerved by the alarms were soon enchanted by the huge red trucks. Some firefighters paused to talk with the kids. Soon, the children were chatting about the fire trucks as a highlight of the party, like a pony ride or a balloon drop.

We get a lot of recruits that way, (adults) who saw firefighters in action as children at their homes and decide to do that when they grow up, Gregory said fondly. then quickly added: Of course, wed rather get recruits through a presentation.

After the fire was contained, the elevators had to be shut down periodically. Teenage volunteers climbed up and down the stairs to deliver meals.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Then a bloodied man emerged screaming from his apartment. He told volunteers an angry woman tried to kill him. Volunteers helped him get to the medics who arrived with the firefighters.

The spirit remains

Ghaffar-Adjei calls her annual December parties interfaith celebrations, not Christmas parties. She wants to nourish attendees spiritually as well as nutritionally. She invited Albany County Legislator Sam Fein to talk with residents about Judaism. He stayed on to help pack gift bags with personal care items donated by the mayors office.

She invited Elijah Missionary Church Bishop Avery Comithier, who is famous for his Pastor Patrols that aim to quell nighttime street violence, to talk about the meaning of Christmas.

Frosty and Rudolph were all over that building; didnt see Baby Jesus decorations, he joked dryly. Look, I understand its a commercialized holiday ... Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus order his followers to celebrate his birthday. But if we're going to have this holiday, people could behave more as if they're honoring how Jesus lived.

Although he's heartened by charitable efforts like Ghaffar-Adjei's, he's been feeling discouraged by greed and crankiness he's observed in the Capital Region. He helps with Toys for Tots and discovered some families go to several toy distributions in search of the hottest action figures or "Bluey" play sets. Hes seen people push to be first in line at free holiday feasts and grab multiple helpings.

Comithier had to leave early in the event. He might have been reassured that Christmas spirit still thrives if he had met Ghaffar-Adjei's "golden ticket" winners.

The tickets were gold foil decorated to resemble Willy Wonka's passes that got winners into his magical chocolate factory. Ghaffar-Adjei's secret surprise was that she tucked a $100 bill under the gold foil.

The first randomly chosen winner was an elderly woman raising two preteen children. She came to the door using a metal walker. The little boy and girl ran up behind her to welcome their visitors.

The woman was handed a brightly colored tin box. The kids applauded and the woman thanked the volunteers warmly. Ghaffar-Adjei gently explained the prize was inside the box. The winner opened it and looked at the golden ticket.

The kids clapped, exclaiming over how pretty the ticket was. Ghaffar-Adjei later described the children as an example of fitrah, so innocently unselfish they were delighted by a scrap made to look like an imaginary prize in a children's book..

Look underneath, she urged.

They saw the $100 bill. The children and their caregiver gasped then hugged each other, thanking the volunteers. At this interfaith holiday party, generosity and sweetness were easy to see.
Thinkstock Images/Getty Images

QUEENSBURY  A feud between two men resulted in one of them rear-ending the other, striking an unrelated vehicle and fighting with a passenger on New Year's Eve, the Warren County Sheriffs Office said.

Deputies responded to what was initially reported as a motor vehicle accident on Highland Avenue near Lower Warren Street in Queensbury at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 31.
Personality has determined that I am mildly sentimental. Home to me is not a place that I eat and sleep in, it's a place that I physically and mentally belong to. Being independent and raising my own family and my own home but deep in my soul, there is a forever home that no place can replace. As long as parents alive the forever home exists for children to return. This tearing feeling tortures me every now and then. Seemly the most common topichome, almost everyone has, turned to a heavy one to me. More than half way down the road of the homeevent I still have no idea about how to say, I mean I am pretty overwhelmed, too much to do, don't know how to start.

I saw this piece from Internet, might also grab your interest.

"However, we have never seriously thought about how long can we stay with our parents after you graduate and live in a different place or ever abroad.

If in the year only 7 days after Chinese New Year can I go home with my parents up to 11 hours a day.(must be a lot social after return your home town, so 11 hrs instead of 24)

If the parents are now 60 years old till their 80 years old the time we can actually spend with our parents only 1540 hours. Which is 64 days that you could spend with your mother till she is 80 years.

64 days, this is the total days that we thought we still have enough opportunities."

That is the time left for people at their thirtieth. For me? I dare not to count... ....

I appologize for bringing a heavy topic at the New Year's Eve.

Certainly , I have home like :

Home is the starting place of love, hope and dreams.

The magic thing about home is that it feels good to leave,

and it feels even better to come back.

There is no place better than home.
I agree with Fred LeBrun that we should return as well to serious investing in higher education after 10 years of

austerity budgets and neglect" ("Good Riddance, Malatras," Dec. 12).

SUNY's mission is to provide affordable and accessible quality education to New York and the world. That mission is endangered as tuition has gone up, tuition assistance does not cover our college's costs, and SUNY hospital funding has been neglected before and during a global pandemic.
Editor's Note: This story contains data from the Office of Court Administration and the state Division of Criminal Justice Services that included an error. The states data included rearrests that occurred after the adjudication of a case although it was intended to only reflect rearrests between arraignment and adjudication. Updated state data reflect the rearrest rate for violent felonies at 2 percent and all rearrests at about 20 percent.

ALBANY  In the first full year after New York banned detaining people on a vast number of criminal charges, there were nearly 100,000 cases in which adults were released after being charged with offenses for which judges previously could have set bail or ordered them held in custody.

Among the cases, those released went on to be arrested again for alleged violent felony charges about 4 percent of the time, according to a Times Union analysis of newly published state data. In about 1 percent of the cases, the individuals released were arrested again on violent felony charges involving a firearm while their initial cases were pending.

Those percentages are generally low values, but given the sheer volume of individuals released statewide, they translate into thousands of instances of people being released from custody only to allegedly commit violent felonies soon after.

Between July 2020 and June 2021, there were 3,460 cases in which adults were rearrested on violent felony charges, including 773 with a firearm, after first being charged with crimes for which judges can no longer set bail or keep the defendant jailed. Examples of crimes that are considered violent felonies include assault, rape and attempted murder.

Overall, of the 98,145 cases in which individuals were released on charges for which they can no longer be held in custody, nearly one-third led to a new arrest while their initial cases were pending, according to the data. A majority of the new offenses were misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies.

The new data show people were rearrested in 2020 at a rate nearly double the rate reflected in data previously released this summer. The change reflects people rearrested in 2021 but who were arraigned in 2020.

The overall rate in 2021 was lower than it was in 2020, although that is likely to change when data reflecting people who were rearrested after July 2021 are included.

But prosecutors and law enforcement officials cite issues with the new statutes that are not apparent from the statistics, including individuals being released from custody repeatedly after being charged with multiple felony crimes or violating orders of protection in domestic violence cases.

Several dozen cases in Albany that were reviewed by the Times Union highlighted frequent instances in which judges have released individuals without setting bail, sometimes requiring them to wear electronic bracelets so their whereabouts can be monitored by Albany County probation officers.

In one case, a 33-year-old Albany man was repeatedly released from custody  or released on a low bail amount  despite violating orders of protection at least eight times over a period of several months in 2020.

The charges against the man, whose identity is being withheld by the Times Union, included breaking into the female victim's residence multiple times  in one incident smashing through her front window  and physically assaulting her. In other instances, police allege, he struck the victim with a pan and in another incident he was charged with choking her.

It was not until December 2020, nine months after his first arrest for breaking into the woman's residence and violating an order of protection, that a judge ordered the defendant be held without bail. That came after he had broken into the victim's residence three more times between July and October 2020, including violating an order of protection by calling the victim from jail when he had been briefly incarcerated. And while some advocates have noted the intent of bail is simply to ensure a defendant appears at court proceedings, the 33-year-old man had failed to show up at court hearings at least twice.

Prosecutors said the victim in that case has since become uncooperative, in part, because they said she was terrified by the repeated break-ins and assaults that she allegedly endured, including when she had moved to a new residence in Guilderland.

Prosecutors contend some judges have been misinterpreting the new bail statutes and releasing individuals who should have been held in custody. In September, a midlevel appeals court in Manhattan rejected a case brought by a defense attorney in Westchester County who argued a judge had no authority to set bail for his client after he was arrested on felony drug charges  possession of more than 7,500 glassine bags of fentanyl  while on release for pending felony drug and weapons charges in Massachusetts.

The court ruled the judge did not violate constitutional or statutory rules when he set bail on the new charges. Despite that finding, prosecutors said some judges continue to release defendants who commit new crimes while released on their own recognizance for a prior arrest. Many of the cases reviewed by the Times Union revealed that often happens in domestic violence situations where defendants released on supervision continue to violate orders of protection and allegedly stalk and harm their victims  but are not locked up.

The state's data included 28,540 cases for which there was no information about whether the person was rearrested, so the Times Union excluded those cases from its analysis. The Division of Criminal Justice Services said they can only track rearrests for offenses requiring fingerprints to be taken.

The state's data does not include cases involving arraignments in town or village courts.

The data also does not account for arrests of adolescent and juvenile offenders under age 18. Law enforcement records examined by the Times Union confirm many violent crimes, including those involving firearms, are committed by offenders in that age category. Those cases often end up in Family Court, where the defendants are frequently released only to commit new crimes, including murder and gang assault, according to dozens of cases reviewed by the newspaper.

The politics of bail

The state passed sweeping bail reform legislation in 2019 with the latest series of amendments taking effect in July 2020. The issue has since become one of the most searing debates in Albany politics, often dividing Democrats and Republicans, criminal justice advocates and law enforcement officials.

The debate centers, in part, on whether the changes to bail that are intended to create a more equal justice system for people yet to be convicted of a crime are ensuring communities are safe from potential threats.

Democrats, particularly progressives, pushed for the reforms as a means to try to remove the likelihood that someone was held on bail based on their race or economic status and not solely because of the crime they committed.

The changes to the law made many felonies eligible for a form of release, although with violent crimes it can be left to a judge to decide whether to set bail or hold the defendant. Charges that remain outside of the bail changes include murder, arson, kidnapping and predatory sexual assault against a child.

Advocates are likely to look at the low percentage points in the data as an indicator that public safety concerns were primarily political rhetoric intended to derail their efforts.

Those in law enforcement and district attorneys are likely to point to the raw numbers that show thousands of crimes allegedly committed by people who may have previously been held in jail after their arraignment after failing to make bail.

In Albany, for instance, where there have been a high number of shootings and homicides over the past two years, many of the crimes remain unsolved. Law enforcement sources said much of the gun violence is being committed by less than two dozen individuals, including adolescent offenders  16- and 17-year-olds  who often have their cases shifted to Family Court, where they are routinely released from custody.

The new data, which was posted quietly to the Office of Court Administration's website in late December, offer new ways to interpret the effectiveness of bail reform. For the first time, the data show the seriousness of the crime for which people were rearrested, allowing the most complete look at the outcomes of cases affected by the bail reforms approved in 2019.

For example, the figures show people charged with certain crimes were later rearrested and charged with a violent felony more often than others.

Burglary and robbery had the highest rates that led to a violent felony rearrest at 8.5 and 5.7 percent, respectively.

Conversely, people who were charged with driving while intoxicated were rearrested far less frequently  less than 10 percent, and less than 1 percent of those were rearrested for a violent felony.

The data also showed people who were initially arrested for a felony were rearrested on a violent felony charge at about the same rate as those who had been first arrested for a misdemeanor.

Individuals with a prior violent felony conviction were charged with a violent felony after being let out on bail at twice the rate, although the percentages remained relatively low: 3 versus 6 percent.

To be sure, for all the insight the data provides, there are some limitations to how it can be analyzed.

Since people rearrested after June would not be included in this year's data, it also may show a lower rate of charges among people recently arraigned on a new arrest while a prior case is pending. And because the data only covers July 2020 and onward, there is one key question it cannot answer: What were the rearrest rates prior to bail reform?

Michael Rempel, director of jail reform at the Center for Court Innovation, said his organization plans to tackle that question in the future. The center, which is partly publicly funded, would want to see rearrest rates for people in years prior to the reforms, including 2019, before the bail changes went into effect.

Regardless of future studies, the data available now is likely to be an essential component of upcoming debates on criminal justice issues during the January to June legislative session. Politicians also face primaries come June.

Matt Rocheleau contributed reporting for this story.
Daniel Eugene Anderson, age 45 of Mannington, West Virginia passed away peacefully at his home. He is the son of Jeanie Anderson of Mannington and the late Norman Eugene Anderson. In addition to his mother, Danny is survived by his precious son Waylon Daniel Anderson, his sister Darla Hamilt
Right now we consider hottie Romee and her body of work along with a quick blast of pop culture, community news and top headlines.

Take a peek at TKC news gathering tonight . . .

Check The Cowtown Road Report

Hitting the snowy road? Check traffic conditions before leaving KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A New Year's Day winter storm left snow and ice scattered on roads and highways throughout the Kansas City metro area on Saturday.

Chiefs Plagued By Pandemic

Chiefs RB Edwards-Helaire downgraded to out vs. Bengals KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - The Kansas City Chiefs downgraded running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire to out of Sunday's game in Cincinnati. Edwards-Helaire hurt his shoulder early in the second half of last weekend's romp past Pittsburgh. He did not participate in practice this week and was listed as questionable on the final injury report before being downgraded Saturday.

Meth Town Offers Refuge

Independence opens warming center amid dangerously cold temperatures City of Independence, MO SOURCE: City of Independence, MO The City of Independence announced it has activated the warming center at the Roger T. Sermon Community Center in response to dangerously cold temperatures. The center will be open from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Show-Me COVID Test Comeback

Free at-home COVID-19 test kits available from state of Missouri after pause The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services says the state has seen a sharp increase in demand for COVID-19 testing during the month of December. Free at-home test kits are once again available after a recent pause. In a release, state health officials said, "on Thursday, the program reached 15,000 orders during the month of December alone.

Angel Endures

Victoria's Secret Angel Romee Strijd wows in lingerie for sexy shoot The 25-year-old beauty posed in just her lingerie for this shot, but ironically had more on in a photoshoot for fashion brand NA-KD.com. After finding fame on the catwalk as a teenager, she got married in 2018 to Laurens van Leeuwen and in December welcomed their daughter, Mint.

AOC AGAINST EVERYBODY!!!



Ocasio-Cortez roasted after Twitter 'sexual frustrations' rant at Republicans: 'Bizarrely anti-feminist' Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , D-N.Y., got a Twitter roast to welcome in 2022 after she claimed "sexual frustrations" are why Republicans are so focused on her. The "Squad" congresswoman erupted on critics online after she was photographed dining in Miami amid a COVID surge in New York City, going off in particular on former Donald Trump adviser Steve Cortes taking a shot at her boyfriend's foot attire.

Green Crackdown Coming Soon

From minimum wage hikes to a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers, these new laws take effect in 2022 The year 2021 marked by an innumerable number of rules tied to the coronavirus pandemic.

COVID USA Persists

The Covid-19 case surge is altering daily life across the US. Things will likely get worse, experts warn The US is ringing in the new year amid a Covid-19 surge that experts warn is exploding at unprecedented speed and could alter daily life for many Americans during the first month of 2022.

Holy Man Saves The World

What is aquamation? The process behind Desmond Tutu's 'green cremation' The body of Archbishop Desmond Tutu will undergo aquamation, an increasingly popular and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional cremation methods, using water instead of fire. With aquamation, or "alkaline hydrolysis", the body of the deceased is immersed for three to four hours in a mixture of water and a strong alkali, such as potassium hydroxide, in a pressurised metal cylinder and heated to around 150C.

Far East Against Freedom

Beijing nails coffin shut on dissent in Hong Kong Authorities in Beijing last week forced the closure of Stand News, one of the last independent news outlets in Hong Kong, and levied new charges against Apple Daily, the city's once-biggest pro-democracy newspaper. On Wednesday, hundreds of Hong Kong police descended onto Stand News' offices and arrested seven people for "conspiracy to publish seditious publication."

Rock Chalk Rage Winning

Sparks off the bench propel KU over George Mason by: PJ Green Posted: / Updated: LAWRENCE, Kan. - Kansas' starters struggled, but bench players picked up the slack in the Jayhawks' 76-67 win over George Mason on Saturday at Allen Field House. Role players Mitch Lightfoot (14 points, 100% FG)and Jalen Coleman-Lands (20 points, five three-point baskets made) provided much needed support off the bench as KU's starters shot 27% from the floor.

Check Community News Conversation

217: Looking Forward to 2022 Welcome back to the Northeast Newscast! This week's episode is the second half of our staff's end of year conversation. In this episode we discuss the future of the Northeast News, our plans for 2022, which is our 90th year in business, and reflect on some of our favorite stories from the past year.

Kansas City Chills Tonight

KC will see periods of lighter snow this evening; arctic air settles in The winter weather advisory continues through the evening hours. Periods of light snow will remain with minor, additional accumulations. Temperatures will continue to drop, and wind chills will fall below zero. The low will be -2 because of the fresh snow/ice on the ground. Morning wind chills will be as cold as -10 to -15.

And this is the OPEN THREAD for right now.
Right now we're inspired to keep up our blogging journey by angel Candice as we check pop culture, community news and top headlines.



Here's TKC news gathering . . .



Show-Me Road Warrior Warning

MoDOT, community leaders warn drivers about snow, icy roads KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The snow is falling and the roads are icy, making driving conditions tricky. So, for anyone planning to head to brunch or church Sunday, the Missouri Department of Transportation and faith leaders in Missouri and Kansas say everyone should do what's best for themselves and their families.

The Dotte Helps Hobos After All

KCK's overnight warming shelter provides valuable service on frigid New Year's night KANSAS CITY, KS (KCTV) - As temperatures dropped into the single digits on New Year's Day, about a dozen men and women sat inside a convention center loading dock, warmed by industrial heat lamps in the concrete ceiling above them, waiting to be checked in for a place to sleep.

Show-Me Wild Food Surplus

Missouri wildlife populations are increasing. State officials could soon allow more hunting Missouri state officials are considering a proposal that would extend the hunting seasons for species historically harvested for their fur, such as bobcats, possums and raccoons. Interest in fur trapping has taken a nosedive in recent decades, allowing some populations to flourish - and opening the door to additional hunting, state wildlife biologists say.

Angel Fashions Future

Candice Swanepoel flashes her toned abs in a brown Alo sports bra Candice Swanepoel, 33, flashed her toned abs in a two-piece workout out set from Alo on her Instagram on Tuesday morning. The South African super model posted to her 16 million followers a series of pictures and a video in the brown set. 'A little bit sport a little bit lounge,' the mother-of-two captioned the post.

Social Media Silence Enforced

One of Marjorie Taylor Greene's verified Twitter accounts permanently suspended from Twitter Twitter has permanently suspended Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's Twitter account @mtgreenee, the company confirmed to CNN Sunday morning.

MAGA Vs. Freedom?!?

CBS News poll: A year after Jan. 6, violence still seen threatening U.S. democracy, and some say force can be justified Even as so many Americans decry the events of January 6, the day has had lasting impacts on the nation's psyche, the most immediate of which is that millions of Americans think more violence is coming, and that democracy itself might be threatened.

Prez Biden Graded

The Biden 2021 report card: The not so good, the bad and the ugly leaves 2021 with 43 percent approval from American voters per the RealClearPolitics (RCP) average of major polls, with 53 percent disapproving. The numbers are upside-down from inauguration day 2021, when the president in the same RCP average stood at 57 approval and just 37 percent disapproval.

Top Doc Demands COVID Watch

Fauci: CDC mulling COVID test requirement for asymptomatic | AP News WASHINGTON (AP) - As the COVID-19 omicron variant surges across the United States, top federal health officials are looking to add a negative test along with its five-day isolation restrictions for asymptomatic Americans who catch the coronavirus, the White House's top medical adviser said Sunday.

Holy Land Hot Mess Cont'd

Israel hits Gaza with airstrikes Israel's military said early Sunday it launched strikes against militant targets in the Gaza Strip, a day after rockets were fired from the Hamas-ruled territory. Video filmed in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, showed three huge explosions and fighter jets could be heard flying overhead. There was no immediate confirmation on possible casualties.

Tasty LATINO Treat

These new chocolate bars from Cafe Corazon are a Latinx collaboration, through and through If you want to try a chocolate bar inspired by the places where chocolate originates, you'll want to make your way to Kansas City's Cafe Corazon. The owners of Cafe Corazon, Miel Castagna-Herrera and Curtis Herrera, have teamed up with local chocolatier Tyler Shane to create two chocolate bars under the Cafe Corazon name.

Local Life Lesson

Embracing Change During My College Journey | Her Campus With graduation just around the corner, I've been reflecting on my college experiences lately. Something that I honestly was not expecting to experience was the amount of changes I went through in just these four short years. When I first entered college, I was a freshman determined to graduate in four years.

Katie Forecast For This Week

Temperatures in the teens for Sunday Hide Transcript Show Transcript TO 20, KANSAS CITY HAS SAID GOODBYE TOHE T SNOW IT TOOK A WHILE.

Sunday Kind Of Love by Etta James is the song of the day and this is the OPEN THREAD for right now.
Terre Haute, IN (47803)

Today

Mostly sunny skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High near 70F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain overnight. Low near 60F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a half an inch.
(BPT) - So, youve decided this is the year youll add the deck of your dreams to your home. Now that youre ready to put all hands on deck, its time to consider all of your options. The experts at Decks.com offer these tips to get started:
Serenity now! Or at least soon
Cambodia's rice export to China exceeds 300,000 tons for 1st time last year

Xinhua) 14:46, January 02, 2022

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's rice export to China surpassed 300,000 tons for the first time in 2021, marking another historic milestone in the rice sector between the two countries, according to a report from the China Certification &Inspection Group (CCIC)'s Cambodia branch on Saturday.

The southeast Asian nation exported 306,222 tons of milled rice to China last year, an increase of 22.8 percent from 249,322 tons in a year earlier, Chen Qisheng, general manager of CCIC's Cambodia branch said.

Chen said the growth has subsequently increased from about 5,000 tons in 2012 to more than 300,000 tons last year, the highest first time ever in a year.

"With strong support from China, Cambodia's rice production and processing industry has made great progress," he told Xinhua.

Chen said apart from rice, Cambodia first exported fresh bananas and fresh mangoes to China in 2019 and 2021, respectively, and the two countries have been working together to enable the export of Cambodian longan fruit to China in the near future.

As the China-Cambodia Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) entered into force on Saturday, Chen believed that the two pacts will further boost Cambodia's socio-economic development, especially the development of agriculture.

"These agreements will provide tremendous benefits to import and export enterprises in Cambodia, especially the agricultural ones," he said.

"With the two agreements, in addition to the export to China, Cambodia's high-quality agricultural products such as rice, bananas, mangoes, fragrant coconuts, and cashews can also be exported to Japan, South Korea, Singapore, etc., which will effectively promote enterprises to improve efficiency and sustainable development," Chen added.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Bianji)
The new year ushered in a new day in Montana, with the prohibition on recreational cannabis sales left behind in 2021.

Seventeen years after medical marijuana providers and patients started blazing the path, recreational cannabis sales opened to the general public Saturday. Some dispensaries in Helena had lines of people packed inside to avoid cold temperatures, while others saw a small but steady stream of foot traffic through noon.

Heidi Morris, a budtender at The Higher Standard, said about two-thirds of Saturday's customers at her location in Helena weren't familiar with the finer points of cannabis yet. But at the Cannabis Corner, J.D. "Pepper" Petersen, the owner and one of the front men for the legalization campaign in 2020, said the large majority of customers had "done their research."

"It's about time," said Frank Harris, 57, after leaving the Treasure Tree dispensary on one of Helena's busier thoroughfares.

Harris lives in White Sulphur Springs in Meagher County, which is a "red county." The regulatory structure passed by the Legislature in 2021 banned recreational cannabis sales in the counties that voted against legalization in the 2020 election, like Meagher County.

Possession and consumption of recreational cannabis has been legal statewide for a year now, following the passage of Initiative 190 in 2020. The Governors Office of Budget and Program Planning projected $130 million in recreational sales in 2022, climbing to $195.5 million in 2023 once the moratorium on new businesses ends.

About 58% of voters approved recreational cannabis use in Montana, but a few customers Saturday said the stigma against cannabis is still prevalent.

A Helena man named Mark didn't want to give his name because of some family members who are "not too cool with it," although he hopes that fades in the coming years. He, like others who braved the frigid day, said they feel cannabis is less destructive than alcohol but remains taboo, despite a majority of Montanans voting for it. Mark was never a medical marijuana cardholder, but said he's been "toking" marijuana since the 1970s when he and his friends would get high by the Beaverhead River.

"It never should have been criminalized," he said. "If they give it to cancer patients, that tells you all you need to know."

Another customer, Jeff Radke, 39, said the stigma against weed may last a few more decades, but he's glad to see low-level marijuana crimes taken off the books. As for how Radke thinks about the next generation, he's been talking with his teenagers about cannabis the entire year leading up to recreational sales.

"Nothing makes it less attractive to your kids than you being involved," Radke said.

Brisk business

Saturday was the moment of truth for many who have made marijuana their livelihood. In Missoula, JJ Thomas, owner of The Higher Standard, said it's not been an easy venture.

"I'm thankful for everything, thankful for my health, (to) be able to do this because it's taken a toll on me and my family to build all these stores and get here, but it was a dream I had," he said. "I'm hoping to create a legacy for my family."

Petersen estimated 99% of customers through the Cannabis Corner by noon were buying recreational, as opposed to medical, product. Petersen headed up New Approach Montana, the 2020 campaign to legalize recreational cannabis in the state. He said he's excited for Montanans who have held out on registering as a medical marijuana patient because they refused to be listed in a database.

"We've all been counting down" to this, he said.

An hour after opening its doors, the parking lot at Lionheart Caregiving in Yellowstone County still overflowed with vehicles. Customers sat in their cars, bracing against temperatures that hovered just a few degrees above zero, until stepping inside the dispensary to join the line. Because most of the medical marijuana cardholders had stocked up on their monthly allotment allowed by the state in preparation for a surge Saturday, many of those in line were stepping into Lionheart for the first time.

Among those waiting to show an employee his ID was Chris Powell. Until Saturday, hed made monthly trips to Colorado, where recreational marijuana has been legal since 2012. For years, the Wyoming man has used cannabis to supplement the medications prescribed for his back. After two surgeries, he still suffers from pain and muscle cramps. Between pills or pot, he said, he absolutely prefers marijuana.

Im definitely happy its finally available here in Montana. I feel like its just like booze in that people should be able to enjoy it, so long as its in a safe and controlled way.  Im grateful for it, and its about time, he said.

Powell said the 1 ounce legally available to him will last him about a month, and hell be able to save time and money driving to Montana rather than Colorado.

Litigation lingers

Several areas of the state have seen providers take to the courts in response to local ordinances officials put in place ahead of recreational sales, rules meant to either foster new business or push it further out of view.

About half of the providers in Bozeman sued the city in late November to reinstate a 20-storefront cap that the city commission voted to lift within city limits. Yellowstone Public Radio reported on Thursday a district court judge sided with the city, which can begin accepting new license applications in one of fastest-growing places in the state.

In October, Yellowstone County began developing restrictions on marijuana sales and production in certain areas in the county, effectively barring nearly a dozen providers from selling recreational cannabis Saturday. The Green Bee and its owner, Neil Kiner, sued the county planning division and the Yellowstone County Commission. Kiner argued he had hired additional staff, expanded his hours of operation and invested in new equipment at a cost of nearly $100,000 that would all be squandered if the new restrictions went into place.

On Thursday, Judge Greg Todd signed an order temporarily allowing The Green Bee to be open to the public for recreational sales "without threat" of violating the county's restrictions and setting a hearing on the case for Jan. 20.

"Business has been wonderful today," Kiner said Saturday. "A lot of our business has been rec customers so it's just really, really great not to have to turn them away."

A few providers did not open Saturday as a measure to mete out product, wary that inventories won't last the wave of new customers. The only providers allowed to sell recreational cannabis are those that were medical marijuana providers on or before Nov. 3, 2020. That means in order to protect medical patients' access to cannabis, providers are telling patients to stock up while raising their prices on recreational sales.

Lacee Monique, owner of Kannatonic Dispensary in Butte, said Saturday afternoon that recreational business has been steady, not too crazy all day.

This is totally a test run day, she said. I had no idea what to expect  how many people, how many buying cannabis as opposed to edibles.

Monique said it felt totally surreal to be able to sell to people without medical cards.

Monique has been in the medical marijuana business for 12 years, and shes vertically integrated. We grow in Whitehall, she said. Were seed-to-sale.

She said the new business is great, and shes happy recreational pot is legal, but my medical customers are always going to get taken care of first. She said if shes ever in a situation where her inventory is down, I might not sell any recreational that day because I want to make sure I have product for my medical customers.

In the first four hours of the day, Monique said, weve had 28 recreational customers, but not as many medical as usual. A lot of them probably decided to stay away today because they didnt want to be in the big crush.

Corey Baker, a medical customer, took the opposite approach. I was curious to see how it was going, so I came down, he said. Baker has been a customer as long as Kannatonic has been open. He has chronic arthritis and has had multiple ankle surgeries.

It means I dont have to be on opioids, he said. Those dont always work, and theyre dangerous. But the cannabis always works. Ive never had a time since I got my card 12 years ago when it didnt help.

A former surgical tech, Monique said she got into the business because she understood the value of helping people with medical needs.

My mom didnt speak to me for four years, she said. My parents were so worried about me. But now, theyre totally supportive. They see its a good legal business that helps people. I give my mom salve for her knee and my grandma gets cookies to help her sleep. .. Even now to me its more about the medicinal value. Im not here to just get you fed up.

Unless, of course, thats what you want.

At Starrbuds in Missoula, co-owner Jill Broughton said marijuana flower, concentrates and pre-rolled joints were selling quickly, while many customers had questions about other products. A lot of customers were surprised to find cannabis is a cash-only business.

Oh yeah, people are like, Whoa, is this real? and, like, some people were wanting this to happen 40 years ago. So its been a long time coming.

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Seaborn Larson State Reporter Capitol bureau reporter Seaborn Larson covers justice-related areas of state government and organizations that wield power. Follow Seaborn Larson 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
Paris, Jan 2 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jan, 2022 ) :France will relax Covid isolation rules from Monday, the government announced, in a bid to ease their impact on society and the economy.

Fully vaccinated people who test positive will only have to isolate for seven days regardless of the coronavirus variant they were infected with, but can leave quarantine after five days if they show an antigen or negative PCR test.

There will be no quarantine for fully inoculated individuals who have a close contact test positive.

However, people must respect protective measures and "undergo regular testing", health minister Olivier Veran said in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche.

Until now, those who tested positive in France had to isolate for 10 days with their close contracts also quarantined for a week.

The maximum isolation period could be up to 17 days -- regardless of the variant -- if a household contains a positive case.

The change in rules responds to the need "to take into account the extremely rapid evolution of the spread of the Omicron variant in France".

It should allow a "benefit-risk balance aimed at ensuring the virus is controlled while maintaining socio-economic life", said the Ministry of Health.

Additionally, "the first available virological data" showed "the incubation period of Omicron appears to be faster than previous variants, favouring a possible reduction in the length of isolation".

Meanwhile, people who test positive for the virus -- but who are not fully vaccinated -- must complete a 10-day quarantine, according to the same rules, but shortened to seven should they present a positive antigen or negative PCR test.

The seven-day quarantine remains for close unvaccinated contacts, who must show a negative test to leave isolation.
Washington, Jan 1 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jan, 2022 ) :US authorities have asked telecom operators AT&T and Verizon to delay for up to two weeks their already postponed rollout of 5G networks amid uncertainty about interference with vital flight safety equipment.

The US rollout of the high-speed mobile broadband technology had been set for December 5, but was delayed to January 5 after aerospace giants Airbus and Boeing raised concerns about potential interference with the devices planes use to measure altitude.

US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, Steve Dickson, asked for the latest delay in a letter sent Friday to AT&T and Verizon, two of the country's biggest telecom operators.

The US letter asked the companies to "continue to pause introducing commercial C-Band service" -- the frequency range used for 5G -- "for an additional short period of no more than two weeks beyond the currently scheduled deployment date of January 5."
(@FahadShabbir)

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd January, 2022) France will ease isolation restrictions for the vaccinated starting next week, reducing the number of quarantine days to seven, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Sunday in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche.

"From Monday, fully vaccinated people who tested positive (for COVID-19) will have to isolate themselves for seven days. This isolation can be lifted after five days in the event of a negative antigen or PCR test," Veran said.

According to the minister, there will be no quarantine for fully inoculated individuals whose close contact tested positive.

Until January 2, those who tested positive in France had to isolate for 10 days with their close contracts also quarantined for a week.

On Monday, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced a set of new restrictions in the face of the active spread of the new variant of the coronavirus, Omicron, including mandatory mask-wearing in city centers, limits of 2,000 people in indoor gatherings and 5,000 outdoors, the reduction of waiting time for booster vaccine shots from four to three months, partial remote work, and others. The measures will go into effect on Monday.

The daily number of new coronavirus cases in France has been growing since November. The country passed the 10 million cases mark last week.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd January, 2022) The Kuwaiti embassy in London advised citizens on Sunday to leave the United Kingdom due to a rise in Omicron variant infections.

"Kuwait's embassy in the UK recommends that nationals staying in the UK leave it and return home due to an unprecedented rise in infections with the new COVID-19 strain Omicron," a statement published by the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry read.

The ministry has updated travel advisory to warn against unnecessary trips to the UK, which reported 162,572 new coronavirus cases on Saturday. The highly mutated Omicron strain is dominant in parts of the country.
At the New Year's Day Angelus, Pope Francis encourages us to "roll up our sleeves to build peace" praying that Mary, Queen of Peace, may obtain harmony in our hearts and in the entire world.

By Vatican News staff writer

After presiding over the morning celebration of the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, Pope Francis greeted pilgrims in St. Peter's Square , offering his New Year's good wishes and reflecting on the day's liturgy. In the Church, the first day of the civil New Year is also observed as the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, as well as the World Day of Peace.



Read also 01/01/2022 Pope at Mass: May Mary help us to keep and ponder all things Presiding over Mass on the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, Pope Francis encourages us to place ourselves under her maternal protection. May she give us ...

In today's Gospel, we hear about the wonder of the crib when the shepherds hasten to see the Christ Child announced to them by the angel. The Pope said we can imagine Mary, "like a tender and caring mother," placing Jesus in the manger, not only holding Him in her arms, but inviting us to look at Him in adoration and with welcome. "Behold Marys maternity," he said. "She offers the Son who is born to all of us."

New Year's Day Angelus

God is near, within our reach

Mary's presentation of Jesus gives us "a wonderful message" that "God is near, within our reach," the Pope said, not in order to be feared but with the "frailness of someone who asks to be loved." He added that God shared in our human condition to be with us as one of us, "born little and in need so that no one would ever again be ashamed," and to draw ever nearer to us, excluding no one, making us all brothers and sisters.

New Year's Day Angelus

God gives us courage with tenderness

"God with us" in the Christ Child gives us "courage with tenderness," the Pope pointed out, and this needed encouragement is light in these uncertain and difficult times caused by the pandemic. The resulting economic and social problems cause fear for the future, the Pope acknowledged, recalling modern-day young mothers and their children fleeing conflicts and famine, or waiting in refugee camps. Like Mary, we too can make ourselves available to others to bring positive change in our world. "If we become craftsmen of fraternity, we will be able to mend the threads of a world torn apart by war and violence."

Read also 21/12/2021 Popes Peace Day message: Everyone has a creative role to play in building peace Several Vatican officials present Pope Francis message for the upcoming World Day of Peace, and recall that peace is the work of every person and that it must be rooted in human ...

Peace is a gift and shared commitment

Recalling today's World Day of Peace , the Pope pointed out that peace comes from God and is the fruit of a shared commitment. We need to implore the gift of peace from on high, the Pope stressed, since we are not capable of preserving it without His help. We need to have peace in our hearts from the Prince of peace, he reiterated, saying we must also be committed to peace, by taking concrete actions. This means being attentive to the poor, working for justice, and having the courage to forgive others in order to put out the fire of hatred. We also need a positive outlook, he said, both in the Church and in society, that is fostered by seeing the "good that unites us." The Pope added that "getting depressed or complaining is useless," saying we need to "roll up our sleeves" and work for peace, praying that Mary, the Queen of Peace, may "obtain harmony in our hearts and in the entire world."

New Year's Day Angelus
A controversial law allowing assisted suicide has taken effect in Austria despite opposition from the Catholic Bishops of Austria.

By Stefan J. Bos

The New Year began in Austria with an offer of assisted suicide to those adults deemed to suffer too much to stay alive.

Authorities say the practice is tightly regulated. Assisted suicide will be limited to terminally ill adults or those with a permanent debilitating condition.

Under the law, underaged children and people suffering from mental health issues cannot access this option.

Those seeking suicide will have to consult with two doctors about their case.

Depending on their condition, patients must wait between two and 12 weeks to reflect on their decision before they are allowed to access lethal drugs from a pharmacy.

Under the new law, which passed in December, it will still be illegal to assist someone else's suicide actively. The legislation came into force on New Year's Day despite fierce opposition from Austria's Catholic Bishops.

Read also 19/11/2021 Austrian Bishops oppose legalization of assisted suicide During their recent Fall General Assembly, Austrian Bishops have reiterated their strong opposition to a new assisted suicide bill which will take effect in 2022.

Unacceptable flaws

Austrian Archbishop Franz Lackner had warned that the law presents in his words "unacceptable flaws."

The president of the Austrian Bishops Conference expressed concern that applicants for assisted suicide are only assessed by two doctors and not by an additional clinical psychologist or psychiatrist.

Archbishop Lackner warned that this makes assisted suicide a trivial medical prescription as it is virtually not prosecutable, despite such requirements by the Constitutional Court.

He noted that assisted suicide had become standard practice in countries where euthanasia was legalized.

Austria is now among several European countries that have legalized forms of assisted dying, including Belgium and the Netherlands, France, Spain, and Switzerland.

Further away, Canada also expanded its law on the practice under certain circumstances. And in the United States, several states have "death with dignity statutes" that permit doctor-assisted deaths for terminally ill patients.

Listen to our report

Lamentable cultural trend

However, Austrian Bishops view legalizing assisted suicide as part of a "cultural trend by which the only form of life worth living is a full and active life."

The Bishops condemned what they saw as the manipulative nature of the words "dying with dignity" surrounding the suicide law in Austria, a heavily Catholic nation.

They fear that the legislation will further contribute to an era where "every handicap or disease is seen as a failure that cannot be tolerated."

Support for end-of-life care

Instead, they say additional financial resources should be made available for supporting the suffering and terminally ill patients.

Archbishop Lackner said Austria's legislation ignores that every suicide remains a human tragedy and that every life is valuable.

He stressed the law is "unfair toward all those people who make it possible to die with dignity through reliable and attentive care and who will continue in the future."
Normal, IL (61790)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High 64F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Rain likely. Low 53F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
Todays edition is full of goodwill and cheer as Heather invites reporters, guests artists and friends such as Samed Gaida and King Ayisoba (Ghana), Bill Odidi and Ugandan singer Azawi (Uganda), and Mohammad King Milan Bangura (Sierra Leone) to celebrate the years end. Maxwells special playlist features top songs of 2021 like Ke Star (Focalistic & Davido) BKO PLawn Iba One), Essence (Wizkid ft Justin Beiber & Tems, and Mghayer (ElGrandToto) and many others.
Chad's new military rulers named a civilian politician, Albert Pahimi Padacke, as prime minister of a transitional government on Monday, a week after President Idriss Deby's battlefield death, but opposition leaders quickly dismissed the appointment.

Padacke served as prime minister from 2016 to 2018 and was seen as an ally of Deby, who ruled Chad for 30 years.

A military council seized power after Deby was killed as he visited troops fighting rebels on April 19. Opposition politicians have called the military takeover a coup, and two said on Monday the army had no right to pick a premier.

The transition and the wrangling around it is being watched closely in a country that is a power in central Africa and a longtime Western ally against Islamist militants across the Sahel.

The military council is headed by Deby's son, Mahamat Idriss Deby, and has said it will oversee an 18-month transition to elections. Mahamat Idriss Deby, a general, has been declared the national president and has dissolved parliament.

But the council is coming under international pressure to hand over power to civilians as soon as possible. The African Union has expressed "grave concern" about the military takeover, while France, the former colonial ruler, and some of Chad's neighbors are pushing for a civilian-military solution.

The U.S. State Department said the naming of a civilian prime minister is "potentially a positive first step in restoring civilian governance," adding that Washington is continuing to closely monitor the situation.

"We would urge that this moment be taken to move the country forward in a democratic direction and that the people have an opportunity to really have a democracy, have a representative government," Robert Godec, acting assistant secretary of the State Department's Bureau of African Affairs, told reporters.

Despite Padacke's appointment, the council is still likely to be the ultimate authority.

Although an ally of the late Deby, Padacke ran against him several times.

He came second with 10% of the vote in an election on April 11 that was boycotted by several opposition leaders who said it was rigged. Deby, who took power in a rebellion in 1990, was declared winner with about 79% of the vote just before he was killed.

International human rights groups, who had long criticized Deby's repressive rule, have said the election campaign was marked by violence and intimidation.

"(Padacke) was prime minister under Deby, and we will not accept for him to lead the transitional government," said Dinamou Daram, president of the Socialist Party Without Borders.

"The junta wants to continue with the system of the old regime. We reject this way of proceeding," he told Reuters.

Yacine Abderamane, president of the opposition Reformist Party, also rejected Padacke's nomination.

"It is not up to the transitional military council to designate a prime minister in this isolated manner. We want there to be talks between political parties, civil society and other actors in order to reach a consensus," he said.

A coalition of civil society groups and opposition politicians has called for a peaceful protest Tuesday in N'Djamena to demand a return to "constitutional order."

One civil society leader said he was optimistic that Padacke would be open to talks to ease political tensions.

"He is a major player who can achieve dialogue with all sides and move the political process forward toward peaceful elections," said Mahamat Digadimbaye, national coordinator for civil society and human rights associations.


U.S. President Joe Biden told Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday that the United States and its allies would respond decisively should Russia further invade Ukraine.

In a phone call, the two leaders also discussed diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions over Russias massive troop buildup along Ukraines eastern flank.

Biden and Zelenskiy discussed measures to de-escalate tensions in Donbas and active diplomacy to advance implementation of the Minsk Agreements, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement released after the call ended.

However, Biden reaffirmed the United States commitment to Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity, the statement said, adding that Biden also underscored the commitment of the U.S. to the principle of nothing about you without you.

Zelenskiy tweeted that the two leaders discussed joint actions of Ukraine, the United States and partners in keeping peace in Europe, preventing further escalation, reforms, deoligarchization.

We appreciate the unwavering support of Ukraine, Zelenskiy said.

Biden has made little progress with Russian President Vladimir Putin in getting him to withdraw about 100,000 troops stationed along Russias border with the former Soviet republic, although U.S. officials have said they do not believe Putin has decided to invade Ukraine.

The U.S. and Russian leaders held a 50-minute phone call last Thursday, with Biden again warning Putin that the United States and its Western allies would impose significant economic sanctions against Moscow were Putin to carry out a Ukraine invasion. Biden said last month he not considering a military response.

Moscow annexed Ukraines Crimean Peninsula in 2014, with the West protesting and imposing weaker sanctions.

The Kremlin in turn said last week that Putin told Biden in their call that new, tougher sanctions could lead to a complete rupture In Washington-Moscow relations.

The U.S. has been dispatching small arms and ammunition to Ukraine, along with Javelin missiles it says should only be used in defense.

The White House says that Russian and American officials will participate in three separate rounds of talks this month: first through bilateral talks scheduled to start January 10, and then through multiparty talks with the NATO-Russia Council, and with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

President Biden reiterated (in his call with Putin) that substantive progress in these dialogues can occur only in an environment of de-escalation rather than escalation, Psaki said.

In the talks ahead, Russia is demanding that NATO, the seven-decade-old military alliance formed after World War II, deny membership to Ukraine and reduce its deployments in central and eastern Europe. White House officials have declined to discuss details of private talks.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
A Hong Kong online news site said Sunday that it would cease operations in light of deteriorating press freedoms, days after police raided and arrested seven people for sedition at a separate pro-democracy news outlet.

Citizen News announced its decision in a Facebook post Sunday. It said it would stop updating its site on Jan. 4, and be shuttered after that.

We have always loved this land, but at present, we are helpless as we are not only facing wind and rain, but tornadoes and huge waves, it said in a statement.

We have never forgotten our original intentions, but it is a pity that the rapid changes in society in the past two years and the deterioration of the media environment have prevented us from achieving our ideals without worry.

Citizen News is the third news outlet to close in recent months, following pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily and online site Stand News. Authorities have moved to silence dissent in the semi-autonomous city, once known as a hub for vibrant media outlets, after Beijing implemented a sweeping national security law following massive pro-democracy protests in 2019.

The impending closure of Citizen News came days after authorities raided Stand News and arrested seven people  including editors and former board members  for allegedly conspiring to publish seditious material. Stand News announced on the same day that it would cease to operate.

Two of Stand News' former editors were later formally charged with sedition.



In December, the opposition was shut out from elections under a new law that puts all candidates to a loyalty test, and monuments commemorating the bloody 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing were taken down.

The United States and other Western governments have condemned diminishing press and civil freedoms that Beijing promised to uphold for 50 years following Hong Kong's 1997 handover from Britain.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam last week defended the raid on Stand News, telling reporters that inciting other people ... could not be condoned under the guise of news reporting.
Indias move to block the flow of foreign funds to the Missionaries of Charity comes amid a pushback by right-wing Hindu nationalists who accuse Christian missionaries of converting Hindus against their will or by offering bribes.

The group is among the most prominent of thousands of nonprofits, religious charities and rights groups facing a funding ban under rules passed by Prime Minister Narendra Modis administration as part of tighter scrutiny of these groups under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.

The effective freeze on the charitys foreign donations is being seen by critics as part of the targeting of religious minorities by Hindu hardliners since Prime Minister Narendra Modis Bharatiya Janata Party came to power.



If you want to create an impact, you pick icons. When you target visible and revered icons, its shock value is far greater and there is nothing in India more prominent, more trusted and respected than the Missionaries of Charity, said Valson Thampu, former principal of one of Indias top colleges, St. Stephens.

In the seven decades since it was first started by Mother Teresa in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, the Missionaries of Charity has won global recognition for humanitarian work among the poorest people. In India, it runs homes for abandoned children and clinics and hospices in many states.

The Home Ministry has said it is not renewing Missionaries of Charities license to receive foreign funds because of adverse inputs. It did not say what these inputs were. The overseas donations of millions of dollars are a key funding source for the charitys programs.

The funding ban came days after police filed a complaint against the director of a children's home run by the Missionaries of Charity in the western Gujarat state for allegedly attempting to convert young girls to Christianity. Nuns from the home have denied the charges.

The organizations whose licenses to access foreign funds have not been renewed include Christian and Muslim nonprofits, groups working with tribal communities or on human rights issues, particularly those that have been critical of the government, political analysts say. Greenpeace and Amnesty International are among those whose accounts have been frozen.

The ban on the foreign funding of the Missionaries of Charity has taken many aback.

It is shocking that the charity with their long record of service among the destitute and poor has not been spared. By targeting it they are sending a clear message to others that anybody can be touched. Niranjan Sahoo, a political analyst at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, said.

This is completely choking the space in a country that is still secular and allows people to propagate their religion. Cutting off sources of funding ensures that those rights cannot be exercised, he said.

Critics point to growing religious polarization in India since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014. However, while attention has often focused on attacks on Muslims by Hindu vigilante groups, Christian groups say attacks targeting their community, who make up about 2.4% of Indias population, have also been rising.

The targeting of Christians is linked to the ire among the Hindu right against religious conversions, an issue that has become politically charged since the BJP came to power, according to analysts.

According to a report by the United Christian Forum, a Christian rights protection body, the number of alleged violent attacks against Christians in India rose to 486 in 2021 from 279 in 2020.

Most of them were reported from states ruled by the BJP and have included disruptions of Christmas celebrations, alleged attacks on pastors and vandalizing a statue of Jesus. Such attacks are part of a broad shift that is making religious minorities apprehensive, some Christians say.

When the BJP is in power, the empowerment of fringe elements is massive and there is complicity of state agencies like the police. Though some say these are only fringe elements, I say that their numbers are still huge in a country of 1.3 billion, John Dayal, a Christian activist in New Delhi, said.

And when you block funding of an organization founded by someone of the stature of Mother Teresa, should we not be afraid? he added.



The ruling BJP has repeatedly said that it protects the rights of all citizens and minorities.

However, in recent years several states have passed or proposed laws to restrict religious conversion through marriage.

While several states already have anti-conversion laws in place, the lower house in the legislature in the southern state of Karnataka, which is ruled by the BJP, became the latest such body to pass a tough bill that proposes prison terms for up to 10 years for unlawful conversions.

The electoral appeal of the BJP is directed on the idea of cultural nationalism and to create this fear that these two minority communities, Christians and Muslims, if allowed free rein, will eliminate Hinduism and therefore it is necessary to hold them on a leash and the BJP is the only party that can do it, Thampu said.



It is unclear how much the drying up of foreign donations will affect the work of the Missionaries of Charity, who also receive domestic donations. But at least one state run by a regional party has directed that the groups work should not suffer.

In the eastern Orissa state, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik asked officials to use state government funds to mitigate problems faced by the charitable organization and ensure that residents of homes and orphanages it runs do not suffer from lack of food or health issues.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday that Israel would offer a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine to people over 60 and to medical staff as it faces a surge in omicron variant infections.

Israel last week approved a fourth dose of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, a second booster, for people who are immune-compromised and the elderly living in care homes.

"We now have a new layer of defense," Bennett said in a televised news conference, adding that Israel's top government medical official, whose approval is needed to expand the booster campaign, had signed off on the latest move.

"Israel will once again be pioneering the global vaccination effort," Bennett said.

Earlier, the Health Ministry's Director-General Nachman Ash said Israel could reach herd immunity as omicron infections mounted and Merck & Co's molnupiravir anti-viral pill was approved for use in COVID-19 patients over 18.

Herd immunity is the point at which a population is protected from a virus, either through vaccination or by people having developed antibodies by contracting the disease.

The highly transmissible omicron variant has caused a wave of coronavirus cases, with worldwide infections hitting a record high, with an average of just over one million cases detected each day between Dec. 24 and 30, Reuters data showed.

Deaths, however, have not risen to the same degree, raising hopes that the new variant is less lethal, a view Bennett also echoed in describing the second booster as largely a bid to prevent serious illness among the elderly.

Daily cases in Israel are expected to reach record highs in the coming three weeks. Bennett said that up to 50,000 people might soon be infected each day, while eligibility for testing could be tightened to help relieve long lines at testing stations.

"The (infection) numbers will have to be very high in order to reach herd immunity," Ash told 103 FM Radio earlier. "This is possible but we don't want to reach it by means of infections, we want it to happen as a result of many people vaccinating."

The head of the health ministry's coronavirus task force, Salman Zarka, said herd immunity was far from guaranteed, because experience over the past two years showed that some COVID-19 patients who recovered were later reinfected.

Israel's health ministry says around 60% of its 9.4 million population are fully vaccinated, almost all with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which means they have either received three doses or have recently had their second.

But hundreds of thousands of those eligible for a third inoculation have so far not taken it.

Over the past 10 days, daily infections have more than quadrupled. Severe cases have also climbed, but at a far lower rate, rising from about 80 to around 100.
The congressional investigation into the riot at the U.S. Capitol last January is zeroing in on why then-President Donald Trump did nothing for more than three hours to stop his supporters from ransacking the building and clashing with police as lawmakers sought to certify that he had lost the 2020 election, the panels chairman said Sunday.

Congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi told CNNs State of the Union show that the nine-member investigative panel wants to know what Trump was doing during 187 minutes of inaction, as he watched the riot unfold on television from a dining room off the Oval Office at the White House.

We came perilously close to losing our democracy, Thompson contended.

One of the committees two Republicans, Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming, a vocal critic of Trump, told ABCs This Week show, He could have told [the rioters] to stand down. He didnt do it.

Thompson said, The president has been in court trying to prevent us from seeing the record of his phone calls, other messages and documents as his daughter Ivanka Trump, Republican lawmakers and Trump administration officials urged him to make a statement urging more than 800 of his supporters inside the Capitol to leave the building.

What hes doing is typical Donald Trump modus operandi, Thompson said. He sues, goes to court, tries to delay. But were convinced well have access to those 187 minutes.

A U.S. appellate court in Washington has ruled that the investigative committee has a uniquely vital interest in seeing any documents related to the riot and its planning, but Trump has appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn the lower courts ruling, saying his White House documents should be shielded from public release.

At a rally near the White House before the January 6, 2021, rioting unfolded, Trump urged supporters to fight like hell at the Capitol to keep lawmakers from certifying that Democrat Joe Biden had defeated him in the November 2020 election. More than 725 of the rioters have been arrested and charged with an array of offenses, from minor ones like trespassing to more serious crimes, including attacks on police.

While ignoring initial entreaties to call off the protesters, Trump eventually released a short video calling for the rioters to leave, but telling them, We love you; you're very special."

As he does to this day, Trump mentioned in the video the false conspiracy theory that he actually won the election, saying, "I know your pain; I know you're hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it. Especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace."

After the Capitol was eventually cleared of protesters, Congress certified Bidens election victory in the early hours of January 7.

Thompson said his panel, which includes seven Democratic lawmakers, Cheney and another vocal Republican critic of Trump, Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, is looking closely at the planning behind the attack on the Capitol as some Trump Republican stalwarts attempted to keep him in office and thwart Bidens inauguration last January 20.

Thompson said, We know [Trump] wanted people to come to Washington, telling them it was going to be wild.

Of particular interest, Thompson said, were conversations involving the White House and Trump officials at the nearby Willard Hotel in the lead-up to the rally and during the riot at the Capitol.

It was not a comedy of errors, I can assure you of that, Thompson said. Well get to what we believe was the truth."

It appeared to be a coordinated effort among a number of people to undermine the election, Thompson said in an interview on ABC, not a spontaneous protest that got out of hand as protesters stormed past barriers into the Capitol, smashed windows and doors and scuffled with police.

He said the panel is seeking to interview two Trump-supporting Republican lawmakers, Congressmen Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Jim Jordan of Ohio, who played roles in trying to overturn Bidens victory.

I would hope theyd come in voluntarily to testify to the committee, Thompson said, but did not rule out subpoenaing them.

He declined to speculate on whether the committee could refer evidence of wrongdoing in the planning of the January 6 demonstration and Trumps inaction during it to the Justice Department for possible prosecution. But he said the panel will not shy away from doing so if it decides such a referral is warranted.

Trump did not attend Bidens inauguration on January 20, 2021, and has continued to contend the election was stolen from him.

Trump has increasingly made political appearances, hinting at a possible 2024 campaign to retake the White House. Trump has announced plans for a Thursday news conference at his Florida retreat along the Atlantic Ocean on the one-year anniversary of the Capitol riot.
When the young farmhand returned to his village in Myanmar, he found the still smoldering corpses in a circle in a burned-out hut, some with their limbs tied.

The Myanmar military had stormed Done Taw at 11 a.m. on Dec. 7, he told the AP, with about 50 soldiers hunting people on foot. The farmhand and other villagers fled to the forest and fields, but 10 were captured and killed, including five teenagers, with one only 14, he said. A photo taken by his friend shows the charred remains of a victim lying face down, holding his head up, suggesting he was burned alive.

"I am very upset, it is unacceptable," said the 19-year-old, who like others interviewed by the AP asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal.

The carnage at Done Taw is just one of the most recent signs that the Myanmar military is reverting to a strategy of massacres as a weapon of war, according to an AP investigation based on interviews with 40 witnesses, social media, satellite imagery and data on deaths.

The massacres and scorched-earth tactics  such as the razing of entire villages  represent the latest escalation in the military's violence against both civilians and the growing opposition. Since the military seized power in February, it has cracked down ever more brutally, abducting young men and boys, killing health care workers and torturing prisoners.

The massacres and burnings also signal a return to practices that the military has long used against ethnic minorities such as the Muslim Rohingya, thousands of whom were killed in 2017. The military is now accused of killing at least 35 civilians on Christmas Eve in Mo So village in an eastern region home to the Karenni minority. A witness told the AP that many of the bodies of the men, women and children were burned beyond recognition.

But this time, the military is also using the same methods against people and villages of its own Buddhist Bamar ethnic majority. The focus of most of the latest killings has been in the northwest, including in a Bamar heartland where support for the opposition is strong.

More than 80 people have died in killings of three or more in the Sagaing region alone since August, according to data from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, or AAPP, a group that monitors verified arrests and deaths in Myanmar. These include the deaths of those in Done Taw, five people in Gaung Kwal village on Dec. 12 and nine in Kalay township on Dec. 23, part of a trend that has made Sagaing the deadliest region in Myanmar.

The military is also reprising a hallmark tactic of destroying entire villages where there may be support for the opposition. Satellite imagery the AP obtained from Maxar Technologies shows that more than 580 buildings have been burned in the northwestern town of Thantlang alone since September.

The violence appears to be a response to the local resistance forces springing up across the country, but the military is wiping out civilians in the process. In Done Taw, for example, the military moved in after a convoy hit a roadside bomb nearby, but the people killed were not part of any resistance, another villager told the AP.

"They were just normal workers on the betel-leaf plantation," the 48-year-old welder said. "They hid because they were afraid."

For the investigation, the AP spoke to dozens of witnesses, family members, a military commander who deserted, human rights groups and officials, along with analyzing data on deaths from the AAPP. The AP also reviewed satellite imagery and dozens of images and videos, with experts checking them against known locations and events.

The numbers likely fall far short of actual killings because they tend to happen in remote locations, and the military suppresses information on them by curtailing Internet access and checking cell phones.

"There are similar cases taking place across the country at this point, especially in the northwest of Myanmar," Kyaw Moe Tun, who refused to leave his position as Myanmar's United Nations envoy after the military seized power, told the AP. "Look at the pattern, look at the way it's happened.it is systematic and widespread."

The military, known as the Tatmadaw, did not respond to several requests by phone and by email for comment. Three days after the Done Taw attack, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper dismissed reports of the slayings as "fake news," accusing unidentified countries of "wishing to disintegrate Myanmar" by inciting bloodshed.

"The nature of how brazen this attack was is really indicative of the scale of violence we can expect in the coming months, and particularly next year," said Manny Maung, a researcher for Human Rights Watch.

Just in the week of the Done Taw massacre, the military killed 20 more people in Sagaing, the AP analysis shows. And on Dec. 17, soldiers killed nine people, including a child, in Gantgaw township in the neighboring region of Magway, a witness told the AP, confirming AAPP data. Troops brought in by helicopter occupied the village for two days, and those who fled returned to find, identify and cremate rotting bodies, the witness said.

The movement of troops suggests that violence in the northwest is likely to pick up. Two military convoys of more than 80 trucks each with troops and supplies from Sagaing have made it to neighboring Chin state, according to an opposition group. And a former military captain told the AP that soldiers in Chin State were resupplied and reinforced in October, and the army is now stockpiling munition, fuel and rations in Sagaing.

The captain, who goes by the nom de guerre Zin Yaw, or Seagull, is a 20-year military veteran who deserted in March and now trains opposition forces. He said he continues to receive updates from friends still in the military and has access to defense documents, several of which he shared with the AP as proof of his access. His identity was also verified by an organization of military deserters.

"What the military worries about most is giving up their power," said Zin Yaw. "In the military they have a saying, if you retreat, destroy everything. It means that even if they know they are going to lose, they destroy everything."

The Tatmadaw overthrew the enormously popular Aung San Suu Kyi in February, claiming massive fraud in the 2020 democratic election that saw her party win in a landslide. Since then, the military and police have killed more than 1,375 people and arrested more than 11,200, according to the AAPP.

One of the earliest mass killings took place on March 14 in the township of Hlaing Tharyar in Yangon, the biggest city in Myanmar, according to a report this month from Human Rights Watch. Witnesses said that security forces fired on protesters with military assault rifles and killed at least 65, including bystanders.

As the military's tactics have turned increasingly brutal, civilians have fought back. Opposition started with a national civil disobedience movement and protests, but has grown increasingly violent with attacks on troops and government facilities.

In May, the opposition National Unity Government announced a new military wing, the People's Defense Force, and in September declared a "defensive war." Loose-knit guerrilla groups calling themselves PDF have since emerged across the country, with varying degrees of allegiance to the NUG.

An early example of the military unleashing its battle-tested tactics on majority Buddhist areas came just 23 miles up the river from Done Taw in Kani township. In July, images circulated of massacres in four small villages that Myanmar's ambassador to the United Nations called "crimes against humanity." Four witnesses told the AP that soldiers killed 43 people in four incidents and discarded their bodies in the jungle.

On July 9, soldiers in trucks rolled into Yin village in Kani, launching an attack that would leave 16 dead, according to three witness accounts. The soldiers started shooting and sent people fleeing. Troops surrounded a group in the nearby jungle, said one woman who was captured with her brother.

She was set free, but would never see her brother alive again. When she returned with others three days later, they discovered his body on the forest floor, already rotting in the heat and showing signs of torture.

"We all live in fear," said the woman, who like the other villagers asked to remain anonymous for safety. "We are worried that they might come back during the night."

One 42-year-old man said a search party of 50 villagers found three separate clusters of bodies. Some appeared to have been dragged to death along rocky ground with ropes or with their own clothes. The bodies had been pillaged for gold.

"There were some fleshly remains and the odor was so foul," the villager said. "We couldn't even get close because of the smell."

The village is now terrorized into silence, he said, listening for the next attack with their bags packed and the normal rhythms of life frozen in fear.

Another Kani resident told the AP that when soldiers approached his village of Zee Pin Twin on July 26, he fled into the jungle. He returned to find his home broken and blackened by fire. Precious goods were stolen, and important documents, food, and other belongings like wedding photos lay in a smoldering heap.

Two days later, villagers with search dogs found 12 bodies, some buried in shallow pits in the jungle. A villager told the AP that they saw bruises and other signs of torture on the corpses, and that one man's hands were tied with military boot laces and his mouth gagged.

The descriptions match photographs and videos of burned and brutalized bodies given to the Myanmar Witness monitoring group.

"When there's image and videos [in] three separate events ... it's very hard to deny," said Benjamin Strick, head of investigations for the Britain and Thailand-based group.

The AP could not independently verify the grisly images, but they also match incident reports collected by the AAPP. John Quinley, a human rights specialist with Fortify Rights, said the group believes the violence in Kani and in Sagaing is a "direct result" of PDF operations there.

"The Myanmar junta's strategy is to try to create an environment of terror and try to silence civilians and also try to drive out the PDF," Quinley said.

That strategy may not be working. Resistance has only stiffened, according to the Kani villagers.

"The whole village plays a role," one man said. "Some women make gunpowder; people do not work; all the villagers somehow take part in the revolution."

Another described a few shattered survivors in a village unified by hatred of the military.

"I am not afraid anymore," he said. "Instead of dying fleeing, I will use my life for a purpose."

Thousands of army desertions have been reported, although usually of lower ranks, said Quinley from Fortify Rights.

"These atrocities are happening to everyday people, you know, engineers, university students, businesspeople," he said. "And so I think there's a growing solidarity movement across religious and ethnic lines."

The Tatmadaw has the advantage of airpower and automatic weapons. But the opposition in Sagaing and Chin state relies on knowledge of the terrain and the support of locals, some lightly armed with muzzle-loaded home-made traditional guns.

"They just modify their skills of fighting to the defensive war and guerrilla warfare," said Aung Myo Min, the NUG's minister for human rights, in an interview from Europe.

The army's attacks in Sagaing are thought to be the opening salvo in a campaign to stamp out resistance in Myanmar's northwest, called Operation Anawrahta. Anawrahta was an 11th-century Buddhist king who established a Burmese empire, and the name carries a special meaning to the military, said the deserter, Zin Yaw.

"That means they are going to brutally crush the people," he said.

More than 51,000 people are already displaced in seven Sagaing townships, including Kani, and another 30,200 in Chin State, according to the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs.

"What we're seeing in Sagaing is really interesting, because we're talking about the Bamar heartland that basically should be the core foundation of this military," said Maung of Human Rights Watch. "It's telling how worried the military is of its own people."

There are now growing signs that the military is turning its focus on Chin state. Chin fighters claim to have killed dozens of soldiers, according to social media analysis by Myanmar Witness.

As fresh soldiers have flowed into Chin state, residents have reported troops putting down protests with live rounds and brutal beatings. A teacher in the town of Mindat said many fled early on, but she was determined not to be forced out.

Then the military fired artillery into the town so the "houses would shake like an earthquake," she said. Her cousin, a member of the PDF, was killed by a sniper and his body boobytrapped, the teacher said.

That evening, villagers tried to move the body from a distance with a stick. The body blew up.

"We didn't get back a body," she said. "Instead we had to collect pieces."

She fled to neighboring India in October.

A half-day's drive west from Mindat lies Matupi, a town with two military camps that is now bereft of its young people, according to a college student who fled with her two teenage brothers in October. She said the military had locked people into houses and set them alight, hid bombs in churches and schools, killed three protest leaders she knew and left bodies in the middle of roads to terrorize people.

Yet the resistance has spread, she said.

"People are scared of the military, but they want democracy and they are fighting for democracy," she said from India, where she now lives. "They are screaming for democracy."

Thantlang, a town near the Indian border, has also been emptied of its people after four months of heavy fighting, according to the Chin Human Rights Organization. Drone footage shot by the group in October and December and seen by the AP shows fires raging inside buildings and charred churches, collapsed schools and ruined homes. The footage matches fires detected by satellites and interviews with villagers.

Rachel, a 23-year-old who had moved home to Thantlang in June to escape the COVID pandemic in Yangon, said residents started hearing explosions and gunfire in the distance. The sounds gradually got closer starting in September.

As the shelling hit the town, she and others hid on the ground floor of their local church for four days, she said.

She then fled for a nearby village. But she sneaked back into town on Dec. 3 to gather belongings. While she was in her home with three friends, small arms fire and explosions suddenly erupted outside.

She felt a hot burn as a bullet tore into her torso. Two of her friends bolted, leaving her alone with a cousin who has trouble walking due to a birth defect.

She told him she was going to die and asked him to leave. But he stayed, wrapping her scarf around her stomach to stem the bleeding. The two managed to get to her motorbike, and her cousin held her with one hand as he drove with the other.

A local doctor determined that the bullet had hit her cell phone and then gone into the left side of her stomach.

"I think I would have died there if it had not hit the phone," said Rachel, who asked to be identified by one name only for her safety.

The following day she got across the border to Mizoram in India. In an interview with the AP from Mizoram, she said she would return home despite the danger to look after her ailing 70-year-old mother.

In the meantime, the farmhand who told the AP about the Done Taw massacre is defiant. He had been passively supporting the PDF before, but is now vowing to avenge the killings of his neighbors.

"I have just decided to fight until the end for them," he said. "I will do whatever I can until I die or until I am arrested."
Chanting anti-American slogans, hundreds of people rallied in the Iraqi capital Saturday to mark the second anniversary of the killing of a powerful Iranian general and a top Iraqi militia leader in a U.S. drone strike.

The crowd called for the expulsion of remaining American forces from Iraq during the demonstration commemorating the airstrike at Baghdad airport on January 3, 2020. The strike killed Gen. Qassim Soleimani, who was the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iran-backed militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilization Forces.

"We will not let you stay after today in the land of the martyrs," some of the placards read. American and Israeli flags were strewn on the ground, with people trampling on them.

The killing of Soleimani and al-Muhandis at Baghdad's airport pushed Iran and the United States perilously close to all-out conflict and sparked outrage in Iraq, leading parliament to pass a non-binding resolution days later calling for the expulsion of all foreign troops from Iraq.

The U.S.-led coalition formally ended its combat mission supporting Iraqi forces in the ongoing fight against the Islamic State group at the end of December. About 2,500 troops will remain for the foreseeable future, however, to continue supporting Iraqi forces in an advisory role. Some militia leaders have insisted on the departure of all U.S. troops.

"We will not accept anything less than full withdrawal as revenge for the blood of our martyrs," said Hadi al-Ameri, head of an Iran-aligned coalition.

Supporters of Iran-aligned Shiite factions were bused in from various Iraqi provinces to the rally in Jadriyah, near the headquarters of the powerful militias.
In my family, January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany, was a holy day of obligation, ending the Christmas season. My dad, who had been a candidate for the seminary, told us that epiphany was made up of the root words epi essence  and phanos  expression. Epiphany, or January 6, was the expression of the essence of Christmas  the day we understood the meaning of Jesus.

On Epiphany in 2021, we understood clearly the essence of the outgoing administration. Power - its own power - was elevated above all else, even American democracy.

The 2020 election should have been one to celebrate. The largest number of Americans  in over 100 years  cast a ballot in our presidential elections. The clear winner picked by the majority of voters (7 million more) and the majority of electoral votes (74 more) was President Joe Biden.

Rather than conceding a fair election, an administration obsessed with power called it stolen. Bizarrely, this claim was advanced in Montana. We saw the largest Republican victories in our history, winning control of all 5 statewide offices for the first time. Not one elected Republican forsook office because of fraud. And there was none, as measured by Republicans across the country.

Fixated on staying in power, the outgoing administration made a concerted effort to reverse 38 electors, the number needed to overturn Bidens victory. Undeterred by the Constitution, which does not provide for decertifying electors after they cast their ballots, strong arm tactics were asserted in Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. Steve Bannon called state legislatures the center of gravity and thanked his viewers for staging protests at legislators homes.

Shameless lawsuits were filed to stop certification of the election results, all failing on the merits. These abusive tactics, used to advance power at any cost, were rejected as a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process and sanctions were imposed against Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell for filing them.

When those efforts to stop the transfer of power failed, the outgoing administration encouraged a violent attack against our capitol and elected officials. In the immediate aftermath, partisan leaders called the attempted coup horrendous, but then refused to investigate it.

The obsession with retaining power, at the expense of democracy itself, resulted in Republican legislatures in nineteen states, including Montana, making it harder to vote. Fourteen states, controlled by Republican legislatures, now let partisan bodies overturn future elections they do not like. Former generals warn of a potential coup in 2024.

These efforts are anti-democratic and anti-American.

The 2 Olympic teams I was on were invited to the White House following the Olympics. In 2000 our White House visit was at the end of November  after the election but before the Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore. The tension was palpable. People marched down halls engaged in fierce conversations. When the decision was issued, Gore responded with a clear concession. Let there be no doubt, while I strongly disagree with the court's decision, I accept it. Gore cited Sen. Stephen Douglas telling Abraham Lincoln, who had just defeated Douglas for the presidency in 1860, "Partisan feeling must yield to patriotism. I'm with you, Mr. President, and God bless you."

Voting  having our voice counted  is the essence of democracy. Mark January 6, 2022, by calling on Congress to pass federal voting rights laws that will guarantee that each Americans vote and voice counts. This Epiphany lets express the essence of democracy. Lets ensure that the will of the people will continue to abide.

Monica Tranel grew up in eastern Montana with her 9 siblings and is an attorney and candidate for Montanas U.S. House seat MT-01.

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World-renowned Kenyan conservationist and fossil hunter Richard Leakey, whose groundbreaking discoveries helped prove that humankind evolved in Africa, died on Sunday at the age of 77, the country's president said.

The legendary paleoanthropologist remained energetic into his 70s despite bouts of skin cancer, kidney and liver disease.

"I have this afternoon... received with deep sorrow the sad news of the passing away of Dr. Richard Erskine Frere Leakey," President Uhuru Kenyatta said in a statement late Sunday.

Born on December 19, 1944, Leakey was destined for paleoanthropology -- the study of the human fossil record -- as the middle son of Louis and Mary Leakey, perhaps the world's most famous discoverers of ancestral hominids.

Initially, Leakey tried his hand at safari guiding, but things changed when at 23 he won a research grant from the National Geographic Society to dig on the shores of northern Kenya's Lake Turkana, despite having no formal archaeological training.

In the 1970s he led expeditions that recalibrated scientific understanding of human evolution with the discovery of the skulls of Homo habilis (1.9 million years old) in 1972 and Homo erectus (1.6 million years old) in 1975.

A TIME magazine cover followed of Leakey posing with a Homo habilis mock-up under the headline "How Man Became Man." Then in 1981, his fame grew further when he fronted "The Making of Mankind," a seven-part BBC television series.

Yet the most famous fossil find was yet to come: the uncovering of an extraordinary, near-complete Homo erectus skeleton during one of his digs in 1984, which was nicknamed Turkana Boy.

As the slaughter of African elephants reached a crescendo in the late 1980s, driven by insatiable demand for ivory, Leakey emerged as one of the world's leading voices against the then-legal global ivory trade.

President Daniel arap Moi in 1989 appointed Leakey to lead the national wildlife agency -- soon to be named the Kenya Wildlife Service, or KWS.

That year he pioneered a spectacular publicity stunt by burning a pyre of ivory, setting fire to 12 tons of tusks to make the point that they have no value once removed from elephants.

He also held his nerve, without apology, when implementing a shoot-to-kill order against armed poachers.

In 1993, his small Cessna plane crashed in the Rift Valley where he had made his name. He survived but lost both legs.

"There were regular threats to me at the time and I lived with armed guards. But I made the decision not to be a dramatist and say: 'They tried to kill me.' I chose to get on with life," he told the Financial Times.

Leakey was forced out of KWS a year later and began a third career as a prominent opposition politician, joining the chorus of voices against Moi's corrupt regime.

His political career met with less success, however, and in 1998 he was back in the fold, appointed by Moi to head Kenya's civil service, putting him in charge of fighting official corruption.

The task proved impossible, however, and he resigned after just two years.

In 2015, as another elephant poaching crisis gripped Africa, President Kenyatta asked Leakey to again take the helm at KWS, this time as chairman of the board, a position he would hold for three years.

Deputy President William Ruto said Leakey "fought bravely for a better country" and inspired Kenyans with his zeal for public service.

Soft-spoken and seemingly devoid of personal vanity, Leakey stubbornly refused to give in to health woes.

"Richard was a very good friend and a true loyal Kenyan. May he Rest In Peace," Paula Kahumbu, the head of Wildlife Direct, a conservation group founded by Leakey, posted on Twitter.
Looking west from Hazel Mountain, Brad Kreps can see forested hills stretching to the Tennessee border and beyond, but it is the flat, denuded area in front of him he finds exciting.

Surface coal mining ended on this site several years ago. But with a clean-up underway, it is now being prepared for a new chapter in the region's longstanding role as a major energy producer - this time from a renewable source: the sun.

While using former mining land to generate solar energy has long been discussed, this and five related sites are among the first projects to move forward in the coalfields of the central Appalachian Mountains, as well as nationally.

Backers say the projects could help make waste land productive and boost economic fortunes in the local area, part of a 250,000-acre (101,171-hectare) land purchase by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in 2019, one of its largest such acquisitions.

"Theres very little activity going on this land, so if we can bring in a new use like solar, we can bring tax revenue into these counties that are really trying to diversify their economies," said Kreps, a TNC program director.

Besides creating a new source of green energy, the project offers a model for solar development that does not impinge on forests or farmland, he said.

TNC, a U.S.-based environmental nonprofit, has identified six initial sites for solar plants in the area and is now moving forward with projects on parcels covering about 1,700 acres.

The two companies that have bid to do the work - solar developer Sun Tribe and major utility Dominion Energy - estimate the projects could produce around 120 megawatts (MW) of electricity, potentially enough to power 30,000 homes.

Construction is expected to start in two or three years after pre-development work and permitting are completed.

"This is a ground-breaking model," said Emil Avram, Dominions vice president of business development for renewables in Virginia.

Dominion believes it is the largest utility-scale renewable energy initiative to be developed on former coal mining land, and could be replicated elsewhere, Avram added.

Renewables targets

The U.S. government formally began looking at putting renewable energy installations on disturbed land  including mines, but also contaminated sites and landfills  in 2008.

Since then, the RE-Powering America's Land program has mapped over 100,000 potential sites covering more than 44 million acres, and helped establish 417 installations producing 1.8 gigawatts (GW) of electricity, according to March data.

A toxic landfill site in New Jersey, for instance, now hosts a 6.5-MW solar installation, while a former steel mill in New York has been turned into a wind farm with capacity of 35 MW.

Yet on mine land, the work has so far been mostly limited to doing inventories and providing technical assistance, resulting in fewer than a half-dozen projects, said Nels Johnson, TNC's North America director for energy.

That has stunted solar developers interest in mine land, he said  a knowledge gap he hopes the new projects can help fill, particularly amid a surging focus on meeting clean energy goals.

After five to 10 years of almost nobody paying attention to this, theres an awakening starting to take place, he said. As more and more states pass renewable energy commitments, its kind of a situation of the dog catching the car.

Virginia, for instance, has a 2020 clean energy bill that, among other things, pushes for Dominion Energys electricity in the state to be carbon-free by 2045.

There are about 100,000 acres affected by coal mining in southwest Virginia alone, said Daniel Kestner, who manages the Innovative Reclamation Program for the state's energy department.

Reusing land like former coal mines makes a lot of sense instead of looking at prime farmland ... or lands near populated areas where there may be conflict, he said.

Kestner's team is now exploring renewable energy development as an approved option for required post-mining reclamation work.

'LIFE AFTER COAL'

Appalachia had harbored a deep-rooted skepticism toward renewable energy, said Adam Wells, regional director of community and economic development with Appalachian Voices, a nonprofit that works in former coal communities.

But recent years have seen a turnaround, he noted, with the recognition that the coal industry  the region's longstanding main economic driver  will not return to its former strength.

Across the country, the number of coal mines dropped by 62% from 2008 to 2020, based on U.S. government figures, translating into a loss of 100,000 jobs since the mid-1980s, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.

Starting around 2015, Wells said, it became necessary to talk about what life after coal looks like in Appalachia. And so, as a result, it became safe to talk about solar.

While the number of jobs from utility-scale solar development does not compare to coal-industry jobs, he said, it could still be significant.

It does generate notable and meaningful tax revenues for localities at a time of declining revenues from coal, he added.

For now, communities are watching the shift with a "wait-and-see" attitude, he said.

Dominion Energys 50-MW project is the largest of the six local solar initiatives now underway.

While Dominion does not have job and tax revenue estimates for that project, it noted in a recent regulatory filing that 15 newly proposed solar projects across Virginia would generate more than $880 million in economic benefits and support almost 4,200 jobs associated with construction.

The company is under major pressure to increase solar production and is planning for an additional 16,000 MW by 2035, executive Avram said, requiring new capacity of about 1,000 MW annually through that date.

"That will require a fair amount of land  a thousand acres per project, roughly," he said.

While the initial mine-land project in southwestern Virginia is relatively small, he said, it is an important stepping stone in learning how to work on previously disturbed sites.

TNC's Kreps sees much more opportunity, literally on the horizon.

Theres hundreds of thousands of acres like this across the region - and in many cases, right now they arent creating a lot of economic value, he said.

His organization, he added, aims to demonstrate "that we can manage these lands for nature outcomes and people outcomes."
S

Security forces killed two people during protests in Sudan against military rule on Sunday, a doctors' committee said.

This brought to 56 the death toll in protests since a coup on Oct. 25, the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said. The committee said that the first man was in his twenties and died of injuries to the head in the capital, Khartoum, while the second man died of gunshots to the chest in Omdurman.

Security forces have not yet commented on the reported deaths.

Meanwhile, Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said on Sunday he was resigning, less than two months after being reinstated as part of a political agreement with the military.

In a televised speech, he said a roundtable discussion was needed to come to a new agreement for Sudan's political transition to democracy.

Sunday was the 12th round of major protests since the coup. Security forces fired tear gas at demonstrators in Khartoum as protesters marched towards the presidential palace, television images showed.

Internet and mobile services appeared to be disrupted in the city ahead of the protests, Reuters witnesses said. Some people managed to post images on social media showing protests in several other cities, including Ad-Damazin, Port Sudan and Sennar.

All bridges directly connecting other towns and cities to Khartoum were also closed, one Reuters witness said.

On recent occasions when communications have been disrupted, sources at telecoms companies have told Reuters that authorities demanded providers cut their services. Officials could not immediately be reached for comment about this on Sunday.

The military took power in an Oct. 25 coup that ended a power-sharing deal with civilian political forces. That 2019 deal was supposed to pave the way for a transitional government and eventual elections following the overthrow of long-time leader Omar al-Bashir.

Protests against military rule have continued even after Hamdok was reinstated as prime minister last month, with demonstrators demanding that the military play no role in government during a transition to free elections.

Six people died and hundreds were injured in nationwide demonstrations on Thursday.

Al Hadath TV quoted an adviser to military leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan on Thursday as saying the military would not allow anyone to pull the country into chaos and that continued protests were a "physical, psychological, and mental drain on the country" and "would not achieve a political solution."

Sudan's Sovereign Council, which Burhan leads, on Friday denounced the violence that accompanied Thursday's protests, adding it had ordered authorities to take all legal and military measures to avoid a recurrence, adding, "nobody will go unpunished."
Human rights advocates are welcoming what they see as increased U.S. attention to Chinese behavior in its volatile Tibet and Xinjiang regions, suggesting that lobbying by rights groups may have contributed to the surge of pressure on Beijing.

A law, a boycott and the appointment of a government official added up in late 2021 to increased U.S. resolve toward the restive Chinese regions, these advocates say.

The Muslim, ethnic Uyghur population in the Xinjiang region of northwestern China and ethnic Tibetans in a region of China's Himalayas have sparred over the past half-century with the Communist government over freedom of worship and displays of their indigenous culture.

"Paying particular attention to the humanitarian crisis in East Turkestan [Xinjiang] is in America's national interest and in line with American values and tradition to call to action whenever genocide and crimes against humanity occur, such as the case of Uyghurs," said Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress organization of exiled Uyghur groups.

"Much like the other countries in liberal democracies, Americans have this vow of 'never again' to allow vulnerable religious and ethnic groups subject to atrocity crimes like the Holocaust, and now the Uyghurs," he said.

U.S. officials also are enmeshed in a nearly 4-year-old trade dispute with China as well as disagreements over Chinese territorial expansion in the seas around Asia and curbs on sharing advanced technology.

Multiple foreign governments, along with human rights advocates, say China has sent more than 1 million Uyghurs to detention camps. Beijing calls the compounds "vocational education centers" that are intended to stop the spread of religious extremism and terrorist attacks.

In Tibet, a religiously and ethnically non-Chinese region that China acquired in 1951, Beijing is increasing control over Buddhist monasteries and adding education in the Chinese language, not Tibetan. Critics of such policies are routinely detained and can receive long prison terms.

In the past five years, Washington has called out China over its restrictions on anti-Beijing activism in Hong Kong and People's Liberation Army flyovers in the airspace of Taiwan.

Mounting pressure

U.S. President Joe Biden cited China's treatment of Uyghurs when announcing a diplomatic boycott this month of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

On Dec. 23, Biden signed into law the bipartisan Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The bill is meant to "ensure that goods made with forced labor" in Xinjiang do not enter the U.S. market.

Targeting Tibet, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Dec. 20 designated Indian American human rights-focused undersecretary Uzra Zeya to serve concurrently as the U.S. special coordinator for Tibetan issues.

Underscoring the human rights element, the U.S. special coordinator will lead efforts to "advance the human rights of Tibetans" and "help preserve their distinct religious, linguistic, and cultural identity," the State Department website says.

Legislators had urged Biden in early December to meet with Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to ensure a place on his agenda for Tibetans' rights.



Pressure on Biden?

Huang Kwei-bo, associate professor of diplomacy at National Chengchi University in Taipei, said in an interview that Biden's focus on Tibet and Xinjiang is consistent with traditional U.S. policy, but may also have been prompted by "internal lobbying" from American human rights groups.

The labor centers are a "relatively new creation" established under Chen Quanguo, who took over in 2016 as the Communist Party secretary of Xinjiang, said Yun Sun, co-director of the East Asia program at the Stimson Center in Washington. Chen has also announced policies to limit Uyghur religious freedom.

China replaced Chen this week in what Sun sees as a sign it wants to move beyond the labor camp policy he created in Xinjiang because the costs to Beijing's international reputation outweigh the benefits.

Pema Doma, campaigns director at Students for a Free Tibet, credits communications from advocacy groups that warily watch China for the Biden government's increased attention to Tibet and Xinjiang.

"It really is the bravery of human rights defenders, the ones that have survived through so much and still come out on the other side brave enough to keep speaking up against the Chinese government," Doma told VOA.

Students for a Free Tibet wants Biden to oppose the forced assimilation of Tibetans and Uyghurs into Chinese culture, Doma said. Western nations can learn from their own histories of racial problems to prevent China from "brainwashing" Tibetans and Uyghurs.

"The Biden administration really has a responsibility to act differently than previous administrations," she said. "It needs to break the mold, because China isn't sitting around."

China's reaction

Chinese officials are rejecting now, as before, U.S. actions toward its western regions as interference. "I think China's most recent tone is rather assertive, to say 'don't interfere in our domestic affairs,'" Huang said.

The official Xinhua News Service criticized the U.S. bill on sanctions against Xinjiang as "full of vicious lies" and "nothing but another desperate attempt to interfere in China's internal affairs through 'long-arm jurisdiction.'"


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The state funeral for Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu has taken place in Cape Town, South Africa, with only 100 mourners allowed inside St. George's Cathedral because of COVID-19 rules. The anti-apartheid hero and human rights activist who died December 26 at the age of 90 had been suffering with prostate cancer.

Desmond Tutu, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his campaign against apartheid, said he wanted the cheapest coffin. And he requsted that money intended for flowers should instead be donated to good causes.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation, airing his funeral Saturday in Cape Town, showed his widow, Leah Tutu, sitting in a wheelchair, listening to the tributes to her famous husband.

There was a televised message from the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who said it was like a mouse giving a tribute to an elephant. He said most messages hes been receiving from people around the world say that when they were in the dark, Desmond Tutu brought light.

He never ceased to speak prophetically, he never ceased to speak powerfully, he never ceased to shed light. Many Nobel prize winners light fades in time, his grew brighter, he said.

South Africas president, Cyril Ramaphosa, gave the eulogy. He said among those Tutu spoke up for were the Palestinians and members of the LGBTQ-plus community.

One of the causes that was dear to him and less well known to many of us was campaigning together with Her Royal Highness Mable from Organje, who is here with us today, against child marriage across the globe. I have learned how the arch traveled to villages in Ethiopia, in India and Zambia to understand the circumstances under which young girls were being forced into marriage. Such was his stamina. Such was his commitment, he said.

Ramaphosa credited Tutu with being South Africas spiritual father. He said the cleric, along with the countrys first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela, preached hope and forgiveness.

Tutu chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that sought to heal the victims and perpetrators of apartheids atrocities.

He coined the term Rainbow Nation, referring to people of all colors who lived in South Africa, and of the beauty that could come after the storm.

In recent years, Tutu was critical of South Africas ruling party because of rampant crime and corruption in the country.



Ramaphosa alluded to this, There are times when he felt let down, and yet, he never lost hope. The most fitting tribute we can pay to him, whoever and wherever we are, is to take up the cause of social justice for which he tirelessly campaigned throughout his life. Archbishop Tutu has left a formidable legacy, and we are enormously diminished by his passing.

Tutus daughter, the Reverend Naomi Tutu, also addressed mourners.

Many of the messages weve received have said, thank you for sharing him with the world.



Well, it actually is a two-way street because we shared him with the world. You shared part of the love you held for him, with us. And so, we are thankful, and we are thankful that all of you have gathered in your many places. In person or via the wonders of technology, to be a part of celebrating daddys life throughout this week.



And lastly, to him, who has gathered us here, uDaddy, uTata (Xhosa language for daddy). We say thank you, Daddy, for the many ways you showed us love, for the many times you challenged us. For the many times you comforted us, she said.

Archbishop Tutu is being cremated in a private ceremony and his ashes will be interred in St. Georges Anglican Cathedral.

He is survived by his wife of 66 years, their four children, and nine grandchildren.
Morristown, VT (05661)

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Partly cloudy skies this morning will give way to occasional showers during the afternoon. High 59F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

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Showers this evening becoming less numerous overnight. Low 43F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
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Max Julien, who starred opposite Richard Pryor in the 1973 blaxploitation classic The Mack, died early on New Years Day, his wife, Arabella Chavers Julien, told The Hollywood Reporter. During Juliens decades-long career, he was known for being bold, honest and straightforward, Juliens representatives told TMZ in a statement Saturday. He would live and speak his own truth both professionally and privately. He was thought of as a rare man among men. He was 88.

Julien, a classically trained theater actor, began his career on the Off Broadway circuit before starring opposite Jack Nicholson in 1968s Psych-Out and Candice Bergen in 1970s Getting Straight. He is most well known for his iconic role as the ambitious pimp Goldie in the hugely popular 1973 film The Mack. Hes still the hero to this day, Julien said of Goldie in the 2002 documentary Mackin Aint Easy. Because of that  indomitable spirit that he has, that you cannot stop me, and you cannot mash me down without me coming back at you. Goldie went on to become a widely used hip-hop reference point with his dialogue sampled by the likes of Snoop Dogg, Public Enemy, and LL Cool J. Numerous hip-hop and R&B stars including Diddy and Too Short have cited Goldie as inspiration for their public personas. Julien also starred in 1968s Uptight as well as The Black Klansman, The Mod Squad, and How to Be a Player.

David F. Walker, a comic-book writer and friend of Juliens, wrote on Instagram, I met Max back in 1996. He was a great human being, and we had so many amazing conversations. He was brilliant and hilarious and charismatic R.I.P.
The practice of immunization dates back thousands of years. Buddhist monks drank snake venom to confer immunity to snake bite and variolation (smearing of a skin tear with cowpox to confer immunity to smallpox) was practiced in 17th century China. Edward Jenner is considered the founder of vaccinology in the West in 1796, after he inoculated a 13-year-old-boy with vaccinia virus (cowpox), and demonstrated immunity to smallpox. In 1798, the first smallpox vaccine was developed. Over the 18th and 19th centuries, systematic implementation of mass smallpox immunizations culminated in the disease's global eradication in 1979.

Louis Pasteurs 1885 rabies vaccine was the next to make an impact on human disease. And then, at the dawn of bacteriology, developments rapidly followed. Antitoxins and vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus, anthrax, cholera, plague, typhoid, tuberculosis, and more were developed through the 1930s. The past two decades have seen the application of molecular genetics and its increased insights into immunology, microbiology and genomics applied to vaccinology. Current successes include the development of recombinant hepatitis B vaccines, acellular pertussis vaccine, and new techniques for seasonal influenza vaccine manufacture.

In Homer's Odyssey, written in 700 BC, the goddess Calypso tells Odysseus: "I'll be as careful for you as I'd be for myself in like need. I know what is fair and right." The Biblical source found in Luke 6:31, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you! In 551-479 BC Confucius sums up his teaching as: "Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you." (Analects 15:23) Throughout the history of the human race there are many references for the need for us to look out for one another.

The United States has a long history of protecting the nations health through vaccines. Although 18th-century Americans didnt fully understand the science behind smallpox, they knew that one-third of all who contracted the disease died.

Mandated vaccines began with George Washington in 1777. His order for smallpox vaccination during the Revolutionary War saved the Continental Army from defeat. Its one example of how mandates have protected the health of Americans for more than two centuries, and since then, American soldiers received the vaccine from the War of 1812 to World War II. Starting in World War I, the Army added vaccines against typhoid. During World War II, vaccines for influenza, tetanus, cholera, diphtheria, plague and yellow fever were also required. By 2006, soldiers in the armed forces received 13 different vaccines, with additional doses depending on location and regional conditions.

Today, the younger generation wants to talk about their rights and privileges. Fifty years ago, when we still taught government and the constitution in high school, people talked about their obligations and responsibilities.

A person has an obligation to others, to those around us. Co-workers, relatives, friend neighbors, retail salespersons, caretakers, waiters and others who make this economy and country work all deserve the right to be free from fear and free from harm as we ourselves expect for us.

We shouldn't need mandates in order to be good citizens. As members of a community, we must understand our rights and responsibilities that help make our communities better. Rights are freedoms we have that are protected by our laws, while responsibilities are duties or things that we should do. As individuals we have the right to care, love and protect our families but with it comes the responsibility to show love, respect and caring to others, especially the elderly. As human beings we are constantly in a state of tension between our appetites and our dreams, and the social realities around us and our obligations to our fellow man.

Any person living in a free society has a right to be oblivious, misinformed, and even selfish. That freedom is limited by the point where it endangers the lives of others and risks their life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Vaccines arent about the individual, they are the obligations of We the People... of Promot[ing] the general welfare to ensure all our rights. Without obligations, there are no meaningful rights.

When the decision to exercise selfish rights costs someone their life, whether it's a high school friend, your brother, sister, wife, son, daughter, father, grandfather or grandmother, saying "Im sorry" is a little too late and doesnt have a lot of meaning.

Elton W. "Mick" Ringsak of Butte was a presidential appointee, serving as Region 8 SBA Administrator, and has been a small business owner. He is a Vietnam veteran and a retired major in the U.S. Army.

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Decatur, IL (62521)

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Partly cloudy skies this morning will give way to occasional showers during the afternoon. High 67F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

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Rain likely. Low 56F. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
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I ought never to have become a book reviewer. Arent critics supposed to resemble H.G. Wellss Martians with their intellects vast, cool and unsympathetic? Instead, Im a real softy, giving writers every possible break because I know how hard it is to produce even a so-so book. And then theres the guilt: As 2021 ends, I can recall  to restrict myself to nonfiction  a dozen appealing biographies and works of history I meant to write about and, for one pathetic reason or another, didnt. Let me confess some of these sins of omission.

Robert A. Grosss The Transcendentalists and Their World (Farrar, Straus Giroux) focuses on two of my favorite writers  Emerson and Thoreau  but in the end, I just couldnt face 864 pages of tiny type and all that minutiae about life in 19th-century Concord, Mass. Though stunning as historical re-creation, Grosss book ultimately struck me as a work for American studies majors rather than general readers.

Something similar seemed true of Konrad Schmid and Jens Schroters The Making of the Bible: From the First Fragments to Sacred Scripture (Harvard). I spent two of my four grad-school years studying late antiquity, so this account of scriptural canon formation attracted me more than a little. But I finally decided that it would only appeal to those readers  and I didnt think there would be many  with a strong interest in early Jewish and Christian theological wranglings. Might I have been wrong about that? It would be pretty to think so.

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Twenty or so years ago, I reviewed two of W.G. Sebalds melancholy, sui generis masterpieces, Vertigo and Austerlitz. Each of those pieces ran around 1,800 words. While Carole Angiers Speak, Silence: In Search of W.G. Sebald (Bloomsbury) would doubtless deepen my understanding of this German writer, would I actually write anything fresh and new? Just as likely, Id simply use up my weekly allotment of 975 words telling people all over again why Sebalds books matter.

Sad to say, this was also my excuse for skipping Richard Zeniths Pessoa (Liveright), a 1,000-page biography of Fernando Pessoa, modern Portugals most original literary genius. Pessoa was best known for adopting multiple authorial identities and then writing in the differing styles of these heteronyms. Fascinated by his work, Id once done considerable research on Pessoa for an essay pegged to his poetry and Zeniths translation of the introspective journal-like The Book of Disquiet. Producing anything less now would simply feel unsatisfying.

Basic Books deserves all praise for publishing both The Library: A Fragile History, by Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen and The Gilded Page: The Secret Lives of Medieval Manuscripts, by Mary Wellesley. These are exactly the sort of engaging, ambitious works of scholarship that serious readers want to know about. Yet hadnt several of my columns in 2021 been devoted to books about books? Despite the sweetness of the water, it seemed too soon to return to that well again.

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After all, timing matters. Basilisks and Beowulf: Monsters in the Anglo-Saxon World, by Tim Flight (Reaktion), appeared late in the year, otherwise it would have been perfect for this summers roundup of books devoted to mythological and fairy tale creatures. From just skimming Flights pages, I recognize a captivating scholarly companion to T.H. Whites The Bestiary and Jorge Luis Borgess Book of Imaginary Beings.

I admit to being seriously tempted by Elizabeth L. Blocks Dressing Up: The Women Who Influenced French Fashion (MIT Press) just because I know nothing about haute couture. This handsomely illustrated, anecdotal volume illuminates the symbiotic relationship between late-19th-century Parisian fashion houses and their well-to-do American clients. Block, a senior editor for the Metropolitan Museum of Arts publication department, writes winningly, and I probably should have reviewed this after all.

Sophus Helles Gilgamesh: A New Translation of the Ancient Epic (Yale) looks to be the last word on this Babylonian masterpiece. Still, much as I longed to revisit the exploits of the first superheroes, Gilgamesh and Enkidu, it would be, as Mr. Spock used to say, illogical. Id already reviewed an earlier Gilgamesh translation by David Ferry and produced a substantial piece about David Damroschs The Buried Book: The Loss and Discovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh. So, I reluctantly concluded, Been there, done that.

Ive never believed that Edith Piaf song about regretting nothing. Having once taught Robert Walsers best-known novel, Jakob von Gunten  its mainly set in a school for butlers  I definitely planned to review Susan Bernofskys Clairvoyant of the Small (Yale), her biography of this eccentric Swiss German writer. I already owned many of his books, including Bernofskys recent translation of the microscripts, mini-essays scribbled in the mental asylum where Walser passed the second half of his life. Before tackling the biography, I consequently wanted to read through all or most of this material  and, suddenly, there just wasnt time. Instead, I cravenly slunk away from the chance to learn more about this strange genius.

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In retrospect, I was stupidly hasty about Mary Beards The Twelve Caesars (Princeton), which isnt at all a modernized update of Suetoniuss gossipy biographical classic. A work of cultural and art history, it investigates numerous images of power from the ancient world to the modern, showing how later eras pictured, interpreted and repurposed what was known of Romes most famous emperors. Like all of Beards work, it is also a mesmerizing read, as Ive discovered too late.

At first, I was feeling almost friskily eager to start the fourth volume of the late John Richardsons life of Picasso, The Minotaur Years, 1933-1943 (Knopf). And then I glanced at the back cover: There were seven reviewers of Volume 3 quoted, and my name wasnt among them. It is unquestionably petty of me to feel dissed, but one tires of seeing hosannas from the same three New York-based periodicals while The Washington Post is overlooked. The possibility that my piece simply hadnt been smart enough doesnt bear thinking about.

But enough for now. No doubt 2022 will bring more wonderful books that I wont be reviewing, but also  happily  at least a few that I will.

Michael Dirda reviews books for Style every Thursday.

Books Overlooked in 2021

A note to our readers We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

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At home and, increasingly, back in the multiplex  theaters, how we missed you  2021 brought us memorable movies for kids, teens and families, from magical adventures to toe-tapping musicals. They entertained us, made us think and gave us plenty to talk about. At the same time, they offered meaningful messages, showed us the power of representation and left us smiling, sometimes through tears. Our picks below all earned the Common Sense Seal, which means they offer an exceptional media experience to families with kids of all ages.

Nickelodeons team of adorable, selfless rescue pups are irresistible to preschoolers, who will be delighted by the movies sweet, simple adventure. (G, Paramount Plus)

This animated adventure is full of stunning magical settings and candy-colored ponies, with positive messages about accepting others and rejecting stereotypes and intolerance. (PG, Netflix)

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Disneys delightful animated musical is a tribute to Colombian culture, magical realism and the power of multigenerational families. (PG, in theaters and on Disney Plus)

Luca, age 6+

Heartfelt and gorgeously animated, this sun-kissed story is tender, sweet and funny, with clear messages about the importance of evaluating others for who they are, not their background or heritage. (PG, Disney Plus)

Vivo, age 6+

This upbeat but poignant animated musical about the transformational power of love boasts Lin-Manuel Mirandas signature genre-blending songs and an adorable main character. (PG, Netflix)

Funny and entertaining, this is an ideal family movie-night pick that should spark productive, candid conversations about the role of technology in family life. (PG, Netflix)

Raya and the Last Dragon, age 8+

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Equal parts charming, empowering and epic, this Southeast Asia-inspired adventure introduces the next great Disney warrior princess. (PG, Disney Plus)

Wish Dragon, age 8+

This delightful animated comedy based on a Chinese fable has charming characters, attractive settings and universal messages about valuing whats really important in life. (PG, Netflix)

The score, the lighting, the camera angles, the humor, the throwback references, the cameos, the script  everything comes together perfectly in this thoroughly entertaining reboot. (PG-13, in theaters)

Mixtape, age 10+

This touching dramedy captures the energy, innocence and angst of the tween years while exploring themes of love, loss, friendship and life. (TV-PG, Netflix)

In the Heights, age 11+

Director Jon M. Chus adaptation of Lin-Manuel Mirandas first deeply personal Broadway musical is a jubilant, powerful tribute to the robust lives, loves, and dreams of a beloved neighborhood. (PG-13, HBO Max)

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An entertaining mix of comedy and superhero action, this welcome addition to the Marvel universe continues to prove that diverse representation matters. (PG-13, Disney Plus)

Fun and exciting, this Spider-Man sequel has all the necessary ingredients for a top-notch superhero movie, including hilarity and heart, action and anxiousness, and some happy surprises. (PG-13, in theaters)

CODA, age 13+

This heartwarming coming-of-age drama may focus on a specific kind of family, but its themes of compassion, empathy, perseverance, communication and teamwork are universal to growing up. (PG-13, Apple TV Plus)

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things, age 13+

Reminiscent of a young-adult Groundhog Day, this enjoyable stuck-in-time tale has great messages about perseverance, finding the beauty in every day, and embracing the changes that come with growing up. (PG-13, Amazon)

Lin-Manuel Mirandas adaptation of Jonathan Larsons musical is a brilliantly performed homage to a legend who died before his genius was appreciated. (PG-13, Netflix)

West Side Story, age 13+

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Steven Spielbergs take on this legendary musical is marvelously cast, gorgeously shot and brilliantly interpreted, with meaningful updates from the 1961 version. (PG-13, in theaters)

Adapted from a popular British stage musical, this inspiring dramedy is full of memorable songs and dance routines, as well as positive messages about becoming the person you want to be. (PG-13, Amazon)

Common Sense Media helps families make smart media choices. Go to commonsensemedia.org for age-based and educational ratings and reviews for movies, games, apps, TV shows, websites and books.

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Thousands of flights canceled, delayed Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight More than 2,600 flights into and out of the United States were canceled Saturday, and more than 4,000 were delayed, according to the tracking firm FlightAware.com, amid bad weather and staff shortages caused by the rapid spread of the omicron variant. Southwest Airlines canceled at least 472 flights and delayed at least another 798  a third of all its scheduled trips; while regional carrier SkyWest canceled at least 478 flights and delayed at least another 406, more than 44 percent of all its scheduled flights.

Among the bigger national carriers, Delta Air Lines cut 10 percent of its flights while American Airlines and United Airlines each scrubbed 7 percent, according to the site.

Some 1,050 flights into or out of the United States have already been canceled for Sunday and at least 202 scrubbed for Monday, FlightAware said. A heavy snowstorm across large parts of the country is expected to cause major travel disruptions, according to the National Weather Service.

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With the United States hitting record coronavirus infections, the holiday travel season has been snarled by about 12,000 canceled flights since Christmas Eve, according to the Associated Press.

Some of the biggest trouble spots for travelers were in the Midwest, where about 55 percent of flights scheduled to leave from Chicago Midway International Airport and about 45 percent from Chicago OHare International Airport were scratched, according to FlightAware. Airports in Denver, Kansas City and Detroit also saw a high number of cancellations and delays.

The Transportation Security Administration, which has been grappling with unruly passengers, urged people to be patient.

 Bloomberg News

21 rescued from stranded tram cars

New Mexico search and rescue crews used ropes and helicopters Saturday to rescue 21 people who were stranded overnight in two tram cars after an iced-over cable caused the cars to get stuck high up in the Sandia Mountains overlooking Albuquerque.

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Lt. Robert Arguelles, a Bernalillo County Fire Department spokesperson, said Saturday afternoon that crews first rescued 20 people stranded in one car and several hours later rescued a 21st person stranded by themselves in a second car.

All of the people on the two cars were employees of the Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway or a mountaintop restaurant, and the 20 in one car were being ferried down to the base of the mountains at the end of their workdays, Arguelles said.

The other employee had been heading up the mountain to provide overnight security when the tram system shut down Friday night due to icing, Arguelles said.

There were no reported injuries among those stranded, Arguelles said.

 Associated Press

Snowstorm hits Midwest: The winter that took its time getting to the Midwest was finally expected to arrive on the first day of the new year. The National Weather Service said as much as 9 inches of snow was expected by day's end. In Michigan, the heaviest snow wasn't expected to start falling until Saturday night, with as much as 7 inches expected along Interstate 94 in west Michigan and 2 inches to 5 inches anticipated in the southeastern part of the state. The northern end of Indiana was expected to see 3 inches to 6 inches of snow. Chicago and surrounding suburbs were caught between a winter storm coming in from the southwest and a northeasterly wind coming off Lake Michigan  a combination that was poised to create as much as an inch of lake-effect snow every hour.

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Cleveland officer killed: An off-duty Cleveland police officer was shot and killed in a parking lot carjacking, and multiple people were arrested, authorities said Saturday. Someone approached Officer Shane Bartek, 25, at an apartment building on Cleveland's west side around 6 p.m. Friday, police said. There was a struggle, and the officer was shot twice, police said. The carjacker fled in the officer's vehicle, police said. Bartek was pronounced dead at Fairview Hospital. The vehicle was tracked down in Euclid, a Cleveland suburb, and one person was arrested, police said. More suspects were arrested later, according to police, who did not provide a number Saturday.

Kentucky declares storm emergency: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) declared a state of emergency Saturday as powerful storms ripped through the state causing flash floods, power outages and property damage, including from a possible tornado in Hopkinsville, in the southwestern part of the state. There were no immediate reports of any injuries or deaths. The storms come just three weeks after deadly tornadoes tore through the region, killing more than 90 people in five states, including 77 in Kentucky. Much of Kentucky and West Virginia were under a flood warning. Portions of eastern Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were under a tornado watch.

 From news services

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Jamaica deports man linked to assassination Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight A former Colombian military member implicated in last years assassination of Haiti President Jovenel Moise will be deported from Jamaica to his home country on Jan. 3, Jamaicas attorney general said on Saturday. Mario Antonio Palacios, 43, is accused by Haitian authorities of forming part of a mercenary group that assassinated Moise in July during an assault on his private residence, during which his wife was also injured.

Palacios was arrested in Jamaica last October and convicted of illegally entering the country from the Dominican Republic. Jamaica had issued a deportation order, but the island nation has no formal extradition treaty with Haiti, where Palacios is wanted, a local police spokesman said.

The information supplied did not link him to the assassination and essentially indicated that he was a suspect for attempted armed robbery, without any detail, Jamaicas Attorney General Marlene Malahoo Forte said in a statement. Our attempts to get further and better particulars from the Haitian government were unsuccessful.

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 Reuters

Archbishop Tutu honored at funeral

Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu was remembered at a state funeral Saturday for his Nobel-earning role in ending South Africas apartheid regime of racial oppression and for championing the rights of LGBTQ people.

When we were in the dark, he brought light, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the head of the worldwide Anglican church, said in a video message shown at a requiem Mass celebrated for Tutu at St. Georges Cathedral in Cape Town.

For me to praise him is like a mouse giving tribute to an elephant, Welby said. South Africa has given us extraordinary examples of towering leaders of the rainbow nation with President Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Tutu  Many Nobel winners lights have grown dimmer over time, but Archbishop Tutus has grown brighter.

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Tutu, who died last Sunday at age 90, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his nonviolent opposition to apartheid.

 Associated Press

At least 12 die during Hindu pilgrimage in Kashmir: A crowd surge at a popular Hindu shrine in Indian-controlled Kashmir killed at least 12 people and injured 15 others on New Year's Day, officials said. Initial reports suggested an altercation between a group of devotees led to the crush early Saturday at the Mata Vaishnav Devi shrine, where tens of thousands of Hindus gathered to pay respects in the hilly town of Katra near southern Jammu city. The pilgrimage resumed after nearly four hours, officials said. An investigation was underway.

Mali's transition to democracy may take years longer: Mali's interim authorities proposed to its West African neighbors that a transition back to democracy following a 2020 military coup be extended by five years, the foreign minister said in comments broadcast Saturday. The transitional government initially agreed to hold presidential and legislative elections in February 2022, but it has made little progress since then, blaming disorganization and a rash of Islamist violence.

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Violence against women insults God, pope says: Pope Francis used his New Year's message to issue a clarion call for an end to violence against women, saying it was insulting to God. Francis, 85, celebrated a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on the day the Roman Catholic Church marks both the solemnity of Holy Mary Mother of God as well as its annual World Day of Peace.

Palestinian rockets explode off Tel Aviv coast, Israeli military says: Palestinian militants in Gaza fired two rockets toward the Mediterranean sea on Saturday, causing an explosion off the shore of Tel Aviv, Israel's military said. Police said there were no casualties or damage.

French incineration of cars tradition declines: Hundreds of empty, parked cars go up in flames in France each New Year's Eve, set afire by young revelers, a much lamented tradition that appeared in decline this year, which saw only 874 vehicles burned. On New Year's Eve 2019, 1,316 vehicles went up in flames.

 From news services

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House Democrats are bracing for a turnover in leadership next year that would amount to a seismic event for the party  one that could empower a new, diverse generation of members while also exacerbating tensions over the direction of the caucus and the policies it should pursue. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight After almost 19 years as House Democratic leader, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) is expected to step down at the close of this Congress, ending a historic career that included trying to end George W. Bushs Iraq War, implementing President Barack Obamas signature health-care law, impeaching President Donald Trump twice and squeezing President Bidens sweeping agenda through a narrowly controlled House.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) is the early favorite to become the next Democratic leader, but the maneuvering for power has just begun, and fights over who else should be on the leadership team could pit the ideological factions of the caucus against each other.

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Whoever replaces Pelosi will face the daunting task of presiding over the increasingly tense debate about whether Democrats will be the party of the activist left or of a center-left coalition that can appeal to a broader segment of America in the struggle with an ever more populist and nationalistic Republican Party.

Its a debate that is already raging as Democrats scramble to rescue the main pillar of Bidens agenda that would expand education, health-care and climate change programs and has led to deep acrimony between liberal and centrist members about what the party has promised voters and what it will actually deliver.

The debate will only get more intense.

I think we want leadership that bridges some of the different ideological wings of the party, that is committed to listening to all of the perspectives, that will be capable of helping move the Senate or things that have stalled in the House, and has a bold vision of what we need to achieve for the American public, Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.), a liberal, said in an interview. But whoever it is, I hope they would adopt progressive positions and also listen to the broad caucus and build consensus.

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While Pelosi retains the respect, and often the reverence, of her caucus, interviews with more than two dozen lawmakers and aides across the House Democratic Caucus, including members of the ideological and minority caucuses, made clear that the rank and file are ready to move beyond the old guard of octogenarians that includes Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (Md.) and Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (S.C.).

But there are stark differences over how the next set of leaders should run the caucus, regardless of whether Democrats return to the minority or maintain control of the chamber after the midterm elections.

Some want a strong hand like Pelosi.

I want to make sure that it is someone who can pull the party together. As Pelosi says: Our diversity is our strength, and unity is our power. I want to make sure its someone who can hold that unity, said Rep. Bradley Schneider (Ill.), a moderate.

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Others want power decentralized, with members hashing out their disagreements among themselves rather than being told where to stand.

I think there was a holding of power model that worked very well for a long time, and I think now it is more about a recognition of different centers of focus within the Democratic caucus that have to be brought in and brought together, said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus. It takes some acceptance of more-decentralized leadership.

But the members interviewed overwhelmingly agreed that Pelosis replacement should be equally as historic as electing the first female speaker. That leaves White men who are mulling a run  such as Hoyer and Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), a Pelosi ally  in a difficult spot with a party that is looking for more diversity at the top. It is also to the benefit of Jeffries, who would be the first Black person to lead either party in either chamber.

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I cant prognosticate the future or what would happen, but if we are playing what if there is ever a change, I think it is very important and would have no problem saying that, if I had a crystal ball, I would want the leadership to be reflective of this wonderful democracy in America we live in, said Rep. Joyce Beatty (Ohio), who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus. Certainly I would like to be able to say that I was part of the process that had the first Black American to be speaker of the U.S. Congress.

There is one possible outcome of the leadership shuffle that many said they fear and that none want: replacing the stability that Pelosi, Hoyer and Clyburn have provided with the instability that has marked the House GOP conference for more than a decade, with members chewing through leaders every few years.

She understands how to get things done and how to keep us together, even if it looks a little bit messy from the outside, one Democratic member said of Pelosi, speaking, like some others, on the condition of anonymity to talk about private discussions on the potential change in leadership. I think theres a real fear that without her, theres a world where we ended up like the Republicans under [Ohios John A.] Boehner and then [Wisconsins Paul] Ryan, where no one could keep them together.

The maneuvering within the caucus stems from Pelosis promise in 2018 that this would be her last term as speaker. Pressed in November 2020 on whether she would keep her pledge that the 117th Congress would be her last, Pelosi told reporters, I dont want to undermine any leverage I may have, but I made the statement.

She has since batted away questions about her future and could seek to stay in power. But members and aides view her public refusal to discuss her plans less as an indication that she has rethought her decision and more as a desire not to become a lame duck as she tries to get more of Bidens agenda into law. Her office declined to comment.

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The focus on whos next has once again stirred up the debate over ageism and who has the right to tell a leader its time to call it quits.

Clyburn, who has been in leadership since 2003, said in an interview that while becoming speaker was not on his radar, he was not necessarily going to step away from seeking a leadership position whenever Pelosi decides to leave. He questioned why younger members are so impatient for a generational change at the top.

I dont know. I dont understand it, he said. Ill just simply say this: We have to be very, very careful. There has to be a healthy balance of strength and experience.

The civil rights icon defended his work for the caucus over the years, noting that he might have already stepped aside had racism in the segregated South not prevented him from seeking office earlier in his life.

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If I had gotten elected in my 30s like so many of the White folks did, I may have retired by now, but I didnt get to until my 50s because the laws worked against me, he said.

Hoyer, who filed for reelection in December, has long aspired to replace Pelosi and is not deterred by members once again calling for younger, more diverse leadership, according to people close to him. Even so, several of his closest allies privately acknowledge that he is unlikely to replace Pelosi amid the caucuss desperate need and desire to elect new leaders, as one Democrat put it.

Hoyers office declined to comment.

The focus on diversity as a key attribute for the leadership team helps cement Jeffries as the front-runner to lead Democrats into the new era.

Interviews with members of the Black, Hispanic and Asian Pacific American caucuses showed support for electing the first Black speaker or minority leader, with the latter two groups noting they would rather focus on electing more people of their backgrounds to other leadership posts than challenging Jeffries.

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Asked on MSNBCs Morning Joe last month whether he had heard the rumors that he could replace Pelosi, Jeffries laughed and politely said, Its an honor to be able to chair the [Democratic] caucus.

Jeffries is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus but is also seen as someone who is friendly with the business community, particularly New Yorks finance industry, and protective of moderates who represent competitive districts. While this could help him on the fundraising circuit  where Pelosi thrived, consistently filling her partys campaign coffers  it has also been a source of skepticism for some progressives.

Last year, he formed the Team Blue PAC along with Problem Solvers Caucus co-chair Josh Gottheimer (N.J.) and New Democrat Coalition co-chair Terri A. Sewell (Ala.), with the goal of defending incumbents against primary challengers in congressional races. The move put him at odds with some of the most liberal House Democrats, who see these types of primary challenges as key to moving the partys agenda to the left and who arrived in Congress after defeating more-moderate Democrats in primaries.

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Members interviewed for this article said Jeffries has been solicitous of liberals who may be most skeptical of him, including members of the Squad, a group of young members of color who represent the partys leftmost wing. But they also privately said Jeffries should spend time this year making more inroads with them.

He recently sponsored a bill to overhaul the clemency laws with Democratic House members Cori Bush (Mo.) and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) to alleviate what they term the problem of mass incarceration. And he has tried to leave behind tensions with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who defeated Rep. Joseph Crowley, a Jeffries ally, in a 2018 Democratic primary in New York. Those tensions boiled over into a nasty Twitter fight between their offices in 2019.

But members of the Squad do not appear to be overly focused on the potential changing of the guard atop the party.

Two aides familiar with Squad members thinking said there is no interest at the moment in challenging or opposing Jeffries whenever Pelosi steps down, because they arent particularly interested in who holds titles in the caucus. They consider themselves their own power center, given their popularity with liberal voters, and feel they can push the agenda regardless of who is running the caucus, the aides said.

The question is, are [leaders] going to take us seriously as newer members of Congress? Thats the question. Do we have the respect of leadership throughout the House and Senate and the White House, as newer members of Congress? said Rep. Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.). If we are a big tent as Democrats  which we are  like the country, every voice is as important as the next voice and we need to stop blaming progressives in the Squad for all of the problems of the Democratic Party, because that is not true.

During the recent tense debates over Bidens infrastructure and domestic spending packages, Jeffries endeared himself to some members by being deferential to their concerns and allowing groups of moderates and liberals to hash out their differences directly.

I think that leadership forgot and thought that they could arm-twist and use the same kind of rationale  to get people to go along to get along, one Democratic member said of Pelosi, Hoyer and Clyburn. Someone like Hakeem was able to kind of jump into that void and say, Lets try and work this out. I hear you. I mean, it sounds like so overly simplistic, but it had gotten that bad.

The impression members across the ideological spectrum have taken from their interactions with Jeffries is that he is a great listener who has often gone to bat for members behind the scenes. Democrats also view him as a sharp communicator, especially when attacking Republicans, something that could be a substantial part of the next Democratic leaders job if the party winds up in the minority.

Hes brilliant, hes smooth, but he is fearless, said a member supportive of Jeffries. I mean, if we are fighting for something, I want Hakeem Jeffries on my side because he will go to the mat on an issue.

Over the past several years, Jeffries and Reps. Katherine M. Clark (Mass.) and Pete Aguilar (Calif.) have been considered by their colleagues as the next group of leaders, given their diversity and current lower-level leadership posts. Members expect Jeffries to run for the top spot, while Clark would seek to be his second-in-command. A source familiar with the legislators intentions said they view their relationship as a partnership, something other members have noticed, given Jeffries closer ties to moderates and Clarks to liberals.

This is no time to speculate on future leadership elections, Kathryn Alexander, Clarks communications director, said in a statement.

Aguilar, who serves as the Democratic caucus vice chair, has told members close to him that he hopes to run for the third spot in leadership, which could be majority whip or caucus chairman depending on whether Democrats keep the House.

There are other possible candidates just now mulling what they should do.

Jayapal has gained prominence this year for maintaining cohesion among members of the progressive caucus, which gave it more clout in negotiations with leadership over Bidens agenda.

She has been making preliminary calls to her colleagues to express interest in running for a position, leaving the impression among some members that she would challenge Clark, who is also a member of the progressive caucus. But people familiar with Jayapals thinking say she has not decided which position she would seek.

I think Im going to look at any opportunities that are there, Jayapal said when asked if she wants to be in leadership. I think we need leaders who are diverse, who are new, who have fresh ideas, people who are organizers, and people who are disciplined and good communicators.

Numerous members noted that they had either been reached out to by or heard that Reps. David N. Cicilline (R.I.), Debbie Dingell (Mich.), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.) and Schiff are interested in top spots.

All members interviewed agreed that Pelosi will be hard to replace, but some said that may be an opportunity as much as a problem.

I think it will be important to have multiple strong leaders who get along well and are willing to share the workload, because Nancy Pelosi somehow does the job of 12 people, and I think there will be a benefit to splitting it up and sharing, especially when shes had 20 years to perfect how she does things, make mistakes. That all just takes time, one moderate Democrat said.

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The Remnant Fellowship Church in the TV series. (HBO Max)

The show tells the story of the Remnant Fellowship Church, whose founder Gwen Shamblin Lara created a controversial weight-loss program  and died in a plane crash in 2021.
In the last lockdown, myself and so many others had gone for such a long time without taking annual leave, that fatigue and languishing was kicking in, she says. We introduced #takeabreak, if you took three days off, we gave employees an extra day. As many CEOs ponder the remote working revolution, and what it means for the long-term, Stewart is adamant flexibility is here to stay. While she says in-person meetings will continue to be an important part of collaborative work, Aware Super staff will decide what amount of time in the office is appropriate for them. We are not mandating days back in, she says. Were really enabling the teams to decide what rhythm works best.

Switching sides Before joining Aware Super in 2018, Stewart worked in the retail for the other side of super. Australias $3.4 trillion retirement savings industry is divided between industry and retail funds  one with ties to powerful unions linked to big employers, the other owned by large listed corporations with deep pockets. The two segments fiercely compete for market share. Stewart headed Westpacs private bank in the naughties before joining the banks superannuation arm, BT Financial Group.

There is a permanent trade-off between two sets of interests in retail funds, she says, that feeds into decisions like setting fees and the level of investment to improve services. You are constantly having to juggle between what is in members best interest and shareholders best interests, says Stewart, but holds back from expanding. I feel like if I gave you specific examples, it would be tough on certain individuals that are still around. Now, leading an industry fund with more than $150 billion in assets under management, Stewart is certain shes made the right choice. If you look at the top-performing funds, they are dominated by industry funds. I dont think that is by accident.

This year has been described as the largest period of reform to the superannuation industry since super was made compulsory in 1992. The Morrison government introduced sweeping changes, including annual performance tests, online comparison tools and new requirements to ensure every investment creates financial benefits for members. While Stewart says on the whole the reforms will benefit members, and have mostly been free from politics, one area raised concerns  new rules for proxy advisors introduced by press release two weeks before Christmas. Proxy advisers provide institutional investors with research on listed companies on matters of corporate governance, including voting recommendations for executive pay, director re-elections and shareholder resolutions on topics ranging from climate policies to board-room diversity. The research is non-binding, as is the outcome of any shareholder vote. But there is increasing angst among some parts of corporate Australia about the level of influence proxies have on public debate.

Despite consultation from stakeholders, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has now stripped Australias proxy firms of financial services licences and, without warning, introduced a raft of new rules that dictate when and how proxies must deliver reports. It wasnt what the business community were bringing up, nor the super funds, Stewart says. That was the bit that seems to have an ideological bent. Gender pay gap Stewart grew up in the rural NSW town of Bathurst, with two parents who were teachers. In the 1980s, during her final years at all-girls school, Mary McKillop Secondary, she was taking a compulsory lesson in typing when a teacher spotted potential.

Noticing the girls had greater ambitions than becoming a typist, the teacher negotiated with the principal to set up a class for those who wanted to study four unit maths instead. Around 10 per cent of the class went onto study the highest level of maths in the final exams and many, including Stewart, topped the state. For a country town you wouldnt think that was possible, she says. You would expect them to come from James Ruse or Sydney Girls. More than two-thirds of Aware Supers members are women. Its in the funds financial interests to close the gender pay gap, but its a topic Stewart is also passionate about on a personal level. Women retire with between 22 and 35 per cent less than men, according to KPMG research, and Stewart says there are well-known recommendations that could help close the gap, such as mandating super to be paid during parental leave. But theres one reform that Stewart says requires political will  tax reform.
But despite having a visa, travel exemption, Australian Travel Declaration, Victorian border pass and Victorian hotel quarantine forms, the older couple were denied boarding in Colombo.

New parents Anuradha Madugalla and Chamath Divarathne, from Cranbourne East in Melbourne, had been looking forward to Ms Madugallas parents visiting from Sri Lanka for Christmas and New Years Eve to meet their one-month-old baby.

Anuradha Madugalla and Chamath Divarathne have had their hopes dashed of having their parents visit to meet their newborn. Credit:Simon Schluter

The federal government changed the border restrictions to allow the parents of Australian citizens and permanent residents to enter the county in November.

Hopes of a family reunion this holiday season have been dashed for many Australians whose overseas-based parents have been turned away from flights because they were dosed with foreign COVID-19 vaccines.

When we got pregnant we were ready to handle this without our parents but then we received information that parents will be able to come in, so we built up all the hopes just to get shattered three weeks later, Ms Madugalla said.

Her parents have been vaccinated with the Russian vaccine Sputnik V, which is not recognised for travel to Australia.

Ms Madugalla said they disclosed the type of vaccine and the dates of the doses on all the forms and they were given official confirmation her parents could fly to Australia but must go into hotel quarantine in Melbourne. But, when the airline called the Australian authorities, they were told not to allow them to board the flight.

Since then, the family has been unable to get clarification from the Australian or Victorian governments about whether their parents are allowed to come. In NSW and Victoria, vaccinated people can isolate at home, while unvaccinated travellers and all travellers in most other states must complete 14 days of hotel quarantine.

However, hotel quarantine capacity has been wound back. For example, in NSW the capacity in hotel quarantine is now 210 a week, down from about 5000 a week a few months ago.
A legal expert has warned of the powers that religious organisations have to hire and fire staff after a fringe church sacked a worker who got the COVID-19 jab because it said that went against its beliefs.

Lainie Chait is seeking damages for unfair dismissal after she was allegedly sacked by the Newcastle-based Church of Ubuntu for getting a COVID-19 vaccination.

Lainie Chait claims she was unfairly dismissed by her employer after she received the COVID-19 jab. Credit:Elise Derwin

Ms Chait worked for the church, which runs a wellness clinic that sells medicinal hemp products, as a client consultant for 12 months but was dismissed in October after her boss found out she had received the jab.

A letter from the churchs vice-president Karen Burge praised Ms Chaits work but said getting a vaccination was inconsistent with its religious teachings.
The number of Victorians seeking relationship separation advice has surged during the pandemic and family lawyers are bracing for a further influx of work in the new year as Melburnians deal with the emotional fallout of lockdowns.

Lawyers who spoke to The Age said a combination of factors including the backlog of separations that had been delayed by the pandemic, the strain of lockdowns on relationships, and the stress of working from home had led to an unprecedented number of people seeking separation advice.

Relationship services experienced more couples seeking help in lockdown. Credit:iStock

Coote Family Lawyers managing partner Gillian Coote said she expected her already busy workload to increase in the new year.

I think that if your marriage is going through a tough period  maybe youre bored, or the end of something  then in normal times, you can perhaps do something to enliven it, travel, go on a holiday, change jobs or friends, live your life slightly differently, she said.
A worker can dislike a colleague, swear at and insult them  even defecate in their boots  and it may not constitute bullying, according to a judgment in Victorias County Court.

The finding emerged after a Melbourne docks worker sued his former employer, P&O Ports, over claims he was regularly called a rat dog, ostracised and overlooked for promotion due to his assiduous reporting of safety breaches.

A lawyer for P&O Ports described the docks as a workplace that was not for the faint-hearted. Credit:Wayne Taylor

The stevedore, who The Sunday Age has chosen not to name, alleged that abusive graffiti about him was posted in the staff toilets and that he was mocked and menaced by foremen before an unknown colleague defecated in his work boots.

County Court judge Philip Ginnane dismissed the case after a 23-day trial, finding that although some of the stevedores colleagues evidently disliked him, their behaviour towards him was not bullying.
New York: New York state shattered its record for new infections, reporting 85,476 COVID-19 cases as freshly sworn in mayor Eric Adams declared New York City open and alive and that it will not be controlled by crises.

In his first speech as the citys 110th mayor, Adams pledged to unite New Yorkers and root out waste and inefficiency, all while overcoming a resurgent COVID-19 outbreak thats hitting the city hardest in the state.

New York City mayor Eric Adams looks at a fight on the street while waiting for the subway to City Hall on his first day in office. Adams called the police to report an assault in progress. Credit:AP

Adams was sworn in just after midnight on New Years Day in Times Square, seizing on one of New Yorks most iconic events, the annual New Years Eve ball drop. He said he wanted to remind New Yorkers and the world that despite COVID-19 and its persistence, New York is not closed.

Its still open and alive, because New York is more resilient than the pandemic, said Adams, the citys second black mayor.
A Maori journalist has made history in New Zealand by becoming the first person with traditional facial markings to host a primetime news program on national television.

Oriini Kaipara made headlines worldwide after hosting her first 6 p.m. bulletin for Newshub on the TV channel Three, with many lauding the milestone as a win for Maori representation.

"I was really elated. I was over the moon," Kaiipara told CNN of the moment she found out she would cover the primetime slot. "It's a huge honor. I don't know how to deal with the emotions."

Kaipara's Christmas Day presenting role was the first of six consecutive days covering for the primetime news show's permanent anchors, although her stint will continue into early January and she said she may be called again in the future

The 38-year-old is already the permanent anchor of the 4:30 p.m. "Newshub Live" bulletin, and made history when she was appointed to the role in 2019, as the first person with Maori facial markings to present a mainstream TV news program.

In the tradition of the Maori people, who are the indigenous people of what is now New Zealand, facial markings are tattooed on the chin for women and known as moko kauae, while for men they cover most of the face and are known as mataora.

Kaipara got her tattoo in January 2019, which she says was a personal decision she made for grounding reasons, to remind her of her power and identity as a Maori woman.

"When I doubt myself, and I see my reflection in the mirror, I'm not just looking at myself," Kaipara told CNN. "I'm looking at my grandmother and my mother, and my daughters, and hers to come after me, as well as all the other women, Maori girls out there and it empowers me."

Having begun her career in 2005, Kaipara said hosting the primetime news slot was the "pinnacle" of her journalistic dreams, although it was a "bittersweet moment" because her mother, who recently passed away, couldn't share the moment with her.

Despite all the positive comments, there have also been negative reactions to Kaipara's presenting, especially as she often uses Maori phrases such as "E haere ake nei" (still to come), "U tonu mai" (stay with us) and "Taihoa e haere" (don't go just yet).

The Maori language is hugely important to Kaipara. Her ultimate goal, she said, is encouraging people to speak the language that was "beaten out of my grandmother's generation" and reclaim it for Maori people.

"We still haven't addressed a lot of intergenerational traumas and colonization and for Maori, that's very, very pertinent and poignant as well," Kaipara said. "Not much in terms of race relations here has changed in a very long time."

However, the "enormity" of the occasion was not lost on her and in many ways it was a full circle moment for Kaipara, who was inspired by Maori TV news presenter Tini Molyneux when she was a young girl.

"She was my idol," Kaipara told CNN. "She had the same skin color as me... she sounded like me, she looked like me. And she comes from where I come from originally, my family, whakapapa (ancestors), where are ancestral ties are to our land."

Kaipara hopes young Maori girls will take inspiration from her story as a sign that times are changing.

"For a long time our people, our ancestors, our tipuna, and us now, have done so much work to get to where we are," Kaipara told CNN. "As a young woman, as a young Maori, what you do today influences and affects what happens tomorrow. So all I ask is that they see the beauty in being Maori and they embrace it and acknowledge that and do what they can with it for positive change."

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The difficulty finding workers in Connecticut is not limited to rank-and-file employees: Corporate recruiters say business is booming as the pandemic approaches the two-year mark.

Ive been doing this for 23 years and this has been one of the best years, said Duane Sauer, who is vice president and practice director for permanent placement in the accounting and finance unit for Robert Half Recruiters Connecticut and Western Massachusetts service territory. Ive never seen demand like it is now.

The demand for female workers, particularly executives, is especially acute. About 350,000 women 20 and older left the workforce in September and August of this year, the U.S. Labor Department reported in October, while 321,000 men in the same age group came on board.

As a result, the labor force for women aged 20 and older was down by roughly 2 million from February of 2020, about twice the deficit for non-teenaged men.

That has created a shortage of female wokers at all levels, particularly in the executive suite, according to Jasmine Silver and Runa Knapp, co-founders of Connectalent, a Westport recruiting firm that specializes in placing female executives.

Knapp said with the arrival of the pandemic in March 2020, many women left the workforce, not because they wanted to, but because they were needed to care for elderly parents or to supervise the at-home learning of their children when schools closed.

Silver said the companies looking to hire the female executives Connectalent represents are businesses that have been successful meeting the challenges associated with the pandemic.

These companies are doing well, making money and as a result, havent got enough people to meet their needs, she said. The candidates we work with are ready to go because they were at the top of their game, in senior level positions when they left the workforce.

Silver said she and Knapp work with eight to 10 executives at a time in an effort to find each of them positions. The two women say they have worked with between 35 and 40 companies since they launched the firm in May 2019.

Knapp said she and Silver have a more hands on, white glove approach when it comes to recruiting.

We dont just match buzz words online, Knapp said.

We met a lot of mothers like us

Connectalents services have really taken off during the pandemic with the revenue of the business having tripled in 2020 and 2021. Knapp said client companies pay Connectalent as much as a third of the first year compensation for any candidate who is placed.

Silver and Knapp decided to team up after meeting when their children were playing together. Knapp had been in corporate accounting with KPMG and Silver was a divorce attorney.

We met a lot of mothers like us, women who were ambitious and wanted to get back into the workforce, Silver and. And at the same time, we found companies are seeking talented, efficient and skilled women to come to work for them.

Candidates for executive positions are benefiting from a tight labor market and any skills they may have developed while working remotely, according to Maurice Mo Cayer, a University of New Haven faculty member in the schools psychology and management departments. The former General Electric executive said client companies are looking for people who have a track record of engaging remotely with people who work for them because not everyone can do that.

The ability to be innovative and translate your work across a variety of digitized platforms is more important than ever, Cayer said.

Seeking diversity

Part of the reason for that female executives are more in demand may nothing to do with workplace conditions brought about or exacerbated because of the pandemic.

Russell Reynolds, chairman of RSR Partners, a Greenwich firm that specializes in finding high-ranking executives and corporate board members, said the biggest change his firm has seen since the start of the pandemic is that client companies are more eager to diversify their leadership teams.

Over 60 percent of our recruitments during that time have been diverse hires, he said.

The drive toward more diversity among corporate Americas excutive workforce is being driven to some extent by members of Generation Z and its reaction to the Black Lives Matter movement, according to Jennifer Openshaw, chief executive officer of the Stamford-based group, Girls With Impact. Generation Z covers people born from the late 1990s to the early 2010s.

Gen Z has kept it alive and going, Openshaw said of the Black Lives Matter movement. This generation that corpoare America is looking to hire is focused on inclusion and diversity. They want a corporation that dont just talk the talk, but walk the walk.

Openshaw said Girls With Impact runs a 10-week mini-MBA program that is open to young women from 14-to-24 years old. She 70 percent of the programs graduates are women of color.

We need to train the next generation to lead and theres lots of studies that show a young womans confidence drops by as much as 30 percent by age 13, she said. The outcomes we see from the program are off the charts: 85 percent of our graduates feel an increase in confidence. And they come out of the program with a real business plan for a start-up or non-profit.

That sets the programs graduates apart from the competition when it comes time for them to go to college, Openshaw said.

We just had two young women who got full-ride offers, from Howard and Babson, she said.

Openshaw said a study her organization following a University of Connecticut venture competition is an indication that the state is a hotbed for female exective talent.

Of the 1,000 students who participated during that period, 17 percent were women, she said. But of the student teams that finished in first, second or third place, 51 percent of them had a female founder. And of the first place teams, 35 percent were run by a female; women may have been few in number in the competition, but their success far out paced their numbers.

Well rounded, good people

Whether fresh out of college or a mid-career executive, Sauer said that once a recruiter has identified candidates to present to clients, those companies must react quickly or risk losing a candidate to another employer, according to Sauer.

Good candidates are going fast in certain cases as quickly as two or three days, he said. In other cases, its two or three weeks max. CPA companies like to compare candidates, but we tell the if they find somebody who checks all of he boxes their looking for, hire them.

Sauer said while compensation levels are still important to job seekers once an employment offer has been made, that subject has been taking a back seat to other considerations.

They first thing they want is a hybrid work schedule, he said. And if they cant have that, they want some flexibility with how they use their times. Ive never seen a time when candidates are making more counter offers to employers.

Cayer said that while companies are more willing than ever to accommodate location preferences where candidates want to work from, there are no guarantees they will get what they want.

In Connecticut, a lot of companies will be flexible, he said. But companies like Chase and Google, they want their people to come back to the office.

Any company insisting a full-time return to working in the office or may have a difficult time recruiting women in Connecticut, if the results of a study released in early December by Girls With Impact is any indication.

One of the findings of the study, Post-Covid Economic Recovery for Women of Connecticut, found that 93 percent of those surveyed identified policy reform for childcare assistance as the top priority in bringing more women into the workforce.

While Reynolds acknowledged candidates have the upper hand in a tight labor market, he advised potential employment candidates against taking advantage of the situation.

We look to work with people who want to be helpful, not those who just want to be helped, Reynolds said. If somebody asks for too much, we tell them to look for someplace else. We look for candidates who are well-rounded, good people, not those who are just good professionally.

luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com
NEW HAVEN - Southern Connecticut State University president Joe Bertolino decided in 2019 to resume accordion lessons so he could play for his aging parents, but little did he know how profound that decision would become in his mothers last days.

At his fathers suggestion, Bertolino, a former New Jersey accordion champion, gave an impromptu performance about a year ago in his familys New Jersey living room, as his mother, Eileen, lay semi-conscious and not very lucid, in the last stages of pancreatic cancer.

When Bertolino started to play of Flight of the Angels, - the whole family present, including his husband, father, sister, nephews - Eileen Bertolino started to tap her hand on the railing of the bed, opened her eyes, then sat up and flashed a big smile.

We were all, there she is. It was a powerful and wonderful moment - it was a gift, Bertolino said, noting it was really the last time his mother interacted with any of the family. It was a combination of joy and sadness, but still in disbelief about how the music managed to generate a response.

After the brief awakening Eileen Bertolino returned to sleep, dying about a week later on Feb. 17.

Her widower, president Bertolinos dad, also named Joe Bertolino, loves that he has video of that moment to watch - and he does.

Its a great feeling - its like seeing her alive, the elder Joe Bertolino said. Its beautiful - sad, but beautiful.

Dad Joe Bertolino, a seasoned musician himself, who played trumpet in his band for some 20 years, said he knows the magic of music and thats why he suggested his son play for Eileen Bertolino, as he knew he had his accordion with him.

The younger Joe Bertolino said the reaction of his mother to music, brought us peace as a family.

Who would have thought? his taking lessons again would lead to such significance, he said. Music proved in the end of my mothers life to provide a joyful and healing experience for all of us.

The younger Bertolino said he played Flight of the Angels, because that was what he was coincidentally working on in his lessons, but it turned out to be apropos, as his dying mother was a person of deep faith - and certainly an angel now.

He said mom grew up in poverty, losing her father at 11-years-old. Eileen Bertolino had five brothers, two of whom were developmentally disabled and became a second mom of sorts.

She was the only one of her siblings to go on to college, but first became a nurse.

She took care of a lot of people, including her mother who died a few years ago at age 99 and her disabled brothers. Mom Eileen also tirelessly took care of her daughter who was in a terrible car accident in the 1980s, but recovered, the younger Joe Bertolino said.

She was always a woman of incredible faith, he said She was a lovely, kind, caring woman.

President Bertolino said she instilled three main values, in this order, - faith, family, education. The elder Joe Bertolino called his wife, the rock of the family and credited her for superb parenting.

Bertolino was a champion accordion player in his youth, beginning at 10 and inspired to play by his maternal grandfather, Gene Wisniewski, who memorably played during the holidays. Wisniewski was married to his maternal grandmother, Marguerite - the one who had been widowed young. While he can certainly play polkas, Joe Bertolino prefers classical pieces, he said.

Bertolino played competitively through college and said he was the only accordionist at University of Scranton. Then life, education, career, put the accordion playing on hold for decades

He decided resume playing in 2019 and take lessons, so he could play for his parents as they aged because they had invested so much time and money in that part of his life, he said. There were lessons twice a week, recitals, competition and the younger Joe Bertolino said in 1979 his parents bought him a $4,000 accordion even though they were regular working-class people. He still plays that instrument.

They were excited (about the accordion playing) because I was excited, Bertolino said, noting the accordion opened doors for him, in life.

When SCSU president Bertolino decided to take lessons again , he found master teacher Mary Tokarski, with whom he continues to take virtual lessons.

Joe is a very sensitive person, said Tokarski, who has performed on the accordion throughout the world. He brings an awful lot of himself into the music. Tokarski said because the accordion is held right against the body it has a quality sound from the heart and, We become one with the instrument.

Tokarski isnt a bit surprised the music had that profound effect on Eileen Bertolino because music connects with the soul and demands a response from the body.

Tokarski said shes played in many a nursing home and people who havent spoken in years often start singing.

The music touches everyones soul, she said. Music is an absolutely amazing thing.

At the urging of his staff, president Bertolino played Flight of the Angels in his annual video address to the SCSU community, sharing in a general sense that he played the song for his mother shortly before her death.

Given everything weve all been through (with the pandemic), I wanted to make this personal, I wanted to make this meaningful, joyful, the younger Joe Bertolino said of his annual message. I thought by playing and sharing my story, it was a way not just to say thank you, but also to send the message This has been a time when weve had to focus on humanity, on community and these important connectionsI hope folks find some joy and peace and beauty in the message.

His video message, performance, garnered a lot of attention and Joe Bertolino heard from people all over the country, and even accepted the invitation to play in the New Haven Symphony Pops holiday concert. He hopes to join a music ensemble at SCSU, which would put him rehearsing right alongside students.

Theres no turning back now, he said. I think mom would be proud.
Jan 9, 2020

What does it take to be happy? The Nordic countries seem to have it all figured out. Finland and Denmark have consistently topped the United Nations most prestigious index, The World Happiness Report, in all six areas of life satisfaction: income, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust and generosity.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/09/are-danish-people-really-happy-nordic-work-life-balance-secrets.html?
VANCOUVER - Richard Bosma's cows had been home for less than a week after an evacuation due to flooding in Abbotsford, B.C., before temperatures plummeted on his farm.

A house sits on high ground surrounded by flooded farmland in Abbotsford, B.C., on Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021. Premier John Horgan acknowledged an "exceptionally challenging" year in a statement on New Year's Eve. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

VANCOUVER - Richard Bosma's cows had been home for less than a week after an evacuation due to flooding in Abbotsford, B.C., before temperatures plummeted on his farm.

Bosma, who credits his faith with helping him remain resilient in a year that has seen record-breaking heat, flooding and now freezing temperatures, said a friend's comment resonated with him.

"So which chapter of Revelations are we doing today?" he said, referring to the book of the Bible dedicated to apocalyptic prophecy.

Like many farmers in B.C., Bosma has faced a year unlike any other when it comes to extreme climate events.

With temperatures dipping to nearly -16 C in the normally temperate Fraser Valley last month, Bosma was not alone in dealing with frozen pipes and manure removal systems, snapping equipment and challenges getting workers to the site. One milk truck driver told Bosma it took 12 hours to get the milk lines on the vehicle thawed before he could start navigating icy roads to do his pickups.

But Bosma is wary of being perceived as a complainer, noting farmers aren't alone in dealing with the cold that's affected everyone from truckers to firefighters.

"It's a bit of white-knuckling to make sure we get through the basics every day," he said.

Farmers also have a habit of supporting one another through difficult times, he added.

"My neighbour got hit just as hard with the flood. He's out there plowing our driveway now," he said.

Environment Canada warned of extreme cold in southern B.C. beginning in mid-December and continuing through this weekend, with another winter storm watch in effect.

Premier John Horgan acknowledged the "exceptionally challenging" year in a statement on New Year's Eve.

"For many, this will be remembered as the year that climate change arrived on our doorsteps. Here in B.C., we faced record-setting droughts, heat waves and forest fires, floods and mudslides," he said.

Stan Vander Waal, president of the B.C. Agriculture Council, said the recent cold snap has affected each farm differently depending on insulation and whether livestock was in a barn or outdoors. The cold tends to increase costs across the board, however, whether it means greater demand for more heating or additional feed for livestock that burn energy to stay warm.

Facilities damaged on the Sumas Prairie of Abbotsford in the floods may see worse effects from the freeze because of moisture in the structures, he said.

Given the number of extreme weather events this year, Vander Waal said he believes many farmers may consider increasing climate protections on their farms.

"When we look at the year in review, we've seen many extremes that we haven't seen or many of us can remember," Vander Waal said.

"Once you experience them one or two times, you start developing a strategy."

Vander Waal owns Rainbow Greenhouses in Chilliwack, B.C. In his case, a strategy for coping with icy temperatures means ensuring thermal curtains are up to date, any leaks are sealed and construction is as energy efficient as possible.

Gagan Khakh, a third-generation vegetable and berry farmer at KBM Farms, said the family's main property in Abbotsford remains seriously damaged after the floods. The basement of the housing for workers filled with 1.5 to 1.8 metres of water. The farm market, grading and packing equipment, and Khakh's main residence were also all soaked.

The family considered itself lucky to have additional fields in Chilliwack, where they continued to harvest brussels sprouts until they started to freeze.

"With these recent cold temperatures we've had to stop completely," he said.

"It sucks because it's kind of like a double-whammy." Khakh said the main way consumers can support B.C. farmers is to buy agricultural products from the region when possible.

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He said he hopes 2022 brings some calmer conditions.

"We're hoping that we just have a year that's somewhat normal, that we get those timely rains, that it won't get too cold, too early," he said.

Gary Baars, another dairy farmer on Abbotsford's Sumas Prairie, said the cold has hampered recovery efforts on his property, where the workers' quarters are still "ripped apart."

Baars said as challenging as it has been, it feels good to be back on his own farm. All 200 or so of his cows were affected by the evacuation during flooding and divided between five host farms until Dec. 22.

"The worst was not being in the barn," he said. "It's good to be back home."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 2, 2022.
BRUSSELS (AP)  Draft European Union plans that would allow nuclear and gas energy to remain part of the bloc's path to a climate-friendly future came under immediate criticism over the weekend from both environmentalists and some governing political parties in EU member nations.

FILE - Steam billows from a nuclear power plant behind houses in the village of Doel, Belgium, Monday, Oct. 11, 2021. European Union draft plans to allow nuclear and gas energy to remain part of its path toward a climate-friendly future came under immediate criticism over the weekend of Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022, joining environmentalists with some ruling coalition partners in member nations in opposition. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)

BRUSSELS (AP)  Draft European Union plans that would allow nuclear and gas energy to remain part of the bloc's path to a climate-friendly future came under immediate criticism over the weekend from both environmentalists and some governing political parties in EU member nations.

In draft conclusions seen by The Associated Press, the EU's executive commission proposes a classification system for defining what counts as an investment in sustainable energy. Under certain conditions, it would allow gas and nuclear energy to be part of the mix.

The plans would have a huge impact on nuclear-fired economies like France and on Germany's gas-fueled power plants since they might have had to fundamentally change their strategies.

Energy use accounts for about three-quarters the greenhouse gas emissions produced in the EU and is thus instrumental to the 27-nation bloc's efforts to meet its commitments for curbing global warming.

The plans still need the backing of a large majority of the 27 member states and a simple majority in the European Parliament. But the initial thrust from the EU Commission is a key element of the procedure for passage.

"Classifying investments in gas and nuclear power as sustainable contradicts the Green Deal," the EU's initiative that is intended to make the bloc climate-neutral by 2050, said Ska Keller, the president of the Green group in the European Parliament.

France has asked for nuclear power to be included in the so-called taxonomy by the end of the year, leading the charge with several other EU countries that operate nuclear power plants and want to make it eligible for green financing.

French Minister for European Affairs Clement Beaune said the proposal is good on a technical level and insisted on Sunday that the bloc "cannot become carbon neutral by 2050 without nuclear energy.

Germany, the EU's biggest economy, is heading the other way, Germany shut down half of the six nuclear plants it still had in operation on Friday, a year before the country draws the final curtain on its decades-long use of atomic power.

Gas is a polluting fossil fuel, but it is still considered a bridge technology by the EU to reach a cleaner energy future.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck criticized the plan to classify investments in gas and nuclear power plants as climate-friendly.

The EU Commissions proposals water down the good label for sustainability, Habeck, who represents the Germany's environmentalist Greens in the country's coalition government, told German news agency dpa. We dont see how to approve the new proposals of the EU Commission, he said.

In any case, it is questionable whether this greenwashing will even find acceptance on the financial market, Habeck stressed, referring to the practice of painting investments as sustainable when they actually are not.

In Austria, Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler from the Greens also sharply rejected the proposed regulation, saying "the EU Commission took a step towards greenwashing nuclear power and fossil gas in a night and fog action.

"They are harmful to the climate and the environment and destroy the future of our children, Gewessler said.

The environmental NGO Greenpeace called the Commission draft proposals a licence to greenwash.

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"Polluting companies will be delighted to have the EUs seal of approval to attract cash and keep wrecking the planet by burning fossil gas and producing radioactive waste, said Greenpeace's Magda Stoczkiewicz.

Especially nuclear power remains extremely controversial in Europe, where many are still vividly remember the fear following the 1986 nuclear accident in Chernobyl, Ukraine. In Germany, children werent allowed to play outside anymore for months, couldnt go mushroom hunting for years and the farmers had to destroy their entire harvest the year it happened.

On the other hand, nuclear plants release few pollutants into the air, which have made them an option as nations around the world seek clean energy to meet climate change targets.

Climate activists also say that relying on nuclear power risks slowing the rollout of renewable energy sources.

___

Grieshaber reported from Berlin. Barbara Surk contributed from Nice, France.
LOUISVILLE, Colo. (AP)  Search teams looked for two missing people on Sunday in the snow-covered but still smoldering debris from a massive Colorado wildfire, while people who barely escaped the flames sorted through what was left after the blaze and investigators tried to determine its cause.

Snow covers the burned remains of homes in Louisville, Colo., on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022, after the Marshall Wildfire. A drastic change in weather delivered a half-foot of snow and frigid temperatures on Saturday, compounding the misery of Colorado residents struggling to emerge from a wildfire that destroyed hundreds of homes and left two people missing. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

LOUISVILLE, Colo. (AP)  Search teams looked for two missing people on Sunday in the snow-covered but still smoldering debris from a massive Colorado wildfire, while people who barely escaped the flames sorted through what was left after the blaze and investigators tried to determine its cause.

The flames ripped through at least 9.4 square miles (24 square kilometers) and left nearly 1,000 homes and other buildings destroyed in suburbs between Denver and Boulder. It came unusually late in the year following an extremely dry fall and amid a winter nearly devoid of snow. Experts say those conditions, along with high winds, helped the fire spread.

Rex and Barba Hickman sifted through the ashes of their Louisville home with their son and his wife.

People whose homes didnt burn in a wildfire evacuate their belongings, Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022, in Superior, Colo. (AP Photo/Eugene Garcia)

Their son Austin cut a safe open with a grinding tool to reveal gold and silver coins, melted credit cards, keys and the charred remains of the couples passports.

They evacuated with their dog, their iPads and the clothes on their back. Rex Hickman said he was heartbroken to see there was nothing left of their home of 23 years.

Theres a numbness that hits you first. You know, kind of like you go into crisis mode. You think about what you can do, what you cant do, he said. The real pain is going to sink in over time.

The couple have to find a rental property and clothes in the short-term, and their insurance company told them Sunday it would take at least two years to rebuild their home.

Snow covers the burned remains of a shopping center after wildfires ravaged the area Sunday, Jan.2, 2022, in Superior, Colo. Investigators are still trying to determine what sparked a massive fire in a suburban area near Denver that burned neighborhoods to the ground and destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and other buildings. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

We know how fortunate we are, Rex Hickman said. We have each other. We have great friends, wonderful family. So many people have got to be suffering much more than we are, and we feel for them.

While homes that burned to the foundations were still smoldering in some places, the blaze was no longer considered an immediate threat  especially with Saturdays snow and frigid temperatures.

Authorities initially said everyone was accounted for after the fire. But Boulder County spokesperson Jennifer Churchill said the reports of three people missing were later discovered amid the scramble to manage the emergency. One was found alive, officials said Sunday.

Crews were still looking for a woman at a home in Superior and a man living near Marshall. Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said their homes were deep in hot debris and covered with snow. It is a difficult task.

Snow covers the burned remains of a car after wildfires ravaged the area Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022, in Superior, Colo. Investigators are still trying to determine what sparked a massive fire in a suburban area near Denver that burned neighborhoods to the ground and destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and other buildings. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

Other investigators were seeing if the missing people might have made it out, but not contacted their families or friends, Pelle said.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and federal emergency officials visited some of the damaged neighborhoods Sunday morning.

I know this is a hard time in your life if youve lost everything or you dont even know what you lost, Polis said after the tour. A few days ago you were celebrating Christmas at home and hanging your stockings and now home and hearth have been destroyed.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Utility officials found no downed power lines around where the fire broke out.

A man holds the flag and a sign reading "BOCO STRONG! We will rise again!!!" during a tour of the Marshall Fire in Louisville, Colo., on Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. Investigators are still trying to determine what sparked a massive fire in a suburban area near Denver that burned neighborhoods to the ground and destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and other buildings. (Matthew Jonas /The Denver Post via AP)

Pelle said Saturday authorities were pursuing a number of tips and had executed a search warrant at one particular location. The sheriff refused to give details again Sunday, including whether he thought the fire was set.

Its complicated and its all covered with a foot of snow, Pelle said of the scene where the fire started. The outcome of that investigation is vital  there is so much at stake. We are going to be professional. We are going to be careful.

Of at least 991 buildings destroyed by the fire, most were homes. But the blaze also burned through eight businesses at a shopping center in Louisville, including a nail salon and a Subway restaurant. In neighboring Superior, 12 businesses were damaged, including a Target, Chuck E. Cheese, Tesla dealership, a hotel and the town hall.

The two towns are about 20 miles (30 kilometers) northwest of Denver with a combined population of 34,000.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell, right, talks with officials during a tour of the Marshall Fire in Louisville, Colo., on Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. Investigators are still trying to determine what sparked a massive fire in a suburban area near Denver that burned neighborhoods to the ground and destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and other buildings. (Matthew Jonas /The Denver Post via AP)

The flames stopped about 100 yards (90 meters) from Susan Hills property in Louisville. She slept Saturday night in her home using a space heater and hot water bottles to stay warm since her natural gas service had not been turned back on.

She choked up as she remembered seeing the sky change color and recalled nervously sprinting out of town with her college-age son and the dog, cat and a fire box with birth certificates and other documents.

I dont even know how to describe it, she said. Its so sad. Its so awful. Its just devastating.

Utility crews expected to restore electricity to the homes still standing Sunday, but warned gas service might take longer to get back.

People lined up to get donated space heaters, bottled water and blankets at Red Cross shelters. Xcel Energy urged other residents to use fireplaces and wood stoves to stay warm and keep their pipes at home from freezing.

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Superior resident Jeff Markley arrived in his truck to pick up a heater. He said he felt lucky to be just displaced since his home is intact.

Were making do, staying with friends, and upbeat for the new year. Gotta be better than this last one, Markley said.

___

This story has been updated to correct the wording in the quote from Gov. Polis.

___

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of APs environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/environment.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  Twitter on Sunday banned the personal account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for multiple violations of its COVID-19 misinformation policy, according to a statement from the company.

FILE - Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., listens during a news conference about the treatment of people being held in the District of Columbia jail who are charged with crimes in the Jan. 6 insurrection, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021. Twitter on Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022, banned the personal account of Greene for multiple violations of its COVID-19 misinformation policy, according to a statement from the company. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  Twitter on Sunday banned the personal account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for multiple violations of its COVID-19 misinformation policy, according to a statement from the company.

The Georgia Republican's account was permanently suspended under the strike system Twitter launched in March, which uses artificial intelligence to identify posts about the coronavirus that are misleading enough to cause harm to people. Two or three strikes earn a 12-hour account lock; four strikes prompt a weeklong suspension, and five or more strikes can get someone permanently removed from Twitter.

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In a statement on the messaging app Telegram, Greene blasted Twitter's move as un-American. She wrote that her account was suspended after tweeting statistics from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a government database which includes unverified raw data.

Twitter is an enemy to America and can't handle the truth, Greene said. That's fine, I'll show America we don't need them and it's time to defeat our enemies.

Twitter had previously suspended the account for periods ranging from 12 hours to a full week.

The ban applies to Greene's personal account, @mtgreenee, but does not affect her official Twitter account, @RepMTG.

A Greene tweet posted shortly before her weeklong suspension in July claimed that the virus is not dangerous for non-obese people and those under 65. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people under 65 account for nearly 250,000 of the U.S. deaths involving COVID-19.

Greene previously blasted a weeklong suspension as a Communist-style attack on free speech.
OTTAWA - An agreement in principle that will see Ottawa pay billions in compensation to First Nations children harmed by an underfunded child welfare system is set to be announced in Ottawa this week.

Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller participates in a news conference regarding the order from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to compensate Indigenous children and their families, in Ottawa, on Friday, Oct. 29, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

OTTAWA - An agreement in principle that will see Ottawa pay billions in compensation to First Nations children harmed by an underfunded child welfare system is set to be announced in Ottawa this week.

Sources confirmed to The Canadian Press that negotiations reached final stages on New Year's Eve, resulting in an agreement that may finally bring an end to a human rights challenge launched 14 years ago.

None of the parties to the negotiations would discuss the matter publicly on Sunday.

"All parties have been working closely toward a global resolution regarding compensation and long term reform of First Nations child and family services and we look forward to providing a more fulsome update on Tuesday," said Andrew MacKendrick, director of communications for the minister of Indigenous services.

The case has been a gaping wound in reconciliation efforts with Indigenous Peoples in Canada, as both the former and current federal governments spent millions fighting it in court.

The battle began in 2007 when the First Nations Children and Family Caring Society and the Assembly of First Nations filed a human rights complaint arguing chronic underfunding of child welfare services on reserve was discriminatory when compared to services provided by provincial governments to kids off reserve.

Following multiple unsuccessful court challenges and appeals by the former Conservative government, the complaint was heard by the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 2013 and 2014. In 2016, the tribunal ruled the federal government had discriminated against First Nations children.

The Liberal government appealed that ruling, asking a court to quash it. The court declined.

Ottawa pays for child welfare on reserves but only ever matches the provincial spending if kids are placed in foster care.

The result is far more child apprehensions and family breakups than necessary, and far fewer services and supports to help families manage through a crisis.

The most recent census data shows fewer than eight per cent of Canadian children under the age of 15 are Indigenous, but Indigenous youth account for more than half the children under 15 in foster care.

In 2019, the tribunal ordered the federal government to pay $40,000 in compensation to every child who was needlessly removed from their families since Jan. 1, 2006, and also to parents or grandparents whose children were taken away. The amount represents the maximum compensation the tribunal could order.

The Assembly of First Nations estimated in 2019 that more than 50,000 kids could be eligible, but the federal government didn't move to manage the compensation until this fall.

First they challenged the order in court, and this fall appealed the ruling upholding the order.

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But that appeal was immediately paused pending negotiations with Indigenous leaders on the compensation program. Former senator Murray Sinclair, who chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, was hired to help facilitate the talks.

Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu and Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller are to join Assembly of First Nations Manitoba Regional Chief Cindy Woodhouse Tuesday to discuss an update on the compensation talks.

First Nations Child and Family Caring Society Executive Director Cindy Blackstock is also scheduled to weigh in on the announcement later Tuesday afternoon.

Last month Ottawa set aside $40 billion for compensation, as well as for reforms to child welfare services. The agreement is expected to lay out who will be eligible for the payments, how and when they will be paid.

It's expected about half the funds will go to compensation and half to reforms. Those reforms will largely occur under Bill C-92, passed in June 2019, which affirms the jurisdiction for child welfare services in Indigenous communities rests with the Indigenous families and communities themselves.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 2, 2022.
A Winnipeg school community is grieving their principal mere days after losing a much-loved teacher.

Principal Paulette Huggins spent part of Decembers final week planning how best to support her staff at Ecole J.B. Mitchell School following the death of Megan Wolff, a nursery and kindergarten educator.

"She was the kind of person that would give you the shirt off her back," Nicole Kurtz, the vice-principal of Ecole J.B. Mitchell, said of Huggins. "Shed be there no matter what time of day, or evening, or weekend."

Wolff died Christmas morning after testing positive for COVID-19, despite being triple vaccinated. Huggins did not have the virus when she died Dec. 29, and the two deaths are not connected, according to family.

The double tragedy has been "earth-shattering" for those connected to the elementary school, said Kurtz.

"The one thing that is really, really obvious right from the get-go when you enter that school is you see how strong and united of a group that everybody is," Kurtz said.

If you visited Ecole J.B. Mitchell at any time, Huggins was likely in the building, according to those close to her.

Maybe she was overseeing an after-hours "passion project" to beautify the place, like the two locker murals she commissioned. She might be in a meeting to better French immersion programming in Winnipeg School Division, the body she worked for since January of 2000.

Even at home, she might be reading an article about educational leadership or catching up on emails shed put off to maximize in-person connection during the day.

"It was her life and passion," said Gary Huggins, Paulettes husband for nearly 35 years. "She was always thinking about the kids and the community."

Teaching  and leading by example  seeped into her home life, he said.

"Were grieving right now, and were growing as were grieving, because the question we ask ourselves every day is, What would Mom have wanted?" he said.

Huggins didnt let others opinions sway her decisions, according to Linda Berry, who was vice-principal of Ecole J.B. Mitchell for five years before Kurtz. Berry became best friends with Huggins  a perk Berry said she didnt expect from the job.

Berry said she valued Huggins' confidence and called the principals delegation and empowerment skills a "superpower".

Huggins established a French immersion program in Victoria-Albert School, an inner-city Winnipeg institution. The provinces largest school division leaned on her for French immersion advice and advancement, according to Berry.

"What a loss to the Winnipeg School Division, and to the community," Berry said.

The divisions superintendents department released a letter dated Dec. 30 about Huggins passing.

"Paulette will be greatly missed by her colleagues throughout the school division and her Ecole J. B. Mitchell School family," the letter reads.

Huggins' career  which began as a classroom teacher and advanced over decades to principal  helped spark her daughter Gabrielles passion. Gabrielle has won a provincial Excellence in Education award for teaching.

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"Im proud of the work (Huggins) did, I really am," Gabrielle said.

Despite being busy with work, Huggins made time to be a caring mother and "fantastic best friend," said Marissa Huggins, the youngest of her three children.

Ecole J.B. Mitchell teachers are scheduled to return to school Jan. 6, four days earlier than students. There will be clinical supports and other resources on site, according to Kurtz.

"Its so sad that were coming back, missing two special, special people," she said. "But, were still a united group and family, and were going to lean on each other and get through it."

Around 40 people work at Ecole J.B. Mitchell, and there are just under 380 students.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP)  A major fire ripped through South Africa's 138-year-old Parliament complex on Sunday, gutting offices and causing some ceilings to collapse at a site that has hosted some of the country's pivotal moments. As firefighters struggled to tame the blaze, a dark plume of smoke and flames rose high into the air above the southern city of Cape Town.

A plume of smoke arises above the Houses of Parliament, behind the St. George's Cathedral, in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. Firefighters have been deployed and the cause is unknown. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP)  A major fire ripped through South Africa's 138-year-old Parliament complex on Sunday, gutting offices and causing some ceilings to collapse at a site that has hosted some of the country's pivotal moments. As firefighters struggled to tame the blaze, a dark plume of smoke and flames rose high into the air above the southern city of Cape Town.

Around 70 firefighters were still battling the fire hours after it started in the early morning, Cape Town's Fire and Rescue Service spokesman Jermaine Carelse said. Some were lifted up on a crane to spray water on the blaze from above. No injuries have been reported and Parliament itself had been closed for the holidays.

Visiting the scene, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said a person was being held and is being questioned by police in connection with the blaze. Police later confirmed a 51-year-old man had been detained.

The fire is currently in the National Assembly chambers, Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Patricia de Lille told reporters as smoke billowed behind her from the roof of the historic white building with grand entrance columns. This is a very sad day for democracy, for Parliament is the home of our democracy.

Firemen spray water on flames erupting from a building at South Africa's Parliament in Cape Town Sunday Jan. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

We have not been able to contain the fire in the National Assembly, she added. Part of the ceilings have collapsed.

Officials said the fire started in the Old Assembly building, which was built in 1884 and originally housed the South African Parliament but is now used for offices. It spread to the newer National Assembly building, built in the 1980s, which is where the Parliament now sits.

Authorities feared extensive damage to both buildings, which have stark white facades, elaborate roof linings and majestic columns, now all obscured by flames and smoke. There were also fears that priceless artifacts inside, including a manuscript where the composer first wrote some lyrics for South Africa's national anthem, would be lost forever.

Carelse warned that both buildings were at risk of collapsing.

The bitumen on the roof is even melting, an indication of the intense heat. There have been reports of some walls showing cracks, which could indicate a collapse, the News24 website quoted Carelse as saying.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, top left, briefs reporters after visiting South Africa's Parliament following a large fire in Cape Town Sunday Jan. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

J.P. Smith, the Cape Town official in charge of safety and security, said at least one floor of the Old Assembly building was gutted and its entire roof had collapsed. The firefighters were now focusing efforts toward saving the National Assembly building, he said.

While the Old Assembly building was closely connected to South Africa's colonial and apartheid history, the National Assembly building was where former President F.W. de Klerk stood up at the opening of Parliament in 1990 and announced he was freeing Nelson Mandela from prison and effectively ending the apartheid system of white minority rule. The news electrified the country and reverberated around the world.

Security guards first reported the fire at around 6 a.m. Sunday, Carelse said, and the 35 firefighters initially on the scene quickly called for reinforcements. Cape Town activated its Disaster Coordinating Team, which reacts to major emergencies. Police cordoned off the complex and closed nearby roads.

De Lille said an investigation was underway into the cause of the blaze. Authorities were reviewing video camera footage and questioning the man arrested at the precinct.

Parliament speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula cautioned against speculation that it was a deliberate attack on South Africa's seat of democracy.

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"Until such a time that a report has been furnished that there was arson, we have to be careful not to make suggestions that there was an attack, she said.

Ramaphosa and many of South Africa's top politicians were in Cape Town for the funeral Saturday of retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu at St. George's Cathedral, about a block away from the Parliament.

South Africans viewed the fire as a double blow on the first two days of the new year, after saying farewell to Tutu and then seeing their Parliament burn.

Its just really a terrible setback," Ramaphosa said. "The Arch (Tutu) wouldve been devastated as well. This is a place he supported and prayed for.

South Africa has three capital cities. Cape Town is the legislative capital, as Parliament is located there. Pretoria is the administrative capital where government offices are and Bloemfontein is the judicial capital and hosts the Supreme Court.

Cape Town has seen arson attacks before. A huge wildfire on the slopes of Cape Town's famed Table Mountain last year spread to buildings below and destroyed part of a historic library at the University of Cape Town as well as other structures. A report concluded that fire was started deliberately.
CAIRO (AP)  Sudans Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok announced his resignation Sunday amid political deadlock and widespread pro-democracy protests following a military coup that derailed the countrys fragile transition to democratic rule.

People chant slogans during a protest to denounce the October 2021 military coup, in Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. Sudanese security forces fired tear gas Sunday to disperse protesters as thousands rallied against military rule, medics said. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)

CAIRO (AP)  Sudans Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok announced his resignation Sunday amid political deadlock and widespread pro-democracy protests following a military coup that derailed the countrys fragile transition to democratic rule.

Hamdok called for a dialogue to agree on a national charter and to draw a roadmap to complete the transition. The October coup had upended Sudan's plans to move to democracy after a popular uprising forced the militarys overthrow of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019.

On Sunday, prior to his resignation, Sudanese security forces violently dispersed pro-democracy protesters, in the latest demonstrations to denounce the takeover and a subsequent deal that reinstated the prime minister but sidelined the pro-democracy movement. A medical group said at least two people were killed.

The Sudan Doctors Committee, which is part of the pro-democracy movement, said one of the dead was hit violently in his head while taking part in a protest march in Khartoum. The second was shot in his chest in Khartoums twin city of Omdurman, it added. The group said dozens of protesters were injured.

Activist Nazim Sirag said security forces used tear gas and sound grenades to disperse protesters, and chased them in side streets across the capital.

People chant slogans during a protest to denounce the October 2021 military coup, in Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. Sudanese security forces fired tear gas Sunday to disperse protesters as thousands rallied against military rule, medics said. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)

Protests also took place in other cities including Port Sudan and Nyala in the Darfur region.

The protests came despite tightened security and blocked bridges and roads in Khartoum and Omdurman. Internet connections were also disrupted ahead of the protests, according to advocacy group NetBlocs. Authorities have used such tactics repeatedly since the Oct. 25 coup.

Sunday's fatalities have brought the death toll among protesters since the coup to at least 56, according to the medical group. Hundreds have also been wounded.

Allegations surfaced last month of sexual violence, including rape and gang rape by security forces against female protesters, according to the United Nations.

The ruling sovereign council has vowed to investigate violence against the protesters.

On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged security forces to immediately cease the use of deadly force against protesters" and to hold those responsible for violence accountable.

He also called for Sudanese leaders to accelerate their efforts to form a credible cabinet, an interim parliament and judicial electoral bodies that will prepare for the countrys planned 2023 elections.

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The rotating leadership of the sovereign council now chaired by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan should be transferred to a civilian as was planned before the coup, Blinken said.

We do not want to return to the past, and are prepared to respond to those who seek to block the aspirations of the Sudanese people for a civilian-led, democratic government, he added.

The October military takeover upended a fragile planned transition to democratic rule following a popular uprising that forced the militarys overthrow of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019.

Hamdok, a former U.N. official seen as the civilian face of Sudans transitional government, was reinstated in November amid international pressure in a deal that calls for an independent technocratic Cabinet under military oversight led by him.

That deal, however, was rejected by the pro-democracy movement, which insists that power be handed over to a fully civilian government tasked with leading the transition.

Hamdok defended the Nov. 21 deal with the military, saying that it was meant to preserve achievements his government made in the past two years, and to protect our nation from sliding to a new international isolation.
The Minnesota Department of Health has confirmed that omicron, which has been quickly spreading throughout the United States after being discovered in South Africa, has been detected in southeast Minnesota.

To help avoid increased spread of COVID-19 in the county, especially as the new variant is being detected in the area, the Winona County Health and Human Services is continuing to host vaccine clinics in the county, with an incentive of a $50 gift card for everyone who receives their first dose at their clinics.

Upcoming January clinics include:

Noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 9, at the East End Recreation Center, 210 Zumbro St.

5:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13, at the Winona Community Center at the Maplewood Townhomes, 1756 Kraemer Dr.

5:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20, at the Winona Community Center at the Maplewood Townhomes, 1756 Kraemer Dr.

Noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 23, at the East End Recreation Center, 210 Zumbro St.

These clinics will offer first and second doses of the Pfizer vaccine to people who are 5 years old or older, along with Pfizer boosters for those over 16 years old; first, second and booster doses of Moderna for people who are 18 years old and older; and Johnson & Johnson doses and boosters for people 18 years old and older.

Cases have been on the rise in the county, but Winona County staff explained recently that one days extremely high number in December released by the Minnesota Department of Health wasnt entirely accurate due to a glitch.

On December 17, 2021, the Minnesota Department of Healths (MDH) Situation Update reported 269 new COVID-19 cases in Winona County; however, not all of the cases were recent. 230 cases were from between November 18 and December 1, 2021, Winona County Health and Human Services staff explained in a press release Tuesday.

They continued, A local health care facilitys laboratory delayed reporting to MDH which caused the single-day numbers to jump. According to MDHs Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Prevention, and Control division, the laboratory processing the tests reported a portion of the positive test results, but not all. The delay was caused by a software upgrade.

Winona County staff added in the release, Collection and reporting of positive COVID-19 cases can be challenging. This is one of the reasons MDH and CDC use 7- and 14-day averages to determine transmission rates rather than a single day. Labs conducting COVID-19 tests report results to MDH who then verifies the case data and posts totals to the Situation Update. The time between test and web posting varies; on average 3 days pass from the time the test is conducted until it is posted.

More information about local clinics can be found at www.co.winona.mn.us.

COVID-19 situation updates for Winona County and Minnesota as a whole can be found at health.state.mn.us.

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Columbus Area Historical Society

1971

Martin Heidke and Mary Winnfred Sharrow graduated from the University of WisconsinOshkosh with bachelor of science degrees at the mid-year Commencement Ceremony.

With the end of the Federal Wage-Price Freeze, the Columbus School Board approved $18,000 to be paid to school employees that had been held back by the national wage and price freeze.

1981

The Columbus Senior Citizen Center helped Santa Claus receive and answer letters from the Fall River first grade class. Students are pictured looking over their replies.

Parts of the Columbus Water & Light Departments new substation were damaged when it was being energized with power and damaged the new transformer.

1991

The Columbus City Council deliberated on the request by Heartland Properties to provide eight parking spaces behind the Whitney Building on land the city purchased from Charles Paske.

The 18th annual toy drive of 1991 sponsored by Anchor Savings & Loan collected 187 toys throughout the Columbus area for families in need.

2001

The Columbus National Honor Society sponsored an American Red Cross blood drive at the high school with the 50 donations, which exceeded their goal by 10 units.

The Columbus Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution had the three Badger State Boys/Girls delegates as their guests, Kathryn Premo, Abby Sharpee, and Kelly Crombie.

Follow us on Facebook at Columbus, WI Area Historical Society, or email museumcahs@gmail.com. The museum is open by appointment and will reopen from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the second and fourth Saturday of the month beginning in April.
Copious social and psychological downsides notwithstanding, Instagram isn't half bad. Through the platform, I've discovered a host of talented comic artists. From undiscovered masters in the making to artists that would previously be outside of my awareness due to geography, Instagram has exposed me to some of my favorite illustrators.

Lafebre is a master of capturing tender moments.

As an American, it's easy to forget that comics are a global medium teeming with titanic creators from around the planet. In the past, since Marvel and DC were acknowledged as the pinnacle of the industry, several international artists were eager to jump into either company's loving embrace for recognition and payment. However, a few never strayed from their country of origin and consequently denied the masses their brilliance. For example, Eduardo Risso, famed Argentinian artist of 100 Bullets, had a prosperous career before defecting to DC comics. Had he resisted the allure of global exposure, Risso's Spanish works would have remained relatively obscure instead of becoming required reading for studious and completionist fans.

The main characters from Lefebre's Les Beaux Etes

Artists would almost have to make the jump to the big two for global recognition in previous eras, but Instagram has wholly obliterated that concept. Case in point, I present to you the mesmerizing work of Barcelonan artist Jordi Lafebre. The element that I find most intoxicating about Lafebre's work is the delicate details lovingly stitched into his cartoony figures. By choosing to erect his figures with simple shapes, endowing the characters with dynamic movement, Lafebre is free to pay tremendous attention to the subtle lines and textures that make his backgrounds pop. If you've got the time, browse through his Instagram galley. You won't be disappointed.

Correction: Lafebre is from Barcelona
A blind UW-Madison professor requested to teach online this fall semester. She had the support of her department, documentation from her doctor and a long history of receiving disability accommodations from the university.

UW-Madison instead offered English professor Elizabeth Bearden an N95 mask to wear while teaching.

It was just so heartbreaking, she said. I feel betrayed by my institution.

The accommodation, she said, didnt address her concerns about being unable to tell whether students were following the campus mask mandate nor alleviate her fears about an infection leading to a loss of taste or smell, which the blind rely on more than those with all five senses.

Declining to risk her health, Bearden spent the semester on medical leave, earning 60% of her salary. She also filed a discrimination complaint last month with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging UW-Madison violated her rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Bearden and at least two others who sought online teaching flexibility said they were told by their disability representative this summer that UW-Madison is denying most online teaching requests because of a need to offer as many in-person classes as possible. The university offered the same explanation in its initial denial letter to Bearden.

UW-Madison spokesperson John Lucas said he is unable to discuss the details of individual cases, including Beardens, but said the university values the contributions of its employees with disabilities and remains committed to careful and thoughtful review of each accommodation request. He also noted the low number of COVID-19 cases on campus this fall due to a vaccination rate of more than 95%.

A recently concluded internal review of how UW-Madison handled the three dozen accommodation requests made under the ADA, including Beardens, drew no broad conclusions about whether the university did right by some of its most vulnerable instructors who remain at particularly high risk during the pandemic.

Conducted by the universitys Office of Strategic Consulting and released to the Wisconsin State Journal under the states open records law, the review, which came in the form of a 13-slide PowerPoint presentation, seemed to blame staff in the Employee Disability Resources office for misinterpreting messages from university leadership.

Disability representatives heard the message, perceived to be from the Chancellor and Provost, that fall semester teaching was to be in person, the review noted. This was interpreted in an inflexible way.

At the same time, the review also found that while administrators desired to be flexible, the reluctance to offer changes in course modality led to perceptions of inflexibility.

Many modified approvals

Of the 36 ADA accommodation requests for the fall semester, the review found:

Two cases in which the instructor was moved to a course already designated to be online;

Seven cases where a course was moved online as requested;

10 cases that were withdrawn;

One case that was denied;

14 cases designated as a modified approval, examples of which included offering an N95 mask, larger classroom or temporary online instruction that transitioned to in-person after the instructor received a booster shot;

Two cases listed as in progress as of Sept. 22.

The accommodations process was executed consistently across campus, the review found, with additional resources devoted in the second half of the summer. Thats when the majority of requests seeking workplace flexibility, including many that did not fall under the ADA, poured into department chairs as the delta variant of the coronavirus swept across the country.

The unique nature of many requests, such as having an immunocompromised family member or unvaccinated child at home, were complex scenarios that UW-Madison lawyers and others hadnt previously dealt with under the ADA process, leading to longer processing times, the review said.

Messaging on campus that attempted to educate people about the limits of the ADA process was interpreted (incorrectly) by some as a rejection of requests for flexibility, read one bullet point.

No instructor interviews

While Bearden submitted her request in May, four months before classes began in September, Lucas said nearly three-fourths of the requests to move classes online were submitted in August or later, leaving staff less time to respond.

The unnamed employees who conducted the review interviewed 13 disability representatives, four associate deans, several individuals who work in human resources, someone in the Office of Compliance and the vice provost for teaching and learning. But they did not speak with Bearden or any other instructors who requested workplace flexibility.

The omission stood out to Michael Bernard-Donals, who is president of a faculty advocacy group known as PROFS, one of several groups that raised concerns to administrators this summer about their handling of accommodation requests.

You cannot get at what the failures are unless you talk to the people who feel they were failed, he said. This sounds like a rationalization more than any kind of critical study.

The ADA accommodations process involves medical records, so the identity of employees making a request is protected under the federal medical privacy law, Lucas said. For that reason, the Office of Strategic Consulting did not request access to the identity of nor documentation related to individual requests. But the reviewers did attempt to understand the faculty requests by looking at data and interviewing a professor who leads a committee that regularly meets with administrators to discuss faculty concerns.

Terribly eroding

Bearden, too, took issue with the universitys review.

Where are the voices of the people who actually experienced this? she asked. This document says very little, mostly in the passive voice. It does not in any way demand accountability for what in my experience was and continues to be at minimum a dreadfully unfair accommodations process.

She remains troubled by UW-Madisons argument that allowing her to teach online presents the school with an undue hardship, considering she taught all of last year online and several students wrote in evaluations that her class was the best they had ever taken.

Bearden asked to teach her two classes for the upcoming spring semester online, including one course that focuses on disability studies. UW-Madison, she said, again denied her request.

I feel like Ive been treated like Im trash, she said. Like Im disposable. This experience has been terribly eroding.
Woodward, OK (73801)

Today

Windy. Showers and thunderstorms during the morning will give way to sunny skies this afternoon. High around 85F. SSE winds shifting to W at 25 to 35 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..

Tonight

Clear to partly cloudy. Gusty winds during the evening. Low 39F. Winds N at 25 to 35 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.
What Is The Capital Of Swaziland?

Swaziland has something few countries in the world can claim: two capital cities. Given that Swaziland is one of the smallest countries in Africa, with a population of only 1.1 million, it seems like two capitals may be excessive. However, the history of this country as a British colony has influenced its political development and led to the establishment of two capitals. Lobamba and Mbabane have held this important distinction for many years. This article takes a look at the history of Swaziland, these two cities, and how they came to be capitals.

History Of Swaziland

Swaziland had been recognized as independent by European colonizers until the death of King Mbandzeni in 1889; his rule was followed by Ngwane V. At that time, its government was carried out by British, Dutch, and Swazi representatives until 1894 when Swaziland became part of the South African Republic. King Ngwane V died during the Boer War in 1899 and left a successor, Sobhuza II, of only four months of age. When the British won the Anglo-Boer War in 1903, Swaziland became a British protectorate and was governed from the colony of South Africa. In 1906, the Transvaal colony (which included present-day Swaziland) gained the right to self-government. The area was then divided into European and non-European lands. King Sobhuza II finally took the crown in 1921. This king fought against European influence throughout the region, establishing Swazi business and schools. The country developed its first constitution in 1963 which established an executive and legislative branch of government. By 1968, Swaziland became an independent nation.

Today, the government of Swaziland is considered an absolute monarchy with constitutional provisions. It is one of the only remaining absolute monarchies in the world. The head of the state is the King. Parliament is divided into a 30-member Senate and 65-member House of Assembly.

Lobamba

Lobamba is the site at which Swazilands independence was announced in 1968. It has a population of approximately 11,000 and is also the seat of the legislative branch of government, Parliament. The Queen Mother, Ntombi lives in Lobamba and acts as the joint Head of State. Her son, Mswati III, is the current King of Swaziland and lives at the Lozitha Palace, just 6 miles outside of the city. King Mswati III was crowned in 1986, after the death of his father. He signed the most recently amended constitution in 2005. His duties include appointing the Prime Minister and the members of the Council.

Mbabane

Mbabane was founded around 1887 and named after a local chief, Mbabane Kunene. The area grew quickly because of its strategic location along the route between then-Transvaal Republic and Mozambique. It has been considered the administrative capital of the country since 1902, although it has not always held this title. Prior to 1902, Bremersdorp (currently known as Manzini) was the British administrative center; this city was destroyed during the Anglo-Boer War, and its functions were moved to Mbabane. The city is also the capital of the district of Hhohho. Today, the population of Mbabane is 94,874, the largest in Swaziland.
Chester Zoo helps reintroduce extinct fish to Mexico

This article is old - Published: Sunday, Jan 2nd, 2022

A fish that became extinct in Mexico more than 15 years ago has been reintroduced to its former stronghold.

The tequila fish (Zoogoneticus tequila), a small species of goodied fish which grow no bigger than 70mm long, disappeared from the wild completely in 2003 due to the introduction of invasive, exotic fish species and water pollution.

Now, conservationists at Chester Zoo and the Michoacana University of Mexico have teamed up to return over 1500 fish to a series of springs in the Teuchitlan River in the state of Jalisco in south west Mexico.

The project has been cited as an International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) case study for successful global reintroductions  with recent scientific studies confirming the fish are thriving and already breeding in the river.

Experts say it has created a blueprint for future reintroductions of other highly endangered fish species, with a rescue mission for another, the golden skiffia (Skiffia francesae), now well underway.

Professor Omar Dominguez, from the Michoacana University of Mexico, said: This is the first time an extinct species of fish has ever been successfully reintroduced in Mexico and so its a real landmark for conservation.

Its a project which has now set an important precedent for the future conservation of the many fish species in the country that are threatened or even extinct in the wild, but which rarely take our attention.

The tequila splitfin has, for many years, been used by scientists to study the evolution, biogeography and live bearing reproduction techniques of fishes and is a very important species. We could not stand back and allow it to disappear.

Successfully reinstating this fish in the wild also offers a wider positive impact.

Not only has the fish itself been saved, but the environment it lives in has been restored. The springs are now healthy and the community that lives around them can now enjoy this beautiful place again, along with all of the benefits that a healthy freshwater habitat brings.

Meanwhile, local people, particularly schoolchildren, are fully embracing an ongoing education programme, which is changing the way that many act towards the freshwater environment that surrounds them  something thats absolutely vital if were to ensure long-term change.

In 1998, at the outset of the project, scientists at the Michoacana University of Mexicos Aquatic Biology Unit received five pairs of fish from Chester Zoo, delivered by the English aquarist Ivan Dibble. These 10 fish founded a new colony in the universities laboratory, which experts there then maintained and expanded over the next 15 years.

In preparation for the reintroduction, 40 males and 40 females from the colony were released into large, artificial ponds at the university. This exposed the individuals to a semi-natural environment where the fish would encounter fluctuating resources such as prey items, potential competitors, parasites, and predators such as birds, turtles and snakes.

After four years, this population was estimated to have increased to 10,000 individuals and became the source for the reintroduction to the wild.

The team also carried out two years of field surveys in and around the Teuchitlan River, including diversity and population studies of zooplankton, phytoplankton, invertebrates, fish and parasites, to identify the best release sites. In parallel, they also undertook education work within local communities to improve awareness of aquatic habitats and show the value of healthy water sources.

A long-term monitoring programme, involving local people trained to assess water and habitat quality, was also established.

Dr Gerardo Garcia, the zoos Curator of Lower Vertebrates and Invertebrates, added: This is an important moment in the battle for species conservation.

It is a real privilege to have helped save this charismatic little fish and it just goes to show that with the skill and expertise of conservationists, and with local communities fully invested in a reintroduction project, species can make a comeback from environments where they were once lost.

This is also a great example of how good zoos can play a pivotal role in species conservation.

Not only has Chester Zoo been involved technically and financially, the breeders, which became the founding population for the reintroduction of the tequila spitfin, originated at Chester Zoo. Without the zoo population keeping the species alive for many years, this fish would have been lost forever.

Its humbling to think that a small population, being cared for by aquarists in Chester, has now led to their revival in the wild.

Following years of hard work by our partners at the Michoacana University of Mexico, the wild population is, thankfully, now thriving  theyre breeding naturally at a tremendous rate. It very much goes to show that animals can re-adapt to the wild when reintroduced at the right time and in the right environments. Chester Zoos mission is to prevent extinction and thats exactly what weve done here.

With nature declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history  and the rate of extinction accelerating  this is a rare success story. We now have a blueprint for what works in terms of recovering these delicate fish species in Mexico and already were onto the next one  a new rescue mission for the golden skiffia is already well underway.
Wrexham farmhouse and cottages could be turned into care facility

This article is old - Published: Sunday, Jan 2nd, 2022

A farmhouse and cottages on the outskirts of Wrexham could be converted into a care facility.

Proposals have been submitted which would see buildings at Hullah Farm transformed to provide up to ten beds for adults with autism and learning disabilities.

The main farm house off Cefn Road would be used to provide shared accommodation for three people.

A row of eight terraced cottages at the site would also be used to help five residents live independently, with an existing garage altered to house a further two.

The application has been entered by Fairpark Care, a health and social care provider, which is looking to open its first care scheme in Wales.

A town planner acting on the companys behalf said it would help to meet the local demand for specialist accommodation.

In a statement put forward to Wrexham Council, Adrian Thompson said: Fairpark Care delivers integrated care to people with autism and learning disabilities.

They specialise in the support of people who present with behaviour defined as challenging.

Fairpark Care intend to develop an outstanding service at Hullah Farm, which will provide exceptional care and treatment.

Working with local adult social care services, the primary role of Hullah Farm will be to provide Welsh residents with the care they require, at a place local to their home, family and social connections.

A total of ten parking spaces will be provided as part of the development as well as cycle parking.

Mr Thompson claimed the proposals would not have a negative impact on people living nearby.

He added: The proposed use will provide a high quality and supportive residential environment for adults with specialist care needs.

It will help meet the boroughs need for specialist accommodation of this type.

It will provide an excellent residential environment for the proposed residents, with no impact on existing neighbours.

A decision will be made on the plans by the local authority at a later date.

By Liam Randall  BBC Local Democracy Reporter
Hospitals across Western New York, the state and the country are facing a capacity crunch, the culmination of staffing shortages, a difficulty discharging patients and significant Covid-19 hospitalizations.

Rural hospitals may be even more challenged.

Those facilities have some of the lowest percentages of available staffed hospital beds in New York. In the five-county Western New York region, just 3% of hospital beds were available in Chautauqua County and only 8% were open in Cattaraugus County, based on a seven-day average of state Health Department data updated Tuesday.

In nearby Genesee County, just 7% of beds were available  much tighter than the 24% statewide rate.

Rural hospitals face similar challenges as their larger counterparts  only more magnified in some ways.

For example, smaller hospitals often have a tougher time managing rising costs over time, "particularly if the extra added expense of treating labor-intensive Covid-19 patients does not abate," Fitch Ratings wrote in a report this fall. That pressure, the credit ratings agency noted, could be heightened in communities with low Covid-19 vaccination rates, which is the environment many rural hospitals operate in.

In addition, amid the staffing shortages sweeping the health care industry, rural hospitals find themselves trying to compete for new employees and traveling nurses against their larger peers.

Several hundred WNY health care workers lose jobs as religious vaccine exemptions expire While the number of workers who lost or are losing their jobs is a small percentage of total workers, every little bit hurts amid a staffing shortage that means hospitals can't operate as many beds  especially during yet another wave of Covid-19 hospitalizations.

Luring high-priced agency staff became even more crucial following the "significant impact on staffing" dealt by New York's vaccine mandate for health care workers, said Mary E. LaRowe, president and CEO at Brooks-TLC Hospital System Inc. in Dunkirk.

"We need to recruit from the same pool that the large cities and urban centers are recruiting from," LaRowe said. "So we literally end up paying the same salary for some of those very needed positions, but we don't have the volume to cover our costs."

Financial pinch

LaRowe, also interim president and CEO of Kaleida Health-affiliated Upper Allegheny Health System, which includes Olean General Hospital and Bradford (Pa.) Regional Medical Center, is concerned that more rural hospitals across the country could close following the pandemic.

Since 2005, there have been 180 rural hospital closures in the United States, including 97 complete closures and 83 that were converted to no longer provide inpatient care but continue to provide some health care services, according to the University of North Carolina's Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research.

Why are local hospitals filling up? It's not just because of Covid There are other factors pressuring local hospitals, from employee shortages to difficulties discharging patients who need to be in long-term care facilities that don't have room.

Further, it appears the financial position of rural hospitals is deteriorating.

Today, 46% of the country's rural hospitals are in the red, a jump from 39% in 2015, according to an analysis released in February by the Chartis Center for Rural Health. That analysis also found the average rural hospital has just 33 days of cash on hand, meaning it could operate for just over a month if no additional revenue came in the door.

After looking at the two most recent years of financial data available for 1,844 rural hospitals across the country, the Chartis Center found 453 of them are vulnerable to closure in the years ahead.

That reality has caused many rural hospitals to align with or get acquired by larger health systems, giving the small institution a resource-flush partner while allowing the larger player to expand its geographic territory and patient base.

Upper Allegheny Health System's relationship with Kaleida, LaRowe said, provided access to a staffing agency, which recently allowed Olean General to bring in 33 nurses and open up more beds.

Brooks-TLC, for its part, has a management agreement with Kaleida.

But plenty of financial challenges remain.

Brooks-TLC's most recent publicly available IRS filings show the hospital lost $12.5 million in 2019. That followed a $4.2 million loss the year before.

As capacity-strained as it is, Brooks-TLC also is one of the 21 hospitals across the state ordered to stop elective surgeries because its staffed bed occupancy rate is above 90%.

Those elective procedures are moneymakers for hospitals. The Chartis Center report notes the average rural hospital relies on outpatient procedures for 77% of revenue.

She needs back surgery. ECMC said it wasn't essential. How an Orchard Park woman fought back against Covid restrictions The state order limiting nonessential elective procedures at hospitals with tightening capacity resulted in a difficult situation for an Orchard Park woman trying to have spinal surgery.

"That has a huge impact on revenue for small institutions," LaRowe said. "And so we anticipate well see struggles for the long haul, trying to recover from this."

Relief funds

Seeking to get funds to financially strapped rural hospitals, the federal government in late November began distributing $7.5 billion in American Rescue Plan payments  out of $8.5 billion available  to nearly 44,000 providers and suppliers who serve rural Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance Program and Medicare beneficiaries.

New York received the ninth-highest total among U.S. states, with almost $278 million distributed among 2,258 providers.

Several Western New York institutions received some of the state's largest payments, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data.

Olean General Hospital received the fourth-largest payment in New York, at $7.4 million, while UPMC Chautauqua in Jamestown collected $4.7 million, the eighth-highest payment.

Buffalo's Kaleida Health was just behind that, with the ninth-highest payment of about $4.5 million.

Medical providers, big and small, also have collected money from another federal fund that was created in April 2020 to cover pandemic-related expenses and lost revenues for health care organizations.

That aptly named Provider Relief Fund, which had paid out more than $119 billion as of late May, doled out another $9 billion across the country in mid-December.

The fund hasn't been without its criticisms, including from a study published in October that found a disproportionate amount of the payments went to hospitals that were in a stronger financial position prior to the pandemic.

Some of that money, however, has flowed to rural providers, albeit smaller amounts than to larger health care organizations.

Hochul pledges support for rural hospitals struggling with Covid "We've come a long way," Hochul said, noting vaccines, booster shots and testing are more available.

For example, Wyoming County Community Hospital received $1.8 million in the most recent round, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer announced this month, following a visit to the Warsaw facility in which he called for more federal funding to help communities fighting a surge of Covid-19 cases.

And while Brooks-TLC didn't show up in the list of American Rescue Plan rural payments recipients, records show the Dunkirk provider has received $10.4 million from the Provider Relief Fund.

The fund's two largest recipients: $1.2 billion to the New York City Health and Hospitals Corp., and $631 million to New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

Stretched thin

Like Brooks-TLC, UPMC Chautauqua also is on the list of 21 New York hospitals ordered to stop elective surgeries. In fact, most of the hospital's staffed acute care beds have been full for much of the last two months.

On Wednesday, state data shows, the facility's 78 staffed acute care beds and three staffed ICU beds were full.

"The demand for services has grown dramatically over the last few months for both Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 related care," said Brian Durniok, president of UPMC Chautauqua. "The latter is how the situation differs from last year when overall care demand outside of COVID-19 was lower."

UPMC Chautauqua had 23 patients hospitalized with Covid-19 on Wednesday. The hospital's Covid-19 inpatients peaked at 38, a number reached Jan. 3 during last winter's surge and then again on Dec. 4, state data shows.

Complicating rural hospitals' efforts further are low vaccination rates in the communities they serve.

For example, 60.8% of residents in Chautauqua County have at least one vaccine dose, and the percentage is even lower in neighboring Cattaraugus County, at 54.6%. Allegany County, meanwhile, has the lowest rate in the state, with just 48.3% of residents having received at least one dose.

Durniok said there's a "cause-and-effect relationship with low vaccination rates and high demand for emergent health care services," noting 75% of Covid-19 inpatients are unvaccinated. The remaining 25% who are hospitalized and vaccinated are immunocompromised or elderly, he said.

Olean General Hospital, meanwhile, had 29 Covid-19 patients hospitalized Wednesday, a number that had peaked at 53 on Nov. 23, state data shows.

At Brooks-TLC, 17 patients were hospitalized with Covid-19 on Wednesday, a daily count that peaked at 21 in mid-January.

But the highly transmissible Omicron variant threatens to increase those numbers, especially in areas where vaccination rates are low.

That would tighten capacity even more. As of Wednesday, only one of Brooks-TLC's 34 staffed acute care beds was available and all six of its staffed ICU beds were full.

"We're all kind of sitting holding our breath to see what the next thing is after the holidays where everybody starts to congregate," LaRowe said.

Jon Harris can be reached at 716-849-3482 or jharris@buffnews.com.

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Three and a half years into a federal lawsuit asserting discriminatory policing in Buffalo, lawyers are still wrangling over documents and data the city has been asked to turn over as potential evidence for the other side.

The city has already produced hundreds of thousands of pages of documents and spent $52,000 on a vendor for this case to retrieve electronically stored information such as internal emails sent to and from police officials, according to the lawyer handling the case for the city.

"Theres never been a case where we spent more time, money and effort on than this one," Assistant Corporation Counsel Robert E. Quinn said at a court hearing last week.

But the case has become bogged down, with no trial date set or even a hint of a settlement as frustrations boil over between the two sides.

The lawsuit alleges that Buffalo Police discriminated against minorities by conducting the vast majority of its traffic checkpoints in predominantly Black or Latino neighborhoods.

"I am disappointed that we are where we are," U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss told the lawyers, noting a "regrettable pattern" of the city not following through with her orders for production of documents.

The lawyers, for their part, have turned testy and defensive over the slow pace.

A lawyer for those suing the city asked Reiss to levy sanctions against Quinn for "the endless game of rope-a-dope this case has become."

"Sanctions against Mr. Quinn personally are the appropriate response to his pathological inability to keep his word and to the mockery he has made of the meet-and-confer process," New York City attorney Edward P. Krugman said in a court filing.

Krugman, of the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, is among the half-dozen lawyers representing the Black Love Resists in the Rust organization along with nine individuals who say they have been discriminated against through traffic enforcement practices, including checkpoints, that targeted neighborhoods where the majority of residents are Black or Latino.

"We didnt ask for it lightly," Krugman said at the hearing about the requested sanctions.

The judge did not sanction Quinn but allowed the plaintiffs' lawyers to calculate and seek "modest" attorneys fees for their work on court orders the city did not comply with by her deadlines.

Reiss said she did not find an acceptable reason for the city's noncompliance but did not conclude Quinn willfully withheld or destroyed documents.

"If anything, it was a case of overpromising," she said.

The judge said a problem she sees is that Quinn agrees to abide by her court orders over discovery requests in an attempt to be "accommodating about something youre not going to be able to accommodate. Thats the frustration."

'Doing our absolute best'

Quinn described his own challenges with the case, portraying himself as a lone City Hall lawyer facing a phalanx of New York City lawyers representing the plaintiffs.

A colleague who was supposed to help him on the case left for a new job and hasn't been replaced, he said. Awarding attorneys' fees or sanctioning him isn't going to "make more attorneys appear out of nowhere," he said.

He called himself vulnerable to the sanction complaints in Krugman's court submissions, saying he lacks time to respond to them because he's busy with depositions in the case and "doing all of these other things, because I have all of these other cases."

While the opposing lawyers focus on this case, Quinn said he spent Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas working on court submissions over "grain elevators falling in Buffalo."

Meanwhile, a half dozen attorneys or more are at work for the plaintiffs, according to plaintiffs' documents that list all of their attorneys. A different plaintiffs' lawyer has handled each deposition, Quinn said. Krugman hasnt handled any of the depositions himself but has attended them, Quinn said.

While Krugman focuses on sanctions and attorney fees, "Im dealing with all of these things at once," Quinn said.

Miscommunication has also played a role, Quinn said.

In his other cases, he's able to work out many issues over a phone call with opposing counsel, Quinn told the judge.

"That doesn't happen in this case," Quinn said.

Quinn also said it's not the kind of case "we were familiar with."

He acknowledged to the judge he did not at first use an efficient approach for retrieving and sorting through all of the electronically stored information like internal emails, which he called a huge undertaking.

Once the city hired a vendor for that, the production of documents sharply increased, he said.

But hiring the vendor drove up the city's cost, some $52,000 in fees just for handling electronically stored information.

"I dont know if thats a normal number. Its a big number to us," he said.

And the costs are continuing, he said.

"This is not a case where we are not doing our absolute best to try to move this forward," Quinn said to the judge.

'Impossible position'

The plaintiffs' lawyers, in court papers, accuse the city of putting them in an "impossible situation."

And phone calls to Quinn to work out disagreements haven't proven fruitful, they say.

Not only has the city staffed the case with a single attorney who has responsibilities on other cases, it appeared the city did not pay their vendor and for some time didn't have access to the electronic discovery and were "back to doing things with quill pens by themselves," according to the plaintiffs' court papers.

"Mr. Quinn evades even the most basic of discovery responsibilities and does not commit to a yes or a no even to simple requests," the lawyers said. "These ongoing dilatory tactics have been all too effective."

The lawsuit against the City of Buffalo was filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, the National Center for Law and Economic Justice and the Western New York Law Center.

In the suit, based on data obtained from the Police Department, the groups assert that more than 85% of traffic checkpoints took place in neighborhoods made up predominantly of Black or Latino residents.

Almost 40% of traffic checkpoints were conducted in three of the city's 77 census tracts, each of which have a population of Black or Latino residents that exceeds 86%, according to the lawsuit.

Before the lawsuit was filed, the Police Department stopped the traffic checkpoints and had announced it was disbanding its Strike Force unit, which conducted the checkpoints in areas the department determined were crime hot spots.

The lawsuit alleged the city used the checkpoints as a revenue-generation strategy "to harvest revenue from poor, Black and Latino residents."

To prove the department discriminated against their clients, the plaintiffs' lawyers have asked the judge to compel the city to produce numerous items "that should have been produced long ago." The requested items include grant applications, emails, reports, police housing unit and Strike Force overtime reports and notes from meetings.

The plaintiffs asked the court to order the city to produce an entire database called ENTCAD, which contains minute-by-minute details of traffic stops  a basic subject of the lawsuit, their lawyers said.

The database contains information about the stops not present in other databases the plaintiffs have asked for: timestamps for events during the stops and whether a summons was issued. The plaintiffs offered during a meet-and-confer session to take two sample days of the ENTCAD data and work with the city to develop an extraction query.

"Mr. Quinn just said 'no,'  according to the plaintiffs' court papers. "Given how much time has passed, and in light of the clear relevance of the ENTCAD data, the court should simply order production of the entire database."

During last week's hearing, the judge and the lawyers sorted through which city and police officials' emails would be subject to discovery and what search terms could be used to retrieve their emails that could pertain to the case.

As for the emails, the plaintiffs' lawyers have said the city has objected to much of their request because most of them refer to a ticket or summons issued by the Police Department as part of a routine, everyday matter.

"That is precisely the point" of the requested information, according to the plaintiffs' court filing.

They have the burden to prove the violations occurred as a city policy or custom, so "discovery as to the routine, everyday customs and practices of the BPD is neither irrelevant nor duplicative," but the core of its case.

So the additional electronically stored information discovery should be ordered, they told the judge.

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What China's new journey to rejuvenation means to the world when 2022 dawns

Xinhua) 15:16, January 02, 2022

The Olympic flame for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics is on display on the Flame Exhibition Tour at Shougang Park in Beijing, capital of China, on Dec. 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)

-- The year 2021, characterized by significant progress in China's social and economic development as well as major events including the centenary celebration of the CPC, has been an extraordinary year for the country.

-- Despite all the hardships that faced the world, China continued on its journey to rejuvenation by continue advancing modernization, opening up wider to the world and taking up its due international responsibilities as a major country should.

-- In the new year, China will renew its commitments to its people and the world, and carry on with its development confidently and resolutely.

BEIJING, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- A lot of things taking place in China these days would have been unimaginable a century ago.

In 2022, Beijing, where invading imperialists wreaked havoc more than 100 years ago, will host the Olympic Games for a second time, a chance for the world to stand stronger and together in solidarity.

Hong Kong, formerly a British colony, will turn a new page as the seventh-term Legislative Council members take oath soon, as patriots govern the special administrative region.

In space, three Chinese taikonauts will enter the lunar New Year in China's space station which will continue orbital construction in the year.

Students attend a live class given by the Shenzhou-13 crew members at the China Science and Technology Museum in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 9, 2021. The first live class from China's space station was given on Dec. 9 noon by Shenzhou-13 crew members Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu to students on Earth. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

China's journey to national rejuvenation is one of Chinese Communists leading 1.4 billion Chinese people in an unyielding struggle against all obstacles and challenges.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) in July of last year celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding, and this year it will convene its 20th national congress. It is necessary to maintain a stable and healthy economic environment, a secure and safe social environment, and a clean and righteous political environment.

Last year marks the critical juncture where the timeframe of China's two centenary goals converge -- to complete building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by the time the CPC celebrates its centenary, and to start building a great modern socialist country in all respects by the time the People's Republic of China celebrates its centenary in 2049.

On the new journey, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, is undoubtedly the core figure in charting the course of history.

"We must always keep a long-term perspective, remain mindful of potential risks, maintain strategic focus and determination, and 'attain to the broad and great while addressing the delicate and minute'," President Xi said in his 2022 New Year Address on Friday.

Xi paid tributes to the Chinese people who have been hard at work and looked back at the extraordinary journey traveled by the CPC.

"I sincerely hope that all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation will join forces to create a brighter future for our nation," he said.

MODERNIZATION, THE CHINESE WAY

China is walking on a model of modernization that has not been seen before.

Characterized by an innovative, coordinated, green, and open development path that is for everyone, it is a model leading socialist China out of a development trap reliant on extensive and inefficient growth at the cost of ecological damage, shifting the country to high-quality development, and avoiding situations where the rich become richer and the poor poorer.

China's economy is estimated by some international organizations to have grown 8 percent last year to reach 110 trillion yuan (about 17.3 trillion U.S. dollars). How to "divide the pie" is a world challenge and also one that China is committed to tackling.

Nationwide, measures have been taken to prevent runaway expansion of capital, maintain order in the market, galvanize market entities of all types, especially micro, small, and medium enterprises, and protect the rights and interests of workers and consumers.

China's "common prosperity" initiative "is meant to end monopolies, increase innovation and competition, and give fairer opportunities, so now is the best time to invest in China's hinterland," said Shaun Rein, founder and managing director of the China Market Research Group, a strategic market intelligence firm.

Zhejiang Province, an economic powerhouse in east China, has drawn up detailed plans to achieve common prosperity, including labor remuneration will account for more than 50 percent of its GDP by 2025, and the ratio of residents per capita disposable income to per capita GDP will continue to increase during the period.

Aerial photo taken on Dec. 16, 2021 shows the automated production line of a technology company in the Economic Development Zone of Anji County, Huzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Xinhua/Xia Pengfei)

Modernization also reaches less developed regions such as the southwestern province of Guizhou, which has become the front-runner of China's big-data industry since being approved to build the country's first national big-data comprehensive pilot zone in 2016.

Tech giants including Apple and Microsoft have established their cloud computing and big-data centers and their regional headquarters in the province. Leveraging its accommodating climate, clean air, and advantageous geography, Guizhou is now one of the regions with the highest number of mega-data centers in China and even in the world.

The rejuvenation spans more than just material goods such as China's impressive high-speed trains or emerging fleet of new energy cars. By 2035, China is set to basically achieve socialist modernization, becoming a strong country in culture, education, talent, sports, and health.

China is also aiming to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. A top-level design document has been released toward the ambitious goal.

CONFIDENT TOWARD CHALLENGES

The Party has established Comrade Xi Jinping's core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and defined the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. This reflects the common will of the Party, the armed forces, and Chinese people of all ethnic groups, and is of decisive significance for advancing the cause of the Party and the country in the new era and for driving forward the historic process of national rejuvenation.

Members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) review the Party admission oath at the memorial of the First National Congress of the CPC in east China's Shanghai, June 3, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Ying)

Today, the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has entered an irreversible historical process, but it will be no easy task like a walk in the park, as Xi said on Friday: It will not happen overnight, or through sheer fanfare.

China's economic development is facing pressure from demand contraction, supply shocks, and weakening expectations, and the external environment is becoming increasingly complicated, grim, and uncertain. China also faces an aging population. In deepening reform and opening up, certain deep-seated institutional problems and impediments from vested interests became increasingly evident. China's reform thus entered a critical phase fraught with tough challenges.

Some elements in the world still deem themselves superior, and always want to impose their own will on others: They throw out arbitrary rules and use human rights, democracy, and other high-sounding excuses to smear and contain China and many other developing countries.

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China must not compromise or back down.

"Instead, we must face them head-on, and pull together with most countries to defend fairness and justice and do the right thing for humanity," Wang said in an interview on Thursday.

Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's chief financial officer, arrives at the Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen on Sept. 25, 2021. Meng returned to China on a charter flight organized by the Chinese government, after being illegally detained for nearly three years in Canada. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

The people are the source of the power of the Party and the country. In the people's war against the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese people rally around the Party's call and establish a firm wall against the virus. Now a billion netizens online create unprecedented digital opportunities and over 150 million market entities bring about the largest scale of job creation in the world.

While viewing itself as the equal of any other in the world, China is also unequivocal that it remains open and engaged with the world.

In September, China officially filed an application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The Chinese people are both patriotic and open-minded to the world. Harry Potter books and products remain as popular as ever, and a recent online concert by Westlife, the Irish band, proved a huge hit in China.

RENEWED INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

In 2022, China's resolution remains unyielding toward carrying through its commitments of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Facing the raging COVID-19 pandemic, China shouldered its responsibilities as a major country. Determined to make COVID-19 vaccines global public goods, China has provided more than 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to over 120 countries and international organizations and has become the biggest provider of outbound vaccines among all countries.

Staff members transport Chinese COVID-19 vaccines at an airport in Managua, Nicaragua, Dec. 24, 2021. (Xinhua/Xin Yuewei)

At its border, China, along with other member countries, are ready to benefit from the zero tariffs made possible by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), taking effect on Saturday. RCEP comprises 15 member countries and approximately 30 percent of the world's population and global gross domestic product.

In just over a month, President Xi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, having stayed in close strategic communication throughout the previous year, will get together for the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

On China-U.S. relations, Xi and President Joe Biden pledged in November to steer China-U.S. relations back on right track, making clear that a sound and stable China-U.S. relationship is required for advancing the two countries' respective development and for safeguarding a peaceful and stable international environment.

Aerial photo taken on Dec. 4, 2021 shows an international freight train bound for Laos near the China-Laos border. The China-Laos Railway, a landmark project of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, started operation on Dec. 3, 2021. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

The high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative is set to extend, and the China International Import Expo, an attraction to international businesses interested in the Chinese market, is expected to take place for the fifth time this year.

In its continued engagement with the world, China upholds and practices true multilateralism, urging countries to resolutely uphold the authority and standing of the United Nations, jointly oppose division and confrontation, stand together against zero-sum games, and make constant efforts for greater democracy in international relations.

As Xi said on Friday, "Only through unity, solidarity and cooperation can countries around the world write a new chapter in building a community with a shared future for mankind."

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Bianji)
The first full day of the new year on Saturday began to look hauntingly familiar to other coronavirus surges that altered life as those in the region remember it before the pandemic struck in March 2020.

Covid-19 cases remained high. Some businesses closed temporarily. Many people wondered if they would resume or continue to work at home. And anxious parents worried their school-aged children might return to remote learning.

Blame the quickly proliferating Omicron variant.

"I'm hoping that because it's so infectious, that it's going to burn through the population a little quicker than Delta and that the wave will go up and down a little faster than some of the earlier waves," said Dr. Thomas Russo, chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalos Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

The surge spoiled New Year's weekend for many, including the staff of at least two favorite regional restaurants.

The Place on Lexington Avenue announced on Facebook it would be closed until Tuesday after more than half of its 40-person staff had tested positive, Jay McCarthy, one of the owners, wrote on the restaurant's Facebook page.

Rick's on Main in East Aurora also announced a temporary closure due to staffing issues caused by Covid-19. The restaurant will be closed "until we can ensure a safe working environment," the restaurant said in a Facebook post.

On Saturday, there were 86 inpatients at Erie County Medical Center who were Covid positive, which was "the single-highest daily Covid inpatient census ... since the onset of the pandemic," hospital spokesman Peter Cutler said in an email. The hospital also has a "high volume" of patients being treated for behavioral health and other medical issues, Cutler said.

On Friday, there were 434 people with Covid in hospitals in Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany counties, according to the most recent statistics from the state Department of Health. Eighty of those patients were in intensive care.

The number of Covid hospitalizations in the region has been declining for the last several weeks, though there has been a rise over the last six days, according to state data.

As of Thursday, there were 318 patients with Covid in hospitals in Erie County, 63 of whom were in the ICU, according to the county Department of Health.

Statewide, confirmed cases of Covid-19 continue to skyrocket. On Friday, 85,476 of 384,365 tests  or 22.2% of all tests  were positive, according to state Department of Health data.

The positivity rate for the entire state, on a seven-day average, as of Friday was 19.8%. At the start of December, New York's seven-day positivity rate was 4.6%.

The latest data for Western New York wasn't much better. The seven-day average positivity rate in the five-county region on Friday was 16.4%.

With at-home antigen tests in short supply and many asymptomatic cases, it is likely many thousands more have the new Omicron variant in the region.

For a number of reasons, including because the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is "extraordinarily infectious," cases are likely to continue to rise in the region at least over the next couple of weeks, said Russo, the UB infectious disease expert.

On average, depending on factors like behavior and vaccine status, prior waves of Covid have typically been about eight weeks of rising infections followed by eight weeks of those numbers falling, plus or minus two weeks, Russo said.

Russo is hopeful the Omicron wave will be a little more curtailed, with a sharper increase and decrease. Omicron is resistant, to a degree, from immunity from prior Covid infection, Russo said. And even those who've received a booster are somewhat susceptible to infection.

Cases have risen so sharply because Omicron has expanded the pool of people at risk of getting infected, Russo said.

And while the data suggests the Omicron variant, or at least the effects of it, may be less serious than earlier variants, it is still a potentially lethal virus. And with enough cases, there will still be people that develop serious disease from infection and have bad outcomes, he said. Those will primarily be in those who are unvaccinated, immunocompromised individuals and seniors.

"This is not the time to be totally cavalier and let your guard down," Russo said.

He and other leading infectious control specialists have warned that the next six to eight weeks may become challenging as the more transmissible variant continues its march through Western New York and across the globe. Early indications suggest many will have milder cases than with the original SARS-CoV-2 virus and its other variants of concern, though the sheer numbers are expected to cause more sickness and potentially clog hospital emergency rooms and inpatient beds.

First responders, and hospital, nursing home and home health care workers are expected to be among those sickened in greater numbers.

So far in the region, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Dr. Joshua Lynch, a UBMD emergency medicine doctor who works at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital in Amherst, said the surge has created a staffing crunch but travel nurses have helped make up the shortfall. The emergency room has been a bit less busy this weekend and the flow manageable, he said, though he couldn't predict what will come as the regional surge continues.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul isn't taking any chances. She announced Friday that the state health department will begin training New York National Guard soldiers to become certified EMTs to help with an expected staffing crunch.

She also announced six Covid-19 rapid antigen testing sites will open across the state starting Tuesday, including one that will operate from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday at Northwest Buffalo Community Center, 155 Lawn Ave..

Schedule appointments at gogettested.com.

More sites throughout the state are being planned. New Yorkers also can find sites at coronavirus.health.ny.gov/find-test-site-near-you.

Maryvale Schools Superintendent Joseph D'Angelo is among those concerned about safely getting students back into the classroom soon. To that end, he welcomed parents to come to the front doors of the high school, 1050 Maryvale Drive, from 9 to 11 a.m. Sunday for a free Covid-19 testing kit for every child in the family enrolled in a district school.

"We are doing this as an added layer of mitigation," D'Angelo tweeted on Saturday, "because we need to keep our schools open and safe."

The pandemic may feel like it's "never-ending," but especially because of those at risk for more severe disease, UB's Russo urges everyone to "try to hang in there."

Getting Covid, even if the symptoms are mild for some, carries with it the chance of developing "long Covid," which is disruptive to daily living. And there may be other long-term effects that won't be known for years, Russo said.

"Your best strategy still is to try not to get infected," he said. "And thats that combination of vaccination, appropriate mask use and avoidance of risky behavior. And try to ride this wave out. And its not inevitable that youre going to get infected."

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American Idol will have no Bones about it next season.

Bobby Bones has revealed that he will not appear on the singing competition show in its upcoming 20th installment after four years serving as its in-house mentor.

In a since-expired Instagram Story post on Friday, Bones explained that a conflict with another series caused him to drop out of American Idol, at least for the time being.

Bobby Bones

Eric McCandless/Getty Images Bobby Bones on 'American Idol'

"Some of you noticed I'm not in the Idol promos this season," he wrote. "My contract [with] my new network won't let me do another show right now. Love Idol, btw. Was a great 4 years."

A representative for American Idol network ABC did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.

The Dancing With the Stars winner has appeared on every season of Idol since its 2018 revival on ABC, beginning with season 16, on which Bones served as a guest mentor for contestants. He became a full-time mentor for the show the following season, and also filled in as host for Ryan Seacrest in April 2019, when the latter had to miss a taping.

It's unclear what new series prevents Bones from appearing on Idol's next season; we only know he was recently filming it in Costa Rica. When a fan asked him about it on social media, Bones said he would share more news "as soon as I can... The network hasn't even announced the show yet. So I'm going to chill for a bit. But it's a really good show."

Seacrest and judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan, and Lionel Richie are set to return to American Idol for its 20th season, which premieres Feb. 27 on ABC.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

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Beaumont Healths first baby of 2022 is Samirah Nura Ahmed. She was born at 12:01 a.m. Jan. 1, 2022, weighing 8 pounds, 8 ounces, and measuring 21.5 inches long, at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak. Parents are Khatune Papia and Didar Ahmed of Warren.

Samirah Nura Ahmed arrived at 12:01 a.m. on New Year's Day, the first baby of 2022 born at the Beaumont Health System  and maybe even the first born in the entire state.

A week past her Dec. 25 due date, Samirah, who was born at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, weighed in at 8 pounds, 8 ounces and measured 21.5 inches long. Her happy father, Didar Ahmed, 34, considers her a blessing and a sign that good things are to come this year.

"2021 was such a challenging and difficult year," Ahmed said. It included car problems, job loss (and a search for new employment that isn't going well), friends and distant relatives dead from COVID-19 and a trip to see the family ofhis wife, Khatune Papia, in Bangladesh that was complicated by worries about the virus and flight cancellations.

With a new baby, new year, Im very optimistic something will happen," said Ahmed, who lives in Warren with 23-year-old Papia and their two older daughters, ages 3 and 1. "I'm not losing hope. That's why having a baby ... is like a blessing for me to start off the new year.

"I couldn't be much more happier."

More: Cold temperatures and up to 5 inches of snow on the way for southeast Michigan

More: New Michigan laws in 2022: Tampon tax repeal, 2-year vehicle registration

Here's a look at the first babies of 2022 born at other area hospitals:

Simon Theodore Wiggins

12:16 a.m.: At Michigan Medicine, a baby boy named Simon Theodore Wiggins was born at the University of Michigan's Von Voightlander Women's Hospital.

Thomas Patrick Dunlap with parents Paige Dunlap and Anthony Dunlap.

12:30 a.m.: Over at St. Joseph Mercy in Ann Arbor, with a televised New Year's Eve aftershow playing in the background, Thomas Patrick Dunlap arrived.

His due date had been Jan. 4; his mother, Paige Dunlap, was relieved he came a few days early. "I think if we would have waited any longer, I probably would have had a cow at that point, literally, because he was 9 pounds, 10 ounces," she said. "I pushed for two minutes and he was out." His mom and dad, Anthony Dunlap, live in Ypsilanti. Thomas has an older brother.

Story continues

Maverick Hayes Worsley was born at Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital, becoming the first baby of 2022 to be born in the entire Henry Ford Health System. He weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces and his mother, Jessica Worsley, said he was 20.5 inches long. Worsley and her husband, Paul Worsley, live in Wyandotte.

12:39 a.m.: Maverick Hayes Worsley was born at Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital, becoming the first baby of 2022 to be born in the entire Henry Ford Health System. He weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces and his mother, Jessica Worsley, said he was 20.5 inches long. Worsley and her husband, Paul Worsley, live in Wyandotte.

Zy'Aire Anthony-Thomas Bibbs

1:23 a.m. Zy'Aire Anthony-Thomas Bibbs was born to mom Myranda, of Detroit. The baby boy weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces and measured 19 inches, the hospital said in a statement. He was born at Hutzel Women's Hospital, which is part of the Detroit Medical Center.

1:38 a.m.: The first baby at Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, a girl, was born.

Baby Parker Gene Coon with parents Ashley and Lee Coon

2:06 a.m.: Parker Gene Coon was born at St. Joseph Mercy Oakland in Pontiac. Baby Parker weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces. His parents, Lee and Ashley Coon, live in Hadley. Parker joins an older brother there.

9:29 a.m.: A girl is born at Henry Ford Main Hospital in Detroit.

As of midafternoon Saturday, Henry Ford Macomb Hospital had yet to have a New Year baby.

Contact Georgea Kovanis: gkovanis@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: First local baby of 2022 arrives at 12:01 a.m. Jan. 1 at Beaumont in Royal Oak
A stock image of a cat looking at the camera. Getty Images

Pet cats have caused more than 100 house fires in South Korea since 2019, fire officials said.

The fires often start when cats switch on electric stoves after jumping on touch-sensitive buttons.

Pet owners should remove flammable objects from around their stoves to stay safe, the fire department said.

Fire department officials have told pet owners in South Korea to watch out after more than 100 house fires were started by cats over the past three years, according to CNN.

A total of 107 house fires were caused by cats between January 2019 and November 2021, said a statement released by the Seoul Metropolitan Fire and Disaster Department on Thursday.

Four people were injured in the fires, the statement said. And most of the incidents took place while the pet owners were out, it continued.

"Cat-related fires are continuing to occur recently," said Chung Gyo-chul, an official from the department, per CNN. "We advise households with pets to pay extra attention as fire could spread widely when no one is at home."

The department said that many cats started the fires by accidentally turning on electric stoves and jumping on touch-sensitive buttons.

To avoid catastrophe, CNN reported that pet owners are advised to remove flammable objects, like paper towels, from nearby stoves.

Pets are also setting properties alight in the US. According to statistics from the National Fire Protection Association, they are responsible for over 1,000 house fires each year.

In 2015, a viral YouTube video showed a dog in Connecticut reaching for a pizza box on top of a stove. The dog's paw turned on the gas ignition knobs, almost burning the house down.

Read the original article on Insider
Topekan Will Pope was caught on video trying to force his way into the office of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, says the criminal complaint that helped result in his being charged with federal crimes linked to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

"In the video, WILLIAM POPE appears to strike one of the office doors several times with the bottom of his flag pole and then attempts to force the door open by lunging into the door with his shoulder," says that 11-page document, written by FBI Agent Clay Chase.

Also during that riot, the complaint said, Pope came into contact with a U.S. Capitol Police officer inside the Senate doors on the east side of the Capitol.

That officer remembered Pope for his large size and his passive resistance to the officer's attempt to keep him from entering, the complaint said.

It added, "The USCP Officer stated that he gave WILLIAM POPE repeated verbal orders to leave the building and attempted to physically grab and push WILLIAM POPE from the building, but that WILLIAM POPE resisted by tensing up and refusing to move."

More: How Will Pope's complicated views on politics, the election and riots in Washington have unfolded on social media

Donald Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

Pope, 35, and his brother, Michael Pope, 32, of Sandpoint, Idaho, each face eight federal charges linked to the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol.

A video posted on the Jayden X account on YouTube showed Will Pope carrying a flag and wearing a backpack that day while standing in a Capitol entrance doorway during the riot as police sought to keep people from rushing past.

FBI agents and Topeka police officers arrested Will Pope on Feb. 12 in Topeka. He was released on Feb. 16 on a federal court order imposing restrictions that included a ban on his traveling outside Kansas without permission from court officials.

Will Pope appeared by Zoom Monday at a court hearing in Topeka, where prosecutors indicated they planned to drop the case being pursued against him in U.S. District Court in Kansas and arrange for him to be prosecuted instead in the District of Columbia on a grand jury indictment filed Feb. 17 charging him with the same eight federal crimes.

Story continues

Also on Monday, court records show, U.S. Magistrate Judge Angel D. Mitchell rejected Pope's motion seeking to allow Topeka attorney Jerry Berger to withdraw as his legal counsel.

More: Mark Rebegila, of St. Marys, pleads guilty to misdemeanor linked to Jan. 6 riot at U.S. Capitol

Will Pope was captured on video trying to force his way into the office of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, says the criminal complaint that resulted in his being charged with federal crimes linked to a Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Will Pope is a doctoral student and graduate assistant in the communications studies department at Kansas State University. He ran unsuccessfully in 2019 for the District 2 seat on the Topeka City council, losing to Councilwoman Christina Valdivia-Alcala.

Valdivia-Alcala said last month that the FBI since Jan. 6 had twice visited her home seeking help in identifying Pope from images collected that day.

Pope acknowledged in a Jan. 11 text message to a Topeka Capital-Journal reporter that he was among those present on Jan. 6 at The Capitol. He said he had already reported himself to the FBI because he thought that was the right thing to do.

However, the complaint in the case against Will Pope and Michael Pope said it wasn't until Jan. 12 that Will Pope left a message for the FBI.

It indicated that message said: I would like to turn myself in. I was in the Capitol on Jan. 6. I did not damage any property or engage in any violence. I am loyal to the United States and was only there to exercise my Freedom of Speech. I left the building voluntarily.

The complaint said that at one point during the riot, video showed police officers physically removing Michael Pope from an elevator where he was accompanied by Will Pope.

The Popes stayed within several feet of each other that entire day, "for their own safety and so they didnt get separated in the crowd," the complaint said.

Federal court records show the Popes face charges of one count each of civil disorder; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; impeding ingress and egress in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; impeding passage through the Capitol grounds or buildings; parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building; and obstructing or impeding an official proceeding and aiding or abetting.

The criminal complaint against Will Pope and Michael Pope is accompanied by eight images, most of which appear to come from surveillance cameras showing one or both of them carrying flags during the Jan. 6 riot.

It says a witness on Jan. 8 showed the FBI a copy of a Facebook Live video taken from Will Pope's personal Facebook page. In the video, Will Pope said he was marching to the Capitol, explained why and introduced Michael Pope.

Will Pope later acknowledged to the FBI that he had posted the video to Social Media from his cell phone that day, the complaint said.

It said a second witness contacted the FBI on Jan. 8 to provide a screen capture from MSNBC showing an image of Will Pope in the Capitol's Statuary Hall.

Will Pope acknowledged Jan. 21 in a non-custodial interview with the FBI that he had been in the Capitol, according to the complaint.

It quoted him as saying that he and his brother went inside rather than staying outdoors because they wanted "to express their concern about the direction of the nation."

Will Pope said he thought that questionable things happened during the Nov. 6 general election and citizens deserved a full election audit, according to the complaint.

"During the interview, WILLIAM POPE reported that they had witnessed other rioters fighting and battering police officers and rioters damaging the U.S. Capitol Building," it said.

The complaint said Will Pope before going to Washington, D.C, had driven a rental car from Topeka to Philadelphia, where he met with Michael Pope, who had flown there from Spokane, Washington.

"The two were going to make a vacation of the trip and camp at several parks along the coast before MICHAEL POPE would fly back to Spokane, Washington, from South Carolina," the complaint said. "WILLIAM POPE admitted that after seeing the gravity of the situation after January 6, 2021, he and MICHAEL POPE changed their plans and wanted to return home as early as possible."

Will Pope then drove Michael Pope to Pittsburgh, from which he flew home while Will Pope drove home, the complaint said.

It indicated Michael Pope didn't use the ticket he had bought to fly Jan. 9 to Spokane from Charleston, S.C., by way of Dallas/Fort Worth and Phoenix.

Michael Pope was arrested Feb. 12 in Idaho, then released that day on a court order calling for his next appearance to be in a court in the District of Columbia, where the charges against him originated, according to an article in the Boise-based Idaho Statesman.

The order made requirements that included banning Michael Pope from traveling outside Idahos Northern District  the 10 northernmost counties  without permission from court officials.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Topekan accused of trying to force way into office during Capitol riot
Egypt Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, Insider

Archaeologists revealed more wonders of the ancient world in 2021.

They ranged from a lost city, a mummy with a golden tongue, and 2,400-year-old baskets of fruit.

We document some of the best archaeological finds of the last 12 months.

In 2021 archaeologists discovered an array of lost treasures of the ancient world.

Insider's coverage of the archaeological breakthroughs included Egyptian mummies with tongues of gold, sunken Crusader trove, and 2000-year-old Roman slave quarters perfectly preserved by a volcanic eruption.

2,400-year-old baskets of fruit discovered in ancient Egyptian city under the sea

Head of Diorite found in Abu Qir Bay, where ancient cities of Canopus and Thonis-Herakleion are. Egypt Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

In August 2021, Insider's Alia Shoaib reported that 2,400-year-old baskets of fruit were discovered in an ancient Egyptian under-sea city Thonis-Heracleion.

Archaeologists found a trove of ancient artifacts from the fourth century BCE, including wicker baskets filled with doum, fruit from an African palm tree, grape seeds, and Greek ceramics.

The fascinating discovery was made by a team of researchers from the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology, led by the French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio, who discovered the ruin of Thonis-Heracleion twenty years ago.

Goddio told the Guardian that the fruit had been untouched for over 2000 years, calling the find "incredible."

Archaeologists discovered 2 ancient graves of a mother and baby near Stonehenge in England

Inside the sarsen circle at Stonehenge. James Davies/English Heritage

In February, Archaeologists in England found two ancient graves near the prehistoric Stonehenge in Salisbury.

The find was made during excavations necessary before the creation of a new highway tunnel.

The two graves were declared to be roughly 4,500 years old  as old as the stones in the central circle of the henge  and belonging to a mother and baby.

The pair were thought to be related to those who built the circle, with Matt Leivers, an archaeologist with Wessex Archaeology who helped survey the area having told Insider: "The later arrangements of bluestones would have been built around the time these people lived and died  if they weren't the builders then they might have been their relatives, or perhaps their children or grandchildren."

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Stonehenge has been a mystery for centuries  until February 2021, when researchers discovered the stones had been transported from Wales to Salisbury, suggesting the henge is a type of burial ground.

'Lost golden city' found in Egypt

The city was found after seven months of excavating. STR/picture alliance via Getty Images

In April 2021, Jacob Sarkisian reported that a "lost golden city" was found in Egypt, 300 miles south of Cairo.

It was one of the largest ancient cities ever discovered in the country and one of the most significant finds since the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb a century ago.

The team said in a statement: "The Egyptian mission under Dr. Zahi Hawass found the city that was lost under the sands. The city is 3,000 years old, dates to the reign of Amenhotep III, and continued to be used by Tutankhamun and Ay."

The city features several neighborhoods, intact 10-feet-high walls, and even a bakery.

The earliest evidence of tobacco used by hunter-gatherers in the US West 12,000 years ago

Archaeologists unearth an ancient hearth, containing four charred tobacco seeds, in northern Utah on October 11, 2021. Sarah K. Rice/Handout via REUTERS

At the beginning of October 2021, Joshua Zitser reported that the earliest evidence of tobacco use was found in Utah.

The find dates back over 12,000 years, with the leaf believed to be used by hunter-gatherers for food preparation.

This uncovered the fact that humans may have been using tobacco some 9,000 years earlier than previously thought.

You can read Insider's senior news reporter Joshua Zitser's full report here.

An amateur diver found a 3-foot sword off the Israeli coast dating back to the Crusades

Jacob Sharvit, director of the Marine Archaeology Unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority, holds a meter-long (yard-long) sword, that experts say dates back to the Crusaders, in the Mediterranean seaport of Cesarea, Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

In October 2021, an amateur diver in Israel made an incredible find: a three-foot crusade-era sword.

Shlomi Katzin came across a giant sword, covered in shells and marine life, 13 feet under the Mediterranean waves as he was exploring the waters of the Carmel coast.

Katzin also found giant metal and stone anchors and bits of pottery nestled in a 1,000 square-foot patch of the sandy seabed during his exploration.

Katzin reported his find to the Israel Antiquities Authority, and they declared the sword to be from between the 11th and 13th centuries.

"It is exciting to encounter such a personal object, taking you 900 years back in time to a different era, with knights, armor, and swords." Nir Distelfeld, an inspector for the IAA's Robbery Prevention Unit, said in a press release.

You can read Aylin Woodward's full report here.

Archaeologists discovered an Egyptian mummy buried with a golden tongue

Archaeologists found an Ancient Egyptian mummy with a golden tongue covering still in its mouth in El Bahnasa, Egypt. Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

In February 2021, archaeologists in Egypt uncovered a mummy buried with a golden tongue in its mouth.

Egyptian and Dominican archaeologists found 16 burial shafts at the Taposiris Magna Temple near Alexandria. When searching the places of rest, they found one mummy who was given a golden amulet in the shape of a tongue placed in its mouth.

The amulet is a great honor, thought to give the dead the ability to speak to gods.

Rare evidence of Roman crucifixion found in England

Nail found in the heel bone of the ancient skeleton. Albion Archaeology

In December 2021, Insider's Rebecca Cohen and Erin Schumaker reported that a skeleton in England was found with a nail through its foot  rare evidence of Roman crucifixion.

Researchers in Cambridgeshire were analyzing findings from a dig of an ancient Roman settlement, and when they researched the bones found, they discovered this evidence of crucifixion.

While crucifixion was thought to be relatively common for the Roman era, few pieces of evidence for it exist.

The find is just the fourth known crucifixion in the world, with it ranking as the best-preserved one.

Astonishing images of Roman slave quarters in Pompeii frozen in time for almost 2,000 years by a volcanic eruption

A "slaves' room" at a Roman villa, containing beds, amphorae, ceramic pitchers, and a chamber pot discovered in a dig near the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, destroyed in 79 AD by a massive volcanic eruption, Italy, 2021 Pompeii Archeological Park/Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism/Handout via REUTERS

In November 2021, archaeologists in Pompeii, Italy, found incredibly well-preserved 2000-year old slave quarters.

The room, frozen in time due to the Mount Vesuvius eruption of 79 AD, featured beds, a chest, and a chamber pot.

Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director-general of Pompeii's archaeological park, hailed the findings on the Pompeii website as a "window into the precarious reality of people who seldom appear in historical sources."







High-tech scanners 'unwrapped' a mummified Egyptian pharaoh, revealing a seemingly healthy 35-year-old with no clues for how he died

Facemask of the unwrapped mummy of Pharaoh Amenhotep I. S. Saleem and Z. Hawass

Just as 2021 closed, Insider's science reporter Dr. Marianne Guenot reported how 3D CT scanners had been used to 'unwrap' a mummified Egyptian pharaoh.

The images showed "unprecedented detail" of the body of Amenhotep I, said Sahar Saleem, a professor of radiology and lead author of a study on the mummy.

Amenhotep was the second Pharaoh of Egypt's 18th dynasty, ruling for over two decades in 1525 BC.

The scans were able to age the Pharaoh and tell that he was 5 feet, 6 inches, tall, circumcised, had a narrow chin, a small narrow nose, curly hair, mildly protruding upper teeth, and a pierced left ear.

The discovery of a 2000-year-old dagger was a vital clue to revealing a forgotten battle between the Roman Empire's legions and tribal warriors

A soldier's dagger from 15 BC was found in Oberhalbstein (Graubunden, Switzerland) before and after restorations. Archaologischen Dienst Graubunden

In Switzerland, a volunteer archaeologist uncovered a Roman-era dagger that has revealed intricate details of an ancient battle.

Schmid unearthed the dagger in the mountainous Graubunden region of Switzerland, an area believed to be the site of a lost battlefield where Imperial Roman soldiers fought Rhaetian warriors in approximately 15 BC.

This discovery then sparked further explorations, revealing a battlefield.

The dagger, dated to around 15 BC, is a rare find. The team behind the discovery explained that only four of its kind had ever been found in former Roman territories.

You can read the full report from myself and my colleague Joshua Zitser.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Photo Courtesy of Ash Pereira

Last year, Ash Pereira called the police in her hometown of Enterprise, Alabama, to report a rape.

The date of the alleged crime was nearly 15 years earlier; the accused, her now ex-husband, Jason Greathouse. Pereira, now 30, was locked in a bitter custody dispute with the man, a former youth pastor who impregnated her when she was 15 and he was 25.

What ensued was shocking to Pereira and many observers: Her ex was allowed to plead to a misdemeanor, did not have to register as a sex offender, and maintains partial custody of their 14-year-old daughter.

Inside the Rape Case Tearing a Rhode Island Town Apart

Pereira, meanwhile, had to defend herself against accusations that she was an unfit mother and that she was using the statutory rape accusation as a cudgel to get Greathouse to give up his child.

The battle has now pitted mother against daughter, with Pereira claiming her mother was the driving force behind her childhood marriage and her mother claiming Pereira is simply out for blood.

I really feel for my daughter, I really do, Pereiras mother, Jennie Jett, told The Daily Beast. [But] people dont understand everything that happened.

Youve given your body to someone and you need to take responsibility for your own actions

Growing up, Pereira was used to feeling like an outsider. A self-described military brat, she bounced between four states before her 13th birthday: Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, New York, then back to Alabama, near the naval base in Enterprise. One of the only constants in her life was religion: No matter where she went, her parents always joined a church. Pereira and her brother spent three days a week in the pews, learning scripture andas Pereira puts ithaving the fear of hell absolutely burned into our heads.

At age 13, shortly after moving to Enterprise, Pereira developed a severe eating disordera result, she says, of once again struggling to fit in with new classmates. Instead of getting her treatment, Pereira says, her mother pulled her out of school and attempted to cure the disorder herself. My mom thought Jesus could fix everything, she said. (Her mother claims Pereira was not cooperative when she tried to bring her to counseling sessions.)

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It was around that time that Pereiras mother enrolled her in a youth group with Greathouse, a charming 24-year-old pastor from her favorite Christian supply store. Pereira had her issues with religionshe once got in trouble for asking a teacher who said suicide was a sin whether she would go to hell for smokingbut she says Greathouse was different from other church leaders. He was more progressive than her parents, and seemed to actually listen to her. He treated her, she said, like an adult.

Greathouse did not respond to multiple calls and emails seeking comment for this story, nor did his civil and criminal attorneys.

A few months after they met, Greathouse moved in with Pereiras family. He wanted to go to college but couldnt afford rent, she says, so her parents offered him their spare bedroom. Pereira was still being homeschooled, and with Greathouse in the house, she says, the two were together constantly. Slowly, a flirtation developed. She says she was 14 the first time they had sex, after listening to a sermon in her parents living room.

If Pereiras parents noticed what was going on, she says, they didnt say anything. (Her brother says he tried to raise the issue with their mother once, but she threatened to ground him if he brought it up again.) When Pereira finally told her mother what had happened, she says, she turned around and kind of made it my responsibility.

She was like, Well, youre supposed to save this for marriage, and [now] youve given your body to someone and you need to take responsibility for your own actions, she recalled.

Her mother recalls the situation differently. She claims Pereira lied about her age to Greathouse and only sought out her mother to confess her deception after the fact. She says she never blamed her daughter and held Greathouse accountable, though she did not specify how.

I remember when I told him [her age], he just about fell apart and was shaking, she said. I believe 100 percent that he did not know.

Courtesy of Ash Pereira

But theres no denying that by 15, Pereira was pregnant with Greathouses baby. (Greathouse has admitted as much in court filings.) She says she was panicked, and her father was furious, but her mother seemed unconcerned. She seemed more excited about being a grandmother than she was upset about what had happened to her daughter, her brother recalled.

Eventually, she says, the family decided the best course of action was for the two to be wed. I felt like I owed it to him and my mom and God to make things work, Pereira recalled. I was coerced into understanding that I was supposed to be with this person for the rest of my life because we had sex. (Her mother claims the wedding was Pereiras idea.)

On May 4, 2007, five days after her 16th birthday, Pereira marched to the courthouse and married her 25-year-old pastor.

He knew how old I was for so long

A few months into her marriage with Greathouse, Pereira started to have doubts. She had just started work as a hostess at her local Ruby Tuesdays, and her coworkers were openly horrified by her situation. She told a friend, Katelynd Anderson, that she hated sleeping in the same bed with her husband. On top of that, Pereira claims, Greathouse had started acting strangely, staying out at night on runs with a female coworker and evading her questions. (Greathouse alleges in court documents that it was Pereira who cheated on him.)

Courtesy of Ash Pereira

So one day, Pereira picked up her paycheck and didnt go home. She spent a couple weeks couch-surfing until Andersons family offered to take her in for good. She got a new jobironically, she says Ruby Tuesdays fired her for being underageand used her next paycheck to hire a lawyer. The divorce process was expensive, and she was an underemployed teenager, so when Greathouse put up a fight, she says, she didnt have the resources to fight back. She settled for 50/50 custody and no child support.

At the time, Pereira says, she thought she couldnt press charges against Greathouse because they had been married. Instead, she tried to move on with her life. She finished her GED and enrolled in college; moved with a partner to Tennessee; broke up with him; pursued a career in acting; started her own pedicab business. Often she found herself between jobs and struggling to make ends meet; occasionally she suffered physical symptoms of PTSD so severe she wound up in the emergency room. She says she tried to think of Greathouse as little as possible, going so far as to change his name on her phone so she could pretend it was someone else when he called.

Then, early last year, Greathouse tried to introduce a court order in Tennessee that would give him primary custody of their child. (The two disagree on whether Pereira had knowingly signed off on this before.) The dispute was intense: In court documents, Greathouse accused Pereira of being an absent parent, of prioritizing her career over her child, and of introducing their daughter to the occult. He also included an 8-year-old affidavit from Pereiras second husband, claiming that she cheated on him and falsely accused him of abusing her. (In an email to Pereira last year, the second husband wrote that anything he said at the time was the bias of a jaded ex-husband and should not even be admissible at this point.)

Most infuriating to Pereira, Greathouse repeated to the court her mothers claim that she lied about her agesomething she and her father say would have been impossible. I was in his junior high youth group. He taught me how to drive, she scoffed. He knew how old I was for so long.

It was traumatizing, Pereira says, to watch Greathouse take the stand and deny that he had been in the wrong. More than anything, though, it confused her that a judge would consider granting him custody in the first place.

I tried to tell them what happened to me, and they just would not recognize it, she said. They would not take it seriously because he had never been fully convicted.

A sickening national situation

Pereiras account may be shocking, but it isnt unique. In the overwhelming majority of U.S. states, child marriage is still perfectly legal, as long as a parent or judge consents. According to one study, nearly 300,000 minors were married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018most of them underage girls married to men at least four years older.

Once theyre in these marriages, says Freidy Reiss, founder of anti-child-marriage charity Unchained At Last, the girls are stuck in a nightmarish legal trap. What would have been considered a crimesex between a minor girl and an adult manis now perfectly legal. And their options for leaving are drastically limited.

In most states, Reiss explained, minors who leave home are considered runaways, meaning police can return them to their homes and even arrest them if they dont comply. Most domestic violence shelters wont accept victims under the age of 18 for similar reasons. Young people also have a hard time securing lawyers, because contracts with minors are usually considered voidable, and they cannot bring a legal proceeding like a divorce or restraining order in their own name.

Because of this, Reiss said, shes seen numerous child brides turn to suicide.

We honestly have set up a system where I can understand why someone would think, The only way out for me is death, she said.

Laws protecting women of all ages who are impregnated by their rapists are not much better. More than a third of states still require a felony conviction in order to terminate the rapists right to custody of the childmore than whats required in cases of child abuse, neglect, molestation, or a myriad of other reasons a judge might terminate parental rights. And thats a problem because, while an estimated 17,000 to 32,000 rape-related pregnancies occur each year, less than 1 percent of rapes result in a felony conviction.

As a result, stories abound of women who are forced to share custody with their alleged attackers: The Nebraska woman whose assailant won visitation rights despite pleading guilty to third-degree sexual assault; the Pennsylvania woman whose rapist maintained a right to shared custody even from jail; the woman in Detroit who was forced to split custody with the man who abducted and raped her at age 13. (The judge in the latter case eventually reversed his ruling.)

Perhaps most similar to Pereira is the case of Jessica Stallings, another Alabama native who says her mothers half-brother started having sex with her when she was 13 and he was 20. Stallings says her parents did nothing to stop the abuse and instead forced her to marry her assailant, who eventually impregnated her multiple times. When Stallings finally mustered the courage to leave, the court granted him visitation rights.

Stallings was still fighting for full custody in 2019, when Alabama passed a law requiring courts to terminate the parental rights of convicted rapists. But the law required Stallings to get a felony conviction against her uncle, which she was not able to dodespite twice going to a grand jury with birth certificates, medical records and DNA evidence.

Its sickening, Stallings told The Washington Post. Ive spent my entire life scared to death of my rapist, and now, Im fighting him for custody of my children.

I dont want to have to ask my rapists permission for things

Greathouse and his attorneys have repeatedly argued that Pereira only reported him to get the upper hand in their custody dispute; to use the circumstances of the childs conception as a way to force a change in custody, as one court filing put it. But Pereira is adamant that her reasoning was more complicated. To start with, she says, she didnt even know she could press charges until after the latest custody battle started. And even then, she says, the point of reporting him wasnt to win a legal fight, but to earn her freedom.

Courtesy of Ash Pereira

People dont understand that [even though] the situation was so many years ago, I still have to cope with it to this day, and I still have to co-parent with someone who took my virginity as a grown man, she said.

I dont want to have to ask my rapists permission for things, she added. No one should ever have to do that.

Greathouse was arrested on Aug. 12, 2020, on a charge of second-degree rape, and released on bond that same day, according to court records. But Pereira says she didnt hear anything from the district attorneys office for weeks, and didnt speak to an attorney on the case until the day of Greathouses sentencing. She was on her way from Nashville to Enterprise for the first day of trial when a victims services officer called to tell her it was off, and that Greathouse was taking a plea deal. He copped to contributing to the delinquency of a minora misdemeanorand got a two-year suspended sentence, meaning he will likely never spend a day in jail.

Coffee County District Attorney Tom Anderson, whose office handled the case, said in an email that he had taken more than 80 cases to verdict and would have been shocked if a jury returned anything other than a not guilty ruling in this one. He said the defense could argue that Pereira only filed the complaint in order to win the custody battle, potentially swaying the jury against her. And in an interview with AL.com, defense attorney David Harrison did just that, claiming he had text messages in which Pereira threatened to have Greathouse charged if he didnt give her full custody.

This person used the court system here to try to, in my opinion, coerce mentally, emotionally, somebody to give up custody of his child, Harrison said.

Pereira denies sending Greathouse any direct threats and says she could have explained her texts to the DAs office if theyd ever asked her. But she also doesnt understand why any of this matters. She is 30, Greathouse is 40, and their daughter turned 14 in August. If the jury could do basic arithmetic, that should be all the evidence theyd need.

It doesnt matter if I became the worst person imaginable after the fact, she said. He still did the crime. He still was a 25-year-old man who got a 15-year-old pregnant. And theres nothing stopping him from doing whatever he wants in the future.

Jenny Carrol, a professor at the University of Alabama Law School and former public defender, says she wasnt surprised by the prosecutors decision to offer a plea deal. A jury might discount someone who didnt appear to be the perfect victim, she said, and an under-resourced prosecutors office might see a decade-old case as low priority. But just because the case is typical, she added, doesnt make it right. If anything, it just highlights how broken the system is when it comes to sexual assault, she said.

The family court judge has yet to make a decision in Greathouse and Pereiras custody dispute, but Tennessee is one of the states that requires a felony conviction to terminate parental rights. For the time being, the two continue to share custody of their daughter.

Pereira insisted on attending Greathouses sentencing hearing, and wrote her victims statement from her fathers wrap-around porch the night before. In the courtroom that day, she told the story of a childhood cut short, of adults who failed to protect her, and of a life spent dealing with the impact. And she told the judge how terrified she is that Greathouse would do something like this again.

Fifteen years ago, I was forced to grow up prematurely, she wrote. Ive spent the past 15 years trying to co-parent with my rapist to provide a better life for our child. Fifteen years was too much. And now, due to the courts desire to settle cases quickly rather than seek justice for those wronged, Im forced to continue seeing my rapist weekly. Im forced to relive my trauma every week.

Worst of all, she added, she had never received an apology.

[Greathouse] doesnt think he is wrong or guilty of his actions, she wrote, and to me that is the most dangerous kind of criminal.

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Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty/Facebook

As recently as a year ago, Alex Murdaughs life was the stuff of Southern fantasy.

A father of two and partner at a successful law firm founded by his great-grandfather over a century ago, the 53-year-old seemed virtually untouchable. The former president of the state trial lawyers association, he was sitting atop a legal dynasty that produced three successive elected solicitorsor local prosecutorsin the South Carolina Lowcountry.

The family image wasnt exactly free of blemishes, even then. Murdaughs youngest son, Paul Murdaugh, had been charged with boating under the influence in connection with an accident that killed a teenage girl. But the perception was widespread in the community that the 22-year-old would likely duck any criminal liability. The family was that powerful.

Then the redheaded lawyers life went off the rails.

Alex Murdaugh Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty/Facebook

On June 7, 2021, Murdaugh reported finding his wife, Margaret, and Paul fatally shot near the dog kennels at their home in Islandton, a hamlet inhabited by fewer than 100 people.

The case remains unsolved. But Murdaugh himself has since been ensnared in a stunning array of civil lawsuits and criminal cases. Perhaps most prominent of the investigations swirling around him is that of a botched assisted-suicide insurance scheme to benefit his surviving son Buster. Police say Murdaugh confessed to taking part in the scheme, ostensibly in the throes of a drug addiction.

It doesnt stop there.

I Was in the Throes of Withdrawal: Alex Murdaugh Speaks Out About Botched Attempted Suicide Plot

From the mysterious death of a housekeeper on his propertyand an alleged scheme to siphon some of the millions in settlement money to his drug dealerto the unsolved murder of a 19-year-old nursing student, Murdaughs troubles often seem boundless.

Seth Stoughton, an associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina Law School, told The Daily Beast that the Murdaughs have captivated America because the story of a powerful man brought low by his own hubris is about as familiar as it gets, going back to the Greek tragedies.

Story continues

After three generations as elected prosecutors, the Murdaugh family had deep connections in law enforcement, in the legal community, among political officials, and in social circles, Stoughton added. A prominent family with a long history in the area has contacts, access, and influence that most people simply dont have.

But Murdaugh is now facing two criminal trials, 12 state grand-jury indictments that could mean a sentence of over 500 years behind bars, and a handful of lawsuits. His family has also been tied, one way or another, to at least five state investigations.

Know something we should about the Murdaugh family? Reach out to Pilar.Melendez@thedailybeast.com or securely at pilar.melendez@protonmail.com.

My head is on straighter, Im thinking clearer than I have in a long, long time, Murdaugh said during a Dec. 13 hearing, the first time he has spoken out since the murder of his wife and son. I want to deal with these charges appropriately and head-on. I want to repair as much of the damage that Ive done as I can. I want to repair as many of the relationships as I can.

The allegations surrounding Murdaugh are all the more remarkable given his familys power in South Carolina once appeared unassailable. But even as police have begun to chip away at the dynastys armor, the saga has only spurred new questions into the strange deaths and missing funds that surround him.

Who Killed Maggie and Paul Murdaugh?

While the 2019 boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach and eventually produced criminal charges against Paul Murdaugh thrust the family into the spotlight, the Murdaughs were forced on the national stage for good after Alexs wife and son were murdered at their home.

Crime scene photos of the boating crash that killed Mallory Beach Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty/Beaufort County Sheriff's Office

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) says Murdaugh called 911 around 10:07 p.m. on June 7 after discovering the two near the dog kennels outside their 1,770-acre estate in Colleton County. In the seven-minute 911 call, Murdaugh frantically tells a dispatcher his wife and child have been shot and that neither of them were breathing.

Ive been up to it now. Its bad, Murdaugh said while dogs barked in the background, later adding that he had arrived home from visiting his ill father to discover the bloodshed.

While Colleton County deputies responded to the scene, SLED quickly took over the caseand has been tight-lipped about the investigation since. A $100,000 reward once offered by Murdaughs former law firm expired without any apparent takers, and no suspects have ever been publicly named.

Murdaughs lawyer did reveal in October that SLED has been investigating Murdaugh from the get-go as a person of interest in the double homicide. Attorney Jim Griffin, however, insisted that they were not worried about the investigation because Murdaugh has an alibi for the time of the murders and had no motive to kill them.

The Murdaugh Family (from left: Buster, Maggie, Paul and Alex) Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty/Facebook

You would think that if Alex was the one who did it, that SLED would have been able to establish that pretty easily that night, Griffin told Fox Carolina. You would think they would have searched his house and found blood somewhere. You would think they would have found the murder weapons on the property. You would think they would come up with something to link Alex to the murders, forensically or independent evidence. To my knowledge, they have not done that.

Griffin denied reports Murdaugh and his wife were having marital troubles prior to the murder, previously telling The Daily Beast that his client loved his wife and son. He added that he reviewed Murdaughs text messages with his wife and found nothing out of the ordinary.

In the legal drama that has surrounded Murdaugh since June, including the failed orchestration of his own murder for a $10 million insurance payout for his surviving son, the scion has remain consistent that his biggest priority is finding out who killed his family. During his December bond hearing, Murdaugh said he only devised the wild scheme amid intense grief over the shootingsand withdrawal from a two-decade addiction to opioids. (The Murdaugh cousin also charged in the failed insurance plot has denied being a drug dealer, though he has been charged with drug offenses in the past.)

The question of who might have targeted Alex Murdaughs closest loved ones in such brutal fashion is perhaps the most befuddling thread in this twisted family soap opera. Its a mystery for which the chief agency investigating the casethe SLED, which did not respond to a request for comment on any updatesdoes not appear to have answers.

Paul Murdaugh Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty/Facebook

How, if at all, are the Murdaughs connected to Stephen Smith?

Perhaps the most under-the-radar investigation tied to the Murdaugh family is that involving the 2015 death of 19-year-old Stephen Smith. On June 23, authorities announced that they would open an investigation into the unsolved homicide based upon information gathered during the course of the double-murder investigation of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh.

At the time, a SLED spokesperson told The Daily Beast the investigation was opened to provide a fresh set of eyes on the caseand noted that it would include evidence and interviews from previous probes from other agencies. The spokesperson, however, declined to comment on what information from the double homicide spurred the new look at the Smith case, or how the Murdaughs might have been connected to the teenager.

Smith was found dead on a rural backcountry road in Hampton, South Carolina, on July 8, 2015. While his death was immediately deemed suspicious, a medical examiner ultimately concluded the teenager died from a hit-and-run despite his head wound being consistent with a gunshot. Nobody has been charged in his death, and other than SLEDs investigation announcement, the Murdaughs have never been publicly linked to it.

According to South Carolina Highway Patrol records obtained by the Island Packet, however, investigators probing Smiths death triedin vainto chase tips tying the Murdaugh family to the case.

The records reportedly show that witnesses suggested Murdaughs older son, Buster, was somehow tied to the accident, though authorities never corroborated the claims. He has never been charged.

The Murdaughs know that, then-SCHP Lance Cpl. Todd Proctor said in a Sept. 2, 2015, interview with a tipster, according to the records reviewed by the Packet. They know that [Busters] on our radar.

Meanwhile, in a July 17, 2015, interview, Stephanie Smith indicated that Randolph Randy Murdaugh, Alex Murdaughs older brother and himself an attorney, called her family shortly after they learned the news about her twin brothers death. The day that Stephen passed away, Randy Murdaugh was the second person to call my dad after the coroner, she said, according to the investigations records, as reported by the Packet. And he said he wanted to take the case, and it would be free of charge and everything.

For Mike Hemlepp, an attorney representing the Smith family, the main obstacle to solving the teenagers death is that everything about it is a question mark. While Hemlepp stressed he could not provide The Daily Beast with details of SLEDs ongoing investigation, he did note that his clients and law enforcement were working together to solve the case.

Hampton is a small community, but this case is far from being solved, the lawyer told The Daily Beast. With a community this small, there are people that know what happened. There are a lot of blank spaces and we are focused on answering them.

Randolph Murdaugh did not respond to The Daily Beasts requests for comment. SLED declined to comment on any update in the case. Attempts to reach Buster Murdaugh for this story were unsuccessful.

What Happened to Gloria Satterfield?

As the fallout over Alex Murdaughs botched assisted-suicide spiraled this fall, SLED dropped another bombshell on the embattled attorney: an investigation into the death of his former housekeeper.

Gloria Satterfield, a 57-year-old longtime nanny, died on Feb. 2, 2018, from injuries sustained at the Murdaugh familys Hampton County home. In a 911 call from the incident released last month, a man is heard saying that Satterfield cracked her head and theres blood on the concrete and shes bleeding out of her left ear, though the details of what led up to that remain unclear.

Gloria Satterfield Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty/Handout

About 11 minutes after the call, Satterfield was en route to the hospital, where she died days later from a stroke and cardiac arrest.

Murdaugh has not been charged with any crimesnor even named as a person of interestin connection with Satterfields death.

In a September letter to SLED asking for the new probe, Hampton County Coroner Angela Topper revealed that an autopsy was never performed for Satterfield. On the death certificate, the manner of death was ruled Natural, which is inconsistent with injuries sustained in a trip and fall accident, Topper added.

The mystery behind Satterfields death is indirectly tied to criminal charges laid out against Murdaugh, as prosecutors allege the scion funneled millions of dollars meant for Satterifelds sons in a wrongful-death lawsuit for his own enrichment. Satterfields family has also filed a lawsuit against Murdaugh for the misappropriation of those settlement funds.

We may never know what happened to Gloria Satterfield that day, Eric Bland, an attorney representing the Satterfield family, told The Daily Beast. But we do know what happened after her deathand what Alex Murdaugh did to her family.

Murdaugh allegedly encouraged Satterfields two sons to sue [him] in order to seek an insurance settlement. But even though the pair was set to receive a chunk of the $4.3 million settlement, Murdaugh allegedly pocketed the cash for his own use, according to the Satterfields lawsuit.

Dick Harpootlian, one of Murdaughs lawyers, read a statement from his client during the December hearing acknowledging mishandling the $4.3 million from Satterfields two sons, along with an apology.

To date, that nod to his role in the disappearance of the Satterfield money represents just the second time the scion has appeared to admit to wrongdoing, along with the insurance scheme.

That leaves dozens of alleged financial crimes prosecutors say Murdaugh committed. In two separate indictments, he is accused of stealing over $6 million from clients and his former law firm.

Even those indictments might not be the end to Murdaughs legal troubles. Bland, the attorney representing Satterfields surviving sons, told The Daily Beast he knows of many victims of Murdaughs that were not included in the grand-jury indictments and pointed to the prospect of more charges coming down the pike.

All I will say is that I think that in the next couple of months, we will see many more charges against Alex Murdaugh, Bland told The Daily Beast in December. Our state grand jury only meets once a week a month. This month alone they indicted Murdaugh with almost 50 charges. I expect the same thing will happen next month.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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It's taken a while, but Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz's plan to bring high-speed internet to all parts of the county is starting to gain traction once again.

The Erie County Legislature recently approved plans to establish a new, county-controlled corporation to oversee and manage the creation of ErieNet, an ambitious county-sponsored fiber-optic network that could give all cities, towns and interested internet service providers unparalleled access to up to 500 miles of untapped fiber-optic lines.

The vision remains to provide high-speed, cutting-edge connectivity throughout the county, not just in the wealthier suburbs. The goal is a new network that could level the economic development playing field by offering super-fast speeds to poorer cities and to rural towns to the south and east that currently suffer from a distinct connectivity disadvantage.

Poloncarz first announced a $20 million ErieNet initiative in the spring of 2019, with hopes that the full network could be built by the end of 2021. Nearly three years later, there is still no shovel in the ground. Business and design planning was delayed by Covid-19. Business planning has now restarted, though detailed network mapping is still months away.

Major work is now expected to move forward, thanks to a second windfall of American Rescue Plan money that Erie County will receive this year. Poloncarz has pledged to use that $34 million in federal funds to get ErieNet jump-started again, with hopes of starting to lay fiber-optic cable before year's end.

Sign of economic recovery: Proposed Erie County budget has pre-pandemic revenues, spending County Executive Mark Poloncarz's budget allocates millions in new grants to support businesses and struggling families; earmarks millions more for major roads, buildings and parks projects; reinvests higher sales tax revenue; and creates more county jobs.

The current ErieNet plan is for a more ambitious network than first proposed. Initially, Poloncarz said the county would lay roughly 360 miles of fiber-optic lines that would then be leased to public and private entities. But that was before federal stimulus aid was available. Now, county leaders are talking about an even larger network involving the laying of 400 to 500 miles of fiber.

This would make Erie County one of the largest municipalities in the country to operate this type of backbone network, which could be leased by private internet service providers, individual companies, public institutions and local governments.

To get that ball rolling, the Poloncarz administration requested that the County Legislature approve the creation of a local development corporation, with a board composed of elected and appointed county officials. This county-controlled, nonprofit corporation would administer and maintain ErieNet and market the program to interested users, who would be allowed to lease the county network. The board would provide governance and approve policies.

Officials from the County Legislature, the library system, the county budget office and the information technology and planning departments would serve as initial members, but the board would grow as stakeholders sign on to use the network, county officials and consultants said. The board would also be subject to open meetings and transparency laws as a quasi-governmental agency.

"It's open and transparent, but it's more nimble," said Robert Murray, the outside lawyer working on the county's behalf regarding ErieNet.

The local development corporation would be tax exempt and be better positioned to deal with regulatory issues, added Deputy Budget Director Benjamin Swanekamp.

The Legislature voted 7-4, along party lines, to support the creation of the new corporate entity, with the Republican-supported minority  which has long advocated for more rural access to broadband  objecting to the creation of a new layer of county bureaucracy before more concrete details are shared about where fiber lines will be laid.

"Without knowing more information about the actual project or the long-term implications of the LDC, I cannot, in good conscience, vote yes," said Minority Leader Joseph Lorigo.

Buffalo district Legislator Howard Johnson, meanwhile, pointed out that Spectrum is the only game in town for most high-speed internet users in Buffalo.

"We need competition," he said.

Matt Crider, vice president with ECC Technologies, based in Rochester, said the county would focus on a "middle-mile network," drawing lines from Buffalo's city center out like skeleton frame to all parts of the county, but not connecting service lines directly to residents' homes.

The new network would connect county-owned facilities, libraries and 911 call centers. It could also be available to connect other local governments, schools, colleges and hospitals, based on their interest, Crider said. The county would also lay the network across major economic development corridors and development zones to make those areas more attractive to businesses.

Major businesses in the county could also request direct access to the network.

A key goal of ErieNet is to attract private internet service providers who would be willing and able to build out "last mile" service connections to people's homes if they could lease the countywide network.

Poloncarz wants to close county's digital divide with $20M high-speed network In the new Erie County, were not leaving anybody behind, said Mark Poloncarz, who will formally roll out his ErieNet initiative during Wednesdays State of the County address at the Albright-Knox Art

Major, local internet providers like Spectrum, Charter and Verizon have expressed no interest in partnering with Erie County, but smaller providers like Empire, Greenlight and Armstrong have, officials said. Numerous towns have also expressed interest in hooking into a county network.

There are still many hurdles to overcome associated with ErieNet, including the immense cost to maintain such a major network and the lack of assurance that private businesses will step in to enable to network to eventually break even.

Michael Santorelli, director of the Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute at New York Law School was among those recommending the County Legislature proceed with caution. He pointed out that ErieNet is being designed based off of assumptions ECC Technologies made in a study produced four years ago.

Since that time, access to high-speed internet has expanded considerably, he said, so subscriptions to ErieNet alone are unlikely to be enough to financially sustain the network. Publicly built networks in other states have struggled to find partnerships with private internet service providers or been beset by cost overruns.

"So is the market viable for this new entrant into the marketplace?" Santorelli asked.

Andy Lukasiewicz, ECC Technologies director of broadband services, said Santorelli's concerns are being taken into account.

"When we give you the business model, you can be fairly confident that it's either going to be sustainable, or we're going to tell you it's not," he said.

The business plan is expected to be released early this year.

The Buffalo News: Good Morning, Buffalo The smart way to start your day. We sift through all the news to give you a concise, informative look at the top headlines and must-read stories every weekday. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
CORONAVIRUS-EEUU-BIDEN (AP)

Dr Anthony Fauci has suggested the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may reconsider its guidelines for Covid-19 following a backlash after isolation time was shortened.

The CDC last week shortened the recommended isolation time for coronavirus patients from 10 days to five, amid a surge in cases. However, Dr Fauci suggested a testing requirement on day five was being discussed.

People with Covid-19 should isolate for 5 days and if they are asymptomatic or their symptoms are resolving (without fever for 24 hours), follow that by 5 days of wearing a mask when around others to minimise the risk of infecting people they encounter, the CDCs new guidance said.

The change is motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after.

The announcement was widely panned considering the uptick in cases, particularly of the newer Omicron variant, across the country. Many people, including members of the medical profession, took to social media to openly question the new guidance  with some suggesting it was more about protecting companies from losing staff than it was about preventing the spread of coronavirus.

CDCs new guidance to drop isolation of positives to 5 days without a negative test is reckless



Some ppl stay infectious 3 days,Some 12



I absolutely dont want to sit next to someone who turned Pos 5 days ago and hasnt tested Neg



Test Neg to leave isolation early is just smart  Michael Mina (@michaelmina_lab) December 27, 2021

BREAKING: The CDC says you can now quarantine at work as long as youre being productive, anyone slacking WILL die  Diego Lopez (@thisdiegolopez) December 27, 2021

And speaking to ABCs This Week on Sunday, Dr Fauci acknowleged that there had been some concern about the shorter isolation period and explained the CDC was considering adding a testing requirement to the five-day isolation period.

Story continues

Youre right, there has been some concern about why we dont ask people at that five-day period to get tested. That is something that is now under consideration, he explained.

The CDC is very well aware that there has been some pushback about that. Looking at it again, there may be an option in that, that testing could be a part of that, and I think were going to be hearing more about that in the next day or so from the CDC.

During the interview with host George Stephanopoulos, Dr Fauci also confirmed that Omicron thus far appeared to cause less serious cases of coronavirus  however, he warned that people should not be complacent about it.

We first got inkling of that in South Africa when one looked at the relationship in the ratio between hospitalizations and cases, it was lower. The duration of hospital stay was lower. The requirements for oxygen was lower, he said.

Were seeing a bit of that, not as pronounced in the U.K., but certainly that trend. And if you look here at the United States, we dont want to get complacent at all and you dont want to jump to a positive conclusion cause its still early.
Frank Sanchezs victory over Christian Hammer was thorough but forgettable Saturday.

The Cuban heavyweight contender, fighting on the Luis Ortiz-Charles Martin pay-per-view card in Hollywood, Florida, easily outboxed Hammer to win a shutout decision.

All three judges had the same score: 100-89, which reflected Sanchezs dominance and a knockdown in the 10th and final round.

Hammer (26-9, 16 KOs) took the fight on less than a weeks notice after Sanchezs original opponent, Carlos Negron, tested positive for the coronavirus.

The veteran from Germany didnt roll over but he also didnt throw many punches, landing only a few shots per round against an excellent defensive fighter.

Meanwhile, Sanchez (20-0, 13 KOs) landed some power punches  including some punishing blows to the body  but he was content to outbox Hammer, doing enough to win and not taking unnecessary risks.

In preliminary bouts, Ali Eren Demirezen (15-1, 12 KOs) stopped Gerald Washington (20-5-1, 13 KOs) 27 seconds into the eighth round. Washington, 39, has now lost five of his last seven fights.

And Jonathan Rice (15-6-1, 10 KOs) defeated Michael Coffie (12-2, 9 KOs) by a unanimous decision in their 10-round rematch. The scores were 99-91, 97-93 and 97-93. Rice had upset Coffie by a fifth-round knockout in July.
On Nov. 27, for the first time in two years, the pews at Montclair's Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church were packed, and voices joined in prayer and song.

"It was such an important occasion, and so beautiful," said Marielena Marzullo, a longtime parishioner who grew up on Pine Street two doors down from the church, and attended its elementary school, now condominiums, on Baldwin Street.

The Mass was a hard-won victory for Marzullo and her brother Raffaele, who have fought for the reopening since the Archdiocese of Newark combined the church with Immaculate Conception parish in 2016 and it seemed destined for closure.

With a group of longtime parishioners called Save OLMC, the siblings have protested in Newark, raised money for repairs, and, finally, petitioned the College of Cardinals in Rome.

Siblings Marialena Marzullo and Raffaele Marzullo pose for a photo in front of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Montclair on Saturday Dec.17, 2021. The Marzullo siblings look forward to the church offering Sunday masses again.

So far, it is a Pyrrhic victory. There is only one Mass each week, on Saturday evening, a difficult time for many in the 4th Ward where the church is located.

"This is a blue-collar, hardworking neighborhood," said Raffaele Marzullo, who explained that many parishioners work on Saturdays and seniors are afraid to drive in the dark. "And Sunday is a holy day of obligation. We need Sunday Mass."

He and his sister worry that low attendance on Saturday will provide an excuse for the church leadership to close the doors for good. The church is located just a block from the Bay Street train station, and they estimate the land it sits on is worth about $6 million. It was last assessed by the town in 2018 for $2.64 million.

Changing neighborhood

The first Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church was a wooden structure built in 1907 by Italian immigrants who broke off from the predominantly Irish American Immaculate Conception Church up the road, where "Italians were considered second-class citizens," Raffaele Marzullo said. With the merger and subsequent neglect and closures, he said, "It's like deja vu all over again."

Story continues

Our Lady of Mount Carmel was named after the church in the port of Naples, where poor stonemasons and carpenters promised to build churches in the New World if they survived the journey.

SCHOOLS: 'Navegadores' helping Montclair's Spanish-speaking students and families

Rebuilt in brick by parishioners in 1937, Mount Carmel's church and rectory are on the national and local historic registers.

As the demographics in the neighborhood shifted  from predominantly Italian American to Black in the late '60s, and to younger and wealthier after the train station was built in 1980  the parish has shrunk. When the merger was announced, church officials cited the decline in baptisms, first communions, confirmations, weddings, and a "lack of faith life" in the parish.

The Rev. Amilcar Benito Prado, the pastor of the combined parishes, declined to be interviewed for this story.

The Marzullos acknowledge that only about 150 original Mount Carmel families remain, but say the group is large in faith. Raffaele estimates that their Community Outreach Program fed more than 100,000 people during the pandemic through donations to Toni's Kitchen, The Human Needs Food Pantry, First Montclair House and first responders. The group raised $27,000 during the summer carnival in 2018, culminating in the traditional parade where the statue of the patron saint of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is paraded through the streets of the 4th Ward, held aloft by members of the church's three societies: Sts. Sebastian, Vito and Donato, which date to 1926.

MONTCLAIR NEWS: Temporary indoor mask mandate issued as COVID cases surge

Raffaele Marzullo said Prado, known as "Father Benny," pulled the plug on the carnival in 2019.

"The amount of outreach we do is astounding," said Marielena Marzullo. "That comes from what we were taught in those church walls. The 4th Ward has always been an open door. Our family emigrated from Italy, others from other places. We were welcomed and we in turn welcomed and took care of those who came after."

Historic church neglected

The church was closed for long stretches in 2018 and 2019 due to maintenance issues, including a broken air conditioning unit. In 2020, it was closed during the pandemic but failed to reopen in the summer like other local houses of worship.

According to the Marzullos, there is plenty of money to maintain the church, thanks to a large donation from a parishioner earmarked for repairs, along with fundraising proceeds. So they question why Immaculate Conception got new marble floors in the sacristy and other upgrades during the pandemic, while maintenance at Mount Carmel was neglected. Offers to the pastor to pay directly for repairs with fundraising proceeds were turned down, they say.

The exterior of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Montclair shown on Saturday Dec.17, 2021.

Most painful of all, the siblings say, is that there is only one Mass a week at their beloved neighborhood church and nine at Immaculate.

"Under canon law, we are supposed to be two equal churches," said Marielena Marzullo.

The group's first appeal to reopen the church went to Newark Archbishop Meyers in 2016. In 2020, another appeal was sent to Archbishop Cardinal Tobin and then to the College of Cardinals.

In June of 2021, parishioners got a letter from the Vatican stating that there was nothing to appeal, as there had been no formal decree to close the church. The air conditioning and lighting were fixed and the church painted.

"We were very excited that Cardinal Tobin and Pope Francis saw the importance of this church being reopened," said Raffaele Marzullo.

His sister said the parishioners will not give up until Sunday Mass is reinstated. "You might try to close the doors, but that is not going to stop us. We are a force to be reckoned with."

Julia Martin is the 2021 recipient of the New Jersey Society for Professional Journalists' David Carr award for her coverage of Montclair for NorthJersey.com.

For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: jmartin@gannettnj.com

Twitter: @TheWriteJulia

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Montclair parishioners fight to reopen Catholic church
With coronavirus cases spiking, hospitalizations surging and Connecticut residents waiting as long as four hours for a COVID-19 test, Gov. Ned Lamont was faced with yet another crisis in the nearly two-year old pandemic.

New Years Eve was days away and the governor had to find at-home COVID-19 tests. After nearly two years of wheeling and dealing for masks, surgical gloves and all manner of personal protective equipment, the Lamont administration turned to a reliable vendor from throughout the pandemic.

By early last Monday afternoon, Lamont and his top aides had found a stopgap solution: The state would spend $18.5 million in federal money for 3 million at-home rapid tests and 6 million N95 masks, with plans to start handing out the tests last Thursday.

The demand for tests has outpaced the supply of testing available through our statewide network of about 400 sites, Lamont said Monday, well aware of the rising tension around testing. The week between Christmas and New Years Day is likely to be a period of high transmission, and we have to get 2022 off to a good start by helping residents identify COVID-19 quickly and take those steps to isolate appropriately to curb any further spread.

Dr. Manisha Juthani, commissioner of the state Department of Public Health, said that the testing, along with vaccination and masking, were critical to help fight off the current surge of COVID-19 from the omicron variant.

We will be distributing two of these  masks and tests  so that our communities can work as quickly as possible to get past this surge, she said. Because of the scarcity of these kits, I am asking the residents of our state to please take only the kits that you need for your immediate family so that we can distribute as many as possible to help flatten the omicron curve.

By Wednesday afternoon, there were promises of crates of tests sitting in Sunnyvale, California, about to be shipped to Bradley International Airport, where members of the Connecticut National Guard were waiting.

Story continues

The tests from California never arrived, creating a public relations disaster on Thursday. By Friday, the Lamont team  drawing on other contacts and connections  found a new source and more than 400,000 tests were delivered to Connecticut. But the California shipment disaster, which misled scores of municipalities, was another reminder that the pandemic crisis is far from over.

Planes were waiting and ready

Despite the state scrambling to find new tests, Lamonts critics quickly jumped on the collapse of the California shipment at a moment when seemingly much of the state was trying to line up a COVID-19 test.

House Republican leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford called for an investigation by the state attorney general in order to warn future contractors about misleading the state on important contracts.

Its a huge embarrassment. It was the greatest hoax of 2021, Candelora said. This needs to be investigated. This is a huge violation of the public trust.  We were being told there were pictures taken of these products being loaded onto the plane. Thats pretty significant and outrageous  and the state of Connecticut should be looking into this. No business should be misleading the state of Connecticut.

As the shipment unraveled, top Lamont officials were more concerned with finding where the tests were, particularly since municipalities across the state were planning mass distribution of the free tests starting Thursday.

When Juthani heard that the test kits were not arriving  after various contradictory explanations  she was shocked.

First, we were told the product was in Memphis, Juthani said in an interview. Then we were told the product was coming from California.  Now, youre telling us youre sending it to us from California and not trucks from Memphis. Now, were told the trucks couldnt be loaded overnight, and so it has to be done in the morning. And then the flights. And then after all that  to come back with its not just a delay, its not coming. It was mind-blowing in some ways because we had obviously shared a lot of information with people, and a lot of municipalities made plans.

She added, I was told the planes were waiting and ready. When you hear that level of detail of a status update and then to find out that were not getting them at all was really mind-blowing. I really have no other term to say.

The other problem was state officials went ahead with the announcement to cities and towns because they were highly confident in the Glastonbury contractor who had handled millions of dollars in state contracts in the past.

When somebody who you have a long track record with in the state and is a local member of the community, when somebody like that tells you something, youre more likely to believe it because you know that person has come through for you before, Juthani said. If it was a random person, you might have less faith that was true. Thats why it was even more mind-blowing to us that were involved.

A reliable vendor

Documents disclosed by the state show that the state had an agreement to pay $18.5 million for 1.5 million antigen test kits that had two tests per kit for a total of 3 million individual tests. The term of contract started on Dec. 26 and called for the kits to be sent to the states commodities warehouse in New Britain.

The state was dealing with Jack Rubenstein CT, LLC of Glastonbury, which had been described by state officials as a reliable vendor that had done millions of dollars in contracts with the state in the past and had connections to provide products during the pandemic. The company is operated by Jeffrey B. Barlow, who did not return messages seeking comment.

Sources in California, who Lamont officials are not identifying, led administration officials to think that everything was under control.

We know that we were told in no uncertain terms  even with pictures  that the tests were in the plane, Lamont said at the states commodities warehouse in New Britain. We know that the plane didnt take off or it didnt take off and come to Connecticut as was contracted via our purchase order. I have plenty of time to do post-mortems on this thing. In the meantime, Ive got to get more tests into the state, and thats my prime focus.

Days after the deal fell apart, Lamont appeared to be less interested in finger pointing than in moving forward after an embarrassing episode in which mayors, first selectmen, and other local officials quickly geared up to distribute test kits by New Years Eve.

Right now, I want to get more masks here [in New Britain], he said. I want to talk to all the providers. I dont want to be sitting around talking about lawsuits. I want to talk about getting more tests right here.

Lamont admits that the state was outbid in a fast-moving environment that went outside normal purchasing operations.

Nothing is standard operating procedure right now Lamont said. Its a little bit of the Wild West out there.  I would say everything, going back two years, has been a day late and a dollar short.  But were way ahead of 48 other states.

Long lines, long pandemic

After the embarrassment, the Lamont administration now has a policy of not making announcements until the products have arrived.

I think we got a little ahead of ourselves, to tell you the truth, Lamont said. We all thought the tests were in the plane. We thought Here they come. We wanted to give our municipalities a little bit of time for planning. I think in hindsight we probably should have said off the record, you may be able to plan for this, but we cant announce it yet because Ive been through this movie before. If you dont see it, its not here yet.

On Friday afternoon, after the first replacement shipment of 400,000 tests arrived, Lamont and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal walked up and down a line of hundreds of cars that were waiting for COVID-19 tests in a parking lot at Veterans Memorial Stadium in New Britain. Some drivers rolled down their windows to chat, while others did not.

Tania Rosado of Wolcott chatted with Lamont, who said, I apologize for your long wait.

Its been three hours, said Rosado, who was near the front of the line.

A Spanish teacher for the past 19 years who has two children, Rosado said she wished she could have gotten a kit in her hometown instead of driving from Wolcott to New Britain to wait in line.

I was mad because I could have gone there, and I wouldnt have come here, she said. That would have been much easier.  Its a mess. It seems very poorly handled  the way the government is handling it.

Rosado added, The pandemic  I cant wait for it to be over.

Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com.
(Editor's Note: Second in a series on student educational debt.)

Nearly everyone looks at student debt as a national problem. True dat, as they say in South Louisiana, but it must be viewed from the state, institutional and personal level simultaneously. Here is why:

If student debt were a national problem, it could only be so if all states treated students equally. That is not the case. States grant aid to full-time students differently.

Dr. Walter Wendler, President of West Texas A&M University

For example, Montana grants less than $10 per full-time equivalent student in grant aid. On the other end of the spectrum, Georgia grants $2,370 per full-time equivalent student in grant aid. A student from Montana and a student from Georgia, who each seek federal grant aid, cannot be granted the same level of aid because of differing levels of state support, per the College Board. In Georgia, financial need is not even considered. Moreover, state grant expenditures as a portion of the total state support vary widely. Montanas state grants are less than 1% of the total spending for higher education. In contrast, the District of Columbia allocates grants that account for 37% of the Districts total spending on higher education.

In the 1978-1979 school year, the average state support for grants in aid to undergraduate students was $440 per FTE and solely need-based. In 2018-2019, the average state support for grants-in-aid to undergraduate students climbed to $930 per FTE, but over 25% of those grants are now merit-based. This trend for grants in aid to recognize merit and student ability, which indicates a sound investment based on the likelihood of success, is healthy from my perspective. As attractive as it may be to grant aid to students equally, regardless of ability, it would not likely prove to be a prudent investment. Additionally, this approach could shift the sense of responsibility from the student to the state.

Levels of support through direct state appropriations vary markedly from state to state. The top quarter percent of states supporting higher education range from over $8,000 per full-time student to almost $23,000 per full-time student. California, New Mexico, Illinois, Georgia, North Carolina, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts are in the top 25%. In the lowest 25%, where state support per full-time equivalent student varies slightly under $2,500 to over $5,000 per FTE, were Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Pennsylvania, West, Virginia, and Mississippi, among several others, according to the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. The tallies above do not clarify where the responsibility for costs and debt lie.

Story continues

Lastly, institutional revenues or the combined state and local funding for universities vary widely. New Hampshire invests the least in higher education from all state and local sources, totaling slightly over $2,000 per full-time equivalent student. In Alaska, total spending from state and local sources exceeded $19,000 per student. Texas was slightly less than the US average of $8,200 per student.

Other forms of support for higher education come from numerous sources, such as research and development funding. There is marked variability among institutions within states and among states regarding research and development spending. Records from 2019 compiled by the National Science Foundation show that Johns Hopkins University spends over $2.9 billion in research and development efforts. On the other end of the scale, Southern California University of Health Sciences spends slightly over $900,000 on research and development. Significant research and development expenditures affect every aspect of university life, including the cost of attendance for undergraduate students who may not be directly impacted by research and development funding. Other considerations include, but are not limited to, the price of tuition and fees, net prices after grants-in-aid, institutional finances, enrollment trends, family income, federal student aid, Pell grants and philanthropic support.

Student borrowing rests firmly on the shoulders of students. In March 2020, 50% of borrowers had less than $20,000 in debt. However, the canary in the coal mine, 45% of federal education loan debt was held by 10% of borrowers owing $80,000 or more. Student indebtedness ranges from $29,500 in North Dakota to over $55,000 in the District of Columbia, per The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. This is a troubling figure. Default rates are increasing, along with the student mindset that somebody else may take care of the problem. In nearly every national election for offices from the Congress to the Presidency, political dialogue includes a discussion of ways to forgive student debt. However comforting the goals of relieving student debt may be, nothing currently lifts the borrowing burden off the backs of students.

There may not be a student debt problem after all. The real and more vexing problem may be the concept of individual fiscal responsibility in a free society.

Student indebtedness may be the tip of the iceberg that sinks a free society.

Walter V. Wendler is President of West Texas A&M University. His weekly columns are available at https://walterwendler.com/.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Walter Wendler student debt is more than just a state, national issue
Whiskey of the Week is a new review series on Spy. Well review a different bottle each week, from newly released small-batch bourbons to our favorite cheap well whiskies.

The Spirit: Town Branch Sherry Cask Finished Kentucky Straight Bourbon

The Distillery: Town Branch Distillery

Birthplace: Kentucky

Style: Bourbon

Proof: 96.4 proof / 48.2% ABV

Availability: Limited

Price: $69.99

Town Branch Distillery is part of Lexington Brewing & Distilling Co. and is the first distillery to operate in that Kentucky city since Prohibition. The distillery has been open since 2012 and was founded by Irishman Pearse Lyons, who died in 2018 (theres also a small Irish whiskey distillery in Dublin bearing his name). This new bourbon from Town Branch was distilled onsite and is a blend of whiskey aged around six years that was then put into Oloroso sherry casks for a finishing period between 9 and 14 months.

Town Branch bourbon

This type of finish is much more common in the world of scotch, but many American whiskeys, including bourbon, have been getting the sherry cask treatment as well in recent years (Angels Envy and Belle Meade are two examples). Some people are absolutely against any type of finish when it comes to bourbon, arguing that it really alters the spirits intrinsic, defining character and makes it something completely other than bourbon.

The first point is somewhat accurate, but the whole point of a finish is indeed to affect the flavor. And the second point is legitimate as well, which is why it must be labeled as bourbon finished in XXX cask since bourbon itself can only be aged in new charred oak containers. But onto this latest example of sherry cask-finished whiskey.

According to the brand, the details of this whiskey are as follows: a 26-barrel bourbon blend finished in Oloroso sherry barrels, married with several unique single barrel bourbon expressions individually finished in Oloroso sherry barrels. According to master distiller Mark Coffman, they initially experimented with this as a test run back in 2018 (you can still find some of those bottles for sale). This new version was released in a limited run of just 500 cases, but you can find bottles that dont cost much more than the SRP. Despite its completely different mash bill, the palate is intensely fruity, almost more like a scotch. But theres a defining lightness to the whiskey as well that is punctuated by bright notes of vanilla, spice, and citrus.

Story continues

Town Branch bourbon lifestyle image

While this bottle isnt going to convert anyone who already cringes at the thought of a cask-finished bourbon, those interested in trying something that pushes the boundaries of the category might want to give it a try. Town Branch Sherry Cask Finish is an interesting whiskey with a really assertive flavor profile, but its not necessarily joining the ranks of my go-to bourbons for an evening pour. Still, the distillery is not quite a decade old, and the whiskey continues to develop with each release, so I look forward to trying whatever comes next.



Buy: Town Branch Sherry Cask Finished Bourbon $69.99

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Why do rock bands break up? The new Peter Jackson documentary series The Beatles: Get Back, about the late stage of the Beatles career, touches on some of the reasons bands succumb: personality conflicts, jealousies, diverging personal lives, artistic differences, money and personal vices  shorthand for drugs and alcohol. (The exception seems to be the indefatigable Rolling Stones.) The Dec. 10 death of Mike Nesmith brought back to mind the breakup story of the Monkees, the circumstances of which were unique.

Technically speaking, the Monkees were not a rock band, but four photogenic young men  Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Davy Jones  selected to play a fictional struggling rock band for a television show modeled on A Hard Days Night.

A prodigiously talented team worked with them on the concept. The creators won two Emmys for the show and were later involved in Academy Award-winning movies in the 1970s and 80s. The music director, Don Kirshner, known as The Man With the Golden Ear for his uncanny ability to select hit songs, selected songwriters including, among others, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Neil Diamond, John Stewart and Paul Williams. Their backup musicians were the legendary Wrecking Crew, the great session players who have never received their due for all they contributed to rock and pop music. (Watch the 2008 documentary The Wrecking Crew to get an idea of their influence.)

The timing for the groups debut in 1966 was just right. The younger siblings of the kids who watched the Beatles on Ed Sullivan in 1964  teeny-boppers in the argot of the time  had disposable income. They made the television show and the Monkees music a cultural phenomenon. With the talent backing them, besides the two Emmys, the Monkees sold more records than the Beatles in 1967  the year of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.

But if 1967 was just the right year for the Monkees, 1968 was the wrong one. The countrys mood turned grimmer in the wake of Vietnam and deteriorating race relations. It was the year of the Tet offensive, the assassinations of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, and the violence of the Chicago Democratic Convention. The sell-by date of the Monkees infectious optimism had passed.

Their young, hip friends were in the music industry  the Laurel Canyon crowd  but the Monkees resided in the older, stodgier television industry. Among the struggling musicians in the canyon, there was unspoken jealousy toward the television stars, which, combined with the condescension of the new rock bible Rolling Stone magazine, made them pariahs. They were lambasted for not playing their own music, despite the fact they were hardly alone. The Wrecking Crew backed up prestigious groups including the Beach Boys, the Byrds, and Simon and Garfunkel.

One of the Monkees strengths was their lighthearted approach. Nesmith cut that off when he said, There comes a time when you have to draw the line as a man. Were being passed off as something we arent. We all play instruments, but we didnt on any of our records. Things spiraled downhill rapidly when Kirshner was subsequently dismissed. (He found it easier to work with cartoon characters, creating the Archies, a completely fictional band that recorded Sugar, Sugar, the No. 1 song of 1969, and later hosting a groundbreaking late-night television rock show.)

Stung by the criticism they did not play their own instruments, the Monkees assumed creative control.

Despite being decent musicians (Nesmith played the most famous Monkees guitar riff, the opening to the Carole King-penned Pleasant Valley Sunday), their commercial appeal vanished. Starring in their own ill-fated, drug-fueled movie, Head, turned off their remaining fans. From there, it was the oldies circuit and reunion tours, albeit armed with songs that sold 75 million copies.

For years, Nesmiths attitude toward the Monkees bordered on contempt. In the shows final episodes, he barely goes through the motions. He bought out his contract and declined to be part of the Monkees 20th anniversary tour. The band that made him internationally famous received only a brief mention in his autobiography.

Eventually, though, the Monkees magic was infectious: Nesmith reversed course to perform with the surviving Monkees (Jones died in 2012 and Tork in 2019) to ecstatic crowds: aging baby boomers, as well as young people discovering the Monkees for the first time. After Nesmiths death, Dolenz, the last survivor, discussed Nesmiths Damascene conversion with Rolling Stone.

Youd have to ask him why he wanted to come back, but he talked about it a little on this last tour. He maybe had a new appreciation, a fresh appreciation for the whole thing. He told me many times that doing the television show was quite bewildering, as it would be to anybody, to walk in cold to that kind of environment. But over the years, he absolutely grew to appreciate the Monkees.  Id never tour as the Monkees by myself. We were concerned enough just going out as just Mike and I. Thats why we called it The Monkees Present: The Mike and Mickey Show.

Serious treatment, even by Rolling Stone, for the band that briefly outsold the Beatles. You might say the Monkees broke up because they started taking themselves too seriously and believing their own news clippings  but only the bad ones.
State leaders celebrated in December after achieving an ambitious goal set by former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo: awarding 30% of state construction contracts to businesses owned by minorities and women.

New York State sets ambitious goals  and my job is to deliver on them, Gov. Kathy Hochul said, noting the states goal for the hiring of minority and woman-owned business enterprises, or MWBEs, is now the highest in the country.

But beyond the hoopla in Albany, the program has seen fraud over the years.

The Buffalo News reviewed dozens of state construction documents, analyzed yearly statistics on the MWBE program and spoke with multiple contractors who have worked on public construction projects, women and minority business owners, lawmakers and state investigators who have scrutinized the program. The analysis revealed:

 The percentage of state construction contracts awarded to minority and woman-owned businesses has more than tripled in the last decade.

 Penalties paid by violators of the program have risen at an even faster rate. So have state-issued waivers that allow white contractors to proceed without meeting the standards.

 At least four MWBE companies that were previously cited by the state inspector general for allegations of wrongdoing on Buffalo Billion contracts continue to receive millions of dollars in state contracts.

 A paving contractor from Niagara Falls who was prosecuted for skirting the rules said the system is rife with fraud. Like others who have been accused, he remains on the states list of certified MWBE contractors.

I sense theres a lot of fraud, said Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn Jr. The intent of the law, which is to help minority and women businesses get their foot in the door, is being criminalized.

State lawmakers agree  and after a recent report in The News outlining irregularities related to MWBE hiring on three Buffalo Billion projects, they are promising reform efforts when they return to Albany.

You have to put some things in place to ensure that people are doing things right, said Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, D-Buffalo. We have not done that yet with MWBE issues, apparently.

Democrat Patrick B. Burke of Buffalo, her colleague in the Assembly, said he believes the states system seems like it is structured to incentivize fraud.

Jerome A. DuVal, the executive director of the state's Division of Minority and Womens Business Development, disagrees.

"I don't see the connection between high goals and possible fraud," he said.

Empire State Development Corp, the state economic development agency that oversees the MWBE certification program, said violations and damages paid by contractors "are not necessarily indicative of fraud" and include cases where MWBE hiring goals were not met despite what the state calls "good faith efforts."

Percentages have jumped

New Yorks program, which is overseen by Empire State Development, began in the 1980s as a way to encourage the hiring of minorities and women, who have historically been underrepresented in the building trades.

State law requires agencies to set goals for the awarding of contracts to businesses that have at least a 51% minority or woman ownership stake. Construction firms who bid on state contracts typically try to meet the goals by hiring subcontractors that are owned by certified MWBEs.

There are 9,200 certified MWBE companies listed on a state directory used by contractors, government agencies and private developers seeking minority business participation. They get access to lending and bonding programs and support services from the state.

For construction contracts exceeding $5,000 on any state building, if an MWBE company submits a bid within 10% of the low bidder, the minority- or woman-owned company is automatically deemed the apparent low bidder if their bid is for $1.4 million or less.

A Buffalo News analysis of the program during the last 11 years for which data is available revealed:

 The MWBE utilization rate  which is the percentage of state-awarded contracts going to MWBEs  jumped in the last decade from 9.9% in 2010 to 30.5% this year, surpassing the goal set by Cuomo a decade ago. The state says more than $3 billion in contracts were awarded to MWBEs in the last fiscal year.

 During the same period, reported violations of the program more than doubled. Sanctions and damages paid out by violators rose steadily from $235,000 in 2012  the first year data was available  to more than $1.5 million in 2020.

Empire State Development declined to provide The News with a list of companies that paid damages. The News subsequently filed a Freedom of Information Law request for that information.

 Businesses who try but fail to find minority contractors on construction projects can apply for a waiver for their projects. In the last decade, waivers increased from roughly 200 in 2012 to more than 1,200 in 2020.

Waivers, violations and damages all decreased this year. Asked whether that was a function of the Covid-19 pandemic and its effect on the construction industry, an Empire State Development spokesperson instead attributed the decline to the training of state agencies and an increase in the number of certified MWBEs.

How MWBE fraud works

In the 1980s, The News uncovered a minority contracting scheme on Buffalos light rail system that led to federal charges. In that case, Onyx Construction and Equipment Corp., which represented itself as a minority contractor, was awarded a subway construction contract. But Onyx was really created by a white man who was a high-ranking member of a labor union tied to the Buffalo mob.

Its one of the programs that we have to consistently try to change, because there are always people trying to massage or change it for their own good, said State Sen. Sean M. Ryan, D-Buffalo.

Today, Ryan said, the most common form of fraud involves what the inspector general said occurred on the Buffalo Billion projects, where companies owned by minorities and women appeared on paper to be doing a significant amount of work on the $750 million Tesla plant in South Buffalo and two multimillion-dollar projects on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. But according to state documents, the work was really being done by companies owned by white men.

Minority- and woman-owned firms created paperwork and acted as pass through companies to help satisfy state MWBE rules, the inspector general said. Some MWBEs were paid a percentage, although the inspector general said they did no work.

The firms cited by the inspector general denied any wrongdoing to The News and Flynn declined to prosecute three of the cases that were referred to him by the inspector general.

We had evidentiary issues, Flynn said of the cases. "These are not cut and dried.

Buffalo contractors prosecuted

In 2019, Flynn did prosecute a Lancaster construction firm  Nichter Construction  for participating in MWBE fraud on a project at the Buffalo Psychiatric Center. Flynn said Nichter falsely claimed that a minority contractor, McClendon Asphalt Paving, performed work on the $350,000 project, though McClendon did not.

Nichter Construction pleaded guilty to filing a false instrument, a felony, and was fined $10,000. Company owner Christopher Nichter did not respond to a message seeking comment, but Chris McClendon  the Black paving contractor who Flynn also prosecuted  said it was not his idea.

McClendon said he had done work for Nichter on previous jobs and thought he was being hired to dig trenches for plumbing at the psych center. Instead, McClendon said, Nichter had a non-minority company perform the work but filled out paperwork with the state saying McClendon did the work.

He wanted to give me the plumbing, but he had no intention of using me, said McClendon, who signed the paperwork.

McClendon, who cooperated with Flynns investigation, pleaded guilty in 2019 to disorderly conduct and was fined $250.

McClendon has remained on the states list of certified MWBE contractors and the City of Buffalo recently approved him as a subcontractor, he said. But McClendon said one state agency  the Department of Transportation  has refused to approve him as a subcontractor since the Nichter court case.

People think Im not playing fair, he said.

McClendon said the states minority- and woman-owned business program is rife with instances of fraud, as well as companies who bend the rules so they can get waivers.

Its ridiculous, he said. Theres so many loopholes. Its mind-boggling how sinister it is. I have companies calling me from New York City and New Jersey, asking me to do a project but knowing that I cant put a bid on it, just so they can say they made the effort.

The companies from New York City, McClendon said, can then receive a waiver stipulating they tried to give work to minority companies but none took the offer.

Companies remain on state list

In reviewing state construction deals, The News found multiple cases where even after allegations of wrongdoing and fines by the government, MWBE companies remained certified by the state. There also was little evidence that white contractors who hired the firms were stopped from participating in large state construction projects.

Four of the MWBE companies cited by the state inspector general as "pass-through" companies on Buffalo Billion projects were among those firms. The inspector general recommended in November 2020 that Empire State Development review whether the companies, whose owners deny they did anything wrong, should be removed from the certified MWBE registry.

Empire State Development says that its review continues. Despite that, another state agency in the same Albany office building  the states Office of General Services  has since awarded $8 million in taxpayer-funded contracts to four of the same businesses that are under review, public records show.

In the past year, OGS awarded 38 state contracts to Rand & Jones Enterprises, JHP Industrial Supply and two other companies named in the inspector generals investigation.

The four companies were named in state construction documents as subcontractors on projects whose overall value exceeded $51 million, including a $7.7 million video camera project at Wende Correctional Facility and a $2.5 million building for the State Police in Fredonia.

Rand & Jones Enterprises, a Buffalo-based MWBE, received state contracts exceeding $2.4 million after the inspector general sent her findings to ESD.

Rand & Jones works within the system we have in this state to provide the highest possible level of service and in compliance with the law, said Joan Yang, the companys chief executive.

JHP Industrial Supply received more than $5.4 million in the last year by acting as a dealer, distributor or manufacturer on 27 projects awarded by the Office of General Services. A JHP executive did not respond to a phone message seeking comment.

Joseph Brill, a spokesperson for OGS, said in an email, Unless an MWBE is deemed non-responsible, OGS has no basis for rejecting a proposed subcontractor that is currently certified as an MWBE by ESD. It is our understanding that under the current MWBE regulations, firms remain on the certified list until the exhaustion of the revocation and or appeal process.

An ESD spokesperson said the agency is "not dragging our feet on this" and each company is entitled to due process. Revocations prompted by fraud allegations "can occur, but they are rare and do not arise at a steady rate," the spokesman said.

The state agencies need to be talking to each other, said Peoples-Stokes. Perhaps they should not be having access to additional contracts until youve cleared up the accountability on the ones that theyve been accused of. And I dont know why thats not happening.

Ryan said the state, as well as county prosecutors, need to be more aggressive in cracking down on unscrupulous contractors.

The whole decertification process in NYS is not being used consistently, and you have not seen many prosecutions by county district attorneys, Ryan said. Its 100% whack-a-mole, and the investigative end of it has never been prioritized.

New legislation proposed

After reading the story in The News, Peoples-Stokes sent a letter to State Attorney General Letitia James urging her to review the cases involving three contractors  Jennings Construction Services, JHP Industrial Supply Co. and Cannon Electric  that Flynn declined to prosecute. A spokesperson for James confirmed receipt of the letter but declined to comment further.

Peoples-Stokes also co-sponsored a bill that would increase reporting requirements for MWBE contracts while beefing up staff resources for investigating and prosecuting cases of fraud. The legislation, which passed the Assembly last year before stalling in the Senate, would also allow courts to slap companies convicted of MWBE fraud with larger fines. Ryan has co-sponsored the legislation in the Senate.

Im going to add a new level of rigor to try to make sure we get it passed, not just in the Assembly but in the Senate, as well, Peoples-Stokes said.

The Buffalo News: Good Morning, Buffalo The smart way to start your day. We sift through all the news to give you a concise, informative look at the top headlines and must-read stories every weekday. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
The way things have been going lately, were not sure whether to celebrate the passing of the old year (good riddance, 2021  now beat it) or pull the covers up over our heads in dread of the unforeseeable new horrors 2022 might bring.

Saturdays front-page report surveys the full scale of it, but here are some of the stories from 2021 that stood out to us:

COVID-19 surges that nearly broke local hospital staffs and continue to offer new ways we can squabble bitterly among ourselves about how to stay safe or whether we should even bother.

Heat waves that exceeded anything the Northwest has experienced in any of our lifetimes, putting local crops in peril and, in some cases, putting local lives at risk.

Heroic efforts by at least 700 firefighters to prevent the Schneider Springs Fire  which consumed 170 square miles of land north of Naches, forced nearly 450 people out of their homes and became 2021s largest fire in Washington  from taking a single structure.

The courageous decision by U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., to put principle over partisan politics as he voted to impeach a president from his own party who tried to subvert the will of American voters.

Almost sounds like something out of the biblical Book of Revelation. Fire and brimstone on the night horizon, apocalyptic plagues. What next? Rivers turning to blood?

As our newsroom reflected on the years top stories, we also reached out to ask community members a couple of simple questions.

Whats your biggest takeaway from 2021? What are you looking forward to in 2022?

Heres our biggest takeaway from last year: While each of the stories above involves a deadly enemy, each has its heroes, too. Nurses, doctors, scientists, teachers, firefighters and  surprisingly  even a congressman.

Imagine how much worse 2021 couldve been without their selflessness. What if nobody rolled in to fight the Schneider Springs Fire? What if the hospital staff decided to get some rest, then locked its emergency-room doors and went home for a few days?

What if a rogue president had gotten away with overturning a free election?

The second question seems a little tougher, but heres our answer:

Were looking forward to a year in which people  all of us  embrace civility and respect for one another, regardless of our differing views.

If not unity, we hope 2022 at least brings us the decency to treat our neighbors and fellow citizens with dignity. To listen to what theyre saying and truly consider it before we lash out with personal attacks and counterpoints that are flung out of obstinance, not genuine discourse.

We know, we know. It sounds like a fairyland.

On the other hand, if we continue down the combative, cynical and destructive path weve followed in recent years, its frightening to imagine what the top stories of 2022 might be a year from now.

Heres to a year of heroes and happier times.
New Delhi: Future Retail on Saturday said it has missed the due date for payment of Rs 3,494.56 crore to banks and lenders as it could not sell assets due to its ongoing litigation with amazon, impacting its monetisation plans.

Future Retail had last year entered into a one-time restructuring (OTR) scheme for COVID-19 hit companies with a consortium of banks and lenders and was to discharge "an aggregate amount of Rs 3,494.56 crore" on or before December 31, 2021.

Kishore Biyani-led Future group firm would be "co-operating for completing the monetisation of the specified business within next 30 days" as per directions of the banks to resolve the current situation, said a regulatory filing by Future Retail.

"Due to ongoing litigations with Amazon.Com NV Investment Holdings LLC, the Company was not able to complete the planned monetisation of the Specified Business as contemplated in OTR Plan to discharge the aforesaid obligations to banks/Lenders, on Due Date. The Company has a review period of 30 days (from the Due Date) in terms of the RBI circular dated 06th August 2020 and further in terms of provision of the above Agreement to make the payment of the above amount due to identified bankers/lenders," the filing said.

Lenders of Future Retail had in April 2021 had approved to restructure the existing financial debt of the company under an RBI announced resolution framework for COVID-19 related stress.

The said restructure had covered FRL's working capital demand, loans, term loans, cash credit, short term loans, NCDs, purchase bill discounting limits, other working capital loans and unpaid interest, which became overdue.

There were 28 banks, which have lent money to the group's retailing firm and were part of the exercise, Future Retail had informed in April last year to exchanges after getting approval.

After the loan structure exercise, Future Retail had expected to recover within the timeframe.

In August 2020, Future group had announced a Rs 24,713 crore deal for the sale of the retail and wholesale business, and the logistics and warehousing business to Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd.

However, e-commerce major Amazon is contesting the deal through its 49 per cent stake in Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL), which is a shareholder in Future Retail.

The matter is presently in dispute before the Supreme Court and Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC).

Reliance Retail Ventures had for the second time extended the timeline for completing its Rs 24,713 crore deal with Future group to March 31, 2022, as it still awaits regulatory and judicial clearances.

In October 2020, an interim award was passed by the EA (the emergency arbitrator) in favour of Amazon that barred FRL from taking any step to dispose of or encumber its assets or issuing any securities to secure any funding from a restricted party.

This was also upheld by SIAC last month and said FRL is a party to the ongoing arbitration between Amazon and Future group in the dispute over the sale of its assets to Reliance Retail.

In this deal, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), in an unprecedented move, revisited its more than two years old approval granted to Amazon to acquire a stake in Future Coupons, through which the global e-Commerce major is claiming rights over Future Retail. Also Read: Aadhaar Card Update: Here's how to change photograph in your Aadhaar

On December 17, the CCI had suspended its approval for Amazon's deal to acquire a stake in Future Coupons Pvt Ltd and also imposed a Rs 202 crore penalty on the e-commerce major for certain contraventions. Also Read: WhatsApp banned THESE accounts in November 2021

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#mute
New Delhi: Nights out with pals may become excessive. However, paying a large sum for a car journey and forgetting about it is nuts. After only 11 kilometres, a man awoke surprised and perplexed after a night out when he discovered an uber ride price of 104 (Rs 10,413). (17.7 km).

According to a report in the Manchester City Evening News, on December 27, a man named Sam George from Manchester City went to a nightclub with his buddies to party. It was late at night, and a group of pals needed a cab to get home. Sam stated that his residence was approximately 17 kilometres from the nightclub. However, they were unable to obtain cabs at night.

According to the report, Sam's friends were looking for cabs from several firms, but when none were available, Sam considered using Uber. Uber also offered the XL, or SUV, series of vehicles. He booked the same and returned home late at night. He was astounded the next day when he saw the cab fare on the app. The cab business had charged the young man Rs 10,000 for only 17 kilometres of the trip (Rs 10,000 charged for 17 kilometers).

According to cab services, Sam's residence is extremely close, and it takes less than half an hour to get home on an empty route. He had only provided a maximum of Rs 2,500 to go home, but his senses were blown away when he saw Rs 10,000. The young man expressed surprise that the cost of the party with friends was not comparable to the cost of the cab. Uber, on the other hand, said in a statement on the subject that before booking a ride, information regarding the rupee is provided. Following this, people speculate that the young man was so inebriated that he didn't notice how much the cab cost.

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#mute
Washington: Seems like hormones were flying all around by the time the Harry Potter kid actors became teenagers in Goblet of Fire. According to EW, Daniel Radcliffe confirmed that the instalment did indeed mark peak hormone for the troupe, who were coming of age themselves over the years making the eight movies.

During the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts reunion special, Radcliffe said, "That film was probably peak hormone, at least for me. It was exactly what you expect."

He added, "The fourth film was the one with the Beauxbatons and the Durmstrangs. So, like, you had a bunch of hormonal teenagers anyway and then bring in two massive groups of new people, all of them purposefully hot for the film. So, yeah... it was all kicking off."

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which was directed by Mike Newell, adapted from the fourth book of the same name in J.K. Rowlings best-selling series.

In this instalment, students from the French Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and northern Europes Durmstrang Institute arrive at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to compete in the Triwizard Tournament.

Harry (Radcliffe), though underage, is mysteriously entered into the competition and chosen as one of Hogwarts representatives alongside Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson), which kick starts a new mystery for him and his best friends Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint).

Radcliffe and Grint were 11 when they were first cast in the first movie, 2001s Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, while Watson was 10. By the time Goblet of Fire started filming in May 2004, Radcliffe, Watson and Grint had all entered their teenage years.

Bonnie Wright, who played Ginny Weasley and Harrys main love interest in the franchise, said, "That film is just all about teenagers having crushes for the first time, asking someone to the date to the Yule Ball. They just mirrored all those awkward phases you go through as a teenager. And they really felt like that, too, because we were literally having the same experiences."

Grint reiterated there were "a lot of hormones flying around" on set. Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) remembered, "There were crushes, and people went out with each other and broke up, just like you do at school. It was exactly the same environment, but it was just in a Defense Against the Dark Arts class."

As per EW, Radcliffe explained that, at this point in the movies, Harry is "a slightly awkward teenage boy in a very unremarkable way, which I suppose feels remarkable for a hero character in something. It did not take a huge acting stretch to tap into my awkward nerdy teenage side."

Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts is currently available to stream on HBO Max and on Amazon Prime Video in India.
New Delhi: In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s announcement, the country is all set to begin the COVID-19 vaccination drive for children aged between 15-18-year-old from Monday.

The CoWIN registration for the age group had begun on Saturday. Beneficiaries can self-register, online through an existing account on Co-WIN or can also register by creating a new account through a unique mobile number, this facility is available for all eligible citizens presently.

Children can also register onsite by the verifier/vaccinator in facilitated registration mode. Appointments can be booked online or onsite (walk-in). The time interval for the second dose is fixed at 28 days.

Vaccination for children of 15-18 years - All you need to know Registration on Co-WIN begins from 1st January 2022 Only #Covaxin to be administered States advised to establish separate dedicated Covid Vaccination Centers#IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/PyDANqGvMe  PIB India (@PIB_India) December 31, 2021

As per Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, the national capital has the capacity to vaccinate 3 lakh children falling in the age group of 15 to 18 years every day. While Kerala`s Health Minister Veena George informed that separate teams have been set up in the state for the administration of COVID-19 vaccines to children.

PM Modi had on December 25, 2021, announced that the vaccination for the age-group 15-18 years is scheduled to begin from Monday while administration of precautionary third dose for the vulnerable categories is to commence from January 10, 2022.

In the context of the vaccination of the age group 15-18 years, the Union Health Secretary informed the States and UTs that only Covaxin is to be administered in this population category and additional doses of `Covaxin` will be sent to all states and UTs.

Those with the birth year of 2007 or before will be eligible for vaccination under this category. According to official estimates, there are an estimated 10 crore children in the 15-18 age group eligible for the vaccination.

The move comes amid caution over the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. On Saturday, India reported 22,775 new cases in the last 24 hours. The countrys active caseload stood at 1,04,781.

According to the Health Ministry, out of 1431 Omicron cases, 488 cases have been either discharged or recovered or migrated. According to Cowin, Indias COVID-19 vaccination coverage exceeded 145.46 crore until late Saturday.

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Erie County's smallest village, Farnham, said yes to pot. So did the villages of North Collins and Wilson, but not the towns of North Collins and Wilson.

Municipalities had until Dec. 31 to decide if they were going to opt out of allowing marijuana retail stores, called dispensaries, and on-site consumption locations, known as lounges.

"That's a very peculiar law," said Holland Supervisor Michael C. Kasprzyk.

His Town Board decided after much debate to opt out for now. Under state law, boards had to vote to opt out, but they can opt in in the future. Boards that took no action must allow dispensaries and lounges, and could not opt out down the road. Municipalities can amend zoning codes directing where the cannabis businesses locate.

"We need to see how this thing shakes out," Kasprzyk said. "We didn't ever buy that it's going to be a revenue source."

New York State legalized recreational marijuana in 2021, but is still developing the regulations for dispensaries and lounges. And while cities, towns and villages had to make a decision by the end of 2021, it could be sometime in 2023 before you can walk into a store and legally buy marijuana products.

And that was why some communities decided to opt out right now.

"We opted out of because of lack of information," Aurora Supervisor James J. Bach said. "I dont think we were for the smoke shops in general, but as far as dispensaries, we felt we didnt have enough information from the state."

Taxes on cannabis products include a 4% tax on the price. The 4% tax is split, with 25% of it going to the county, and 75% going to the village, town or city where it was sold. There also is a tax on the distributor based on the amount of THC as well as a 9% tax on the price of the product.

"We know that it's going to be legal in New York State. I know there will be some tax benefits in the future," said Wheatfield Supervisor Don MacSwan.

Wheatfield did not opt out, but the Town Board also passed a resolution saying it would not allow sales until the state releases further clarification and guidance on marijuana regulations and licensing.

"In the meantime," the resolution states, "the town shall go forward with its own regulation of where such establishments could open by modifying its zoning ordinance and the requirement of special use permits."

"We had hoped that New York State would have a little better definition about what the rules would be," MacSwan said. "We're kind of feeling the state put the cart before the horse."

In Erie County, 23 municipalities decided to allow cannabis sales, although five of them opted out of on-site consumption locations. Twenty decided to remain "dry towns." One town did not respond to queries from The Buffalo News.

In Niagara County, nine communities will allow both dispensaries and lounges, while eight will not. Three municipalities did not respond to The Buffalo News.

The Town of Orchard Park was one that split its "opt-out." Councilman Conor Flynn said he spent the last several months reviewing the state law and information about marijuana.

"I started from a point that I was not in favor of opting out of either," Flynn said.

He said he was swayed by information that there is not a test similar to a breathalyzer that checks blood alcohol content to determine if someone is driving under the influence of pot.

"Because the Town of Orchard Park is built for the car," he said, "it made more sense for us right now to opt out of the on-site consumption licenses."

Some municipalities considered the tax benefits, others decided based on practical grounds, that opting out would incentivize illegal pot dealers to continue operating under the table.

"We talked about it at a work session," said Councilman Brian Nowak of Cheektowaga. "The support is just not there to prohibit retail or on-site consumption."

North Collins Supervisor John Tobia said his rural town decided to opt out for now.

"There seems to still be a lot of questions that the state needs to answer," Tobia said.

He said he is in favor of farmers growing marijuana.

"This law has nothing to do with farming, it's whether I want dispensaries and places to utilize it," Tobia said. "Under the right circumstances, somebody brings a business plan to us, and we think it's in the right location, then we could always opt in."

The Buffalo News: Good Morning, Buffalo The smart way to start your day. We sift through all the news to give you a concise, informative look at the top headlines and must-read stories every weekday. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Houston: Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk, who has been using social media to recruit people, has disclosed that Indian-origin Ashok Elluswamy was the first employee to be hired for his electric vehicle company's Autopilot team.

Ashok was the first person recruited from my tweet saying that Tesla is starting an Autopilot team! Musk said in a tweet in reply to a video of his interview.

Ashok was the first person recruited from my tweet saying that Tesla is starting an Autopilot team!  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 29, 2021

He said that Ashok is actually the head of Autopilot engineering.

"Andrej is director of AI; People often give me too much credit and give Andrej too much credit. The Tesla Autopilot AI team is extremely talented. Some of the smartest people in the world, he said.

Before joining Tesla, Elluswamy was associated with Volkswagen Electronic Research Lab and WABCO Vehicle Control System.

He holds a bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the College of Engineering Guindy, Chennai and a Master's degree in Robotics System Development from Carnegie Mellon University.

Musk recently tweeted that Tesla is looking for hardcore Artificial Intelligence (AI) engineers who care about solving problems that directly affect people's lives in a major way.

The job application was simple with interested candidates were asked to fill fields like name, email, exceptional work done in software, hardware or AI and drop their resume in the PDF format.

Musk is the wealthiest person in the world, according to Forbes, with a net worth of around USD 282 billion, most of it in Tesla stock.

Live TV
Faridabad: A 24-year-old law student was stabbed to death while his friend, who was also attacked, allegedly committed suicide by jumping before a train here, police said on Sunday. The victim Rahul was stabbed at least 14 times, police said, quoting his father Dharmraj.

They said a two-year-old enmity led to the alleged murder in Sagarpur village here late on Saturday (January 1).

Rahul and his friend Rinku were on their way back home in Sagarpur when the attackers called them up for a meet. They then followed the duo, hit them with iron roads and stabbed them using sharp weapons, according to the police.

Dharmraj informed the police that he and his family members rushed Rahul to hospital soon after they received the information but he was declared brought dead.

Dharmraj alleged that his son's attackers threatened to kill him too.

Rahul's friend Rinku, who also sustained grievous injuries but survived the attack, allegedly ended his life by jumping before a train, police said. The two men were returning from Sunped village, they said.

The accused Hari Om, Sagar, Aman and Ashish among others have been booked under sections 148 (riots), 149 (unlawful assembly), 302 (murder), 506 (criminal intimidation), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code at Sadar police station in Ballabhgarh.

Police said all the accused are absconding. We handed over Rahul's body after postmortem and are conducting raids to nab the accused. The railway police has taken up the suicide case, Sadar police station SHO Rambir Singh said.

Live TV
Mumbai: Maharashtra on Sunday (January 2) reported 11,877 fresh COVID-19 cases, 2,707 more than the day before, and 50 Omicron infections, the state health department said in a bulletin. The state reported nine fatalities, which increased the overall COVID-19 toll to 1,41,542.

Maharashtra is now left with 42,024 active cases, the bulletin said Of the new 11,877 cases, 7,792 are from Mumbai, it said.

However, as per the Mumbai civic body, the number of new cases detected in the city on Sunday (January 2) was 8,063.

The Mumbai region including satellite cities and neighbouring districts reported 10,394 infections nearly 90 per cent of the total cases in the state.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) data showed the city had reported 809 cases on December 27, which meant the tally jumped by almost 10 times as on Sunday. On Saturday, Maharashtra had reported 9,170 cases.

More than ten ministers and at least 20 MLAs in Maharashtra have tested positive for coronavirus so far, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar had said on Saturday.

Of the 50 new Omicron infections, 36 patients are from Pune Municipal Corporation areas, eight from Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation limits, two each from Pune rural and Sangli, and one each from Mumbai and Thane.

Maharashtra has so far reported 510 such cases of which 193 patients recovered.

The bulletin said 1,22,975 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative tests conducted in Maharashtra to 6,92,59,618. Until a day before, the state had conducted a total of 6,91,36,643 tests.

With 2,069 more patients being discharged, the overall count of recoveries in Maharashtra went up to 65,12,610, it said.

The Mumbai civic body conducted 47,410 tests in the last 24 hours, as per the bulletin.

With the spike in cases in Mumbai, city civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal on Sunday sought to allay apprehensions, saying 89 per cent of the infections are asymptomatic. He also said that 90 per cent of beds are lying vacant. He urged people to strictly adhere to COVID-19 protocols.

Mask is mandatory in the public domain and citizens should refrain from going to crowded places. All of us must join hands to tide over this new wave of the COVID pandemic, he stressed.

Today 8,063 new COVID cases have been detected in Mumbai out of which 89 per cent were found to be totally asymptomatic and total number of active cases in Mumbai are now 29,819.

However, out of 8,063 new cases today, only 503 have been hospitalised out of which 56 cases have been put on oxygenated beds. As of today, 90 per cent of hospital beds in Mumbai are vacant, he said in a statement.

Mumbai did not see any COVID-19 fatality during the day, keeping the toll unchanged at 16,377, the bulletin said, adding that 89 per cent of the cases reported, or 7,176, are asymptomatic.

There is no reason to panic but at the same time all of us have to be extremely cautious and exercise extreme Covid appropriate behaviour, Chahal said.

As per the bulletin, 578 persons were discharged in Mumbai in the last 24 hours, taking the recovery count to 7,50,736, which is 94 per cent of the overall tally, while 503 people are hospitalised, including 56 on oxygen support.

Of the 30,565 beds available for the treatment of the infection, only 3,059 are occupied, it said.

The Mumbai data showed that the caseload doubling time was 183 days, the growth rate in cases between December 26 and January 1 stood at 0.38 per cent. The civic body has sealed 203 buildings. There are nine containment zones.

In the rest of Maharashtra, the Pune region recorded 931 cases, Nagpur 112, Kolhapur 75, Latur 67, Aurangabad 50, and Akola 31.

Nashik, Kolhapur, Latur, Nagpur, Akola, Aurangabad regions did not report any death. The Pune region recorded eight fatalities and Mumbai region one.

Maharashtra's COVID-19 figures: Fresh cases 11,877; Total cases 66,99,868; Deaths nine; Total fatalities 1,41,542; Active case 42,024; tests conducted 1,22,975; cumulative tests 6,92,59,618.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra CMO tweeted that COVID-19 vaccination for children in the age group of 15-18 years will be launched at nine dedicated centres in Mumbai along with the national drive for this age group.

Live TV
New Delhi: The Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) has issued a statement on the Saturday stampede and said that it occurred 'due to a scuffle' between two groups of pilgrims.

The statement issued on Saturday (January 1, 2022) evening came in the backdrop of allegations over mismanagement and emphasised that only 35,000 pilgrims were allowed to proceed for the yatra against the normal capacity of 50,000 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It added that Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, who is also the Chairman of the Board, was informed about the stampede at 3 am and that he has been continuously monitoring the situation since then.

"National Green Tribunal has capped the normal capacity of Yatra per day to 50,000. Pertinently, keeping in view the COVID-19 Pandemic, 35,000 pilgrims were allowed to proceed for yatra on 31st December 2021 and for 1st January 2022," the SMVDSB said in a detailed statement on the tragic incident that killed 12 and injured dozens.

It said that the stampede happened around 2:15 am on January 1 near Gate number three at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan.

"The unfortunate incident, due to a scuffle between two groups of pilgrims, resulted in the stampede. In this ill-fated incident, a total of 12 pilgrims lost their lives and 16 others were injured," it said.

The statement said the Board, as well as the Reasi District Administration, promptly shifted the injured pilgrims immediately to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana Superspeciality Hospital, Kakryal, after providing first aid at Medical Unit Bhawa.

The bodies of the deceased, which include 10 men and two women pilgrims, were shifted to the Community Health Centre Katra for identification and further legal formalities, the statement said.

"Of the 12 deceased pilgrims, two have been shifted by air and nine by road to their native destinations by the Shrine Board Administration with the assistance of UT Administration. The lone left-out dead body will be shifted tomorrow morning by Air from GMC, Jammu," the SMVDSB said.

Amongst the injured, who were hospitalised at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana Hospital, Kakryal, nine have been discharged, whereas seven pilgrims are still under treatment there, it said.

The Lieutenant Governor has announced an ex gratia amount of Rs 10 lakhs for the deceased and Rs 2 lakhs for the injured.

Meanwhile, the Mata Vaishno Devi yatra is currently going on smoothly and about 27,000 pilgrims offered prayers at the cave shrine on Saturday.

The members of the inquiry committee constituted to probe the incident have also visited the site of the occurrence at Bhawan on Saturday evening and took a first-hand account.

The officers interacted with the Chief Executive Officer, SMVDSB, Deputy Commissioner Reasi, SP Katra, Commanding Officer CRPF, Sub-Divisional Magistrate Bhawan and other officials and also scrutinized the video footage.

The Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board has also established a dedicated helpline, which can be approached at Phone No. 01991-234804 and 01991-234053. The helplines established by the district administration are: DC Reasi Control Room: 01991- 245763/9419839557, PCR Katra: 01991-232010/9419145182, and PCR Reasi: 01991245076/9622856295, the statement said.

Live TV
Mumbai: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should not call himself a 'fakir' now with the addition of a "Rs 12 crore" car in his cavalcade.

In his weekly column 'Rokhthok' in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana', Raut also praised former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru for always using an Indian-made car, and late PM Indira Gandhi for not replacing her security guards despite a threat to her life.

"On December 28, media reported pictures of a Rs 12 crore car for Prime Minister Modi. A person who calls himself a fakir, a pradhan sevak, uses a foreign made car," Raut said.

"The prime minister's security and comfort are important, but from now on, the pradhan sevak should not reiterate that he is a fakir (ascetic)," the Rajya Sabha member said.

A Mercedes-Maybach S650 Guard was recently added to the prime minister's cavalcade by the Special Protection Group.

The price quoted for a Maybach car in a section of the media is over Rs 12 crore.

ALSO READ | PM Modi gets India's most expensive Rs 12 crore Mercedes-Maybach, can withstand blasts

However, government sources had said the new car was a replacement of the BMW used by the prime minister as the German carmaker stopped production of the vehicle.

Official sources had also said the SPG security detail has a six-year norm to replace vehicles used for the protectee and that Modi has not given any preference on which cars to use. They also said that the car costs about one-third of the price quoted in the media.

Raut on Sunday said Modi, who started 'swadeshi' initiatives like 'Make in India' and 'Start-Up India', is using a foreign manufactured car.

Praising Jawaharlal Nehru, the Shiv Sena's spokesperson said the country's first prime minister, despite security threat after the partition, always used an Indian-made Ambassador car.

He also said that (former PM) Indira Gandhi, despite a threat to her life, did not change Sikh security personnel deployed for her security. Besides, (former prime minister) Rajiv Gandhi mingled with crowd in Tamil Nadu and got killed by the LTTE, he said.

"He (Rajiv Gandhi) should not have dared to mingle with the crowd. But, he did," Raut said.

Targeting the Centre over night curbs in the wake of the rise in COVID-19 cases again in parts of the country, the Sena leader said the Union government has imposed such restrictions at night, resulting in financial losses.

PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Samajwadi Party head Akhilesh Yadav address rallies which are attended by lakhs of people. But, the restrictions are only for the common man, Raut said.

Live TV
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday (January 2) said that his party will declare Parshuram Jayanti as a public holiday in the state if they are voted to power in the upcoming assembly polls. The former chief minister made the remarks during an exclusive conversation with Zee News.

Earlier, Yadav offered prayers at a newly constructed Lord Parshuram temple in Lucknow, a gesture seen as one of many attempts to woo the state's Brahmin voters. Yadav was joined by a number of Brahmin community leaders from the state.

Along with Yadav, former SP MLA from Lambhua (Sultanpur) Santosh Pandey offered floral tributes to the 68-foot-high statue of Lord Parshuram.

Hoardings reading "Brahman ka sankalp, Akhilesh hi vikalp" (Brahmin's pledge, Akhilesh is the only option), were put up at the site.

The move is being seen as an attempt to woo Brahmin voters ahead of the Assembly polls in the state. Family members of expelled BSP MLA from Gorakhpur's Chillupar seat, Vinay Shankar Tiwari, were present on this occasion.

Former Speaker of UP Legislative Assembly Mata Prasad Pandey, former minister Manoj Pandey and other prominent Brahmin leaders were present on this occasion.

On December 12, the Samajwadi Party got a shot in the arm when two sitting MLAs--Vinay Shankar Tiwari (BSP) and Digvijay Narayan of the BJP from Khalilabad constituency in Sant Kabir Nagar-- joined the party.

Former chairman of the UP Legislative Council, Ganesh Shankar Pandey, also joined the Samajwadi Party.

Live TV
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said he is ready to contest the upcoming assembly elections from wherever his party decides.

The BJP leader also said he has fulfilled whatever was promised and has no regrets about his tenure.

"I am ready to fight the election from wherever the party says," Adityanath told reporters when asked whether he will contest from Ayodhya, Mathura, or from his home district Gorakhpur.

The chief minister, who is currently a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, was interacting with the media here on Saturday night.

After former UP CM Mulayam Singh Yadav fought the state elections in 2003, none of his successors have contested the assembly polls. BSP chief Mayawati, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and Adityanath were members of the legislative council during their tenure as chief minister.

Adiyanath's challenger Akhilesh Yadav had recently indicated that he might not contest polls. He, however, had later said the party would take a call on it.

Asked if there was any work he could not do in his five-year tenure, the BJP leader said, "Whatever was said, was done. There is no work left for which there should be any regret."

To another question, Adityanath said, "Work is under progress in Mathura as in Kashi and Ayodhya."

He also tried to allay concerns among some of the sitting MLAs over distribution of party tickets saying the BJP was a very big family and people's role in it may change with time.

"Every person's role is different at different times. It is not necessary that one person should always be in the government, sometimes he can also do the work of the organisation," he said.

The chief minister said COVID-protocol will be followed to the hilt whenever the dates for the election are announced.

Asked about what changed since the 2017 election, Adityanath said: "In 2017 we fought on the failures of the state government. This time we are contesting on the basis of our achievements."

He said cases of omicron variant of COVID-19 have been reported from Ghaziabad and Rae Bareli but urged people not to panic.

He said it has been seen that the omicron is not as lethal as the Delta variant and added that infected patients are getting fully cured of the omicron variant in 4-5 days.

The chief minister urged the media to report about the pandemic responsibly.

"If the media highlights people recovering from COVID it would have positive results," he said and added "when Ramayan serial was repeated during lockdown it generated a new enthusiasm among people".

He also said the government has done a lot of work for the farmers and discounted claims that there was dissatisfaction with the BJP in the agricultural community in western Uttar Pradesh.

He also took a swipe at Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav's promise of giving 300 free units of electricity to domestic consumers upon coming to power, saying that people of the state know only five districts used to get power supply before 2017.

On the Congress' promise of giving scooties to women if it comes to power, Adityanath said the party should be asked how many scooties have been distributed in Punjab, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan where it is in power.

Asked about the issue of stray animals, he said his government stopped cow slaughter and smuggling of cattle.

More than seven lakh such cattle are in government 'gaushalas' (cow-shelters), he said.

In reply to a question on Muslim voters and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi's alleged inflammatory speeches, he quipped, "Do you expect to hear 'Ramkatha' from him...Owaisi is Owaisi."

Live TV
New Delhi: A day after 12 people died and several others were injured in a stampede at Vaishno Devi shrine, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Sunday (January 2) announced an additional Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia for the kin of the deceased.

Sinha chaired a high-level meeting of the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board on Sunday after which he announced an additional Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia, ANI reported. Earlier, a compensation of Rs 10 lakh was declared for the family of the victims. Now, the kin will receive compensation of a total of Rs 15 lakh.

LG Jammu & Kashmir Manoj Sinha chaired a high-level meeting of the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board. He has announced an additional Rs 5 lakhs as ex-gratia to the next of kin who lost their lives in yesterday's stampede  ANI (@ANI) January 2, 2022

Moreover, as many as 16 were injured in the stampede at the Vaishno Devi shrine, out of which nine were discharged from the hospital. The incident occurred around 2:15 am near gate no. 3 at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan on Saturday.

As per the police, an argument broke out which resulted in people pushing each other, followed by the stampede. Leaders across political parties condoled the tragedy.

Meanwhile, a three-member panel has been set up to probe the stampede at the Vaishno Devi shrine and has been directed to submit its report to the Jammu and Kashmir government within a week. The committee is headed by the principal secretary (home), and also consists of Jammu Divisional Commissioner Raghav Langer and Additional Director General of Police, Jammu, Mukesh Singh. The Committee shall examine in detail the causes/reasons behind the incident (stampede) and point out the lapses and fix the responsibility thereof," the order issued by General Administration Department Principal Secretary Manoj Kumar Dwivedi said.

(With agency inputs)

Live TV
New Delhi: Kashi Vishwanath Dham, the renovated temple complex which was recently inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saw a record footfall on the first day of the new year with over five lakh devotees thronging the holy place, official sources said on Sunday.

Even on Mahashivratri, considered the most auspicious day to visit the temple in Varanasi, the devotees' numbers never exceeded 2.5 lakh, they added.

"Local administration was up for a surprise on January 1 when more than 5 lakh people thronged the Kashi Vishwanath temple. For them, this number was unprecedented. They were expecting a best case number of not more than 1 lakh," a source said.

Such a huge number of people turning up on a non-festival day at the temple shows the immense enthusiasm among people across the country to visit the Kashi Vishwanath Dham after Modi inaugurated it, the sources noted.

The local administration in Varanasi is now requesting devotees, especially VIPs, to stagger their visit to the dham to ensure proper crowd management.

The prime minister had last month inaugurated the first phase of the Kashi Vishwanath Dham, a project which is spread over five lakh square feet and connects the temple premises to the River Ganga besides providing several facilities to devotees.

Live TV
New Delhi: India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday (January 1, 2022) predicted that coastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Karaikal are likely to witness another day of isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall activity on Sunday (January 2, 2022). The weather department also added that northwest India would continue to witness cold wave conditions in the meantime.

"A cyclonic circulation lies over southwest Bay of Bengal, off south Sri Lanka coast at middle tropospheric level. Under its influence, scattered to fairly widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall activity is very likely to continue over coastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry & Karaikal on Sunday and isolated heavy rainfall over the same region during subsequent 24 hours and decrease thereafter," the IMD said.

According to a news agency IANS report, a fresh active 'Western Disturbance' and its associated induced cyclonic circulation is likely to affect the northwest Indian region from January 3, and under its influence, fairly widespread to widespread rainfall/snowfall is likely during January 3 to 7 with the possibility of isolated heavy rainfall over Jammu and Kashmir on January 4 and 5 and over Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand on January 5, the IMD said, adding, isolated hailstorms are also likely over Jammu and Kashmir on January 4 and 5 and over Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand on January 5.

The report also added that scattered to fairly widespread light/moderate rainfall is likely over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, and Delhi, north Rajasthan and west Uttar Pradesh during January 5 to 7 and light isolated rainfall is also likely over west Madhya Pradesh on January 5. Isolated thunderstorms activity is likely over Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan, accompanied by hail storms over Punjab on January 5.

Cold morning in Delhi

On the first day of the New Year, the Delhiites woke up to a cold morning with the minimum temperature settling at 4.2 degrees Celsius, three notches below normal, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The weather department also stated that during a severe cold wave, the minimum temperature dips to 2 degrees or the departure from normal is more than 6.4 degrees. Additionally, Delhi-NCR is likely to receive its first rain of the year on January 5 and 6.

Uttar Pradesh wakes up to foggy morning

Many parts of the state, including Varanasi, Ayodhya, Prayagraj, Kanpur and Moradabad witnessed cold wave conditions and dense fog on Sunday morning. Earlier, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on January 1 had predicted dense fog in isolated pockets in night/morning hours over parts of Uttar Pradesh in the next 2 days.

Cold wave & dense fog witnessed in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh "Cold will come & go, but celebrating #NewYear, visiting the Kashi Vishwanath corridor & bathing in the Ganga River is very fortunate," says a visitor pic.twitter.com/YjXWrZNJPG  ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) January 2, 2022

Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh witnesses dense fog as cold wave hits pic.twitter.com/5w0YjmBPZC  ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) January 2, 2022

Rajasthan continues to reel under cold wave

Cold wave conditions prevailed in parts of Rajasthan with Fatehpur in Sikar district recording a low of 1.8 degrees Celsius, a Met department official said on Saturday.

The minimum temperature in Karauli was 3 degrees Celsius, while it was 3.5 deg C in Sikar, 4.5 deg C in Alwar, 4.6 deg C in Pilani, 4.8 deg C in Nagaur, 5.3 deg C in Ganganagar, 5.8 deg C in Vanasthali and 6.9 degrees Celsius in Ajmer.

Piercing cold sweeps Punjab

Biting cold wave conditions persisted in most places of Punjab and Haryana on Saturday, while some parts of the two northern states also witnessed dense fog.

Bathinda in Punjab was the coldest place as it recorded its minimum of one degree Celsius, three notches below normal, according to data provided by the Meteorological Department here.

Haryana reels under cold wave

Hisar in Haryana shivered at 2 degrees Celsius, five degrees below normal. In Haryana, Ambala, Karnal, Narnaul, Rohtak, Gurugram, Bhiwani and Sirsa recorded their minimum temperatures of 4.9, 3.8, 3, 4.4, 4.6, 5.1 and 4.2 degrees Celsius respectively.

The Union Territory of Chandigarh, which is the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, recorded its minimum at 5.1 degrees Celsius.

(With agency inputs)

Live TV
In wake of rising coronavirus cases, West Bengal today capped plying of flights from Delhi and Mumbai to twice a week. The state has already banned on plying of flights from Uttarakhand.

"Flights from Mumbai and New Delhi will ply only twice a week, and no flights from the UK will be allowed for the time being," Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi said today.

"As a part of the restrictions, flights from these two cities will operate only twice a week -- Mondays and Fridays," he said.

"We have temporarily suspended flights from the UK. For passengers coming in from non-risk countries, we have made rapid antigen tests mandatory. If found positive, the person concerned will have to undergo a RT-PCR test," Dwivedi said.

However, passengers coming from the UK can land in a different city and take a domestic flight or a train to West Bengal, he clarified.

Mumbai and Delhi have emerged as the two worst-affected Omicron cities in the country.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on December 30 said that COVID-19 cases in Kolkata were rising as "it was a transit point for people traveling on trains and flights."

The state later banned flights from Uttarakhand.

Live TV
Kashmir: The Army on Sunday said that a BAT attempt was foiled at the Keran sector on Saturday where an intruder who was trying to sneak into the Indian side was killed. Addressing a press conference in Kupwara district, General officer Commanding of 28th Division Major General Abhijit Pendharkar said that yesterday at 3 pm, a complete breach of ceasefire agreement was noticed when an infiltrator wearing a "Pathan suit" and a black jacket was tried to enter into this side.

In a complete breach of the ongoing Ceasefire Understanding between the two armies across the Line of Control, an infiltration bid or BAT action was attempted in the Keran sector of Kupwara district on January 01.

Swift action by the troops deployed at the Line of Control foiled the bid and eliminated the terrorist, later identified as Mohd Shabbir Malik, a Pakistani national, equipped with weapons, ammunition and warlike stores.

The incident site is located on the Pakistani side of the Anti-Infiltration Obstacle System, kept under surveillance by the Indian Army to effectively counter any nefarious activity by the infiltrators or Pakistan Army.



In complete breach of the Ceasefire Understanding arrived at between the DGMO's, one-armed intruder dressed in Pathani suit and a black jacket was detected moving from areas under the control of Pakistan Army across the Line of Control at around 1500 hours on 01 Jan 22. Ambushes were laid along likely routes that could be adopted by the intruder and movement was followed till 1600 hours.

The ambush was sprung at the opportune moment and the infiltrator was eliminated. The body of the slain infiltrator was recovered along with one AK 47 and a large quantity of ammunition including seven grenades.

The surveillance of the area is in progress, denying any exploitation of the bad weather condition prevailing in the area and the operation is ongoing. The route adopted by the terrorist was similar to the one adopted on 04 April 20 during Op Rangadori Bhaikh in which five terrorists were eliminated.

A search of the belongings revealed Pakistani National identity card and vaccination certificates (issued by the Ministry of National Health Services Regulation & Coordination Government of Pakistan) identifying him as Mohd Shabir Malik. The belongings also include a photo of the infiltrator in the Army Uniform wearing the name tab of Shabbir.

He said this clearly establishes that Pakistan continues to sponsor CROSS BORDER terror. A Hotline communication has been made to Pakistan Army asking them to take back the body of the killed individual.

The army officer said that there are continuous inputs about possible infiltration bids by militants in the Keran and Kupwara sectors ahead of the snowfall in the areas, but the army was alert and maintaining vigil to thwart all such plans.

Live TV
New Delhi: The Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has invited application to recruit eligible individuals for various posts in the organisation including that of Upper Division Clerk (UDC), Stenographer (Steno), and Multi-Tasking Staff (MTS).

The interested and eligible candidates can apply for this recruitment drive through the official website of ESIC - https://www.esic.nic.in. ESIC is looking to fill over 3,800 vacancies through this drive, across various regions.

The candidates must noted that the registration process will commence on January 15, 2022 and the last date for submitting the online application form will be February 15, 2022.

ESIC Recruitment: Important dates

Registration process will commence on January 15, 2022.

Last date for submitting the online application form - February 15, 2022.

ESIC Recruitment: Vacancy details

Upper Division Clerk: Over 1,700 vacancies

Stenographer: Over 160 vacancies

Multi-Tasking Staff: Over 1,930 vacancies

ESIC Recruitment: How to apply

The candidates can apply through ESIC's official website at https://www.esic.nic.in.

For more details candidates can check the official notification of the ESIC Recruitment 2022 here.

Live TV
For the first time in decades, Tata Motors, the homegrown automaker has trumped South Korean Hyundai to become second highest car selling brand in India. Maruti Suzuki remains the top carmaker in the country.

Tata Motors reported that domestic sales rose to 66,307 units during the month under review from 53,430 units during December 2020.

Sales of the company's commercial vehicles increased to 31,008 units in December 2021 from 29,885 units in the same month last year. Passenger vehicle sales increased by 50 percent to 35,299 units from 23,545 units in December 2020.

Read also: 2022 Upcoming SUVs in India: Hyundai Creta facelift, Mahindra Scorpio and more

"Tata Motors PV business growth journey continued and set several new milestones during the quarter despite witnessing a shortfall in production due to the ongoing semi-conductor crisis," said Shailesh Chandra, President, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors.

"The overwhelming market response to Tata Punch launched in October 21 is further boosting demand for the company`s `New Forever` range of cars and SUVs," he added.

Chandra also said that the ever-increasing demand for Nexon EV and Tigor EV as well as progressive revival of the EV fleet segment were instrumental in driving this steep growth.

"Going forward, semiconductor supplies will remain the key source of uncertainty. Additionally, the impact of the new strain of Covid needs to be closely tracked. We will continue to work on business agility plan and take proactive actions to mitigate these risks," Chandra said.

With inputs from IANS

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New Delhi: 'Atrangi Re' directed by Aanand L Rai and written by Himanshu Sharma has received a lot of love and praise from audiences and critics. However, a section of critics pointed out flaws in the film and accused it of trivialising mental illnesses.

This has been a popular criticism of the film since it dealt with sensitive subjects such as trauma and mental illness. Writer Himanshu Sharma has finally responded to these comments in an interview with a leading daily.

The writer of the Tanu Weds Manu series explained that the main focus of the film wasn't a mental illness or honour killing but much more than that.

Himanshu told the Indian Express, "When I chose this story and this concept, I wasnt making a documentary on mental illness. Understanding of human anatomy does not guarantee that youll understand human beings. There is so much more to the film, to that story called Atrangi Re, it talks about love, loss, and trauma, and how trauma can create so many difficulties for you and how love can fix all of those problems."

Himanshu also explained that he is imperfect and can make mistakes as a writer but people need to notice the makers intent as well.

He expressed, "You also need to see the intent of the people. Of course, no human being is perfect, neither am I, nor are you. We will make mistakes but you have to see my intention. As I always say, the kind of good films I watch and I want to make, I dont think I am that intelligent. I will also have to do more hard work, and that should be the quest for everyone. I want to watch great films and I want to make those films. In that process, Ill make a few mistakes, but did you see my intent?"

In the film, Sara Ali Khan plays Rinku, a fierce small-town girl from Bihar, who after eloping with her lover Sajjad (Akshay Kumar) multiple times, is always brought back home by her overbearing family members.

Dhanush plays Vishu, a medical student who falls in love with Rinku, knowing that her heart belongs to Sajjad.

'Atrangi Re is directed by Anand L Rai and stars Sara Ali Khan, Dhanush and Akshay Kumar. It is currently streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
New Delhi: Actors Kajol and Ajay Devgns teenage daughter has become an internet sensation, thanks to the paparazzi who often photograph her. On Saturday (January 1), one of the fan accounts of the star kid dropped a fresh photo of her in a little black dress and black biker leather jacket. She can be seen posing with a friend in the picture.

Check it out:

Nysa is standing at the left side in the photo whereas her friend is on the right. Various fans of Nysa took to the comment section to shower love on her photo. Beautiful and cute hot and gorgeous like mother, commented one user. While another wrote, Shes glowing. Various other dropped in red heart and fire emojis in the comment section.

Earlier, Nysa was papped on a dinner date with a friend at a restaurant in Bandra, Mumbai. The star kid made heads turn in a short white flowy dress.

Recently in an interview with Twinkle Khanna, Kajol revealed that Ajay Devgn is a very hands-on and protective father and doesnt sleep till the time his daughter returns home.

Nysa Devgn is attending school in Singapore. Earlier this year, Kajol was in Singapore with her daughter and could not return to India for six months due to travel restrictions because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mumbai: Actors Katrina Kaif and Vicky Kaushal despite their hectic work schedules ringed in their first New Year after getting married together. Katrina on Saturday evening (January 1) was spotted at the Mumbai airport dropping off her husband as he flew off for a shooting schedule to resume work. Kat was also captured giving the Uri actor a warm hug before he got down his car. Vicky before entering the airport also posed for the paps.

Katrina can be seen wearing a bright orange nightshirt in the viral video. Vicky twinned with his wife and wore a rust coloured sweater with blue denim jeans. The couple also had their face masks on abiding by COVID-19 protocol.

Katrina Kaif and Vicky Kaushal got hitched on December 9 in a private ceremony at the luxurious Six Senses Fort Barwara in Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan. The couple also went to the Maldives to enjoy a short getaway as a honeymoon after getting married.

They recently shifted to their new house and had their housewarming rituals.

On the work front, Vicky has kick-started preparation of Meghna Gulzars Sam Bahadur, a biopic on Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw that also stars Dangal girls, Sanya Malhotra and Fatima Sana Shaikh.

Katrina has also returned to the shoot sets for her upcoming film Merry Christmas directed by Vijay Sethupathi. Apart from that, the actor has two films in her kitty - Salman Khans Tiger 3 and Farhan Akhtars Jee Le Zaraa, co-starring Priyanka Chopra and Alia Bhatt.

(With inputs from ANI).
NEW DELHI: Actress Shilpa Shetty has once again penned an appreciation post for her sister Shamita Shetty who is currently participating in Salman Khan hosted reality show Bigg Boss 15.

In her post, she has mentioned that she is extremely proud of her sister Tunki for taking every hurdle head-on in the reality show.

Sharing a video of her journey so far at the Bigg Boss 15 house, Shilpa shared a fan-made video of Shamita where she can be seen voicing her option and standing for her rights.

She wrote, She would rather walk alone in darkness than follow anyone else's shadow.

- R. G. Moon

Seeing you take on every hurdle, challenge, and disagreement head on is something that makes me extremely proud of you, Tunki.. I love how gracefully and tactfully youve dealt with everything in this journey. And now, I know its time for you to come home with the trophy! #ShamitasTribe has got your back, my darling. Stay strong.. youve got this!

@shamitashetty_official @sunandashetty10

Video courtesy: @_itssamia__

#ShamitaShetty #BiggBoss15 #ShamitasArmy #MunkiTunki #love #gratitude

Posted @withregram @shamitashetty_official Biggboss has been a tough journey but our queen stood out Strong like a tigress

Heres Embracing the new year on a powerful note, Lets get the trophy home

@endemolshineind @colorstv @vootselect

#ShamitaIsTheBoss #ShamitaForTheWin #BiggBoss #Colorstv #EndemolShine #VootSelect #foryou #TeamSS..

Shilpa also thanked her fans for their continuous support and also urged everyone to continue supporting her throughout this journey. She also said that it's 'time for her to come home with a trophy'.

Apart from Shamita, other contestants who are in competition includes  Karan Kundrra, Pratik Sehajpal, Nishant Bhat, Tejasswi Prakash, Rakhi Sawant, Devoleena Bhattacharjee, Umar Riaz and Rashami Desai among others.

Bigg Boss 15 is just two weeks away from the finale and so everyone is trying their best to get the trophy home.

Well, who will lift the trophy? Only time will tell, till then keep watching this space for all the updates related to Bigg Boss 15.
New Delhi: A man in Madhya Pradesh has lodged a police complaint against the alleged use of the number plate of a motorcycle illegally in a movie sequence by Bollywood actors Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan.

The Indore resident claimed that the number plate is of the vehicle that belongs to him.

In an upcoming movie scene, Vicky is seen riding the motorcycle with Sara seated behind him.

"The vehicle number used in the movie sequence is mine. I don`t know if the film unit is aware of it but this is illegal," Jai Singh Yadav, the complainant told ANI on Saturday (January 1, 2022).

"They can`t use my number plate without permission. I have given a memorandum at the station. Action should be taken in the matter," he added.

Responding to the complaint, Rajendra Soni, Sub-inspector in Indore`s Banganga area said, "We have received a complaint. We will see whether the number plate was used illegally. Action will be taken as per provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act. If the film unit is in Indore, we will try to probe them."

Vehicle number used in the movie sequence is mine; don't know if the film unit is aware of it...This is illegal, can't use my number plate without permission. I have given a memorandum at the station. Action should be taken in the matter: Complainant Jai Singh Yadav (1.1.22) pic.twitter.com/CkpZBVUndu  ANI (@ANI) January 1, 2022

This is noteworthy that Vicky and Sara were recently seen in Indore shooting for their upcoming untitled film.

Post the marriage with Katrina Kaif, Vicky has again started working on his upcoming films.

Recently, the actor had celebrated his 'first' Christmas with Katrina and had also shared a picture on his social media handles.

On the work front, Vicky was last seen in 'Sardar Udham'.

Sara, on the other hand, last worked in 'Atrangi Re' along with Akshay Kumar and Dhanush.



(With agency inputs)

Live TV
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Saturday (January 1), releases the 10th instalment under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Yojana via video-conferencing to financial aid crores of farmers across the country. PM Modi said that there was a need for innovation in agriculture along with the promotion of natural farming.

More than Rs 20,000 crore has been released by the Central government directly into the bank accounts of about 10.09 crore farmers across India as the 10th instalment under PM-KISAN Yojana.

Under the PM-KISAN Yojana, farmers receive Rs 6000 in a year as financial aid from the Central government. The funds are provided in three instalments of Rs 2000 each in a year. The first instalment is transferred between April- July; the second instalment is transferred between August-November and the third instalment is credited between December-March.

The PM-KISAN Yojana is funded 100% by the Central government. So far, the government has transferred more than Rs 1.8 lakh crore directly into the bank accounts of registered farmers. "If we include today's transfer, more than Rs 1.8 lakh crore has been transferred directly to the accounts of the farmers under the PM-KISAN," Modi said, adding that the scheme has helped farmers in buying good quality seeds and fertilisers. Also Read: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari to inaugurate multiple projects in Nagpur today

Over 10 crore farmers have benefitted from the scheme in the past two years or so. The PM-KISAN scheme was announced in the February 2019 Budget. The first installment was for the period December 2018 to March 2019. Also Read: Future Retail misses due date for payment of Rs 3,494.56 crore to banks

Direct Link to check PM-KISAN 10th instalment status:

Step 1: Visit the official PM-KISAN website - https://pmkisan.gov.in/.

Step 2: Go to the Farmers Corner Section on the right side of the homepage of the website.

Step 3: Select the Beneficiary Stauts option.

Step 4: Enter either Account Number or Aadhaar Number or Mobile Number and click on Get Data button.

Step 5: You will now be able to check the status of the instalment.

Live TV

#mute
Woman loses 2,000 after being hauled off flight to Tenerife due to Brexit passport changes

A woman has told of her frustration after being removed from a flight to Spain and having her New Years Eve ruined over a little-known change to post-Brexit passport rules.

Aya Shillingford, 36, said she was devastated after staff escorted her from her Jet2 flight to Tenerife on Thursday morning after claiming her passport had been issued over ten years ago - meaning she could not travel to the EU under new post-Brexit guidelines.

She had planned to spend New Years Eve on the island with her partner Gareth and a group of friends  but now faces losing nearly 2,000 after being forced to cancel the holiday at the last minute.

Ms Shillingford told the Standard she had planned to fly out with Jet2 from Stansted airport at 9.50am on Thursday morning and return on January 8.

After making it through security and boarding the plane, she was told her passport was invalid and escorted off the flight.

The Jet2 official said she could not fly to the EU as her passport had been issued more than ten years ago  despite its expiry date being June 28, 2022.

We had arrived at the airport in good time, made it through security and dropped off our bags. Two members of staff - at security and at the gate for the flight - had already checked our passports and not raised any issue, Aya said.

But when we got on the flight suddenly there was a big commotion. A Jet2 staff member took my passport and said Im sorry but you cant fly, this was issued over ten years ago.

Then we were frog-marched off the plane and back to the airport. Everyone was staring at us.

Aya and Gareth have had to cancel their New Years Eve plans (Aya Shillingford)

Back at the gate, another member of Jet2 staff told Ms Shillingford that there was no way she could board the flight, claiming it was her fault that she had not checked for the changes to passport validity after Brexit.

By this point the shock was starting to wear off and I was just sobbing. I was looking forward to spending time away after a difficult year, she added.

While the UK was in the European Union, British passports were valid up to and until the date of expiry. Many passports issued in the UK last up to 10 years and 9 months due to the Governments policy of allowing unspent time for the renewal process.

Story continues

But after the end of the post-Brexit transition period, British passport holders are now regarded as third country nationals  meaning they are subject to a host of new regulations.

Britons can still travel to Canada, the US and other countries across the world until the date that their passport expires.

But to travel to the EU, British passports must meet two conditions.

According to the Government website, these are: Your passport must be less than 10 years old on the day you enter (check the date of issue).

Your passport must be valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave (check the expiry date).

The Government says it has asked the European Commission to clarify the 10-year rule but stresses that guidance will likely not be updated for Schengen border guards until the Spring of 2022.

Ms Shillingford, a psychotherapist, claimed that Jet2 had not issued her with any guidance over the passport changes after she booked the holiday some three months ago. She was later told the airline would not refund her for the trip.

In light of the changes, Ms Shillingford said that ministers and the travel industry need to make the changes more clear so that others do not suffer the same fate.

Everyone is so confused, this has impacted a lot of people, she said.

In order to fly out, Ms Shillingford said she would need to get an emergency passport - but the next available appointment to get one is on January 4 in Liverpool. Thats my New Years Eve ruined, she added.

A spokesperson for Jet2 told the Standard: We always follow Government advice relating to passport validity and we remind customers to check the validity of their passport in our pre-departure communications.

We also point them to our Travel Requirements page on our website, where they can find more information on how to ensure that their passport is valid for travel and in line with Government advice.

Unfortunately, Ms Shillingfords passport was not valid for travel, and our teams noticed this before boarding. We would like to apologise to Ms Shillingford for this experience.
New Delhi: BlackBerry has announced that it will discontinue offering significant services for its existing devices in 2022. As per Mashable, from January 4, the business`s smartphones will be without provisioning services. It will be unable to connect to networks, including the mobile phone network, as a result of this.

A few years back, BlackBerrys keyboard-centric designs had led to high demand, especially among business workers who relied on BlackBerry services that provide a high degree of confidentiality and anonymity.

BlackBerry may not do much as smartphones continue to change with the introduction of the first touchscreen phone. Although Android phones - which at one time resembled inexpensive BlackBerry knockoffs - shifted their focus to touch screen interface, the introduction of the first iPhone shook up the industry.BlackBerry, on the other hand, was caught off guard. It disputed that on-screen keyboards were rising in popularity and instead relied on the services that businesspeople were realistically reliant on.

As a result, it took at least a year for the company to release the first-ever touchscreen phone. BlackBerry, which is now a minor competitor in the market, has opted to abandon its very own services in favour of Android.BlackBerry realised it couldn`t maintain up with the industry and exited the hardware sector after a few phones that were undeniably attractive and lured some users. It sold the BlackBerry-branded license to a few manufacturers but maintained the corporate security services.

According to Mashable, this means that the business will continue to support older BlackBerrys running its proprietary software. These are, however, ancient phones.

Because the latest software update of BlackBerry OS was published in 2013, shutting it down won`t have a significant impact.

Its difficult to believe that some individuals are still using ancient BlackBerry phones. BlackBerry, on the other hand, is ready to say goodbye if there are still some users. BlackBerry has stated on its FAQ website that it would no longer respond to provisioning updates to its handsets. Also Read: PM Kisan 10th instalment released: Heres direct link to check status online

Those devices would no longer be capable of connecting to Wi-Fi or cellular networks as a result of this. These gadgets will eventually stop working and will no longer offer "data, texts and calls, SMS, and 911 capabilities." On January 4, BlackBerry World and BlackBerry Link will be decommissioned. Also Read: Indian Railways cancels 14 trains from Mumbai, Pune: Check list before travel date

Live TV

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Lucknow: Amid an alarming increase of new Covid-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered a state-wide mock drill on Monday and Tuesday to review preparedness to tackle the resurgence.

In the past 24 hours, 383 fresh Covid cases were reported in 38 districts of the state, while the number of active cases was 1,211. "Experts say that the infection rate is now higher but the virus is weaker. People should wear masks and follow social distancing, sanitisation and vaccination," the Chief Minister said.

Yogi has also asked concerned officers to make preparations for vaccination drive for adolescents between the age group of 15 and 18 years from Monday and also for the precautionary dose for Corona Warriors, health workers, frontline workers and those above 60 years of age having co-morbidities from January 10.

"Though Covid cases were rising in the state the situation was in control but even a little negligence could prove costly." Amit Mohan Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary, Medical Health, said in a statement: "In all 1,93,549 Covid samples were tested and 383 new cases were reported."

Thirty-one patients recovered in the past 24 hours, which has increased the overall tally to 16,87,859. The 24-hour positivity rate in the state is 0.01 per cent and overall positivity rate is 1.84 per cent, while the recovery rate is 98.6 per cent, said Prasad.

Abhishek Shukla, Secretary-General, Association of International Doctors, said: "Collectively, in the past three days (December 30 to January 1) 827 new cases have been reported. The rising trend with 118 new Covid cases on December 29, followed by 193 on December 30 and 251 on December 31 continued with 383 new cases on January 1. This demands strict adherence to Covid protocol by all."

Ghaziabad reported a maximum of 85 new cases, Gautam Buddha Nagar 61, Lucknow 58, Meerut 48 and Prayagraj and Varanasi 16 each.

Of the total 1,211 active cases, the maximum 244 are in Gautam Buddha Nagar, 206 in Lucknow, 198 in Ghaziabad, 106 in Meerut, 38 each in Mathura and Prayagraj, 36 in Varanasi, 32 in Moradabad and 29 in Agra.

Live TV
Kolkata: Though the daily Covid infection rate is increasing leaps and bounds in West Bengal with the most infected in the capital city, the Mamata Banerjee-led government is likely to impose new curbs in phases and is unlikely to go for a total lockdown.

According to reports, the West Bengal government is likely to announce new restrictions today in the wake of a massive spike in COVID cases. State's Chief Secretary is likely to hold a presser today to announce new restrictions which will most likely to come into effect from tomorrow i.e. January 3, 2022, said sources.

A senior official of the state government has earlier said that though the daily rate of infection is high, it is not alarming. "There is no pressure on the hospitals and there is no report of Oxygen shortage in the state. Naturally, the government is trying to keep a close watch on the development and will impose restrictions when needed," the official said.

According to a state health department official, though the infection rate is high, 80 per cent of the infected are asymptomatic and 17 per cent of the symptomatic patients are being treated at home. Only 3 per cent need hospitalization and the death rate is also very low.

"Naturally the situation is alarming, but it is not beyond control and the state health department is fully prepared to meet any eventuality of the third wave," a state health official said.

Meanwhile, states Power Minister Aroop Biswas has tested positive and is advised to stay in home isolation. According to the data available, the daily infection rate has touched 4,000 which was below 1,000 at the start of the week.

The steady rise of cases is a cause for worry and the state administration has cancelled all the programmes scheduled for next week including two programmes of Trinamool Congress itself.

"The chief was supposed to hold `Chhatra Soptaho` (Students Week) at Netaji Indoor Stadium on Monday but that has been cancelled. Similarly, the programmes of Duare Sarkar (Government at the doorsteps) and Duare Ration (Ration at the doors) - which were supposed to be held in different districts next week -- have been suspended," an official said.

Top-level sources in the state secretariat indicated that the government will not impose any lockdown or strict restrictions right now but will definitely stop people from gathering. "The train, bus or metro service will not be cancelled immediately. We will step up the restrictions in phases if needed," the official added.

Live TV
New Delhi: In view of the Omicron scare, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced a travel ban on unvaccinated citizens from January 10 with a requirement to obtain the booster dose for the fully vaccinated.

"Ban on Travel on UAE citizens unvaccinated with #Covid19 vaccine, starting Jan 10, 2022, with a requirement to obtain the booster dose for the fully vaccinated," said the country`s National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) in a tweet on Saturday (January 1, 2022).

#NCEMA and @MoFAICUAE: Ban on Travel on UAE citizens unvaccinated with #Covid19 vaccine, starting Jan 10, 2022, with a requirement to obtain the booster dose for the fully vaccinated. With an exemption for medically exempted from taking the vaccine, humanitarian & treatment cases pic.twitter.com/zUw1FoSLBt  NCEMA UAE (@NCEMAUAE) January 1, 2022

The authorities also stated that this order would not be applicable for those medically exempted from taking the vaccine, humanitarian and treatment cases.

The decision comes as the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 is rallying infections in a large number of countries and has surged the hospitalisations in the US and Europe.

The massive spread of the new variant of the coronavirus, surges in infections and hospitalisations have also led to the cancellation of a large number of flights globally as fear grows.

Live TV
Paris: With the Delta variant of COVID-19 pushing up cases in Europe and growing fears over the new Omicron variant, governments around the world are weighing new measures for populations tired of hearing about restrictions and vaccines.

It's a thorny calculus made more difficult by the prospect of backlash, increased social divisions and, for many politicians, the fear of being voted out of office. New restrictions, or variations on the old ones, are cropping up around the world, especially in Europe, where leaders are at pains to explain what looks like a failed promise: that mass vaccination would mean an end to widely loathed limitations.

GREECE

Greeks who are over age 60 and refuse coronavirus vaccinations could be hit with monthly fines of more than one-quarter of their pensions, a get-tough policy that the country's politicians say will cost votes but save lives.

In Greece, residents over 60 face fines of 100 euros ($113) a month if they fail to get vaccinated. The fines will be tacked onto tax bills in January. About 17% of Greeks over 60 are unvaccinated despite various efforts to prod them to get their shots, and nine in 10 Greeks currently dying of COVID-19 are over 60.

I don't care whether the measure will cost me some extra votes in the elections, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Wednesday after lawmakers passed the measure. I am convinced that we are doing the right thing, and I am convinced that this policy will save lives."

NETHERLANDS

Weekly protests in the Netherlands over the country's 5 pm lockdown and other new restrictions have descended into violence, despite what appears to be overwhelming acceptance of the rules.

In the Netherlands, where the curfew went into effect last week, mounted police patrol to break up demonstrations against the new lockdown, which is among the world's strictest. But most people appeared resigned to rush through errands and head home. The only thing we can do is to listen to the rules, follow them and hope it's not getting worse. For me, it's no problem. I'm a nurse. I know how sick people get," said Wilma van Kampen.

UK

I know the frustration that we all feel with this omicron variant, the sense of exhaustion that we could be going through this all over again, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday, two days after the government announced that masks would be mandatory again in stores and on public transportation and required all visitors from abroad to undergo a COVID-19 test and quarantine.

We're trying to take a balanced and proportioned approach. People need normality. They need families, they need to see people, obviously safely, socially distancing, but I really think, this Christmas now, people have had enough, said Belinda Storey, who runs a stall at a Christmas market in Nottingham, England.

SLOVAKIA

Employing a carrot instead of a stick, Slovakia's government is proposing to give people 60 and older a 500-euro ($568) bonus if they get vaccinated.

ISRAEL

In Israel, the government this week approved resuming the use of a controversial phone-monitoring technology to perform contact tracing of people confirmed to have the omicron variant.

Israeli rights groups have decried the use of the technology as a violation of privacy rights, and others have noted that its accuracy in indoor places is flawed, leading to large numbers of people being wrongly flagged. The Supreme Court earlier this year issued a ruling limiting its use.

We need to use this tool in extreme situations, and I am not convinced we are in that kind of situation, Justice Minister Gideon Saar told Israeli public broadcaster Kan this week.

SOUTH AFRICA

In South Africa, whose researchers identified the omicron variant, previous restrictions included curfews and a ban on alcohol sales. This time, President Cyril Ramaphosa is simply calling on more people to get vaccines "to help restore the social freedoms we all yearn for".

US

In the US, there is little appetite in either political party for a return to lockdowns or strict contact tracing. Enforcing even simple measures like mask-wearing has become a political flashpoint. And Republicans are suing to block the Biden administration's new get-vaccinated-or-get-tested requirement for large employers.

President Joe Biden, whose political fate may well hinge on controlling the pandemic, has used a combination of pressure and urgent appeals to induce people to get their first shots or a booster.

Also, the administration is working toward requiring that all air travellers to the US be tested within a day before boarding their flight, instead of the current three days. But Biden has said the US will fight COVID-19 and the new variant not with shutdowns or lockdowns but with more widespread vaccinations, boosters, testing, and more.

"If people are vaccinated and wear their masks, there's no need for the lockdowns, he added. The rise of the new variant makes little difference to Mark Christensen, a grain buyer for an ethanol plant in Nebraska. He rejects any vaccination mandate and doesn't understand why it would be needed. In any event, he said, most businesses in his corner of the state are too small to fall under the regulations. If they were just encouraging me to take it, that's one thing,'' Christensen said. But I believe in freedom of choice, not decisions by force.

CHILE

Chile has taken a harder line since the emergence of omicron: People over 18 must receive a booster dose every six months to keep their pass that allows access to restaurants, hotels and public gatherings. And Chile never dropped its requirement to wear masks in public, probably the most common renewed restriction around the world.

Dr Madhukar Pai, of McGill University's School of Population and Public Health, said that masks are an easy and pain-free way of keeping transmission down, but that cheap, at-home tests need to be much more widespread, in both rich and poor countries.

He said both approaches give people a sense of control over their own behavior that is lost with a lockdown and make it easier to accept the need to do things like cancel a party or stay inside. Pai said requiring boosters universally, as is essentially the case in Israel, Chile and many countries in Europe, including France, will only prolong the pandemic by making it harder to get first doses to the developing world. That raises the odds of still more variants.

Lockdowns, he said, should be the very last choice. Lockdowns only come up when a system is failing," he said. "We do it when the hospital system is about to collapse. It's the last resort that indicates you have failed to do all the right things."

CHINA

That's not how lockdowns are seen in communist China, which allows little dissent. At each new outbreak, entire cities are sealed, and sometimes millions of people undergo mass testing. In the strictest lockdowns, people are forbidden to leave their homes, and groceries are brought to their door.

So far, China hasn't seen the need for new restrictions in response to the omicron variant. The head of China's Centre for Disease Control's Epidemiology unit, Wu Zunyou, said omicron, for now, poses a manageable threat, and no matter what variant, our public health measures are effective.

Live TV
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 2)  As the new year begins, hospitals say they are looking at another possible surge of COVID-19 cases.

At the Santa Ana Hospital, one of Manila's COVID-19 referral facilities, Dr. Grace Hermoso-Padilla said their medical facility has seen a 30% rise in the recent number of COVID patients.

"I would say na surge na talaga 'to. Yung influx ng pasyente natin sa emergency room. Yung mga nag-test ng positive ay talagang mataas. Prepared naman ang Sta. Ana Hospital as well as other city hospitals of Manila," says Hermoso-Padilla.

[Translation: I would say that we are already experiencing a surge. Theres an influx of patients in our emergency rooms. Our positivity rate is high. But Sta. Ana Hospital is prepared as well as other hospitals in Manila.]

The San Lazaro Hospital, meanwhile, has recorded 15 daily cases in the past few days.

"We noticed a gradual increase in the number of cases. Most of our cases naman are moderate to severe. We are not expecting a very high number of cases yet. Most of those having symptoms are usually mild," says Solante.

Private facilities like St. Luke's Hospitals say they are experiencing an influx of cases, but that most of them are mild.

"At certain times of the day, we've had like 50 to 70 patients coming in for COVID. We test them and although the positivity rate can go as high as 50% of the ones tested in the ER, they are mostly mild and very few are moderate to severe," says St. Luke's Medical Center Chief Medical Officer and Vice President Dr. Benjamin Campomanes.

Starting Monday, Metro Manila will once again be placed under Alert Level 3, with adjacent provinces likely to follow soon.

In a text message, Gov. Jonvic Remulla said they were averaging 100 cases per day, prompting the provincial government to place Cavite under Alert Level 3 on Wednesday.

"We are meeting tomorrow to prepare the elevation of our Alert Level to 3 beginning January 5. Our cases were averaging 5 per day 2 weeks ago. We breached the 100 per day mark already. We will have to arrest the skid," says Remulla.
(CNN)  Warren Buffett, the ninth-richest person on the planet, says it's not up to him to settle a strike by 450 steelworkers at a company he owns.

Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote a letter to the Berkshire Hathaway CEO, requesting that he intervene in a United Steelworkers union strike at the Special Metals plant in Huntington, West Virginia. They've been on strike for three months. Special Metals is a unit of Precision Castparts, which is owned by Buffett's Berkshire.

"At a time when this company and Berkshire Hathaway are both doing very well, there is no reason why workers employed by you should be worrying about whether they will be able to feed their children or have health care," Sanders wrote. "There is no reason why the standard of living of these hard working Americans should decline. I know that you and Berkshire Hathaway can do better than that,"

His letter said employees were offered a contract with no pay raise the first year, only a $2,000 signing bonus, and then pay increases of 1% the second year and 2% a year the following three years. It said the company wants to raise the cost of health coverage for workers from $275 a month to $1,000. And it reduced vacation time they have already accrued.

Sanders called the offer "outrageous and insulting."

But Buffett responded with a letter quoting Berkshire's annual financial filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which tells investors that the management of its different companies is left up to the executives at each subsidiary -- not Berkshire itself (or Buffett).

"Our companies deal individually with their own labor and personnel decisions (except for the selection of the CEO)," he said in his response to Sanders, which was released by Sanders' office. "I'm passing along your letter to the CEO of Precision Castparts, but making no recommendations to him as to any action. He is responsible for his business."

Unlike many other of the nation's richest people, Buffett has positioned himself as someone concerned workers and income inequality. He has called for higher taxes on the rich and pledged to give away most of his fortune, which now stands at just over $100 billion according to a real time billionaire tracker by Forbes. Buffett doesn't have the anti-union reputation of many other billionaires, such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos or Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who have both battled with union organizing efforts.

Buffett's letter to Sanders cites several examples of unionized subsidiaries of his company, incuding NetJets and See's Candy. And Sanders letter plays on an appeal to Buffett to live up to his expressed concerns about income inequality.

"Mr. Buffett: You have spoken out eloquently on the crisis our country now faces in terms of growing income and wealth inequality. You have correctly pointed out that, while working families struggle, the top one percent is doing extremely well," Sanders wrote.

The Special Metals strike

Special Metals makes nickel alloy metals essential to space crafts and airplanes. Berkshire purchased Precision Castparts in 2016 for $37.2 billion. Berkshire reported that Precision Castparts reported revenue of $1.6 billion in the third quarter, and that its third quarter profit was up $217 million from the third quarter of 2020, although it did not state how much its profit in the quarter came to. Berkshire reported that its overall income of $10.3 billion in the quarter and $50.1 billion in the first nine months of the year.

A video posted on the United Steelworkers union web site quoted strikers as saying that Special Metals has continued to operate, though it doesn't say whether it is using temporary workers, permanent replacement workers or salaried staff to man the factory.

"If I were a customer out there, I wouldn't want something I know a bunch of scabs produced, because they don't know what's going on," said union member Steve Brumfield in the union video.

The number of strikes have been increasing in recent months as unions and rank and file members have been unwilling to accept the concession contracts they sometimes accepted in the past, especially in light of a record number of job openings in the labor market, and the difficulty many employers are having finding skilled workers to fill job openings.

The communications department for Precision Castparts issued a statement saying its "desire is to achieve a respectful and productive relationship with our employees, and we have ultimately achieved that goal in previous contract negotiations over many years." It said it has and "will continue to bargain in good faith" with the union. It did not answer questions about the reported offer to the union or how it has been able to operate, and plans to keep operating, if the strike continues.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Bernie Sanders: Pay your workers better. Warren Buffett: That's not my job."
(CNN) -- Prince Andrew has been asked to provide documents proving his "alleged medical inability to sweat" in a court filing by attorneys for Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who has accused the royal of sexual assault in a US civil lawsuit.

In the court document filed Thursday, Giuffre's attorneys also ask for any documents relating to anyone Andrew met at a Pizza Express restaurant in Woking, England, or at Club Tramp nightclub in London, and to his travel to and from those places.

In her lawsuit, Giuffre alleges she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and forced to have sex with his friends -- including the prince -- and that Andrew was aware she was underage (17) in the US. Prince Andrew strongly denies the allegations.

In a BBC interview in 2019, Andrew said he had taken his elder daughter to a party at a pizza restaurant on the night in 2001 when it is alleged that he had sex with Giuffre. He also said in the interview that for many years he could not sweat, countering the allegations made by Giuffre that he was sweating profusely before they had sex in London when she was 17.

"I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady," he said of Giuffre.

In claims made prior to filing her lawsuit, Giuffre alleges that in 2001 Epstein brought her to London, where she was introduced to Prince Andrew and went dancing at a nightclub with Epstein, his then-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell and the prince.

In a BBC interview also broadcast in 2019, Giuffre said she had been taken to the Tramp nightclub where, Giuffre alleged, Andrew asked her to dance and was "sweating all over me."

Giuffre's attorneys have also demanded any documents concerning Andrew's travel to or from, or presence in, Epstein's planes, Florida, New York, New Mexico and the United States Virgin Islands, according to their filing Thursday, as well as documents relating to "all gifts or other things of value" received by Andrew from Epstein or Maxwell "including but not limited to puppets."

"If Prince Andrew truly has no documents concerning his communications with Maxwell or Epstein, his travel to Florida, New York, or various locations in London, his alleged medical inability to sweat, or anything that would support the alibis he gave during his BBC interview, then continuing with discovery will not be burdensome to him at all," the filing said.

Oral arguments in the case are set for January 4, where attorneys for the 61-year-old prince are expected to argue for the lawsuit's dismissal.

Andrew's legal team claimed in a motion filed Tuesday that the court does not have jurisdiction over the case. Giuffre's attorneys said the motion "lacks any basis in law or fact" and urged the court to deny it, according to the Thursday court filing. The judge denied the motion on Friday.

US judges have also ruled that a confidential 2009 settlement agreement between Epstein and Giuffre, which may have also referenced Prince Andrew, should be released publicly next week.

Maxwell, a British socialite, was found guilty by a New York jury Wednesday on five counts relating to her role in Epstein's sexual abuse of minor girls.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Virginia Giuffre's lawyers demand proof that Prince Andrew can't sweat"
(CNN) -- An unidentified person has crossed the heavily militarized border from South Korea into North Korea, the South Korean military said on Sunday.

The unidentified person was spotted by the South Korean military at the eastern front of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) at around 9:20 p.m. local time on Saturday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. The person was detected with the use of a thermal observation device.

The JCS said troops were dispatched but they were unable to find the person, who crossed the Military Demarcation Line into North Korea at around 10:40 p.m.

A military official said security cameras had earlier captured the person climbing a barbed wire fence at around 6:40 p.m. Saturday, but the guard on CCTV duty had missed it.

The unidentified person was spotted by South Korean military at the east front of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) at around 9:20 p.m. local time on Saturday, the JCS said. The person was seen with the use of a thermal observation device.

The military official said they were currently working to identify the person and that it is unknown whether the person was still alive.

North Korean state media has not reported on any crossings over the DMZ overnight.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "An unidentified person crossed the heavily militarized border from South Korea into North Korea"
Chinese astronauts, students in space-Earth talk on New Year's Day

EditorChen Zhuo Time2022-01-02 22:07:11

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

BEIJING, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Three Chinese astronauts in space station Tiangong held a video chat with students in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao Saturday afternoon, the first day of 2022.

The live space-Earth talk was attended by around 500 young students at the three venues. The astronauts shared their space dream and aspirations.

Astronaut Zhai Zhigang, commander of the Shenzhou-13 mission, shared his experience with the young people and encouraged them to overcome difficulties and dangers.

"No matter how far we fly, the motherland is forever our strongest supporter. Love for the country always inspires us in space flights," Zhai said.

Astronaut Wang Yaping expressed hope that the live class from Tiangong could guide more young people to look up at the stars and plant the seeds of "loving science, pursuing dreams and exploring the unknown" in their hearts.

Wang earned the title of China's first space teacher after delivering a televised science lecture during the Shenzhou-10 space mission in June 2013. While in the Shenzhou-13 mission, she and the other two crew members also gave a lecture in Tiangong in December 2021.

As China's national space laboratory, the space station Tiangong is expected to play a unique role in encouraging the public, especially the youth, to explore space and carry forward the scientific spirit.

"Despite being weightless in space, we feel firmly grounded at heart," said astronaut Ye Guangfu, a newcomer to space.

With the support of space professionals, painstaking trainings, and valuable experience from aerospace predecessors, Ye said that they have the confidence, determination and ability to accomplish the mission.

Tan Zuwei, student of the School of Aerospace Engineering of Tsinghua University, felt deeply impressed by the astronauts' passion for their dreams and the space cause. He said he was inspired by their spirit and would contribute to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Zhou Ting, a medical student from the University of Hong Kong (HKU), felt lucky to pose her question to the astronauts. "As a would-be doctor, I have been confronted with harsh study and work, and I sometimes thought of giving up. But the astronauts have given me the courage to carry on."

Qian Chunzheng, a freshman from the Macao University of Science and Technology (MUST), said that he felt the care of the motherland for students in Hong Kong and Macao, and the development and progress of the country's space cause. All this has enhanced their sense of pride and duty to the country.

"As we have our own space station right now, I believe that in the future, Chinese people will surely step further into deep space. As a student in Macao, I hope to contribute to the country's space cause one day," Qian added.

"Today's event is a great gift sent to Hong Kong by our motherland. We are cheered up!" said Yeung Wai-Kwok, an HKU professor, adding that Hong Kong youth are expected to be down to earth, study hard, innovate and pursue dreams bravely, so as to become "stars" in the country's space exploration.

A series of activities held in Hong Kong and Macao fully demonstrated the care from the central government. Young people in Hong Kong and Macao have realized that there is a vast space for them to bring their talents into full play, said Zhang Keke, head of the State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences based at the MUST.

During the video talk, the trio also showed the people on the ground around a painting exhibition in the space station. Around 20 paintings drawn by teenagers from central and western China were displayed in the exhibition.

Prior to the talk, Cheng Tangming, chief designer of the Long March-7 carrier rocket system, answered questions from the students, and shared with them touching stories of how scientific researchers defeated difficulties and pioneered innovations.

"I feel very honored to be able to participate in this event, and I hope to do my part to contribute to students' space dream and help them build up confidence in the country's self-reliance in innovation," said Cheng.

The activity, co-hosted by the Hong Kong SAR government, the Macao SAR government, the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong SAR, the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Macao SAR, the China Manned Space Agency and the China Media Group, was broadcast live.

The three astronauts went into space onboard the Shenzhou-13 spaceship and entered the space station on Oct. 16, embarking on the country's longest crewed mission for space station construction.

According to the plan, China will complete by 2022 construction of the country's space station, which is expected to support long-term and consecutive manned stay. Crew rotation will be done in-orbit.

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in south China's Macao. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

A college student raises a question while participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in south China's Hong Kong. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in south China's Hong Kong. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

Space experts answer questions from college students while participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

A college student raises a question while participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in south China's Macao, Jan. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in south China's Macao. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in south China's Hong Kong. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in south China's Hong Kong. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in south China's Macao. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

College students pose for a group photo while participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in south China's Hong Kong. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

Photo taken in Beijing, capital of China, on Jan. 1, 2022 shows a screen displaying a painting exhibition held in space station Tiangong during a live space-Earth talk between Chinese astronauts and students in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao. Three Chinese astronauts in space station Tiangong held a video chat with students in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao Saturday afternoon, the first day of 2022. The live space-Earth talk was attended by around 500 young students at the three venues. The astronauts shared their space dream and aspirations. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Photo taken in Beijing, capital of China, on Jan. 1, 2022 shows a screen displaying a painting exhibition held in space station Tiangong during a live space-Earth talk between Chinese astronauts and students in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao. Three Chinese astronauts in space station Tiangong held a video chat with students in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao Saturday afternoon, the first day of 2022. The live space-Earth talk was attended by around 500 young students at the three venues. The astronauts shared their space dream and aspirations. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Photo taken in Beijing, capital of China, on Jan. 1, 2022 shows a screen displaying a painting exhibition held in space station Tiangong during a live space-Earth talk between Chinese astronauts and students in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao. Three Chinese astronauts in space station Tiangong held a video chat with students in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao Saturday afternoon, the first day of 2022. The live space-Earth talk was attended by around 500 young students at the three venues. The astronauts shared their space dream and aspirations. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)
(CNN)  The Untied States kicked off 2022 amid a massive COVID-19 case spike  driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant  that some experts warn will be different than any other time in the pandemic.

"What we have to understand is that our health system is at a very different place than we were in previous surges," professor of emergency medicine Dr. Esther Choo told CNN on Saturday. "We have extremely high numbers of just lost healthcare workers. We've lost at least 20% of our healthcare workforce, probably more."

"This strain is so infectious," Choo added, "that I think all of us know many, many colleagues who are currently infected or have symptoms and are under quarantine."

The high number of healthcare staff out with the virus will also have an impact on Americans' doctors appointments and could make for dangerous circumstances when people are hospitalized with COVID-19, Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of Baylor University's National School of Tropical Medicine, said Friday.

"That's a different type of one-two punch: people going into the hospitals, [....] and all of the healthcare workers are out of the workforce," he told CNN.

But the latest variant isn't just shrinking healthcare staff numbers. As the virus spreads like wildfire across American communities, staffing problems are already altering parts of daily life.

Plagued with staffing issues, New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced last week several subway lines were suspended.

In Ohio, the mayor of Cincinnati declared a state of emergency due to staffing shortages in the city's fire department following a rise in COVID-19 infections, saying in the declaration that if the problem goes unaddressed, it would "substantially undermine" first responders' readiness levels.

And in the middle of a busy holiday season, thousands of flights have been canceled or delayed as staff and crew call out sick.

"We're seeing a surge in patients again, unprecedented in this pandemic," Dr. James Phillips, chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University Hospital, warned on Saturday. "What's coming for the rest of the country could be very serious and they need to be prepared."

Vast majority of patients still the unvaccinated, expert says

Health care workers on the front lines of the pandemic say that unvaccinated Americans continue to drive COVID-19 hospitalizations in the latest surge, much like the summer spike, when the Delta variant was ravaging parts of the country.

Despite a year of calls from public health experts to get vaccinated  and now boosted  only about 62% of the US population is fully vaccinated, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And about 33.4% of those who are fully vaccinated have received their booster doses, the data shows.

"If you're unvaccinated, that's the group still at highest risk," Dr. William Schaffner, a professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told CNN Saturday. "The adults that are being admitted to my institution, the vast majority continue to be unvaccinated."

Dr. Catherine O'Neal, the chief medical officer at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said their facility has seen hospital admissions and emergency department visits triple in the past week.

"What we're seeing is that... our vaccinated patients aren't getting sick and our frail, multiple co-morbidities vaccinated patients do need admission; but their admissions are shorter and they [are] able to leave the hospital after several days," O'Neal said. "Our unvaccinated patients are the sickest patients, they [are] the patients most likely to be on the ventilator."

The hospital is stretched so thin by the surging numbers; they're concerned they may not be able to "take care of patients the way we want to take care of them by tomorrow," O'Neal added.

"We're running out of tests; we're running out of room; we're inundated in the ER," she added.

Three large Georgia school districts return to remote classes

Child hospitalizations have also jumped, with some hospitals reporting some of the highest numbers they've seen since the pandemic's start.

An average of 378 children were admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 on any given day over the week that ended December 28, according to data published last week from the CDC and the US Department of Health and Human Services.

That's more than a 66% jump from the previous week  and breaks the country's previous record of an average of 342 children admitted to hospitals daily that was seen at the end of August and early September.

The virus is not specifically targeting children this time, Hotez told CNN on Saturday; but because more virus is now circulating in communities, it's more likely that more children will get infected as well.

And those pediatric numbers are about to get worse as schools reopen, Hotez added, especially in areas of high transmission.

"It may be the case that in some school districts, where things are so raging right now in terms of Omicron for the next couple of weeks, and it may be prudent to delay things a couple more weeks," Hotez said. "It's going to be a very challenging time. People are going to have to be patient."

In Georgia, three large Atlanta-area school districts will be starting class remotely.

Atlanta Public Schools (APS) announced all district schools will operate virtually through January 7 for all students and staff, citing the surging cases.

"Due to the rapid rise in positive cases in the metro Atlanta area, students will begin virtual classes Tuesday, Jan. 4 through Friday, Jan. 7," a statement on Saturday said.

"Our current plan is to resume in-person instruction on Monday, Jan. 10," it added. "All APS staff are required to report to their work location Monday, Jan. 3 for mandatory COVID-19 surveillance testing, unless they are ill. The data collected from staff testing will be used for future planning."

The move, APS said, will allow students and staff to be tested and to isolate and quarantine as needed per the CDC's and health department's guidelines.

Fulton County Schools and DeKalb County Schools also announced Saturday they are starting online as students return to classes after the holiday break.

This story was first published on CNN.com "One important -- and dangerous -- way the Omicron surge is different than previous surges in the US"
HARRISBURG  Lou Barletta, an illegal-immigration hawk and former congressman running for governor, said Wednesday he would take a harder line against the federal government's yearslong practice of bringing unaccompanied minors found by the Border Patrol to various facilities in Pennsylvania and other states.

Some Republican governors have protested the practice this year and are looking for ways to block it in their states.

In the past decade, the number of unaccompanied children found at the border has jumped dramatically, expanding the need for the federal government to place the children throughout the United States while they pursue their cases in backlogged immigration courts.

Barletta, a Republican vying for the partys nomination in a big primary field, said he would stop the practice in cases where the state doesn't know the medical and criminal backgrounds of the minors, who must be 17 or under to be in the resettlement program.

It would stop when Im governor of Pennsylvania because I also recognize the danger and the risks of putting people into our schools without having any idea what the background of that person is, Barletta said in an interview.

Barletta pointed to a newly unveiled platform by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as something he supports.

One aspect is legislation to prohibit state and local agencies from doing business with any private entities that facilitate the resettlement of illegal aliens from the southern border. Another is a regulation that prohibits the licensing of agencies that provide services to unaccompanied migrant children unless the state consents to it.

Weeks earlier, DeSantis highlighted reports that the 24-year-old suspect in a stabbing death posed as a teenager at the border in order to cross as an unaccompanied minor.

Barletta also said he would refuse to allow the migrant children into Pennsylvania schools, unless they met vaccine requirements that apply to all students.

In recent weeks, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services flew migrant children into Wilkes-Barre-Scranton International Airport, the agency said late Tuesday. Its statement followed days of inaccurate reports by local politicians and others about the flights.

The department has released little other information about the minors, prompting protests from Barletta about the department's lack of disclosure and silence about it from Gov. Tom Wolf.

More flights are scheduled to arrive at the airport Thursday and Friday, Barletta said.

Wolf, a Democrat who's constitutionally barred from running for another term, hasn't objected to the flights or the department's practices. In a statement, Wolf's office said immigration questions should be directed to the federal government and suggested that Barletta and others are pulling a political PR stunt.

Still, the flights are not unusual.

The department's Office of Refugee Resettlement has housed more than 350,000 of the migrant children across the country and in every state in the past seven years, according to its figures.

More than 5,800 of them came to Pennsylvania, spanning the presidential administrations of Democrat Barack Obama, Republican Donald Trump and now Democrat Joe Biden.

In South Carolina, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster banned foster care and group homes there from taking in migrant children.

One of Barletta's complaints  that states dont know enough about the migrant children being brought there  echo those of DeSantis and Republican officeholders in Tennessee. There, Republican Gov. Bill Lee refused a request by the Biden administration to house migrant children in Tennessee National Guard facilities.

Children are typically released to sponsors, usually parents or close relatives, and aided by local charitable organizations.

While in the department's custody, the children receive vaccinations under a catch-up schedule for those who are behind and sponsors are given a copy of the childs medical and immunization records compiled during their time in custody, the department said. They are tested and vaccinated for COVID-19, it said.

As mayor of Hazleton for more than a decade, Barletta gained national prominence for accusing the federal government of failing to enforce immigration laws.

Barletta said his experience on the House Homeland Security Committee taught him that U.S. border authorities dont have the time or resources to thoroughly investigate migrant children's backgrounds.

"You literally do not know who that person is or what their background is, or their age, so if they say theyre a minor, we don't really know if theyre a minor, Barletta said.

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For decades, people attending the Pennsylvania Farm Show have taken such basic health precautions as wearing warm clothing and washing their hands before eating. In this era of COVID-19 and its variants, they need to do more.

More than any time during the pandemic, we are in uncertain times, said Dr. Mohammad Ali, infection disease specialist at Penn State Health Holy Spirit Medical Center and Hampden Medical Center. This omicron variant has a doubling time of 2 days.

The 106th Pennsylvania Farm Show opens Saturday and runs through Jan. 15 at the Farm Show Complex at Cameron and Maclay streets in Harrisburg. Admission is free but parking is $15.

Last years Farm Show, a virtual event, lacked the food and fun of the in-person event. This year, what is billed as the nations largest indoor agricultural show will be held in the 24-acre complex during a time when more than 70% of Pennsylvanian adults are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 yet the omicron variant is running rampant.

Ali is concerned.

Weve had the pandemic for two years, he said, and people have COVID fatigue. They want to do things like go to the Farm Show. They dont want to suspend their regular lives. Yet even though the omicron variant causes less severe illness, an explosion of it could really tax the already overworked health care system.

Ali said that before going to the Farm Show, people should do a risk assessment to see how vulnerable they are to getting COVID-19. If they have symptoms  which can mimic flu and cold symptoms  they should be tested to find out if they have COVID. Not everyone should attend the Farm Show, he said.

The unvaccinated should not go to the Farm Show or to any big public function held indoors, he said, because the chance of getting COVID is high. If you havent had two vaccination shots, you shouldnt go either. Even people who have had two Moderna or Pfizer vaccines could have a breakthrough infection.

He said that people who had two COVID-19 vaccinations and a booster shot are protected against getting a severe infection or being hospitalized. He said they could attend the Farm Show if they wear a good mask, which he defined as an N95, KN95 or KF94.

These types of masks are better than surgical or cloth masks at filtering out 95% of particles, Ali said. COVID-19 is an airborne disease and these masks filter out particles in the air.

Some people should not attend the Farm Show no matter how much they want to, the doctor said.

Even if youre vaccinated, if you have high-risk factors, its not a good idea to go, he said. Were still in a dangerous time. Omicron could cause billions of infections around the world. You cant take all the precautions all the time. So if you shouldnt attend but know someone who is going, have that person bring you some Farm Show food home.

People who opt to go to the Farm Show should wear masks, Ali said, although Gov. Tom Wolf has said he doesnt plan to make masks mandatory at the Farm Show. Farm Show Complex employees and other state employees have been required to wear masks in all indoor settings since Wolf ordered that in August.

If you havent had your second shot, get it, Ali said. If you havent had your booster shot, get it. And if you cant get any of the N95 masks, wear two of the other kinds of masks, surgical or cloth.

Those who do attend can visit the state Health Department booth for free flu and COVID-19 vaccines.

Ali said that Farm Show visitors should not remove their masks, especially if theyre in crowded areas. He suggests buying Farm Show food to take home to eat rather than eating in the usually crowded Food Court.

Asked if he would attend the show, Ali answered with a resounding no. I would not go to the Farm Show this year, even though I am vaccinated and boostered. Theres too many people under one roof.
WILLIAMSBURG, Va.  An appropriately picturesque walking bridge connects the Visitors Center at Colonial Williamsburg to the meticulously recreated historic site about a mile away. And every step along it is a step backward into our tangled, jumbled, and often painful history as a nation.

At regularly spaced intervals, plaques set into the concrete remind you that in the not-too-distant past, there was no television and long-distance travel was onerous and difficult. That until 1920, women were denied the right to vote, and until 1865, you knew someone who owned another human being. In 1776, you were still subject to the whims of a king an ocean away.

As I walked that bridge for the first time a few days ago, I was struck by the notion that the simple poetry of those bronze plaques reflected the arc of the nation  always moving forward, even if sometimes bumptiously, expanding the rights of our fellow citizens, even if that progress was irregular and always long overdue. To come to Williamsburg is to be reminded of the optimism of the American experiment, and to remember that the work of creating a more perfect union is always ongoing.

It occurred to me that, for the first time in my lifetime, there are forces afoot, real and palpable, that are working to turn back the clock on all those hard-won gains.

That battle has unspooled in public school classrooms, waged by people who misguidedly want to preserve a very specific version of our national story, one that prioritizes white and privileged voices over those who have been marginalized for too long. But to do that is to defy the reality of history. Its impossible to tell the full American story without including the voices of its native people, the enslaved and formerly enslaved, upon whose backs the country was painfully brought to life.

That battle has also moved into our courtrooms, before a U.S. Supreme Court that seems perfectly ready to strip bodily autonomy from half our population. And in the doing of it, turn back the clock a half-century to a horrifying era where people who can get pregnant went to deadly lengths to assert control over their own futures.

As those brass plaques along the bridge make clear, we were once a nation that celebrated science. One particularly makes note of Thomas Edison helping to bring the nation out of darkness in 1879, by building his first light bulb. Nearly a century-and-a-half on, the president of the United States pleaded with the American people this week to follow basic science and get vaccinated against a virus that has so far killed more than 800,000 of their fellow citizens.

We see it in attacks on voting rights and the legitimacy of our elections.

In Washington, though he lacks the votes to change the filibuster, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he planned to take up a voting rights bill during the first week of January. Schumer also threatened rules changes if the chambers Republicans continued their resistance. But its hard to say how far Schumer might go, given that two of his fellow Democrats, Joe Manchin, of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema, of Arizona, remain opposed to such changes.

Meanwhile, the myth of the stolen election and the rise of the far-right, which is extending its reach into local offices with oversight of elections, continues unabated. And a former president continues to spread the fiction that he won the 2020 election, despite clear evidence to the contrary. Worse, hes been abetted by many of his fellow Republicans.

The destructive effect of this sustained attack on the underpinnings of our republic isnt academic. One expert in foreign civil wars is warning that the United States is closer to civil war than any of us would like to believe. Indeed, things have deteriorated so badly over the last five years that the country no longer technically qualifies as a democracy, according to The Washington Posts Dana Milbank, citing research by University of California at San Diego political science professor Barbara F. Walter, who serves on a CIA advisory panel called the Political Instability Task Force.

Instead, the country is now an anocracy, which puts it somewhere between a democracy and an autocratic state, according to Walter.

It sounds cliche to say it, but were at a tipping point as a nation. And as we head into a new year, with a contentious campaign season ahead, every choice we make as a country in the 12 months to come will reverberate into history.

Theres a final plaque set into the concrete on the return leg to the Visitors Center. The question it asks is as simple as it is towering in the challenge it poses: What difference will you make?

The answer has never been more important.

John L. Micek is editor-in-chief of the Pennsylvania Capital-Star in Harrisburg. Email him at jmicek@penncapital-star.com.

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A week before Christmas, on a Friday evening, the 40,000th organ transplant of the year took place in an operating room somewhere in the United States. It was a landmark year for organ donation, a national operation overseen by the Richmond-based United Network for Organ Sharing.

Earlier in December, the U.S. broke its own single-year record, set in 2019, when roughly 39,700 were completed. When the month ended, and the calendar shifted to 2022, last years total was expected to land around 41,500  or 114 transplants per day.

No other country implants as many organs into the bodies of needy patients as the U.S.

A thousand little victories led to breaking the record, said Brian Shepard, CEO for UNOS. Those victories include a constantly improving algorithm that selects the best recipient for each organ, new data-monitoring tools that show how well hospitals and organ procurement organizations are faring, and new medicines that allow more organs to become available.

UNOS could not specifically identify the 40,000th transplant, because its database does not populate in the exact order the transplants took place.

When an organ becomes available for transplant, the UNOS algorithm determines its recipient. The algorithm considers medical and logistical factors, including how long the recipient can live without a transplant and how likely he or she is to prosper with a new organ. Celebrity status, income and insurance status are not considered.

The first organ successfully transplanted in the U.S. was a kidney in 1954. For the next 30 years, organ transplants often began and ended in the same hospital. If a suitable recipient couldnt be found nearby, the organ was discarded. Later, regional networks formed to match donors with recipients in nearby cities.

In 1984, Congress called for a single, private nonprofit organization to oversee transplantation across the country, and Richmonds network won the federal contract. Every five years, UNOS reapplies for the contract, and it has won each time. There are approximately 415 local employees in its Richmond headquarters on North Fourth Street.

For nearly a decade, the number of transplants conducted nationwide plateaued around 28,000. There was almost no growth from 2004 to 2012.

Then in 2013, the number began to climb upward, and it grew for seven straight years until the pandemic. Since 2013, the number of organ transplants in the U.S. has shot up nearly 50%.

But COVID-19 derailed organ transplants for about six weeks in 2020, Shepard said, when the number of transplants cratered 50%. It was worse in other countries, he said, where some dips were as bad as 80% or 90% and lasted for months.

About 80% of organ transplants come from deceased donors, and those surgeries cant be put off. Theres a limited amount of time an organ can survive without a living host, and many recipients wont survive long without their new organs. So after a brief pause, transplants resumed during the pandemic.

The number of living-donor transplants, which account for the other 20%, did decline in 2020 and 2021. During the first year of the pandemic, all hospital visits took a sharp downturn as people feared contracting the virus inside medical facilities.

New data tools

The increased number of transplants can be traced to a number of small improvements. UNOS is always tweaking its algorithm to make it more equitable and more efficient, Shepard said. A 44-person board oversees and approves changes to it.

UNOS began compiling data on every hospital that transplants organs and every organ procurement organization  there are 57 of them nationwide, and they arrange surgeries when a donor is near death and capable of donating. In some cases, they also deliver the organ to its destination. The organizations peer review one another to identify shortcomings.

UNOS also keeps track of the number of waitlisted patients receiving their organs and which hospitals have more patients dying before their organs arrive.

One dashboard at UNOS disposal shows what happens to the organs a hospital has declined and whether another hospital successfully used that organ. If a particular hospital or doctor is being too selective, waiting for a younger organ or an organ from a healthier donor, the data shows it.

UNOS also knows how likely a waitlisted patient will survive without an organ, quantifying a patients need.

There are new tools on the way, too. UNOS is working on a dashboard that predicts the likelihood a hospital will receive an organ of similar quality and the likelihood the patient will live long enough to receive it.

Whenever an organ becomes available, a hospital must choose to accept it or reject it and wait for another. UNOS data is taking some of the guesswork out of that decision.

Taking better pictures of organs is on the horizon, too. Currently, surgeons often drive to the hospital where the organ is to inspect it and determine its suitability. If the doctor chooses the organ, he or she often flies or drives it back to the other hospital. Seeing the organ digitally allows for a quicker decision-making process.

New medicine has made more organs available, too. In the past, a donor with hepatitis could not donate his or her organs until the hepatitis was treated. Now, its easier to take the organ and treat the hepatitis in the recipient.

The general supply has increased, too. A little more than half of American adults are on the donor registry, Shepard said.

Recently, the opioid epidemic, which is blamed for 50,000 deaths in 2019 alone, has slightly increased the number of organs available. But overdose deaths make up only a percentage of the increase, Shepard said. The number of motor vehicle deaths is flat compared to previous years, and people who had COVID-19 at the time of their death are not eligible to donate.

As much as any new technological development, the record number of transplants is also attributed to the families deciding to help someone else, often at the worst possible moment, Shepard said.

Thats what makes all this work possible, he added.

Lung transplants to treat COVID-19

The kidney is the most transplanted organ, accounting for a little more than half of all organ transplants in 2020, followed by the liver, heart and lungs, according to UNOS data. Transplants of the pancreas and intestines, while rare, also occur.

In 2020, there were 224 lung transplants due to COVID-19, representing about 10% of all lung transplants. Transplants were a relatively rare treatment for COVID, because in most cases, COVID inflicts damage on multiple organs. Only in the rare case where a patients other organs are healthy can a patient receive a lung transplant.

The second person in the country to receive a COVID-caused double lung transplant was Powhatan County resident R.J. Redstrom, who received his new lungs in the fall of 2020. He spent a month recovering at University of Virginia Health. Now, he runs at least 3 miles a week at the track at Powhatan High School. His strength and his weight have come back, though hes not running as fast as he used to, he said.

But many who are waiting never receive their organs. Each day, there are about 110 patients waiting for a new organ, and 30 of them leave the list because they die or become too sick for a transplant.

The average wait for a kidney is three to four years, Shepard said. Thanks to dialysis, many patients can wait that long. For other organs, however, the wait is much shorter, because most patients in need wont live long without new livers, hearts or lungs.

What consists of an organ transplant could be revolutionized in the years to come. This fall, doctors transplanted a kidney from a pig to a brain-dead human in an experiment. The pig had been specially bred to be an immunological match, and the body of the human, who died of other causes, was donated for the experiment.

And it was a success. The pigs kidney functioned on the human body, giving hope that animals could be bred for organ transplant in the future.

Theres hope for mechanical kidneys, too  essentially dialysis machines small enough to go inside the body. And researchers at Wake Forest are studying the development of new organs from a patients own stem cells.

We would love to go out of business because it wasnt necessary to match people with organs anymore, Shepard said. Until thats the case, well be here, and well be here in Richmond.

Twitter: @EricKolenich

(804) 649-6109
Peter Hoegg was the first one down the slide. The 78-year-old has been celebrating the beginning of a new year at the Osborn Aquatic Center for as long as the facility has had its Polar Brrr Swim celebration.

Hoegg went down the slide five times this year. He said hes hoping to be the oldest one out there.

I just like it, and I like going down the slide, he said. Hoegg said he also participates in the Polar Plunge each year, where participants run into Crystal Lake to raise money for Special Olympics Oregon.

While the aquatic centers event was not a fundraiser, couples and families showed up to the pool on Saturday afternoon to start their 2022 with a splash. The annual event is a big hit and a tradition for some like Hoegg.

But there were also some there for the first time.

CeeAnn Callahan and her husband John were first-timers this year. Callahan said this was a great way to kick off 2022.

Its good to try something different and to push yourself to try new things, she said.

Children as young as two years old went down the slide Saturday afternoon. Families gathered together, took photos with the polar bear mascot in attendance and cheered each other on as they came down the twisting slide.

The event has become a staple in the community and is a unique way to celebrate new beginnings.

It means a lot of things to different people, aquatic program coordinator Dawn Rhoads said. Its an opportunity for families to come together and be adventurous. And its an inclusive event for the community.

Rhoads added that the event wouldnt be possible if the staff hadnt shown up and worked on the holiday. She said it was amazing to see the lifeguards and other staff come out to make the event happen, especially with staffing shortages happening in many industries.

Those daring enough to brave the cold weather ran up the stairs to the slide, waited their turn and then emerged with a splash into the pool. The heated pool ensured that swimmers werent too cold when entering the water, but many shivered as they stepped into the frigid air.

Beth Thompson said her son Conor didnt seem to be fazed by the cold. The whole family came to watch Conor go down the slide. Thompson said her son had been looking forward to this New Years swim at the aquatic center since the summer.

After going down the slide one, two, even three times, community members went inside to use the indoor pool and spend the holiday with friends and family.

The Polar Brrr Swim made a triumphant return this year, and Hoegg is already looking towards the future.

Im going to keep coming back as long as I can, he said.

Maddie Pfeifer covers public safety for Mid-Valley Media. She can be contacted at 541-812-6091 or Madison.Pfeifer@lee.net. Follow her on Twitter via @maddiepfeifer_

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"The ability to organize the communities here is far better than in other places," says John Carmichael, a Canadian who has been living in China's Xi'an since 2018. Residents in Xi'an have been under lockdown for over a week due to a COVID-19 resurgence.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Eight Vietnamese artworks went under the hammer for millions of dollars at various international auction houses this year, marking increasing acknowledgement of artistic talent in the country.

Despite Covid-19 impacts on the global art market, Vietnamese artworks achieved significant success at international auctions this year.

From 2017, the first time a Vietnamese artwork fetched $1 million or more at an international auction, until 2020, there were only four pieces that achieved this milestone.

Artist Mai Trung Thu became a phenomenon after three of his paintings were sold for over $1 million each.

In particular, the 'Portrait of Mademoiselle Phuong' and 'Femme au Chapeau Conique le Long de la Riviere' (Young Woman With A Conical Hat By The River) fetched the two highest bids for Vietnamese paintings at $3.1 million and $1.57 million , respectively, in Hong Kong auctions.

'Portrait of Mademoiselle Phuong' and 'Femme au Chapeau Conique le Long de la Riviere by Mai Trung Thu. Photo courtesy of Sotheby's

Thu (1906-1980), devoted himself mainly to silk paintings and the two oil paintings that fetched record bids are rare works. Only seven are recorded to have appeared at auctions.

The 'Portrait of Mademoiselle Phuong,' a 135.5x71 cm oil on canvas work done in 1930, was sold at Sotheby's Auction House in April.

Fine arts researcher Ngo Kim Khoi described the 'Portrait of Mademoiselle Phuong' was the "Mona Lisa of Vietnam."

The Femme au Chapeau Conique le Long de la Riviere (Young Woman With A Conical Hat By The River) was also sold at an auction held by Sotheby's Hong Kong on Dec. 14. The work was created in 1937 during the artists last year in Vietnam, demonstrating his ability to combine painting techniques.

An outstanding silk painting by Thu, 'Choi Dan Nguyet' (Lady Playing a Nguyet Cam) fetched $1 million at Hong Kong's Bonhams auction in November.

Curator Yunwen Sung with the NUS (National University Of Singapore Centre For the Arts commented that the painting blends the artists training in Vietnam with his artistic adventures in Paris.

The work was displayed at the Trois Peintres Indochinois (The Three Indochinese Painters) exhibition at Henri Joly's gallery in Paris, December 1943.

Artists Pham Hau, Le Quoc Loc, and Le Pho also made their international mark with a series of million-dollar works.

Three lacquer paintings went under the hammer this year, making Hau the Vietnamese artist with the most million-dollar painting bids; with four artworks achieving that distinction.

Hoang Hon Vang Tren Vinh Ha Long by painter Pham Hau. Photo courtesy of Bonhams

Recently, his 'Hoang Hon Vang Tren Vinh Ha Long' (Golden Sunset Over Ha Long Bay) went under a Hong Kong hammer for around $1.25 million on the evening of Nov. 27.

The work was once owned by Vietnams last king, King Bao Dai (1913 - 1997) whod ordered some paintings by Hau for his personal collection and as gifts for politicians.

The painting was given to Pulitzer Prize-winning American Journalist Edgar Ansel Mowrer (1892-1977) in 1951, when he visited Vietnam.

In June, Haus lacquer paintings 'Thac Bo' (Landscapes with Junks) and 'Phong Canh Chua Thay' (View of a Famous Old Pagodas landscape in North Vietnam') were sold for $1 million each by French auction house Aguttes and Sotheby's Hong Kong.

The two paintings are large and wide screens, depicting the grandeur of vast natural landscapes.

The artist has used many layers of colors to create depth and balance. Strict about composition, he has combined the artistic style widely used in the Indochina Fine Arts School and mixing with Eastern and Western art.

The 'Paysage de Phnom Penh' (Landscape of Phnom Penh) by Painter Le Quoc Loc (1918 - 1987) was sold for $1.4 million by French auction house Millon in October.

The eight-panel lacquered screen was created in 1943, the year the artist graduated from the Indochina College of Fine Arts.

It is made from natural materials like wood, gold leaf, and eggshells, creating a feeling of warmth and peace. The two main colors are yellow - symbolizing spirituality and happiness, and red - adding life and warmth.

Le Pho (1907-2001) also contributed to the higher valuation of Vietnamese art when his 'Jeune femme attachant son foulard' (Young Lady Tying Her Scarf) pocketed $1.1 million at a Christie's Hong Kong in May.

The masterpiece, created in 1938, is a 59.5 x 48.5 centimeter ink and gouache work on silk with Pho's signature in the upper right corner. The artist captures the ethereal beauty of women with northern cultural motifs.

'Jeune femme attachant son foulard' (Young Lady Tying Her Scarf) by Le Pho. Photo courtesy of Christie's

The rise in demand for buying, selling and collecting paintings by painters of the Indochina period has contributed to boosting the value of Vietnamese artworks.

Mai Trung Thu, Pham Hau, Le Pho and others are all alumni of the Indochina Fine Arts College.

According to some industry leaders, most of the works of this period are owned by foreign collectors, especially France. Their choosing to sell some them has boosted market demand for Vietnamese artworks with regular offerings made these days by Sotheby's, Bonhams, Christie's, Lynda Trouve and other art houses.

Vu Tuan Anh, media director of Viet Art Space, said: "Over time, paintings of Indochina painters have become increasingly rare in the market. They are expensive because they carrying historical stories and values."

Bernadette Rankine - Southeast Asia director of Bonhams - said that in recent years, Vietnamese collectors have also tended to buy works of national artists.

She told Singapores Straits Times that Vietnamese people have become active in buying paintings of local artists, especially of works that went abroad during the colonial period. At that time, foreigners bought these works during their stay in Vietnam and took them back home. Some of the paintings are now being repatriated by Vietnamese collectors.

Painter Le Thiet Cuong said that according to some sources, the buyers of both 'Portrait of Mademoiselle Phuong' and 'Paysage de Phnom Penh' are Vietnamese.

"This is an encouraging sign. In the end, local artworks still come back to Vietnam, not only paintings but also antiques," he said.

In 2017, in a sure sign that Vietnamese artworks has arrived on the international scene, the New York Times commented that Vietnamese fine art "has never been more popular than now."
Provincial Road 769 that leads to Long Thanh International Airport will be widened. Photo by VnExpress/Phuoc Tuan

Dong Nai Province has approved the building or widening of three roads leading to Long Thanh airport, Vietnams largest, when it is completed.

To cost the province VND19.6 trillion ($857 million), they will see the construction of the 53-kilometer Provincial Road 770B at a cost of VND12.5 trillion and the upgrade and widening of Provincial Road 769 from four to six and eight lanes at a cost of VND1.6 trillion and Provincial Road 773 from six to eight lanes at a cost of VND5.5 trillion.

The new road, to have eight lanes, will connect Dinh Quan, Thong Nhat, Cam My districts and Long Khanh Town with the airport.

Nguyen Bon, deputy director of the province Department of Transport, said the three are prioritized for completion in the next five years.

Work to acquire lands, draw up feasibility reports and organize bids is already under way so that construction could begin in early 2023, he said.

The three routes "will be synchronized" with the airport, which is set to start operation in 2025.

They will ease pressure on a number of major roads in the south like National Highways 1, 20 and 51 and the HCMC  Long Thanh  Dau Giay Expressway, he added.

To cost over $16 billion, the airport is set to replace HCMC's Tan Son Nhat airport as Vietnams largest once completed.

The government has said it should be completed in the first half of 2025 and become operational by the end of that year.

It will have an annual capacity of 100 million passengers and five million tons of cargo.
With the government allowing in foreign tourists and resuming international air services, major tourism firms are optimistic about the outlook for this year.

Dang Minh Truong, chairman of Sun Group, which has a number of luxury hotels and resorts across Vietnam, said the tourism industry would continue to face challenges this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic but everything would gradually be better as the country has changed its strategy from zero-Covid cases to living safely with the pandemic.

His company has upgraded all its hotels, resorts and amusement parks across the country, developed new tourism products and strengthened pandemic prevention measures, he said.

This year it plans to invest in more amusement parks and luxury accommodation since domestic and international tourism is gradually recovering, he said.

Nguyen Nguyet Van Khanh, deputy marketing head of major travel firm Vietravel, said his this year company would prioritize resumption of domestic tourism and receiving tourists from Northeast Asia and Russia.

It also plans to start outbound tours this month to Thailand, Dubai, Europe, and the U.S. where Vietnamese are exempt from quarantine requirements, he said.

Pham Ha, chairman of Lux Group, which specializes in luxury cruises, said the segment has huge potential and his company plans to launch a series of new tours this year targeting domestic tourists.

Since last month three of his companys cruise ships in Ha Long Bay, Lan Ha Bay off Hai Phong City and Nha Trang have been fully booked on weekends and for the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays in February.

Nguyen Chau A, CEO of Oxalis Adventure, a company that takes people on cave tours in the central province of Quang Binh, said he has high hopes for tourism revival this year.

He said his company would focus on the domestic tourism market since the pandemic still limits foreign travel.

In the last two years it has taken over 10,000 Vietnamese tourists to Son Dong, the worlds largest cave, and the tour is already almost fully booked for this year, he said.

It has started preparing for an international promotion campaign in 2023, and at the end of January will organize a tour for a team from BBC coming to film in the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park.

Ha said Lux Groups 2022 target is to achieve 50 percent of 2019 revenues.

"The tourism industry has slowly stepped out of the tunnel and is able to see light."

Khanh is also optimistic.

"After more than a month of adapting to the new normal, the tourism industry has shown signs of recovery," she said.

Vietnam reopened its doors to foreign tourists in November after nearly two years.

In the month since then over 3,500 foreign visitors have come on package tours, Nguyen Trung Khanh, head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said.

The country expects to get five million foreign visitors under the vaccine passport program in 2022.
Illustrative image. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

The pact will provide a boost to trade and business ties between Singapore and the RCEP parties, said Singaporean Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong in a press release published on December 31.

He said that many Singaporean businesses indicated that they were keen to utilise the RCEP agreement when it enters into force.

The entry into force of the agreement will open up opportunities to catalyze the expansion of regional trade and investment much needed for economic recovery amid COVID-19, Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Dato Lim Jock Hoi said in a recent interview.

Lim noted that RCEP reinforces regional economic integration by expanding common accumulative rules of origin, simplified customs procedures, trade facilitation, and coherent trade rules that provide greater transparency, fairness, and predictability for businesses.

For the Asia-Pacific region, RCEP is seen as an important step towards enhanced regional integration and a new impetus for free trade and multilateralism amid many uncertainties in the world.

Signed in November 2020, RCEP brings together 10 ASEAN member states, along with China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand, covering 30 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP) worth 26.2 trillion USD.

RCEP will form a market with 2.2 billion consumers, and become the largest free trade area in the world in terms of population. It will eliminate tariffs on as much as 92 percent of goods traded between its signatories eventually, expand market access for investment, harmonise rules and regulations, and strengthen the supply chains within the massive free trade zone.

RCEP is designed to cut costs and time for businesses to export goods to any of the signatories to the agreement without having to meet separate requirements of each country./.
Permanent representative of Vietnam to the United Nations Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy (centre) and representatives of Estonia, Niger, Saint Vincents & the Grenadines and Tunisia at the ceremony mark the end of the term of five non-permanent members of the UNSC for 2020-2021. (Photo: VNA)

He made the statement at a ceremony to mark the end of the term of five non-permanent members of the UNSC for 2020-2021 which took place at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the US, on December 31. These five countries include Estonia, Niger, Saint Vincents & the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam.

Quy also said that Vietnam's participation in the UNSC is to promote and be based on its objectivity, transparency and unity as well as the legitimate interests of relevant parties.

The Vietnamese diplomat affirmed that to fulfill its pledge to promote compliance with the UN Charter and multilateralism, Vietnam has always upheld these contents in all activities of the UNSC. Vietnam has striven to push up a people-centred approach in seeking sustainable and reasonable solutions to settle disputes via peaceful measures and to address global concerns, as well as promoting humanitarian policy towards vulnerable groups.

The highlight of these efforts is the fact that Vietnam has proposed the UNSC to adopt the UNSC President's Statement on "Upholding the UN Charter in the maintenance of international peace and security", the Resolution on "Protecting the essential infrastructure to people's lives", and many other documents and activities, he said.

The representative of Vietnam thanked the valuable trust and support of UN member countries as well as the effective cooperation and coordination from members of the UNSC in the 2020-2021 term. He also sent his best wishes to the five countries that are about to take up the position of non-permanent members of the UNSC, expressing his belief that these nations will contribute and further promote the council's affairs.

Participants at the event informed about their achievements and contributions to the UNSC in the past two years, and expressed their gratitude for the support of the UN member countries as well as the coordination of the member countries of the UNSC./.
Vietjet has resumed the Hanoi-Tokyo route from January 1 with one flight per week, with the frequency expected to be increased in the time ahead. (Photo: VNA)

Dinh Viet Son, Deputy Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, and representatives from the Noi Bai airport and Viejet were present at the ceremony to welcome 143 passengers on board the flight.

The airline has resumed the Hanoi-Tokyo route from January 1 with one flight per week, with the frequency expected to be increased in the time ahead.

It has also announced the flight schedules between Hanoi/Ho Chi Minh City and Taipei (Taiwan, China), Singapore, Thailand and the Republic of Korea (RoK), which are set for early this year.

Vietjet Managing Director Dinh Viet Phuong said the carrier is ready in terms of resources to reopen all regular international flights in line with COVID-19 prevention and control regulations.

The airline is offering free COVID-19 PCR tests for passengers departing from Hanoi and HCM City.

Vietjet is a fully-fledged member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) with the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certificate.

As Vietnams largest private carrier, the airline was awarded the highest ranking for safety with 7 stars in 2018 and 2019 by the worlds only safety and product rating website airlineratings.com and listed as one of the world's 50 best airlines for healthy financing and operations by Airfinance Journal in 2018 and 2019.

The airline has also been named as Best Low-Cost Carrier by renowned organizations such as Skytrax, CAPA, Airline Ratings, and many others.
People wearing face masks are seen on a street in Vientiane, Laos. (Photo: VNA)

These nations include Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, Norway, Switzerland, Finland, Israel, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, New Zealand, Poland, Denmark, and Belgium.

Earlier, Laos has announced the list of 17 countries, including Vietnam, whose citizens are allowed to enter the country under the new travel scheme from the beginning of 2022.

Under the reopening scheme, which will be rolled out in three phases, tourists will be allowed to travel within two zones, namely Green Travel Zones and Green Travel Trails.

During Phase One, from January 1 to March 30, 2022, tourists may visit Vientiane capital, Luang Prabangprovince, and Vang Vieng district of Vientiane province. Meanwhile, five provinces will be authorised for Green Travel Trails, including Oudomxay, Xayaboury, Xieng Khouang, Khammouane, and Champasack.

During Phase Two, the Green Travel Zones will consist of nine provinces, namely Vientiane capital, Vientiane province, Luang Prabang, Oudomxay, Xayaboury, Xieng Khouang, Khammouane, Savannakhet, and Champasack.

Four provinces will be assigned for the Green Travel Trails during Phase Two, including Houay Xay district in Bokeo province, and Luang Namtha, Sekong and Salavanh provinces.

The Lao Ministry of Health on January 1 said the country recorded 1,023 COVID-19 cases and two deaths in the past 24 hours. All of which were community infections. The capital of Vientiane continued to lead the country with 374 community cases.

The total number of COVID-19 infections in Laos has so far reached 112,023 cases, of which 374 people have died./.
Decorations for the Spring Festival and the Tibetan New Year are seen in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Feb. 8, 2021. (Xinhua/Chogo)

LHASA, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- The year 2021 was extraordinary for southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, characterized by a visit by the country's top leader, grand celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of its peaceful liberation, and all-round progress in various domains.

The following is a lexical walk through some of the major landmarks and achievements of the region throughout this important year:

A

Assistance

Thanks to a pairing-up assistance mechanism for Tibet set up in 1994, provincial-level regions, central government departments and centrally administered state-owned enterprises injected 52.7 billion yuan (about 8.3 billion U.S. dollars) into Tibet by 2020, read a white paper released in May.

B

Biodiversity

Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets. Such a concept has been firmly imprinted on the minds of all people in Tibet. The region has attached greater significance to biodiversity protection over the past decades, with increases in both the number of species and the population of endangered species.

Wild Tibetan donkeys are pictured at the Qiangtang National Nature Reserve in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Sept. 22, 2021. (Xinhua/Sun Ruibo)

C

Celebration

Tibet marked the 70th anniversary of its peaceful liberation, a historic event that led the region onto a road of unity, progress and development. A series of activities were held for celebration, including a grand gathering in front of the Potala Palace in the regional capital Lhasa.

D

Democratic reform

On March 28, Tibet marked the 62nd anniversary of its democratic reform. In 1959, the reform was carried out to abolish Tibet's feudal theocratic serfdom, liberating over 1 million serfs in Tibet.

E

Education

Tibet is the first provincial-level region in China to provide 15 years of publicly funded education, from kindergarten to senior high school.

Third-year primary school student Wangmo reads a textbook in class in Zhentang Town of Xigaze, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Nov. 24, 2021. (Xinhua/Purbu Zhaxi)

F

Freeways

All expressways in Tibet are free of tolls. The length of freeways in Tibet surpassed 1,100 km, with the opening of a new 227-km section from Lhasa to the city of Nagqu in August.

G

GDP growth

Tibet's regional GDP soared from 129 million yuan in 1951 to more than 190 billion yuan in 2020. Its GDP rose 7.2 percent year on year in the first three quarters of 2021.

H

High-quality development

Tibet has made all-round progress in pursuing high-quality development, with a constantly improving economic structure and a greater contribution of sci-tech progress to economic growth.

Staff members of China Mobile test the signals of the 5G base station built at an altitude of 6,500 meters at the advance camp of Mount Qomolangma in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region on May 21, 2020. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje)

I

Incomes

The per capita disposable income of rural residents in the region was 14,598 yuan in 2020, registering double-digit growth for the past 18 years, while that of urban residents was 41,156 yuan. In the first three quarters of 2021, the per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents rose 14.2 percent and 15.8 percent, respectively.

J

Jobs

In the first three quarters, 40,500 new urban jobs were created in the region, meeting over 80 percent of the annual target.

K

Kashin-Beck disease

It is also known as "big bone disease," which can lead to dyskinesia and even disability. The endemic disease, among others, has been brought under effective control thanks to government efforts including relocation, water and grain quality improvement, as well as selenium supplementation.

L

Lhasa-Nyingchi railway

The opening of the railway from Lhasa to the city of Nyingchi in June provided southeastern Tibet with access to railway services for the first time in history. With a designed speed of 160 kph, the 435-km railway is the first electrified railroad operating in the plateau region.

Staff members serve passengers on the Fuxing bullet train on the Lhasa-Nyingchi railway in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, June 25, 2021. (Xinhua/Purbu Zhaxi)

M

Modernization

Along with the rest of the country, Tibet has embarked on a new journey toward China's second centenary goal of fully building a modern socialist country, after China realized the first centenary goal -- building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

N

Nyingchi peach blossom festival

The annual Nyingchi peach blossom festival has become a signature tourism event on the plateau. The 19th festival, held from March 27 to April 2, 2021, attracted a new high of 527,000 tourists, up more than 37 percent from

A tourist in traditional Tibetan costume admires peach blossoms during the 19th peach blossom festival in Nyingchi, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 28, 2021. (Xinhua/Sun Ruibo)

O

Opening up

Tibet is an important gateway to South Asia. In the next five years, Tibet will actively expand opening up, and take measures including advancing the opening of land ports, accelerating the building of the Gyirong cross-border economic cooperation zone, and deepening exchanges and cooperation with neighboring countries.

P

Population

The permanent population of Tibet is around 3.65 million, up 21.52 percent from 2010, according to new census data released in May.

Q

Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The region is on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which is called the "roof of the world" and "Asian water tower." Tibet is an important ecological security barrier for China and has become one of the regions with the best environments in the world.

Photo taken with a mobile phone shows the winter scenery of Zhegu lake in Shannan City, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Dec. 4, 2021. (Xinhua/Shen Hongbing)

R

Religious work

In Tibet, all religions and sects are equal, as are all believers and non-believers. There are more than 1,700 sites for Tibetan Buddhism activities, four mosques and one Catholic church in the region.

S

Social security system

A social security system that includes five major types of insurance -- old-age insurance, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, work-related injury insurance, and maternity insurance -- is now in place and covers both urban and rural residents in the region.

T

Tourism

Tibet received 40.43 million tourists in the first 11 months, up 15.9 percent year on year. The tourism revenue rose 22.4 percent to 43.85 billion yuan, nearly completing its annual goal.

U

Urbanization

The urbanization ratio was about 32 percent in 2020. The region plans to raise the urbanization rate to over 40 percent in the coming five years.

In this combo photo, the upper part taken by Zhaduen in 1998 shows a panorama view of Xigaze of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region; the lower part is an aerial photo taken by Zhang Zhenqi on July 12, 2019 showing a view of a district of Xigaze City. (Xinhua)

V

Vaccination

Tibet administered 5.89 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines by mid-November. It had reported no new confirmed or suspected case for over 700 consecutive days.

W

Water

Tibet will continue to promote water pollution control, delineate the boundaries of drinking water source protection areas, and ensure the water quality of major rivers and lakes in the next few years.

X

Xi Jinping's visit

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visited Tibet in July, showing the CPC Central Committee's support for Tibet work and solicitude for cadres and people of all ethnic groups in the region.

Xi has so far set foot in the plateau region three times since the late 1990s. He also visited Tibet in 1998 and 2011.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, inspects the Drepung Monastery located in the western suburbs of Lhasa, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, July 22, 2021. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

Y

Yaks

In China, yaks mainly live on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The Tibetan word for yaks means "treasure," highlighting their importance. Yaks embody kindness, diligence and tenacity, and have become a unique symbol of the plateau.

Z

Zhaxi Dele!

In the Tibetan language, "Zhaxi Dele" means good luck and happiness, frequently used by the locals to welcome or greet others. 




Egypt will host the 9th session of the Conference of States Parties (CoSP) to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) from 13 to 17 December in Sharm El-Sheikh, according to UNs official website.

The conference, which is held every two years, is one of the world's largest anti-corruption gatherings and brings together people from Member States, parliaments, inter-governmental organisations, civil society and the private sector.

The conference will review of the implementation of the UNCAC, the only legally binding universal anti-corruption instrument, discuss preventing corruption and improving international cooperation to better tackle corruption and asset recovery.

The agenda for the ninth session will include a review of the implementation of the UNCAC, the provisional agenda for the 10th session and the adoption of the conferences report.

The 2021 edition will be attended by 2,170 representatives from 144 countries, which is the highest number of attendances in the history of the convention.

According to Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Ghada Wali, participants will include five heads of state, more than 50 ministers, 30 heads of anti-corruption bodies and 257 civil society members.

Half of this number will physically attend, while the other half  including all the heads of state  will attend virtually due to the pandemic, Wali said in TV statements on Saturday.

Egypt joined the agreement in December 2003, out of its belief in the importance of international cooperation to prevent corrupt practices around the world.

The last session of the CoSP took place in Abu Dhabi in December 2019. The first session was held in Amman in 2006 after the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention against Corruption Resolution 58/4 of 31 October 2003. The UNCAC came into force in December 2005.

The convention, which has been signed by 189 countries, comprises eight chapters and 71 articles. It covers five main areas: preventive measures, criminalisation and law enforcement, international cooperation, asset recovery, and technical assistance and information exchange. The convention also covers many different forms of corruption, such as bribery, trading in influence, abuse of functions and various acts of corruption in the private sector.

In November, Egypts Administrative Control Authority (ACA) organised a simulated conference of Mondays UN summit, which was attended by 140 Cairo University students and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

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Two new British studies provide some early hints that the omicron variant of the coronavirus may be milder than the delta version.

Scientists stress that even if the findings of these early studies hold up, any reductions in severity need to be weighed against the fact omicron spreads much faster than delta and is more able to evade vaccines. Sheer numbers of infections could still overwhelm hospitals.

Still, the new studies released Wednesday seem to bolster earlier research that suggests omicron may not be as harmful as the delta variant, said Manuel Ascano Jr., a Vanderbilt University biochemist who studies viruses.

``Cautious optimism is perhaps the best way to look at this,'' he said.

An analysis from the Imperial College London COVID-19 response team estimated hospitalization risks for omicron cases in England, finding people infected with the variant are around 20% less likely to go to the hospital at all than those infected with the delta variant, and 40% less likely to be hospitalized for a night or more.

That analysis included all cases of COVID-19 confirmed by PCR tests in England in the first half of December in which the variant could be identified: 56,000 cases of omicron and 269,000 cases of delta.

A separate study out of Scotland, by scientists at the University of Edinburgh and other experts, suggested the risk of hospitalization was two-thirds less with omicron than delta. But that study pointed out that the nearly 24,000 omicron cases in Scotland were predominantly among younger adults ages 20-39. Younger people are much less likely to develop severe cases of COVID-19.

``This national investigation is one of the first to show that Omicron is less likely to result in COVID-19 hospitalization than Delta,'' researchers wrote. While the findings are early observations, ``they are encouraging,'' the authors wrote.

The findings have not yet been reviewed by other experts, the gold standard in scientific research.

Ascano noted the studies have limitations. For example, the findings are specific to a certain point in time during a quickly changing situation in the United Kingdom and other countries may not fare the same way.

Matthew Binnicker, director of clinical virology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said that in the Scottish study, the percentage of younger people was almost twice as high for the omicron group compared with the delta group, and that ``could have biased the conclusions to less severe outcomes caused by omicron.''

He nonetheless said the data were interesting and suggest omicron might lead to less severe disease. But he added: ``It's important to emphasize that if omicron has a much higher transmission rate compared to delta, the absolute number of people requiring hospitalization might still increase, despite less severe disease in most cases.''

Data out of South Africa, where the variant was first detected, have also suggested omicron might be milder there. Salim Abdool Karim, a clinical infectious disease epidemiologist in South Africa, said earlier this week that the rate of admissions to hospitals was far lower for omicron than it was for delta.

``Our overall admission rate is in the region of around 2% to 4% compared to previously, where it was closer to 20%,'' he said. ``So even though we're seeing a lot of cases, very few are being admitted.``

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Abdel-Khaleq Ayad, chairman of the Senate's Energy, Environment and Labour Force Committee, said the draft law took four months of discussions. "The Committee held a series of hearing sessions over this period in order to listen to the viewpoints of labour experts on the draft law in a neutral and objective way," said Ayad.

Ayad added that "in our four-month discussions we focused on how the draft law will serve production and workers and how it will stimulate businessmen and investors to set up new projects that can generate new job opportunities for young people."

According to Ayad, the new labour law was drafted in a way that strikes a balance between the interests of employers on the one side and the interests of workers on the other. "I can say that this draft law does not serve the interests of one party at the expense of another, but it aims to serve all parties in a balanced way and represents a progressive step for the country in general," said Ayad.

He insisted that the draft labour law does not include any articles that can lead to "automatic dismissal of workers". "The new labour law simply aims to regulate the relationship between employers and workers and in this respect, it includes rules that can be used to settle differences between the two parties," said Ayad, adding that "the law states that a worker can be dismissed only upon a final judicial order from a labour court."

Minister of Labour Force Mohamed Saafan said the number of workers in Egypt is estimated at 30 million and that private employers now account for 80 percent of the total. "This means that private businessmen and investors now represent the majority of employers in Egypt and so the new labour law was drafted to reflect this fact," said Saafan.

Minister Saafan also indicated that in drafting the new labour law, the government was keen to take the remarks and notes of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) into account. "We also tried our best that the new labour law goes in line with foreign agreements and conventions which Egypt signed in this respect," said Saafan.

Hossam El-Khouli, the parliamentary spokesman for the majority party of Mostaqbal Watan (The Nation's Future) said the party approves the new government-drafted labour law. "We approve this law in principle because it is a balanced one, and let's note that this is a labour law, and not an employers' law or businessmen's law, but it is a law that serves the interests of the two parties in a balanced way," said El-Khouli.

Senator Tarek Raslan said the new labour law comes at a time Egypt is paving the way for the private sector to be the main player in the field of mega-development and industrial projects. "So the law was drafted to reflect the new fact that Egypt is now a market economy dominated by the private sector, but at the same time we should put into account the fact that the constitution states that the rights of workers should be protected and preserved," said Raslan.

Senator Mahmoud Bakri said while the number of workers in Egypt is estimated at 30 million, 25 million of them are now employed by the private sector. "This is different from the past or when the public sector was the main employer of workers," said Bakri, praising the fact that the law provides workers with a number of protections. "The law does not allow automatic dismissal of workers, sets up labour courts to settle disputes between employers and workers within a period from 60 to 90 days, and stipulates that work contracts be drafted in a balanced way, reflecting the interests of both employers and workers," said Bakri.

Article 10 of the new labour law states that once ratified by the president and published by the official gazette, it will be effective after 90 days from the date of its publication.

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Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry lauded Egyptian diplomacy of the past 100 years, stating that it has sought to create stability in the Middle East through a balanced policy that entrenched the pillars of peace.

In the opening editorial of Al-Ahrams Al-Siyassa Al-Dawliya magazine published on Sunday, Shoukry stated that Egyptian diplomacy has contributed to international and regional stability over the past decades in the pursuit of peace, security and prosperity for all countries of the world.

A special edition of the magazine was published to mark the centennial in March 2022 of Egypts Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The ministry reopened on March 15, 1922 after being forced to shutdown in 1914 following the declaration of the British protectorate in Egypt.



During the 100 years of its existence, the foreign ministry has witnessed periods of ups and downs, as well as war and peace, Shoukry said

Egyptian diplomacy has always acted as a bridge to the outside world, working in coordination with different state bodies and speaking on behalf of Egypt at the different world gatherings, Shoukry noted.



He also touched in his editorial upon the strenuous diplomatic efforts undertaken by the ministry in the wake of the Tripartite Aggression in 1956 and the October War in 1973, not to mention efforts to restore the precious land of Taba in 1989.

Minister Shoukry also lauded the role of Al-Ahrams Al-Siyassa Al-Dawliya magazine describing it as an inexhaustible tribute to the Egyptian political science school, which is known for its competence.

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Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that the US assassination of the country's top general two years ago has raised "hatred" in global opinion.

"The world's reactions to the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani were that all nations have strongly despised the US bullying and hegemonic policies," the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on its Twitter account.

"If the US officials failed to see the images of hatred on the streets of the countries worldwide, they are puppet of their own media empire," the ministry added.

A US airstrike on Jan. 3, 2020 killed Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, along with an Iraqi militia commander, near the Baghdad International Airport.

Tehran Prosecutor General Ali Qasi Mehr said earlier that Iran had filed a case with the Interpol to arrest a number of US political and military officials "who were involved in the assassination of Soleimani."

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Police in Nigeria's northwestern Zamfara state have freed 21 schoolchildren kidnapped by gunmen on Friday, a spokesman said.

"The police operatives succeeded in rescuing 21 kidnapped children" after a gun battle with the criminals, Zamfara police spokesman Mohammed Shehu said in a statement issued late Saturday.

Central and northwestern Nigeria are home to criminal gangs, known locally as "bandits", who attack villages, steal livestock and kill residents.

On Friday, New Year's Eve, the so-called bandits barricaded a main road and abducted an "unspecified number" of travellers including schoolchildren, Shehu said.

At around 2200 GMT, a team of police and soldiers responded to a "distress call" from residents in Kucheri village, located near a major road.

They said bandits had set up a roadblock and kidnapped passengers from five buses, including the one carrying the students.

The students, accompanied by their teacher, were on their way to an Islamic seminary in the neighbouring state of Katsina.

Several other passengers, including the teacher and the driver of their bus, were also taken hostage by the gunmen, the statement added.

Shehu called on people in the area not to travel at night, when roadblocks and kidnappings are most common.

In recent months, bandits have brazenly targeted travellers on roads and targeted schools for ransom.

To evade the authorities, the gangs have established camps in the Rugu forest, which straddles the northwestern states of Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina and Niger.

Military operations, amnesties offered by the authorities and the cutting of mobile networks have not been able to stem the violence.

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Egypt has decried the Houthis' repeated heinous attacks targeting Saudi Arabia, including the recent drone attacks against the southern part of the Kingdom.

In a statement on Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs voiced Egypt's solidarity with Saudi Arabia in the face of these "despicable terrorist attacks which constitute a violation of the rules of international law and are a blatant threat to the security and stability of the region."

Egypt asserted its firm stance supporting Saudi Arabia in all measures it takes to preserve the security and safety of its people, reaffirming that the national security of both countries are closely connected.

Late Saturday, the Saudi military announced the downing of three explosive-laden drones launched by Houthi forces against unknown targets in southern Saudi Arabia.

In response, Saudi Arabia carried out airstrikes on drone-related targets in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on Sunday, according to a statement reported by the Saudi Press Agency.

Drone attacks like Saturdays are nothing new, with Houthi forces having made repeated use of drones and ballistic missiles to strike targets inside Saudi Arabia.

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A major coalition of Malian political parties on Sunday rejected the military-dominated government's plan for a transition lasting up to five years before the country returns to democratic rule.

The army has dominated landlocked and conflict-wracked Mali since August 2020, carrying out two coups and postponing elections it had previously committed to hold next month.

Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop submitted the new plans to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Saturday, following a national reform conference boycotted by political parties and social organisations.

The plans are for a five-year prolongation of the transition period, starting from January 1.

The coalition, representing around 10 parties, said the timetable violates the transition charter, "has not been discussed in Mali and cannot in any way be the deep desire of the Malian people".

"Consequently, the group rejects this unilateral and unreasonable timetable," it added in a statement.

Coalition spokesman Sekou Niame Bathily told AFP the parties "dissassociate" themselves from the military government's plan and want "to proceed with quickly organising elections".

ECOWAS, which has threatened to impose sanctions on Mali's ruling junta for postponing the elections, will hold an extraordinary summit on Mali in Ghana's capital Accra on January 9.

Colonel Assimi Goita has led Mali since an August 2020 coup ousted former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, after weeks of street protests over perceived corruption and Keita's handling of a bloody jihadist insurgency.

Under pressure from France and Mali's neighbours, Goita pledged that Mali would return to civilian rule in February after holding presidential and legislative elections.

But he staged a de facto second coup in May 2021, forcing out an interim civilian government and disrupting the timetable.

The junta cited persistent insecurity in Mali's restive north in its decision to postpone the elections.

Two-thirds of the country's territory is out of the government's control as self-defence militias and armed men affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the so-called Islamic State group mete out violence on civilians and soldiers.

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Egypt reported 783 coronavirus cases on Saturday, bringing the total infection tally to 386,358 since the outbreak began in February 2020, the Health Ministry said.

The ministry added in its daily update that 16 new deaths related to COVID-19 complications were recorded in the past 24 hours nationwide, bringing the total number of deaths from the virus to 21,768.

The statement added that 569 patients have been discharged after recovering from the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to 321,132.

Egypt has received around 121 million vaccine doses, Egypt's Presidential Adviser for Health Affairs Mohamed Awad Tag El-Din told media on Saturday.

On 29 December, Egypt announced that it has administered more than 21 million second coronavirus vaccine shots since the country started its vaccination campaign early this year.

This means that Egypt has fully vaccinated slightly over 20 percent of its 102.8 million population over the past year, falling short of the World Health Organisations global target for countries to fully vaccinate 40 percent of their populations by the end of 2021.

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Pope Tawadros II, the Pope of Alexandria and the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, inaugurated on Saturday evening the completed renovations at St Marks Cathedral in Alexandria, which was the target of a terrorist attack on Palm Sunday in 2017.

According to a statement issued by the church, Pope Tawadros II inaugurated the renovations in the area between the entrance of the cathedral and the entrance of the Holy Seat of the Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria at the complex.

The event was attended by prominent Coptic clergy in Alexandria.

On 9 April 2017, during the celebrations of Palm Sunday, a suicide bomber detonated himself in the cathedral, killing 17 people and injuring 48. The terrorist attack also damaged key parts of the historic church.

On the same day, another suicide bomber detonated himself in Tantas Mar Girgis Cathedral, killing 28 people and injuring 70.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the two terrorist attacks.

The renovation works at the cathedral in Alexandria have been completed by a major real-estate development company as a gift to the church, the statement noted.

St Marks Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Alexandria is one of the oldest churches in the Middle East, dating back to 60 CE when St Mark came to the city to spread the gospel.

Photos of the victims, including policemen, have been placed at the entrance of the cathedral in honour of the martyrs.

Coptic Orthodox Egyptians, who make up 90 percent of the countrys Christian population, are set to celebrate Christmas on 7 January, according to the Julian Calendar.

The pope is set to head the Coptic Christmas Mass on Christmas Eve in the Church of the Nativity of Christ in the New Administrative Capital.

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ZHENGZHOU, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Xinzheng International Airport in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, saw its annual cargo throughput exceed 700,000 tonnes for the first time at the turn of the year.

With the record, the airport in the provincial capital now ranks sixth among more than 230 airports in China, and is included among the world's top 40 cargo airports for the second consecutive year.

A Russian air freighter of AirBridgeCargo Airlines, fully loaded with clothes and consumer goods, left Zhengzhou for Moscow Thursday, witnessing the record setting moment. The air freight service has guaranteed medical supplies and logistics transport of living necessities and food amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

AirBridgeCargo Airlines became the first foreign airline to set foot in Xinzheng International Airport in September 2010, opening the Zhengzhou-Moscow air cargo service. The company's annual freight volume exceeded 50,000 tonnes at the airport in Zhengzhou for the first time this year, up 75 percent year on year.

In December, five countries including Russia, Hungary, Iran, Romania and Ukraine have added all-cargo flight services to Xinzheng International Airport.

Liu Jianmin, general manager of Henan Province Airport Group, said the company is committed to the construction of an "Air Silk Road" by developing the airport into an international air cargo hub. Enditem
Like Orthodox churches around the world, Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on 7 January, according to the Julian Calendar.

On 7 January, Coptic Orthodox Christians  who comprise 90 percent of Egypt's Christian population  will break their 43-day fast and celebrate Christmas.

The festival comes almost two weeks after most Western denominations, including Catholics and Protestants, held their celebrations on 25 December.

Ahram Online asked Bishop Abram of the Fayoum Diocese to explain why there was a difference in the dates; he stressed that the difference in fact results from the use of different calendars, not from any underlying theological dispute.

Although the exact date of Jesus' birth was -- and remains -- unknown, within the first few centuries after his death, churches around the world agreed to celebrate the nativity of Jesus Christ on 25 December (29 Kiahk in the Coptic calendar), most probably to replace the pagan feast celebrating the Roman winter solstice which continued to be observed until then.

Bishop Abram argues that celebrating the birth of Christ, considered by Christians to be "the light of the world" is also astronomically apt, since night-time begins to shorten and daylight to lengthen in the middle of December.

The different dates of the celebration in the modern period are a result of a change in calendar; while Western churches follow the Gregorian calendar, Orthodox churches continue to follow the older Julian calendar (named after Julius Caesar who introduced it in 46 BC), which in turn is in line with the ancient Coptic calendar.

Until the Julian calendar, the date of 25 December and 29 Kiahk in the Coptic calendar happened on the same day each year. But the introduction of the Gregorian calendar changed this alignment. In the 16th century, Pope Gregory XIII of the Roman Catholic Church had his astronomers study the calendar, and they realised that the Julian year was 11 minutes shorter than the actual solar year. Over time, the 11 minutes had added up  the equivalent of three extra days being added to the calendar every 400 years. The calendar date was becoming out of sync with the solar year. To correct this, Pope Gregory's recalculated the whole system and cut out the extra days for his new Gregorian calendar. As a result of the difference, the Julian calendar is now 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar, and 25 December in the Julian system falls on 7 January in the Gregorian system. Although the Gregorian calendar was adopted by Khedive Ismail in 1875, the Coptic Orthodox Church has continued to use the older calendar, and 29 Kiahk (or 25 December in the Julian calendar) falls, under the Gregorian system, on 7 January. *This article was first published on 6 January 2014

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President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has stressed Egypts support for the role of the United Nations in the face of regional and international threats posed by crime, illicit drugs and terrorism.

El-Sisi reiterated the importance of boosting efforts to exchange expertise related to the UN programmes on illicit drugs and crime in order to maintain world security and stability.

El-Sisi made his remarks during a meeting with Ghada Wali, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Cairo on Sunday.

Wali expressed her appreciation for the efforts exerted by the Egyptian president to support the UNODC, noting that she "counts on Egypt's continued support for her efforts in the coming stage to enhance the potential of the world community in the fight against threats resulting from cross-border organised crime and corruption."

During the meeting, Wali reviewed the UNODC's activities, paying special attention to the Sharm El-Sheikh Declaration issued at the end of the ninth edition of the Conference of States Parties (CoSP) to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) held in the Red Sea resort city in December 2021.

The conference, which is held every two years, is one of the world's largest anti-corruption gatherings and brings together people from member states, parliaments, inter-governmental organisations, civil society and the private sector.

The ninth edition was attended by 2,170 representatives from 144 countries, the highest number of attendances in the history of the convention.

"It represented a global milestone to improve international cooperation against corruption and help the world recover from the pandemic," the UNODC 's executive director assured.

Wali outlined the details of international cooperation with the UNODC in light of recent regional developments in Afghanistan, especially with regard to arms smuggling, drug trafficking, and the exacerbation of terrorism and refugees phenomena.

She also reviewed ongoing preparations with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to hold an international conference in Egypt in 2022 on fighting the smuggling of antiquities, particularly where it is being used to finance terrorism and organised crime.

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A Palestinian prisoner languishing in hospital after an extensive hunger strike teetered close to death Sunday, sparking international concern and Palestinian demands that Israel release him from detention without charges.

Hisham Abu Hawash, a 40-year-old member of the Islamic Jihad movement, began refusing food in August to protest Israel holding him without charges or trial.

The married father of five from Dura in the south of the Israeli-occupied West Bank was being held under administrative detention, a practice of arresting suspects for renewable six-month terms without allowing them to view the charges or evidence against them.

"His condition is difficult and complex," Liad Aviel, spokesman of the Shamir Medical Centre in central Israel where Abu Hawash is being held, told AFP.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said medical teams that visited Abu Hawash had found him "in critical condition requiring expert clinical monitoring".

According to the ICRC, Abu Hawash has been refusing food for around 140 days.

It issued a statement warning of "potentially irreversible health consequences and possible tragic loss of life".

His wife, Aisha Hrebat, told AFP on Sunday he was in a "very dangerous" situation, adding that "since yesterday he can't talk at all and doesn't know what's going on around him".

"Even after he ends his strike, he will have difficult problems," she said, adding their lawyer was submitting an urgent appeal against his detention to Israel's supreme court.

An Israeli security source described Abu Hawash as "an Islamic Jihad operative, who was arrested due to involvement in terror activity".

Israel says the protocol prevents crimes while authorities continue to gather evidence, though Palestinians say it denies them of their rights.

"The way Israel has used administrative detention is arbitrary," said Shawan Jabarin, head of the Al-Haq rights group based in Ramallah on the West Bank.

He said Abu Hawash was one of about 550 Palestinians held by Israel in administrative detention.

Abu Hawash's plight has ignited Palestinian support.

Palestinian civil affairs minister Hussein al-Sheikh called on Israel via Twitter to "release Abu Hawash immediately", with his appeal echoed by protesters who gathered over the weekend in Ramallah.

At a rally in Gaza, Ismail Radwan, an official with the Islamist movement Hamas that rules the enclave, said Israel must understand that prisoners constitute a "red line" for the Palestinians.

The Islamic Jihad, the second largest militant group in Gaza, said it holds "the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the deteriorating health" of Abu Hawash, threatening revenge if he dies.

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Israel targeted Hamas positions in southern Gaza late Saturday after rockets were fired from the Palestinian enclave, security sources and the army said.

"Fighter jets, helicopters and tanks struck a rocket manufacturing site, and military posts belonging to the Hamas terror organisation," Israel's occupation army said.

Palestinian sources told AFP the occupation army had targeted "a site of the al-Qassam Brigades, west of Khan Yunis" in southern Gaza, referring to the military wing of Hamas, the Islamist movement controlling the territory.

The sources also reported Israeli artillery fire on a Hamas observation base in northern Gaza.

Hamas condemned the Israeli strike, with a spokesman vowing "to defend our Palestinian people and liberate our land and our holy sites from the occupation and its colonial settlers until achieving the inevitable triumph".

The Israeli strike came after two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip on Saturday morning, falling into the Mediterranean Sea off Tel Aviv.

No warning sirens sounded and Israel's Iron Dome rocket interception system did not deploy, the army said in a statement.

Sources in Hamas told AFP that "the firing of the two rockets on Saturday morning was a technical problem due to the bad weather".

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett addressed the Hamas explanation on Sunday morning.

"All of Hamas's stories about lightning and thunder, that repeat themselves winter after winter, are no longer relevant," he said at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting.

"Whoever aims missiles at the State of Israel will bear the consequences."

Israel has maintained a blockade on the impoverished enclave since 2007, the year Hamas took power.

Last year Hamas fired barrages of rockets towards Israel during an 11-day conflict sparked by tensions over evictions of Palestinians in East Jerusalem.

Israeli airstrikes killed and injured hundreds of Palestinians and left tens of buildings in rubble.

Egypt negotiated a ceasefire, which came into force in late May.

Since then, only five rockets or mortar rounds were fired from Gaza towards Israeli territory, the occupation military had said in an annual report released at the end of December, before the latest launches.

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Abandoned shops and mostly empty streets offer few signs of life in North Macedonia's Valandovo, where young people are fleeing in large numbers hoping to find a better life abroad.

Like much of this impoverished corner of southeastern Europe, this tiny Balkan nation is sitting on a demographic time bomb fuelled by an ageing population, sinking birth rate and mass migration.

North Macedonia has shed 10 percent of its population in the last 20 years. Around 600,000 Macedonian citizens now live abroad, according to World Bank and government data.

Abysmal economic growth and a lack of investment have clobbered the country, now home to just 1.8 million people, in its 30 years of independence.

"If you have a little over 2.4 million citizens and more than a quarter have left, then you have to seriously be worried about what is happening," says Apostol Simovski, director of the country's statistics office.

Villages and small towns such as Valandovo, 146 kilometres (90 miles) from the capital, offer few jobs, pushing the ambitious and able to search elsewhere.

"The spirit of young people has been systematically destroyed," Pero Kostadinov, the newly elected 33-year-old mayor tells AFP. "The enthusiasm to fight and stay home has been lost."

In Valandovo alone, nearly 90 percent of people's income is linked to agriculture, a common denominator across North Macedonia.

"Five of my friends from our class of 20 students have already moved abroad with their families," said Bojan Nikolov, 24, a member of the youth municipal council in Valandovo.

The anecdote offers a stark picture of where the country's future is headed.

Better to slave abroad

Initial results from North Macedonia's most recent census conducted in September estimate that the population has declined by more than 200,000 since 2002.

Since independence and the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991, many hoped integration into the European Union would provide a life raft and promises of a brighter future.

But North Macedonia's path to EU membership has been repeatedly blocked, first by Greece and later Bulgaria, ushering in fresh doubts that the country will ever join and pushing many to jump ship.

For those who stay, monthly salaries average 470 euros ($530).

"It is better to be a slave for 2,000 euros in some foreign country, than to be a slave with 300 euros at home," goes a popular refrain in North Macedonia.

It is a picture replicated across the Balkans.

In Albania, about 1.7 million people, or roughly 37 percent of the population, have left the country in the past three decades, according to government figures.

Hundreds of thousands left Serbia to resettle abroad after wars in the 1990s that pummelled the economy, with estimates suggesting up to 10,000 doctors left in the last 20 years.

"All the countries of the Western Balkans are affected to varying degrees by emigration," said Ilir Gedeshi, a professor of economics based in Albanian capital Tirana.

"The main reasons are economic, but apart from that, social reasons occupy an increasingly important place."

Last train leaving

But for Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia , all hoping that EU membership will reverse their fortunes Croatia provides a stern warning.

Since joining the bloc in 2013, its population of just over four million has shrunk nearly 10 percent in a decade, according to preliminary census findings.

The United Nations projects that Croatia will have just 2.5 million people by the end of the century. Demographers warn that the country's tiny population may lack the resilience to weather further losses.

In December, Zagreb sought to reverse some of the brain drain by promising Croatian expatriates in the European Union up to 26,000 euros ($29,000) to return and start a business.

But for some areas, it may already be too late.

"For sale" signs litter the eastern region of Pozega, one of those hardest-hit by war in the 1990s. More than 16 percent of the area's population of nearly 80,000 have left in the past decade, official figures show.

"In my street one-third of the houses are empty," said Igor Cancar, 39, from nearby Brestovac.

They include his sister who moved to Austria with her husband and two children, along with most of his close friends.

"If we want young people to stay, we need a kindergarten and help them build a house," Cancar added.

"The last train is leaving, and we are doing nothing but standing on the platform and waving."

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People in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan province take selfies amid flocks of black-headed gulls as they enjoy their New Year's Day. [Photo: VCG]

A large flock of black-headed gulls are pictured on January 1, 2022 at a dam at Dianchi Lake in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan province creating a harmonious scene with people celebrating New Year's Day.[Photo: VCG]

People in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan province take selfies amid flocks of black-headed gulls as they enjoy their New Year's Day. [Photo: VCG]

Feeding back-headed gulls, residents of Kunming in southwest China's Yunnan province enjoyed their first day of 2022 with these friendly birds. [Photo: VCG]
Visitors take photos with adorable chubby tiger-shaped lanterns at the Happy Valley amusement park in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province to celebrate New Year's Day on January 1, 2022. [Photo: CNSPHOTO]

A parade of chubby tiger-shaped lanterns was seen on the first day of 2022 at the Happy Valley amusement park in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province. Its part of a "I'm not a chubby tiger" themed lantern show at the park to celebrate 2022 the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese zodiac. [Photo: CNSPHOTO]

Visitors take photos with adorable chubby tiger-shaped lanterns at the Happy Valley amusement park in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province to celebrate New Year's Day on January 1, 2022. [Photo: CNSPHOTO]

Visitors take photos with adorable chubby tiger-shaped lanterns at the Happy Valley amusement park in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province to celebrate New Year's Day on January 1, 2022. [Photo: CNSPHOTO]
KYODO NEWS - Jan 2, 2022 - 09:36 | Feature, All, Japan

The diagnosis of former princess Mako's post-traumatic stress disorder prior to her controversial marriage in October has once again highlighted the intense pressure that women in the Japanese imperial family face, with some other members also plagued by mental health issues.

The former princess, 30, who is a niece of Emperor Naruhito, came under massive public scrutiny after it became known that the family of her commoner husband Kei Komuro was involved in a financial dispute.

Her aunt Empress Masako, 58, has long been battling a stress-induced illness related to the pressure she was under to produce a male heir, while former Empress Michiko, 87, the emperor's mother, became unable to speak for months amid bashing by weekly magazines following her husband's accession to the throne in 1989.

Both the empress and the former empress were commoners before their marriages to then crown princes.

Under Japan's 1947 Imperial House Law, women are not eligible to ascend the throne and female members of the imperial family leave the household upon marrying a commoner.

While the former princess and Komuro eventually married on Oct. 26, more than four years after their relationship was made public, traditional ceremonies associated with a royal marriage were not held due to public unease over the money row.

"It is as if there are no human rights (within the imperial family)," said clinical psychologist Sayoko Nobuta.

The Imperial Household Agency revealed prior to the marriage that the former princess had been diagnosed with complex PTSD caused by what she described as psychological abuse the couple and their families received.

Regarding his daughter's mental health, Crown Prince Fumihito, the emperor's brother, stressed on the occasion of his 56th birthday in November the need to establish "criteria to refute" erroneous reports.

While the agency has exposed fake news in the past, debunking some reports on its website since 2007, it does not have a clear policy on how to handle such matters.

"Even if (former princess Mako) was told to ignore or not engage with online bashing, one can't help but notice it in their daily life, and it will chip away at one's heart before they know it," said Rika Kayama, a psychiatrist and commentator on social issues.

The former princess' case is just the latest in a history of mental issues that have befallen women in the imperial family.

In 2004, the agency announced that Empress Masako, then the crown princess, had been diagnosed with adjustment disorder after giving birth in 2001 to Princess Aiko, the only child between her and the emperor. The empress had canceled her official duties the previous year following a bout of shingles.

The empress, a Harvard- and Oxford-educated former diplomat, gave up her career to enter the imperial family in 1993 after accepting a marriage proposal by the then crown prince, having initially declined the offer.

Many speculated that a major cause of her stress was pressure to produce a male heir, as no boys had been born to the imperial family since the birth in 1965 of Crown Prince Fumihito.

The situation abated after Crown Princess Kiko gave birth in 2006 to Prince Hisahito, 15, who is now second in line to the throne.

But unlike former Emperor Akihito and former Empress Michiko, who usually engaged with the public as a couple, the current emperor often performs official duties on his own due to his wife's condition, although she has been gradually expanding the scope of her activities in recent years.

Still, even the former empress, who became the first commoner to wed an heir to the imperial throne in 1959, was not immune to the pressures of the imperial family.

After the former emperor's accession to the throne in January 1989, she became the focus of a backlash in weekly magazines triggered by his cultivation of a more approachable image compared to his father Emperor Hirohito, who had taken the throne before World War II when emperors were still regarded as living gods.

On the day of her 59th birthday in October 1993, the former empress collapsed and lost her voice due to psychogenic aphasia.

"The emperor is the symbol of Japan, and the monarchy is a symbol of patriarchy. Therefore, discrimination against women is most pronounced in the imperial family," Nobuta said, adding that such an environment makes it difficult for bright women to survive.

Nobuta said that former princess Mako, who grew up watching these events and had studied at International Christian University in Tokyo as well as in Britain, must have felt the only way to truly live her life was to leave Japan.

"For former princess Mako, escaping was her main goal, and I think she chose Komuro as the man who could help her achieve this goal," Nobuta said.

The couple left Japan shortly after registering their marriage to start a new life in New York, where Komuro works as a law clerk at a legal firm.

All eyes are now on Princess Aiko, who turned 20 in December and is now expected to perform official duties as an adult member of the imperial family.

The princess would be entitled to the throne if she were a member of the British or Dutch monarchy, both of which allow the eldest child of the monarch to succeed regardless of gender.

A government panel tasked with studying ways to ensure a stable imperial succession proposed on Dec. 22 allowing female members who marry commoners to retain their imperial status.

But it postponed drawing conclusions regarding whether women or imperial members in the matrilineal line will be eligible to ascend the throne.

In the past, Princess Aiko has sparked concerns and speculation among the public for her prolonged absence from school and a sharp weight loss at one point, but it remains to be seen if the mental health issues that befell the female relatives before her will repeat themselves.

Hajime Sebata, an associate professor of modern Japanese history at Ryukoku University, said that building rapport with citizens through communication, not counterarguments, is key.

"If (the agency) regularly posts (information on royals) on social media and communicates, the public will come to trust the imperial family even if there are criticisms," he said.

Related coverage:

Emperor Naruhito shares people's pain, hope amid pandemic

Former princess Mako, husband leave Japan to start new life in U.S.

FOCUS: Princess Mako's marriage "warning sign" for Japan's imperial system
By Caroline Tam, KYODO NEWS - Jan 2, 2022 - 12:01 | Arts, World, Feature, All

Boasting a vibrant arts scene, Hong Kong had until recently been a showcase for diversity of expression as the residents of the former British colony enjoyed an array of freedoms even after its handover to China in 1997.

Artists and filmmakers in Hong Kong, however, are now under threat as authorities enacted a sweeping national security law in 2020 and a revised film ordinance in 2021, doing away with the city's once-guaranteed freedoms of speech and expression.

On Nov. 12, Hong Kong welcomed the opening of the M+ museum, a long-awaited project that marked the city's efforts to establish itself as a global hub for arts and culture amid mounting concerns of censorship.

Touted as "Asia's first global museum of contemporary visual culture," the 65,000-square-meter giant houses 33 galleries featuring over 48,000 pieces of art from across the globe and is expected to rival both the Tate Modern in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Despite its highly anticipated arrival after nearly two decades in the making, reception to the M+ has been a mix of excitement and disappointment as critics accused museum management of censorship after it announced it would not display a series of photographs by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.

One particular photograph titled "Study of Perspective: Tian'anmen" portrays Ai raising his middle finger at the Tiananmen Square Gate in Beijing where student-led protests calling for democracy were crushed in 1989.

The piece was met with criticism after a media preview in March, with pro-Beijing politicians accusing it of "spreading hatred against China." The M+ has since removed the photo from its official website.

Behind this move was the national security law imposed by mainland authorities in June 2020 amid its crackdown on dissent in the city following pro-democracy protests in 2019. The law criminalizes acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.

The city already witnessed the effects of the law on press freedom earlier in 2021 as pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily folded after a 26-year run, succumbing to mounting pressure from Chinese and Hong Kong authorities as its senior editors and executives were arrested.

Henry Tang, chairman of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority that manages the M+, encouraged the public to view the art "with an open and inclusive attitude" and assured that the museum would "uphold and encourage freedom of artistic expression and creativity" so long as it abides by the law.

Regarding the accusations of the censorship at the M+, Tang denied claims that the photograph had been omitted on political grounds, explaining that several unexhibited works were still pending review.

Ai, who exiled himself from China to Portugal, said in an email interview that he believes the museum can still be an important place for cultural development despite the removal of his photo from its website, pointing out that some of his other works had been put on display.

"Although a lot of artworks, including my artworks, cannot be exhibited because of censorship, it could still have an impact on culture and its consumption in the region to a certain extent," Ai wrote.

"Objectively speaking, M+ Museum is already doing the maximum of what they can do. If we are talking about censorship, to be honest, it is everywhere," he added.

However, he admitted that the museum is subject to limits on expression as it is operated by the Hong Kong government under Beijing's supervision.

"I am not expecting Hong Kong to exhibit my artworks as an exception because my artworks are banned in China too," he added.

Tensions between authorities and the creative community of artists are stretching beyond the fine art scene as Hong Kong's film industry, once dubbed the "Hollywood of the Far East," faces a similar challenge.

In October, the city's Legislative Council passed a revised film censorship ordinance to state that films could be banned if they are found to endanger national security, with penalties of up to three years imprisonment and HK$1 million ($128,000) in fines -- a move critics say sounded the death knell for freedom of expression.

The revisions to the Film Censorship Ordinance also allow the government to retroactively revoke a film's license if it is considered "contrary to national security."

Commerce Secretary Edward Yau told the Legislative Council in October that the revision would provide "clear rules" for the movie industry so that filmmakers would not accidentally cross a red line.

But Kenny Ng, an associate professor of Hong Kong Baptist University's Academy of Film, said the red line could become ambiguous in terms of film storytelling as expressions are open to interpretation, depending on those who watch and the context of the film.

"Interpretation is also dependent on the social atmosphere," he said.

Ng believes that the revisions would most affect independent films like the documentary "Revolution of Our Times," which saw its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in July.

Directed by Hong Kong native Kiwi Chow, the movie depicts the events of the 2019 anti-government protests and highlights the stories of seven protesters fighting for democracy.

The decision to show the documentary was kept under tight wraps until its screening for fear that it would anger Beijing and Hong Kong authorities.

Chow, who chose to remain in Hong Kong, has since destroyed raw footage and materials to protect those involved in the production from persecution. He did not seek to distribute the film locally to mitigate his legal risks and also transferred the film's copyright to an individual outside the city.

Speaking to Kyodo News, Chow said Hong Kong filmmakers were dealt a double blow by the amended ordinance and the national security law.

"Naturally, self-censorship has intensified under the national security law," Chow said. "The entire industry and entire Hong Kong have been subject to fear and pressure. It can be said that there is very little creative freedom."

Despite this situation, Ng still has hope for the future of the filmmaking industry.

"I think in time, people will find some other ways to adapt to the new changes," he said.

"We had quite a number of interesting, compelling film stories (in 2021) by younger filmmakers -- so I'm not that pessimistic."

Like Ng, Ai also believes there is a way for artists to flourish in Hong Kong in the face of toughened censorship.

"We cannot let censorship restrict art expression," Ai said. "A lot of literature and art are created under limitations. Conversely, places without limitations do not necessarily mean that valuable artworks can be created."

"No matter what happens to Hong Kong, it solely depends on Hong Kong artists' own ability," he added.

Related coverage:

Hong Kong pro-democracy outlet Stand News shuts after raid, arrests

Memorial to Tiananmen Square victims removed from Hong Kong campus

Pro-Beijing members sweep Hong Kong legislative election
KYODO NEWS - Jan 2, 2022 - 18:12 | All, Japan

The world's oldest person Kane Tanaka, who was born a year before the Russo-Japanese War began, celebrated her 119th birthday in southwestern Japan on Sunday.

Tanaka, born on Jan. 2, 1903, in Fukuoka Prefecture, has lived through Japan's Meiji, Taisho, Showa, Heisei and current Reiwa eras, and is hoping to live until 120 as an immediate goal, according to family members. Notable people born in 1903 include British novelist George Orwell, film director Yasujiro Ozu and Japanese poet Misuzu Kaneko.

Tanaka was recognized by Guinness World Records in March 2019 as the world's oldest living person at 116 years old and also achieved an all-time Japanese age record when she became 117 years and 261 days old.

Residing in a nursing home in Fukuoka, Tanaka interacts with staff through gestures and often challenges herself by solving number puzzles. She likes chocolate and carbonated drinks.

When the centenarian was sent flowers on Respect for the Aged Day last September by Fukuoka Gov. Seitaro Hattori, she expressed her happiness by making a peace sign.

Tanaka, the seventh of nine siblings, married when she was 19 years old. She supported her family by running a noodle shop when her husband and eldest son went to fight in the Second Sino-Japanese War that started in 1937.

"I would like to personally congratulate her soon," Tanaka's 62-year-old grandson, Eiji, said. "I hope she remains healthy and has fun everyday as she grows older."

Related coverage:

Japan's centenarians hit record 86,500, 10,000-plus men for 1st time

World's oldest person in southwestern Japan turns 118
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KYODO NEWS - Jan 2, 2022 - 20:28 | World, All

Chi Myong Gwan, a scholar who exposed the oppression suffered by South Korea's pro-democracy movement in the 1970s and 1980s through his writings in a Japanese magazine, died of a stroke at a hospital near Seoul on Saturday, his family said. He was 97.

While living in Japan, Chi penned a series of pieces for the Sekai (The World) monthly between 1973 and 1988 under the pseudonym "T.K Sei," using materials brought out of South Korea by Christians to inform the world of human rights abuses under military dictatorships and of the pro-democracy movement challenging them.

After returning to South Korea, Chi was deeply involved in the lifting under the government of President Kim Dae Jung from 1998 to 2003 of the country's decades-old ban on the import of Japanese popular culture.

Chi was born in what is now North Korea's North Pyongan Province in 1924. He became a scholar of religious philosophy after completing his studies at Seoul National University's graduate school. He moved to Japan in 1972 and in 1986 became a professor at Tokyo Woman's Christian University.

While his pieces in Sekai, under the title "Communication from South Korea," brought attention to the state of the pro-democracy movement there, he remained anonymous throughout. It was only in 2003 that he acknowledged being T.K Sei.

Chi returned to South Korea in 1993. Under the Kim government, he served as chairman of a policy advisory committee that considered the lifting of a ban on Japanese popular culture. He advocated the deregulation at a time when there was still unease regarding Japanese culture among the South Korean public following Japan's 35-year colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula until 1945.

Back in South Korea, Chi served as professor at Hallym University until 2004. He also served as chairman of public broadcaster KBS as well as South Korea's representative in a joint history research project with Japan.

Related coverage:

Japan's Iizuka, ex-head of North Korea abductee kin group, dies at 83

Younger brother of North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung dies

Masayuki Uemura, creator of NES, SNES game consoles, dies at 78
Children hold red lanterns during a New Year celebration at a kindergarten in Suining, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Dec. 31, 2021. (Photo by Liu Changsong/Xinhua)

BEIJING, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- The New Year speech of Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday has shown China's responsibility as a major country to advance global peace and development, and its resolution and action to promote building a community with a shared future for mankind, overseas experts and officials have said.

Meanwhile, they said they wish China success in hosting the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

Phay Siphan, chief spokesman for the Cambodian government, said Xi's speech has reflected China's commitment to building a modern socialist country.

"President Xi's speech inspires people around the world to love peace, to jointly protect peace, and to work together for common development and prosperity towards building a community with a shared future for mankind," he told Xinhua.

An art performance titled "The Great Journey" is held in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) at the National Stadium in Beijing, capital of China, on the evening of June 28, 2021. (Xinhua/Xing Guangli)

Ivona Ladjevac, deputy director of Serbia's Institute of International Politics and Economics, said the event of 2021, "without any doubt, was the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC)."

Led by the CPC, China is pursuing the Chinese dream, Ladjevac noted, adding "there is no reason to doubt that China will make the year 2022 at least as successful as the previous 2021."

"China has broadened the scientific reach of humanity by placing a space station into orbit," said Cavince Adhere, a Kenya-based international relations scholar.

Adhere said he believes in the year of 2022, "China will, in many ways, shape the course of humanity towards a more stable, peaceful and prosperous world."

Charles Onunaiju, director of the Abuja-based Center for China Studies, hailed China's important contributions to the world through its eye-catching performance in epidemic control and economic growth.

China-donated Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines arrive in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, Feb. 10, 2021. (Photo by Li Boyuan/Xinhua)

China has shouldered its responsibility as a major country, as it has offered COVID-19 vaccines and other medical assistance to developing countries, including those in Africa, Onunaiju said.

French writer and sinologist Lea Bessis said she quite agrees with Xi's remarks that "only through unity, solidarity and cooperation can countries around the world write a new chapter in building a community with a shared future for mankind."

The remarks have shown China's firm resolution to promoting global peace and development, she said.

Bessis added that China's efforts for development aim at improving the well-being of the people.

Pui Jeng Leong, a media veteran in Brunei, said China has declared a comprehensive victory in the battle against poverty, completing the arduous task of eliminating absolute poverty, which is not only a Chinese miracle but also a major contribution to the world's poverty reduction project and global development.

He said he appreciates Xi's remarks about China's contribution to the global anti-pandemic cooperation, adding the friendship and mutual support between Brunei and China in the joint fight against the pandemic have become an example of mutual assistance. 
The first batch of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines arrives at Tashkent International Airport in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on March 27, 2021. (Photo by Zafar Khalilov/Xinhua)

BEIJING, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Uzbek counterpart, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, on Sunday exchanged congratulations on the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In his message, Xi said that in the past 30 years, China-Uzbekistan relations have kept pace with the times and forged ahead, setting a fine example of international relations featuring harmonious coexistence and win-win cooperation.

Workers transfer COVID-19 vaccines at Tashkent International Airport in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on March 27, 2021. (Photo by Zafar Khalilov/Xinhua)

In particular, the two sides have learned from each other in the course of reform, opening-up, development and revitalization, and have worked together and assisted each other in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, making them genuine comprehensive strategic partners, Xi said.

Xi stressed that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Uzbekistan relations, and stands ready to work with Mirziyoyev to take the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties as an opportunity to jointly write a new chapter in the history of the development of the China-Uzbekistan comprehensive strategic partnership, so as to benefit the two countries and two peoples.

Green tea are loaded to export for Uzbekistan at Danling County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Dec. 29, 2021. (Xinhua/Chen Jian)

For his part, Mirziyoyev said that the past 30 years have been a glorious chapter in the age-old history of friendly exchanges between the two peoples.

Under President Xi's personal attention, Mirziyoyev said, the Uzbekistan-China comprehensive strategic partnership is thriving, adding that bilateral cooperation in various fields has seen smooth progress, people-to-people and cultural exchanges are being enhanced continuously, and the two countries have maintained close communication within the frameworks of international and regional organizations.

The Uzbek side stands ready to deepen the Belt and Road cooperation with China, and promote friendly relations and all-round cooperation between the two countries to a new historical stage, the Uzbek president added. 
Italian designer Laura Minmini visits the 130th session of the China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Oct. 15, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

Chinese customs data also reflect such a trend, showing Italian exports to China kept growing in the first 11 months of 2021, reaching 27.65 billion U.S. dollars, a stunning 40 percent increase year-on-year.

ROME, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- "Our company's exhibition area at the China International Import Expo (CIIE) saw an expansion in 2021, as sales volume increased over 20 percent despite the pandemic," said Han Zhangwen, a Chinese businessman who deals in Italian wine, while attending the fourth edition of the CIIE held in November in Shanghai.

Candido Mormile, an Italian wine businessman, confirmed the trend that Italian wine exports to China displayed a very strong performance in the last few years. Business is still growing and becoming better every year, he said during the 105th China Food & Drinks Fair.

Aside from the wine sector, the Chinese market has become important for a growing number of Italian industries in recent years, despite the global economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Italian media, China has become the largest foreign importer of Italian marble, concentrating almost half of international sales, as well as the world's fastest-growing market for Italian cheese.

Italian furniture and agri-food exports to China increased 53 percent and 57.7 percent respectively in the first half of 2021, while industrial machinery still had the lion's share of Italian exports to the Asian country, posting a 43.9-percent annual growth in the same period, according to a report published by the Italy-China Foundation in November.

People visit the Italian wine exhibition area during the 105th China Food & Drinks Fair in the national convention and exhibition center in Tianjin, north China, Oct. 20, 2021. (Xinhua/Sun Fanyue)

Chinese customs data also reflect such a trend, showing Italian exports to China kept growing in the first 11 months of 2021, reaching 27.65 billion U.S. dollars, a stunning 40 percent increase year-on-year.

According to Massimiliano Tremiterra, head of Italian Trade Agency (ITA) office in southern China's Guangzhou, the Chinese economy is "one of the great world economies that has kept growing in the last years despite the pandemic outbreak. Therefore, the Chinese market is considered a market of primary importance for a country like Italy with a strong export orientation."

Data from the Italian National Institute of Statistics showed that Italy's gross domestic product shrank by 8.9 percent in 2020. In the meantime, many Italian companies operating in China continued to grow, noticed Tremiterra, who helped maintain the financial balance of their headquarters in Italy.

According to a survey carried out in 2021 by the Italy-China Foundation on a sample of 180 Italian companies, almost 80 percent of Italian companies see China as a potential end market for their products as well as an "opportunity not to be missed."

The Chinese market has been increasingly opening up to global companies, including a strong Italian presence at the fourth CIIE, with dedicated pavilions for over 100 companies and a deal between the Chinese supermarket BHG Market Place and the ITA to promote Italian agri-food products.

The two parties worked together to launch an Italian food and wine festival in BHG Market Place shops in the Chinese cities of Beijing and Xi'an.

Moreover, the China-European Union (EU) agreement on geographical indications, officially into effect since March 1, 2021, is providing China and the EU with new opportunities to enhance the trade of agri-food products, including Italian ones.

Bottles of wine from Italy are exhibited at the Food and Agricultural Products exhibition area during the third China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, east China, Nov. 7, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhao Dingzhe)

Looking into the future, Italy-China Foundation President Mario Boselli wrote in a report that domestic consumption, along with innovation and increasing digitalization, are going to be the main drivers of China's economic growth in the next years, and that Italian companies will have to make adjustments in order to stay competitive.

In Tremiterra's eyes, digital economic growth is an irreversible trend, as shown by the development of the e-commerce sector.

"With the implementation of the cross-border e-commerce platform, Italian products significantly increased their presence on the main Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Tmall and JD. Especially in the cosmetics and fashion sectors, some Italian brands achieved high levels of online sales," said Tremiterra. 
Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers his 2022 New Year Address through China Media Group and the Internet on New Year's eve. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

BEIJING, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- The year 2021 witnessed Chinese President Xi Jinping's tight schedule of "cloud diplomacy:" he had 79 telephone calls with leaders of foreign countries and international organizations, and attended 40 major diplomatic events via video link.

These activities have strengthened the bonds between China and the rest of the world and showed that the country, with a civilization of more than 5,000 years and a population of over 1.4 billion, is making continuous efforts to seek common development and a better future for mankind.





HIGHLIGHTS OF BILATERAL ACTIVITIES

In the face of complicated international situations, China-Russia ties have become a staunch force for world peace and stability.

From major cooperation projects to the official extension of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, and to the successful conclusion of the China-Russia Year of Scientific and Technological Innovation, cooperation between the two countries has yielded fruitful results last year.

As Xi put it in December, in his second virtual meeting in 2021 and 37th meeting since 2013 with Russian President Vladimir Putin, China and Russia have actively fulfilled their responsibilities as major countries, and acted as a pillar of strength in following true multilateralism and upholding fairness and justice in the world.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with U.S. President Joe Biden via video link, in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 16, 2021. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

About a month before this talk, Xi held a video call with his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden. The Chinese president pointed out that the most important event in international relations in the coming 50 years will be for China and the United States to find the right way to get along.

He also highlighted mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation as three principles in developing China-U.S. relations in the new era.

In the month between the two meetings, Xi conducted a series of bilateral and multilateral activities, including congratulating Olaf Scholz on his election as German chancellor, addressing the opening ceremony of the China-Laos Railway via video link and sending congratulatory messages to the re-elected presidents of Vietnam and Uzbekistan.





QUOTES ON MULTILATERALISM

2021 marked the 20th anniversary of China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), the 30th anniversary of China's joining the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the lawful seat of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations (UN).

Chinese President Xi Jinping addresses the general debate of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly via video on Sept. 21, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

The Chinese president has expressed several times that China is determined to champion multilateralism. And new fruits of friendship are yielded thanks to candid exchanges and innovative cooperation mechanisms.

-- On the China-Central and Eastern European Countries summit in February, Xi said China intends to "import more than 170 billion U.S. dollars of goods from CEE countries" and will "work to double CEE countries' agricultural exports to China and raise two-way agricultural trade by 50 percent."

-- The 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity was held in China's Kunming in October, at which Xi announced China's initiative to establish a Kunming Biodiversity Fund and take the lead by investing 1.5 billion yuan (233 million U.S. dollars) to support biodiversity protection in developing countries.

-- While addressing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-China Special Summit to Commemorate the 30th Anniversary of ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations via video link in November, Xi called for fostering a closer community with a shared future for China and ASEAN, while keeping in mind people's aspirations for a better life.





HARMONIOUS RELATION WITH NATURE

The world has come to a crossroads where humanity is confronting the challenges of the times, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. Xi has put forward a series of new ideas and initiatives, which shows that China is a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, a defender of the international order and a provider of public goods.

Workers unload a batch of China-donated COVID-19 vaccines at M'poko International Airport in Bangui, Central African Republic, on July 6, 2021. (Chinese Embassy in CAR/Handout via Xinhua)

China would provide an additional 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa, Xi announced while addressing the opening ceremony of the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation via video link.

As the first country to propose the COVID-19 vaccine as a global public good and to advocate global vaccine cooperation, China provided over 2 billion doses of vaccines to more than 120 countries and organizations throughout 2021.

Xi said "China will do its best to help developing countries cope with the COVID-19 pandemic," in a written message to the first meeting of the International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation in August.

In terms of climate issues, as "the first from the leader of a single country," quoting U.S. media CNBC, to speak on the Leaders' Summit on Climate in April, Xi reaffirmed that China will strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.

Throughout the year, China has not only pledged to achieve carbon neutrality, but also promoted the establishment of the Kunming Biodiversity Fund, issued the China-U.S. joint declaration on enhancing climate action, and participated in adopting the Glasgow Climate Pact.

In his keynote speech at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2021, Xi called on countries to answer the "call of our times," defeat the pandemic through solidarity, strengthen global governance and keep pursuing a community with a shared future for mankind.





SEEKING DEVELOPMENT

Only when countries develop together can there be true development, and only when countries prosper together can there be true prosperity, Xi said, while addressing via video link the opening ceremony of the Second UN Global Sustainable Transport Conference.

The UN welcomes the China-proposed Global Development Initiative (GDI) as it will speed up implementing the 2030 Agenda, said Siddharth Chatterjee, UN development system resident coordinator in China.

The GDI proposed by Xi is an initiative to support the development of developing countries, promote global economic recovery in the post-pandemic era and strengthen international development cooperation.

The Lane Xang EMU train of the China-Laos Railway departs from Vientiane Railway Station in Vientiane, Laos, Dec. 3, 2021. (Photo by Kaikeo Saiyasane/Xinhua)

China walks the talk. On Dec. 3, the first train of the China-Laos Railway left Vientiane in the afternoon after the cross-border railway was officially put into operation.

The 1,035-km electrified passenger and cargo railway, connecting Kunming in southwest China's Yunnan Province with the Lao capital, Vientiane, has fully adopted Chinese technical standards and consists of two sections. The start of its construction dates back to December 2016.

Xi said the China-Laos Railway is a landmark project of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

"China is willing to work with Laos and other countries along the route to speed up the building of a closer Belt and Road partnership and a community with a shared future for mankind," he said.

While some are seeking to stir confrontation or sow division, Xi has been proposing the promotion of humanity's common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom.

"With a strong sense of responsibility for the future of all mankind, we need to champion the common values of humanity, foster broad-minded tolerance toward the understanding of values by different civilizations, and respect the explorations of different peoples to turn values into reality," Xi said, addressing the Communist Party of China and World Political Parties Summit held in July 2021.

"By doing so, the common values of humanity will be translated into the practice of individual countries to serve the interests of their own people in a concrete and realistic way," he said. 
Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

BEIJING, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Three Chinese astronauts in space station Tiangong held a video chat with students in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao Saturday afternoon, the first day of 2022.

The live space-Earth talk was attended by around 500 young students at the three venues. The astronauts shared their space dream and aspirations.

Astronaut Zhai Zhigang, commander of the Shenzhou-13 mission, shared his experience with the young people and encouraged them to overcome difficulties and dangers.

"No matter how far we fly, the motherland is forever our strongest supporter. Love for the country always inspires us in space flights," Zhai said.

Astronaut Wang Yaping expressed hope that the live class from Tiangong could guide more young people to look up at the stars and plant the seeds of "loving science, pursuing dreams and exploring the unknown" in their hearts.

Wang earned the title of China's first space teacher after delivering a televised science lecture during the Shenzhou-10 space mission in June 2013. While in the Shenzhou-13 mission, she and the other two crew members also gave a lecture in Tiangong in December 2021.

As China's national space laboratory, the space station Tiangong is expected to play a unique role in encouraging the public, especially the youth, to explore space and carry forward the scientific spirit.

"Despite being weightless in space, we feel firmly grounded at heart," said astronaut Ye Guangfu, a newcomer to space.

With the support of space professionals, painstaking trainings, and valuable experience from aerospace predecessors, Ye said that they have the confidence, determination and ability to accomplish the mission.

Tan Zuwei, student of the School of Aerospace Engineering of Tsinghua University, felt deeply impressed by the astronauts' passion for their dreams and the space cause. He said he was inspired by their spirit and would contribute to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Zhou Ting, a medical student from the University of Hong Kong (HKU), felt lucky to pose her question to the astronauts. "As a would-be doctor, I have been confronted with harsh study and work, and I sometimes thought of giving up. But the astronauts have given me the courage to carry on."

Qian Chunzheng, a freshman from the Macao University of Science and Technology (MUST), said that he felt the care of the motherland for students in Hong Kong and Macao, and the development and progress of the country's space cause. All this has enhanced their sense of pride and duty to the country.

"As we have our own space station right now, I believe that in the future, Chinese people will surely step further into deep space. As a student in Macao, I hope to contribute to the country's space cause one day," Qian added.

"Today's event is a great gift sent to Hong Kong by our motherland. We are cheered up!" said Yeung Wai-Kwok, an HKU professor, adding that Hong Kong youth are expected to be down to earth, study hard, innovate and pursue dreams bravely, so as to become "stars" in the country's space exploration.

A series of activities held in Hong Kong and Macao fully demonstrated the care from the central government. Young people in Hong Kong and Macao have realized that there is a vast space for them to bring their talents into full play, said Zhang Keke, head of the State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences based at the MUST.

During the video talk, the trio also showed the people on the ground around a painting exhibition in the space station. Around 20 paintings drawn by teenagers from central and western China were displayed in the exhibition.

Prior to the talk, Cheng Tangming, chief designer of the Long March-7 carrier rocket system, answered questions from the students, and shared with them touching stories of how scientific researchers defeated difficulties and pioneered innovations.

"I feel very honored to be able to participate in this event, and I hope to do my part to contribute to students' space dream and help them build up confidence in the country's self-reliance in innovation," said Cheng.

The activity, co-hosted by the Hong Kong SAR government, the Macao SAR government, the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong SAR, the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Macao SAR, the China Manned Space Agency and the China Media Group, was broadcast live.

The three astronauts went into space onboard the Shenzhou-13 spaceship and entered the space station on Oct. 16, embarking on the country's longest crewed mission for space station construction.

According to the plan, China will complete by 2022 construction of the country's space station, which is expected to support long-term and consecutive manned stay. Crew rotation will be done in-orbit. Enditem

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in south China's Macao. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

A college student raises a question while participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in south China's Hong Kong. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in south China's Hong Kong. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

Space experts answer questions from college students while participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

A college student raises a question while participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in south China's Macao, Jan. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in south China's Macao. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in south China's Hong Kong. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in south China's Hong Kong. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in south China's Macao. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

College students pose for a group photo while participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Photo taken on Jan. 1, 2022 shows college students participating in a space-Earth video talk with the Chinese astronauts on board space station Tiangong in south China's Hong Kong. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

Photo taken in Beijing, capital of China, on Jan. 1, 2022 shows a screen displaying a painting exhibition held in space station Tiangong during a live space-Earth talk between Chinese astronauts and students in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao. Three Chinese astronauts in space station Tiangong held a video chat with students in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao Saturday afternoon, the first day of 2022. The live space-Earth talk was attended by around 500 young students at the three venues. The astronauts shared their space dream and aspirations. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Photo taken in Beijing, capital of China, on Jan. 1, 2022 shows a screen displaying a painting exhibition held in space station Tiangong during a live space-Earth talk between Chinese astronauts and students in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao. Three Chinese astronauts in space station Tiangong held a video chat with students in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao Saturday afternoon, the first day of 2022. The live space-Earth talk was attended by around 500 young students at the three venues. The astronauts shared their space dream and aspirations. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Photo taken in Beijing, capital of China, on Jan. 1, 2022 shows a screen displaying a painting exhibition held in space station Tiangong during a live space-Earth talk between Chinese astronauts and students in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao. Three Chinese astronauts in space station Tiangong held a video chat with students in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao Saturday afternoon, the first day of 2022. The live space-Earth talk was attended by around 500 young students at the three venues. The astronauts shared their space dream and aspirations. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)
The Olympic flame for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics is on display on the Flame Exhibition Tour at Shougang Park in Beijing, capital of China, on Dec. 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)

-- The year 2021, characterized by significant progress in China's social and economic development as well as major events including the centenary celebration of the CPC, has been an extraordinary year for the country.

-- Despite all the hardships that faced the world, China continued on its journey to rejuvenation by continue advancing modernization, opening up wider to the world and taking up its due international responsibilities as a major country should.

-- In the new year, China will renew its commitments to its people and the world, and carry on with its development confidently and resolutely.

BEIJING, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- A lot of things taking place in China these days would have been unimaginable a century ago.

In 2022, Beijing, where invading imperialists wreaked havoc more than 100 years ago, will host the Olympic Games for a second time, a chance for the world to stand stronger and together in solidarity.

Hong Kong, formerly a British colony, will turn a new page as the seventh-term Legislative Council members take oath soon, as patriots govern the special administrative region.

In space, three Chinese taikonauts will enter the lunar New Year in China's space station which will continue orbital construction in the year.

Students attend a live class given by the Shenzhou-13 crew members at the China Science and Technology Museum in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 9, 2021. The first live class from China's space station was given on Dec. 9 noon by Shenzhou-13 crew members Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu to students on Earth. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

China's journey to national rejuvenation is one of Chinese Communists leading 1.4 billion Chinese people in an unyielding struggle against all obstacles and challenges.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) in July of last year celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding, and this year it will convene its 20th national congress. It is necessary to maintain a stable and healthy economic environment, a secure and safe social environment, and a clean and righteous political environment.

Last year marks the critical juncture where the timeframe of China's two centenary goals converge -- to complete building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by the time the CPC celebrates its centenary, and to start building a great modern socialist country in all respects by the time the People's Republic of China celebrates its centenary in 2049.

On the new journey, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, is undoubtedly the core figure in charting the course of history.

"We must always keep a long-term perspective, remain mindful of potential risks, maintain strategic focus and determination, and 'attain to the broad and great while addressing the delicate and minute'," President Xi said in his 2022 New Year Address on Friday.

Xi paid tributes to the Chinese people who have been hard at work and looked back at the extraordinary journey traveled by the CPC.

"I sincerely hope that all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation will join forces to create a brighter future for our nation," he said.

MODERNIZATION, THE CHINESE WAY

China is walking on a model of modernization that has not been seen before.

Characterized by an innovative, coordinated, green, and open development path that is for everyone, it is a model leading socialist China out of a development trap reliant on extensive and inefficient growth at the cost of ecological damage, shifting the country to high-quality development, and avoiding situations where the rich become richer and the poor poorer.

China's economy is estimated by some international organizations to have grown 8 percent last year to reach 110 trillion yuan (about 17.3 trillion U.S. dollars). How to "divide the pie" is a world challenge and also one that China is committed to tackling.

Nationwide, measures have been taken to prevent runaway expansion of capital, maintain order in the market, galvanize market entities of all types, especially micro, small, and medium enterprises, and protect the rights and interests of workers and consumers.

China's "common prosperity" initiative "is meant to end monopolies, increase innovation and competition, and give fairer opportunities, so now is the best time to invest in China's hinterland," said Shaun Rein, founder and managing director of the China Market Research Group, a strategic market intelligence firm.

Zhejiang Province, an economic powerhouse in east China, has drawn up detailed plans to achieve common prosperity, including labor remuneration will account for more than 50 percent of its GDP by 2025, and the ratio of residents per capita disposable income to per capita GDP will continue to increase during the period.

Aerial photo taken on Dec. 16, 2021 shows the automated production line of a technology company in the Economic Development Zone of Anji County, Huzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Xinhua/Xia Pengfei)

Modernization also reaches less developed regions such as the southwestern province of Guizhou, which has become the front-runner of China's big-data industry since being approved to build the country's first national big-data comprehensive pilot zone in 2016.

Tech giants including Apple and Microsoft have established their cloud computing and big-data centers and their regional headquarters in the province. Leveraging its accommodating climate, clean air, and advantageous geography, Guizhou is now one of the regions with the highest number of mega-data centers in China and even in the world.

The rejuvenation spans more than just material goods such as China's impressive high-speed trains or emerging fleet of new energy cars. By 2035, China is set to basically achieve socialist modernization, becoming a strong country in culture, education, talent, sports, and health.

China is also aiming to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. A top-level design document has been released toward the ambitious goal.

CONFIDENT TOWARD CHALLENGES

The Party has established Comrade Xi Jinping's core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and defined the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. This reflects the common will of the Party, the armed forces, and Chinese people of all ethnic groups, and is of decisive significance for advancing the cause of the Party and the country in the new era and for driving forward the historic process of national rejuvenation.

Members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) review the Party admission oath at the memorial of the First National Congress of the CPC in east China's Shanghai, June 3, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Ying)

Today, the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has entered an irreversible historical process, but it will be no easy task like a walk in the park, as Xi said on Friday: It will not happen overnight, or through sheer fanfare.

China's economic development is facing pressure from demand contraction, supply shocks, and weakening expectations, and the external environment is becoming increasingly complicated, grim, and uncertain. China also faces an aging population. In deepening reform and opening up, certain deep-seated institutional problems and impediments from vested interests became increasingly evident. China's reform thus entered a critical phase fraught with tough challenges.

Some elements in the world still deem themselves superior, and always want to impose their own will on others: They throw out arbitrary rules and use human rights, democracy, and other high-sounding excuses to smear and contain China and many other developing countries.

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China must not compromise or back down.

"Instead, we must face them head-on, and pull together with most countries to defend fairness and justice and do the right thing for humanity," Wang said in an interview on Thursday.

Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's chief financial officer, arrives at the Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen on Sept. 25, 2021. Meng returned to China on a charter flight organized by the Chinese government, after being illegally detained for nearly three years in Canada. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

The people are the source of the power of the Party and the country. In the people's war against the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese people rally around the Party's call and establish a firm wall against the virus. Now a billion netizens online create unprecedented digital opportunities and over 150 million market entities bring about the largest scale of job creation in the world.

While viewing itself as the equal of any other in the world, China is also unequivocal that it remains open and engaged with the world.

In September, China officially filed an application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The Chinese people are both patriotic and open-minded to the world. Harry Potter books and products remain as popular as ever, and a recent online concert by Westlife, the Irish band, proved a huge hit in China.

RENEWED INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

In 2022, China's resolution remains unyielding toward carrying through its commitments of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Facing the raging COVID-19 pandemic, China shouldered its responsibilities as a major country. Determined to make COVID-19 vaccines global public goods, China has provided more than 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to over 120 countries and international organizations and has become the biggest provider of outbound vaccines among all countries.

Staff members transport Chinese COVID-19 vaccines at an airport in Managua, Nicaragua, Dec. 24, 2021. (Xinhua/Xin Yuewei)

At its border, China, along with other member countries, are ready to benefit from the zero tariffs made possible by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), taking effect on Saturday. RCEP comprises 15 member countries and approximately 30 percent of the world's population and global gross domestic product.

In just over a month, President Xi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, having stayed in close strategic communication throughout the previous year, will get together for the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

On China-U.S. relations, Xi and President Joe Biden pledged in November to steer China-U.S. relations back on right track, making clear that a sound and stable China-U.S. relationship is required for advancing the two countries' respective development and for safeguarding a peaceful and stable international environment.

Aerial photo taken on Dec. 4, 2021 shows an international freight train bound for Laos near the China-Laos border. The China-Laos Railway, a landmark project of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, started operation on Dec. 3, 2021. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

The high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative is set to extend, and the China International Import Expo, an attraction to international businesses interested in the Chinese market, is expected to take place for the fifth time this year.

In its continued engagement with the world, China upholds and practices true multilateralism, urging countries to resolutely uphold the authority and standing of the United Nations, jointly oppose division and confrontation, stand together against zero-sum games, and make constant efforts for greater democracy in international relations.

As Xi said on Friday, "Only through unity, solidarity and cooperation can countries around the world write a new chapter in building a community with a shared future for mankind." 
A freight train departed from south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region early Saturday for Vietnam, a member country of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement after the agreement came into force on the same day.

The X9101 train carrying more than 800 tonnes of cargo left the Nanning international railway port in the regional capital Nanning at 0:05 a.m. on New Year's Day and is expected to reach Hanoi in 28 hours.

The cargo included electronics, daily necessities and chemical products.

The RCEP agreement will to a large extent lower the customs duties, said Ma Ziqiang, general manager of a local supply chain service provider that owns the delivered cargo.

The RCEP groups the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The 15 states' total population, gross domestic product and trade all account for about 30 percent of the world total.

According to the RCEP agreement, more than 90 percent of merchandise trade among members that have approved the agreement will eventually be subject to zero tariffs.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service
TRIPOLI, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Libyan Ministry of Interior on Saturday announced arresting a foreign national with 32 hand grenades in his possession in Garabulli city, some 50 km east of the capital Tripoli.

The arrested individual faces charges of armed robbery, the ministry said, adding that machine gun ammunition was also found in his possession upon searching.

The arrested individual is part of a criminal group that is still at large, which is responsible for a number of armed robberies in the area, the ministry said.

Libya has been suffering insecurity and chaos since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011. Enditem
TALUQAN, Afghanistan, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in Afghanistan's northern Takhar province distributed humanitarian aid to 460 orphaned children on Saturday, a provincial official said.

"After conducting survey we have distributed humanitarian assistance to 460 orphans and each one received a sack of flour, 7-kg cooking oil, a sack of rice and few more kitchen items," Qari Ansarullah Ansari, head of the province's information and cultural department, told Xinhua.

The authorities will continue to provide assistance to orphans and needy families across the province, the official added.

In another development on Saturday, authorities in the northern Jawzjan province distributed humanitarian aid to 100 needy families in the provincial capital Shiberghan. Enditem
New Delhi:

Election Commission (EC) on Thursday told Supreme Court that it will defer upcoming bypolls for 15 assembly constituencies in Karnataka after the top said that it will finally decide the plea of 17 MLAs of the state against their suspension.

The statement by poll panels council came after a 3-judge bench headed by Justice NV Ramana said that it would decide on the batch of petitions filed by 17 disqualified MLAs of Karnataka challenging the order of former Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar disqualifying them from the House.

After the bench, also comprising justices Sanjiv Khanna and Krishna Murari, said that it would hear the matter completely and decide it, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the poll panel, said: "Then I will ask the Election Commission to defer it (by-polls for 15 Assembly seats in Karnataka) for sometime".

When the bench asked Dwivedi as to whether his statement should be recorded in the order, the senior lawyer said, "We will do it".

The lawyers appearing for the disqualified MLAs, Congress leader Siddaramaiah and other respondents said, they have no objection if the by-polls are deferred.

The top court said it would continue with the hearing in the case on October 22.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi :

Electronics major Samsung on Thursday launched 'Samsung Finance+', a digital lending platform that will offer consumers finance options to buy its Galaxy smartphones. The move assumes significance ahead of the festive season, where handset makers are lining up a slew of devices to woo customers.

Samsung Finance+, which will connect financial institutions and dealers, will be available at over 5,000 stores in 30 cities across the country. This will be extended to 10,000 outlets in 100 cities by the end of 2019.

"In the western world, 80 per cent of phones are financed, including cases where data, calling and phone are bundled and offered for a monthly payment. In India, about 15-18 per cent phones have any kind of financing," Samsung India Senior Vice President (Mobile Business) Mohandeep Singh told PTI.

Around 450 million adults in India don't have a credit history and so finance options for them are minimal, he added. The intention is to make it easier for customers to get finance for a device that they want to buy," he noted.

To begin with, Samsung has partnered DMI Finance and is in discussions to bring more financial institutions on board. Singh said various offers will be available for users, including zero per cent EMI, as being offered at various offline and online channels.

He explained that consumers buying a Galaxy smartphone at any one of the 5,000 stores equipped with Samsung Finance+ platform can opt for easy finance on their smartphones. They log into the in-store Samsung Finance+ application - which has been designed and developed by the company's R&D unit in Bengaluru - and fill in their details for KYC verification and credit scoring.

Following this, they will get an offer screen on various Galaxy smartphones."We are starting with 5,000 stores in 30 cities, and will be extended to 10,000 outlets in 100 cities by the end of 2019," he added. Singh said this will also help offline retailers reach out to more customers as many prospective buyers shop online to use the financing options available.

Talking about the festive season, Singh said the period usually sees 20-25 per cent higher sale than usual business days. "Festive season is always strong and we feel it will be good this year too. We are geared up for it. Our growth will be ahead of the market," he said. Apart from this, Samsung recently launched Galaxy A10s was launched in India in August this year with two storage options i.e. 2GB RAM/ 32GB and 3GB RAM/ 32GB storage variants. The key features of Galaxy A10s include Infinity-V Display and dual rear camera setup. The 2GB RAM/ 32GB storage variant of Samsung Galaxy A10s costs Rs 9,499.

The price of 3GB RAM/ 32GB storage variant of Samsung Galaxy A10s has been set at Rs 10,499. Samsung Galaxy A10s features a 6.2-inch HD+ (720x1520 pixels) Infinity-V Display along with 19:9 aspect ratio. The dual-SIM (Nano) Samsung Galaxy A10s runs Android 9 Pie with One UI on top.

The smartphone is powered by an octa-core SoC, paired with 2GB of RAM. On the optics front, Samsung Galaxy A10s houses he dual rear camera setup that includes a 13-megapixel primary sensor with an f/1.8 lens and a 2-megapixel secondary sensor with an f/2.4 lens. Samsung Galaxy A10s also has an 8-megapixel selfie shooter at the front along with an f/2.0 lens.

(With inputs from PTI)
New Delhi:

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has reportedly taken the responsibility of journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder. According to reports, few months after Khashoggi's killing, the Saudi Crown Prince had told a US television that the murder happened "under his watch" but he didn't have any prior knowledge about the incident.

"I get all the responsibility, because it happened under my watch," Prince Mohammed bin Salman told a reporter in December 2018 and his quotes were released ahead of a new PBS documentary to be aired next week.

Khashoggi, a US-based writer who annoyed the prince through critical columns in The Washington Post, was strangled to death on October 2, 2018 and dismembered after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to handle wedding paperwork, according to US and Turkish officials.

Also Read | Khashoggi murder: UN investigator urges US for action

After having denied the murder, Saudi Arabia said the operation was carried out by agents who were out of control. A trial of 11 suspects opened earlier this year in Saudi Arabia. But much of the case remains shrouded, beginning with the role of countrys powerful crown prince and de facto ruler Salman.

When asked how could he not known about the murder, the heir to the Gulf kingdom's throne said: "We have 20 million people. We have three million government employees." Responding to the question that the team who killed Khashoggi took one of the royal planes to Istanbul, "I have officials, ministers to follow things, and they're responsible, they have the authority to do that."

The crown prince, however, denied his direct role. But a United Naitons human rights expert's report had claimed that there were enough "credible evidence" that links Mohammed bin Salman to the murder and then a cover-up.

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Washington:

Trump administration has announced the deployment of 200 troops as well as Patriot missiles to Saudi Arabia to help the country's defence in the wake of last month's attacks on oil installations blamed on Iran.

The Defence Department said Thursday the deployment would involve one battery of the surface-to-air missiles, along with four Sentinel radars used for air and missile defence systems. In addition, two more Patriot batteries and one THAAD ballistic missile interception system are being readied in case a decision is made to also supply them to the Saudis, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said.

"This deployment will augment the kingdom's air and missile defence of critical military and civilian infrastructure," he said. It comes "in light of recent attacks on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," he said. "It is important to note these steps are a demonstration of our commitment to regional partners, and the security and stability in the Middle East," he added.

"Other countries have called out Iranian misadventures in the region, and we look for them to contribute assets in an international effort to reinforce Saudi Arabia's defence."

The US has pointed to Iran being behind the combination drone and cruise missile attacks on September 14 which heavily damaged two Saudi oil installations, forcing the key oil supplier to slash output.

Iran has denied responsibility, and President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday challenged the US and others to provide evidence to back up their accusations.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Two years after 70 infants died at the BRD Medical College , a UP government inquiry has given a clean chit to Dr Kafeel Khan in the case. Dr Khan was suspended following the death of children in the hospital in August 2017.

Investigating Officer of the case, Principal Secretary, Stamp and Registration, Himanshu Kumar, said on Friday that Dr Khan has been given a clean chit in the case.

The infants had died allegedly because of disruption in oxygen supply due to pending payments to the supplier, a charge stoutly refuted by the state government.

The government has maintained that the children died due to different illnesses, including Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and there was no shortage of oxygen.

Dr Khan told PTI that Principal, BRD Medical College, Ganesh Kumar gave me the UP Government letter. It clearly describes that I am free from charges of medical negligence, corruption and not performing duty on that fateful day when around 70 children lost their lives at BRD Medical College Hospital.

My bail order of Allahabad Court of April 25, 2018, confirmed that I was not part of the tendering process of oxygen supply and also there is no material on record which proves my medical negligence, he said.

Kumar said, It is a procedure that Government letters and orders are handed over in person under which the letter was given to Dr Kafeel Khan on Thursday.

As per the investigation report, Dr Khan was neither the nodal medical officer in charge of encephalitis wards at BRD nor documents contesting the same provided by the department were adequate and consistent.

The report also states that Dr Khan was not involved in the process of allotting tenders for oxygen supply amounting to corruption, or of medical negligence on his part on the day of the tragedy.

The report also says that Dr Khan informed seniors about shortage of oxygen supply and arranged seven oxygen cylinders on the night of August 10-11, 2017.

Dr Khan said he will hold a press conference in Delhi and ask CM Yogi Adityanath as to why his suspension has not been revoked so far.

I have got the clean chit now. The question arises as to who killed the 70 children, he said. Dr Khan said the letter handed over to him was dated April 18.
New Delhi:

A major fire broke at Siliguris North Bengal Medical College & Hospital on Friday morning. According to the latest report, one patient has lost his life and five others got injured. "One patient dead after fire broke out at CCU (Coronary Care Unit) in North Bengal Medical College & Hospital in Siliguri today. Nine patients have been shifted to a private hospital," ANI reported.
New Delhi:

The Mahagathbandhan experiment appears to have failed in Bihar as RJD, HAM and VIP decided to field their own candidates for the bypolls in the state. The Grand Alliance which was formed to counter NDA in Bihar is on the verge of decline for the second consecutive time after it failed to garner support in Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. Bihar will go to the bypolls for five seats on October 21. The constituency which will go to polls are Daraunda, Nathnagar, Simari Bakhtiarpur, Kishanganj. Polls will also be held on Samastipur Lok Sabha constituency as the seat fell vacant after the death of Ram Chandra Paswan.



RJD has fielded Rabiya Khatoon from Nathanagr constituency, Ramdev Yadav from Belhar assembly and Zafar Alam from Simri Bakhtiarpur seat. After RJD decided to field its candidate from the respective constituencies, HAM founder Jitan Ram Manjhi selected Ajay Rai as his partys candidate from Nathnagar. Manjhi also accused RJD of helping the BJP in the name of fighting it.



"After five assembly segments fell vacant in the state, we had initially wished to contest Kishanganj and Nathdwara. I had even spoken about this to Tejashwi Yadav (RJD heir apparent). However, taking into consideration the fact that Kishanganj was a sitting seat of the Congress 'our alliance partner' we have forgone our claim on the same," Manjhi had told reporters.



The Grand Alliance, which had come into being after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JDU tied up with the RJD-Congress combine in 2015 now comprises RJD, Congress and HAM besides former Union minister Upendra Kushwahas RLSP and Bollywood set designer turned politician Mukesh Sahnis VIP.







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New Delhi:

The matte edition of TVS Scooty Pep+ has been launched in India to celebrate 25 years of the scooter brand. The price of TVS Scooty Pep+ matte edition in India has been set at Rs 44,764 (ex-showroom, Delhi), which is at a premium of Rs 1500 over the standard version. TVS Scooty Pep+ matte edition comes in two new colours i.e. Coral matte and Aqua matte. It also has a new 3D emblem, fresh graphics and a textured seat for a refreshing look.

Apart from the cosmetic changes, TVS Scooty Pep+ remains unchanged. Powered by a four-stroke, single-cylinder, air-cooled, 87.8 cc, Ecothrust engine, TVS Scooty Pep+ belts out 4.9 PS and 5.8 Nm of torque. It is mated to a CVT with torque convertor. The braking duties in TVS Scooty Pep+ are performed by 110 mm drum brakes both at front and rear. Also, there is a telescopic suspension up front.

On the features front, TVS Scooty Pep+ comes with mobile charger socket, side stand alarm, under-seat storage hooks, DRLs and open glove box. The scooter further comes equipped with the company's patented 'Eazy' stand technology, which reduces the effort to put the vehicle on the centre stand by 30 per cent.

Earlier, TVS Scooty Pep+ was available in a total of seven colour options i.e. Revving Red, Glittery Gold, Frosted Black, Vivacious Purple, Nero Blue, Nero Brown and Princess Pink. Importantly, TVS Scooty range comprises of two products i.e. TVS Scooty Pep+ and TVS Zest 110.

Interestingly, TVS Scooty initiated Women on Wheels was Indias first two-wheeler Rider Training Institute for women. Over the years, this journey of staying relevant has also been backed by multiple innovations from TVS Scooty like the introduction of Indias first mass customisation program 99 colours, or celebratory special series like the Wimbledon edition.
New Delhi:

Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar, arrested in a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate, moved the Delhi High Court on Thursday seeking bail. Shivakumar has challenged the trial court's Wednesday order by which his bail plea was dismissed. The ED had in September last year registered the money laundering case against Shivakumar, Haumanthaiah, an employee at the Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi, and others.

The case was based on a charge sheet (prosecution complaint) filed by the Income Tax Department against them last year before a special court in Bengaluru on charges of alleged tax evasion and 'hawala' transactions worth crores.

The I-T department has accused Shivakumar and his alleged associate S K Sharma of transporting huge amount of unaccounted cash on a regular basis through 'hawala' channels with the help of three other accused.

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been on a seven-day visit to the United States since September 21, on Thursday met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to discuss issues of mutual and regional interests. The duo met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in the New York city.

The meeting was eagerly awaited as it comes amid escalating face-off between Iran and the United States on Tehran's nuclear programme. Earlier in June, the two leaders could not hold talks during Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan due to scheduling issues.

READ | EAM S Jaishankar, Chinese Counterpart 'Take Stock' Of India-China Ties On UNGA Sidelines

India, the world's third biggest oil consumer, meets more than 80 per cent of its oil needs through imports. Iran was its third largest supplier after Iraq and Saudi Arabia till recently.

#WATCH Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in #NewYork. pic.twitter.com/DHZpMQjWUW  ANI (@ANI) September 26, 2019

The six-month-long exemptions from US sanctions to India and seven other countries to buy oil from Iran expired on May 2 as Washington did not extend it. Indo-Iran ties have been on an upswing in the past few years.

READ | India Ready To Talk To Pakistan But Not To 'Terroristan': S Jaishankar

Prime Minister Modi visited Tehran in May 2016 with an aim to craft a strategic relationship with Iran and expand India's ties with the West Asia. During the visit, India and Iran signed nearly a dozen agreements, centrepiece of which was a deal on development of the strategic Chabahar port.

Later, India, Iran and Afghanistan signed a trilateral agreement providing for transport of goods among the three countries through the port. In February 2018, Rouhani visited India, becoming the first Iranian President to visit India in a decade. During his visit, the two sides signed a dozen agreements.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Hong Kong: BL Article 23 enactment backed

Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng

The year 2021 marked a turning point for Hong Kong. The central authorities improved the electoral system in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region with the full implementation of the principle of "patriots administering Hong Kong". Citizens could elect those who are committed to serving Hong Kong into the Legislative Council (LegCo). I am confident that LegCo members will now be able to participate in policy discussions in an objective and rational manner, assisting the Government in addressing social and economic challenges, and promoting good governance in Hong Kong.

The National 14th Five-Year Plan supports Hong Kong to establish itself as the centre for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia-Pacific region. Last year, the Hong Kong SAR hosted the 59th Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO) Annual Session with the establishment of the AALCO Hong Kong Regional Arbitration Centre, demonstrating not only the unwavering support of the central government in the development of our legal and dispute resolution services, but also the confidence of the AALCO in our arbitration. The AALCO Hong Kong Regional Arbitration Centre will make every effort to provide arbitral and other dispute resolution services to the member states and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Other than the AALCO Annual Session, the meeting of United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Working Group III was also held in Hong Kong, marking the first time the UNCITRAL Working Group met in the city. I would like to express my deep appreciation to the central government for its trust and staunch support. In order to improve our standing, the Department of Justice (DoJ) will continue to secure the hosting of important international conferences in Hong Kong.

The DoJ has reached secondment arrangements with UNCITRAL, the Hague Conference on Private International Law and International Institute for the Unification of Private Law over the years. Some positions are even open to non-government personnel, which is different from the previous programmes. The DoJ will explore with other renowned international organisations secondment opportunities through which Hong Kong legal professionals will be able to gain valuable work experiences and receive training in diverse areas of international law.

Since Hong Kong's return to the motherland, we have reached nine arrangements on mutual legal assistance with the Supreme People's Court, allowing us to foster our dispute resolution services in commercial matters. Last year, we signed a record of meeting concerning mutual recognition of and assistance to insolvency proceedings between the courts of the Mainland and the Hong Kong SAR. Hong Kong is the only jurisdiction outside the Mainland with such arrangement, which further improves the investment and business environment of both places. The implementation of the Arrangement on Reciprocal Recognition & Enforcement of Judgments in Civil & Commercial Matters by the Courts of the Mainland and the Hong Kong SAR signed in 2019 is also in the pipeline. A public consultation on the legislative proposals is currently ongoing and will be submitted to LegCo for scrutiny. It is hoped that a more comprehensive mechanism for reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters can be established to provide better protection to parties of both places. The Mainland Judgments in Matrimonial & Family Cases (Reciprocal Recognition & Enforcement) Ordinance was already passed in May. Once it comes into operation in the near future, it will benefit parties to cross-boundary marriages and their children as well.

In the coming year, we will continue to promote our initiative, Vision 2030 for Rule of Law, which aims to raise the awareness of different sectors regarding the legal principles and the rule of law through a variety of activities. Moreover, teaching materials on the Constitution, the Basic Law and national security as well as the rule of law are now available for teachers. I hope that everyone in the community will work together to safeguard the rule of law as a cornerstone of our society.

The recommendations made by the Law Reform Commission on the outcome related fee structures for arbitration is being thoroughly studied by the DoJ. Once it is decided to adopt the recommendations, we will take forward the legislative amendments as soon as possible. The new arrangement will help enhance Hong Kong's competitiveness as a leading international arbitration centre and maintain our position as an international legal, dealmaking and dispute resolution hub in the Asia-Pacific region.

The DoJ will render its full support to the Security Bureau in taking forward the enactment of local legislation to implement Article 23 of the Basic Law so as to prevent, suppress and punish acts and activities that endanger national security in accordance with the law. We are dedicated to safeguarding national security so that people may live and work in peace and contentment, as well as ensuring that the celebrations for the 25th anniversary of our return to the motherland go smoothly.

Riding on the success in 2020 and 2021, the DoJ will once again organise legal conferences on the Basic Law and the National Security Law, which are among the key events in celebrating the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong SAR. Legal experts will be invited to share with us a proper understanding of the concepts of the Constitution, the Basic Law and national security so that we will not only move from stability to prosperity, but will also thrive with security.

I hope that the legal and dispute resolution sectors can capitalise on the opportunities brought about by our policies. I also hope that we will be able to nurture young people with a strong sense of national identity, who respect the rule of law and abide by the law, and that they will serve Hong Kong and contribute to our country in the future.

Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng wrote this article and posted it on her blog on January 2.

This story has been published on: 2022-01-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Woburn, MA (01801)

Today

Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers this afternoon. High 56F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

A steady rain this evening. Showers continuing overnight. Low near 45F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
New Delhi:

Bollywood actor Salman Khan on Friday skipped the hearing by a Jodhpur court in the blackbuck poaching case. The next date of hearing has been fixed for December 19. This comes amid a death threat by a gangster belonging to the Bishnoi community who threatened to kill him and said so in a Facebook post on September 16.

The actor had filed a plea against his conviction by a lower court, which had sentenced him to five years in jail.

There were apprehensions that the actor may not appear for the summons over inadequate security measures.

During a hearing on July 4, Sessions Court Judge Chandra Kumar Songara had directed Khan to appear before the court on September 27, failing which his bail plea may be cancelled.

The actor has not appeared before the court since May last year, when he was granted bail. "Khan has not arrived so far and there is no intimation of his arrival," police said.

They said adequate security measures have been made for the actor. Airport sources said no charter flight is scheduled for the day from Mumbai. Khan is accused of killing two blackbucks during the shooting of a film in Jodhpur in 1998.

(With inputs from PTI)

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Agartala: PM Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Tripura on January 4. Preparations are being made in full swing in the state for the visit. Security has been tightened along the Indo-Bangladesh border in the state. In addition, additional deployment of BSF has also been made. The PM will inaugurate a new terminal of the airport on his visit. Because of this, he will be accompanied by senior officers. Prime Minister Modi is also scheduled to address a public meeting in the capital Agartala.

Talking to the same media, Ratnaesh Kumar, Commandant, 120 Battalion, BSF, said, "Whenever VVIP people visit, security is beefed up to prevent any untoward incident. Patrolling in the areas has also been increased.'' BJP sources also said that the PM will address a public meeting at Swami Vivekananda Stadium in Agartala. With the inauguration of the new terminal building, Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport is scheduled to join the list of international airports.

It may be recalled that Tripura CM Biplab Dev said that PM Narendra Modi will visit Tripura on January 4 to inaugurate a new terminal building at Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport. Chief Minister Dev said Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and senior officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will also be present at the function. The new Integrated Terminal Building (NITB) has been constructed at a cost of Rs 3,400 crore.

These states will not get relief from cold wave at present, may rain

In Pro Kabaddi, UP Yoddha stopped U Mumba by equalizing points

Travel tips: Must visit these places during your Jabalpur trip
In human life, there is one irreversible truth that guides you all. If you are born on this earth, you have to die. Human life is a mystery; no one knows how long you live.

But, there is a belief that deceased souls can be reborn in another life. For that, however, the kin are supposed to perform some rituals in this world so that the deceased souls may get to the afterlife. For this, there are many days and many pilgrimage sites believed to be sacred for the cause.

One of them is Poush/Poushe Aunsi. On this day, rituals like shraddha (annual rituals generally performed on death anniversaries of people as per the lunar calendar) are performed in the name of the deceased. Traditional Hindu scriptures and leaders have prescribed certain pilgrimage sites across the country to offer such prayers and worships.

Today, on the occasion of Poushe Aunsi this year, we provide you with the list of the eight most popular Hindu pilgrimage sites in Nepal where you can pray for your deceased family members.

1. Gokarneshwar

Gokarneshwar Mahadev, a Hindu pilgrimage site in Kathmandu. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Since Satya Yuga, the Gokarneshwor Mahadev temple is said to be a very important pilgrimage site among various Shiva temples of Nepal. This temple was built by the son of King Vrishakarna of Panchal for the liberation of his father and himself. The Gokarneshwar Mahadev temple is located on the bank of the holy river of Bagmati on the northeastern outskirts of Kathmandu.

It is said that while meditating in this temple, Ravana was blessed to conquer Trailokya. In Shakti Sangama Tantra and Varaha Purana, the greatness of Gokarneshwar is mentioned. Therefore, people worship Gokarneshwar to get the blessings of Gokarneshwar for the amity of the soul of their loved ones.

2. Gosainkunda

File image: Gosainkunda

At an elevation of 4,300 m high, the Gosainkunda lake is located inside the territory of Langtang National Park in the Rasuwa district. It is one of the many important pilgrimage sites in Nepal. Hindu folklores say Gosainkunda was made when Lord Shiva thrust his trishul (holy trident) into the mountain to extract the water to cool his burning throat after swallowing poison. Later, Gosainkunda was considered the home of Lord Shiva and Gauri. Hence, pilgrims take holy baths and offer their prayers in the holy water hoping to get closer to divinity, for themselves and for their deceased family members.

3. Muktinath

File image: Muktinath temple, Mustang

In literal meaning, Muktinath refers to a place of salvation/ nirvana. Muktinath, a beautiful pilgrimage site is located in the Muktinath valley at the foot of the Thorong La pass in Mustang. Muktinath is one of the worlds highest temples situated at 3,800 m in height.

According to Hindu myths, there is a saying that this world is maya, an illusion of the rebirth cycle. Many try to get free from this cycle and achieve nirvana. A trip to Muktinath will assist in succeeding in this objective. In the back of this temple is 108 water-taps which are also referred to as Muktidhara, where water flows continuously from the bull-head like tap and two kundas (ponds in front of the temple). Bathing at these 108 water taps and two ponds is believed to bring salvation for yourself and your deceased family members.

4. Kagbeni

File: Kagbeni, the doorway to Upper Mustang

Kagbeni is considered one of the oldest villages in the Himalayas, as well as the only gateway to the upper Mustang. It is a Tibetan village located in the Baragubg Muktikshetra rural municipality of the Mustang district at an altitude of 2,804 m.

Kagbeni is also one of the major pilgrimage sites for Hindu pilgrims. It is renowned for pitri-puja (rituals for the deceased) and is also known as Pitri Moksastala. This is one of the main reasons why many Hindu pilgrims stop at Kagbeni before going to Muktinath.

5. Devghat

File: Devotees at Devghat Dham, a Hindu pilgrimage site, on the occasion of Maghe Sankranti, on Wednesday, January 15, 2020.

In holy books such as Barahpuran, Skandapuran and Bhagwat, Devghat is considered one of the most sacred pilgrimage sites in the region. Located on the bank of Narayani in the Tanahun district (across Chitwan), this place carries natural, religious, historical as well as cultural importance. This is the place where great rivers like Kaligandaki and Trishuli meet together.

As per Barahpuran, Devghat is the holy place where gods come to visit time and again. Likewise, there is a belief that the soul of the person, whose natural death occurs in this region, gets salvation. So, people worship Devghat as a medium of communication to the gods wishing serenity for their departed family or relatives.

6. Barahakshetra

File: A temple in Barahakshetra, Sunsari, a Hindu pilgrimage site. Photo:  /Facebook

Barahakshetra is another important pilgrimage site for Hindus in Nepal. In Barahakshetra municipality of the Sunsari district in eastern Nepal, Barahakshetra Dham lies at the junction of the Koka and Koshi rivers. Here, the Barah/Varah, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu is worshipped.

According to the holy books, Barahakshetra is one of Nepals oldest shrines. It is also praised in the epic Mahabharata. This site is filled with historical and religious significance. It is said that this temple has the spiritual blessings to cleanse the soul and heart of the devotees.

7. Halesi Mahadev

File: The Halesi Mahadev temple in Khotang, a major Hindu pilgrimage site in Nepal

Located in Mahadevsthan, Khotang, Halesi Mahadev is referred to as the Pashupatinath of eastern Nepal. The temple of Halesi Mahadev is located just between the two holy rivers: Dudh Koshi and Sun Koshi. It is believed that this pilgrimage site with a cavern was used by Lord Shiva to protect himself from the devil Bhashmasur. To date, people following Hinduism visit Halesi in the search of salvation for themselves or the departed ones.

8. Manakamana

File: Manakamana temple

Manakamana is made of two words Mana and Kamana, meaning the heart and wishes respectively, referring to the blessings given by Manakamana Devi through the fulfilment of wishes of her devotees. This pilgrimage site located in the Gorkha district is believed to be the incarnation of Goddess Parvati. Ancient history explains that during the 17th century, the queen of Gorkha was the reincarnation of the goddess. In the present time, couples come to worship Manakamana temple for their long life, students for success in their studies live, while some worship for their dead relatives to have peace in the afterlife.
Kathmandu, December 29

The government announced a public holiday across the country on the occasion of the Tamu Lhosar on Thursday.

A cabinet meeting on Wednesday afternoon made the decision, informs the Ministry of Home Affairs in a notice on Wednesday.

Earlier, the Gandaki provincial government had announced the holiday on the occasion, but there were public demands for the public holiday across the country.

(Updated)

Tamu Lhosar: Public holiday in the Gandaki province on Thursday

Pokhara, December 29

The Gandaki provincial government on Wednesday announced a public holiday in the province on the occasion of Tamu Lhosar, one of the biggest festivals of the Gurung community, on Thursday.

Federal rules have it that a provincial government can give six days in public holidays in the province in one year. Accordingly, the provincial government had already decided in March that Tamu Lhosar would be a public holiday.

Gurungs, one of the major ethnic groups in the province, has been celebrating Tamu Lhosar as the new year as per its own calendar system. Different communities have different dates for Lhosar in Nepal.
BEIJING, Jan. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- China Media Group (CMG) President Shen Haixiong addressed the global audience on the first day of 2022, with the focus on the reflection of the CMG's work over the past year and the group's great roles in future news coverage.



"The New Year's first ray of sunshine is illuminating the world. The new year is the Year of the Tiger on the Chinese lunar calendar. I would like to extend my best wishes from Beijing, wishing you a year full of prosperity and vitality!" Shen said.



Noting that the CMG has served as a witness to the remarkable past and recorded the country's achievements through its dedicated work, Shen said that China's overseas broadcasting services will continue this in 2022.



Shen also said that presenting China's stories well to global audiences remains the CMG's mission.



The CMG president said that reporting based on facts should be the fundamental principle of global journalists, and in the meantime, the group has debunked lies and myths in news stories regarding issues such as COVID-19 and Afghanistan.



He said the group has established a diverse and inclusive cooperation mechanism with international media partners.



The CMG president also referred to China's scheduled hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games and Paralympic Games - the world's biggest sporting event of 2022.



Shen said China Media Group is ready to bring the event to global audiences, with cutting-edge technologies and its newly-launched Olympic Channel.

"During the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, CMG broadcast the world's first live coverage of Olympic events on a 4K Ultra HD channel. The channel attracted more than 400 million viewers within three months of its launch. In just over 30 days, the Olympic flame will once again be lit in Beijing, during Chinese New Year. With the technologies of '5G+4K/8K+AI', CMG has set up a livestreaming carriage on the high-speed train from Beijing to Zhangjiakou, Hebei province. It's the first tech solution in the world to record and broadcast with Ultra HD streaming on high-speed trains," Shen said.



Story continues

Shen also said that in 2022, the CPC will hold its 20th National Congress to draw a blueprint for China's future.

Link: https://youtu.be/tgS2VG4TRQs

SOURCE CCTV+
The French Government have established a new task force aiming to target and tackle the rise of influencers that seek to capitalise on their audiences through paid promotional sponsorships from crypto firms.

Housed within the Ministere de leconomie (responsible for French economic policy)  the task force will exist as an intra-departmental investigative team comprising agents from LAutorite des Marches Financiers (AMF  the finance watchdog), la Direction Generale de la concurrence, de la Consommation et de la repression des fraudes (DGCCRF  the competition, consumer, and anti-fraud watchdog).

A spokesman for the AMF was quick to highlight exactly why the watchdog has forwarded agents to contribute towards investigating crypto shilling and scams  and one word quickly summed it up: influencers.

Social networks and influencers are the new entry point that has appeared in recent years, confirmed the AMF spokesman.

In this way, it is a younger audience, from a more modest background than the traditional target of investment scams that is now affected, particularly in the field of trading.

Influencers often promote highly volatile cryptocurrencies and financial products, and it becomes very difficult for newcomers to anticipate fluctuations.

Macron administration changes tact on influencers

Indeed, the Macron administration have had a troubled relationship with social media influencer in the past  especially in relation to governing digital spaces  so it is interesting to see a focused effort by authorities to begin active investigation of online promotional opportunities.

In one incident just a few weeks ago, footage emerged of Marlene Schiappa (Minister for Citizenship), alongside a party of leading French influencers  cheerily dancing unmasked and undistanced at a meeting purported to be about awareness for Womens rights

Francais, portez le masque ! Interdit de danser ! Arretez les pots ! Stop a la convivialite ! Obeissez ! Sinon amendes, sanctions, controles,

 Pendant ce temps Marlene Schiappa, elle, samuse !  pic.twitter.com/18w0kLF9Y3  Florian Philippot (@f_philippot) December 9, 2021

But the task force could also be connected in part due to the unfettered wealth accrued by French influencers, with their earnings subject to a 3% digital services tax (introduced in 2019). When compared to the high personal-tax rates usually associated with the nation (sitting around 30%), the difference has the potential to become a searing injustice in a Republic proudly founded on notions of Egalite.

Story continues

Finluencers be warned

Many influencers have turned finluencer (financial influencer)  suckered in doe-eyed by lucrative paid promotion packages  even big names have got involved, Kim Kardashian promoted the Ethereum MAX rug pull which brought her under the fire of the British FCA (Ethereum max is now down a whopping 99.99%).

And thousands of retail investors have lost money amid online hype surrounding scam coins  such as Squid Game  that deployed influencer endorsements as a technique for implying project credibility  even tricking outlets such as the BBC into providing coverage.

In one case  cited with inspiring the creation of the new task force, was the successful prosecution of model Nabilla Benattia-Vergara, resulting in a fine back in the summer of 20,000 for the paid promotional content posted on her snapchat story on behalf of a seedy crypto exchange.

With many influencers culpable for their paid shills this year, all eyes will be on the task force to see the efficacy of their efforts in tackling scammers, and pave a road to a more legitimised industry with real retail protections.
RAMAPO  Two years after a fatal machete attack on Hasidic Jews celebrating Hanukkah, the man accused in the assault could come back to New York for confinement in a mental-health facility.

Grafton Thomas has consistently been found mentally unfit to stand trial on federal charges resulting from the attack on Dec. 28, 2019. He's being held in a Missouri mental-health facility, according to federal court documents.

Thomas, 39, faces multiple state counts of attempted murder for the attack on celebrants attending a Hanukkah party at a rabbi's home on Forshay Road in Ramapo. Josef Neumann, 72, later died from head and body wounds, and five other men were injured.

Rockland District Attorney Thomas Walsh has previously indicated he would seek a murder indictment from a grand jury. He declined to comment on any grand-jury proceedings.

Monsey attack: Defense psychiatrist says Grafton Thomas incompetent to stand trial

Mentally Unfit: Grafton Thomas still mentally unfit for prosecution in 2019 Ramapo machete attack, killing

Thomas' lawyer has been advocating for him to be committed to a mental-health treatment facility near his family in Orange County.

Rockland County Judge Kevin Russo signed a writ order on Nov. 19 for Thomas to appear in County Court, according to court papers.

Russo has yet to rule on Thomas' competency to stand trial on the state charges. According to Walsh's office, Grafton's next court date has been scheduled previously before Russo on Jan. 26. It's not clear whether Thomas has to appear in person.

Federal prosecutors in Missouri and New York are willing to transfer Thomas to New York, according to court papers. U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Seibel in White Plains is amenable.

Feds likely to accept request

Yossi Gestetner, co-founder of the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council, said the decision was not his call.

Half of the first 10 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution protects the rights of suspects, renegades and convicts," he said. "Its therefore important to cherish those American values even in painful situations."

Story continues

People wait for the funeral of Josef Neumann at Viznitz Cemetery in Spring Valley March 30, 2020. Neumann, 72, died from his injuries suffered in the Monsey Hanukkah machete attack.

Seibel accepted the psychiatric evaluations in April 2020 that Thomas was unfit to stand trial. As a result, federal authorities transferred Thomas to a mental-health facility in Springfield. Subsequent examinations during 2021 found Thomas remained unfit to understand the charges against him and help in his own defense.

"The Government has not yet received the writ, but intends to approve it upon receipt," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for New York's Southern District said in court papers.

"The government has further conferred with the United States Marshal Service regarding the defendants transportation from Missouri to New York, and understands the USMS will assist the Rockland County Sheriffs Office in transporting the defendant," Williams said.

Community remembers the horrific attack

Legislator Aron Weider, D-Spring Valley, said "the Orthodox Jewish community is still under the influence of that terrible winter night."

"It is on our minds and weighs heavy on our conscience," he said. "It is of small comfort that the suspect is no longer on the streets."

Gestetner said his thoughts remain with the victims.

"I am not aware of the details that led to this decision, but at the two-year mark of this deadly attack," he said, "I hope that those suffering from the incident get the support that they need, and that impacted communities receive the practical tools and training needed to protect from future attacks.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, the lieutenant governor in 2019, noted the attack on Tuesday. Her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, had traveled to Rockland to meet with Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg and Ramapo officials after the attack at the rabbi's home. Rottenberg is the influential Kossoner Rebbe of Monsey who heads Congregation Netzach Yisroel next door on Forshay Road.

Two years ago, residents of Monsey gathered to celebrate Hanukkah. But on a night to celebrate hope, five people were attacked and Rabbi Neumann lost his life.



We all have a right to be free from fear. We continue to stand against antisemitism and hate in all its forms.  Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) December 28, 2021

"Two years ago, residents of Monsey gathered to celebrate Hanukkah," Hochul wrote. "But on a night to celebrate hope, five people were attacked and Rabbi Neumann lost his life. We all have a right to be free from fear. We continue to stand against antisemitism and hate in all its forms."

Thomas' attorney, Michael Sussman, has been advocating for Thomas to be transferred back to New York. "This writ, I hope, is the beginning of that process," Sussman said. "The state court has not ruled to date on competency but I believe the extent of Mr. Thomas' mental illness tragically speaks for itself."

Federal court papers say after the defendant has been transferred to the custody of the Rockland County Sheriffs Office for purposes of satisfying the writ, the parties intend to confer with the New York State Office of Mental Health regarding the possibility of the defendants permanent transfer to the custody of New York State.

Thomas faces New York charges

Thomas has pleaded not guilty to a 10-count federal indictment accusing him of injuring five people while trying to kill them based on their religion and obstructing the free exercise of religion in an attempt to kill them.

Thomas also has pleaded not guilty to a 14-count indictment in Rockland. The charges include six attempted murder charges and other felony counts.

Police at the scene of the Dec. 28, 2019 machete attack at a Hanukkah party in Ramapo.

When Thomas was stopped in Manhattan shortly after the attack, New York City police said he was covered in blood and officers found the machete in his car. A knife also was found in the vehicle.

Prosecutors say bleach was evidence Thomas was trying to clean the blood off after the attack. However, Thomas routinely used bleach to wash himself and his clothing, his attorney claimed.

Questions remain: A year after violent attacks on Howard Drive and Forshay Road in Ramapo, questions linger

Grafton Thomas's journal: Monsey attack suspect accused of having an anti-Semitic journal

A Monsey timeline: From Howard Drive stabbing to Hanukkah attack

The FBI searched Thomas' home in Orange County and his cellphone, finding references to Jews, Hitler, the Nazi culture, as well as packaging for an 18-inch machete, according to the complaint signed by FBI Special Agent Julie Brown.

Grafton Thomas, with his attorney Michael Sussman, appears at an arraignment in Rockland County Court in New City on Jan. 16, 2020. He was charged with a machete attack on Hanukkah party-goers in Monsey.

Sussman and Thomas' family has said he is not anti-Semitic. Thomas, who's being held on $5 million bail, allegedly stopped taking Latuda, an antipsychotic medication, in October 2019, they have said.

Ramapo police have said he remains a suspect in the predawn attack and stabbing of a 30-year-old rabbi walking to synagogue on Howard Drive in Monsey on Nov. 20, 2019. No arrests or charges have been made.

Walsh, noting the second anniversary of the Hanukkah incident, recalled the viciousness of the attack.

"My heartfelt sympathies go out to the family and friends of Mr. Neumann and the injured parties," Walsh said. "This office continues to work diligently on this case in the prosecution phase. Rockland County will not stand for such heinous crimes committed against our fellow citizens."

Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com. Twitter: @lohudlegal. Read more articles and bio. Nancy Cutler writes about People & Policy. Click here for her latest stories. Follow her on Twitter at @nancyrockland. Our local coverage is only possible with support from our readers.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Machete attack suspect Grafton Thomas seeks transfer to New York
Rep. Mary Miller, R-Oakland, armed with an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, announced Saturday that she will challenge Rep. Rodney Davis of Taylorville in Illinois' newly drawn 15th U.S. Congressional District.

Miller said Trump "inspired" her to run in 2020.

Miller's announcement drew a swift and prickly response from Davis' camp, which labeled her "a carpetbagger."

See also: Mom of city's first baby of 2022 says 'probably the coolest thing that could happen to us'

Millers Coles County residence was drawn into a district in southern Illinois where incumbent Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, lives. Bost, a former Illinois legislator, has represented the 12th District in Congress 2014.

Rep. Mary Miller

Illinois Democrats, who controlled the recent redistricting process, placed Davis and his hometown of Taylorville in the mostly rural 15th District, which runs the entirety of the state from Quincy to the Indiana border and north to the Iowa border, comprising 35 counties.

Davis, 51, has represented the 13th District since 2012.

Though Miller lives near the 15th district border, U.S. House candidates don't have to live in the House districts they represent.

Davis, who flirted with a run for governor, told The State Journal-Register in early December he was running for a sixth term to stop the mess thats been created by the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden.

A release from his campaign pointed out that Davis served as an Illinois co-chair of Trumps re-election campaign. He opposed both of Trump's impeachments and voted with Trump nearly 90% of the time when he was in office.

In a news release announcing Trump's endorsement, Miller called herself "a conservative fighter" who wasn't "a career politician."

Miller, 62, pointed out she was the only member of Congress from Illinois fighting to impeach Joe Biden and "the lawless Biden Cabinet for leaving our (southern) border exposed to an invasion of illegal immigration. I am the only member from Illinois who has fought every effort by Joe Biden to use COVID vaccine mandates to fire Americans from their jobs and I opposed funding COVID vaccine databases that share information with the federal government.

Story continues

Davis spokesman Aaron DeGroot said Miller was so desperate to stay in Congress "shes running in a district she doesnt live in, just like her husband (Chris). The Millers are taking a page out of the Springfield political insider playbook. Politics is their family business."

Chris Miller, R-Oakland, is running in the Illinois 101st district. He currently represents the 110th district.

The GOP primary pitting Davis against Mary Miller is June 28.

My name is Mary Miller



I am a mother, grandmother, farmer, and have spent the last year fighting in Congress for the people of Illinois



And I am now the Trump ENDORSED candidate for IL-15



Follow my account and help me in my fight to put America First https://t.co/8CTzBd4fuE  Mary Miller (@Miller_Congress) January 1, 2022

This story will be updated.

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Rep. Mary Miller to challenge Rep. Rodney Davis in 15th district
The TipRanks database follows over 9,600 publicly traded stocks. Its a treasure trove of data, making it possible for investors to track and follow their favorite equities, or get the lowdown before they put their money down. And now, as 2021 turned into 2022, we can step back, get a wider look at the market, and take a deep dive into 3 stocks with Strong Buy ratings and a Perfect 10 from the Smart Score.

These are quick data points that can show investors a stocks likely path forward. A Strong Buy is obvious  its derived from the aggregate of the Wall Streets analysts ratings, and shows that sentiment on the stock is clearly upbeat.

The Smart Score is a bit different. Its a score derived from a wide range of data sources. The composite data sets have all been shown to correlate strongly with stock performance, and the Smart Score shows, at a glance, how a stock measures up. A perfect score, of 10, might not indicate strength in every area  but will indicate a stock that is generally very strong.

So lets dive in. From the TipRanks data, these are 3 stocks that investors should look at in the new year. They bring together a series of positive attributes: the Strong Buy rating, the Smart Score of 10, and a one-year double-digit upside potential.

General Motors (GM)

First up is GM, a company that most of us are familiar with. This staple of the Detroit auto scene has been in the business for well over a century and its Renaissance Center headquarters are an iconic marker of Detroits downtown. GM owns some of Detroits most famous automotive brands and nameplates, including GMC, Cadillac, Chevy, and Buick.

Like much of the auto industry, GM has faced serious headwinds in the form of the COVID pandemic, supply chain disruptions, semiconductor chip shortages, and rising inflation. All of this has impacted sales, revenues, earnings, and market share. A look at the Q3 results, reported back in October, will tell the story.

Story continues

The top line, total revenues, showed $26.7 billion, down 24% year-over-year, and the EPS, at $1.52 was the lowest print since 2Q20. These declines walked hand-in-hand with a drop in vehicle sales; at 446,997, the quarters total sales were down 33% yoy. GM reported a strong gain in market share, however, which at 13.3% was up almost 7% yoy.

Along with these results, GM has shown volatile stock activity in course of 2021  but at the end, the companys shares are up an impressive 41% for the past 12 months. This outpaces the S&Ps 29% gain over the same period.

The gains could be partly attributed to the auto giants positioning in the burgeoning electric vehicle (EV) space. Looking ahead, GM is making a major investment in the segment. The company has introduced the Ultium Platform, a flexible EV chassis that can support a variety of vehicle models  and bodes well for GMs overall plan, of introducing up to 30 new EVs by 2025. These will include everything from commuter vehicles to pickup trucks to delivery vans and commercial vehicles.

Turning to the Smart Score, we see that the Perfect 10 here is supported by strong performances on 7 out of 8 metrics. Pay particular attention to the hedge activity, which is up some 1.2 million shares in the past quarter, and the news sentiment, which is 82% bullish.

The EV story forms the core of Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives positive view on GM. He writes, With the software and services business complementing the advancing battery technology, we believe GM is in a great position to monetize its EV vision over the coming years. With the conversion accelerating, GM will be able to realize top-line growth from better product margins on each vehicle sold and will benefit significantly as profit margins from the subscription services will grow to record levels.

Ives rates GM shares as Outperform (a Buy), and his $85 price target indicates potential for 45% upside in the year ahead. (To watch Ives track record, click here)

Its clear from the consensus that Wall Street agrees. GM has 13 reviews on record, with an 11 to 2 breakdown of Buy over Hold to support the Strong Buy rating. Shares are priced at $58.13 and their $74.58 average target implies an upside of 27% from that level. (See GMs stock analysis at TipRanks)

DigitalBridge Group (DBRG)

Next up is DigitalBridge Group, a company that mixes tech and real estate. DigitalBridge is a REIT, a real estate investment trust, with a focus on properties in the digital economy. The company buys, builds, owns, and operates a variety of holdings, including data centers, fiberoptic cable systems, small cell networking infrastructure, and wireless transmission towers.

Digital Bridge has been moving to expand its footprint. This past October, the company bought a controlling stake in Vertical Bridge Holdings. The US-based, privately-held Vertical Bridge owns and master-leases wireless telecom assets, and counts over 8,000 towers in its networks. This was added to the 20+ companies in DigitalBridges portfolio, and the more than $40 billion in assets which DigitalBridge manages.

More recently, DigitalBridge announced that a number of its assets in Latin America will be benefiting from an International Finance Corporation (IFC) investment in that regions wireless connectivity networks and infrastructure. The IFC will put $25 million into companies which DigitalBridge holds in its portfolio.

And finally, in a move that helped to streamline operations, DigitalBridge announced in December that it had sold off a section of its portfolio. The Other Equity & Debt segment (OED) was sold to Fortress Investment Group. The sale brought DigitalBridge a total of $506.8 million in realized value. That includes $443.4 million in direct cash, $31.2 million in cash which has already been received, and another $32.2 million in future payments, expected in 2022.

The high Smart Score here demonstrates that a stock doesnt need every metric to show perfection. Technical aspects and blogger opinions form the basis of DBRGs bullish Smart Score. The company has an impressive 100% positive sentiment from the financial bloggers.

B. Rileys 5-star analyst Daniel Day looks ahead to a catalyst-filled 2022. He says, we see DBRG at an inflection point in not only earnings, but business simplification as well. In 2022, we expect the following to occur, each of which is not only a potential catalyst but should also make the transformed DBRG easier to understand for new investors: 1) redeployment of proceeds from recently announced asset sales into digital infrastructure assets, 2) resumption of dividend, 3) initial AFFO guidance, and 4) updated 2023/2025 guidance for Digital IM FRE and Digital Operating EBITDA (we believe guidance is conservative).

Day sets a Buy rating here, with a $13 price target that suggests the stock has room to run another 56% this coming year. (To watch Days track record, click here.)

This digital-economy real-property company boasts a unanimous Strong Buy conviction rating from the Wall Street analysts; there are only 3 reviews here, but they all agree that its a Buy. The stock is selling for $8.33 and the average price target, at $11, indicates a potential 32% gain in the next 12 months. (See DigitalBridges stock analysis at TipRanks)

Matador Resources Company (MTDR)

Last on our list is Matador Resources Company, an energy development company in the US, engaged in exploration, development, and production of unconventional oil and natural gas plays. The companys current operations include oil and liquids-rich regions in the Delaware Basin on the Texas-New Mexico border, the Eagle Ford shale play in South Texas, and, in Louisiana, the Haynesville shale and Cotton Valley plays.

The New Mexico-Texas-Louisiana region has been at the center of the US oil boom in recent years, and with the Biden Administrations de-emphasis on fossil fuels, the region is still a major producer. The quality of Matadors holdings can be seen from the pattern of recent earnings reports. For the past five consecutive quarters, the company has registered sequential gains in both revenues and earnings. In the most recent quarter, 3Q21, Matador showed over $472 million at the top line, up 132% from the year-ago quarter, along with a diluted EPS of $1.71, up sharply from the $2.38 loss recorded in 3Q20. This was driven by oil and natural gas production that beat expectations, at an average of 90,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day through the quarter.

Matador is another company whose perfect Smart Score is based on several strongly positive metrics outweighing the negatives. While hedge activity in the recent quarter decreased, corporate officers  the insiders  increased their buying activity to the tune of $264,200 worth of shares. Both the financial bloggers and the news outlets were also positive, showing 100% bullish sentiment on MTDR shares.

Matadors recent success induced the company to increase its dividend policy, doubling the common share payment to 5 cents per share. While the yield is low, the key point is the increase  and strong cash flow behind it. Matador showed $291.2 million in cash from operations during Q3, up 13% sequentially.

All of this has RBCs 5-star analyst Scott Hanold bullish on Matador. He writes, MTDR is positioned to get a strong start in early 2022 aided by completions of the next Voni wells located in the prolific Stateline area during mid-February 2022. This also positions midstream EBITDA expansion from MTDR and third-party volume increases. The focus on its core areas and pre-loading some CAPEX should allow 20% YoY production growth while generating a 17% FCF yield.

These comments support an Outperform (Buy) rating on the stock, and Hanolds $53 price target implies a 12-month gain ahead of 43%. (To watch Hanolds track record, click here)

Matador has 9 reviews on record, including 7 Buys vs. just a pair of Holds, supporting a Strong Buy consensus from the Street. The stocks average price target is $53.38, suggesting an upside potential of 44% in the year ahead. (See Matadors stock analysis at TipRanks)

To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.
The choices for outstanding adventure stories have never been better. There are tons of times when travel just isnt possible. You may simply be too busy, not have the time, or the old piggy bank is empty. Oh, yes, and then there is that pandemic thing.

If youre looking for options on the reading shelf, the possibilities are enormous and cover just about any activity and location you could imagine.

Sure, you can go online and watch skilled (or not) daredevils trying to see how close they can come to killing themselves while surviving long enough to put their heroics on the internet.

But I prefer reading about another kind of adventure, one that happens on the way to some possibly useful goal or end. Or it could stem from a persons overpowering curiosity: Hmm, if that worked, what would happen if I just mixed in some of this?

Jonathan Slaght is a Minnesota biologist who chose to do advanced research on the worlds largest owl, which bears the unwieldly name of Blakistons Fish Owl. This exceedingly rare, strange creature lives in a sprawling area of eastern Siberia, where there arent a lot of humans, but snow and frigid weather are in endless supply. It is also found throughout nearby parts of Japan and North Korea.

If you think this is a tedious story of a weird bird, youd be mistakenbig time. No, this is about an American biologist determined to learn more about a most unusual bird in a most inaccessible location so that it might survive into the 22nd century and beyond.

In every sense, Owls of the Eastern Ice is an adventure story. Simply to survive in that part of Russia is an ongoing challenge, for wild creatures as well as humans. For an owl that eats fish and frogs, its mind-boggling that it survives at all.

Whether you enjoy stories about birds, about crazy parts of planet Earth that rarely see a writers gaze, or about scientific exploration, this is a winner.

Soon after I put down the story of Slaghts odyssey, I picked up a biography of another individual, this one of our own species, a mathematics professor named Harvey Butchart.

After seeing Butchart described as a man obsessed with the Grand Canyon, I dug a little further. And the deeper I went, the more intrigued I became. That curiosity led me to the book Grand Obsession, an engrossing tale of a driven mans lifelong effort to explore a chasm so immense that despite his pursuit, there remain parts of that canyon where neither he nor anyone else has ever set foot.

Butchart, although nominally a family man with a job, wife and kids to raise, often disappeared for long periods into the labyrinth mazes of the canyon, bearing only the most basic essentials for survival, yet somehow finding new parts of the canyon and paths linking them with existing trails. (Within his quests were many attempts to learn of ancient, long-forgotten paths used by primitive peoples who once called the canyon home.)

Butchart died in 2007, sadly without producing an autobiography, but that gigantic task has been taken on by Elias Butler and Tom Myers in this cant-put-it-down story. His death, incidentally, as an old man in a retirement community far from the canyon, was in no way related to hiking mishaps, although he most certainly had several that could have finished him.

Discovering the eccentric professor led, as often happens, to another renowned explorer, Colin Fletcher, a name familiar to most readers of outdoor adventure tales, with a number of well-known titles to his credit, mostly accounts of long-distance solo hikes in the American west.

When Fletcher set his sights on traveling the length of the Grand Canyonbefore the national parks boundaries were expandedhe sought out the counsel of the most knowledgeable about the canyon.

That effort, typical of Fletchers research prior to starting unusual long walks, led him to the doorstep (literally) of a wiry little guy who taught math at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff: Harvey Butchart.

The two got along well enough at that meeting and Butchart gave freely of his vast trove of wisdom about the canyon. Fletcher, too, credited Butchart for his assistance in the book he wrote about that epic hike: The Man Who Walked Through Time. I highly recommended it.

Currently, Im halfway through Fletchers River: One Mans Journey Down the Colorado, Source to Sea. This was the authors account of his 1,700-mile raft trip down the length of the Green and Colorado rivers, to the ocean, including a full traverse of the Grand Canyon.

After reading a couple of Fletchers works, some may assume the man wasnt human. How could a single person pack so much into one life? And there isnt the slightest doubt he did everything he wrote about.

So, is reading the daring adventures of these individuals a substitute for getting out into the big wide world and having your own? Of course not. But I read many adventure stories like these, and the remarkable thing is to find that most, if not all, of these writers lived to ripe old ages and died as other, mere mortals do. Fletcher died in 2007, of head injuries he received two years prior after he was struck by an SUV while crossing a street near his home in Monterey, Calif.

And Slaght, the avian researcher, returns to Russia regularly for his ongoing studies of the worlds largest owl.

Paul Sullivan of Spotsylvania County, a former Free LanceStar reporter, is a freelance writer. Email him at pbsullivan22@gmail.com.

Paul Sullivan of Spotsylvania County, a former Free LanceStar reporter, is a freelance writer. Email him at pbsullivan22@gmail.com.
ACROSS the nation, civic groups,

faith leaders and alarmed

citizens are staging hundreds of candlelight vigils and marches in support of voting rights and contacting Congress to mark one year since the ransacking of the U.S. Capitol.

Originally, the Stop the Steal movement sought to reverse the 2020 election results and organized the Jan. 6 attack. But the insurrection isnt over: It was a dress rehearsal for whats coming next. The movement still thrives and is redoubling its efforts at the state level for another effort to subvert our democratic system of government.

Heres a few things we can expect in the year ahead:

State-level Republicans will continue to pass more voter suppression laws and take steps allowing them to throw out election results they dont like.

Already, the Stop the Steal movement is taking over offices that supervise elections; obstructing mail-in balloting; limiting the number, hours and availability of election polls; imposing harsher voter ID requirements; expanding voter roll purges; and securing partisan oversight over final election tallies.

According to the Brennan Center, so far 19 states have enacted 33 laws to make it harder for Americans to vote, and we can expect more. Many of these anti-voting laws are quite extreme, and all of them will disproportionately affect minorities and low-income peopletargeting constituencies that tend to vote Democratic.

For example, Georgia residents may be charged with a crime for handing out water to voters waiting in long lines at the polls. In Texas, election administrators may face felony charges if they encourage voters to request mail-in ballots. And in Iowa and Kansas, people could be criminally prosecuted for helping voters deliver their ballots, for example, if they assist voters with disabilities.

In other states, Republican legislatures have undermined the nonpartisan administration of elections by elevating the role of state lawmakers in overseeing election officials and even inserting themselves into the election count.

Saving our democracy from these attacksand confronting the filibusterwill be the most crucial fight of 2022, and it is not at all clear if our democracy will survive.

Democracy is not down and out yet, but it is getting dangerously late.

Two essential legislative measures have been introduced in Congress that would overturn many state voting restrictions: the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

The Freedom to Vote Act would protect and expand vote-by-mail, enact automatic voter registration, simplify voter ID laws, make voting polls easily accessible, and mandate paper ballots, rein in secret political spending, and more. The Voting Rights Advancement Act would restore the Voting Rights Act of 1965, ensuring that no eligible citizen is denied the right to vote.

The U.S. House already passed the Freedom to Vote Act and the Voting Rights Advancement Act. In the Senate, they enjoy the support of a narrow majority, but so far have been blocked by a Republican filibuster.

Calls for modifying the filibuster rules to get these voting rights measures passed into law are mounting, with even President Biden speaking out. This will be the decisive fight of 2022, with consequences that likely will reverberate for decades to come.

If the election results are close, state-level Republicans will attempt to overturn those that dont go their way using bogus claims of election fraud as the pretext.

Stop the Steal efforts are being coordinated across states by a network of pro-Trump election lawyers, touting their goal of reining in election fraud, despite the reality that no meaningful record of election fraud exists.

Voter fraud conspiracy theories have been widely debunked by election officials, legislative hearings, academic scholars and the courts. Most recently, three Trump supporters from a Florida retirement community were charged with voting more than once. But the wild notion that voter fraud is pervasive and affected the 2020 election results is accurately known as the Big Lie.

Michigan is one of the key states where Republicans hope to seize control of the election process and decide it for themselves. Under pressure from Republican lawmakers, the state ultimately conducted three separate election audits and found nothing. Now, Republicans are running a Trump election fraud lawyer for state attorney general.

2022 is the year that either will remake our democracy for the 21st centuryleveling the playing field and ensuring that everyone can participateor break it entirely. Its up to all of us and our lawmakers to save it.

Craig Holman is the government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.
WHEN IT COMES to pregnancy amid a pandemic, there is no manual. Where once expecting moms could find answers to most of their questions within a copy of What to Expect When Youre Expecting, the book contains no chapter on how to navigate pregnancy and new motherhood during a pandemic.

For many women, questions regarding their healthand the safety of their childcast a shadow on what should be a joyful experience.

While the pandemic has increased feelings of loneliness, anxiety and depression among the general population, new mothers are especially vulnerable. In the wake of a significant life change, facing heightened safety concerns, delivery recovery, ever-fluctuating hormones and a greater sense of isolation, women experiencing postpartum in the pandemic have a lot to contend with.

A recent crop of studies indicates that pandemic-related stress and mandated isolation measures have contributed to unprecedented levels of postpartum distress, some of the highest levels ever recorded. All this stress is building toward myriad adverse and negative impacts on mental health.

A narrative review of studies found that among all women, pregnant and postpartum women were at the highest risk for developing other mental health conditions through the pandemic, including depression, low mood and irritability.

With evidence of the pandemics adverse impact on maternal mental health mounting, interventions are sorely needed. Unless we prioritize investment in the mental health of our expecting and newly delivered mothers, the long-term effects on both mom and baby will likely be felt for decades.

One major area of focus should be in providing funding and increasing access to therapists, counselors and doulas for perinatal and postpartum mental health support. Standardizing access to maternal support resources from prenatal through to a year postpartum can make a significant impact.

Continuous support through pregnancy has been shown to help during deliveryby improving rates of spontaneous vaginal birth and lessening birth complicationsand to ease the transition into new motherhood. One review revealed that the presence of a midwife or doula promoted higher levels of self-esteem, breastfeeding, self-reliance and lower rates of depression among new mothers six weeks post-delivery.

Reimagining the postpartum visit could have major implications for new mothers mental and physical health. Today, up to 40 percent of new mothers skip their recommended postpartum visitwith even lower attendance rates reported among low-income populations. Efforts to boost attendance, from education to subsidized transportation, mandated employer-granted time off, telehealth appointments and text reminders, can help combat health disparities and support lifelong healthy habits for mother and baby.

States like Wyoming and North Carolina are experimenting with new forms of postpartum support, including coverage for postpartum home visits by licensed nurses or social workers. These visits have been shown to positively benefit new mothers mental states, minimize emergency services utilization and increase breastfeeding rates.

While current postpartum protocol clears women at a six-week checkup appointment, experts note that physical and hormonal changes can last for much longer, typically six months at a minimum. In fact, symptoms of postpartum depression may only begin to manifest around the six-week mark, meaning critical and life-changing symptoms can be completely missed by providers.

Current studies estimate that 50 percent of women who are depressed remain undiagnosed after pregnancy. Realigning provider standardized check-ins with a longer postpartum period can help individuals adjust to new parenthood, explore lasting changes and impacts and build long-standing healthy habits.

Being pregnant in the time of the coronavirus means facing an enormous conflation of socioeconomic, medical, racial, cultural, mental and physical challenges that place an unreasonable burden of stress on any expecting mother. As pregnant people face deadly risks with the delta variant, experience heightened levels of stress and are less able to lean on child care and community resources than ever before, health inequities will invariably riseand further feed the burden of stress placed on new moms.

It is up to us to act now, to allocate resources and treatment without stigma or consequence, so that we can limit future disparities in maternal mortality and postpartum mental health before they threaten a new generation of our mothers and their children.

Dr. Ellen Stang, a board-certified pediatrician, is founder and CEO of ProgenyHealth. She wrote this for the Chicago Tribune and it was distributed by Tribune Content Agency.
Dozens of Hindu pilgrims from India have traveled to neighboring Pakistan this month in a development that one lawmaker called a big change for Pakistan.

This is the first time in Pakistans 74-year history that religious tourism -- faith tourism -- is beginning, lawmaker Ramesh Kumar Vankwani of the ruling Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf (PTI) party told Radio Mashaal. I think this is a big change.

Vankwani, who represents the Hindu minority and is also head of the Pakistan Hindu Council, said 159 Hindu pilgrims had entered Pakistan from India on January 1. The four-day visit was part of a government-backed religious tourism initiative.

They were scheduled to got to Karak in northwestern Pakistan, where a Hindu shrine was attack by a mob in December 2020.

In March 2021, Muslim religious and tribal leaders apologized for the incident and condemned the attack.

Pakistan is a Muslim-majority country that has been listed as a country of particular concern by the United States since 2019 for systematic, ongoing, [and] egregious violations of religious freedom.

Islamabad has rejected that designation as arbitrary.

Hindus account for just over 2 percent of Pakistans population of some 208 million people.
Determined to keep that New Years resolution to get in shape?

Youre not alone. Colorado Springs fitness centers and gyms are rooting for you, too.

Struggling to rebuild their memberships to pre-pandemic levels, Springs-area fitness centers and gyms hope more people will jump back on their treadmills as the calendar flips over to 2022.

After barely surviving months of lockdowns and rapidly changing public health measures that included mask mandates, fitness center and gym owners in Colorado Springs have been waiting for COVID-19 caseloads to shrink and customer comfort levels to return to normal.

Like fitness goals, however, results take time and can be tough to achieve.

Accolade Fitness, a local gym, shut down its 8th Street location on the city's west side in November 2020.

Its primary gym on Arrowswest Drive in northwest Colorado Springs has remained open, but it continues to lag in membership by 25% when compared with pre-pandemic levels, according to Duane Johnston, the gym's owner and a 50-year Colorado Springs resident.

"It's been devastating," he said. "As a businessman, you like to look in the mirror and say, 'Here's what I did wrong.' And this one has been very hard because it's nothing we did."

To combat the spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Jared Polis issued a stay-at-home order in March 2020 that forced the closure of restaurant dining rooms, salons and gyms and fitness centers, among other businesses. As the year went on, the order was lifted and gyms reopened, but capacity restrictions remained in place.

Accolade Fitness' business ramped up slowly because much of its clientele was older and more at-risk when it came to COVID-19. Therefore, they were largely apprehensive to return to gyms, Johnston said.

Johnston, who's run the gym for 13 years, struggled to keep workers on board as masking became a divisive issue among gym users and employees. Workers struggled to enforce mask mandates and many customers would bicker among themselves, he said.

"It wasn't a red or a blue thing for me," Johnston said. "It was, 'I just want to get my business open.'"

But Johnston said he also witnessed the community pull together to support small businesses like his; some gym members offered to allow the gym to keep their payments even during the months of the shutdown.

While membership still lagged at Accolade Fitness in December, Johnston said it's better than when he first reopened in June 2020.

At the start of reopening, he was 40% behind on membership; now he's 25% down from 2019 levels. It's slow and steady but Johnston hopes he can keep up with corporate gyms  whom he calls "the big boys."

"One of the places that I always battled the big boys was cleanliness and friendliness," Johnston said. "I can't buy fancy equipment, I can't be in a $20 million shopping center. We're kind of a hole in the wall. But I can beat them on friendliness and I can beat them on cleanliness."

Accolade Fitness isn't the only gym fighting the effects of the pandemic.

Nationally, Dallas-based Golds Gym closed three Springs-area locations in April 2020; two months later, 24 Hour Fitness of California shuttered a northern Colorado Springs facility. The chains cited financial fallout from the pandemic, in part, as factors in the closings.

Locally, gym memberships at the YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region were down 60% in December compared with pre-pandemic levels.

Jeff Peterson, the YMCAs executive vice president and COO of the YMCA, said he thinks the slump is largely because of community members hesitation over the virus.

"We've definitely followed all the criteria and expectations of keeping a very safe and healthy environment for staff and for our members," Peterson said. "But it (membership) is still not where we were hoping it would be."

But the constraints of COVID-19 forced the YMCA to innovate, said Jamie Holstein, programming vice president.

The YMCA's gym offerings now include virtual classes that instructors can lead while gym members are at home or traveling.

"That has been successful for those members to use if they're not comfortable coming in," Holstein said. "It's given them an access point to access their Y on the go."

The virtual offerings not only broaden access to exercise-related activities, but communal connections as well, Peterson said.

The YMCA expanded the virtual aspects of its centers to include cooking classes, school tutoring in addition to the various workout classes.

"We've been trying to be very flexible and adaptable to serve everyone and I think we'll continue that," Peterson said.

Some gyms have been luckier than others, however.

Planet Fitness franchise owners Rich, Jonny and Jason Jost, who own a Planet Fitness at 1025 E. Woodmen Road in Colorado Springs, said their memberships returned to pre-pandemic levels when vaccines became readily available.

The development of COVID-19 treatments also quelled many gym users' apprehensions about returning to gyms, they said

And even as new variants such as omicron spread rapidly and the number of breakthrough cases increased around the holidays, the brothers viewed customers' return to gyms as an integral part of pandemic recovery; working out helps gym users bolster their mental and physical health, they said.

"We're seeing a lot of the first-time gym users that really, maybe pre-pandemic didn't prioritize their health and wellness, and they really want to now," Rich Jost said.
Developers built tens of thousands of new homes in Colorado's riskiest areas for wildfires over the last decade, while local and state forest officials allowed wildfire protection plans across the state to age to the point they may no longer remain effective.

An analysis by The Gazette shows some of the most vulnerable areas of the state rely on some of the states oldest wildfire protection plans, putting those areas in peril for wildfire devastation.

According to U.S. Census Bureau data, over the past decade, more than 2,000 homes, going from about 15,000 to about 17,000 homes, have been built in the top 1% areas of the state most at risk for wildfires, using wildfire burn probability data available from the U.S. Forest Service. At least one-third of those new homes are in areas without a fire mitigation plan updated in the past five years.

In the riskiest 5% of the state, more than 23,000 new homes have been built, bulging from about 100,000 homes to about 123,000. At least 70% of those new homes are in areas with plans that havent been updated in five years or more.

The Colorado State Forest Service, which provides oversight of the local wildfire protection plans, recommends that local officials update the plans at a minimum of every five years to remain effective. But the five-year update is only a recommendation in Colorado and not a requirement.

The fire documents  known officially as Community Wildfire Protection Plans detail evacuation routes, subdivisions in hazardous locations and places where proactive mitigation work should take place. The Gazette found fewer than one out of every six of the 242 wildfire protection plans in Colorado were updated or created in the last five years. Roughly half of the plans are older than 10 years.

Colorados approach differs from that of the state of Idaho, as an example, where counties must update their protection plans at least every five years and where state officials annually review the plans to determine areas eligible for federal grant funding for mitigation work.

The proposal for a cyclical planning process, built on a five-year rotation, is a valuable approach to an ever-changing wildfire risk, wrote a team of researchers headed up by Stephen Miller, a law professor at the University of Idaho, who studied Idahos wildfire protection planning process and reviewed wildfire regulation and incentives in all Idaho cities and counties.

By embracing a cycle of wildfire planning, local communities can feel confident that they have a procedural mechanism in place to continually rethink this evolving risk as their communities also evolve over time, the research team found in 2016.

Updated plans can save lives and property, said Dan Gibbs, executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. Summit County updated its plan in 2016, which Gibbs said helped attract $1 million in federal aid and local funding to clear out defensible protection zones around expensive housing in the Wildernest neighborhood in Silverthorne. That work ended up blunting a wildfire in 2018, saving 2,600 homes and property worth about $1 billion, he said.

I would urge communities to take a hard look at their plans, Gibbs said. These are not something that should just be put on a shelf. Land use decisions can dramatically change a focus area. If you put in a new neighborhood, should that be incorporated into wildfire planning? You bet it should. These plans are living, breathing documents that need to be updated regularly.

The local wildfire mitigation plans have grown old and languished even as wildfire perils have become riskier and more acute in Colorado as climate change continues to exacerbate and create persistent drought condition, according to one key state planning document. Large swaths of dense forest land in Colorado have become home to dry, volatile fuels, warns Colorado's State Hazard Mitigation Plan, which guides state planning for the the years 2018 through 2023.

That plan identified wildfire and drought as two of the top three hazards facing communities in the state. And the other top hazard in the state, flooding, often is exacerbated when wildfires destroy natural protective habitats, the document states.

From 1984 through 2017, wildfires caused more than $1.3 billion in insured dollar losses, with the amount of those losses increasing dramatically since 2010, according to the planning document. Last year, three of the largest wildfires in the states history burned over 600,000 acres in some of the states most pristine watersheds and iconic areas, including Glenwood Canyon and treasured forested mountain landscapes.

Such losses prompted the state legislature to pass a $29.8 million wildfire-mitigation package this year that Gov. Polis signed into law amid concerns Colorados conditions have progressed so severely that the state no longer has wildfire seasons, but instead faces a year-round wildfire threat, where mega-fires can occur from spring through late fall.

The legislation, SB21-258, will boost grants the state can make available for local mitigation work and also provide funding to the Colorado State Forest Service to help local communities and fire districts update their wildfire protection plans. The legislation also included $200,000 for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources to work with federal officials to develop a statewide wildfire risk assessment that will determine where mitigation work is most needed.

Despite the worsening wildfire conditions in Colorado, The Gazette found more than 20 instances where officials allowed protection plans to become outdated in high-risk areas despite significant growth in housing in the areas those protection plans cover. The analysis found areas in Jefferson, Douglas, Teller and El Paso counties among those most at risk due to wildfire probability, significant growth in housing and outdated planning.

Teller County, which claims to have created the first wildfire protection plan in the state in 2005, last completed an update in 2011 and is currently updating its wildfire mitigation document. Jefferson Countys plan, which is also is being updated, dates back to 2012. El Pasos plan is more than nine years old. And Douglas Countys, which also is being revised, was created in 2011.

All those counties have local municipalities and local fire protection districts within their borders that also have outdated wildfire protection plans, some of which are at least 14 years old.

Kevin Michalak, the fire management officer for the Jefferson County Emergency Management System, said he was surprised when he was hired for his position in February to discover the countys wildfire protection plan was so old. He immediately pushed for an update, which he predicted will take more than a year to complete.

It was the first thing on my list, he said.

With the amount of people moving in the areas, things have changed with population density and what areas we were looking at before as opposed to now, Michalak said.

He said he worries whether evacuation routes can handle all the population growth.

One area of concern for the Inter-Canyon Fire Protection District, which also is updating its 2007 fire protection plan, is an aging population, said Daniel Hatlestad, the battalion chief for the mostly volunteer fire department located in Jefferson County. He said mitigation work is mostly done by residents, who chop down overgrown trees and brush on their own for fire crews to collect.

The need for mitigation is never ending, Hatlestad said.

Douglas County's plan is so old the software used to model risk areas when the plan was created in 2011 no longer works, which has complicated the work on updating the plan, said Jill Welle, the senior wildfire mitigation specialist for Douglas County.

"You don't just snap your fingers and click on Google and have the mapping come up," she said. New homes have gone up in Douglas County and forested areas have dried out and become major risks since the creation of the county's plan in 2011, but officials still are addressing needs, she said.

Just because a protection plan is outdated doesnt mean mitigation work isnt underway, said Randal Johnson, the fire marshal for the Larkspur Fire Protection District, which covers about 109 square miles in Douglas County.

Local officials in Douglas County, despite old plans, still successfully snagged grant money to treat and clear Douglas fir trees vulnerable to wildfire due to Tussock moth larvae destruction, which struck forested areas in 2014 and 2015, Johnson said. But the work underway will address only a few hundred acres of the tree devastation, he said, and more than 8,000 acres of trees in the area, mostly in Pike National Forest, have been damaged and become a potential fire hazard material.

The Perry Park community, where Johnson lives, which is covered by the Larkspur Fire Protection District, is among the 1% riskiest areas of the state for wildfires, according to the federal data analyzed by The Gazette. But Perry Parks community wildfire protection plan hasnt been updated since 2007 despite hundreds of new homes going up in the area, Johnson said, and many of the new residents come from areas of the nation unfamiliar with wildfire risks. He recalled how Perry Park residents had to evacuate when wildfires raged nearby in 2002 and said he hopes people will be prepared when wildfires inevitably flare again.

We've had people come in and move here and try to landscape the same as they would a suburban area, he lamented. To do it right, you need to have a five- to six-foot wide non-combustible zone perimeter around the house.

In Teller County, the fire risk is driven not only by population growth and dense forests, but by the 15,000 to 20,000 campers and visitors that come on weekends and holidays and leave campfires smoldering, said Don Angell, director of the Office of Emergency Management. Teller County has an out-of-date community wildfire protection plan, last updated in 2011, a document it is updating now. But its also organized other efforts to address fire risk.

For example, crews go out after every weekend and holiday to look for and put out fires that werent properly extinguished with water or dirt. After the 4th of July weekend, crews led by fire protection districts put out 20 smoldering campfires to make sure they didnt grow into an uncontrollable blaze, Angell said.

Some of the fires are built with just a few rocks around them instead of within a proper fire pit, making it easy for them to jump out, Four Mile Fire Protection District Chief Jay Teague said. The crews also find fires are started on large vacant lots within subdivisions by campers who own or are renting the property, he said.

Those fires could easily grow into a raging blaze within the 65-square-miles of the Four Mile district south of Florissant and northwest of Cripple Creek that is considered the driest part of Teller County, he said.

We are seeing more and more trees that are unhealthy and starting to die off, he said.

In addition, some subdivisions in the Four Mile district only have one access road, an issue the Office of Emergency Management is trying to address throughout the county, Angell said.

It just makes them all high risk, Teague said.

To help address the needs in the district, Teague has worked hard to build his department. While it can only afford a handful of paid staff, the department has recruited more than 60 volunteers, up from about six a year and half ago.

What Ive focused on is making the fire department the social heartbeat of our community, he said.

The district holds concerts and events to help get people involved and interested in its work, he said.

He is also trying to encourage subdivisions to write their own wildfire protection plans and start groups to organize mitigation efforts, he said.

But even organized neighborhoods can face challenges with fire mitigation and prevention.

The Bear Trap Ranch subdivision, also in Teller County, posts signs informing residents of the fire danger at the entrances and discusses the risk at quarterly meetings, said Victoria Carnahan, president of the landowners association.

Still, only about half the property owners mitigate their 20-acre lots in the heavily wooded area, she said. Part-time residents tend to be uneducated about the importance of the issue, she said.

We have some that do great, and some do nothing, she said.

Out of the 400 people who live in the subdivision only about 12 to 15 volunteers are available to help keep areas of neighborhood interest, such as the land alongside roads, trimmed back to help mitigate fires, she said.

Despite the wildfire risk, Carnahan says she loves her wrap-around view of three mountain ranges, and thats one of the reasons she stays in the remote subdivision with only two roads in.

We lived in the city, and we moved up to the mountains to get away from the city life, to get away from the political issues and have the privacy and be left alone, she said.

The Colorado State Forest Service can help communities and fire districts that want to update their protection plans, some of which exceed 200 pages in length, said Daniel Beveridge, fire fuels and watershed manager and the state forest official who monitors community wildfire plans in Colorado. But he said local control is strong in Colorado, and that residents first contact should be local officials if they fear their area does not have an up-to-date protection plan.

If local residents are interested in seeing to it that these plans are updated and modernized, the best course of action would be for those folks to reach out to their local authorities that are most appropriate when it comes to providing, you know, guidance and direction related to these matters and just simply ask the question, Beveridge said.

In Colorado, local officials saw the state forest services role as so minimal that they didn't even alert the forest service when they updated wildfire protection plans on at least 22 occasions, The Gazettes review found. Even when plans were updated, they often werent done so regularly or consistently.

In contrast, the state of Idaho requires counties to make their community wildfire plans part of their "all-hazard" mitigation plans, which communities are required to file with the Federal Emergency and Management Agency to qualify for certain forms of non-emergency disaster federal aid.

Synchronizing wildfire planning with the all-hazard mitigation process means counties in Idaho are required to update their wildfire protection plans every five years. County and state officials also review the county plans annually to keep proposed mitigation work in the plans on track.

This is the way to help inform the most efficient use of scarce resources, said Tyre Holfeltz, Idahos wildfire risk mitigation program manager, who works with counties in Idaho to ensure they are updating their wildfire protection plans.

He said that within the next two years, all the counties in Idaho will have their plans updated and on the five-year hazard mitigation planning cycle. Idaho officials also review the wildfire protection plans to prioritize areas best suited for grant applications for federal mitigation aid, he said. Holfeltz said he makes sure counties are working on the mitigation projects identified in the wildfire protection plans.

We want to see that these plans are being utilized or implemented, Holfeltz said. Its to show progress. It allows us to go to a check list and see what weve accomplished and add additional work we endeavor to complete.
The wildfire mitigation plan for the area where the Marshall fire ripped across a suburban landscape on Thursday hadn't been updated since 2010, predating heavy population growth in the area.

The plan, managed by the Rocky Mountain Fire Protection District, includes evacuation routes for the area, the designation of subdivisions in hazardous locations and places where proactive mitigation work should have taken place, all of which were 11 years out of date.

The area where the Marshall fire burns straddles the edge separating some of the most prone-to-burn areas of the state and more urban areas where wildfire risks are lower. And while the wildfire spread from house to house through neighborhoods, leaving thousands of Coloradans to deal with tragic loss, it mostly followed wildfire risk predictions.

To the west, in the Front Range mountains of the Boulder Open Space & Mountain Parks, wildfire risk is considered very high, according to U.S. Forest Service wildfire hazard potential data.

Northwest of where the fire burned, most of Boulder is largely considered to be non-burnable, in terms of wildfire risk. The same is true to the east and northeast of the fires scar, in Broomfield and the center of Louisville.

And although three-quarters of the area burned by the Marshall fire is classified by the same data as a moderate wildfire risk or less, on the western edge, where the fire began, a combination of powerful winds moving east and very high wildfire risk zones combined to devastating effect. About one-sixth of the area burned by the fire was considered non-burnable" by the federal estimate.

Like much of Colorado's Front Range, the area saw significant growth in the past 10 years, increasing in population by 17%, according to census data.

A Gazette investigation from August 2021 found fewer than one out of every six of the 242 wildfire protection plans in Colorado were updated or created in the last five years. Roughly half of the plans are older than 10 years.

Colorado, unlike some other western states, does not require wildfire mitigation plans to be updated over regular intervals. In Idaho, for example, counties must update their protection plans at least every five years and state officials annually review the plans to determine areas eligible for federal grant funding for mitigation work.
Press Release

January 2, 2022 Lacson: Lawmakers' Pet Projects Should Undergo Planning, Consultation

More at: https://pinglacson.net/article/lacson-lawmakers-pet-projects-should-undergo-planning-consultation For 2022 and beyond, development projects being advocated by lawmakers should undergo at least proper planning and consultation with the proper local authorities as well as implementing agencies. Sen. Panfilo "Ping" M. Lacson aired this hope as he said the country cannot afford to continue wasting hundreds of billions of pesos in unutilized funds in the budget due to "pork"-related corruption. "Kailangan dumaan sa masusing pagpaplano. Maski mag-'insert' ka basta may consultation (Projects should go through thorough planning and consultation. Even if a project is 'inserted' into the National Expenditure Program, there is nothing wrong so long as it underwent the proper consultations)," said Lacson, who has flagged billions of pesos in questionable projects in his yearly scrutiny of the national budget. In an interview on TeleRadyo last Dec. 29, Lacson lamented that an average of P300 billion a year in the budget from 2011 to 2020 went unused because the projects "inserted" by some lawmakers did not undergo proper planning or consultation. He said that while lawmakers have the right to amend the National Expenditure Program - the version submitted by Malacanang to Congress - by inserting their projects, there should be no "commissions" involved. "Karapatan ng mambabatas mag-amend sa NEP. Ang masama kung kumuha ng 20-40% depende sa katakawan. Yan ang mahirap sikmurahin (It's the right of lawmakers to propose amendments to the NEP. What is bad is that some use their earmarks to get commissions or up to 40 percent. That is the part that is unacceptable)," he said. "Kaya may P300 bilyon per year, from 2011 to 2020, na unused appropriations. Ini-insert kasi sa Congress. Paano i-implement ng ahensya yun, ng DPWH (That's why from 2011 to 2020, an average of P300 billion a year in the budget went unused - all because of the insertions by some lawmakers. How can agencies like the Department of Public Works and Highways implement the projects if they were not consulted)?" he added. Lacson said this is all made worse by the fact that Filipinos are still mired in poverty. "Ang kasuklam-suklam, pag may commission ang proyekto. Naghihirap ang Pilipinas, pagkatapos napupunta sa bulsa ng ilang tiwali at matatakaw sa pera (This practice of commissions is abhorrent. Filipinos are mired in poverty, yet billions of pesos that should go to development projects end up in the pockets of some," he said.
After sparking on Dec. 30, the Marshall fire became the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history, destroying more than a thousand structu
It started with an idea.

Twenty-five years ago, Tony Madone Jr. had already enjoyed a successful career as a farmer in both Colorado and Idaho. But Madone, who says he has a gift for farming, had the thought that too many people didn't have quality produce on their dinner tables  and he needed to do something about it.

That idea blossomed into Colorado Farm to Table, a nonprofit ministry based out of Salida that provides fresh produce annually to food banks, soup kitchens and pantries in all 64 counties across the state.

There are just two rules, says the organization's Board President Lisa Siegfried: First, the produce is never sold. Secondly, it must be given away within 72 hours so it remains fresh.

Colorado Farm to Table operates on 15-acre Shine Farm in Salida. In 2021, the group gave away 139,000 pounds of produce to 109,000 people. The number is lower than years past, said Siegfried; the farm has donated upwards of 350,000 pounds previously.

Initially, Madone ran the operation out-of-pocket, off of a 2-acre farm in Salida. In 2005, after a newspaper ran a story about Madone and Colorado Farm to Table, an accountant stepped up to help Madone turn the operation into a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Madone then added a board of directors and volunteers.

When the operation became a nonprofit its leaders began tracking the pounds of produce donated each year, Siegfried said. She estimates the group has donated 2.6 million pounds of produce since 2005.

Also in 2005 was when the operation moved from that 2-acre plot on Vandeveer Ranch to Shine Farm, and the organization had to grow in other areas, too. At one point, Madone said, the nonprofit was buying cabbage and broccoli sets from greenhouse growers. Eventually, the organization bought land and built its own greenhouse and shop for tools and appliances. Even during the early years of the expansion, Madone said the nonprofit increased the amount of produce grown annually.

At its core, Colorado Farm to Table represents an opportunity for people to give of themselves, Madone said.

"After eight years of growing produce and giving it away in the Salida area, other people saw what was being done and wanted to come forward and wanted to use their talent to help do the same thing," Madone said.

He said the accountant who helped set up the 501(c)(3) and served on the board in an accounting capacity helped feed others just as much as he did  even though he couldn't grow anything.

Today, Siegfried said Colorado Farm to Table has two employees working the farm and anywhere between 85 and 160 volunteers assisting with running the farm year-round.

"They're in the greenhouse in April and they're planting seeds, directly sowing seeds, all throughout the year," Sigfried said. "They're cultivating and weeding, they're laying down irrigation ditch, they burning certain areas that need to be burned."

That's all before harvest.

Two such volunteers, David and Cathy Wood, have been volunteering about 10 years. The couple came to Colorado by way of Texas; they had a vacation home, which became their permanent home after retirement. The farm is down the road from the Woods'. David, a Rotary International member, does his best to live to the club's creed of "service above self."

"We've both been volunteer actives all of our adult lives," he said. "We're kind of geared to finding service projects in the community and working on them, and we've learned that Colorado Farm To Table is one of the best ones that we can possibly be involved in."

The Woods plant squash and broccoli for Colorado Farm to Table, and also help with weeding. During harvest time, the couple spends about 20 to 30 hours in the field, working with cabbage, sweet corn and acorn squash.

For Madone, who left Colorado Farm to Table officially just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, it's the willingness of volunteers like the Woods that made his idea a reality and much more.

"Certainly, to Salida and the state of Colorado  having served all 64 counties for a number of years, the latter years of my operation  (Colorado Farm to Table) meant something was on the table for those who needed it. But to Salida, to the volunteers like Cathy and David Wood, it gave them an opportunity to give of themselves," he said. "For hundreds of people in that area, it gave them a chance to be a part of giving of themselves. I just can't see that you could do anything better."

To learn more about the organization, or to donate or volunteer visit coloradofarmtotable.org.
Press Release

January 2, 2022 Lacson: Proactive Leadership, Cooperation Needed to Keep New Covid Wave from Robbing Us of Health, Economy

More at: https://pinglacson.net/article/lacson-proactive-leadership-cooperation-needed-to-keep-new-covid-wave-from-robbing-us-of-health-economy Proactive leadership, cooperation from the public and a science-based approach. These are the three main things needed to prevent the new wave of Covid infections from robbing us of our health and economic recovery, Sen. Panfilo "Ping" M. Lacson said. Lacson reminded authorities and fellow Filipinos to "cooperate with science" to prevent another major significant wave of this lingering public health crisis, after the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) raised the alert level in Metro Manila to "3" following a surge in infections. On Sunday, Lacson cited the proactive move of Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla to reactivate the provincial Center for Disease Control, and consulting the mayors to upgrade the alert level as a response to an upsurge in Covid cases. "Cavite Governor Jonvic Remulla leads the way. He is reactivating the provincial Center for Disease Control and consulting the mayors to upgrade the alert level. An upsurge from 5 to 100 CoViD cases per day needs proactive leadership and action. He has both," Lacson, a proud Caviteno, said on his Twitter account. He also reiterated that while authorities should adopt a data-driven approach in dealing with the pandemic, the public should also do their part by observing basic health protocols. "Just like that, we're back to 30% indoor and 50% outdoor. Cooperation with science is key," Lacson noted. Lacson, who is running for President under Partido Reporma, earlier called on public health and law enforcement authorities to press charges against people who were deliberately violating mandatory quarantine protocols like the woman who went viral - literally and virtually - for escaping from her hotel room to party in a public bar. More importantly, he said steps must be taken to prevent a repeat of the violation that potentially endangered the health of other people. "Just when we thought we were ready to move on and not worry about CoViD, here we are again, bothered by impending health and economic woes, when we know there are hardly any trade-offs between the two. Among others, that girl who skipped quarantine and partied must be prosecuted," he said. Lacson has made it clear that fixing the country's healthcare system to deal with the continuing COVID-19 crisis and all its adverse impact across many sectors and industries remains one of his topmost priorities if he is voted into office come the 2022 May elections. The three-term senator vowed to institute future-proof economic strategies to address this problem by encouraging public trust on safe and effective vaccines, conducting frequent mass diagnostic testing for free, and easing state-sanctioned lockdowns, among other data-driven solutions.
Jon Caldara is president of the Independence Institute in Denver and hosts The Devils Advocate with Jon Caldara on Colorado Public Television Channel 12.
Loury is a professor of economics and faculty fellow at the Watson Institute at Brown University and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. You can follow him on Twitter @GlennLoury.
On Dec. 28, 1846, when President James K. Polk signed the bill making Iowa the 29th state, its population was estimated at 96,000 people. Since then, Iowans ranks have grown more than 30-fold, to 3.19 million, according to the 2020 census.

As the state turns 175, all Iowans have much to celebrate. By birth or by choice, were connected to a land of abundance and opportunity, a place that has given birth to luminaries from Norman Borlaug, the crop scientist whose work to feed a hungry world is credited with saving a billion lives, to Peggy Whitson, the astronaut who has spent more time in space than any other American.

Iowas blessings are rooted in the land itself, some of the most fertile in the world, bounded by North Americas two longest rivers, the mighty Mississippi on the east and the even longer Missouri on the west.

Another great blessing came from the delegates who gathered in Iowa City in 1857 to write our states constitution. While the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution was tacked on, in the form of the first 10 amendments, Iowas Bill of Rights, guaranteeing individual freedoms and due process of law, takes priority as the constitutions first article. The document as a whole proclaims the core belief of equality, as the late Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady wrote.

But Iowa is more than the confluence of geography and history. Iowa native Hugh Sidey, a renowned journalist and confidant of presidents, has described Iowa as more of a state of mind and a way of life than anything else.

Cady, who presented the inaugural Drake Law School Iowa Constitution Lecture in 2012, observed that early settlers were industrious and self-reliant in the face of harsh conditions on the frontier and were imbued with a pioneer sense of justice, democracy and equality. Practicality shaped political and social ideals: On Iowas frontier, everyone was equal.

Even today, Iowa weather and life in general can deliver a hailstorm of hardship: heat and cold, flood and drought, tornadoes, derechos and pandemics. Yet with self-reliance and an abiding belief in equality, Iowans persevere and thrive.

As Iowa rounds the corner on 175 and heads toward its bicentennial year, how can Iowans safeguard and build on our states blessings and opportunities for future generations? Here are five birthday wishes that we believe would build a better Iowa by 2046.

We wish that our state will:

Preserve, rebuild its topsoil

The advance and retreat of glaciers pulverized rock into fine particles, then prairie plants grew and died, creating the deep black topsoil that is the foundation of Iowas economic wealth and is critical to feeding a growing global population.

Voices like Iowa State University agronomy professor Rick Kruse have warned for years that Iowa needs better ways to measure how much topsoil its losing with each windstorm and downpour. A study published earlier this year by three University of Massachusetts researchers using remote sensing technology found that hilltops across the Midwestern corn belt have been denuded of their best soil  topsoil loss at a far greater rate than previously estimated.

Great challenges and opportunities lie ahead for Iowa agriculture as electrification of vehicles threatens to dry up the ethanol market; as climate change risks exacerbating severe weather; and as shifting consumer tastes demand more sustainably grown food. Iowa needs aggressive, science-based approaches to preserve and fortify its black gold.

Protect its water

Iowas river valleys beckoned settlers with access to abundant shallow groundwater and rainfall quantities sufficient to produce bountiful crops. Pioneers who continued west often found this life-sustaining resource scarcer by the mile.

This summer, the federal government for the first time declared a water shortage on the Colorado River, triggering mandatory usage cuts for Southwestern states and offering what many experts see as a sign of global water wars to come.

Despite a history of plentiful water and persistent flooding, Iowa now faces significant water challenges, both in quality and quantity. Nitrogen and phosphorous runoff from farm fields adds to a long list of waters in Iowa that are no longer fishable or swimmable and contributes to a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico that can no longer support marine life. Rapidly growing industrial and residential use is lowering water levels in the Jordan aquifer, which runs underneath much of the state. That could threaten economic development and job growth in years to come.

Much as with its topsoil, Iowa needs an all-out crusade to clean up and protect its water.

Give meaning to equality

As Chief Justice Cady observed, writers of the Iowa Constitution embraced equality as a broad principle, but struggled with its particulars. They split so sharply on the issue of voting rights for Black Iowans, for example, that they instead submitted the question to voters in a referendum, which was overwhelmingly defeated.

While Iowas march toward equality has suffered many shameful setbacks, Cady cites three events that breathed life into what equal means for everyday life. During the Civil War, 287 Black soldiers who began as volunteers were later organized as the 60th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment, Cady writes. This group of men literally saved the day at the Battle of Wallaces Ferry in eastern Arkansas, along with the lives of hundreds of Union soldiers. Their valor was so widely recognized that it propelled passage of the 1868 amendment granting voting rights to Black males.

Also in 1868, the Iowa Supreme Court, ruling in a case in which a young Black girl was denied admission to a Muscatine grammar school, struck a blow against segregation and decided public schools must be equally open to all. And in 1873, after a Black woman was denied dining accommodations on a Keokuk steamboat, the states high court ruled that inferior dining accommodations did not satisfy the principle of equality written into the Iowa Constitution.

Cady himself was part of a landmark Iowa Supreme Court decision in 2009 that further filled in the meaning of equality by recognizing same-sex marriage as a constitutional right.

Today in Iowa, as in other states, people of color continue to face persistent disparities in matters such as educational attainment, income, health outcomes and even injury and deaths at the hands of police. With open minds, Iowans must address these disparities to live up to our constitutions promise that all Iowans are free and equal.

Embrace education

The Iowa Constitution sets forth the obligation to provide for the education of all the youths of the State, through a system of Common Schools and to establish a state university, which blossomed into the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa.

Another sign of Iowans early commitment to education: establishment of a wide network of religious colleges, writes the late Dorothy Schwieder, professor of history at Iowa State University. Prominent colleges established before 1900 that still are educating students today include Iowa Wesleyan, Simpson, Cornell, Morningside and Upper Iowa University (Methodist); St. Ambrose, Briar Cliff, Loras and Clarke (Catholic); Wartburg, Luther and Grand View (Lutheran); Coe and Dubuque (Presbyterian); Central (Baptist); Drake (Disciples of Christ); and Grinnell (Congregationalist).

Education remained so top of mind that Iowa in 2004 featured a one-room school on its state quarter design and an inscription that reads, Foundation in Education. Yet some measures, such as reading and math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which have slipped from the nations top ranks, suggest weve neglected our foundation.

Iowa must make education a top priority, from preschool through higher education, to open opportunities for all and to enhance the skills of our current and future workforce. Part of that commitment includes respecting teachers for the critical role they play in encouraging and inspiring lifelong learning.

Extend our welcome to all

Iowa has always been a land of immigrants. In Iowas first seven censuses, from 1850 to 1910, 10% or more of our population was foreign born, hitting 17% in 1870 and 1890. Today, Iowas foreign-born population is 5%.

The 2020 census again shows negative domestic migration in Iowa; in other words, more people left the state than moved in from other parts of the United States. Only by factoring in international immigration did more people move to Iowa than moved out. At the same time, 67 of Iowas 99 counties, most of them rural, lost population in the past decade, continuing more than a century of rural population loss. And long before the pandemic-induced national worker shortage, Iowas businesses needed more workers to grow.

Iowa needs immigrants for its small towns to thrive and its economy to grow. Our state is expected to receive about 700 Afghan refugees. With open hearts, lets welcome them as well as asylum seekers on the Southern border to share in this states abundance and opportunity.

We acknowledge these birthday wishes for Iowa are ambitious. We make no apologies for that. We want the best for our state, and we believe industrious Iowans who continue to share a sense of justice, democracy and equality can make it even greater.

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Danville shattered a high-temperature record Saturday afternoon reaching 79 degrees. Given the wild weather ride recently, it seems only appropriate a winter storm is expected to move in by Monday morning.

Saturdays high broke the old record of 74 degrees dating back to 1952, Anita Silverman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Blacksburg, confirmed to the Register & Bee.

The new year is riding a roller coaster wave of transformation that will likely morph into something that resembles a normal winter, unlike Saturday afternoons balmy episode.

Even the forecast is an up-and-down ride. On Saturday evening, little to no accumulation was expected, Silverman said.

By Sunday morning, Danville and Pittsylvania County were under a winter storm warning from 3 a.m. to noon Monday.

A slow moving front was expected to stall across an area from Tidewater area of Virginia down into Georgia on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service in Blacksburg. A low-pressure system will form on the front while colder air rushes in from another disturbance.

After reaching a high in the upper 60s on Sunday, temperatures will drop to the lower 30s by Monday morning.

These two will bring a changeover of rain to snow starting in the mountains by midnight, reaching the piedmont by dawn, forecasters wrote. The system exits by early Monday afternoon.

Accumulations of 2 to 6 inches are possible depending on location. The weather services map shows Danville with less than an inch but northwestern parts of Pittsylvania County could receive 4 to 6 inches.

Exact snowfall amounts will be especially tricky to pin-down because of the record-setting warmth from Saturday. Unless theres an intense snowfall rate, it may end up being what forecasters call white rain, a situation where snow melts on contact, at least until the ground surface gets cold enough.

Danville Public Works crews have trucks mounted with snow plows, city spokesperson Arnold Hendrix reported Sunday. A crew was scheduled to report to work Sunday to check trucks and mount additional plows.

The crews will start plowing when an inch of snow builds up on the roadways, Hendrix said.

The wet snow will cling to trees and power lines, potentially causing disruptions with electricity, but large-scale power outages arent expected, Hendrix said.

The Virginia State Police on Sunday urged residents to plan ahead for potential inclement conditions.

If you can delay your travel overnight and early Monday, please do until VDOT has an opportunity to treat/clear roadways for safe travel, Corinne N. Geller, a spokesperson for the state police, said.

Drought

Danville also set another record Friday by finishing out 2021 with only 26.97 inches of rain, Silverman said. Thats about 16 inches below normal.

The previous record was 28.66 inches set in 2001.

The southern portion of Danville is categorized in a severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The northern parts of the city and all of Pittsylvania County are experiencing a moderate drought.

Rain expected Saturday night mixed with the snowfall coming Sunday night into Monday will help to keep the drought situation from getting worse, Silverman said.

Its going to take a lot of these storm systems to climb out of the drought, she warned.

After a little warm build-up at the end of the week, temperatures should stay around normal for this time a year.

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Since I had not flown in several years, I was a little concerned about getting on the flight I recently booked to visit my daughter and grandchildren in Santa Fe.

My ticket was reasonable and I was happy I was able to fly out of Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro to New Mexico. I was told I needed an official drivers license (one with a star on it) and my vaccination record before I could board any plane.

I called the Department of Motor Vehicles in mid-November to replace the online license I got on my birthday in August of 2020. All the lines  local and in Raleigh  were busy constantly and did not give the option of leaving your number for callback. I finally went online for an appointment and the closest one was Dec. 13  the day I was to leave. I checked Greensboro and other nearby communities  the nearest for those was in mid-January of 2022. I scheduled a time on Dec. 13, but decided to head out early Monday morning to the Rockingham County DMV.

Arriving a little before they were scheduled to open, I was shocked to find few cars in the parking lot. Inside, only a few people were waiting. As soon as the doors opened, those were processed quickly and it was my turn.

The agent checked the required documents. I asked about the official license and was told I needed my marriage license to get that but it would not become required to fly until 2023. I explained that I had been divorced since 1977, but he said it did not matter, they needed an official document showing my name change from my maiden name to my married name.

He asked about a passport. I had not had one since the early 2000s, and dont know where it is. Several years ago, I tried to obtain a copy of my marriage license, but was told the courthouse where I married in South Carolina had burned and all the records destroyed. Actually, I have a copy of my license buried somewhere in the mountains of papers I have accumulated over the years. Since I have a year to come up with it, I am not worried.

I barely had taken seat when my number was called and I went back and was quickly processed. However, I was handed a paper copy and told it would be good to fly and the hard copy would arrive in two to four weeks.

For the next couple of weeks, I kept my eyes on my mail but the license didnt arrive. The week before I was to travel, I called Raleigh DMV and, of course, I couldnt get through. I then called N.C. Rep. Reece Pyrtle who contacted his office in Raleigh and within hours I had a call from the Raleigh DMV saying my license was mailed the day before and should arrive in plenty of time. It came on Friday before I was to travel on Monday.

Monday, my grandson Thomas arrived shortly before 8 a.m. and we headed to Greensboro to catch my Delta flight at 10:24 a.m. I like PTI Airport because it is close to home and, if you arrive early enough, chances are you can park just a few feet from the airport entrance.

After unloading my luggage, we went inside. Only a few people were in line at the Delta counter and a sweet little lady in purple came over to help me. She asked if I needed a wheelchair and I told her I would be fine. She also told me this flight and the one to Albuquerque were full. She checked my two bags, handed me my receipt for them, and Thomas and I headed to security. The Delta attendant came up as we were walking away and asked me if I had everything I needed and wished me a good flight.

Of course, Thomas could only go so far but he walked outside the security lines as far as he could and still was in sight of me since he wanted to make sure I got through security. As I neared the officer, the Delta employee who had checked me in, came up, pointed at me and said Expedite. She repeated this action as I put my luggage on the conveyor belt.

Since my laptop was in my carry-on, I thought I might have to remove it and put it in the tray on the belt but nothing was said about it and I breathed a sigh of relief. Nor did I have to remove my shoes, being an old woman. As my luggage and purse, which was in a huge cloth bag, proceeded along the conveyor belt, I was directed to the personal screening booth.

I was asked if I could go through it because most older residents have artificial limbs and other medical procedures inserting metal in their bodies. I assured them all my parts were my original ones and I got through the booth with no problems.

A Delta attendant helped me retrieve my luggage and I could hardly believe I was headed for my boarding area as I turned to wave goodbye to Thomas.

I tried to read as I waited but I am a people watcher and could not keep my attention on the book. When the boarding station opened, I asked about early boarding and was directed to an area where several people were waiting in wheelchairs. About 30 minutes before the flight was scheduled, we were told we could start boarding. As I entered the plane, an attendant took my heavy carry-on (it also contained my camera and CPAP machine) and escorted me to my seat, then placed my luggage directly over me in the luggage rack. He took my bulky coat and put it overhead. I had a middle seat but my seatmates were engrossed in their phones so I had a quiet flight to Atlanta, arriving a little over an hour later. Since I knew I had a little more than two-hour layover, I waited until most other passengers had department, then a kind passenger handed me my overhead luggage.

As I left the plane, three people were waiting with wheelchairs and one of them was mine. After stopping at the restroom and to get something to eat, the attendant took me to my gate and parked my wheelchair.

As soon as the gate attendant came and processed several other passengers, my wheelchair was rolled to the service desk. I asked the attendant if it were possible I could have an aisle seat. He informed me he had already switched me to the aisle and closer to the front of the plane. I thanked him as he handed me my new boarding pass and I was quickly rolled to the plane where again a friendly attendant escorted me to my seat and put my luggage away. I kept my coat this time because I had gotten a little chilly on the flight to Atlanta.

All but one seat was filled and the sweet attendant at the desk had left the middle seat vacant, giving me extra room for this longer flight.

We left on time and in three hours and 20 minutes, we were landing in Albuquerque. Although it was bumpy a few times, the flight in general was calm as the weather was good all the way across the country.

Once again, I was met by a wheelchair attendant but, this time, he took me and another person up the exit ramp together. I was amazed that he could handle both wheelchairs so efficiently, even getting both of us in the elevator with no problems. As we left the elevator, the other mans family was waiting for him. My attendant retrieved my luggage and since I knew Anna couldnt get off work until 5 p.m., he rolled me to a window in front of the vehicle arrival area.

I settled down to call Anna to let her know I was there but realized I didnt have her number or Judes in my cell phone. (I am not a big proponent of cell phones and seldom use mine). I more or less assumed I had their numbers in my phone. However, I had Jasmines and she said her mother would be there shortly but didnt give me any other information. She also gave me Annas number which I called and learned she had gotten off a little early but still would be a little late picking me up.

As I was getting out my book to read, I glanced up and almost running to me were Jude and Jasmine. They had kept the fact they were picking me up a surprise. I was so happy to see them and, as usual, tears formed as I hugged them.

After loading my luggage, we headed to Santa Fe, stopping en route to pick up Anna at her work. Because I love tamales and good ones seldom are available in North Carolina, she stopped at a Mexican restaurant known for its tamales. A few minutes later, we arrived at Annas house.

It was a good trip throughout the day and all the Delta personnel went above and beyond to make sure my trip was comfortable and I got from one place to the other with no problems.

And, knowing I would be with my family, including Thomas who flew out on the Sunday before Christmas made the trip even better. It was the first time in many years I celebrated Christmas with four of my six grandchildren together.

Now to book my ticket for my return flight home with hopes for smooth travels.
Little 3-month-old Mitchell Turners hair was still wet when his mother noticed bruising on his legs while changing him out of his baptism gown.

It seemed unusual to Meg McElwain, but she remembers thinking it was due to the church being cold.

It was still bothering her the next morning, though  enough to call her pediatrician.

You need to come to the hospital right now, she recalls the doctor saying, voice tight.

That day, in 2012, McElwains family went to the hospital and her baby, Mitchie, started a nearly 2-year fight against leukemia.

This was my 3-month-old baby. My entire world was turned upside down, McElwain said. For the first two months of his diagnosis, McElwain spent almost every hour with her son at the hospital.

There was no time for me to do anything but put one foot in front of the other. All I could think about was getting to the next step.

Now McElwain is helping other families through that journey, too. And her organization is expanding to open Mitchells House  where her sons legacy can live on.

Mitchells story

After her sons diagnosis, McElwains life rolled to a stop.

Everything  her thriving marketing business, her friendships, relationships with the rest of her family  had to be put on pause. Doctors told McElwain that Mitchell would be in aggressive treatment for 2 years.

She repressed her emotions  as a mother, she knew Mitchell and her older son were looking to her. People kept telling her how strong she was, but to McElwain, there was no other option.

Many times, McElwain wouldnt leave the hospital for days on end. Looking back, it was traumatizing.

Mitchells medicines made him scream for days, and the chemotherapy burned his skin. All she could do was sit with him, and tell him that it would all be OK.

And slowly, it finally seemed that it actually might  Mitchell was responding well to treatment.

Months passed, and McElwains hope grew.

But then he relapsed, right before the two years were up, she said. I knew then that my baby was fixing to die.

He died on Palm Sunday in 2014. He was 2 years old.

When I walked out of the hospital without my child, my fear of just about anything in the world went away, she said. I had faced the worst.

But some of McElwains worst days were ahead.

The darkest days

She describes it as the darkest time of her life, the first year without Mitchell.

I literally laid in my bed under the covers in silence, McElwain said. I got my living child ready for school, and then Id get into bed and just lay there. I didnt always have the energy to cry. My body hurt with this deep weight and pain, like deep in my body.

By the time the first anniversary of Mitchells death came around, McElwains marriage was in shambles. She was on antidepressants, but she just wanted the pain to end.

Finally, she called a mental health facility and asked for help. She was hospitalized for suicidal thoughts.

McElwain separated from her husband, and the next year, she got a divorce. Thats when McElwain said the clouds started clearing.

She still hits bumps when Mitchells birthday comes around, or the anniversary of the day he died, but the weight is not as heavy as it used to be.

When a family goes through trauma and grief, it bleeds into every other aspect of life, too. Almost one in five marriages end in divorce when a couple loses a child.

When a family is diagnosed, whatever is happening in their home, thats only going to be magnified by the stress of the sick child, she said.

And McElwain started to worry about her older son, Frank, who was 3 when Mitchell was born.

In the first few weeks, his day care teachers said theyd watch him on the playground go off to himself and just stare, McElwain remembered. He was really trying to process it.

After Mitchells death and the divorce of his parents, Frank started having outbursts, because he wanted to tell people about Mitchell and didnt know how, McElwain said.

But therapy and a new school environment changed everything.

A lot of people think since theyre a child, theyre not going to remember it, but it impacts kids in different ways, she said. They reached out to the school counselor, too.

And McElwain has since been dedicating her time to making sure other families have those resources to help them navigate the grief process, too.

Filling the gap

McElwain started Mitchells Fund right after her son was diagnosed.

Lots of people wanted to donate to Mitchells treatment, and McElwain said the family just didnt feel right taking the money when there were people who needed it more.

Originally a donor-advised fund as part of the Novant Health Foundation, its since become an entity of its own. The fund has helped over 300 families with children with terminal diagnoses receive needed counseling services, make their rent or mortgage, and pay for treatment.

But now, she wants to expand.

Mitchells Fund will officially become Mitchells House on Feb. 27  what would have been Mitchells 10th birthday.

A new facility, which will be in uptown in the Charlotte National building, will be a refuge for families that have a child with a terminal illness, with therapy and counseling for the whole family  especially siblings. Services begin in March.

Mitchells House will have two therapists on staff who focus on child-focused art, play and talk therapy sessions to help young children learn to cope with the changes and feelings they might be experiencing.

McElwain wants to create a community that supports each other in this underserved space  she said theres a gap between a diagnosis and death, and Mitchells House will fill it.

Mitchell was never terminal until the end, she said. And a lot of facilities dont provide services until after death.

April Robson remembers that liminal space well.

It was July 2018 when her 2-year-old daughter Charlotte was diagnosed with a terminal illness. That same week, someone from Mitchells Fund came to their hospital room with parking and coffee vouchers.

Robsons daughter died six months ago, but she said McElwains organization was there for her family every step of the journey.

Even though this is an amazing city, we couldnt really find resources to help us with a child who was severely terminally sick but who hadnt passed away, Robson said. We were sort of in this weird middle purgatory.

Through Mitchells Fund, Robsons family got personal counseling, marriage counseling and childrens play therapy, and they never saw a single bill.

When I think about Mitchells House and what its going to look like, Im envisioning a haven, Robson said. When youre faced with terminal illness, you can just hear the clock ticking for one of your children. Im imagining that Mitchells House is going to be families safe space that they need during that time.

Kiley Thiel, a licensed clinical mental health counselor supervisor, is helping establish the clinical and therapy side of Mitchells House.

The longtime grief counselor said young children communicate through play and need that outlet to express feelings they dont have words for yet.

Grief also comes from any sort of changes, not just death. Children can witness a sibling go through changes, or there are changes in parental time they get, or new people start coming into the home, she said. Having a space like Mitchells House gives them a safe space to express the worries that they feel.

McElwain still tenses up when she hears a baby crying. If its in public, she sometimes has to get up and leave the environment because she shuts down  she remembers Mitchells cries.

But every day its gotten a little bit easier, she said. McElwain hopes Mitchells House makes it easier for other families, too.
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DANVILLE, Va.  With only half of the Danville and Pittsylvania County population fully vaccinated  and fewer than 1-in-5 individuals boosted  the local health department is continuing efforts to get more shots in more arms.

The Pittsylvania-Danville Health District will host two vaccine clinics in January at Danville elementary schools.

Being vaccinated and boosted is especially important now with the rise in cases caused by the omicron variant of the virus, Dr. Scott Spillmann, director of the local health district, said in a statement. These more contagious strains can spread quickly and vaccines are our best hope to end the COVID-19 pandemic.

A vaccine doesnt guarantee a person wont get COVID-19, Spillmann said, however the shots are proven to prevent severe illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths.

The clinics will provide free first, second and booster doses for the public, a news release explained. Vaccines are available to anyone 5 and older.

In Danville and Pittsylvania County, only 4% of children ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated and only 30% of those 12 to 15 years old have had the proper doses. Overall, only half the population is protected with vaccinations.

Boosters  viewed by medical experts as a needed extra layer of protection against COVID-19  are slowly flowing into the arms of residents. In Danville, 18% have rolled up their sleeves again for a booster dose. In Pittsylvania County, only 16% have the extra shot.

The Pfizer vaccine is available for anyone 5 and older, but a parent or guardian must accompany anyone under 18. The Moderna vaccine and the single-dose Johnson & Johnson are available for anyone 18 and older.

The Pfizer booster may be obtained by anyone 16 and older at least six months from their second injection. The Moderna version is on the same timeframe, but only those 18 and older may receive a booster. For the one-shot Johnson & Johnson version, anyone 18 and older may receive a booster dose at least two months from the original vaccine.

Residents may choose which booster to receive, meaning its possible to mix and match. However, the Virginia Department of Health urges individuals to talk with a doctor or health care provider to make the right decision.

The clinics are set from 9 to 11 a.m. Jan. 8 at Johnson Elementary School located 680 Arnett Blvd. and from 9 to 11 a.m. Jan. 15 at Park Avenue Elementary School located at 661 Park Ave.

While walk-ins are welcome, health leaders recommend making an appointment by registering in advance at vase.vdh.virginia.gov. If anyone has issues online they may call 1-877-VAX-IN-VA (877-829-4682, TTY users call 7-1-1).

Those with an appointment should arrive no earlier than 20 minutes. Anyone coming for a second or booster dose should bring their vaccine card.

The experience of getting a COVID-19 vaccine will be very similar to other routine vaccines, the health department said.
MARTINSVILLE, Va.  Piedmont Arts will have an opening reception in honor of the museums new exhibits on Friday, Jan. 21, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the museum.

Our Living Past: Platinum Portraits of Southern Music Makers is a collection of portraits and still lifes by photographer Timothy Duffy.

Over the course of 35 years, Duffy has forged a unique vision immortalizing Southern musical heroes and the world in which they live. The founder of Music Maker Foundation, a non-profit organization that preserves the musical traditions of the South by directly supporting the musicians who make it, Duffy traveled the South to capture this compelling collection of 25 wet-plate collodion photographs, which were printed with the platinum/palladium process.

Our Living Past includes portraits ranging from guitar virtuoso and Allman Brothers Band member Derek Trucks and legendary bluesman Taj Mahal to lesser-known blues and soul artists, as well as images of instruments, like former Carolina Chocolate Drops member Dom Flemons circa 1920 banjo, Big Head Joe.

Dear B.J.: Postcards from the Pandemic is a creative non-fiction interpretation of life in Appalachia during the COVID-19 pandemic, as imagined by artist L.S. King through intimate postcard-sized images and written correspondence. Each card features a black-and-white photograph with a backside written to a mysterious B.J. and signed by ME. Through these vagaries, King invites the viewer into a shared world. Perhaps you wonder who B.J. is, or maybe you know. Perhaps you relate to the ME, who signed the cards. And as you think about it all, perhaps you overlay Kings visual narrative over your own.

Tara Compton, featuring work by the local abstract painter, sculptor and jewelry designer, will be on display in the Lynwood Artists Gallery. Compton is a Martinsville native who has returned to the area after years in New York City.

The opening reception is free and open to the public. Complimentary wine and light refreshments will be served. RSVP is required by Jan. 18 to 276-632-3221 or online at PiedmontArts.org.

Exhibits will be on display Jan. 22 through March 12. Admission is free.

The exhibits and reception are sponsored by Gael and Smith Chaney, Cindy and Steve Edgerton, Marty Gardner, Jennifer Reis and Pete Mannen, Barbara and Guy Stanley, The Martinsville Graduate Kappa Delta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. and Lynwood Artists.

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WENTWORTH  Rockingham Countys unvaccinated are succumbing to the highly infectious omicron variant of COVID-19 and make up the majority of new cases in the countys overcrowded and understaffed hospitals, health professionals report.

Meanwhile, the Triads counties have bloomed out with some of the highest infection rates in North Carolina, with Stokes and Yadkin counties holding the second- and third-highest rates among North Carolinas 100 counties at 18.8% and 19.5 %, respectively. On Friday, Rockingham was at nearly 15%.

Test kits in short supply

Rockinghams pharmacies are overrun with requests for at-home COVID-19 testing kits that they dont have in stock. On Monday, CVS in Madison was waiting on a shipment managers hoped would arrive by Jan. 3. Eden and Reidsville drugstores were also sold out of kits and hoping to restock after New Years.

In turn, the countys already crowded hospital emergency departments are glutted with patients seeking COVID-19 tests. And Triad hospitals have responded this week by asking people to seek such testing from their health departments, physicians offices or urgent care centers instead. (See story on page A2)

County health departments are playing the waiting game as well, they said.

We are waiting for state and federal direction of shipments of at-home test kits, said Trey Wright, Rockingham Countys public health director, on Thursday. Meanwhile, Wright said he encourages people to order home testing kits from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services at: https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/about-covid-19/testing/covid-19-test-home-collection-kit-program.

Holidays helped create surge

Holiday gatherings have played a major part in the surge of infection in Rockingham and North Carolina overall, health officials said.

Statewide, the average infection rate had soared to 22.5% on Friday. Holiday parties and get-togethers with extended family and friends created a perfect transmission ground for omicron, some 70 times more infectious than other COVID-19 variants, health officials said.

What is clear to health experts is that vaccinated and boosted individuals fare much better than the unvaccinated if they suffer breakthrough infections with omicron. Antibodies from vaccines have been shown to help blunt the effects of the virus and spare patients from hospitalization and death, studies reveal.

Annie Penn Hospital sees more inpatients

Cone Healths Annie Penn Hospital in Reidsville has witnessed a 50% increase in hospitalizations since mid-November. And traffic to the Annie Penn emergency department is about 25% higher than before Thanksgiving, including non-COVID traffic, said Cone spokesman Patrick Wright.

For example, during the week before Thanksgiving, Annie Penn counted around four COVID-19 inpatients. On Thursday night, 11 COVID-19 patients filled the hospitals beds, Wright said in an email.

And 77% of hospitalized coronavirus patients at Annie Penn have no record of having a COVID-19 vaccination, Wright said. While the exact number of patients treated in the ICU at Annie Penn was unavailable, Wright said that two-thirds of hospitalized COVID-19 patients have received supplemental oxygen.

Unvaccinated bulk of new infections

The unvaccinated of Rockingham County account for the lions share of new COVID-19 cases, but the hospital is seeing a growing number of vaccinated people appear at the ED with symptoms, Wright said of patients with breakthrough infections.

From Dec. 12-18, the health department found that about 94% of all new COVID-19 infections were in unvaccinated individuals, Wright said.

So far, the rural county of about 91,000 residents counts 49% of its population as fully vaccinated and 52% as having at least one shot, Wright said.

The public health director was heartened to see that in recent weeks more children aged 5-11 have been vaccinated. The number, at 297, is still too low, statistics show, at less than 4% of all kids in the age group countywide. And Rockingham County schools resume Jan. 5 without a mask mandate.

Wright said he expects a case increase after holiday festivities of New Years weekend have concluded.

Booster shots arent perfect armor

And booster shots are not a failsafe guarantee you will dodge omicrons microbes, Wright explained.

As omicron becomes the common variant, we are seeing that boostered individuals are a little more protected against the virus, however, that does not mean you cannot contract the virus, Wright said. What it means is that your symptoms will be less severe ... than those unvaccinated. That said, we cannot let our guard down yet.

Infection close to home

Infection happens close to home and within the home, Wright said.

Cases we are seeing are household contacts with family members outside the home. Do not be afraid to ask relatives and others that travel if they and/or anyone around them felt sick. And if so, do not visit them, Wright said.

Which age group has most infection?

Rockingham Countians aged 25-49, a 42% fully vaccinated group, have shown nearly twice the number of infections as any other age group since mid-November, Wright said. Statistics from Nov. 21 through Dec. 19 show the group presented nearly 100 infections while those 18-24 report fewer than 40 during three of those weeks. The younger demographic counts 39% of its members as fully vaccinated, county records show.

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RALEIGH  On a recent road trip through Western North Carolina and North Georgia, I had occasion to stop at service stations, restaurants, hotels, and small businesses. Each establishment had a sign on the door conveying the same message: help needed.

Not help wanted. Help needed.

Although the worker shortage appears to be most acute in service industries, many different kinds of businesses find themselves short-staffed. Theyre struggling to serve their customers. And as demand pressures overwhelm supply, prices are soaring.

The problem began during the first few months of the COVID-19 crisis, but even gobs of (borrowed) federal money and the easing of pandemic restrictions have failed to rectify it. North Carolinas labor-force participation rate was 59.3% in November. Two years ago, in November 2019, that rate was 61.5%.

That seemingly small difference translates into approximately 70,000 North Carolinians who under normal circumstances would be either employed or actively looking for work but are instead on the sidelines. Their reasons vary. Some are young, live with their parents, and lack motivation. Some in their 50s and early 60s, lost jobs during the COVID lockdowns, despaired of finding comparable positions, and decided to retire early. Others are still too busy taking care of family members to seek employment, or too afraid of the virus to risk reentering a workplace.

In retrospect, it was a mistake to close down schools. The transmission risk was low. The economic and educational toll from closure was, alas, huge. And it was a mistake to expand and extend unemployment-insurance benefits in ways that delayed reentry into the workforce.

These effects are, however, increasingly visible only in the rear-view mirror. They cant fully explain our current predicament. Nor can wage rates. Some jobs that pay $15 an hour or more are going unfilled.

Progressives prescribe another round of massive federal spending. They argue, for example, that expanding child-care subsidies will coax workers back. That might help in some cases, but proposals such as the now-stalled Build Back Better bill could make the problem worse, since they essentially mandate an increase in child-care costs for many households (in part by excluding lower-cost church providers from participation).

It would be better for policymakers to focus first on removing the structural barriers that separate prospective workers from productive employment. For example, some folks decided during COVID to leave jobs they felt were undercompensated and unfulfilling. They want to change careers, perhaps even start their own businesses. But our states archaic regime of occupational licensing stands in their way. We should make it easier for workers to enter new careers, allowing employers and consumers to sort out the mix of education and training required rather than imposing it through regulations and licensing boards.

Similarly, some North Carolinians arent working right now because technological innovation has eliminated their jobs and created a mismatch between what they know how to do and what todays employers need done. Although community colleges, private firms, and other providers may well be in a position to retrain them quickly and inexpensively, displaced workers often arent aware of such opportunities. We need a robust effort by public and private institutions to fill that information gap.

For recent early retirees or those considering the idea, we ought to change the tax treatment of Social Security so older workers arent punished if they choose to continue to work part-time while receiving benefits.

Some policymakers think North Carolina and the rest of the country will have to get used to far-lower workforce participation. Were not going back to the same economy we had in February of 2020, said Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. The post-pandemic labor market and economy in general, and the maximum level of employment thats consistent with price stability, evolve over time.

Perhaps. But if North Carolinas participation rate has been permanently reduced by more than two percentage points, the economic consequences will be severe.

We can only hope that reducing labor-market frictions can close a good chunk of the gap.

John Hood is a John Locke Foundation board member and author.
GREENSBORO  Though still a deadly year wrought with gun violence, Greensboro saw fewer homicides in 2021 than in record-shattering 2020.

Last year on Jan. 2, police investigated the city's first homicide  the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Darrick Kelly on Shaw Street.

The latest slaying  17-year-old Gabriel Malachi Kalu, who was killed on Dec. 13 when a tobacco store employee fired a weapon at Kalu and two other robbery suspects  brought Greensboro to 53 homicides, eight fewer than the record 61 the year before.

What factored into the decrease, and how are Greensboro police planning to keep that number on a downward trajectory?

According to police spokesperson Ron Glenn, the department can't attribute the drop to one particular strategy, but "a number of things" were done in 2021 to address violent crime.

Getting guns off the street was a major focus, along with looking at violent repeat offenders and getting officers and resources to "the right parts of the city" to reduce and prevent crime, Glenn said.

He said the department has focused on connecting folks with resources like Greensboro's Behavioral Health Response Team and Homeless Response Team  two groups trained specifically to deal with people experiencing a mental health crisis or homelessness. The groups aim to foster better community relations between law enforcement and the people of Greensboro.

"There was also a renewed focus on getting into neighborhoods and working with residents," Glenn said.

Through regular community walks, patrol officers were better able to connect with the people they serve.

Still, despite the efforts and decrease in deaths, it's the second-highest homicide total in Greensboro's history, above 2019's 45, which was a record at the time.

The victims vary in gender, race and age, but are primarily young men  most in their 20s, some even in their teens. Here are three examples:

On Jan. 31, 15-year-old Dytwan Zontae Gatling of Charlotte was found shot to death on Fir Place. The next day, another juvenile was arrested in connection to Gatling's death.

In September, police investigated the death of 14-year-old Basil Haizeis Wilson, who died after being shot at East Florida Street and Randolph Avenue.

On Oct. 18, after being shot on Kildare Drive, 18-year-old Brendon Redfear died at a local hospital.

Neighboring High Point also saw violence in 2021.

Police there investigated 23 killings through Thursday  19 homicides and four incidents classified as manslaughter. It's the highest total the city has seen since 1973 when an unusual 24 homicides were documented.

In a November community meeting, High Point Police Chief Travis Stroud said a "significant juvenile crime problem" was "negatively impacting our community."

"Guns and violence  that's what it boils down to," Stroud said.

In an effort to combat the problem, the department has made it a point to get as many illegal guns off the street as possible.

According to High Point police spokesperson Patrick O'Toole, police had seized 407 guns as of Dec. 26.

The Guilford County Sheriff's Office did not respond to a request for the total number of homicides it investigated in 2021.

But the department investigated several cases, including that of Jeffrey Goldbach, 41, who was found shot on March 7 in the 7600 block of Cedar Chase Drive. Goldbach, a former Cubs minor-league player, lived in Summerfield.

Greensboro homicides

Twenty-one of Greensboro's 53 homicide cases have been closed by arrest, according to Greensboro police spokesperson Ron Glenn. Arrest information was not available on all of those cases.

Jan. 2: Darrick Kelly, 21, of Greensboro was found shot in the 200 block of Shaw Street.

Jan. 16: Shannon Jamal Carter, 30, of Greensboro died at a hospital after he was found in the 2500 block of West Gate City Boulevard.

Jan. 31: Dytwan Zontae Gatling, 15, of Charlotte was found shot to death in the 1000 block of Fir Place. The next day, a juvenile was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Feb. 4: Sanka Delayne Perry, 43, of Greensboro died after she was found shot in the 300 block of Avalon Road. Noland Lloyd Coles III, 32, of Greensboro was charged with first-degree murder in her death.

Feb. 6: Mario Andretti Dorsett, 39, of Greensboro was found shot about in the 1700 block of Brighton Street.

Feb. 7: Reginald Washington, 28 of Greensboro was one of two victims found when officers responded to a report of shots fired in the 800 block of Dana Place.

Feb. 7: Mark Smith Jr., 36, of Greensboro was one of two victims found when officers responded to a report of shots fired in the 800 block of Dana Place.

Feb. 27: Michael Ryan Bowie, 27, of Philadelphia was found with a gunshot wound by officers responding to an aggravated assault call at 3561 Hewitt St.

March 2: Dari Meadows, 24, of Greensboro was found shot in the 3800 block of Mizell Road. Timothy Franklin, 24, of Greensboro was charged with first-degree murder in his death.

March 12: Melquan Glover, 28, was one of four victims found in the 200 block of Shaw Street and 100 block of Huffman Street. They were all taken to the hospital, where Glover later died.

March 12: Bruce Wilson, 42, was found injured in the 1400 block of Rankin Road.

March 22: Keith Lamonte Shepherd, 49, of Greensboro was found stabbed in the 2500 block of Madre Place. He was attacked behind residences on Blackmoor Road and Madre Place. Thomas Jerome William Mitchell, 39, of Greensboro has been charged with first-degree murder.

April 12: Chavez Laquan Vargas, 29, of Winston-Salem was shot at a McDonald's in the 4400 block of West Wendover Ave. Three people were charged with first-degree murder: Joshua Lapree Padgett, 32, of Asheboro and Justin Jones, 21, and Nicole Angelina Newby, 27, both of Greensboro.

April 13: Aamir Sincere Gaskins, 18, of Greensboro was found shot in the 1600 block of Luray Drive. A 16-year-old was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter and possession of a handgun by a minor.

April 15: Eugenais Jimmy Pierre, 31, of High Point was found shot in the 1800 block of Merritt Drive.

April 20: Ronald Trower, 33, of Greensboro died of injuries after officers responded to a report of shots fired at Motel 6 at 6009 Landmark Center Blvd.

May 13: Robert Andre Bacote Jr., 19, of High Point was found by police responding to a report of gunfire in the 2400 block of Lake Brandt Place.

May 15: Lamar White, 19, of Greensboro was one of three people injured by gunfire in a shooting in the 1400 block of Swann Street.

May 17: Trebien Devon Womack, 27, of Greensboro was found critically shot in the 2500 block of Cherbonne Drive.

June 30: Joy Moorefield, 40, of Greensboro was reported missing in July. Her remains were found buried in Chatham County in September. Jamey Preston Johnson, 45, of Greensboro was charged with first-degree murder and concealment of death, but the status of those charges was not available on Saturday.

July 1: Patricia Grant, 72, of Greensboro was found shot at the Speedway at 2834 Battleground Ave., where she worked. Avion Carnel Bell, 19, of Greensboro was charged with first-degree murder.

July 20: Alan Tran, 19, was identified by authorities after his body was found on Lake Brandt and Witty roads. His Dodge Charger was found days earlier with heavy fire damage.

July 23: Thomas Thurman, 43, was found shot to death in the 2000 block of Twain Road. His 18-year-old son, Jalen Donte Thurman, was arrested not far from the shooting scene and charged with first-degree murder.

July 25: Keyona Deasia Walker, 21, of Greensboro was found shot in the 200 block of East Whittington Street.

Aug. 12: Darius Antonio Terry, 37, was found shot in the 2000 block of Randall Street.

Aug: 27: Travon Lamont Williamson, 21, of Greensboro and a second person were found shot inside a vehicle in the area of South Street and Randleman Road. Demario Bernard Montgomery, 29, of Kannapolis is charged with first-degree murder.

Aug. 27: Christopher Moore, 41, was killed in an officer-involved shooting outside the Greensboro Police Department at 100 Police Plaza after authorities said he set fire to a vehicle and injured an officer.

Aug. 31: Jasmon Graham, 32, of Wilmington was found suffering from a gunshot wound on Stockton Way. Marokus Juwell Ballard, 26, of Wilmington is charged with first-degree murder.

Sept. 1: Yolanda Harrell, 46, of Greensboro was found with a gunshot wound in the 1900 block of Perkins Street.

Sept. 3: Christian Mbimba, 21, of Tennessee was found dead in the 2800 block of Patterson Street. Malek Anthony Moore, 29, was arrested on Sept. 9 and charged with first-degree murder. Authorities found Moore dead in his cell Thursday from an apparent suicide at Tabor Correctional Institution.

Sept. 4: Sheryl Ward, 65, of Greensboro was found shot in the 3500 block of Drawbridge Parkway, along with a second victim, 64-year-old Kerry Bruce Ward in what police described as a murder-suicide.

Sept. 10: Melissa Vassell, 43, was found unresponsive and injured at the Relax Inn, 1747 McKnight Mill Road. Christopher James Alexander, 37, of Greensboro is charged with first-degree murder.

Sept. 11: Traveyon Hairston, 17, died after being shot in the 2000 block of Ellington Street.

Sept. 19: Keyoka Robinson, 33, died in the hospital after being shot and hit by a vehicle at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Julian Street. Police do not think being struck by a vehicle was the cause of death.

Sept. 20: Basil Haizeis Wilson, 14, was found shot at East Florida Street and Randolph Avenue.

Sept. 21: Brandon Montrial Smith, 28, of Greensboro was found in the area of Bragg and Bennett streets after officers responded to a shooting. Terrence Pierre Lawson, 29, of Greensboro is charged with first-degree murder.

Oct. 4: Djimon Antonio Lucas, 23, of High Point was shot at Extended Stay America, 4317 Big Tree Way. Preston Earl Love, 33, of Burlington is charged with first-degree murder.

Oct. 5: Jose Alberto Corea, 50, of Greensboro was found with gunshot injuries at 1600 Phillips Ave.

Oct. 7: Malike Kotay Jordan, 26, of Greensboro was found with a gunshot wound in the 700 block of Hyde Drive.

Oct. 10: Isaac Cortez Lattimore, 27, of Greensboro was found at Barber Park, suffering from a gunshot wound

Oct. 18: Brendon Redfear, 18, of Greensboro died after being shot in the 4200 block of Kildare Drive.

Oct. 23: Malik Ahmad Peterson, 20, of Guilford County died after police found him with gunshot injuries in the 3700 block of West Avenue.

Oct. 30: Delorion Smith, 19, of Whiteville and a second victim died after being shot at the intersection of Brice and Warren streets.

Oct. 30: Kwashawn Tyson, 20, of Chadbourn and a second victim died after being shot at the intersection of Brice and Warren streets.

Oct. 31: Mark Anthony Dickerson Jr., 40, of Greensboro, was found suffering from a gunshot wound on Edwards Road when officers responded to a man down call.

Nov. 12: Christian Anthony Jamal ONeal, 15, of Raleigh died after being shot in the 3800 block of Central Avenue.

Nov. 13: Avery Horlbeck, 22, died after being injured in a shooting on Clifton Road.

Nov. 19: Joseph Lopez, 29, of Greensboro died after being shot by a police officer who was responding to a "wanted person call" on Cloverdale Drive.

Nov. 20: Raymon Fernandez, 19, of Greensboro died from an assault, leading to a traumatic head injury. His father, 34-year-old Alexander Fernandez, also of Greensboro, has since been charged with second-degree murder.

Nov. 27: Lyndon Massenburg, 27, died after being found with a gunshot wound in the 1200 block of South Eugene Street.

Nov. 29: Taha Abdalla Babeker, 54, of Greensboro was found shot in the 600 block of College Road. Four people have been arrested in connection to Babeker's death. Two of them, 21-year-old Tyrik Terrell Griffin of High Point and a 17-year-old, are charged with first-degree murder.

Dec. 7: Azhaun Jamah Rivens, 26, of Greensboro died after being shot in the 900 block of Cone Boulevard.

Dec. 13: Gabriel Malachi Kalu, 17, of Greensboro was killed when a tobacco store employee fired a weapon at Kalu and two other robbery suspects at Tobacco & Vape, 3912 Battleground Ave.

High Point homicides

Eighteen of High Point's 23 homicides have been closed by arrest, according to information from High Point police spokesperson Patrick O'Toole.

Jan. 26: A 1-year-old boy died after police responded to a call for help at a Brentwood Street home. An autopsy revealed he died of blunt force trauma. Authorities arrested Taporcsha S. Franklin, 33, of High Point and charged her with first-degree murder and two counts of felony child abuse.

Feb. 4: Blanca Eugenia, 35, died after being shot on West English Road.

March 13: Jerry Dale Barnhart, 60, was found shot to death at 2020 S. Main St. Antonio Lynn Foust, 59, was charged with first-degree murder.

April 13: Johnneil Rashawn Emerson, 22, died after being shot in the torso, near West Wendover Avenue and Eastchester Drive. Justice S. McLaurin, 26, and JMarius D. Howze Jr., 23, both of High Point, are charged with first-degree murder.

April 26: Jaswinder Kumar, 50, died after being found unresponsive at a homeless camp. His death was ruled a homicide.

April 28: Deborah Maxi, 38, of High Point was found stabbed in the neck, chest and forearm on East Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. She died later that day. John Wesley Hemingway, 48, was charged with first-degree murder.

May 2: Yong Hwan Gwon, 70, died on Johnson Street as a result of a vehicle crash, in which his death was ruled a manslaughter. Raeshaun S. Smith, 32, is charged with felony hit-and-run causing serious injury/death and misdemeanor death by vehicle, among other charges.

May 25: Robert Booth, 25, died after being found shot on Ardale Drive.

June 7: Jasmine Monique Dunbar, 25, died as a result of a vehicle crash, ruled manslaughter. Ronnie Lee Ellerbe Jr., 21, of High Point is charged with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle.

June 10: Gabriella Cruz died after she was found suffering from several stab wounds in the road in the 1800 block of Blain Street. Bianca Perez, 25, of High Point was charged with second-degree murder.

June 21: Gianna Rose Delgado, 19, a High Point University student, was found dead in her boyfriend's vehicle, which was found in Tennessee. Michael Louis Cadogan, 24, of High Point was charged with concealment of death and first-degree murder.

July 3: Walter Devon Pouncy, 38, was found dead outside the Speedway at 801 W. Fairfield Road. Justin D. Williams, 39, of High Point was charged with first-degree murder. Jenitta T. Grace, 39, of High Point was charged with obstruction of justice.

July 11: A 6-year-old died of blunt-force trauma. His father, Devon J. Nelson, 30, of High Point was charged with first-degree murder and felony child abuse. Nelson's girlfriend, Tamara D. Corbett, 24, of High Point was charged with felony child abuse and accessory after the fact.

July 13: A 15-year-old died after a man fatally shot the High Point teenager when he saw people tampering with a vehicle in his driveway. Police found the teen on the ground beside a residence, with two gunshot wounds to the chest and one to the arm. Davonte Tavon Strickland, 25, of High Point is charged with first-degree murder.

July 23: Police found 23-year-old Rainey Sirianni and her husband, 22-year-old Justin L. Sirianni dead from gunshot wounds at 1613 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Investigators determined Rainey Sirianni was shot by her husband in a murder-suicide.

July 25: A 4-year-old died after finding a gun under a couch cushion and shooting himself in the head on Worth Street. His mother, 29-year-old Jasmine E. Fagan of High Point, was charged with felony child abuse in connection with his death. The homeowner, Cindy V. Gibson-Harris, 30, was charged with felony possession of cocaine and maintaining a dwelling for the use of controlled substances.

Aug. 9: A 16-year-old was shot to death after arguing with another 16-year-old on West English Street. The second juvenile was arrested.

Aug. 10: Marissa Wilkins, 21, of Jamestown died from heat exhaustion after her caretaker, Briea D. Askew, left her unattended in a vehicle without air-conditioning for five hours. Askew, 29, was charged with second-degree murder.

Aug. 21: Eleuterio Ensaldo Gallardo, 53, was found dead after being shot multiple times at 1121 Campbell St.

Sept. 22: Linda Jean Huntley, 26, of High Point was found dead in a residence in the 700 block of Gaines Avenue. Michael Anthony Dingle, 29, of High Point was charged with first-degree murder.

Nov. 7: Shawqueze Lashe Ingram, 29, was shot and killed on Wayside Street. Cornelius Woods, 29, has been charged with first-degree murder.

Dec. 21: Jacoreyian Dreshawn McLendon, 26, died after being shot on Valley Ridge Road.

Dec. 22: Thurman Alonza Pinnix, 60, died after a physical altercation with his son, 29-year-old Daniel Pinnix, who has been charged with first-degree murder.

Contact Jamie Biggs at 336-373-4476 and follow @JamieBiggsNR on Twitter.

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With the recent announcements of a new Toyota battery plant in Randolph County, a new Fujifilm Diosynth drug plant in Wake County, a large MasterBrand cabinet facility in Kinston and a big White River Marine operation in New Bern for making saltwater boats, among other projects, North Carolinas manufacturing sector appears to be thriving.

But ask around and youll soon discover that many North Carolinians have a very different perception. We used to make things here, they insist, and now were just buying everything from overseas.

Domestic consumers do, indeed, buy more products made overseas than their parents and grandparents did. Thats undeniable  and nothing to get overly worried about. No one is compelled to buy clothes, electronics or other goods imported from abroad. Folks do so in order to get the most value for every dollar they spend. Protectionist policies are always and everywhere a conspiracy against the general public, an attempt to foist limited choices and higher prices on households to benefit special-interest groups.

There are other problems with such gloom-and-doom pronouncements about manufacturing. For example, they rely on outdated definitions. What does it mean to be made overseas? Products such as smart phones may be assembled in one country out of parts made in many others. And the most-valuable components are often the intellectual property produced disproportionately in America.

Furthermore, it simply is not factual to assert that we no longer make things here. According to the latest measurements of gross domestic product, manufacturing makes up 17% of North Carolinas economy. Thats a far higher share than the national and regional averages, both 11%.

Its true that manufacturings share of GDP used to be higher. As recently as 2005, it comprised 20% of North Carolinas economy. Its also true that many fewer North Carolinians work in manufacturing than was true decades ago. Thats mostly a function of manufacturing plants becoming more automated, by the way, not the extent to which plants have migrated elsewhere.

Keep in mind that goods-producing industries inevitably shrink as a share of any developed economy where incomes are rising. Think about it in terms of a hierarchy of needs. When youre poor, youre mostly concerned about obtaining adequate food, clothing and shelter. As your income goes up, you will probably spend more on these and other necessities  buying quality, variety and perhaps even a bit of conspicuous consumption  but your spending on goods probably wont rise in proportion to your growing income.

In other words, youll begin to substitute services for goods. Instead of buying or fixing your lawn mower, youll hire a lawn company. Instead of repeatedly upgrading your wardrobe, youll eat out more, go to shows, pursue hobbies or take vacations. Instead of buying the biggest, flashiest house your credit rating would allow, youll prefer to buy more education and medical services for you and your family.

By observing that manufacturing remains a vital segment of North Carolinas economy, I dont mean to suggest everything is hunky-dory. Properly measured, average incomes have continued to rise significantly over the past two decades while poverty has continued to fall. Nevertheless, there remain many of our fellow citizens whose living conditions and prospects are poor. And as Ill discuss in a future column, tens of thousands of working-age North Carolinians are still sitting on the sidelines of the labor market, lacking either the skills or the motivation to fill the jobs available to them.

Manufacturing will never again make up a third or even a quarter of GDP. But it remains a sizable component of Americas economy, and an even larger share of North Carolinas. Fostering its vitality requires both public and private investment. Policymakers should build and maintain good roads and expand access to high-quality education and training. By far the biggest lever, however, is private spending on productive assets  plants, equipment, technology and distribution networks  which policymakers can foster by keeping tax rates low, removing regulatory barriers and otherwise staying out of the way.

John Hood is a John Locke Foundation board member and author of the novel Mountain Folk, a historical fantasy set during the American Revolution (MountainFolkBook.com).
As I walk through the entrance of our busy emergency department, I see the familiar sight of the anxious and frustrated faces of patients in the packed waiting room. We exchange quick glances at each other, and so much emotion is conveyed merely through the eyes above our masks. I sit down at my computer, get a sign-out from the outgoing colleague, and do a quick, silent prayer  please give me strength, patience, compassion and humility as I speak to and care for my patients. I know that being here is among the worst and most anxiety-provoking times for many of my patients. For some others, it is a routine visit that we treat with a shabby, cold turkey sandwich and a couple hours of observation, because there is simply nowhere else for them to go or anyone else to speak to about their loneliness.

Lately, though, its been getting harder to ignore the voice inside of me that says, Im exhausted. I feel burned out.

Last week, several of my colleagues tested positive for COVID. They were triple vaccinated, with two injections of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, as well as a booster shot that is now officially recommended by the CDC. Many U.S. states are also recording the highest single day count of new COVID-19 cases since the onset of the pandemic, while holiday parties and plane tickets are also being canceled left and right. This, just as it began to feel as if things were beginning to go back to normalcy.

As for me, I had plans to visit my family for the holiday and lunch dates with my friends, but now with the new surge of cases, I will be joining others in responding to the call of duty at work for our colleagues whove fallen ill despite having done everything they were supposed to. Truly, the past two years of uncertainty and anxiety, with intermittent periods of hope, have been exhausting for all of us, including us health care workers.

There have been numerous peer reviewed studies that show the pandemics more subtle and insidious effects on our mental health. But I also palpate so much of this angst personally as I speak to my patients, who come to the ER for a multitude of reasons. As I listen to their stories in the cold emergency department room, it becomes so evident to me that we are all very, very tired and anxious. Of course, how could we not be? Another surge? Another round of cancellations? Not again! Will it ever end?

Although we still do not know much about the nature of the omicron variant (and likely other future variants), research done by some of the brightest minds of humanity has shown us that vaccination and getting boosters can reduce the risk of ourselves and our loved ones getting serious illnesses from COVID (i.e. death) by over tenfold. And the scientific and medical community is already developing treatments that could prevent serious cases of COVID-19, with some already showing promising results. If science can bring forth effective vaccination and treatment, it is possible that in the near future, we may finally achieve the elusive state of herd immunity, much like we do for annual influenza cases.

But as we patiently wait for the scientific breakthroughs, I believe it is so important for us to give ourselves the permission to be sad, frustrated and angry. We should acknowledge that this absolutely sucks, that we are all very tired, overwhelmed and sometimes hopeless  and that all of this is OK. Surely, this acceptance will not solve our problems, particularly for those who were already struggling to make ends meet or keep up with their numerous responsibilities for their loved ones. But in these divisive, vitriolic and isolating times, I hope this acknowledgment of our feelings could at least help us see the thread that connects all of us  that we are all trying to do our best and that, after two years, we are all exhausted.

I may not be your doctor, but I know your pain. And I love you, and I will pray for you. I hope you will do the same for us.

Owen Lee-Park is an emergency medicine resident doctor at George Washington Hospital in Washington, D.C. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.
The new year ushered in a new day in Montana, with the prohibition on recreational cannabis sales left behind in 2021.

Seventeen years after medical marijuana providers and patients started blazing the path, recreational cannabis sales opened to the general public Saturday. Some dispensaries in Helena had lines of people packed inside to avoid cold temperatures, while others saw a small but steady stream of foot traffic through noon.

Heidi Morris, a budtender at The Higher Standard, said about two-thirds of Saturday's customers at her location in Helena weren't familiar with the finer points of cannabis yet. But at the Cannabis Corner, J.D. "Pepper" Petersen, the owner and one of the front men for the legalization campaign in 2020, said the large majority of customers had "done their research."

"It's about time," said Frank Harris, 57, after leaving the Treasure Tree dispensary on one of Helena's busier thoroughfares.

Harris lives in White Sulphur Springs in Meagher County, which is a "red county." The regulatory structure passed by the Legislature in 2021 banned recreational cannabis sales in the counties that voted against legalization in the 2020 election, like Meagher County.

Possession and consumption of recreational cannabis has been legal statewide for a year now, following the passage of Initiative 190 in 2020. The Governors Office of Budget and Program Planning projected $130 million in recreational sales in 2022, climbing to $195.5 million in 2023 once the moratorium on new businesses ends.

About 58% of voters approved recreational cannabis use in Montana, but a few customers Saturday said the stigma against cannabis is still prevalent.

A Helena man named Mark didn't want to give his name because of some family members who are "not too cool with it," although he hopes that fades in the coming years. He, like others who braved the frigid day, said they feel cannabis is less destructive than alcohol but remains taboo, despite a majority of Montanans voting for it. Mark was never a medical marijuana cardholder, but said he's been "toking" marijuana since the 1970s when he and his friends would get high by the Beaverhead River.

"It never should have been criminalized," he said. "If they give it to cancer patients, that tells you all you need to know."

Another customer, Jeff Radke, 39, said the stigma against weed may last a few more decades, but he's glad to see low-level marijuana crimes taken off the books. As for how Radke thinks about the next generation, he's been talking with his teenagers about cannabis the entire year leading up to recreational sales.

"Nothing makes it less attractive to your kids than you being involved," Radke said.

Brisk business

Saturday was the moment of truth for many who have made marijuana their livelihood. In Missoula, JJ Thomas, owner of The Higher Standard, said it's not been an easy venture.

"I'm thankful for everything, thankful for my health, (to) be able to do this because it's taken a toll on me and my family to build all these stores and get here, but it was a dream I had," he said. "I'm hoping to create a legacy for my family."

Petersen estimated 99% of customers through the Cannabis Corner by noon were buying recreational, as opposed to medical, product. Petersen headed up New Approach Montana, the 2020 campaign to legalize recreational cannabis in the state. He said he's excited for Montanans who have held out on registering as a medical marijuana patient because they refused to be listed in a database.

"We've all been counting down" to this, he said.

An hour after opening its doors, the parking lot at Lionheart Caregiving in Yellowstone County still overflowed with vehicles. Customers sat in their cars, bracing against temperatures that hovered just a few degrees above zero, until stepping inside the dispensary to join the line. Because most of the medical marijuana cardholders had stocked up on their monthly allotment allowed by the state in preparation for a surge Saturday, many of those in line were stepping into Lionheart for the first time.

Among those waiting to show an employee his ID was Chris Powell. Until Saturday, hed made monthly trips to Colorado, where recreational marijuana has been legal since 2012. For years, the Wyoming man has used cannabis to supplement the medications prescribed for his back. After two surgeries, he still suffers from pain and muscle cramps. Between pills or pot, he said, he absolutely prefers marijuana.

Im definitely happy its finally available here in Montana. I feel like its just like booze in that people should be able to enjoy it, so long as its in a safe and controlled way.  Im grateful for it, and its about time, he said.

Powell said the 1 ounce legally available to him will last him about a month, and hell be able to save time and money driving to Montana rather than Colorado.

Litigation lingers

Several areas of the state have seen providers take to the courts in response to local ordinances officials put in place ahead of recreational sales, rules meant to either foster new business or push it further out of view.

About half of the providers in Bozeman sued the city in late November to reinstate a 20-storefront cap that the city commission voted to lift within city limits. Yellowstone Public Radio reported on Thursday a district court judge sided with the city, which can begin accepting new license applications in one of fastest-growing places in the state.

In October, Yellowstone County began developing restrictions on marijuana sales and production in certain areas in the county, effectively barring nearly a dozen providers from selling recreational cannabis Saturday. The Green Bee and its owner, Neil Kiner, sued the county planning division and the Yellowstone County Commission. Kiner argued he had hired additional staff, expanded his hours of operation and invested in new equipment at a cost of nearly $100,000 that would all be squandered if the new restrictions went into place.

On Thursday, Judge Greg Todd signed an order temporarily allowing The Green Bee to be open to the public for recreational sales "without threat" of violating the county's restrictions and setting a hearing on the case for Jan. 20.

"Business has been wonderful today," Kiner said Saturday. "A lot of our business has been rec customers so it's just really, really great not to have to turn them away."

A few providers did not open Saturday as a measure to mete out product, wary that inventories won't last the wave of new customers. The only providers allowed to sell recreational cannabis are those that were medical marijuana providers on or before Nov. 3, 2020. That means in order to protect medical patients' access to cannabis, providers are telling patients to stock up while raising their prices on recreational sales.

Lacee Monique, owner of Kannatonic Dispensary in Butte, said Saturday afternoon that recreational business has been steady, not too crazy all day.

This is totally a test run day, she said. I had no idea what to expect  how many people, how many buying cannabis as opposed to edibles.

Monique said it felt totally surreal to be able to sell to people without medical cards.

Monique has been in the medical marijuana business for 12 years, and shes vertically integrated. We grow in Whitehall, she said. Were seed-to-sale.

She said the new business is great, and shes happy recreational pot is legal, but my medical customers are always going to get taken care of first. She said if shes ever in a situation where her inventory is down, I might not sell any recreational that day because I want to make sure I have product for my medical customers.

In the first four hours of the day, Monique said, weve had 28 recreational customers, but not as many medical as usual. A lot of them probably decided to stay away today because they didnt want to be in the big crush.

Corey Baker, a medical customer, took the opposite approach. I was curious to see how it was going, so I came down, he said. Baker has been a customer as long as Kannatonic has been open. He has chronic arthritis and has had multiple ankle surgeries.

It means I dont have to be on opioids, he said. Those dont always work, and theyre dangerous. But the cannabis always works. Ive never had a time since I got my card 12 years ago when it didnt help.

A former surgical tech, Monique said she got into the business because she understood the value of helping people with medical needs.

My mom didnt speak to me for four years, she said. My parents were so worried about me. But now, theyre totally supportive. They see its a good legal business that helps people. I give my mom salve for her knee and my grandma gets cookies to help her sleep. .. Even now to me its more about the medicinal value. Im not here to just get you fed up.

Unless, of course, thats what you want.

At Starrbuds in Missoula, co-owner Jill Broughton said marijuana flower, concentrates and pre-rolled joints were selling quickly, while many customers had questions about other products. A lot of customers were surprised to find cannabis is a cash-only business.

Oh yeah, people are like, Whoa, is this real? and, like, some people were wanting this to happen 40 years ago. So its been a long time coming.

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As your former secretary of state, I enthusiastically support Dr. Al Olszewski for Congress because he is the only candidate who clearly understands the importance of preserving the integrity of, and confidence in, our elections process.

Starting at the border, Democrats are working hard to destroy our nation. Erasing our border, handing out welfare benefits to illegal immigrants who violate our laws, and allowing the flow of drugs and violent offenders into the United States is only the beginning.

Now, Democrats want to make illegal immigrants eligible to vote and remove important protections for our most sacred right.

As a state senator, Dr. Al worked to pass a ban on ballot harvesting. At the federal level, he knows we must do much more. In Congress, he will continue my fight to protect the integrity of our elections  something over 1 million service members have died defending.

While the federal government has a limited role, ultimately control of our elections does not belong in the hands of politicians in the D.C. swamp  it belongs with the states. As your congressman, Dr. Al will fight to preserve each states right to require a valid, government-issued photo ID to vote, verify signatures for absentee and mail-in ballots, and continue to ban illegal immigrants and non-citizens from voting.

These are all constitutional safeguards which ensure free, fair, and accessible elections. A vast majority of Americans, including legal immigrants, believe it should be easy to vote, but hard to cheat.

Only by enacting these commonsense measures are we going to restore confidence in the outcome of our elections.

Brad Johnson (R) is vice chair of Montana's Public Service Commission.

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DECATUR  Sworn affidavits show that two women were arrested after unrelated outbursts of violence in the emergency room of HSHS St. Marys Hospital in Decatur.

In the latest incident, dating from the evening of Dec. 19, a 22-year-old woman is accused of attacking a hospital security guard when he confronted her about sleeping in the emergency room lobby.

The affidavit said the 64-year-old guard had approached the woman after being told by a nurse that the woman had slept in the ER lobby the previous evening and and looked as though she was preparing to sleep in the ER lobby again.

Police Officer Charles Lane, who signed the affidavit, said he watched a security video which showed what happened next: In the footage I observed (the woman) pick up a chair and strike a vending machine, explained Lane.

She then immediately turns and throws the chair (at the guard), who appeared to have turned his head away from her. The chair strikes him on the front/left side of his body. (The guard) then picks up the chair and holds it in front of himself to defend himself from (the woman) who is observed picking up a second chair. She tries to hit him with the second chair, however he is able to block the blow with the chair he is holding.

The battle is described as continuing before a second 63-year-old security officer arrives to help the first one. The woman is described as then hurling a chair at both security officers, which they parry with a chair they are holding, before the woman ceases her attacks. The 64-year-old guard tells police he is suffering from pain in his side after the assault.

The woman was arrested and booked on a preliminary charge of aggravated battery to a victim aged over 60; a check of Macon County Jail records Sunday showed she remained in custody with bail set at $10,000, meaning she must post a bond of $1,000 to be freed.

The second incidence of violence is listed by police as happening the night of Dec. 12. This time a 22-year-old female patient is described in a second police affidavit as punching and injuring a female emergency room nurse.

A male charge nurse then intervenes to try and control the patient who, police say, grabbed him by the neck and spat on him before biting his left hand.

During a Mirandized interview with (the patient) she admitted to coming down from cocaine base crack and being unsure of why she did what she did, the affidavit said. Police said the woman told them she has a pending aggravated battery charge involving a nurse victim out of St. Clair County in Illinois.

She was booked on two new preliminary charges of aggravated battery to nurses, and the woman, who lists an address in Champaign, was freed on a recognizance bond Dec. 16.

All preliminary charges are subject to review by the state's attorneys office.

Contact Tony Reid at (217) 421-7977. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyJReid

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CHICAGO - A small march on the South Side Friday aimed to draw attention to the growing number of Chicago children who have been shot amid a pandemic surge in gun violence.

About 30 people participated in the No Kids Die in the Chi march that ran along 79th Street for about a mile from the Dan Ryan Expressway to Cottage Grove Avenue in the Chatham neighborhood. The demonstration was organized by several community organizations, including Violence Interrupters, House of Hope Foundation and Hug a Child Make a Change.

The group of peaceful demonstrators chanted Let them live! as children, community organizers and U.S. Rep. Danny Davis marched as passing cars honked in support.

Its easy to get behind no more guns,  said Shawn Childs, an event organizer. Were here to tell children they do have a future.

Through Dec. 26, 415 children ages 17 and under had been shot in Chicago this year, a more than 50% increase since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Chicago Police Department statistics.

The city was approaching 800 homicides for the year, the most in decades. Through Dec. 25, 793 people had been killed, 106 of them 19 years old or younger.

The majority of those younger residents were Black and male. For the most part, they died on the West and South sides.

In Chatham alone, four people 19 years old or younger have died this year.

Holding neon signs that read, Let me be 12, Wait, we were just walking, and Let us graduate, the marchers drew stares and cellphones recorded from curious passersby. Others came out of nail and hair salons, to wave, nod or just watch.

Children learn what they live, Davis said in a news conference before the march, saying stricter gun regulations could stem the flow of illegal guns.

Tio Hardiman, a longtime anti-violence advocate, said the organizers wanted to draw particular attention to the Chatham and Grand Crossing neighborhoods because of the uptick in shootings the neighborhoods have experienced during the pandemic.

There have been a lot of shootings and homicides in these areas, said Hardiman, founder and executive director of Violence Interrupters. We are raising our voices right before the new year to get the message out that there can be no more killing of kids in Chicago.

Vladimir Thompson, with the House of Hope, was among those chanting for peace and calling for an end to children dying in crossfire.

I challenge all adults right now. Step up and save your block. Thompson said. Save your next-door neighbor.

Jose Martinez said he participated in the march to stand behind the call to action for better role models in the community.

Weve got 10, 11-year-olds carjacking, said Martinez, who lives in Humboldt Park and said he lost a 17-year-old son to gang violence more than two decades ago.

In the latest bid to stem the citys surging crime, Chicago police Superintendent David Brown told reporters Thursday he plans to increase the number of homicide and violent crime detectives, bringing their too high caseload of about 5.5 each down to three cases per detective.

Nationwide, gun violence has led to an increasing number of child deaths, with experts pointing to the effects of the pandemic, easy access to guns and disputes ending too often with gunfire.

In 2019, the U.S. had 991 gun violence deaths among people ages 17 or younger, according to the website Gun Violence Archive, which tracks shootings from more than 7,500 law enforcement, media, government and commercial sources.

As of Friday morning, the number of children killed in 2021 stood at 1,523 with more than 4,000 people age 17 or younger injured in incidents of gun violence.

In Chicago, 415 children ages 17 and under have been shot in Chicago this year through Dec. 26, up from 367 in 2020, according to statistics kept by the Police Department, which does not include shootings on the citys interstates. So far this year, 55 people ages 17 and under have been killed, according to CPD, the same number as in 2020.

In 2019, the number of children ages 17 and under shot was 272 and the number killed was 38, as of late December that year.

At one point, Fridays march paused for a moment of silence for the scores of children shot and killed in the city this year.

Theres too much death, said Shalanda McCray said, whose sister led the crowd to bow their heads. Too many kids.

Chicago Tribunes Jeremy Gorner and Bill Ruthhart contributed.

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DECATUR  Central Illinois saw its first snow and ice storm of the winter on Saturday, but Decatur and Mattoon were mostly spared from the worst impacts.

IDOTs winter conditions map showed area roads were partially or mostly covered in snow and ice by mid-afternoon Saturday, with most highways north and west of Interstate 55 fully covered.

"Lincoln and south along I-55 will probably stay mostly rain, but as you get into McLean County, that's when the wintry precip starts angling over towards the east and including the Bloomington-Normal areas, said Ed Shimon, meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Lincoln office on Saturday morning.

The National Weather Service predicted daytime accumulations of up to 3 inches of snow in Bloomington, with another 1 to 2 inches possible overnight.

As of Saturday afternoon, the highest snowfall totals were west of the Illinois River, with 5 inches reported in Knox County, 4 inches in Princeville and 3.9 inches in Dunlap.

But farther south and east, essentially along a line from Springfield to Decatur to Champaign, precipitation during the day came in the form of rain. The changeover to snow was not expected until later Saturday evening.

Still, Decatur was expected to see its first measurable snow of the year.

"It'll probably just be kind of like a coating, a dusting so to speak, a couple of tenths of an inch. Decatur will probably see that," said Ed Shimon, meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Lincoln office. "Mattoon will be more of a glancing blow as the rain changes to snow this evening."

The rest of the weekend and the early week are expected to be clearer but chillier. The forecasted low in Decatur Sunday night is 6 degrees. The wind chill is expected to be between minus 5 and 0 degrees.

Low temps will be falling towards the teens, but wind chills will be below zero real close to Decatur, and Bloomington probably will see wind chills below zero by Sunday morning," Shimon said.

Looking toward Sunday and Monday, IDOT is warning of freezing on roads, especially in areas west of I-55 on Sunday and north of Interstate 72 on Monday.

For those who are traveling, IDOT suggests driving at a slower speed, keeping the gas tank full, having emergency supplies in the vehicle, including a cellphone, and making sure someone knows the route the driver is taking. IDOT plans to have its plows out and asks drivers use extra caution and patience when driving near the plows.

"We haven't had a lot of wintry weather yet this year and it kind of catches you off guard once you get into it, Shimon said. You think the road's just wet when it's really icy, so you just got to keep that in mind and slow down and don't speed through wintry weather."

Elsewhere in the Midwest, the NWS forecast snow amounts up to 7 inches in west Michigan and 3 to 6 inches in northern Indiana. Chicago and surrounding suburbs were caught between a winter storm coming in from the southwest and a northeasterly wind coming off of Lake Michigan  a combination that could create as much as an inch of lake effect snow every hour.

Winter has finally arrived, weather service meteorologist Brett Borchardt told the Chicago Tribune. We knew it was going to happen at some point.

Brenden Moore and The Associated Press contributed reporting.

Contact Connor Wood at (309)820-3240. Follow Connor on Twitter: @connorkwood

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For the second consecutive year, the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmingly ranks as the areas top local news story of the year, engulfing the region and impacting virtually every aspect of life for Mountain Empire residents.

To adequately document the pandemic, while at the same time not glossing over other major news stories of 2021, this years top 10 stories have taken on a new look. Rather than sprinkle COVID stories throughout the top 10, we present the regions top COVID-19 stories grouped together at No. 1 and will divide coverage of other top stories in Sunday and Mondays editions.

COVID-19 rages in the Mountain Empire

COVID-19 remained deeply entrenched in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia throughout 2021. Over the past 12 months, the region has reported nearly 114,000 new cases  afflicting more than 12% of the regions total population. The new cases figure represents a 77% increase over 2020 totals. The coronavirus and the health issues it creates accounted for 2,380 deaths in 2021, a 115% increase over last year.

When the year began, Ballad Health was treating more than 300 COVID patients per day in its hospitals. Sadly, in the final week of the year, the regional hospital system is averaging about 245 patients per day with about 70 requiring treatment in an ICU.

This year Ballad Health System treated more than 7,300 unique COVID positive patients in its hospitals, with about 25% of them requiring ICU care. About 5,000 additional patients were taken care of through its Safer at Home telehealth monitoring program, rather than admit them to the hospitals.

For comparison 7,300 people is about 600 less than the entire population of the town of Abingdon or a figure that would nearly fill the grandstands of Greene Stadium at East Tennessee State University.

The year began with the continuation of a deadly surge that began before Thanksgiving and didnt diminish until February, claiming hundreds of lives, including state Sen. Ben Chafin, R-Lebanon, who died on New Years Day.

A modest surge sparked by the UK variant hit the region in the spring, but it proved mild compared to the delta variant which arrived in July, sparking widespread hospitalizations, including thousands of pediatric cases. Health officials say the delta variant continued causing high numbers of hospitalizations and deaths as the year wound down.

Ballad Health set a single-day record with 413 hospital inpatients on Sept. 8, including 100 in intensive care units and 280 more treated through its Safer at Home program. Since that peak, the number of hospitalized cases slowly fluctuated to as low as 145 in October before climbing again in November and has remained well over 200 per day throughout December.

1b. Majority of region remains unvaccinated

Vaccines were rushed into service at the end of 2020, but one year later this region has among the nations lowest uptake rates.

After seeing long lines and hours-long waits at early vaccination clinics at Bristol Dragway and other regional sites, vaccine interest waned to a trickle over the summer and fall, despite aggressive promotion by public health and other officials concerned the lack of vaccine response could set the region up for additional heartbreak.

At years end, about 48% of the regions residents are fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus  a figure that has only increased about four percentage points over the final three months of 2021.

While the vaccine wont keep patients from contracting the virus, health officials say it will lessen the severity of symptoms and, in most cases, help keep people out of hospitals.

That is borne out in information provided weekly by Ballad Health. Since July, about 90% of all patients treated for COVID in Ballad hospitals and between 90% and 100% of patients in intensive care are unvaccinated.

1c. Outbreaks impact August return to schools

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee declined to institute mask mandates and other mitigation strategies for students returning to classrooms in August  saying it was up to parents to make those decisions. That despite doctors warning the delta variant was much more transmissible among children than previous versions of the virus.

By late August many Northeast Tennessee school systems were awash in COVID cases and quarantines, forcing some schools or entire systems to temporarily close. Many school systems instituted masking requirements for weeks afterward to help quell the outbreaks.

Correspondingly, that time saw the largest number of pediatric cases being treated at Niswonger Childrens Hospital.

Cases were comparatively lower among Southwest Virginia schools, many of whom relied on the same mitigation strategies  masking, daily temperature checks, social distancing  that allowed them to offer in-person learning during the 2020-21 school year while many other areas offered only virtual classes.

1d. Major events return with crowds

Major outdoor events, including the fall NASCAR races at Bristol Motor Speedway and Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion  held on consecutive September weekends  were allowed full capacity but public response was mixed. Crowds at BMS were substantial, after attendance restrictions were imposed during summer and fall of 2020 and during the historic spring 2021 dirt races. Both the Friday and Saturday September night races paid off with rousing finishes.

After a one-year absence, NHRAs Thunder Valley Nationals returned to Bristol Dragway in October with substantial crowds during the event.

Rhythm & Roots, which was canceled in 2020, attracted large crowds but attendance remained below the levels of recent years. A handful of artists canceled because the festival wouldnt require attendees to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID test. But organizers said that wasnt possible because most of the music occurs outside, on public streets in two states.

1e. Health care workers await review of mandate

A federal mandate that health care workers be vaccinated against COVID-19 is currently on hold awaiting a January review by the U.S. Supreme Court. Officials of Ballad Health System worry the mandate could compound current nursing and staffing shortages and wait times because about a third of Ballads workforce wasnt vaccinated as of mid-November.

Two lower court rulings included a temporary injunction of the mandate from the federal Office of Medicare and Medicaid Services  issued in early November  that would require all health care employees be vaccinated by January or risk losing funding from federal health insurance. Lawsuits filed in Louisiana and Missouri claim the agency overstepped its authority. Ballad is currently seeking legal counsel. A number of larger U.S. health care organizations and hospital systems have already imposed similar requirements.

2. Consternation over Bristol Virginias landfill

Bristol Virginias quarry landfill became a hot button topic near the end of 2020 following widespread odor complaints. It remains on the front burner as the new year dawns. Residents on both sides of town continue dealing with oppressively foul odors and health concern questions.

At the behest of its consultants, the City Council approved spending $2.8 million for a series of projects to try and address the odors, escaping gases, benzene emissions in wastewater and to address notices of violation by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and BVU Authority. Additional work is expected to continue throughout 2022 and likely beyond.

The city recently approved funding a review by another engineering firm to see if the steps taken thus far are the proper ones.

The EPA has twice come to Bristol to measure air quality  with no significant findings in the first study and still awaiting the report from its October visit.

Last fall the Bristol Tennessee City Council retained legal counsel signaled it may file suit over the issue. The city filed an intent to sue in December giving the city of Bristol, Virginia 60 days to respond.

Frustrated residents have taken their concerns to elected leaders at the regional, state and federal levels in search of help while efforts on multiple fronts are providing air purifiers to many residents dealing with the landfill emissions.

3. Brutal year for law enforcement in Wise

Law enforcement personnel in Wise County were thrice the victims of violence in 2021, including the November shooting death of Big Stone Gap Police Officer Michael Chandler.

Chandler, 29, died at a Johnson City hospital, hours after being shot while responding to a welfare check request at a vacant house.

Hundreds attended his funeral services including Lt. Gov.-elect Winsome Sears and Attorney General-elect Jason Miyares, area lawmakers and law enforcement personnel from Tennessee, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio and all over Virginia.

Michael Donivin White, 33, was arrested at a Kingsport motel the night of the shooting and later charged with aggravated murder, felony murder and other charges.

In May, Norton Police Chief James Lane survived life-threatening injuries after he was shot twice near the Norton Walmart while responding to a 911 call about a shoplifter. Lane spent about a week in the hospital. James Buckland, 36, was charged with attempted murder of Lane and assault on another officer.

In July, Wise County Sheriffs Deputy Rob Robinson required hospitalization after being stabbed multiple times while attempting to arrest a juvenile suspect. Robinson was able to shoot and kill the 16-year-old assailant.

4. Bristol Virginia to close city jail

In October, a divided Bristol Virginia City Council voted 3-2 to join the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail Authority, a move designed to ultimately shutter the citys overcrowded 52-year-old jail and shift all its prisoners to the regional systems facilities.

In recent years the city has spent $1 million or more dollars annually to house excess prisoners in jails all over Virginia because it lacks the financial ability to expand or build a new jail.

The council voted in March to negotiate with the jail authority, which operates four jails serving most of Southwest Virginia. That request was made during the summer and, in September, both sides came to terms on how Bristol could join.

Little public opposition surfaced until after that announcement with petitions opposing the closure presented to council after it had already voted to join the authority. The closure would likely mean the loss of about 50 local jobs but the authority has agreed to interview  with plans to hire  all certified city personnel who apply.

The Virginia Resources Authority approved Bristols request in December. If approved by all of the member localities, the transition could begin in late winter or early spring, city officials said.

5. Floodwaters devastate Hurley

Heavy afternoon rains on Aug. 30 caused widespread flooding, landslides, extensive property damage and claimed one life in Hurley Virginia.

Several inches of rain fell during a short time that afternoon while students were in schools. County officials speculated if the incident occurred at night casualties would have been much higher.

Many roads were closed and more than 20 homes were destroyed while some were without electricity for weeks.

Personnel from the Bristol Virginia Fire Departments swiftwater rescue team along with others from Roanoke, Bedford and Lynchburg were dispatched to the area to assist with search and rescue operations.

Gov. Ralph Northam declared the area a disaster area and the National Guard was among the agencies sent into the remote corner of Buchanan County to deliver supplies and assist residents.

However the Federal Emergency Management Agency rejected a Northam request for individual assistance for those impacted by the event.

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HAMPTON, Tenn.  There was no chance of anyone actually suffering frostbite this year at the 2022 Frostbite Race as unseasonably warm temperatures and gusty winds turned Saturdays annual New Years Day event on Watauga Lake from a unique way to begin the year into one of the best sailboat races spectators had seen in quite some time.

The Watauga Lake Sailing Club (WLSC) welcomed the start of the New Year as they do every year with the 22nd annual Frostbite Race.

Twelve sailboats crewed by the members of the WLSC, their friends and family, set off from the Lakeshore Marina in Hampton, Tennessee, to compete against one another in a race that has occurred in some unpleasant weather conditions in the past making Saturdays event that much more pleasant.

Billy Becker, 60, who has competed in the Frostbite Race 15 times, was in high spirits as he spoke about what he expected the most significant challenge would be during the race and the friendly nature of the competition.

With the really nice weather today, its going to be challenging for the skippers because of the high gusts of wind, Becker said. Some of us are very competitive, and I am one of them  with us going five to 10 miles an hour, it takes a little while getting past someone, and sometimes you make comments to them about their sailing ability or something like that, but its all in good fun.

During the race, the weather on the lake was unseasonably warm with temperatures in the low 70s. Winds were gusting up to 25 knots, or 28 mph. This allowed the sailboats to reach faster speeds as they made their way through a course designated by a series of markers around the lake that led them around Clifford Island, near the center of the lake, and then back toward a red buoy that served as the finish line.

During the race, various sailboats and their crews faced unforeseen obstacles from near collisions to torn sails. For Ed Lockett, who served as the safety director for this years race, and has been a member of the WLSC since the 1980s, the 2022 Frostbite race was the best race he has witnessed in a while.

It was better than last year, we had rain and for the first time didnt have the race on the first, Lockett said. This was the most exciting race we have had in years.

Throughout the race, members of the sailing club that were not competing had their eyes on Skipp Greene as the favorite to win the race. However, they were all pleasantly surprised when Bill Murdoch, his family, and The Canary (his sailboat) reached the buoy first. Murdoch, who had not competed in the race in two years because of COVID-19, wasted no time claiming his prize, bragging rights.

Keep looking at the back of my boat. Its got a picture of a Canary on it! Murdoch exclaimed.

The members of the WLSC finished the day by celebrating the start of 2022 with a potluck meal.

Ed Lockett encouraged people who are interested in sailing to come and join them.

We would like to invite people who are interested in sailing to come up on the weekends to the dock, just walk up to a captain of a boat and ask to join their crew, Lockett said.
And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. (Matthew 2:11-12)

Weve all heard the story so much that a few of us could probably quote the verses. So why talk about the wise men when Christmas has come and gone?

Even though their visit with the Christ Child is traditionally taught as a part of the Christmas Story, Bible scholars believe that these men from the East may not have seen Jesus until as late as two years after His birth. In other words, their visit doesnt have to be associated just with Christmas. In addition, while we often concentrate on the gifts these men brought to honor Jesus, we often overlook what else we can learn from their visitlessons that we can take with us into 2022.

Its true that each of the gifts the wise men brought to Jesus symbolized something special about his birth. Gold symbolized the fact that he was (and still is) the King of Kings. The gift of frankincense, a type of incense often burned at altars, emphasized his deity. Myrrh, which was often used in embalming, pointed to his death of the Cross.

The importance of and meaning behind these gifts cannot be ignored. But the account of the wise mens visit brought other important scriptural principles that can serve us every day of the year. For example, notice in the story that the wise men came looking for God. Interesting, isnt it? Most of us today rarely go looking for God. Instead, many of us sit around and wait for God to find us.

Most Christians think there were three wise men. However, the Bible doesnt tell us exactly how many there were. We probably draw that conclusion since they presented Jesus with three gifts. Did you notice that they were also nameless? Rather than seek credit for traveling from afar and honoring the child who would one day call himself the Son of God, these men apparently chose to remain anonymous. Sort of sounds like something I once read that Jesus said: Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. (Matthew 6:2)

Finally, the Bible tells us that these men departed into their own country another way. If you read the story again, its easy to see why. They were supposed to let Herod know where he could find Jesus. They knew what Herod wanted and they knew that their failure to honor his request would mean death for them.

But Id like to also think that their lives, just like our lives, were changed after they met Jesus. The truth is we all go back another way after weve found the life-changing, life-saving power of Jesus Christ!

They brought gifts with them to honor the birth of the greatest man who ever lived, and the only God who still does. Who could blame them for going back another way!
While 2021 was a boom time for legal marijuana sales in Illinois, it was another wasted year for minority entrepreneurs trying to break into the business, and a mixed experience for customers.

Recreational cannabis retail sales continued to climb steadily this year, to more than $1.2 billion, roughly an 85% increase from 2020 through November of this year alone. The medical cannabis program reached 136,000 active patients, who spent another $362 million. The sales generated more than $300 million in tax revenue in fiscal year 2021  more than from alcohol.

But after new applicants waited through more than a year of delays for business licenses, judges prevented them from opening dispensaries while litigation dragged on, with no solution in sight.

The year saw many new twists in the cannabis field. Sales took off for hemp-derived Delta-8 THC, called weed light, despite existing in a legal gray area. Huge multistate companies gobbled up independent dispensaries and expanded dramatically. In one constant, prices of marijuana in Illinois remained among the highest in the nation.

While cannabis remains illegal under federal law, proposals to decriminalize it or let banks finance it have been slowly gaining some support among lawmakers. The year also ushered in a vast array of new products and consumer trends. Here are a few reasons why 2021 was a great year for big cannabis operators in Illinois, but frustrating for newcomers.

Consolidation

Several cannabis companies founded and headquartered in Chicago have become among the largest operators in the nation, while out-of-state operators have come into Illinois, by opening new facilities or buying up competitors. Cresco Labs and Curaleaf each have grown to the maximum 10 retail sites in Illinois; PharmaCann has eight; Ascend Wellness, seven; Green Thumb Industries lists nine stores on its website; nuEra has six, and Zen Leaf operates 10.

Together, that means seven companies control 60 of the 110 weed stores in the state.

The number of growers is even more limited. A mere 18 companies are allowed to grow cannabis  compared with hundreds of companies that do so in Western states like Oregon or California, where they have the opposite problem of oversupply to the illegal market.

Licensed growers in Illinois say they support new entrants to the market by helping with the complicated application process, by paying hundreds of thousands of dollars each in state fees to help fund startups and for seed projects to help them get started. PharmaCann promised $600,000 to help fund scholarships and build Oakton Community Colleges new cannabis cultivation laboratory. Cresco Labs created its new Illinois Cannabis Education Center in Chicago, which offers a mock dispensary and training facility for aspiring workers and owners.

By state law, there was supposed to be a slew of new businesses licensed last year, with favoritism toward poor, largely minority areas with high rates of cannabis arrests. But after a series of delays, applicants complained that consultant KPMG had scored applications unfairly, resulting in wealthy, white, politically connected winners.

To address the complaints and associated lawsuits, state lawmakers authorized 185 new dispensary licenses. But Cook County Judge Moshe Jacobius ordered that those licenses not be awarded while he wades through lawsuits challenging the process.

The state did award 40 new craft grower licenses plus infuser and transporter licenses, but Cook County Judge Neil Cohen forbade the issuance of up to 60 new craft grower licenses due this year, while the courts try to resolve litigation from applicants who were disqualified.

None of this slowed down the existing market. Companies that had been granted licenses to open medical marijuana dispensaries since 2015 were allowed to also sell recreational weed, and to expand to second locations. Because of its artificially constrained market, Illinois still has among the highest-priced weed in the country.

Wholesale flower prices reached nearly $4,000 per pound, analyst Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. estimated  three times the U.S. average pegged by price tracking company Cannabis Benchmarks. With customers paying $19 per gram for retail flower, Cantor Fitzgerald estimated average annual sales per store at nearly $17 million.

Moldy weed worries

A big part of the demand  $1 out of every $3 spent  is from out of state, since Illinois is surrounded by states that dont allow recreational sales. Michigan does have adult use sales, but was hit by a large public recall of cannabis that had high levels of mold or other contaminants, with stores required to post notices alerting customers for a month after sales.

Illinois, in contrast, issued a recall and quarantine this year, but kept it quiet. In May, the state Department of Financial and Professional Regulation sent dispensaries notice of a voluntary recall of Veranos Mag Landrace flower due to possible mold contamination. The department investigated the issue, but said it is prohibited by the state cannabis law from disclosing the results.

In addition, a former production supervisor for PharmaCann, William Sanford, filed suit claiming that he was fired for repeatedly reporting moldy cannabis for removal after it had passed lab tests. The tests only sample a small part of each crop, so mold may grow undetected and may sicken those who eat it or inhale its spores. Sanford said he was told to stop reporting mold, but continued to do so, and was terminated in July.

PharmaCann acknowledged that mold is a factor with any agricultural product, but is tightly controlled. By state law, all legal cannabis products must undergo lab tests to pass strict state limits on mold, pesticides, metals and other contaminants. If they fail, they may be treated with solvents for use in edibles, vapes and other products, but must be tested again to meet safety requirements. Options for sterilizing cannabis include irradiation or ozone gas, as used in the food industry.

Microdosing

Customers may have noticed a dizzying variety of new products this year. One growing trend was in the area of low-dose edibles, for consumers to better control their experience. Rather than the 10 milligrams of THC, the main component that gets users high, which was previously suggested as a serving size, mints and gummies now often contain 5 or 3 mg, often with matching cannabidiol, or CBD, for users who want to relax without getting too high or paranoid.

One study by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Chicago found that low levels of THC reduced stress, while slightly higher doses that produced a mild high actually increased anxiety.

And a survey by BDS Analytics Report found that 43% of edibles customers prefer low-dose products, and half of customers chose products based on the amount of CBD, which is thought to have a moderating effect on THC.

Beverages are also growing in popularity, offering moderate doses of THC and the quick onset of effects without the smoke. For hardcore users, there are still plenty of high-powered flower, vapes and concentrates approaching 90% THC.

For those who dont like the high prices and taxes of licensed weed, this year saw the rise of Delta-8 THC. Its typically said to be derived from hemp, and provides similar, if milder, effects as the traditional Delta-9 THC found in pot. Its often sold in gas stations or vape shops. A proposal to outlaw such knockoff cannabinoids did not pass in Springfield this year, but may be reconsidered in the spring session.

Cannabis suppliers continue to compete for customers through word-of-mouth and the occasional competition. Most recently, the High Times Cannabis Cup named its winners for 2021, as judged by public participants.

Wait till next year

Looking ahead to 2022, state Rep. La Shawn Ford, a Chicago Democrat, has proposed legislation to expand the new craft growers licenses from 5,000 square feet to 14,000 square feet or more. That would still be a far cry from the 210,000 square feet of canopy that existing growers are allowed, but would help business owners get more financing based on their ability to produce more revenue.

Also, in light of the courts de facto lockout of new minority owners, a group called Ex-Cons for Community & Social Change held protests this year, calling for consumers to support their local weed man, or illegal dealers.

Found Tyrone Muhammad of Englewood, who served 21 years in prison for murder and now says hes trying to rebuild his community, called for creation of a peddlers license, so people without the money to open a bricks-and-mortar facility can take part in the cannabis industry. He believes licensing would reduce the violence that accompanies illegal drug dealing.

Muhammad is also pushing to change state law to drop the ban on former felons working in the field. As it stands, only those with low-level convictions can get expungements and get licensed.

Its still a farce, he said. In any other industry, as an ex-con, I can work. But I cant work in the cannabis space.

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Illinois lawmakers just closed the book on a remarkably active year of legislating. Nearly 700 bills were signed into law, including heavy lift items like criminal justice reform and landmark climate legislation.

So what does this year hold in state government and politics?

No one can predict the future. But if whats past is prologue, Illinoisans can expect less policymaking and more politicking in 2022, a year where every state legislator, members of Congress and major figures like Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Sen. Tammy Duckworth will face voters.

With that, here are 10 topics to watch in Illinois government and politics in 2022:

Battle of billionaires?

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is running for reelection. And though he, with the help of supermajority Democrats in the General Assembly, has largely steamrolled Republican legislative opposition over the past three years, major GOP players say the party will put up a major fight in 2022.

GOP sources say Griffin could spend between $200 million and $300 million on the effort. Forces behind the effort are likely to roll out a slate of candidates in the coming weeks.

Pritzker, who spent $172 million in his successful 2018 campaign against Gov. Bruce Rauner, has essentially unlimited resources. He will also likely have support from rank-and-file Democrats for delivering on key priorities like increasing the minimum wage, legalizing recreational marijuana and supporting major climate legislation.

However, Republicans believe a favorable national climate mixed with exhaustion over lifestyle changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns over a rise in violent crime in cities across the state and an unemployment rate higher than the country as a whole will put Illinois in play  if the GOP can find and finance the right candidate.

At the very least, Republicans think a statewide slate that can keep the race close can help their legislative candidates win in the moderate Chicago suburbs and perhaps challenge Democratic supermajorities in the legislature.

No electoral outcome is certain. But, assuming Griffin follows through, it is a solid bet that the 2022 governors race will be the most expensive race in state history, easily exceeding the 2018 race. So get ready for lots of television advertisements.

Who replaces Jesse White?

Four Democrats have declared their candidacies for the office: former state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias; Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia; Chicago Ald. Pat Dowell and Chicago Ald. David Moore. State Rep. Dan Brady, a Bloomington Republican, has also announced a bid.

Whites lengthy tenure was unprecedented. Historically, the office has been a stepping stone position for candidates seeking higher office, with two former officeholders, Republicans Jim Edgar and George Ryan, going on to become governor. Another, Democrat Alan Dixon, went on to serve two terms in the U.S. Senate.

It is the most prominent statewide office outside the governors office, controlling more than 4,000 jobs and touching the lives of nearly every Illinois resident by issuing drivers licenses and registering motor vehicles.

In short, it is a great position for an ambitious politician to hold.

Giannoulias, who served one term as state treasurer before an unsuccessful run for U.S. Senate in 2010, has emerged as the clear frontrunner, lining up support from major labor unions and elected officials while raising nearly $3.5 million.

But, in a good Republican year, the party sees an opportunity to win the open seat.

Congressional primaries

Springfield Democrats approved and Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a new congressional map into law last fall. Some of the consequences of the decisions made will play out in the first half of 2022.

Namely, there are likely to be two inter-party congressional primaries.

One will feature Rep. Sean Casten, D-Downers Grove, and Rep. Marie Newman, D-LaGrange. The district includes portions of suburban DuPage County and southwestern Cook County.

So why are two Democrats facing off when the party drew the map?

Well, the 2020 U.S. Census, which showed the state losing population overall, continued to register gains in the states Hispanic population. So lawmakers drew a second district where the group is a significant plurality. One incumbent had to be bounced as a result.

If she does, it would have to be against either Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, or Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, both entrenched incumbents.

Either way, it would be an ugly primary battle that could potentially involve former President Donald Trump.

How will the state spend the rest of its COVID-19 stimulus funds?

Illinois state government was allocated more than $8.1 billion in federal COVID-19 stimulus funds under the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021.

How to spend the remaining $5 billion will be a major question for lawmakers this coming year.

The state has until 2024 to disperse the funds, so it can continue to spread it out over multiple years. But, there will be pressure from lawmakers and interest groups to fund key initiatives.

Expect there to be some pressure, especially from Republicans, to use at least some of the funds to pay down the nearly $4.5 billion the state owes to the federal unemployment trust fund. The state utilized that fund to pay enhanced unemployment benefits during the pandemic.

How and what lawmakers decided to spend the money may depend on the states budget situation, which improved significantly last year due to the bounce back of the economy.

Unionization as a 'fundamental right'

In 2022, Illinois voters will be asked whether or not workers have the fundamental right to unionize and collectively bargain in order to negotiate wages, hours, and working conditions.

The binding ballot initiative, approved by a bipartisan group of lawmakers during the last legislative session, would prevent state lawmakers from making Illinois a right-to-work state.

Every state bordering Illinois besides Missouri has a right-to-work law on the books, so it presents an opportunity for Illinois to further contrast itself with its neighbors.

If approved, it would be a major victory for organized labor, which has established itself among the most powerful collective interests in Springfield just a few short years after being under threat by the notoriously anti-union Gov. Bruce Rauner.

Corruption probe

Around this time last year, House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, suspended his campaign for another term as speaker when it became clear he did not have the votes to win.

Madigan, who had survived several controversies over the years, was finally beat as a corruption probe thats ensnared some of his closest confidants drew closer and closer.

In 2020, federal prosecutors in Chicago charged utility giant Commonwealth Edison with bribery. They alleged that the utility awarded jobs and contracts to associates of a top state official  identified as Madigan  with intent to influence and reward the official.

The utility agreed to pay a $200 million fine.

Later that year, longtime lobbyist and Madigan consigliere Mike McClain, along with two former ComEd executives and another lobbyist, was charged in the scheme.

The case is scheduled to go to trial later this year, potentially presenting a headache to Democrats running for reelection. Madigan has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

But could the former speaker eventually be charged? He appears to be the target of federal prosecutors.

But Madigan was always careful, not using email and not owning his own cell phone, for instance. This year, we may find out if the man known as the Velvet Hammer slipped up.

Battle for the Illinois Supreme Court

The governors race will get most of the headlines, but some Illinois political insiders say there are a pair of even more consequential races on the same ballot: the open seats that will determine control of the seven-person Illinois Supreme Court.

The court is currently controlled 4-3 by Democrats, but Justice Thomas Kilbride, a Democrat, lost his retention election in 2020, setting up an open race in 2022. Combined with the retirement of Justice Robert Thomas, a Republican, earlier that year, that leaves two open seats.

Adding to that, Springfield Democrats redistricted the states judicial districts for the first time since the 1960s (a Republican-led effort in the 1990s was not successful) in an effort to maintain their hold on the court.

The new map, which bases those two districts in the Democratic-trending Chicago suburbs, gives the party a better opportunity to do so than the old map. President Joe Biden carried each district relatively comfortably, but Pritzker only won them by a few thousand votes.

Heres the political reality: its far more likely that Republicans take control of the Illinois Supreme Court than they win back the Illinois Governors Mansion. These races will probably not reach the level of expense that the governors race will, but they will be costly.

State judicial races may go over the head of average voters, but theres a lot at stake for major interest groups such as the business lobby, organized labor and trial lawyers. They will pour millions into these races.

Justice Rita Garmon, a Republican, and Justice Mary Jane Theis, a Democrat, are up for retention in seats considered safe for their respective parties.

The fiscal state of Illinois

Luckily for policymakers, the economic boom post-shutdown was stronger than expected. State tax revenue  which mostly comes from sales and income  beat even the rosiest of expectations.

This, mixed with COVID-19 stimulus funds, allowed the state to pass a budget thats balanced (at least on paper) while still funding key initiatives, such as the additional $350 million for K-12 education under the evidence-based funding formula.

Whether this revenue trend continues into 2022 is a question that will significantly impact what the states budget looks like. Growth is a great drug to take advantage of when drawing up a spending plan.

But the states structural deficit, driven largely by growing pension obligations, remains the elephant in the room.

Shortened legislative session

After a remarkably active year of legislating that stretched into the summer months, House Speaker Chris Welch and Senate President Don Harmon have made clear they want an abbreviated legislative session in 2022.

The pair have targeted April 8 as adjournment day, which is seven-and-a-half weeks earlier than typical. Many are skeptical. Lawmakers are notoriously bad at meeting hard deadlines let alone an artificial one.

But the goal makes sense. For one its an election year. Such years are normally heavy on politics and light on policy.

And another factor to weigh is the June 28 primary date, which is more than three months later than usual due to pandemic-induced delays in the delivery of 2020 U.S. Census data, which pushed back redistricting. The last place lawmakers want to be weeks ahead of an election is Springfield.

Of course, they will pass a budget. But beyond that, expect some messaging bills, the occasional trailer bill to clean up legislation passed in 2021 and get ready for some political theater.

What does Kinzinger do?

U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Channahon, announced in November his retirement from the House, which became all-but-certain after Springfield Democrats carved up his district in the once-a-decade redistricting process.

But Kinzinger, one of the most prominent GOP critics of former President Donald Trump, has been somewhat coy on his future plans. Hes hinted at a possible run for governor against Pritzker or U.S. Senate against incumbent Tammy Duckworth. He may also do more work with his political action committee Country First.

Kinzinger has stated his belief that hes the only candidate who can defeat Pritzker  if he can win a GOP primary, that is. But a run for statewide office would undoubtedly take him out of the national spotlight, which he has enjoyed for the better part of a year.

Either way, a decision will likely come in January, when petitions start getting passed for the June primary election.

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The first burst of winter in 2022 is expected to arrive by early Monday in the Triad that will end the recent fall-like conditions.

The National Weather Service in Raleigh is calling for a multi-hazard storm system featuring heavy rain, gusty winds up to 35 mph, and potential flooding from 6 p.m. Sunday through noon Monday.

The governors office issued a weather warning until 6 p.m. Monday for most of the state.

A flash flood watch has been issued for central North Carolina with 2 to 3 inches of rain expected.

Widespread rainfall will increase in coverage this evening and overnight, according to a news release from the governors office.

Rainfall could be heavy at times, which may lead to localized areas of flash flooding, especially in low-lying and urban areas across the Charlotte Metro, Triad and Triangle regions.

For Forsyth County, rain and snow are possible before 11 a.m. Monday, with little accumulation expected.

The high Monday will be 38 degrees in Forsyth County with wind gusts as high as 33 mph.

The National Weather Service said much of central N.C. could get some level of snow Monday morning before temperatures rise into the low- to mid-40s.

For Boone and much of Northwest North Carolina, a winter storm warning is in effect from 10 p.m. Sunday through noon Monday.

A sharp gradient in temperatures will likely lead to a sharp gradient in snowfall totals, according to the National Weather Service.

Precipitation is projected to begin about 9 p.m. Sunday and transition into snow before dawn Monday with the temperature dropping to as low as 23 degrees.

Areas within the winter storm warning could see 2 to 6 inches of snow, with up to 9 inches possible above 5,000 feet in elevation along the Tennessee border. Areas within the winter weather advisory could see up to 3 inches of snow.

Mount Airy City Schools and Yadkin County Schools announced Sunday they will operate on a two-hour delay Monday.

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City leaders may create more housing options by allowing homeowners to more freely convert garages, basements and other spaces into secondary apartments on their single-family residential lots.

But some folks are worried the proposed new rules could change their neighborhoods for the worse. And others say that whether good or bad, the new rules need a lot more discussion before theyre approved.

Under a rule change the Winston-Salem City Council is expected to consider Monday night, what is called an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, would be allowed on any residential property as long as it met certain conditions and got approval from planning staff.

Gone would be the current requirement to bring any proposal for such a dwelling to the Winston-Salem City Council for approval, not to mention the $1,000 fee that would also go overboard.

Advocates say the change is needed because of the shortage of affordable housing. But thats not all, Paul Norby, the citys retired planning director, told council members in a recent discussion. Norby was speaking as a member of the citys Affordable Housing Coalition, which has endorsed the change.

ADUs provide flexible options for families, he said. This provides options for retirees, ageing in place, for families bringing an aging parent or disabled family member close, or adult children  things like that.

ADUs go by lots of different names: granny flats, in-law apartments, basement apartments (if theyre in basements) and others. What they all have in common is that they are self-contained dwellings (attached or detached) and secondary to the main dwelling.

Until 2017, city rules limited the occupancy of such housing to family members or others with a close connection to the main resident.

That year, the rules were changed to eliminate the relationship requirement, but left the final say on whether to allow an ADU to the city council. The city also put in a $1,000 application fee.

Council Member Jeff MacIntosh worried aloud at the time that the rules made the process too hard, and the record seems to have confirmed his prediction: Since 2017, only two ADUs have been approved.

MacIntosh said people who are not in the housing market just dont understand how bad things are.

This is not going to solve everything, but it does provide some relief, MacIntosh told council members during a December meeting of the citys general government committee. And it is going to provide some relief in my opinion where it is needed most, and that is with young people and old people. I dont think it is going to create massive changes in our neighborhoods.

Neighborhood groups and residents from across the city, though, have appealed for city leaders to slow down and give people more time to learn about the proposed changes and ask questions.

Carolyn Highsmith, who asked for a postponement on behalf of the Winston-Salem Neighborhood Alliance, an umbrella group, said members are concerned that the rules would allow ADUs to get too close (as little as five feet) from property lines, and that having no requirement for parking means neighborhoods that depend on on-street parking will be hurt.

The group is also concerned that the ADUs could be abused and develop into boarding house situations, through lack of regulation or occupancy limits. Mostly, Highsmith said, neighborhood groups want more discussion.

During committee discussion, Council Member Kevin Mundy made a motion to set up a public forum before considering the proposed new rules, but could get no second to his motion.

Here are some of the new rules that would govern ADUs under the city proposal:

*A dwelling attached to a main house cant look like multifamily housing from the street. That means no multiple entrances or mailboxes, side stairs to upper floors or separate driveway.

*An attached dwelling cant have more than half the floor space of the main dwelling and cant be taller than it.

*A detached dwelling cant be in front of the main one and can have no more than 70% of the floor space of the main one, and no more than 1,000 square feet of floor space altogether. It has to have a permanent foundation and cant be more than 25 feet tall.

Advocates of the new rules say they would put Winston-Salem more in line with Asheville, Charlotte, Durham, Greensboro, Raleigh and Wilmington, which all allow ADUs through a permit process with conditions. None of those cities require ADUs to come before the governing body to get approval.

Council Member John Larson worried during committee discussion about overcrowded conditions, particularly with parking, if the new rules are adopted:

I remain deeply concerned about the congestion ... when you could have four unrelated people living in the primary house, and then put four unrelated people living in the secondary house, and what does that mean to the neighborhood that they are occupying? Larson said. You put that many people into a unit, and you create six or eight additional parking spaces, and those are going to the street.

Former Council Member Derwin Montgomery, who is a member of the Affordable Housing Coalition, said hes learned that ADUs are an economic development issue in places like Raleigh. There, he said, leaders are realizing that they need housing to go along with the jobs that are being created.

That means it is an economic development issue for not creating enough units in our community, Montgomery said.

Harry Weiler, the retired chief executive of the Home Builders Association of Winston-Salem, said he believes in the concept of ADUs, but that too few people know about the rules changes to carry them out without more public feedback.

This is the most important change that has been made in the development ordinances in our city in decades, he told a Journal reporter. If it is approved, all of a sudden two dwellings are going to be allowed in any residentially-zoned area of our city.

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The problems facing Nebraskas prisons are well-documented: A near-catastrophic staffing shortage and severe overcrowding that for years has been among the worst in the U.S.

Amid apparent progress hiring staff, Nebraska legislators are poised to address the long-standing overcrowding and underlying issues that contribute to that trend during the 60-day legislative session that starts Wednesday. Armed with fresh analyses of state data, lawmakers will also weigh a pitch to build a new state prison.

We have a thoughtful (Judiciary) Committee, said Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha, committee chair. We have a diversity of perspectives on the committee, and we have an opportunity with the work thats been done through the interim to follow through with asking the question, and coming with an answer to: How do we best spend taxpayer dollars on criminal justice?

Legislative efforts aimed at criminal justice reform are nothing new, but past pushes have done little to alleviate crowding in state prisons. In fact, a World-Herald analysis of national corrections data shows Nebraska has now surpassed Alabama to become the state with the nations most overcrowded prison system.

At the end of 2020, Nebraskas prisons held 5,250 inmates, 48.5% more than the system was designed to hold. Alabama was second at 46% above capacity.

Nebraska and other states also sometimes measure overcrowding based on operational or rated capacity  essentially their ability to accommodate their prisoners. At 19% above operational capacity, Nebraska was the only state in the nation that exceeded such limits.

The confluence of issues has Nebraska at what Lathrop has referred to as a crossroads, where the state can decide to build its way out of overcrowding or enact reforms. He sees an opportunity for the state to spend money more wisely while addressing the issue and leading to the best possible outcomes for people whove broken the law.

To what extent he and other lawmakers agree on a course forward is a question that will hang over the session.

In recent months, a group of public officials from across the criminal justice system and government has been digging into state data with the help of the nonprofit Crime and Justice Institute.

Lathrop was one of a handful of officials who initially sought CJIs assistance. He and two others who signed on to the request, Gov. Pete Ricketts and Chief Justice Mike Heavican, chair the 15-member working group.

That federally funded process is expected to inform legislation. The final report  including key data findings, the working groups discussions, and potential policies for the Legislature to consider  is expected to be published before lawmakers convene in Lincoln.

The group has discussed changes that fall into a few broad categories, said Len Engel, CJIs director of policy and campaigns: sentencing policy, release policy and supervision and support services.

In many other states, Engel said, the process has identified a silver bullet  an area thats glaring in its influence on prison population growth.

But Nebraska didnt have a silver bullet.

I think whats clear  what had become clear from the analysis and the discussion  is that this is sort of an across-the-board series of changes, Engel said.

Sen. Terrell McKinney of Omaha, whos part of the working group, said the changes could be transformative, if people are willing to get away from being the problem and be the solution.

While the group agrees on many of the improvements, members say, theyre working through disagreements.

One source of tension may be around potential changes related to sentencing. Engel said policies in that area tend to be controversial.

Sen. Suzanne Geist of Lincoln, who is also part of the working group, said shes not in favor of changing sentencing or lowering penalties for certain crimes, citing concern for public safety.

I think our justice system needs to reflect firm justice, which would equal penalties and sentencing, she said. And I think those should change very rarely. But what I would like to see is more robust options for those who do want to rehabilitate and for the possibility for rehabilitation.

She emphasized that theres consensus around the majority of recommendations that are coming out of the initiative, but there are also philosophical differences, and those will have to go through the legislative process.

One matter Lathrop said the group did not discuss, to his knowledge: A new prison.

In December 2020, corrections Director Scott Frakes said he would seek $230 million to build a 1,512-bed prison. The cost would be spread over five years, Frakes said at the time, with $115 million being sought in the current two-year state budget. Ricketts has backed the proposal.

An interim budget request from the department has an updated project cost of about $236 million. Operational costs were initially expected to be $34 million a year, but that estimate is out-of-date. Costs should be higher after recent pay raises in union agreements that cover Department of Correctional Services workers, which were widely supported and seen as overdue.

Staffing accounts for the majority of operational costs.

Officials say those new contracts have shown early promise in addressing a staffing crisis that in some facilities has forced long shifts, limited inmate activity and jeopardized safety.

By Christmas, corrections had received more than 630 applications for corporal positions since salary increases were announced in November, according to the department. It had received just 162 such applications in the five weeks prior.

The initial new prison pitch included repurposing the aging Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln as a minimum-security facility. But the framing has changed. Frakes now speaks about the new prison as a replacement for the penitentiary.

Frakes said a key reason for that shift was the CJI study. If the resulting changes curb population increases, there may not be a need for the state penitentiary after the addition of a new prison, he said.

Lawmakers earlier this year approved a compromise that put nearly $15 million toward design and planning for a new facility, a fraction of what the department requested. It set aside another $100 million, some of which was allocated for specific uses.

They allocated money to update the departments 2014 master facilities plan, a comprehensive document assessing the integrity of current facilities and the need for expansion.

The compromise also required an engineering study of the penitentiary to assess its useful life. Corrections contracted with the Omaha-based DLR Group for design and work identifying a site for the new facility, work that is underway.

Frakes expects the engineering study to be finished by late February, while the Legislature is still in session, and the master facilities plan to wrap up by late summer, months after senators return to their districts.

Would the Legislature approve the specifics of a new prison without that updated master plan in hand?

Sen. John Stinner of Gering, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, said hed like to have all the data necessary to know what to build before making such a decision with major tax dollars.

I believe we can sequester the money right now and honor the (budget) request  because something needs to be done, I think we all understand that, he said. What that something is, is to be determined.

Bob Houston, whos now a faculty member at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, worked for the Corrections Department for 39 years and was prisons director when he proposed the original 2014 master plan.

That nearly 230-page document said that a 600-bed new prison could be needed past 2024, but would be recommended only if earlier projects didnt take care of space needs.

Houston said lawmakers reached out to him earlier this year and they discussed the need for the master plan update. While facilities studies are done periodically regardless, an update is necessary before beginning to chart out what a new prison would look like, he said.

You need to make sure youre fully utilizing the resources you have in your existing facilities, he said.

However, Frakes doesnt think its necessary to complete the update to advance the project. He hopes to get full agreement this session from the Legislature on moving forward with a new prison  complete with the number of beds and specific custody levels.

He has argued that the system has been underbuilt for decades, and said his intent has never been to grow the Nebraska prison system so we can put more people in prison.

In fact, Frakes said, hed like for part of his legacy to be that he helped contribute to work that accomplishes the opposite. Frakes is another member of the CJI working group.

Heres an opportunity for us  between the CJI work and all the other pieces that were talking about  to right-size the prison system for the people that need to be incarcerated, he said.

Not all stakeholders are keen on the idea of building new space. Those in opposition include the ACLU of Nebraska and McKinney, who favors investing dollars elsewhere.

I just hope that we can get some real legislation passed thats really going to be transformative for the criminal justice system and the prison system before anyone signs off on that prison, he said.

World-Herald staff writer Henry Cordes contributed to this report.

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There are shining stars living and working in our community and we need your help finding the ones who sparkle brightly through their efforts to make a difference.

Star of the State was created in 2020 to spotlight fellow Nebraskans who are working to make their communities better places to live and work.

The Lincoln Journal Star is collaborating with newspapers across the state to recognize and honor these champions of our way of life. Statewide, newspapers will encourage readers to nominate individuals who have done the remarkable. Finalists will be selected from each region and a winner will be chosen as the Star of the State. The winner will receive a $2,021 donation to a nonprofit of their choice.

The 2020 Star of the State honorees were Karen and Mandy Faripour, who founded 2 Strings for Lincoln, a group that organized more than 300 people to make and share 11,000 masks with seniors and health care workers across the state during the pandemic. The Faripours chose two organizations on the front lines of the crisis  the Food Bank of Lincoln and the Peoples City Mission  to receive their prize.

This years special campaign is possible because of the contributions of the statewide sponsor, Woodhouse Auto Family. Local sponsors, Super Saver and McDonalds, are also among the supporters.

Please help the Journal Star celebrate the efforts of outstanding Nebraskans. Nominations can be submitted at go.journalstar.com/starofthestate through Jan. 31.

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As the COVID-19 omicron variant surges across the United States, top federal health officials are looking to add a negative test along with its five-day isolation restrictions for asymptomatic Americans who catch the coronavirus, the White Houses top medical adviser said Sunday.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now considering including the negative test as part of its guidance after getting significant pushback on its updated recommendations last week.

Under that Dec. 27 guidance, isolation restrictions for people infected with COVID-19 were shortened from 10 days to five days if they are no longer feeling symptoms or running a fever. After that period, they are asked to spend the following five days wearing a mask when around others.

The guidelines have since received criticism from many health professionals for not specifying a negative antigen test as a requirement for leaving isolation.

With COVID-19 cases surging just as students are about to return from winter break, dozens of U.S. colleges are moving classes online again for at least the first week or so of the semester  and some warn it could stretch longer if the wave of infection doesnt subside soon.

In local school districts, mask requirements are returning in some schools that had dropped them. Some are planning to vastly ramp up virus testing among students and staff. And a small number of school systems are switching to remote learning  for just a short while, educators hope.

With coronavirus infections soaring, the return from schools winter break will be different than planned as administrators again tweak protocols and make real-time adjustments in response to the shifting pandemic. All are signaling a need to stay flexible.

Pressure from parents and teachers unions has added to the urgency -- and controversy -- surrounding safety measures as the omicron-fueled surge sends up caseloads and puts children in the hospital in close to record numbers.

Below, browse interactive guides and answers to common questions, plus view the latest data on infections and vaccination in our state and nation.
An Omaha man was driving nearly 100 mph Nov. 29 when he crashed into the rear of a car driven by a longtime Millard Public Schools teacher who was stopped at a stoplight, a law enforcement official said.

An investigation revealed that Gerard Skutnik, 55, was going 96 mph in a 45 mph zone on 144th Street when his 2012 Toyota Tundra collided with a 2017 Chevy Malibu driven by Patricia Brinkman, according to a law enforcement official. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Brinkman, whose maiden name was Carey and who taught for decades in the Millard schools, had been stopped at a traffic light at 144th Street and Eldorado Drive, just north of West Dodge Road, at 10:50 a.m. the Monday after Thanksgiving.

She was declared dead at the scene of the four-vehicle crash. Another motorist and Skutnik were taken to the hospital with serious injuries. Skutnik suffered a broken wrist. It is not clear what injuries were suffered by the other motorist.

World-Herald attempts to reach Skutnik this week were unsuccessful. A woman answered a phone listed under Skutniks name. I will have him call you, she said. Skutnik did not call.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said his office has been reviewing business surveillance videotapes from the area and was awaiting further investigative reports. He said he probably would make a charging decision next week.

Under Nebraska state law, drivers face felony motor vehicle homicide charges if:

Their blood-alcohol content is .08 or higher. Penalty: Up to 20 years.

They drove while their license was suspended or revoked. Penalty: Up to three years.

They drove recklessly in causing a crash. Penalty: Up to three years.

In other recent high-profile fatalities involving speeding or inattention, drivers have faced misdemeanor motor vehicle homicide counts and the maximum one year in jail that goes with misdemeanors. Historically, some prosecutors have filed misdemeanor charges while noting that the driver committed infractions short of reckless driving. Others have pointed to a Nebraska Supreme Court case that found that speed alone isnt indicative of reckless driving.

But Kleine said that 1997 Supreme Court ruling doesnt prohibit prosecutors from filing felony motor vehicle homicide charges in cases of excessive speeds.

Emphasizing that he was speaking in general about fatal crashes and not specifically about Skutniks case, Kleine pointed to a statute that reads: Any person who drives any motor vehicle in such a manner as to indicate an indifferent or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property shall be guilty of reckless driving.

When were talking about speed, its one thing to be going 40 in a 35, Kleine said. Its another thing to be going three times the speed limit. A reasonable person would say that someone who is going that fast is beyond reckless.

In addition, Kleine said, such crashes typically involve other traffic offenses, such as following too closely or failing to stop at an intersection  all of which can be indicative of reckless driving.

Preliminary police reports indicated that Brinkman was stopped behind another car in the right, southbound lane of 144th Street. The Tundra that Skutnik was driving hit Brinkmans car with such force that it pushed her car and the car in front of her into a fourth car. All of the cars spilled into the intersection; the Tundra spun several times before coming to rest in the grass beyond the intersection.

Attempts to reach Brinkmans relatives were unsuccessful. Online tributes have noted that she received her masters degree in education and taught for 35 years in the Millard Public Schools  including at Cottonwood and Cody Elementary Schools and Kiewit Middle School. An avid Creighton Bluejays fan and frequent Douglas County election worker, she was chosen woman of the year in 2021 by the local chapter of her sorority, Beta Sigma Phi. She is survived by her sisters, Betty Jean George and Barbara Jansen, daughter Diane Landon, son Lloyd Brinkman, three grandsons and a granddaughter.

Friends described her as caring and kind. She was a great listener, friend Amy Arvanis wrote, and told even better stories.

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The 2022 Nebraska Legislature will convene Wednesday with a huge stack of federal pandemic relief and infrastructure money sitting on the table, launching a 60-day session that will mark the end of the trail for a collection of independent-minded veteran senators.

This emerges as a session of rare opportunity, with anticipated state tax revenue exceeding projected state spending during the current two-year budget cycle by more than $400 million and a billion dollars in federal pandemic recovery funding awaiting one-time investment and distribution.

Allocation of the billion-dollar pandemic relief package will be determined by the Legislature after Gov. Pete Ricketts weighs in with his own recommendations.

An additional $3 billion in federal infrastructure funding will be pumped into highway construction, bridge repair, expansion of rural broadband service and other purposes, with $2.5 billion of that total targeted to roads.

Although distribution of the infrastructure funding is essentially managed by the Nebraska Department of Transportation, a legislative effort to direct some of that funding to accelerated completion of the state's expressway system appears likely.

As always, additional property tax relief will be the top priority for many senators in 2022, although the federal pandemic relief funds cannot be used for that purpose.

Speaker of the Legislature Mike Hilgers of Lincoln says the healthy revenue picture is "a distinctive feature" of the upcoming session.

Hilgers said the Revenue Committee appears poised to make sure that proposed tax cuts will be "an important piece" of the discussion.

Some key senators are eyeing the unusually large surplus as an opportune time to launch corporate and personal income tax relief in conjunction with proposals to remove an array of current sales tax exemptions applied largely to services.

Hilgers said he anticipates "a significant push to give money back" to taxpayers.

Annual property tax relief has risen to $1 billion in recent years, funded by state sales and income tax revenue.

Ricketts has estimated that direct property tax relief will total $1.9 billion over the next two years, a figure that now represents about 20% of the state's general fund budget.

A variety of proposals for school funding reform will also be on this year's agenda, aimed not only at accomplishing additional property tax relief but also at achieving more equity in supplying state assistance and providing adequate state funding support.

Meanwhile, members of the STARWARS study committee are beginning to finalize their recommendations for distribution of some of the federal pandemic funds to water development projects that would fund recreation, tourism, flood control, economic development and water sustainability at designated sites across the state.

Hilgers is chairman of the committee.

"We're probably at the 5-yard line," the speaker said, with final recommendations yet to come.

"The sense which I share is that we should prioritize some one-off projects that are game-changing and transformative" in determining how to allocate federal pandemic relief funds, he said.

This will be the final session for some key legislative achievers, including an array of independent Republican lawmakers who have generally ignored partisan or party considerations in performing their roles as members of Nebraska's unique nonpartisan Legislature.

It will also be Ricketts' eighth and final year in office, the last opportunity for him to achieve his remaining legislative goals, which include building a new $230 million state prison to replace the aging State Penitentiary in Lincoln.

"There will be a lot of urgency in 2022," Hilgers said.

Leaving the legislative stage at the end of the year will be a dozen senators, including nine Republicans and three Lincoln Democrats  Sens. Adam Morfeld, Patty Pansing Brooks and Matt Hansen.

A key departure will be Sen. John Stinner of Gering, who will wrap up six years as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, opening up what appears likely to be a multi-candidate race for chairmanship of the key legislative committee a year from now.

The current Legislature is composed of 32 Republicans and 17 Democrats, with all but one of the Democrats hailing from Lincoln or metropolitan Omaha.

Sen. Lynne Walz, who was reelected in 2020, is the sole non-urban Democrat. She lives in Fremont.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSdon

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Whenever the question of any first arises, the problem becomes immediately clouded by definitions and dates. Looking for Omahas first hospital is no exception, and when coupled with name changes, it becomes even murkier. Even the word hospital can confuse, coming from the Latin, originally the basis in the word host, referring to a shelter for travelers.

Only fairly recently has it referred to medical or surgical care. Added to this, two Omaha hospitals call themselves the oldest.

Historically, the first hospital in the area was undoubtedly the 1819 Camp Missouri/Fort Atkinson military hospital north of the city, with the first non-military hospital probably in Nebraska City in 1854 at the inception of the Nebraska Territory.

During the Civil War it has been reported that a post hospital was instituted in the territorial capitol in Omaha around 1865. Hollis Limprechts history of Nebraska Methodist Hospital states, Omahas first permanent church building was erected [by Methodists] on the west side of 13th Street between Douglas and Farnam ... December 6, 1856, though Nebraska Methodist Hospital itself dates from 1891.

Dr. Samuel Mercer, who arrived in 1854, is generally regarded as Omaha Citys first physician and is said to have established a hospital at 13th and California streets in 1866, which burned shortly after its inception.

Dr. Mercers hospital, like virtually all initial such operations, was his private facility while the word hospital today generally assumes several physicians combined as a clinic or general hospital where any physician can admit patients.

Two Omaha hospitals claim first status and with the fluidity of dates, both have good claims.

In 1869 the six-bed Good Samaritan Hospital, termed the forerunner to Clarkson, was established in a converted house at 23rd and Webster but was destroyed in a fire in 1877.

In 1881 Childs Hospital was founded in a rented house at 1716 Dodge by Episcopal Bishop Robert Clarkson. Two years later the property was purchased by them and began admitting adults resulting in the name changing in 1884 to the Bishop Clarkson Memorial Hospital. In 1886 or 1888 Clarkson College added nurses training and began education in medicine.

In 1909 a five-story, $140,000, masonry, 80-patient Bishop Clarkson Memorial Hospital building was completed at 2100 Howard St. and, in 1980, now generally simply called Clarkson Hospital, referred to itself as the states oldest hospital.

In 1870, though some histories say 1869, Mercy Hospital opened at 10th and Castellar (some indicated it may have been 12th and Marcy) in a two-story, frame building which was rebuilt in 1872 for $14,000. In 1880 Mercy Hospital became St. Josephs Hospital and a four-story, 500-patient, third building was completed.

The 1881 Omaha City directory shows only one hospital, St. Josephs at 1217 Mason, with 12 physicians. No mention is made of Childs Hospital though it was certainly in operation until the fire, while the 1886 directory lists both St. Josephs and Childrens (Childs) Hospital.

By the 1916 directory there were an amazing 45 hospitals listed but included various homes including several for the unfortunate. It further states St. Josephs Hospital located on the northeast corner of 10th and Castellar Streets is the oldest hospital in the city.

In January of 1891 the Omaha Deaconess Home and Hospital Association of the Methodist Episcopal Church formed, fortunately its name was generally shortened to Nebraska Methodist Hospital.

In anticipation of their opening, they offered memberships for $10 a year or $250 for life. Their hospital opened in a former eye and ear clinic at 20th and Harney. The frame, two-story plus third floor mansard roofed story, opened in May. In 1908 the hospital moved to a new four-story, $212,000 building at 3612 Cuming, calling their facility the largest hospital in Omaha. In April of 1968 they occupied their new, nine-floor, 328-bed, $12,610,000, 12-operating room, building at 8303 Dodge.

Other hospitals through the years were numerous, including Dr. Mercers four-bed Union Pacific Dispensary on Harney in the 1880s and the nine-building $214,000 complex of the Douglas County Hospital around 1890. The Presbyterian Hospital opened in 1890, Wise Memorial in 1899 first as a 30-bed hospital in a 10-room house at 2225 Sherman. Immanuel, whose board included Dr. Miller, opened in 1890 and the vast, multicampus locations of Nebraska Medical, which received an initial legislative appropriation of $150,000 enabling their moved from 1714 Dodge to 42nd and Dewey.

Historian Jim McKee, who still writes with a fountain pen, invites comments or questions. Write to him in care of the Journal Star or at jim@leebooksellers.com.

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A float featuring Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom took home the Director Trophy in the Tournament of Roses Parade on Saturday in Pasadena, California.

Mutual of Omaha teamed with RFD-TV on the homage to "Wild Kingdom," one of the most beloved wildlife programs in television history. RFD-TV has been replaying Wild Kingdom episodes on Sunday nights since April, and the decision to participate in the parade came from that partnership.

The Director Trophy recognizes the "most outstanding artistic design and use of floral and non-floral materials," according to the Tournament of Roses. Each year the parade selects three judges who are tasked with selecting award winners.

The 55-foot "Wild Kingdom" float featured a menagerie of different animals, including a lion leaping over a safari jeep holding the show's current host, Peter Gros. Also represented on the float were a herd of African wildlife, a wolf, polar bear, penguins, a whale, sharks and more. Photorealistic floragraphs depicted Marlin Perkins and Jim Fowler, the show's legendary hosts.

Phoenix Decorating Company, which has been building and designing floats for the Rose Parade since 1985, was in charge of building the float.

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What a year for dubious achievements. It started off with a few thousand sore-loser Donald Trump supporters storming the Capitol and appears to be ending with me trying to figure out Melania Trumps announcement that she is launching her own NFT platform  and that its first offering is a digital painting of herself.

What is an NFT?

It means nonfungible token, a form of cryptocurrency that transforms digital works of art and other collectibles into verifiable assets that can be traded on the blockchain. Beyond that, youll have to ask someone wealthier than I to explain it to you.

I have a big enough challenge judging my annual list of Dubious Achievement Awards, picking up the fragments of a grand tradition unfortunately abandoned by Esquire magazine.

I know Im not all that funny, but, hey, somebodys got to do it after a year so abundant with nominees.

Drumroll, please.

Proud Girl

Top honors  or bottom, depending on your perspective  go to Jenna Ryan, the Texas real estate agent who was arrested in the Jan. 6 Stop the Steal insurrection at the Capitol.

Definitely not going to jail. Sorry, she famously tweeted in March. I have blonde hair white skin a great job a great future and Im not going to jail.

Judges, wholly consisting of me, gave her the edge with that self-glorifying tweet. So did U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who didnt buy her excuse that she was somehow innocently caught up in the excitement.

When you chose to leave your hotel room and march down to the Capitol, I think you knew this was no ordinary protest, Cooper said. You knew this because you were watching Fox News in real time.

Next case 

Fresh breath, dirty lungs?

Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin arched more than a few eyebrows by suggesting during a virtual town hall event that Listerine might help as a good early treatment for COVID-19.

Despite more than 200 million people being fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Johnson said there werent enough clinical studies to justify pushing the vaccine to people outside high-risk groups. Of course, experts say there have been no clinical studies that show how well gargling Listerine would stop COVID-19 either, but Im sure it will leave you with fresher breath.

Weaker than Listerine

Speaking of the pandemic, rapper Nicki Minaj told her millions of Twitter followers in September that she wanted more research before getting vaccinated, arguing that, My cousin in Trinidad wont get the vaccine cuz his friend got it and became impotent. His testicles became swollen.

Yikes, said I, which also turns out to be the title of a Minaj single. Trinidad authorities sprang into action, debunked the claim and Dr. Anthony Fauci himself scolded her for the false information. My attempts to reach her cousin in Trinidad were not successful.

Honorable mention

In contrast to the overly worried Ms. Minaj, honorable mention goes to rap legend Darryl D.M.C. McDaniels of the hip-hop group Run-D.M.C., among many others who have stepped up to educate the public, particularly in Black and brown communities, about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines. (Hey, Run-D.M.C., give Nicki a call, please?)

Person of the Year

Speaking again of the pandemic, my award for Person of the Year goes to the wonderfully generous Dolly Parton, whose $1 million donation to Vanderbilt University Medical Center helped Moderna develop the early stages of its coronavirus vaccine.

It also inspired Miss Dolly to satirize her hit song Jolene into a new one titled Vaccine, which I expect now will be stuck in my head for the rest of the day.

The Nobody Believes Me Award

Who else?

Lets give former Empire actor Jussie Smollett his due for staging a ridiculously fake hate crime attack in Chicago that managed to debase real hate crime victims, waste a fortune of the financially struggling citys police funding and leave States Attorney Kim Foxx with a lot of explaining to do for dropping the charges  which were then taken up by a special prosecutor.

Special mention

It has been a delight to watch conservative commentators fall over themselves to lionize comedian Dave Chappelle as a martyr to cancel culture due to the backlash over his mocking views of transgender people in his The Closer monologue, which isnt even close to his best work.

He isnt canceled, as a New York Times headline put it. He just likes to talk about it.

Thats OK, Dave, just keep rollin in that dough.

And Happy New Year to all.

Clarence Page writes for the Chicago Tribune.

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In some instances, the word agenda implies something hidden beneath the surface or some kind of subterfuge.

However, the annual listing of the Journal Star editorial boards five priority topics  our agenda, for lack of a better word  is done in the interest of transparency. Rather than be accused of some kind of secrecy, these five topics are publicly shared early in the year because of their importance to readers.

Four of the five topics from last year remain the same. Climate change; inclusiveness, civility and nonpartisanship; protecting public education; and reforming prisons and policing are of the utmost importance and need positive action rather than continued inaction.

The item that has fallen off the list, protecting the farm economy, remains critical to Nebraskas financial wellbeing. But the easing of certain tariffs and increase in commodity prices have helped those who work in the states largest industry, despite the ongoing need for property tax reform.

With historic unemployment  the lowest ever recorded for any state ever  that garnered countless headlines in 2021, improving upon Nebraskas quality of life has now risen to the forefront.

The following is a brief explanation on why these items, listed in alphabetical order, are our editorial priorities for 2022:

* Climate change: A historic day of December destruction, caused by a record number of tornadoes, should be fresh in all Nebraskans heads. Beyond the immediate worries to life and limb, though, are longer-term worries for the states agricultural industry  food instability, economic hardship, etc.  that affect all of us. Yet, far too few Nebraska leaders even acknowledge our changing climate as existing, much less a cause for concern, when it comes to even the simplest acts, such as passing a climate resiliency plan.

* Inclusiveness, civility and nonpartisanship: Just after this agenda published last year, America witnessed the antithesis of these ideals with the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the full extent of which is still being learned today. The terror of that day shows what can happen when partisanship and hostility to opposing ideas boil over  and it must not happen again. That requires us to work together civilly for the betterment of all, regardless of such artificial dividing lines as political affiliation.

* Protecting public education: Overworked and underpaid teachers are burning out and leaving the field at the highest rate in recent memory during this pandemic. Meanwhile, state lawmakers refuse to adequately fund K-12 schools  providing one of the lowest rates of direct state aid in the country despite the some of the highest property taxes  as some openly talk of defunding the University of Nebraska. Whether its against biological, political or financial threats, our schools are our future and must be protected.

* Quality of life: Nebraska recorded its second-highest rate of growth, according to U.S. Census data, and its still struggling mightily to find workers for vital jobs. The Good Life has a great story, but it requires all Nebraskans to work toward increasing affordable housing opportunities, welcoming refugees and immigrants, filling existing jobs and creating higher-paying employment.

* Reforming prisons and policing: Nebraskas prisons remain at nearly record levels of crowding, even leading to an emergency declaration in 2019. Though progress has been made on raising pay to combat chronic staff shortages  a welcome development  such achievements are too few and far between when it comes to the men and women behind bars. The entire criminal justice system, from policing and prosecution to incarceration and programming, is beginning to make incremental change, but more is needed.

As health experts have braced us for a world where COVID never really goes away, it's safe to say that the policy and practice of dealing with the pandemic will remain a recurrent theme, too. And the Editorial Board will address dozens of other topics in the coming year -- some we can't even imagine at this point -- but readers can expect that we will return to variations on these five themes often as we try to promote the community discussion.

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At Gateway Technical College, if you can dream it, you can make it real.

Thats what Laura Valeriano says. Because in her case, its true.

Laura dreamed of a better future, and Gateway helped make that a reality as she earned her Human Service Associate degree and entered a career field  and future  she looks forward to every day.

Gateway has helped me to have a better life, says Laura. I have a better job and can help support my family, and it has helped to change my perspective on life. I am looking forward to my future.

Laura works as a service coordinator at an area residential facility, assisting seniors, low-income people and those with disabilities. She helps them find resources, which will allow them to live independently, as well as help them manage their finances.

She uses her Gateway training and experiences to benefit her clients every day, fueled by instructors who taught her real-world skills.

Our instructors told us the truth about the field  we had classes and lectures, but they would also take time to tell you about real-life experiences, she said. They would tell us, This is what you will experience out there in your career and they were right. There are times when I am handling a situation and recall what our instructors told us about it and how to handle it. Thats helped me in my career.

Lauras dream of gaining a degree and career are firmly rooted at Gateway, even before she began working on her associate degree. She began at the college by taking courses in the ELL program to learn English and the GED program to earn a United States-recognized high school diploma and replace the one shed earned in another country.

After that, college staff members encouraged her to continue her education and attain her career goals. I figured why not? I liked Gateway, it was affordable, I was happy with the ELL program, I wanted a career and decided to go for it.

I had decided that, financially, I didnt want to be where we were at for the rest of my life. And, I didnt want that for my kids, too. My ambition, then, was to go to college.

The Human Service Associate program was a natural fit because of the care Laura gave to one of her children who has special needs.

I started in this program for my child. I started to understand more about disabilities the more I tried to help him incorporate into society. I said I already know some of the basics and if I can help him, why couldnt I help others?

I like that I can help people who are struggling. When people start to struggle too much, they begin to believe thats OK. And its not, said Laura.

When they have a crisis, they dont know where to turn to get help, and thats when I am there, to help them. I can connect them with the resources they need.

I like what I do very much.

The support Gateway provides its students is a foundation of the college, Laura said.

I was a mother of two kids at that time and the flexibility of the courses and the support really helped me. Honestly, there was a point where I was unsure if I could do this  but Gateway encouraged me to stay, and I am glad I did.

Laura was also helped by two Gateway Technical College Foundation scholarships, the Gateway Centennial Scholarship and the Atty. Joseph Jr. and Kathy Madrigrano Scholarship. A video of Laura speaking at a Foundation event can be found here: https://bit.ly/LauraValeriano

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Kristine Coshuns son Collin was on the floor, screaming, crying and vomiting repeatedly. There was nothing she could do.

Kristine and her husband took the 22-year-old from one Kenosha County hospital to another. But there werent any nurses or doctors available to take care of him. They ended up waiting more than 16 hours in the waiting room of Froedtert Pleasant Prairie Hospital. They never did see a doctor. A receptionist took vital signs of the others waiting to be admitted. Patients were being treated in hallways. During the 17th hour, Collin was admitted to a makeshift room. An IV was put in his arm. He was sent home 2 hours later. They still dont know whats wrong with him.

Brittany Palechek might have had a heart attack. A 29-year-old nurse who lives in Waterford, Palechek still doesnt know if she actually had one. After sitting in the St. Lukes Hospital waiting room in Milwaukee for 2 hours in nothing but a bathrobe with an IV in her arm, she ran out of patience, took the IV out on her own, and walked out.

Collin Coshun and Brittany Palechek are still alive. But Americas health care system is so strained by COVID-19 that it simply cannot care for all of the people who are sick right now  whether with coronavirus or with a severe viral infection, heart attack, stroke, car crash or other malady.

There are numerous factors causing the strain in our hospitals, not all of them directly related to COVID:

The unvaccinated, some of whom end up filling hospital beds that otherwise could have gone to people like Palechek and Collin Coshun.

The long-term lack of aid and educational incentives that could have led to more American doctors and nurses being trained and working now, and a shortage of emergency-care hospitals compared to China, which built hospitals in record time specifically to care for COVID patients.

The anti-vaccination rhetoric from elected officials.

Employer vaccine mandates, which likely led to less than 1% of medical professionals quitting their jobs.

Other medical professionals who got burned out and quit.

Purveyors of medical misinformation.

Foolish people going to the emergency room for a stubbed toe or a first-degree burn, wasting precious resources and time.

But then there is the coronavirus itself, which has killed an estimated 5,420,000 across the globe.

The situation in American hospitals is bad, and theres no telling when it will get better.

Vaccines work According to November data from the state Department of Health Services: Unvaccinated people are five times more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 than the vaccinated in Wisconsin.

Unvaccinated people are more likely to be hospitalized than vaccinated people by a ratio of 11 to 1.

For every one vaccinated person who dies of COVID-19, 12 unvaccinated people are dying in Wisconsin.

Omicron-fueled surge

Dr. Anthony Fauci, top medical adviser to President Joe Biden, predicted last week that the current surge, fueled by the omicron variant which appears to be more transferrable even if it is slightly less potent than the delta variant, may continue through the end of January.

The strain is coming not just from COVID patients but the sheer mass of people coming to hospitals. Medical facilities tend to be busier in winter months. But with, as of Friday, 1,710 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Wisconsin, the systems we have in place are being pushed beyond the brink.

When Palechek spoke to a reporter, she spoke of how she was experiencing obvious symptoms of a possibly heart attack but that the staff at St. Lukes told her they "didnt have any rooms available. No blood work was even done. She still doesnt know what was wrong, other than her blood pressure having been measured at 158 over 103 in the ambulance.

Waiting at Froedtert South (formerly St. Catherines) for more than 16 hours between 5 p.m. on Dec. 27 and 9:39 a.m. on Dec. 28, Collin Coshun  who has no known pre-existing conditions  huddled on the panel wood floor under a mass of thin hospital blankets. He crawled next to a radiator to try and stop the shivering. A cup was placed in front of his mouth to vomit in. For most of the time, nothing was coming out, but he continued to dry-heave.

His whole body is trembling, shaking, not much is coming out of his body anymore, Kristine Coshun said of the ordeal.

Someone please help me, he moaned repeatedly.

Kristine said two other women in the ER told the staff they should admit Collin before they themselves were admitted. He needs a doctor, now, one of them said.

But the staff gave similar answers, over and over: There is nothing we can do. We have nowhere to put him. I dont know what to do with him. Every spot in the hospital is full.

Since COVID patients typically spend weeks in the hospital, few rooms were being made available. Whenever a room was vacated, extra time had to be set aside for the rooms to be sanitized before another patient could be admitted.

Kristine found herself getting enraged at people who entered the emergency room for non-emergent issues. She said she overheard someone complaining of a stubbed toe. At one point during the night, a man walked in and told the receptionist he had a burn on his leg. The receptionist, Kristine said, almost snapped at him, saying firmly: Youre going to sit here 20 hours, theyre going to put burn cream and a bandage on you, and send you home. Go to Walgreens. Go home.

As the hours ticked by, Kristine remembers looking at her husband, Richard, and saying Are we in a Third World country? Where are we? Is this even America?

Its an overall sign of a broken health care system, she said.

Visitors banned, facilities closed

Our hospitals across Wisconsin are treating 445 COVID inpatients, a 66% increase from one month ago. The vast majority are unvaccinated, Advocate Aurora Health said in a statement Friday, the day after it banned most visitors from its hospitals. This situation is growing more challenging by the day  beds are tight, wait times are long and our team members are strained. Despite that, our commitment to providing safe, quality care remains absolute.

Three Advocate Aurora facilities in the Milwaukee area  in Brookfield, Milwaukee and Menomonee Falls  closed their urgent care centers on Wednesday. They wont reopen until Jan. 6 at the earliest.

In Green Bay, 23 U.S. Navy nurses, doctors and respiratory therapists have been called in to support Bellin Hospital, arriving on Thursday.

It was in Green Bay where, a month ago, a single Prevea Health hospital reported turning away 28 patients in a single day, including three stroke victims.

The cost is measured in lives: The family of Dale Weeks, a retired Iowa school superintendent, cites his death as an example; he died in November, The Des Moines Register reported, after getting sepsis and being stuck in a small hospital in Newton, Iowa, for 15 days since it was impossible to transfer him to a bigger, better-equipped hospital that could have better cared for the 78-year-old.

Froedtert spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

No room at the inn

The situation at any given hospital changes on a day-to-day basis.

When the Coshuns, who live near Downtown Kenosha, went to the hospital on Dec. 27, it was actually their second trip in three days. On Christmas morning, Collin developed similar symptoms.

It got to the point where he couldnt stop vomiting, at about 10:30 a.m., his mother said. They went to Aurora Medical Center in Downtown Kenosha and he was admitted relatively quickly. Blood tests revealed really high elevated white blood cells and a possible liver problem. He got an IV with antibiotics and went through six bags of fluid, but was discharged that day.

They were kind of stumped, Kristine said.

The symptoms re-emerged on the afternoon of Dec. 27, when Collin was at his girlfriends grandmothers house. The girlfriend called Kristine, but before she could arrive to pick up her son, the girlfriend called again to say they couldnt wait any longer, and she drove him straight back to Aurora.

Upon arrival, Kristine and Richard were not allowed inside  no visitors were allowed in the hospital for adult patients. Soon after, Collin left that hospital  he could barely walk  he was crying, hunched over in pain  so his parents could take him to Froedtert South. There, with a less strict visitors policy, they could keep an eye on him in the waiting room.

Little did they know it would be about 20 hours before all three would return home.

Through it all, Palechek and the Coshuns said, no one was rude to them. Hospital staff were always kind and polite, but firm. But their exhaustion was evident.

It was unbelievable, Kristine said, that this was American health care.

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With a new year, there is a new chance to start over this year. There is a new chance to look for ways to help out in the community.

For many, the coronavirus led to big life changes, including retirement for many who were in a position to do so.

The new year can be a chance to give back. For anyone looking for one way to give back, subbing at a local school can be one good way to give back.

Students and teachers have been through a lot these past two years, going from in-person to virtual and back multiple times. Many times, because of sub shortages, teachers have been even more stretched thin by having to teach to two classes at the same time or skipping prep time breaks to help another class.

For those who are able, going into the classroom and helping students can make all the difference. Yes, its not necessarily an easy job. There are going to be tough kids, who are not going to listen. But people who have previous years of work experience are in a position to show kids the real life value of what they are learning, the real life value of those math problems and English work pages.

Subbing is just one of the ways to give back. Many nonprofits are still hurting because of a shortage of volunteers.

Many employers are still hurting because they are struggling to find workers. There are so many ways individuals can use their talents to help give back, be it volunteering or working part-time or full-time.

Here is to a new year and a new opportunities.

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Killeen, TX (76540)

Today

Cloudy in the morning with isolated thunderstorms developing later in the day. High 84F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 30%. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies in the evening, then becoming cloudy overnight. Low 72F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.
Killeen, TX (76540)

Today

Cloudy and windy this morning with isolated thunderstorms developing this afternoon. High 84F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 72F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.
1. Yes. Raising the bar for future developments will boost the citys housing market.

2. Yes. It will help in newer areas, but more needs to be done to change Killeens image.

3. No. The new standards will just slow down homebuilding and drive away developers.

4.No. The ordinance will do little more than drive up the price of new homes in the city.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say what the effect will be until they have been in place for a while.

Vote

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KEARNEY  When Kim Williams takes the stage to re-create the music of Fleetwood Mac, she looks to the influence of Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham to help define the sound.

We tend to stick to the time when Stevie and Lindsay joined the band in the middle 1970s, Williams said. We have a portion of the show where the guys do their own performance, just the three guys, where they perform a Peter Green medley of Oh Well and Black Magic Woman, a song that many people think is a song by Santana  but its a Fleetwood Mac tune.

Playing a concert of music by Fleetwood Mac takes careful planning since the group started as a hard-driving rock and blues quartet with psychedelic influences in London in 1967. A decade later the group, as a quintet, explored pop themes and found success on commercial radio with singles like Go Your Own Way, Dont Stop and You Make Loving Fun.

Williams notes that with the addition of Nicks and Buckingham in 1975, the band changed its sound and direction.

They brought a little more of a pop sensibility to the band, she said. Vocally, Lindsay and Stevie are quite unique. I think it changed the sound quite a bit when they joined. Between the songwriting and vocalization, I really think they changed it up a bit.

Williams will join the other members of Tusk, a national touring band, to perform a night of music by Fleetwood Mac at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 6 at the Merryman Performing Arts Center. Tickets for the show start at $30.

The audience will hear the hits of Fleetwood Mac, played with great authenticity, Williams said.

The bands website speaks to the skill of the musicians: No fancy tricks, no gimmicks, just five musicians recreating the music of Fleetwood Mac to perfection, with note-for-note renditions that no other Fleetwood Mac tribute on the touring scene today can come close to duplicating.

Music industry experts estimate that Fleetwood Mac sold more than 120 million records worldwide.

Christine McVie joined the band in 1970, Williams said. Her sound is fairly consistent throughout her time in the band. Some of her older songs, before the big success with Stevie and Lindsay, had a poppy feel to them already. Her sound is consistent through the really bluesy style of the old Fleetwood Mac to the California sound that Stevie and Lindsay added.

McVie left Fleetwood Mac in 1998.

Looking over the catalog of songs by Fleetwood Mac, Williams said she has trouble picking a favorite.

Because I perform the songs so much, I feel like it changes, she said. One time Ill feel like Go Your Own Way is my favorite and then well bring back an older song like Temporary One, which is on the Dance record. I love that song but its one that a lot of people dont know, but I love to perform it.

For Williams, those obscure songs help bring the depth of Fleetwood Mac to the forefront.

Weve been performing as Tusk for 14 years, she said. Weve been doing this for a long time and Ill feel like I know everything there is to know about a certain song. Ill play every part that I think needs to be played. And then one day Ill be driving along and that song will come on the radio and Ill think, Oh, my gosh. I never heard that part. So I sometimes get a renewed appreciation when I hear them again  not so much when Im performing them.

After so many years playing together, members of Tusk share a sense of intimacy and familiarity on stage.

A lot of times our intuition will make us change something on the fly, Williams said. Only we will know we did it. The audience will have no idea. I would be curious to know how much nonverbal communication was going on with the members of Fleetwood Mac when they played  or were they all just in their own heads? Im sure that changed as the years went on. For a number of years there was a lot of substance abuse going on with Fleetwood Mac. And Im sure that changed how they approached their performance.

While Tusk seeks to re-create the music of Fleetwood Mac note for note, the members of the band also put their own twist on the songs.

Its not always exactly note for note, Williams said. There are certain songs where basically you have to play it note for note, the way they did. And we do. But for other songs like Landslide, we do it differently. Normally Stevie and Lindsay do it, but I sing it with Kathy Phillips. Weve been performing that song for more than 20 years. We used to perform as a duo before we put Tusk together. We decided to keep our version of it and put it in the show. It always goes over really well.
Beth Hartung, the new owner of Pearl Street Books at 323 Pearl St., says it is rooted in the community.

In fact, the words Rooted in Community are on the bookstores new logo, as are the words Est. 2000 and an illustration of an oak tree.

I really want that value to be lived, said Hartung, who bought the business from founder Jim Auler In September. I want this to be a place where the community can gather, where were helping to inform the community.

The business has a number of places where people can sit and read or visit with each other, including on the mezzanine level that opened in early 2017 when Hartung began working for Auler at the independent bookstore.

Pearl Street Books needed a place where people could sit down and relax and enjoy a book, where you could have book club meetings, Hartung recalled. So we emptied out the mezzanine, which was being used to store books. And we open it up as a place where people could sit and relax.

Hartung also helped the bookstore increase its social media presence.

Jim was looking for someone at some point who he would be comfortable to selling the store to, because he wanted to make sure that it could continue to thrive, Hartung said.

That led to Auler selling the business to her and retiring. He still will buy (used) books for me, when hes out and about, Hartung said. So if he sees an estate sale or something, hell stop and buy some books for the store. And hes there if I ever have any questions. Now hes my consultant.

Auler had opened Wees-Kon-San bookstore at 108 Fifth Ave. N. in 1998. In 2000, he moved the store to its current, much larger location and renamed it Pearl Street Books.

I think Jims (business) model was really good, Auler said of the store, where she has been organizing events.

Weve had some live music here, she said. With COVID, its difficult, because I want to keep people safe.

She encourages but does not require customers to wear face masks inside the store. We have a large supply of free masks in case a customer needs one, she said.

Some of my friends have played music in the store, just to create more of an atmosphere where people will maybe come in and talk, Hartung said. We encourage people to sit and read. You dont have to buy a book. You can just come in and pick a used book off the shelf and sit and read it.

Authors also have come in here to do book signings or talk about their book, Hartung said. Weve had a couple of them in to try to test the waters and see how we can keep people safe by spreading them out.

She hopes to resume meetings of book clubs that havent been held recently at the store because of COVID-19 concerns.

Pearl Street Books has an inventory of about 55,000 books. About 95 percent of them are used, Hartung said

The store has a number of antique (at least 100-year-old) books.

It also has special sections, such as one for books about Wisconsin, another for books about nearby states, and another for books by local authors.

We also buy books from our customers, Hartung said. Well do it in store credit or cash. We do recommend you call in advance and make sure that Im going to be here if someone wants to sell a book to the store.

Hartung, who has three part-time employees, said Pearl Street Books also sells on consignment such things as locally made jewelry, postcards and art.

Hartung said her store and others nearby act as good neighbors by promoting each other to customers. It makes a huge difference if you shop somewhere local, she said. Owners of local stores hire local people and often know the first names of their customers, she said.

Pearl Street Books has done well this year despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Hartung said.

People maybe have a little bit more time to read because of the pandemic, she said. But I also think theres been a shift in our community about buying locally. I think people are buying gifts or gift cards here to support a local business. Weve had a really good month.

Hartung was raised on a dairy farm in Dunn County and received a bachelors degree in political science and a masters degree in education, both from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. She held jobs in the education and nonprofit fields before going into the book business.

Ive wanted to own a bookstore since I was a little kid, Hartung said.

I enjoy the people, Hartung said. This is a happy place because youre finding books for people. Its a good business environmentally, because were trying to keep books out of the landfill and re-using them. And were helping to expand peoples worlds through books. Most people who come into a bookstore are so pleasant and wonderful.

Pearl Street Books draws customers from as far away as the Twin Cities; Rochester, Minn.; and Madison and Milwaukee, Hartung said. She said they are drawn to the store by A big selection, good prices and a beautiful environment. And people continuously say they dont see bookstores like this even in Madison.

The bookstore is a tenant in the historic J. Burgermeister Building, constructed of brick in 1885. The building is being renovated by Meraki Properties, LLC, which purchased it in 2020.

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Forecasters are predicting widespread moderate to heavy snowfall with gusty north winds Saturday afternoon and into the evening, with the highest totals across southeast Wisconsin heading closer to Lake Michigan.

A winter weather advisory is in effect until 3 a.m. Sunday per a probable one to five inches of snow for parts of southern Wisconsin, including Madison and Dane County. Dodge and Sheboygan counties have been removed from the advisory, but up to two inches of snow is still expected for both areas.

A winter storm warning is in effect until 6 a.m. Sunday per a possible five to eight inches of snow for southeastern Wisconsin, according to the National Weather Service.

"Travel will become hazardous after the snow arrives, so use caution," the weather service said.

Starting between 3-4 p.m., Madison has a 90% chance of receiving one to two inches of snow moving in from the south, with the up to eight inches closer to Lake Michigan  down from the nine inches the weather service predicted Friday.

"Snow is reaching the ground in far southern Wisconsin," the weather service said. "Currently, it is not reaching the ground further north but will start later this afternoon. Be prepared for roads to become quickly snow covered and slippery with limited visibility. Take it slow."

Cold conditions are expected to follow the snowfall, with temperatures dropping to single digits Saturday night, as well as wind gusts as high as 10 to 15 miles per hour, the weather service said.

On Sunday, a high of 12 degrees and sunny weather is expected in the Madison area, with wind chill values between 10 and 0 degrees. Into the evening, temperatures are slated to drop to just below zero.

Clear and sunny skies are again forecasted for Monday, with a high of around 21 degrees, the weather service said. Conditions are to remain clear into Monday night with a low of 13 degrees.

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Angie Shell got a call from someone asking if she could quickly conjure up a demon from Dominican folklore. The title character in an about-to-shoot short film was in need of a look. And Shell  a onetime employee of Park City Centers Bare Minerals turned Hollywood makeup artist  was up for the challenge of La Ciguapa.

Shes kind of like this siren, succubus character, which I loved, said Shell about the star demon whod be going on camera in less than two weeks.

I got the call pretty last minute from the producer who said Can you do it?  Shell said. I was like, Oh, yeah. I cant go balls to the wall with it. But with the time that we have, I could totally make you something horrifying. 

So, Shell drove from her North Hollywood home to a weekend-long shoot in Sequoia National Park in November. The 22-year-old former Hempfield High School student was armed with some quick folklore research, her airbrushes, makeup, a heavy dose of inspiration from The Grudge and a freshly crafted set of pointy, tiny, terrifying teeth a la the original Pennywise the clown, from It. Once shooting wrapped, Shell collapsed for a few rare minutes of relaxation in a hammock among the massive trees.

She says she had just enough time to put a successful creature together.

Thats a lot of how it is with this line of work, Shell says. Its very hurry-up-and-wait. And you definitely want to be on your feet all the time because you never know when somebody is going to contact you with something great.

Laying a foundation

Shell (thats her professional name; her full name is Shellhamer) started her makeup artist career years ago when her big brother was a scare actor at the Mountville-based horror attraction Field of Screams. She wanted in, too, and at around age 15 got a shot with the makeup crew. Shell recalls receiving a five-to-10-minute crash course on the basics and being thrown right into the mix.

My favorite thing was the liquid latex and cotton balls, Shell says. That was my jam when I was younger. I thought I was literally like Tom Savini with it.

Savini is a Pittsburgh native known partly for makeup and special effects on projects like Day (and Dawn) of the Dead, Creepshow and some of the Friday the 13th films.

My ego blew up so quick. I didnt even know what I was doing, Shell says, laughing at some of her early Field of Screams escapades.

Before they had their big makeup room that they have now, they had this tiny, tiny little shed, Shell says. We all learned from each other there. ... It was kind of like, What can you do with these products that were putting in front of you? 

Eventually Field of Screams added makeup and special effects classes.

And thats where I started to learn and grow and develop a serious passion for this as an artist, she says.

Heading west

It was different with high school. Shell says she had a tendency to worry and  as is her observation of many artists  be incredibly hard on herself. She dropped out of Hempfield High School her senior year, and after some goal searching set her sights on earning enough to get to Hollywood. (She later got her GED.)

I started saving up money by working at Bare Minerals during the day and at nighttime I was on the sorting line at UPS, she says.

That was during the holidays. During the spring, she worked at the Schopf Brother plant stand when she wasnt on duty selling makeup and skin care products at Bare Minerals. Shed also squeeze in photo shoots and bridal parties, all with the goal of saving enough to attend school in California.

I sort of became a jack of all trades. I learned so many weird facts about plants. And the sorting line helped with my work ethic and my stamina, she says. It definitely prepared me for these 13-hour days I now do on movie sets.

Her first step upon arrival in California was to show up for school at Make-Up Designory. Then the world abruptly changed due to COVID-19.

I was enrolled in an eight-month program but was in it for about two years because of the pandemic, Shell says,

It wasnt easy, says her father, Eric Shellhamer of East Petersburg.

The lockdown in LA was particularly brutal. Here you have a 21-year-old from Pennsylvania who didnt know anyone stuck in an apartment with nothing to do. Week after week. She couldnt go anywhere, Shellhamer says.

Hes proud of his daughter, who used to put makeup on her Barbies, and is excited to see where her career goes.

A mentors guidance

Jim Schopf will also be watching. Schopf, who with his brother Gene runs Field of Screams, enjoys seeing where those who have worked there end up. He ticks off names Shell, tattoo artist Destiny Patton and Jarred Alcala, owner of Shattered FX, which sells silicone masks to customers across the globe.

It is a great place for people who have artistic talent to really develop and hone their skills, Schopf says.

When it comes to makeup, thats more so now than when the now nationally recognized Field of Screams started in the early 90s. Today, there are summer boot camps filled with professional instruction.

Back in the original days we did zero makeup, he says. It was all about masks we could pick up at ... Spencers or wherever.

Schopf credits Shells mentor, Jeremy Spickler, for helping take Field of Screams makeup to the next level. He taught classes when Shell was working there. Spickler died in September.

Up until he passed, I was still calling him, asking for advice, Shell says. He really guided so many artists to follow their dreams and go after their passion.

Spickler also talked to her about the importance of marketing  something Shell takes seriously. Shes developed a catch phrase: farm girl pretending not to be a farm girl.

People always get a kick out of that, she says. But most Angelinos are like, Oh, nobody from LA is actually from LA. 

She loves running into fellow Pennsylvanians.

When people are from the East Coast you look at each other and you just know. You connect, she says. It helps build that community of people you can trust and rely on because  its really sad to say  but it can be a scary town sometimes where you really cant trust just anyone.

A tangible dream

Shell often works on sets with her boyfriend, Jake Porath, another makeup artist who was introduced to her by a friend she made years ago on a mission trip to Mexico.

Before meeting him for their first coffee, shed checked out pictures of makeup re-creations hed done from some of her favorite movies. Shes got a lot of those. Among them are: The Exorcist, Midsommar and Return of the Living Dead.

One of her own favorite projects thus far was a zombie flick. She especially enjoyed working on a character who hid out in a church with his son following a bite.

That was cool because I got to do the transitional makeup from a human to a zombie, she says. It was such a challenge, but it turned out amazing.

At first ... (the director) just wanted him to be bleeding out of his eyes and his ears, Shell says. Then he stepped back and said, What prosthetics do you have on you? 

She busted out her selection, and the director picked a bubbly-looking neck prosthetic.

It looked like he had veins popping out of his neck, she says. Oh, it was brutal.

Thats right up her alley. However, Shell says shes learned she does well to switch back and forth between scary projects and projects that involve beauty work. It helps with the creative flow, she says.

Among her goals for 2022 are to work with Doja Cat, an L.A.-born-and-raised musician and TikTok darling, who Shell says is creating a stellar reputation in the special effects industry. Her boyfriend shares that goal.

We desperately want to work with her, Shell says. I came kind of close at one point (in 2021), but it fell through.

She would also like to do more prosthetics and props  something she dove into last year.

So does Shell ever feel like shes in her own movie? Absolutely, she says, though adds she has reservations about admitting that.

When you move to LA you kind of jump into this bubble. ... Its very cool but you feel like everyone is in their own movie and everyone is the main character, she says. Theyre either the small-town girl from whatever rural farm town they come from trying to make it big or whatever their journey is.

Like herself, most everyone she meets now has long dreamed of Hollywood. But dont expect her ego to swell as big as that iconic sign.

I really aim to be someone real so that the next dropout that wants to move forward and change their life will look at me  also a high school dropout  and be like, Oh, yeah. Its attainable,  Shell adds. Its not this crazy, far away fantasy that doesnt exist. Its real. Its totally tangible.
This story contains links that will take you to our archives site on newspapers.com. This content is free for LancasterOnline subscribers who are logged in. Click here for more information about how to subscribe.

Excerpts and summaries of news stories from the former Intelligencer Journal, Lancaster New Era and Sunday News that focus on the events in the countys past that are noteworthy, newsworthy or just strange.

25 years ago

"What in the world is the World Wide Web?"

That was the headline on a story in the Jan. 2, 1997, New Era about the rapid growth of the online world and how the average person might take advantage of it.

At the time, the were only about 25 million internet users in the world, a tiny fraction of today's 4.6 billion. That's why the New Era explained the new technology in terms that seem quaint by today's standards, using terms like "electronic mail."

Here's a longer example:

"Information is kept on "sites" you visit using your browser. In this online world of sites, also referred to as "Web pages," you can "surf" from site to site or page to page in your quest to explore."

The article also contained detailed information about what hardware and software was needed to get online, plus a guide to early internet service providers.

What other online activities could an adopter of the internet engage in, aside form sending "electronic mail?" The New Era suggested looking for recipes, searching real estate listings, and downloading tax forms, all of which are still done today.

Endlessly scrolling social media? Posting cat memes? Spreading disinformation? No one predicted those things - at least not in the New Era.

In the headlines:

Parents of slain 6-year-old pageant winner offer reward for tips on killer

Suspected Nazi to be charged in wake of shootout in Kansas

Gingrich to escape censure?

Check out the Jan. 2, 1997, Lancaster New Era here.

50 years ago

Toward the end of 1971, St. Joseph Hospital in Lancaster completely changed its policies around maternity care, in keeping with a growing trend nationwide.

The new "Family-Centered Maternity Care Program" was launched in in the fall and by January 1972, the program had seen its first couples through the process of pregnancy and childbirth.

Historically, fathers were separated from mothers as soon as they arrived at the hospital, and were allowed very limited visiting time. Mothers were kept separate from their babies as well, only seeing their children at mealtimes. The process was, for many women, a frightening and lonely one.

The new policies stressed the unity of the family. Mothers and fathers took classes for expectant parents together, after which the father was allowed into the delivery room to witness and participate in the process of birth.

After delivery, babies spent significant time out of the nursery and in the hospital room with their parents.

In the headlines:

Maurice Chevalier dead of heart attack at 83

Million spectators cheer 60 Rose Parade floats

Mummers stage gaudy performance

Check out the Jan. 2, 1972, Sunday News here.

75 years ago

In Lancaster, 1947 began with an exceptionally quiet day, with the downtown area "deserted" in the wake of an ice storm.

Shortly after sunrise, snow began falling, with about three inches accumulating before the precipitation turned to sleet and freezing rain. County roads were turned to "ribbons of ice," and city streets were empty, as local residents stayed inside, starting their new year under blankets or sitting by the fireplace.

Children, however, will always make the best of a winter storm, and sledders took to the streets of the city to take advantage of the snow, before it was covered by ice.

In the headlines:

Chinese beat U.S. officer in new protest

Rayburn seen as Democratic House leader

Top ranking officers of Little Rock slain in murder and suicide

Check out the Jan. 2, 1947, Intelligencer Journal here.

100 years ago

Hundreds of city residents turned out to watch the inauguration of Lancaster Mayor Frank C. Musser on Jan. 2, 1922.

Musser unseated incumbent Horace Kennedy in a contentious campaign. The new mayor's inauguration speech, however, focused on unity among the city's residents, working toward common goals such as a cleaner city (physically and morally), keeping political influence out of law enforcement and patriotism over partisanship.

Many other reforms were promised by the new mayor, from improving the condition of streets and parks to overhauling the city's accounting systems.

Musser would remain Lancaster's mayor until 1930.

In the headlines:

Earth and moon are out of step, say scientists

Great Mummer pageant staged in Quaker city

Check out the Jan. 2, 1922, Lancaster Intelligencer here.
Five people from Lancaster County have been charged with crimes ranging from violating curfew to unlawful entry to assaulting police.

Heres a look at where the cases stand in what the government has called one of the largest investigations in U.S. history, with around 700 people arrested so far.

Michael Lopatic Sr.

Michael Lopatic Sr. of Manheim Township was arrested at his home on Feb. 3 and accused of repeatedly punching a police officer in the head during the insurrection. Prosecutors also allege that he ripped the body camera off another officer and later threw it away, apparently trying to get rid of evidence.

A grand jury in Washington indicted him Jan. 29, but his arrest was not made public until Feb. 9.

Lopatic, who stands 64 and is well over 200 pounds, wore a red U.S. Marine Corps hat and a shirt that said Trump 2020 and I have PTSD, which, according to additional writing on the shirt, meant pretty tired of stupid Democrats rather than post traumatic stress disorder.

Video accompanying an Oct. 16 New York Times story, 90 Seconds of Rage, shows the attack, just before 4:30 p.m. Jan. 6 at a west terrace entryway. The relevant portion of Lopatics actions last about 15 seconds.

Shortly after his arrest, the government sought to keep Lopatic behind bars by arguing that he was a flight risk. They quoted from Lopatics Facebook page, including a New Years Day 2021 post in which he wrote, Assemble on the capital (sic) January 6th, 2021. United we stand, go forth and we fight.

On Nov. 4, 2020, the day after the election, Lopatic posted a call to arms on Facebook, writing: I was out pheasant hunting today with my buddy. We play a game called head shots. I won. Two clean in air shots with full choke. Heads destroyed. No pellets in bodies. I got a rooster and a hen. I named them Joe and Kamala. True story.

Many other of his posts expressed his opposition to abortion.

On. Feb. 2, he posted: It wasnt a riot at the capital (sic) it was a Crusade against baby murderers.

Lopatics attorney, Dennis Boyle, told LNP in June that Lopatic had been in D.C. to advance the pro-life cause, and did not believe the election was stolen. As for his clients actions, Boyle said they were motivated by a statement he heard indicating that the police had shot and killed a 16-year-old girl. This statement turned out to be false, but he did not know it at the time.

The rumor Boyle referenced could have been inspired by the shooting of Ashli Babbitt, a San Diego woman who was killed by a U.S. Capitol Police officer when she climbed through a broken window on a door near the U.S. House chamber.

Lopatic was released on April 26. His trial has not been scheduled. He told LNP|LancasterOnline last month that he would like to tell his side, but that it wouldnt be prudent with his case unresolved.

Samuel Lazar

In April, LNP|LancasterOnline reported that Samuel Lazar of Ephrata was the same man depicted in a photo posted to the FBI website seeking the publics help in identifying alleged Jan. 6 insurrectionists.

Lazar had been mentioned in the newspapers Jan. 10 story about the Capitol attack.

Video and still footage on social media showed Lazar spraying a chemical irritant at police and encouraging violence near the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Online sleuths working to identify people pictured in the FBI photo gallery were referring to Lazar as #FacepaintBlowhard, a reference to the camouflage face paint he wore that day. A patch on Lazars vest, visible in the FBI photo, referenced Psalm 144, Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle.

In a video Lazar posted to Facebook the morning of Jan. 6, he said, Its going to be an eventful day. Donald Trump is going to shock the world! Were ready for war, if were needed.  Whats going to happen today is going to be historic. America is going to take back everything, its glory. Were going to make sure that happens! Freedom!

Two days later, Lazar wrote a Facebook post acknowledging the violence: I hate to see violence happening in our country at this time in our history. I wish for peace and prosperity! However just like in the bible itself it says, there is a time for peace and theres a time for war. Our constitution allows us to abolish our govt and install a new one in its place.

Three months after LNP|LancasterOnline revealed Lazars identity, on July 26, law enforcement agents arrested him at his Ephrata apartment. He is charged with assault and obstruction-related crimes.

Despite efforts of his attorneys to gain his release pending trial, Lazar remains behind bars. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in October determined that Lazar continued to pose a danger.

At the hearing, Jackson referenced the Psalm patch and video showing Lazar spraying police, taunting them and urging others in the crowd to take their guns.

A trial date has not been scheduled. A status conference is set for Feb. 9.

NATIONAL IMPACT BOX: NATIONAL IMPACT The government said the Jan. 6 investigation will likely be one of the largest in American history. About 725 people have been arrested in nearly all 50 states. At least 225 are charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers or employees. More than 75 have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer. About 10 were charged related to assaulting a member of the media or destroying their equipment. About 140 police officers were assaulted. About 165 people have pleaded guilty to federal charges; at least 105 were misdemeanors. About 70 had their cases adjudicated and received sentences. Thirty-one have been jailed.  U.S Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia, citing most recent information (Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021)

Edward McAlanis

Edward McAlanis, 41, of East Cocalico Township, was arrested July 14 on charges related to trespassing inside the Capitol building on Jan. 6. Friends provided authorities with photographs of him in the Capitol that he had posted to Facebook.

On Nov. 23, the former township recreation board chairman pleaded guilty to one charge of parading in the Capitol building. Three other offenses  entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building and violent entry  will be dismissed at his Feb. 15 sentencing. He faces a maximum sentence of six months in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.

At his plea hearing, McAlanis told federal Judge Dabney Friedrich that he didnt know he was committing a crime by entering the building. But he then acknowledged he knew he shouldn't have been inside.

McAlanis said he didnt have violent or malicious intent, but was "observing everything" and "helping police" and was only in the Capitol rotunda for about 10 minutes.

Two minor cases resolved

Tara Coleman, 41, of West Lampeter Township, was charged with unlawfully entering public property and violating curfew. Dakoda Westfall, 24, of Fulton Township, was charged with violating curfew. The cases were not directly linked to the violence at the Capitol.

Coleman pleaded guilty in September in District of Columbia court to unlawfully entering public property and was sentenced to 18 months of probation. She was also ordered to pay $50 to a crime victims compensation fund and perform 40 hours of community service.

Westfall paid $25 in February to settle his curfew violation charge.

Another man was arrested in Lancaster County and charged in the Capitol assault, but he is not a county resident.

Zachary Jordan Alam, of Centreville, Virginia, was arrested at an East Cocalico Township motel on Jan. 30. Alam is also awaiting trial in Lancaster County on burglary and theft charges stemming from the theft of antiques valued at more than $5,000 from Stoudts Antique Mall in Adamstown on Jan. 29.

#GreenGramps

The FBI continues to seek the publics help in identifying a man who resides in or has ties to Lancaster County. Referred to as #GreenGramps by online vigilantes and as #54 on the FBIs photo gallery, the man, who appears to be in his 60s or 70s, was part of the first group of rioters who overwhelmed a line of police officers posted on the edge of the Capitols west lawn.

The same man was seen in Lancaster County on Dec. 30, 2020, protesting outside House Speaker Bryan Cutlers Quarryville district office and later that day outside Cutlers home in Peach Bottom.

The #GreenGramps nickname is inspired by the green Gerry coat he wore on both Dec. 30 in Lancaster County and again on Jan. 6 in DC.

The man is believed to be an associate of another person the FBI is seeking to identify  referred to as #KidRailing because he grabbed at a metal bike rack being used by Capitol Police to hold back the mob. The man, who appears to be decades younger than #GreenGramps, is #321 on the FBI photo gallery.
A 17-year-old boy was injured in a car crash in Adamstown shortly after midnight Saturday morning, according to police.

Ephrata Police were called to the area of Red Fox Court and Misty Meadow Drive after a small black Volkswagen sedan driven by an Ephrata teen hit a parked vehicle. The teen, who police have not identified, was taken to WellSpan Ephrata Hospital for moderate injuries.

Police said an investigation is ongoing and toxicology results are pending. Both vehicles, including the parked vehicle owned by a couple from Glenmoore, Chester County, were towed from the scene, police said.

Ephrata Police were assisted by the Adamstown Fire Department and Fire Police.
How could so many people believe that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, that fraud was rampant, that a sitting president was denied re-election by a vast conspiracy?

And why do so many people still believe that, with nearly a years worth of facts validated by the news media and by government investigators?

Overwhelmingly, federal and state judges rejected former President Donald Trumps legal challenges. Only infinitesimal voting irregularities have been found  fewer than 475, according to a recent Associated Press investigation of six key states.

None would have changed the presidential elections outcome. Some of the claims of fraud proved untrue.

In one Pennsylvania case, Bruce Bartman, 71, of Delaware County, voted for Trump on behalf of his dead mother. He pleaded guilty in April to unlawful voting and perjury and was sentenced to five years of probation.

Bartman told a Delaware County judge, I was isolated last year in lockdown. I listened to too much propaganda and made a stupid mistake, the Associated Press reported.

Why is such a large proportion of the electorate so convinced that 2020 was a corrupted election?

The two dozen or so locals who went to Washington, D.C., in support of Trump either refused to talk or did not respond to numerous attempts to reach them. LNP | LancasterOnline turned to two Pennsylvania professors for insight.

Stephen Medvic, a Franklin & Marshall College government professor and director of the schools Center for Politics and Public Affairs, said theres a willingness to at least toy with conspiracy theories.

Pre-election polling in 2020 found that about 45% of both registered Democrats and Republicans were willing to believe that if their candidate lost, voter fraud could have something to do with it, he said.

That suggests an openness to say, If things dont go the way I expect, then its got to be a conspiracy,  Medvic said.

In a typical election year, Medvic said, the percentage of voters willing to blame fraud for their candidates loss is between 25-30%.

Its just a convenient explanation, he said.

But when it comes to the last presidential election, between two-thirds and three-quarters of Republicans said they believe the election was stolen, Medvic said, though he allowed that some poll respondents might have replied that way to get rid of a pollster.

This is all they're hearing from Trump and right-wing media. There's just a self-reinforcing information environment, where they're not hearing much, he said.

Alison Dagnes, a professor of political science at Shippensburg University, agreed with Medvics assessments.

There has been a very concerted effort to create an alternative media system in contrast to traditional media, Dagnes said.

Its closed, self-reinforcing, she said. A solid 32% of the American public gets its news from this ecosystem and they dont leave.  The voices they hear are all contained within this sphere.

And, Dagnes continued, The audience is the base of the Republican Party, and they have demanded fealty from their elected officials.

Dagnes said many who still believe the election was stolen have been told the system is corrupt and against them.

This has been going on for decades: media bias, crooked lawmakers, judges on the take ., she said.

We have a bottom-up problem right now, Dagnes said, explaining that grievance and anger and hostility are really the key to ratings.

Fox News was calling balls and strikes on election night, she said, referencing the networks first  and correct  call that Joe Biden had defeated Trump in Arizona.

The result?

In just over a week after Jan. 6, Fox fired its political editor who had defended its coverage and a bureau chief announced his retirement, Dagnes said.

When you get rid of the journalism, you fill it with punditry: Is it true that Joe Biden is dead because hes so old? Im just asking questions?
Students of public administration have long debated the best way to hold public officials responsible and accountable. Is it the assortment of external checks provided by the U.S. Constitution  separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, elections  or the internal checks of officeholders, such as professionalism, ethics and respect for the rule of law?

I want to apply this debate between external and internal checks to the constitutional crisis of Watergate, and then examine how the framework pertains to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

In both crises, external and internal checks were missing. Yet to be determined is whether sufficient safeguards are in place to prevent the next crisis, which could arise as soon as 2024.

Nixon and Watergate

The Watergate scandal involved efforts by President Richard Nixon and his administration to not only rig the 1972 presidential election in favor of the presidents reelection, but also reward political friends and intimidate Nixon opponents.

Operating within the White House, a so-called plumbers unit conducted illegal surveillance, wiretapping, burglary and other measures on behalf of the president to disrupt the anti-Vietnam War movement. They broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in June 1972 to discredit Democratic officials and candidates. Laundered political contributions to the Nixon campaign financed the operations.

Nixon and his closest aides were personally involved in interfering with official investigations of Watergate crimes by lying, encouraging others to lie, paying hush money and promising pardons to supporters who protected the president.

Watergate is often held up as an example of how our constitutional system worked. Congressional oversight investigations, the federal courts, the news media and the impeachment process revealed presidential wrongdoing and forced Nixon to resign. More than 40 members of the Nixon administration and campaign, including two Cabinet members, went to prison.

On the other hand, it is doubtful external checks on the president would have succeeded had not courageous individuals stepped forward: The Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who uncovered the White House horrors; U.S. Sen. Sam Ervin, who chaired the Senate Watergate Committee that discovered a taping system inside the Oval Office; special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who pursued the tapes in court until Nixon fired him; Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General Bill Ruckelshaus in October 1973; and Coxs replacement, Leon Jaworski, who obtained a unanimous verdict from the Supreme Court that Nixon had to release the tapes containing evidence that he was actively involved in obstructing justice.

Had they and many others not acted out of principle and professional responsibility  the internal checks  Nixon would not have been held accountable.

Trumps actions

Nearly 50 years later, another U.S. president attempted to secure reelection by unconstitutional means.

When Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden emerged victorious after several days of ballot-counting in November 2020, President Donald Trump refused to concede, claiming election fraud.

Subsequently, his lawyers filed numerous lawsuits in attempts to overturn the results. No systematic fraud was discovered in any state, and Trump lost all of his legal challenges.

At the same time, stop the steal rallies were held in Washington, D.C., and various state capitals. The rallies featured ultranationalist groups such as the Three Percenters and Proud Boys, encouraged by Trump on Sept. 29, 2020, to stand back and stand by.

For his part, Trump promoted the Big Lie that he actually won the election. On Jan. 2, 2021, Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (a Republican), asking him whether he could find 11,780 votes that would make Trump the winner there. And Trump rid his administration of officials who affirmed his defeat, including Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.

As election results were validated in the states, attention turned to the day when Congress would affirm the official electoral vote count. On Dec. 19, 2020, Trump told his followers in a tweet to attend a protest rally near the White House on Jan. 6, stating, Be there, will be wild!

Law enforcement agencies were aware of the potential for violence but held back. Defense Department officials were reluctant to present a show of force around the U.S. Capitol, as they had during the Black Lives Matter protests that summer. They said they didnt want to invite armed clashes with pro-Trump protesters, which the president might cite as a pretext for declaring martial law.

Trump advisers developed legal and political scenarios whereby Vice President Mike Pence could invalidate the electoral vote count. To implement the plan, a command center of Trump advisers, including political agitator Steve Bannon and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, gathered at the Willard Hotel. Trump leaned hard on Pence, but Pence refused to go along with the scheme. Trump called the Willard war room the night of Jan. 5.

The Jan. 6 insurrection began with 10,000 or more Trump supporters, some wearing military gear, flocking to Washington. In his speech at noon near the White House, Trump appealed again to Pence to overturn the electoral vote count. He told the crowd, We are going to the Capitol ... (to) try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.

Trump also stated, If you dont fight like hell, youre not going to have a country anymore.

Trump supporters began their assault on the Capitol building around 1 p.m., as the vote count began in the House chamber. Members of law enforcement were overwhelmed, and the scene turned into a riot. The building was breached around 2 p.m. Protesters desecrated both legislative chambers and many Congressional offices. Dozens were injured and five people died on that day or shortly thereafter.

From the White House, President Trump watched the assault unfold. Numerous phone calls and electronic messages from members of Congress attempted to reach the president. Trump issued several tweets but did not appear on camera until 4:17 p.m., appealing to the rioters to go home and adding We love you. Youre very special.

Around the same time as the presidents video message, Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller gave the Army approval to deploy the National Guard to the Capitol, more than two hours after the initial requests were made. By 8 p.m., the Capitol was secured.

Overnight, Congress finished the vote count and confirmed Biden as the next president, although 147 Republican members of Congress objected to certifying Arizonas and/or Pennsylvanias electoral votes.

Checks on Trump

The Jan. 6 insurrection reflected a battle among external and internal checks on President Trumps efforts to subvert the presidential election.

On the one hand, Trump enforced allegiance among his aides in the White House and inserted loyalists in the top ranks of federal law enforcement. Republicans in Congress and some GOP-controlled state legislatures put partisan loyalty first in supporting Trumps efforts to overturn the election.

Conservative websites, cable news and social media amplified the false claims of election fraud and mobilized Trump supporters to attend rallies.

On the other hand, voters applied the ultimate check by denying Trump a second term and giving Democrats control of the Senate. The courts certified that the 2020 elections were conducted fairly. House leaders moved immediately to impeach Trump. Although their efforts ultimately failed to earn a conviction in the Senate, a historic number of members of the presidents party voted to convict.

For all that, Trumps campaign to subvert the election might have succeeded if not for the brave actions of a few principled individuals.

Election officials at state and local levels withstood tremendous pressure as they counted and audited votes. Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger not only said no to Trump, but recorded the conversation.

U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., was removed from her House Republican leadership position for opposing Trump.

Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman and other heroic defenders of the Capitol prevented what might have been the taking of hostages, including the vice president.

Speaking of the vice president, Pence may well have forfeited his chances of becoming president by upholding the rule of law on Jan. 6.

Where we stand

Today, the Justice Department, under a Democratic administration, is prosecuting hundreds of protesters for entering the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6 and committing acts of terror and assault.

U.S. House Democrats established a special investigatory committee that includes Cheney. Neither the committee nor the Justice Department has received cooperation from the higher-ups who are believed to have helped to coordinate that insurrection.

Bannon has been charged with contempt of Congress. The House select committee is considering whether to ask the Justice Department to prosecute Trump for obstruction of Congress.

To conclude on a distressing note, the state of external and internal checks on government is worse off than it was five years ago. Anti-corruption measures are weaker. There is greater willingness to disregard the ethics laws that remain in place. Partisan advantage in government and the media appear to override values of fairness, expertise and rule of law. Politics is flooded with special interest money.

Republican intransigence, Senate rules and Democratic caution are blocking measures, such as the Freedom to Vote Act, that would increase transparency and democracy in the electoral process.

Republican recapture of the House in the 2022 mid-term elections would almost certainly mean the end of the congressional Jan. 6 inquiry.

Republicans in Congress and the some states have been hard at work restricting access to the vote and empowering partisan executives and state legislatures to potentially override the results of presidential elections.

Most disturbingly, domestic terrorism and election-related violence have not subsided. And there is no assurance that the Jan. 6 coup-plotters will be brought to justice.

The plotter-in-chief is still at large, planning another run for the presidency in 2024.

E. Fletcher McClellan, Ph.D., is a professor of political science at Elizabethtown College. Twitter: @mcclelef
Hong Kong: HK detects 26 virus cases

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) today said it is investigating 26 additional COVID-19 cases, of which nine are confirmed and 17 are asymptomatic cases. One of them is related to Moon Palace, Festival Walk.

The new cases consist of 25 imported cases and one possibly import-related case.

Among them, 24 involve mutant strains while the mutation test results of the remaining two cases are pending.

The cases involve seven males and 19 females, aged one to 61. Nine patients of the imported cases arrived from high-risk places with enhanced surveillance and 16 were from high-risk places.

Twelve of them tested positive upon arrival at the airport and 10 tested positive during quarantine.

Another two patients are close contacts of previous imported cases. They tested positive at the Penny's Bay Quarantine Centre and a hospital.

The remaining imported case involves a local aircrew member who developed symptoms on December 29. She consulted a private doctor the next day and tested positive for the virus.

The CHP said that one of the above imported cases involves a 27-year-old woman who had stayed in Hong Kong during the incubation period. She lives at Kornhill Block K in Quarry Bay.

The patient left Hong Kong on December 24 for Finland after testing negative the day before. She returned to the city on December 31 from Finland via the Netherlands and Thailand by flight KL819, and her specimen collected upon arrival tested positive and carries the N501Y and T478K mutant strains.

The places where she lived and visited in Hong Kong during the incubation period have been included in a compulsory testing notice.

For the possibly import-related case, the 50-year-old female patient dined in Moon Palace from around noon to 2pm on December 27. She was arranged to undergo quarantine on December 31 and her specimen collected on the same day tested positive.

Including this case, there are so far four positive cases related to that restaurant.

Meanwhile, the CHP is investigating another preliminarily positive case related to the same restaurant.

It involves a 38-year-old woman who is the wife of the patient of case 12654, a construction worker. The couple had a meal at Moon Palace from around 2.30pm to 4pm on December 27.

The woman got tested at a community testing centre on December 29 in accordance with the requirement of a compulsory testing notice and tested negative. She was classified as a household close contact and was sent to the Penny's Bay Quarantine Centre on December 30.

She developed sore throat on January 1 and her specimen collected today tested preliminarily positive with a cycle threshold (Ct) value larger than 30. The test results on mutant strains are pending.

The woman had received two doses of the BioNTech vaccine in Hong Kong. She works at 15/F, Sandoz Centre in Tsuen Wan and last went to work on December 30. Her workplace and venues where she had visited during the incubation period will be subject to compulsory testing.

Regarding the cases related to Moon Palace, the CHP has so far arranged about 340 close contacts and household contacts of the close contacts to undergo quarantine at a quarantine centre, including 22 restaurant staff members and about 170 customers who were in the restaurant during the same period of time.

People who had meals at the restaurant from 1pm to 3pm on December 27 are urged to call the hotlines at 2125 1111 or 2125 1122 as soon as possible.

A total of 148 positive cases were reported in Hong Kong in the past 14 days. Four of them are import-related cases and the rest are imported.

Separately, as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight KL819 arriving from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on December 31 and Cathay Pacific flight CX216 from Manchester, the UK, on January 1 had passengers on board who tested positive upon arrival, the Department of Health has prohibited the landing of these airlines' passenger flights in Hong Kong from the relevant original ports from today to January 15.

For information and health advice on COVID-19, visit the Government's dedicated webpage.

This story has been published on: 2022-01-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
In the late summer of 1794, hundreds of armed insurgents in the western counties of Pennsylvania formed what President George Washington called combinations too powerful to be suppressed by ordinary means.

In response, Washington issued the famous Whiskey Rebellion Proclamation, which ordered residents to lay down their arms and retreat to their homes or face the full wrath of the federal government. At issue was violent insurrection intended to undermine the enforcement of federal law, a point Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton made to Pennsylvania Gov. Thomas Mifflin weeks later.

Washington, Hamilton and an army of 12,500 soldiers then marched overland from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh to quell the uprising, prosecute the leaders for treason and insurrection, and reassert federal authority. Those convicted eventually received a presidential pardon and order was restored in Pennsylvania and in other states where citizens had protested in a similar manner.

Historians have focused on the Whiskey Rebellion to measure the degree of popular disillusionment with the new federal government following the American Revolution. For George Washington, the Whiskey Rebellion was the great challenge to the future of the republic and its political institutions.

This act of insurrectionary violence foreshadowed a pattern of extremist protest that continued over more than two centuries  a through line that includes the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. There is a certain similarity, and there are glaring differences, between the events of 1794 and 2021. Perhaps most significantly, where one president tried to prevent insurrection, another incited rebellion by his words and actions.

In American mythology, George Washington is remembered as the father of our country and the American Moses who led his people through the chaos of war and revolution. Considering recent events, I cannot help but ask, where is our Moses?

Making sense of the senseless

Anniversaries are sometimes celebratory in nature, and at other times they give us pause to remember and make sense of misbegotten tragedy. History does not repeat itself, but it does encourage understanding and an informed and honest perspective on the meaning and import of events like Jan. 6, 2021.

How shall we make sense of the violent assault on the Capitol intended to prevent the lawful counting of electoral ballots in Congress? What words adequately convey the betrayal of quisling politicians who cooperated with the stop the steal campaign, and the president who badgered his own vice president to violate his constitutional duties? What do we say of media personalities and fringe agitators who gave license and cover to the lies and deceits that continue to jeopardize popular faith in democratic institutions and the rule of law?

Collectively they form what Washington called a combination or conspiracy of malcontents that threatens the republic and the trust of the American people.

My own sense is that the events of Jan. 6, whose anniversary we are fast approaching, should be seen as a three-act political drama whose ending has not been written.

Act One includes President Donald Trumps 2017 inaugural address and, weeks later, Steve Bannons expressed intent to deconstruct the administrative state and subvert government institutions, uttered before an approving Conservative Political Action Conference audience. These events were the harbinger of the carnage to come.

Act Two includes the speeches at the Washington, D.C., rallies on Jan. 5 and 6, where the presidents chief allies and members of Congress fomented revolution and discord with words that sanctioned the subsequent invasion of the Capitol building to prevent the counting of ballots. The violence was well-planned and organized  it was purposeful, to use the word  and it nearly succeeded. QAnon conspirators, paramilitary Three Percenters, pro-Trump Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, as well as devotees of other extremist hate groups and nonaligned fellow travelers all joined ranks to thwart the constitutional process. Unlike George Washington, President Trumps response was to ignore pleas for help and then issue a belated and fainthearted message to go home.

Again, I ask, where is our Moses?

Act Three of this political drama is the long aftermath that led up to the current vacillations and denials, and the swift about-face of politicians  I hesitate to call them leaders such as Congressman Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy and company openly court Trumps favor, while denigrating the likes of Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, true patriots who have been run out of their respective state Republican parties.

Act Three must include the eventual findings of the House select committee investigating Jan. 6, the contempt referrals to the Department of Justice, and the several hundred insurrectionists now convicted or awaiting trial for their role in the vicious assault on the Capitol that left several people dead, government property destroyed, and a national spirit tattered.

Trumps fate is yet to be determined, though his assertion of executive privilege has been stymied so far by the White House and the courts.

Shame of Pennsylvania

It has been said that violence only leads to more violence and lies beget more lies. In central Pennsylvania, we have congressional figures like Scott Perry who appear to have been complicit in the events of Jan. 6.

Perry was invited but declined to give sworn testimony before the House select committee investigating the insurrection. He claims to have immense respect for our Constitution and the Rule of Law, but nevertheless has sought to subvert both.

Why did U.S. Reps. Perry and Lloyd Smucker and a plethora of Pennsylvania state lawmakers willingly provide aid and comfort to those who attempted to overturn a free and legitimate election and derail the constitutional process? Why did they support decertifying the lawfully cast ballots of their constituents and the subsequent Electoral College tally?

Why did Perry and 20 other Republican House members vote against awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to the heroic Capitol Police and D.C. Metropolitan Police officers who defended them and their colleagues on Jan. 6? Why do they baselessly claim that Joe Bidens victory was fraudulent, but believe their own victories, won in the same elections, were legitimate?

To my mind, this is the shame of Pennsylvania in the long aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection. Too many of our elected officials have betrayed their oath of office and the public trust, while maintaining a tainted partisan pose that serves their own interests and not those of their constituents. This failure is tantamount to malfeasance, and they should resign their offices with a sincere apology to those they have deceived.

I am confident this will not happen, but they must be held accountable to the electorate they have sullied. This is a harsh statement, but on this anniversary should we simply pretend it is business as usual? Who shall lead we the people from this wilderness of discontent? Where is our Moses?

Dennis B. Downey, Ph.D., is emeritus professor of history at Millersville University. His most recent publication is Pennhurst and the Struggle for Disability Rights (Penn State Press 2020).
The year 2021 was a big year for new space exploration. But next year also promises major new developments.

Here is a look at some of the biggest space missions expected to launch in 2022.

NASAs Space Launch System

The American Space Agency NASA is planning to launch the first test of its Space Launch System, or SLS, in March. NASA has called SLS the worlds most powerful rocket. It is expected to begin a new generation of human space exploration.

SLS is the first rocket designed to carry both astronauts and supplies in a single mission to the moon. It is scheduled to launch Americans back to the moon as part of NASAs Artemis program. Artemis aims to land the first woman and first person of color on the moon.

NASAs goal for landing on the moons surface was to do so by 2024. But NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told reporters in November the target date is now 2025 at the soonest. It would be Americas first visit to the moon since NASAs Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

The SLS flight in March will not include astronauts. During the test mission, NASAs Orion spacecraft will launch from the SLS rocket and travel 450,600 kilometers from Earth. NASA says this is farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever traveled. The mission is expected to last four to six weeks.

International moon missions

Several nations will aim to send spacecraft to the moon in 2022.

India will seek to land a robot explorer, or rover, on the moons surface, India Today reports. The Chandrayaan-3 mission follows an attempt in 2020 that ended with the countrys lander and rover crash landing on the moon. India has said its new rover will seek to confirm the presence of water in the form of lunar ice.

The Japanese Space Agency plans to launch its Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon, or SLIM, in April 2022. The agency says the mission is designed to demonstrate lunar landing methods involving a small exploration vehicle.

Japanese space exploration company iSpace announced last April that it would transport a rover belonging to the United Arab Emirates to the moon in 2022. Japans iSpace will provide the lander to carry the rover. The lander will launch from a Falcon 9 rocket built by American company SpaceX.

Russia is planning to launch a lunar lander in July, Russias TASS news agency reported. The Luna 25 mission aims to land an explorer on the south polar area of the moon. The spacecraft will study materials on the lunar surface, as well as in the outermost part of the moons atmosphere.

SpaceX Starship

In November, SpaceX chief Elon Musk said his company would attempt in 2022 to launch its reusable spacecraft, Starship, into orbit. It will be the first orbital test flight for the spacecraft. Musk said SpaceX will carry out several test flights before beginning to launch satellites and other missions on Starship rockets in 2023.

NASA has an agreement with SpaceX to use Starship for transporting astronauts to the moon. Musk has said he also plans to use the rockets to land people on Mars.

ExoMars mission

A joint Russian-European mission to send a rover to Mars is expected to launch between August and October 2022. The ExoMars mission will put the rover, called Rosalind Franklin, on the surface of Mars to search for signs of possible past life. It was set to launch in 2020, but got delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Asteroid exploration

A NASA mission called Psyche is expected to launch in August. The Psyche spacecraft will travel three-and-a-half years to a metal asteroid orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter. Psyches science instruments will gather information on the asteroid. Scientists believe it could have separated during violent crashes during the solar systems formation.

And, NASAs DART spacecraft is expected to reach the asteroid system Didymos between September 26 and October 1. The spacecraft will attempt to strike a non-threatening asteroid as a test to see how the crash affects the space objects path.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story based on reports from NASA, The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. Mario Ritter Jr. was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

Quiz - Major Space Missions Planned in 2022 Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz



__________________________________________________

Words in This Story

mission  n. an important project or trip, especially involving space travel

polar  adj. of or relating to a geographic pole of the area around it

asteroid  n. a rocky object that goes around the sun like a planet
A recent survey found that at least 40 percent of media agencies in Afghanistan have disappeared since Taliban militants took control of the country.

More than 80 percent of women reporters have lost their jobs as well.

The group Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, led the study with its local partner, the Afghan Independent Journalists Association, or AIJA. It released updated findings on December 21.

It said that the environment for reporters in the country has become extremely fraught since the Taliban took control on August 15.

The survey found, of the 543 media agencies in Afghanistan at the start of the summer, only 312 were still operating at the end of November. More than 6,400 reporters and media workers have lost their jobs since August 15.

The survey also found that 84 percent of women have lost their jobs compared to 52 percent of men.

There are no working women reporters in 15 of Afghanistans 34 provinces. For example, the northern province of Jowzjan used to have 19 media agencies employing 112 women. The survey said, now, none of the 12 media agencies still operating is employing a woman.

The Taliban in many places have reportedly demanded that local media agencies not employ any women reporters.

Most of the Afghan provinces had at least 10 privately-owned media agencies just four months ago. Now, some areas have almost no local media.

The study found that the area of the capital Kabul has lost 51 percent of its media agencies. Of the 148 counted before August 15, only 72 are still operating. Of the 1,100 women reporters and media workers in Kabul at the start of August, only 320 are now working.

Hundreds of journalists have left Afghanistan out of fear of Taliban attacks or because of problems with working under Taliban rule.

The Taliban has issued a set of journalism rules. They include requiring agreement with the Talibans ideas about Islamic law.

The survey described the rules as dangerous. It said they open the way to speech restrictions and take away independence from journalists.

Taliban officials deny that they are behind cases of violence or media restrictions.

Reporters Without Borders quoted Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid who was asked about some 40 cases of violence against journalists since August 15. Mujahid said efforts are being made to train and control the actions of Taliban security forces.

Media agencies are not making money since the Taliban took control. That also has led to the reduction in media workers. Many agencies were receiving government and international money before the takeover.

Beyond the numbers, the closure of nearly half of the country's media and the loss of more than 6,000 jobs are a disaster for press freedom, AIJA Executive-Director Hojatullah Mujadadi said.

Im Gregory Stachel.

Ayaz Gul reported this story for Voice of America. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English. Susan Shand was the editor.

________________________________________________

Words in This Story

survey  n. an activity in which many people are asked a question or a series of questions in order to gather information about what most people do or think about something

fraught  adj. causing or having a lot of emotional stress or worry

province  n. any one of the large parts that some countries are divided into

journalism  n. the activity or job of collecting, writing, and editing news stories for newspapers, magazines, television, or radio
There's a widening gap between the global north and the global south when it comes to travel freedoms, says the first 2022 report by London-based global citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley & Partners.
Lapwai, ID (83501)

Today

Cloudy early with showers for the afternoon hours. High 59F. ENE winds shifting to NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Showers in the evening, then cloudy overnight. Low 44F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Kristine Coshuns son Collin was on the floor, screaming, crying and vomiting repeatedly. There was nothing she could do.

Kristine and her husband took the 22-year-old from one Kenosha County hospital to another. But there werent any nurses or doctors available to take care of him. They ended up waiting more than 16 hours in the waiting room of Froedtert Pleasant Prairie Hospital. They never did see a doctor. A receptionist took vital signs of the others waiting to be admitted. Patients were being treated in hallways. During the 17th hour, Collin was admitted to a makeshift room. An IV was put in his arm. He was sent home 2 hours later. They still dont know whats wrong with him.

Brittany Palechek might have had a heart attack. A 29-year-old nurse who lives in Waterford, Palechek still doesnt know if she actually had one. After sitting in the St. Lukes Hospital waiting room in Milwaukee for 2 hours in nothing but a bathrobe with an IV in her arm, she ran out of patience, took the IV out on her own, and walked out.

Collin Coshun and Brittany Palechek are still alive. But Americas health care system is so strained by COVID-19 that it simply cannot care for all of the people who are sick right now  whether with coronavirus or with a severe viral infection, heart attack, stroke, car crash or other malady.

There are numerous factors causing the strain in our hospitals, not all of them directly related to COVID:

The unvaccinated, some of whom end up filling hospital beds that otherwise could have gone to people like Palechek and Collin Coshun.

The long-term lack of aid and educational incentives that could have led to more American doctors and nurses being trained and working now, and a shortage of emergency-care hospitals compared to China, which built hospitals in record time specifically to care for COVID patients.

The anti-vaccination rhetoric from elected officials.

Employer vaccine mandates, which likely led to less than 1% of medical professionals quitting their jobs.

Other medical professionals who got burned out and quit.

Purveyors of medical misinformation.

Foolish people going to the emergency room for a stubbed toe or a first-degree burn, wasting precious resources and time.

But then there is the coronavirus itself, which has killed an estimated 5,420,000 across the globe.

The situation in American hospitals is bad, and theres no telling when it will get better.

Vaccines work According to November data from the state Department of Health Services: Unvaccinated people are five times more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 than the vaccinated in Wisconsin.

Unvaccinated people are more likely to be hospitalized than vaccinated people by a ratio of 11 to 1.

For every one vaccinated person who dies of COVID-19, 12 unvaccinated people are dying in Wisconsin.

Omicron-fueled surge

Dr. Anthony Fauci, top medical adviser to President Joe Biden, predicted last week that the current surge, fueled by the omicron variant which appears to be more transferrable even if it is slightly less potent than the delta variant, may continue through the end of January.

The strain is coming not just from COVID patients but the sheer mass of people coming to hospitals. Medical facilities tend to be busier in winter months. But with, as of Friday, 1,710 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Wisconsin, the systems we have in place are being pushed beyond the brink.

When Palechek spoke to a reporter, she spoke of how she was experiencing obvious symptoms of a possibly heart attack but that the staff at St. Lukes told her they "didnt have any rooms available. No blood work was even done. She still doesnt know what was wrong, other than her blood pressure having been measured at 158 over 103 in the ambulance.

Waiting at Froedtert South (formerly St. Catherines) for more than 16 hours between 5 p.m. on Dec. 27 and 9:39 a.m. on Dec. 28, Collin Coshun  who has no known pre-existing conditions  huddled on the panel wood floor under a mass of thin hospital blankets. He crawled next to a radiator to try and stop the shivering. A cup was placed in front of his mouth to vomit in. For most of the time, nothing was coming out, but he continued to dry-heave.

His whole body is trembling, shaking, not much is coming out of his body anymore, Kristine Coshun said of the ordeal.

Someone please help me, he moaned repeatedly.

Kristine said two other women in the ER told the staff they should admit Collin before they themselves were admitted. He needs a doctor, now, one of them said.

But the staff gave similar answers, over and over: There is nothing we can do. We have nowhere to put him. I dont know what to do with him. Every spot in the hospital is full.

Since COVID patients typically spend weeks in the hospital, few rooms were being made available. Whenever a room was vacated, extra time had to be set aside for the rooms to be sanitized before another patient could be admitted.

Kristine found herself getting enraged at people who entered the emergency room for non-emergent issues. She said she overheard someone complaining of a stubbed toe. At one point during the night, a man walked in and told the receptionist he had a burn on his leg. The receptionist, Kristine said, almost snapped at him, saying firmly: Youre going to sit here 20 hours, theyre going to put burn cream and a bandage on you, and send you home. Go to Walgreens. Go home.

As the hours ticked by, Kristine remembers looking at her husband, Richard, and saying Are we in a Third World country? Where are we? Is this even America?

Its an overall sign of a broken health care system, she said.

Visitors banned, facilities closed

Our hospitals across Wisconsin are treating 445 COVID inpatients, a 66% increase from one month ago. The vast majority are unvaccinated, Advocate Aurora Health said in a statement Friday, the day after it banned most visitors from its hospitals. This situation is growing more challenging by the day  beds are tight, wait times are long and our team members are strained. Despite that, our commitment to providing safe, quality care remains absolute.

Three Advocate Aurora facilities in the Milwaukee area  in Brookfield, Milwaukee and Menomonee Falls  closed their urgent care centers on Wednesday. They wont reopen until Jan. 6 at the earliest.

In Green Bay, 23 U.S. Navy nurses, doctors and respiratory therapists have been called in to support Bellin Hospital, arriving on Thursday.

It was in Green Bay where, a month ago, a single Prevea Health hospital reported turning away 28 patients in a single day, including three stroke victims.

The cost is measured in lives: The family of Dale Weeks, a retired Iowa school superintendent, cites his death as an example; he died in November, The Des Moines Register reported, after getting sepsis and being stuck in a small hospital in Newton, Iowa, for 15 days since it was impossible to transfer him to a bigger, better-equipped hospital that could have better cared for the 78-year-old.

Froedtert spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

No room at the inn

The situation at any given hospital changes on a day-to-day basis.

When the Coshuns, who live near Downtown Kenosha, went to the hospital on Dec. 27, it was actually their second trip in three days. On Christmas morning, Collin developed similar symptoms.

It got to the point where he couldnt stop vomiting, at about 10:30 a.m., his mother said. They went to Aurora Medical Center in Downtown Kenosha and he was admitted relatively quickly. Blood tests revealed really high elevated white blood cells and a possible liver problem. He got an IV with antibiotics and went through six bags of fluid, but was discharged that day.

They were kind of stumped, Kristine said.

The symptoms re-emerged on the afternoon of Dec. 27, when Collin was at his girlfriends grandmothers house. The girlfriend called Kristine, but before she could arrive to pick up her son, the girlfriend called again to say they couldnt wait any longer, and she drove him straight back to Aurora.

Upon arrival, Kristine and Richard were not allowed inside  no visitors were allowed in the hospital for adult patients. Soon after, Collin left that hospital  he could barely walk  he was crying, hunched over in pain  so his parents could take him to Froedtert South. There, with a less strict visitors policy, they could keep an eye on him in the waiting room.

Little did they know it would be about 20 hours before all three would return home.

Through it all, Palechek and the Coshuns said, no one was rude to them. Hospital staff were always kind and polite, but firm. But their exhaustion was evident.

It was unbelievable, Kristine said, that this was American health care.
Four endangered whooping cranes were shot and killed in Oklahoma last month during the sandhill crane hunting season  a hunting season that could be created in Wisconsin if a GOP-authored bill is successful.

The International Crane Foundation, based in Baraboo, has warned that allowing a sandhill crane hunting season in Wisconsin could threaten whooping cranes, an endangered species the foundation has worked to reintroduce to Wisconsin. That threat appears to have just become a reality in Oklahoma.

On Dec. 15, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation reported that a whooping crane was found near Tom Steed Lake with a shotgun wound. The crane died while being taken to a veterinary clinic.

Later, three more whooping cranes were found dead in the same area where the first was found, the department said. Oklahoma and Texas officials are searching for the perpetrators.

This is sickening to see such a wanton waste of wildlife, and our Game Wardens are very eager to visit with the individual or individuals who committed this crime, Wade Farrar, assistant chief of law enforcement with the wildlife department, said in a statement.

There are only about 500 whooping cranes in North America. Killing one can lead to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine under the Endangered Species Act and another $15,000 with up to six months in jail under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the department said. The endangered bird is the tallest in North America.

The killings of the whooping cranes happened during Oklahomas sandhill crane hunting season, which began Oct. 23 and runs through Jan. 23, according to the Oklahoma wildlife department.

In past years, the sandhill crane hunting season has been temporarily shut down in Oklahoma if a whooping crane has been sighted. Its unclear whether the sandhill hunting was suspended when the four whooping cranes were killed.

In Wisconsin, a proposed Republican bill would require the state Department of Natural Resources to authorize the hunting of sandhill cranes. The department would be able to limit the number of hunting permits issued for the sandhill cranes, and hunters would need to participate in a hunter education course before obtaining a permit.

If the bill passes the state Legislature and is signed into law by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers  who could use his veto power  the hunt could harm the states sandhill crane population unless the hunting season is carefully managed, the International Crane Foundation said. Sandhill cranes, currently a protected species, have recovered over the past 70 years after dwindling to just a couple dozen breeding pairs.

Supporters of the hunt say sandhill cranes are becoming overpopulated and causing damage to crops.

But Anne Lacy, senior manager in the North America programs at the International Crane Foundation, said theres no measure for when the cranes would be overpopulated, and the crop problem is solvable.

Lacy said a hunt would do nothing to help address crop damage caused by sandhill cranes because most of the damage happens during the spring when cranes feed on seeds, but waterfowl hunting is limited to late summer or fall. The foundation helped develop a seed treatment that prevents cranes from damaging corn in the spring.

Crop damage is something that can be solved right now, Lacy said, adding that the seed treatment  not a hunting season  would fix the problem.

A hunt could also cause hunters to shoot whooping cranes accidentally, Lacy said. Adult whooping cranes are white with black wing tips and a red patch on the forehead. But young whooping cranes are brown in color and can easily be mistaken for sandhill cranes, even with hunter education, Lacy said.

We cant advocate for a hunting season if we believe that it might do indirect harm to the population or direct harm to something like the whooping crane, Lacy said.

The Madison Audubon Society has also raised concerns about the potential sandhill crane hunt. The society notes that whooping cranes and sandhill cranes can be difficult to distinguish during flight.

Roughly 80 whooping cranes nest in Wisconsin each summer then migrate to the southeastern United States for the winter, according to the International Crane Foundation. Another group of cranes summers in northwestern Canada and travels to the gulf coast of Texas in the winter, including through Oklahoma.

These are majestic birds, Lacy said. Theyre a conservation success story.

In a statement, foundation president and CEO Rich Beilfuss called the killing of the four whooping cranes in Oklahoma an outrageous illegal shooting event.

We are angry and heartsick, Beilfuss said. The International Crane Foundation, along with many partners, has invested millions of dollars and decades of time and expertise to bring whooping cranes back from the brink of extinction. And in an instant four birds are gone forever.

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A 19-year-old man was killed early Saturday morning after the vehicle he was operating struck a fence in the town of Blue Mounds, authorities reported.

Crews were dispatched to the scene at around 3:15 a.m. in the 2400 block of Highway 78 after receiving reports about a crash.

Officials said the man had been traveling north on Highway 78 when the vehicle left the road and struck the fence.

The man was the sole occupant of the vehicle, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Winter weather and icy road conditions, as well as the driver not wearing a seat belt, were likely contributing factors to the incident, police said.

The crash remains under investigation.

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A structure fire that occurred in the town of Brooklyn Saturday afternoon has displaced two adults and a cat, and resulted in financial losses of around $200,000, authorities reported.

At approximately 2:02 p.m., crews were dispatched to N7515 County Road X following reports of a residential structure fire.

Upon arrival, fire units found a two-story, single-family house with heavy flames coming from three sides of the structure, and on both floors.

Public safety officials from Belleville, Green County, Fitchburg, Brooklyn, Oregon, Verona, Monroe, Evansville and Brodhead assisted in putting out the fire.

The fire resulted in no injuries to either civilians or crews, but the home is considered a total loss.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, officials said.

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TWIN FALLS  Prestyn Myles Clouse most likely didnt hear Brahms Lullaby chime over the hospital loudspeaker when he was born.

In the excitement of the moment, Kasey Oakley and Tanner Clouse may not have heard the lullaby either  less than a half-hour into 2022  when they became the parents of St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Centers first born baby of the year.

Everything went very smooth, Prestyns mother, Kasey Oakley, said during a virtual meeting later that afternoon.

Prestyn came into the world at 12:24 a.m. Saturday. Weighing in at 8.1 pounds, he is 22.25 inches long and has a nice head of hair.

Oakley said she had hoped hed be born on Dec. 31; Prestyn was due on Jan. 7.

Being parents is obviously the best thing ever, Oakley said as she held her new baby close. Prestyn will soon join his 18-month-old brother, Forrest, at their home in Twin Falls.

The young mother had already picked out Prestyns name  even before her first son was born.

I really like Prestyn. We have another son and I wanted to name him Prestyn, but, she said, nodding toward Clouse, he got his way and named him Forrest.

Prestyns middle name, Myles, is both Oakleys fathers and grandfathers name, she said.

Clouse, 26, does traffic control on road construction projects. Oakley, 25, is a stay-at-home mom. The couple moved to Twin Falls from Medford, Oregon, nearly three years ago.

They have family visiting from out of town.

Prestyn will go home with a blanket and onesie declaring him a St. Lukes New Years Baby and a gift basket with newborn essentials provided by St. Lukes Magic Valley Health Foundation, hospital spokesperson Michelle Bartlome said.

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Q: I have a friend who works for a tow company. He told me that when he is sent by the police to pick up a vehicle at a crash site, for example, he can go over the posted speed and not get cited. Is he right or could there be a citation in his future?  Mike

A: Im not a fortune teller but if I was I would tell your friend to get his wallet out because he will more than likely be opening it someday to pay for the citation that he could be getting.

He could speed legally under one exception and that would be to unblock one or more lanes of a road (that always happens toonot). If the director of the Idaho Department of Transportation deemed the truck as an emergency vehicle it would be the only other exception, but I have yet to see that happen.

Maybe the easier thing to do here is to give you the definition of Idaho Code as to what are vehicles that could be deemed as emergency vehicles. Idaho Code 49-123(b) defines authorized emergency vehicles as :Vehicles operated by any fire department or law enforcement agency of the state of Idaho or any political subdivision of the state, ambulances, vehicles belonging to personnel of voluntary fire departments while in performance of official duties only, vehicles belonging to, or operated by EMS personnel certified or otherwise recognized by the EMS bureau of the Idaho department of health and welfare while in the performance of emergency medical services, sheriffs search and rescue vehicles which are under the immediate supervision of the county sheriff, wreckers which are engaged in motor vehicle recovery operations and are blocking part or all of one or more lanes of traffic, other emergency vehicles designated by the director of the Idaho State Police or vehicles authorized by the Idaho transportation board and used in the enforcement of laws specified in section 40-510, Idaho Code, pertaining to vehicles of 10,000 pounds or greater.

In case you are wondering about Idaho Code 40-510, it gives limited law enforcement ability to enforce certain traffic laws. Many of these are commercial vehicle laws which are misdemeanors. These agents only have authority to issue citations.

Officer down

Please put these officers, killed in the line of duty, and their families in your prayers. They fought the good fight, now may they rest in peace. God bless these heroes.

Officer Chad P. Christiansen, Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs

Sergeant Kevin Redding, Haverford Township Police, Pennsylvania

Police Officer Mia Goodwin, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police, North Carolina

Police Officer Keona Holley, Baltimore City Police, Maryland

Agent Jose Ferrer-Pabon, Puerto Rico Police Department

Have a question for Policeman Dan? Email your questions to askpolicemandan@gmail.com or look for Ask Policemandan on Facebook and click the like button.

Dan Bristol is a retired police officer and former chief of police.

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In 1971, Susan DeMarco, Susan Sechler and I teamed up in a Washington-based public interest group (rather wonkily named Agribusiness Accountability Project) to launch a muckraking foray into the little-examined, multibillion-dollar labyrinth of Americas farm and food policies. But other progressive activists back then were bewildered by us. They were all working on big, high-profile issues like ending the Vietnam War and urban poverty. So, they asked, why were we talking about tomatoes, land-grant colleges, Earl Butz and such arcane concepts as oligopolies?

Were not, we replied, were talking about power. After all, what power do people really have if we cant even control whats in our dinner and where it comes from? This requires keeping a democratic grip on food and farm policy, which requires knowing what those policies do and who is making them.

We know about monopoly, the anti-competitive gouging of consumers when a very few corporations control the sale of a product. But what about mo-nop-so-ny? Thats when very few buyers control the purchasing of products or services offered by many. For example, when most local farmers go to market to sell their commodities, instead of having multiple processors and marketers make competitive bids, nearly every American farmer who produces grain, milk, veggies, meat, etc., faces monopsonies, with only one or two buyers offering a lowball, take-it-or-leave-it price.

This same kind of manipulation and domination of the so-called free market is also crushing working families. Mass corporate consolidations in manufacturing, hospitals, newspapers, hardware stores, farm equipment dealers and practically all other sectors mean local job opportunities shrivel to one place paying a low wage ... or take a hike. The intentional creation of these cartels has already enveloped 60% of U.S. labor markets and is a major force in wage suppression and widening inequality in America. Yet, our public officials  Democratic as well as Republican  have heretofore refused to see corporate monopsony as the antitrust crisis it is. President Joe Biden has proposed an aggressive anti-monopoly agenda; lets press him for action.

Theres nothing genteel about being a dirt farmer. Although working in and with nature can offer a deeply satisfying life, it tends to be a hardscrabble go  as food writer and small farm champion Christopher Kimball recently put it: Farming is full of manure, mud, blood, large stubborn animals, dangerous equipment and days when things just never go right ... Its first and foremost about hard work and hard choices, trying to scratch a living from the soil, 365 days a year.

Thatll test your mettle. But add another factor: Youre Black.

Uh-oh. That has long meant that the publics expansive ag support system (favorable loans, assorted subsidies, technical help, etc.), which give farm families a fighting chance against the cruel twists of nature and monopolists, are not there for you. This blatant racial discrimination has driven hundreds of thousands of good, Black farmers off the land.

This year, though, weve witnessed an astonishing Republican-led uprising in opposition to unfair racial exclusion from ag programs! Hallelujah  is that party finally resurrecting its inner Abe Lincoln?

Hardly. A group of GOP goobers like South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Texas ag commissioner Sid Miller have risen up on their hind legs to rage against a Biden proposal to provide long-overdue debt relief to farmers of color whove been systematically cheated. The whine of these ultra-white, newly born civil rights activists is that any help targeted to African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, et al., is reverse racism, so theyre demanding that money intended to alleviate Black farm debt caused by racist lenders and farm agents must be split with privileged white farmers whove endured no discrimination.

Funny, isnt it, that Lindsey, Sid, and their gang of race raiders expressed not a peep of protest last year when then-President Donald Trump doled out tens of billions of our tax dollars in a special ag giveaway that was gobbled up almost entirely by rich, corporate and even foreign farm owners  with nearly all Black farmers excluded? Youre right ... its not funny.

You neednt be Black or a farmer to join the National Black Farmers Association and support its mission to fight against hunger, prevent land loss, and secure food sovereignty. nationalblackfarmersassociation.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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In a crazy year, some stories were crazier than others when it came to kids, parents, worrywarts, scolds  and everything besides COVID-19, which we give a blessed rest in this list!

No. 1: WHY CANT YOU BE GOOD LIKE ME?

A Beaverton, Oregon, man screamed at a lady for leaving her kid in the car while she ran into the grocery for two items. Her irresponsibility was hurting his work! Here he was, minding his own business, stealing her car, when he noticed the baby and had to bring him back. What a waste of time! On the upside, at least that gave the guy a chance to tell the mom what a lowlife she was before he sped off again  in her car.

No. 2: WELL LEAVE A LIGHT ON (IN YOUR CELL)

Shaina Bell of Youngstown, Ohio, was arrested for leaving her kids, 10 and 2, in a motel room while she worked her evening shift at a pizza shop. Cops tipped off to this struggling familys criminal activity booked mom into jail on two counts of criminal child endangerment. Being in a cell would certainly help her supervise her kids! Surprise happy ending: When the story got out, a GoFundMe raised $165,000 to help the Bell family.

No. 3: THE SCHOOL PICKUP-TO-PRISON PIPELINE

When 10-year-old Braylin Harvey was picked up a full seven minutes late from a Chicago public school, the school reported his mom, JaNay Dodson, to the Department of Child and Family Services. The principals email to Dodson said, I am empathetic to the challenges of balancing work and family responsibilities, however, all school employees are ... required to follow CPS protocols. Dolores Umbridge couldnt have said it better!

No. 4: NO GLOWING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THIS KID

Hazmat teams rushed to New Jerseys Haddon Township High School in January after a sophomore brought a quarter-size piece of Fiestaware  the colorful Depression-era plates  to science class. He wanted to see if the red color, once made with uranium oxide, was radioactive. His teacher considered it a learning opportunity. An administrator considered it a biohazard and evacuated the school, even though if you search for Fiestaware radioactive, as I did, you will find an article on ScienceNotes.org saying, There is no record of anyone ever becoming sick from manufacturing or using radioactive Fiestaware.

No. 5: HOW DARE THOSE BOYS PLAY OUTSIDE?

Nevada doctor Daniel Hansen was at work when his sons, 8 and 10, asked their mom if they could play down their dead-end street. Mom said yes, and off they went  until a neighbor called 911 to report two unsupervised children. Firefighters raced over to ... sheepishly escort them home. The firemen apologized, then added they would be reporting the family to law enforcement.

Dr. Hansens mom, Assemblywoman Alexis Hansen, needed no further prodding to co-sponsor Let Grows Reasonable Childhood Independence bill in the Nevada State Legislature.

The law ensures that parents who let their kids do reasonable things like play outside cannot be charged with neglect unless they put the kids in obvious and likely danger.

The bill passed in the Nevada House with bipartisan support, stalling in the senate. But heres the GOOD news:

This year, Oklahoma and Texas became the second and third states to follow the lead of Utah, which passed the countrys first Free-Range Parenting law in 2018.

Now one-tenth of American kids live where they are guaranteed the right to Reasonable Childhood Independence.

This coming year Let Grow, the childhood independence-promoting nonprofit I run, hopes to pass similar bills in Colorado, Nebraska and South Carolina.

Stay tuned and wish us luck  2022 could be a much better year for free-range kids!

Lenore Skenazy is president of Let Grow, a contributing writer at Reason.com and author of Has the World Gone Skenazy?

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Research assistant Katie McCullough holds up a mouse for Jake Litvag, 16, to see inside a Washington University lab where doctors are using the mice and Jake's genes to study a rare form of autism linked to a mutation in the MYT1L gene Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, in St. Louis. Researchers are using a mouse model and cell line with Jake's exact mutation to try to better understand the mutation. Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

Jake Litvag leaned in for a closer look as a lab mouse scurried around an enclosure, stopping to sniff a large block.

"Hi, Jakob 1. I'm Jake," the 16-year-old said, naming the little furry creature engineered to have the same genetic abnormality he has.

That mouse and its lab-grown relatives are the first in the world to mirror the missing gene that causes Jake's autism. Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis bred the mice, and grew stem cells derived from Jake's blood, to study and find ways to treat his rare disorder  and look for answers to the larger puzzle of autism.

Jake's family raised money for the early research, which scientists then parlayed into a $4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to delve more deeply into Jake's gene, one of more than 100 implicated in autism. They hope to find "points of convergence" that could someday help people with all forms of the neurodevelopmental condition affecting one in 44 U.S. children.

Jake knows he inspired their work. And that's helped him see autism as something to be proud of rather than something that makes him different from other kids. His parents, Joe and Lisa Litvag, figured meeting the scientists  and the mice  would show him firsthand what he had brought into being.

"Oh wow. Cool!" Jake said as he watched a mouse climb down a pole while others scampered in a bin.

Walking out of the lab, tears welled up in Lisa Litvag's eyes as she thought about the language within her son's cells helping other kids.

Research assistant Katie McCullough holds a mouse in a Washington University lab where doctors are using the mice to study a rare form of autism linked to a mutation in the MYT1L gene Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, in St. Louis. Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

"We're deeply proud and humbled to be part of this," said Joe Litvag. "What do we live this life for? It's ultimately to try to, in one way, shape or form, be of service to others."

JAKE'S GIFT

The Litvags realized early on that Jake wasn't reaching childhood milestones. He couldn't walk without assistance until he was 4. He struggled to string sentences together in first grade.

At first, no one could pin down why. Jake had a mix of different traits. He was hyperactive and impulsive but also social, warm and funny. It took until he was 5 to get a firm diagnosis of autism.

Around that time, the Litvags heard that child psychiatrist Dr. John Constantino, an expert on the genetic underpinnings of autism, was giving a talk at the Saint Louis Science Center. They decided to go in the hopes of meeting him. They did, and he began seeing Jake as a patient.

About five years later, Constantino proposed genetic testing. It revealed the missing copy of the MYT1L gene believed to cause one out of every 10,000 to 50,000 autism cases. Having an extra copy can cause schizophrenia.

The finding brought the family peace. They'd heard lots of people say autism was mostly caused by external factors, like birth trauma. "For a long time," Lisa Litvag said, "I thought it was something that I did."

Jake Litvag, 16, prepares to visit a lab at Washington University where doctors are studying a rare form of autism Jake has that is linked to a mutation in the MYT1L gene Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, in St. Louis. Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

Actually, a large multinational study suggests that up to 80% of the risk for autism can be traced to inherited genes.

"One of the big things it did for us as a family is it made us realize that it's nothing that we did wrong," Joe Litvag said. "It's just that people are born all the time" with genetic differences.

The couple, whose younger son Jordan doesn't have the condition, talked openly with Jake about his autism and tried to bolster his self-esteem when he worried about being seen as different. They sent him to a small private school that tailors its curriculum to each child's learning abilities. And they encouraged his social tendencies, cheering him on when he and some classmates formed a band, the Snakes.

"We never wanted him to feel there was shame around his diagnosis," Lisa Litvag said. "We continued to kind of reinforce that this is a superpower, you are special, you are awesome  and because you have autism, there are gifts you have to give other people."

GIFTS BLOSSOM

When Constantino suggested studying the little-understood MYT1L gene, the Litvags enthusiastically agreed to help. Constantino  who is on the local board of a group they've long been active in called Autism Speaks  asked if they'd be interested in raising money for early research.

Joe Litvag, an executive in the live music industry, and Lisa Litvag, a partner in a marketing firm, reached out to family and friends and raised the $70,000 needed in about six months.

Jake Litvag, 16, visits a lab at Washington University where doctors are studying a rare form of autism linked to a mutation in the MYT1L gene using mice with the same mutation as Jake Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, in St. Louis. Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

With half the money, researcher Kristen Kroll and her team reprogrammed cells from Jake's blood into "induced pluripotent stem cells," which can be prodded into becoming various cell types. With the other half, scientist Joseph Dougherty and his team followed the blueprint of Jake's genome and induced his mutation in mice using the gene-editing tool CRISPR.

Like the people they're meant to model, mice with the mutation tended to be more hyperactive than siblings without it, running around their cages much more. They were nonetheless generally heavier, especially the first generation of mice. They had slightly smaller brains and a little less of the white matter that speeds communication between different brain regions.

Since starting the research about three years ago, scientists have bred around 100 mice with Jake's mutation and are now using the great-great grandchildren of the first one they engineered. They recently published about the mice in the journal Neuron.

While scientists can't go back and see how Jake's brain developed, Dougherty said, mice allow them to watch the mutation play out through generations.

A GIFT IN RETURN

Dougherty and his colleagues hope what they learn about how MYT1L functions ultimately leads to medicines or gene therapies that improve or even correct the problems the mutation causes.

They are sharing their findings with scientists studying other autism-causing genes or trying to figure out how various genes work together to cause the condition. According to the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative, more than 100 genes have strong evidence linking them to autism and a growing list contains several hundred more genes thought to be linked to the condition.

Researcher Dr. Ramachandran Prakasam handles stem cells used in the study of a rare form of autism linked to a genetic mutation in the MYT1L gene inside a Washington University lab on Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, in St. Louis. Researchers are using the stem cells derived from the blood of 16-year-old Jake Litvag and mice with the same mutation as Jake to better understand the mutation and link to autism. Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

In cases where autism is caused by a single gene, Dougherty said that gene probably does many things to brain development. A key to understanding autism overall is to find one or two things shared across different forms of autism - which could then be targets for treatment. Though not everyone with autism wants treatment, Dougherty said it could help those who do.

Since the research began, Dougherty has been writing notes to the Litvags explaining the latest discoveries. But as a lab scientist, he's mostly removed from the people sparking the research and first met the family when they were invited by the school to visit in December.

After meeting the mice, they stopped into another lab, where Jake peered through a microscope at his blue-stained stem cells.

"That's me! That's cool stuff. I never saw anything like that in my life," he said, stepping back to lean into his dad, who pulled him close.

Dougherty used the visit as an opportunity to share some news, a gift of sorts that he wanted to tell the family in person.

The missing gene doesn't seem to shorten life. The mice live 2 to 3 years, the same as their siblings.

"So, a normal life span?" Joe Litvag asked hopefully.

Researcher Dr. Ramachandran Prakasam pulls stem cells out of a nitrogen tank used in the study of a rare form of autism linked to a genetic mutation in the MYT1L gene inside a Washington University lab on Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, in St. Louis. Researchers are using the stem cells derived from the blood of Jake Litvag, 16, and mice with the same mutation as Jake to better understand the mutation and link to autism. Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

"Yes," Dougherty answered. "As far as we can tell, identical. I know that's a big relief, too."

Joe Litvag turned to his son. "So Jake, maybe you will live to be 100."

"I will be 112!" Jake replied with a grin.

Explore further Autism: How a gene alteration modifies social behavior

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Ghadeer Mahar grimaces as she is given a vaccination at a COVID-19 booster vaccination centre at Hampden Park vaccination centre in Glasgow, Scotland, Wednesday Dec. 29, 2021. Credit: Andrew Milligan/PA via AP

The U.K. government has been making contingency plans in case hospitals, schools and other workplaces are hit by major staff shortages amid the country's record-breaking spike in coronavirus infections.

Public sector workplaces have been preparing for staff absences ranging from 10% to 25% as COVID-19 sickens more people or forces them to isolate, the Cabinet Office said.

The highly transmissible omicron variant has caused Britain's daily new caseload to soar over Christmas and the New Year, with a new daily high of 189,000 on Dec. 31. A further 137,583 infections and 73 deaths were added for England and Wales only on Sunday, with numbers for Scotland and Northern Ireland to be announced after the holiday weekend.

About 1 in 25 people in Englandor about 2 million peoplehad COVID-19 in the week before Christmas, the Office of National Statistics estimated. In London, the figure was 1 in 15.

Cabinet Office Minister Stephen Barclay said there had already been "significant" absences and the government was preparing for "every eventuality".

"It's important that those contingency plans are refreshed and that we take measures to mitigate those impacts," Barclay said.

Ministers have cited increased support for more virus testing, better ventilation in schools and workplaces, and drafting former teachers or even volunteers to prevent absences from having a serious impact on schools.

People queue, wearing masks against the coronavirus, outside a theatre for a performance of Les Miserables in London, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021. Many European countries have started further restrictions on their populations as the number of Omicron related COVID-19 case rise, and they aim to contain the spread of the virus. In England the government has said that there will be no new restriction before the New Year. Credit: AP Photo/Alastair Grant

Devolved authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have imposed limits on events and social gatherings in the face of the fast-spreading omicron. But Health Secretary Sajid Javid says adding new restrictions is a "last resort" for England, despite the climbing daily infection rate. Barclay backed this strategy again Sunday, arguing the reintroduction of light restrictions in December as omicron began to take hold had brought about a "significant behaviour change" with people reducing their social contacts.

The public had been advised to test themselves ahead of joining any New Year's celebrations.

National Health Service leaders say absences have already added to the heavy pressures on U.K. hospitals, even though the overall number of people being treated for COVID-19 remains much lower than last winter. NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson said staff have been working "flat out" and the early days of 2022 would be "crucial" in showing whether further measures are needed.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits a Covid vaccination centre at the Rainbow Pharmacy in the Open University Campus, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Wednesday Dec. 29, 2021. Credit: Geoff Pugh/pool photo via AP

Secondary school students in England will be required to wear face masks when they return to classes after the Christmas holidays. Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said the move was an attempt to "minimise disruption" and prevent teachers and pupils from being forced to stay at home.

The U.K. Health Security Agency has maintained its support for the seven-day isolation period for those who have contracted the virus and are fully vaccinated. But Paul Hunter, a professor of health protection at the University of East Anglia, told ITV that the requirement should be reduced to five days as studies had shown people were "very unlikely" to be infectious after this point.

The number of COVID-19 patients requiring hospital treatment across Britain has increased much more slowly than new infections, but in the last week reached its highest level since February 2021.

People, some wearing masks, gather on the south bank of river Thames to celebrate New Year's Eve, in London, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021. In Britain, where the highly contagious variant of the coronavirus has sent caseloads soaring to record highs, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said Monday no further restrictions will be introduced in England before the new year.Credit: AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali

A sign saying lateral flow coronavirus tests are out of stock is displayed in a pharmacy window in London, Thursday Dec. 30, 2021. Officials have warned revellers in Scotland and Wales to think twice before travelling to England to ring in the new year, highlighting how the four parts of the U.K. were again taking starkly different approaches to coronavirus restrictions amid record-high infections and soaring hospitalizations. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resisted tightening restrictions in England despite the rapid spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant. Credit: Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP

Britain's Health Secretary Sajid Javid as he leaves 10 Downing Street in London, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021. British lawmakers have voted to approve new restrictions to curb the spread of the omicron coronavirus variant. The House of Commons approved measures ordering masks to be worn indoors in England and requiring proof of vaccination or a negative test to enter nightclubs and large crowded events. Credit: AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a visit to a Covid vaccination centre at the Rainbow Pharmacy in the Open University Campus, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, England, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021. Credit: Geoff Pugh/Pool Photo via AP

The government's push to deliver COVID-19 boosters has now seen over 50% of the population receive a third dose.

Overall, the U.K. has reported more than 13.1 million infections and more than 149,000 deaths linked to COVID-19, the second highest death toll in Europe behind Russia.

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
New associates

Webb Brown, IOM, is the new executive director of the Montana Dental Association (MDA). He is concluding his current position as CEO of the Montana Regional Multiple Listing Service. Brown attended Carroll College and received a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of California at Riverside. His Institute for Organization Management (IOM) designation is from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Brown is currently an MBA candidate at the University of Montana. In his role, Brown will also be responsible for the Montana Oral Health Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charity providing grants to promote Montanans' oral health through the support of dental education and access to care. After his starting date of Jan. 15, Brown can be reached at Webb@MontanaDental.org or 406-4432061.
The state, federal and tribal groups involved in the Interagency Bison Management recently announced they would slaughter up to 900 Yellowstone bison this winter.

Yellowstones wild bison were declared our national mammal in 2016 and are of international significance.

Yellowstone bison are not the same as other bison scattered around the West. They are the most genetically pure bison left on the continent, largely influenced by natural evolutionary processes.

Nearly all bison herds, including those on tribal lands and other national park and wildlife refuges, have been domesticated and are treated more like cattle than wild animals.

The annual massacre of Yellowstone bison is biologically degrading the herd. Yellowstone's bison went through a genetic bottleneck in the last 1800s when only approximately 50 animals were left in the park.

The annual killing of up to 20% of the herd to satisfy the overstated concerns of the livestock industry continues to erode this globally significant wild biological heritage. There are 100 million cattle in the U.S. and only 5000 Yellowstone wild bison  which has greater importance to the world?

This carnage is based on a big lie  that bison threaten the Montana cattle industry.

The big lie is that bison might transmit brucellosis to cattle. It is true that brucellosis is a disease that can cause domestic cattle to abort. The reality is that the threat is greatly exaggerated.

First, the primary way that brucellosis might be transmitted is if a bison cow aborted their fetus and a domestic animal happens to lick the dead fetus or birth fluids. The occurrence of bison fetus abortions is infrequent. Plus, it is not difficult to separate cattle from any area actively used by bison in the spring when bison might abort.

Even if a bison aborted its calf, coyotes, magpies, golden eagles and other scavengers quickly consume the fetus.

Second, most cattle can be vaccinated against brucellosis  though, like all vaccinations, they are not 100% effective. Additional vaccination could reduce the number of animals without protection.

Third, though 20 ranch cattle herds have been infected with brucellosis, in all cases, the transmission was due to elk, not bison. Yet elk are not bottled up in Yellowstone or round-up for slaughter.

Fourth, as an indication that brucellosis is not the primary reason for the annual bison slaughter, bison bulls and calves can't transmit the disease, yet are regularly killed as part of the official butchery program.

The second part of the big lie is that too many bison are in the park. However, it is only "too many" because the Interagency Bison Management group agreed to keep the bison population below that arbitrary number.

Other studies by NPS biologists suggest Yellowstone could support almost twice as many bison. Plus if bison were permitted to migrate and live on other federal lands surrounding the park, their numbers in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem could be significantly increased and any negative impacts to park vegetation could be reduced.

The Interagency Bison group tries to assuage the annual carnage with assurances that any slaughtered bison will be transferred to Indian tribes or be killed by tribal hunters.

Imagine if, for some reason, the last old-growth redwood trees (also of international significance) were being cut down. Would you feel any better about this destruction if the agencies justified it by saying they would cut the trees into planks to be distributed to tribes to make huts or redwood decks?

There are numerous places on public lands surrounding Yellowstone where wild bison could roam. They should be encouraged to use these lands rather than destroy them. The transfer of Yellowstone bison to other public lands like Montanas Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge or to Forest Service lands in the Upper Green River area of Wyoming is also an option.

Another potential solution is to expand Yellowstones borders to the north of Yankee Jim Canyon and to the northwest into the Gallatin Range providing far more protected wildlife habitat for bison to roam.

Yellowstone wild bison are part of the global biological heritage. We must start to treat them as the matchless legacy they represent.

George Wuerthner is an ecologist who has published three books on Yellowstone as well as others on wildlands protection, including "Protecting the Wild: Parks and Wilderness the Foundation for Conservation."

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Newly-appointed NYC Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell hold a press briefing outside the hospital where the injured officer is recovering (Eric Adams/Twitter)

An off-duty NYPD officer is lucky to be alive after he was shot in the head while he slept in his car between shifts on New Years Day, according to authorities.

The officer was taking a nap in his personal car in the police parking lot outside the 25th Precinct in East Harlem, New York City, after he finished a New Years Eve shift in Central Park around 2:30am on Saturday morning.

The officer, who was due to start his next shift at 7am, was struck in the temple by a bullet which travelled through the rear view window of his car.

NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell, who was sworn into the role just hours earlier, said that the officer woke up at 6:15am noticing pain in the left side of his head and the window of his car shattered.

The officer was treated at the scene by a fellow officer who noticed him with blood pouring from his head.

He was then rushed to hospital where he underwent surgery and had bullet fragments removed from his wound, the commissioner said.

Officials said the officer is in a stable condition in hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.

He has not been publicly identified, with officials referring to him only as Keith, a father-of-two and a seven-year veteran of the force.

No suspects have been arrested or identified over the shooting and no motive was given for the incident.

It is also unclear at this time if the police officer was targeted or if he was struck by a stray bullet during a separate altercation.

Commissioner Sewell told reporters on Saturday that the bullet appeared to have been fired from a significant distance away.

Its hard to tell who the intended target was, if any, she said.

The NYPD is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the shooter.

The NYPD released this image of the bullet lodged inside the injured officers car (NYPD)

The commissioner and Mayor Eric Adams held a press conference on Saturday afternoon outside the hospital after visiting the wounded officer.

The two officials, who were sworn in to their appointments just hours earlier after the ball dropped in Times Square at midnight on New Years Eve, both vowed to take a zero-tolerance approach to gun crime in New York City.

Story continues

Mayor Adams said he will aggressively go after those who are carrying violent weapons in our city.

We must not only find the gun but we must find the person who discharged the weapon and find the people who believe they are going to destroy our city with gun and gang violence, he said.

He said today was a happy but angry day as the officer survived the attack which could have turned out differently.
By the time you read this Sunday column, New Years Eve will have just passed but that doesnt mean you cant plan on making a special family dinner to celebrate.

For example, many years ago, my daughter-in-law told me about hoppin John in an effort to introduce this born and bred New Yorker to Southern cooking. According to www.history.com, this Southern menu staple, usually a mix of black-eyed peas, rice and pork, originated with enslaved Africans in the United States in the 19th century, most notably in the South Carolina Low Country. The dish was likely linked to New Years celebrations because enslaved Africans prepared and ate it during a period when they had some rare time off from harvesting and planting. The dish developed into a good-luck meal, according to the Washington Post.

Often served with collard greens and cornbread, some food historians attribute the dishs unusual name to a take on pois pigeons, French for dried peas and pronounced paw-peejohn, which may have sounded like hoppin John to English speakers. Some correlate the black-eyed peas shape to coins (other traditions include eating 12 peas on New Years  one for each month  for good luck), while the greens signify money and cornbread stands for gold.

Louisianans and Mardis Gras fans know to start their year off with a sweet ringed king cake topped with colorful icing and sprinkles and baked with a trinket, such as a plastic baby, hidden inside. The lucky person who finds the trinket is named king or queen for the day. Bakeries in New Orleans and throughout the nation start selling the treats in early January through Fat Tuesday. They traditionally are eaten on Jan. 6, known as Twelfth Night or Epiphany, the Catholic celebration of the Magis gifts to baby Jesus on the 12th night after his birth.

Simple oval cakes eaten on Twelfth Night date back to Old World Europe, and the tradition was eventually brought to America. In late 19th-century, New Orleans revelers began hiding a bean in the cake during Mardi Gras balls. In the 1940s, commercial bakeries began producing king cakes and upgraded contents from beans, pecans or rings baked inside to porcelain dolls and eventually the plastic babies still used today.

Tamales stuffed with meat, wrapped in corn husks and steamed, have come to symbolize family, as generations often gather in the kitchen to make the labor-intensive food that will be eaten all holiday season long. In Mexico, that spans from Dec. 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, to Jan. 6, Three Kings Day.

Tamales date back to 8000 to 5000 B.C. and Mesoamerican cultures including the Mayans and Aztecs, and they arrived in U.S. points of entry, such as Los Angeles and San Antonio, and were sold by street vendors in the 1870s. Migrant Mexican workers helped the dish spread to other areas of the country.

Ringing in the year with toshikoshi soba, a soup with buckwheat year-crossing noodles, is a New Years Eve tradition in Japan and now practiced in the United States. Toshikoshi means to climb or jump from the old year to the new and the long, thin noodles symbolize a long, healthy life, and date back to the 13th or 14th century, when either a temple or a wealthy lord decided to treat the hungry people to soba noodles on the last day of the year.

Bottles of champagne are popped the world over on New Years Eve, but for some, its all about eating grapes. The Spanish tradition known as 12 lucky grapes signifies that eating 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight  one for each chime of the clock  will bring good luck in the coming year. Each grape signifies one month and, according to the superstition, failing to finish all 12 in time will mean misfortune in the year to come.

Italian New Years Eve feasts can mean multiple courses served over several hours. One dish in the massive spread said to bring especially good luck: lentils. Round and shaped like a coin, theyre a symbol of prosperity, and are often served with pork sausage.

Fish, symbolic of fertility, long life and bounty (plus the color silver represents fortune), is a popular New Years Eve dish in many cultures, and especially so for those of Scandinavian, German and Polish descent. Pickled herring, a small oily fish, is often served at New Years Eve smorgasbords.

Parts of Pennsylvania and Ohio savor slow-cooked pork and sauerkraut on New Years Day. The dish is said to bring good luck and progress because pigs are known to root forward, or move ahead, while sauerkraut is made with cabbage, which is tied to symbolic riches and prosperity and a long life thanks to its long strands.

The Germanic tradition was brought to America by the Pennsylvania Dutch.

German Americans who arent eating pork and sauerkraut on Jan. 1 are probably enjoying a special New Years pretzel instead. The German good-luck symbol, which some say dates back to the early 20th century in Sandusky, Ohio, is sweeter than savory, topped with a glaze rather than salt and often served at breakfast or brunch.

Ah, now this is finally in my territory as nothing quite hits the spot than walking the streets of New York and stopping for a huge warm pretzel covered with salt with the smell of roasted chestnuts also tempting people at a nearby vendor.

Those kinds of memories seem to live forever and warm ones heart at this time of year.

Happy New Year everyone!

Peg DeMarco is a Morganton resident who writes a weekly features column for The News Herald. Contact her at pegdemarco@earthlink.net.
Adam Scott, our neighbor, grew up in New Jersey, where he attended the evangelical Plymouth Brethren Church, a Christian tradition that is very missional and conservative, he said. Some of his theology has since changed. He and his wife, Tracy, have joined the Union Anglican Church, a new Anglican church plant in Morganton that seeks to welcome both conservative and liberal members.

Instead of finding our alliances in political categories, Adam said, we are seeking alliances in the story of God. (The faith) is global, and whites a minority. Sexual ethics is not at the center. What appeals to Adam about the Anglican tradition is the centrality of Scriptures, sacraments, spirit and service.

Weve been given much  resources and opportunities, he says. We cant help but want to serve and give.

Though some of his opinions have changed, he explained that many of the disagreements are nonessential. The reality of grace, though, is essential to both traditions, he said. So is generosity, which he believes comes from gratitude for the unearned grace. His father, a director of a rescue mission, and his mother, a baker of brownies for neighbors, both held their hands wide open for neighbors.

As he and I sat on their porch, Adam explained the genesis of a Bible study he taught in their backyard last summer. He and Tracy provided eggs, sausage and coffee for a breakfast and attendees added a variety of offerings to the table.

It has been a hope of mine for a long time to see neighboring happen in an intentional way, he said, then paused as a boy from two houses away arrived at the porch with questions for Adam.

Later that morning, the boy and his father were driving with Adam and his son, Ezra, to pick up boys Adam works with in his job as recreational director at Southmountain Children and Family Services. They planned to bike on the trails nearby.

After answering the boys questions, Adam returned to answering mine: I wanted to gather around Scriptures with neighbors to learn to love one another as we see God loving us. Were motivated by the Christian story.

If the Christian story is the real story of reality, we have been given grace beyond deserving, he said. We see the gospel taking hold in two ways: proclamation and embodiment, patterned after the incaution of Jesus.

He also explained the SHALOM sign beneath their mail box on the porch: Shalom means far more than a ceasefire, but a flourishing of all creatures. Restoration has to start at home with (our) nearest neighbors and frequent contacts.

Tracy, his wife, comes from Iowa. They met at Emmaus Bible College in Dubuque. She is a family service therapist working as he does at SCFS, where the couple originally served as foster parents in a group home.

It was a really cool experience, she said, but youve kind of got to give up your life 24/7. Though they continued foster parenting for a year and a half after the birth of their first child, when she became pregnant with her second, she realized she couldnt do it anymore.

We loved Southmountain and wanted to stay. Adam proposed his current role.

Both have masters degrees, but Adam returned to school for his associate degree.

Adoption and Foster care is always on our hearts, she said.

She taught at Western Piedmont Community College for awhile and then took time off after their third child was born. She is glad to be back at SCFS in a different role.

She said she really likes to be part of a team, getting different perspectives, not flying solo. Shes taken families she works with on Adams ropes courses, lets people set their own goals. Some just learn to put on a harness, she admitted.

While parenting in the group home, they had a community with friends and occasional gatherings but not as much interaction as they envisioned.

Ever since we moved into this neighborhood, Tracy said, we had the idea of being connected with neighbors.

They started a tradition of block parties every four months, putting signs on their lawn to invite everyone. They welcomed children who came without parents and encouraged racial diversity.

Tracy especially enjoyed the collaborative nature. People worked together setting up, getting games and fire pits to work, bringing food and drinks to share. She wasnt selfish about the hostess role and was willing  even eager  to share that joy.

She also meets with five other women in her backyard at 6:15 a.m. once a week for prayer and connecting.

We meet in the rain and in the cold, make coffee, keep showing up, she said.

She said she is excited about their Anglican church with a style of worship that resonates with us and finding God in a different way through that tradition.

As for the neighborhood Bible study, Tracy enjoyed hearing others takes on the Scriptures and loved the different perspectives. And no matter the perspectives or political parties there seemed to be consensus about caring for and respecting ones neighbor.

Adam and Tracy are not the only people on my street and in my community who are great neighbors and work together in emergencies, who play Four Square in the street with neighborhood kids, who take people to the doctor, bring food to caretakers, and join forces and money to take down a dangerous tree.

But Adams desire to see neighboring happen in an intentional way, his own incaution or risk-taking while attempting this, and his and Tracys commitment to this goal have made a difference on our street.

Maggie McKinney is a member of Morganton Writers Group.
By Trend





Georgias exports to Azerbaijan from January through November 2021 totaled $488.3 million, Trend reports via National Statistics Office (Geostat).

According to Geostat, the current figure increased by 22.2 percent, compared to the same period of 2020 ($399.6 million).

TOP-5 exported commodities from Georgia to Azerbaijan (Jan. through Nov. 2021):

Transport-related equipment  $248.3 million;

Industrial supplies  $85.4 million;

Food and beverages  $59.6 million;

Consumer goods  $57.5 million;

Capital goods  $31 million.

Thus, Azerbaijan ranks 3 among Georgias main export partners from January through November 2021, the report said.

Meanwhile, Georgian exports over the reporting period of 2021 amounted to $3.8 billion  an increase of 26.7 percent, compared to $3.01 billion in the same period of 2020.
A 19th-century Mexican president once summarized his countrys plight: So far from God, so close to the United States. Ukraine has the same problem, but with Russia. And its geographic proximity is particularly worrisome right now.

President Vladimir Putin, who annexed Crimea from Ukraine in a 2014 invasion, has raised fears he is planning another attack. He has massed troops near the border of the former Soviet republic, demanding that NATO renounce the possibility of Ukraine ever joining the alliance or providing bases for its forces.

The U.S. foreign policy establishment and its allies in Congress have taken this opportunity to remind us that they have no new ideas and that all their old ones are bad. They claim that American credibility is on the line and warn the Biden administration not to show insufficient resolve.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said any accommodation on our part would embolden Vladimir Putin and his fellow autocrats by demonstrating the United States will surrender in the face of saber-rattling. Retired Adm. James Stavridis, a former commander of NATO forces, declared, Appeasement does not work any better now than it worked for Neville Chamberlain in the late 1930s.

There are a couple of flaws in their reasoning. The first is the gap between their fierce rhetoric and their mild remedies. Even McCaul and Stavridis dont think the U.S. should go to war if Russia invades Ukraine. Our support for Ukraine does not extend to putting our troops in harms way. In case of a Russian invasion, whatever we might do to help Ukraine or punish Russia will not make much difference.

The second is that credibility is a false idol. President Joe Bidens critics accuse him of damaging ours with his chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. If Biden doesnt respond appropriately on Ukraine, they insist, China will assume it can swallow up Taiwan without paying a price.

But just because the U.S. leaves one conflict or avoids another doesnt mean it will follow the same course in another place or at another time. Bill Clinton pulled out of Somalia but intervened in Bosnia.

George W. Bush was forced to issue a meek apology to China in 2001 after an American military plane collided with a Chinese fighter and crash-landed on a Chinese island, where its crew was held hostage. But that didnt stop him from invading Afghanistan or Iraq.

As for appeasement, diplomacy requires compromise, and not every compromise is the moral equivalent of surrender. When Ronald Reagan signed a 1987 treaty banning intermediate-range nuclear missiles from Europe, angry conservatives compared him to ... Neville Chamberlain. Two years later, though, the Berlin Wall came down.

Putins posture is hardly evidence of Hitler-like ambitions. Suppose that Mexico were to enter an alliance that put Russian or Chinese troops on its soil to deter U.S. bullying. We would never tolerate it, any more than President John F. Kennedy was willing to tolerate Soviet missiles in Cuba.

The Russian president has indicated that, in parallel fashion, he is not willing to tolerate NATO troops, tanks, missiles and warplanes in Ukraine. The Kremlin is following the NUPIMBY principle  No Unfriendly Powers in My Backyard, says Stephen Van Evera, an international relations scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. States almost universally resist the close approach of hostile powers and alliances toward their borders.

Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Moscow, scoffed at such concerns, tweeting: NATO has never and will never attack Russia. But in a dangerous world, nations cant count on the benign intentions of other nations  not in the short term, and certainly not in the long term. What counts is capabilities.

In this crisis, the U.S. wants to ensure the security and independence of Ukraine. Russia wants to eliminate the prospect of another NATO ally on its border. Fortunately, there is a solution that achieves both objectives without war: an agreement that Ukraine will be a neutral country, in exchange for Russias commitment to back off and leave Ukraine in peace.

There is a good precedent for this solution. In 1955, Austria had to commit itself to neutrality in the Cold War to get the Soviets to end their military occupation of one zone of the country. As a result, wrote historian Tony Judt, Austria soon emerged as a model Alpine democracy: neutral, prosperous and stable.

Ukraine has not been so lucky. But with a recognition of reality and some creative statesmanship, it could be.

Follow Steve Chapman on Twitter @SteveChapman13 or at www.facebook.com/stevechapman13. To find out more about Chapman, visit www.creators.com.
A sign warns swimmers after the city of Long Beach closed the beaches due to a report of a spill of between two and four million gallons of untreated sewage into a canal in Carson, at Cabrillo Beach in Long Beach, California, Dec. 31, 2021.
Organizers of the CES tech conference, under fire for not cancelling the event during a Covid-19 surge, said they will close the expo one day early as an additional safety measure.

The in-person conference will now end on Friday, Jan. 7, rather than running through the next day, according to the Consumer Technology Association, which puts on the show.

The group, led by Chief Executive Officer Gary Shapiro, has cited the events importance to small companies and entrepreneurs in pushing ahead with the gathering.

Most large tech companies have scrapped plans to attend in-person, opting instead for online presentations.

T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert cancelled his speech altogether, with the company saying it would look ahead to the 2023 show.

As the worlds most influential technology event, CES is steadfast in its pledge to be the gathering place to showcase products and discuss ideas that will ultimately make our lives better, Shapiro said Friday.

We are shortening the show to three days and have put in place comprehensive health measures for the safety of all attendees and participants.

CES was held virtually last January, and the latest show was meant to mark a comeback for live tech events. But as the Covid-19 omicron variant spread around the world this month, companies quickly abandoned plans to go.
A college professor. A Caltech grad. A woman in a bikini. And, just this month, a father and son.

A confounding collection of Californians have been accused of contributing to one of the worst wildfire seasons in state history  a season that saw three killed, thousands of homes leveled and more than 2.5 million acres burned.

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While fires ignited by downed power lines and lightning have caused widespread destruction in recent years, this last wildfire season was unusual for the number of large fires that were linked to arson. Wildfire arson arrests have been climbing over the last few years: In 2021, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported 140 arrests by its law enforcement division  20 more than last year and double the number of 2019.

To some, the apparent surge in arson incidents has been a troubling new development in California's ever-worsening wildfire regime, and it has even given rise to a raft of conspiracy theories. Yet experts say the attention-grabbing headlines and uptick in arrests belie an enduring truth: Arson represents only a fraction of California's fire starts each year.

What has changed, they say, is that bone-dry drought conditions and overgrown forests have enabled even the smallest of sparks to explode into an inferno.

"Once they put that fire on the ground, they have no control over how it will grow," said Gianni Muschetto, chief of Cal Fire's law enforcement division.

In California, lawmakers distinguish between two types of arson: willful, malicious arson and reckless arson, such as when a person sets off fireworks in dry brush, Muschetto said. Identifying the source of a wildfire is one of the more technical jobs in law enforcement, and in 2019  the most recent year for which he had data  the causes of the majority of California's wildfires were undetermined. Electrical equipment accounted for about 12% and lightning 6%.

But arson was also a factor, sparking about 9% of fires in 2019, and roughly 8% to 10% of the state's wildfires in any given year. In 2021, when Cal Fire responded to more than 8,600 fires, that could mean as many as 800 blazes.

One of the alleged arsonists who made national headlines this year was Gary Maynard, a former college professor linked to an "arson-setting spree" near the site of the Dixie fire, the second-largest wildfire in California's recorded history.

Maynard was charged with willfully starting four fires in the Shasta-Trinity and Lassen national forests in July and August. Some of the blazes were set behind fire lines and in evacuation zones, with investigators in one instance identifying sticks, newspaper material and a wooden match in a burned area on the ground.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, his attorney said via email.

Witnesses at the scene said Maynard appeared to be mentally unstable. Officials confirmed that he had previously worked at two California universities, where he taught seminars in criminology and criminal justice.

The circumstances around Maynard and other arson suspects prompted a wave of speculation among far-right groups and conspiracy theorists, with some falsely suggesting that members of Antifa were intentionally setting fires as part of an elaborate political plot.

But the motives for arson are more complex than that, said Glenn Corbett, an associate professor of fire science and public administration at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

"There's dozens of reasons why people start fires," Corbett said, listing examples such as malice, recklessness, revenge, mental health issues or even just "bad behavior."

The latest string of high-profile cases "to some extent trend with social upheaval," Corbett said, including the COVID-19 pandemic and growing political and economic divides. "Sometimes those end up being 'trigger events' that sort of release people to do things that they probably wouldn't normally do."

But arson-related fires are especially dangerous given the record-setting heat and drought across the West, which have dried the landscape and primed it to burn  leading to faster, hotter and more intense wildfires than ever before.

"The volume, the size, the ferocity of fire is tied directly to what's burning," Corbett said. "High levels of dryness and low levels of humidity and no rain ... that's a prime situation for having a fire, and certainly one that is very difficult to contain."

One blaze that quickly grew out of control was the Fawn fire in Shasta County, which was allegedly ignited by a 31-year-old Caltech alumna named Alexandra Souverneva, who authorities say was found with CO2 cartridges and a lighter near where the fire ignited.

The fire grew quickly amid dry timber and heavy winds. By the end of its 10-day run, it had injured three firefighters, destroyed 185 buildings and charred more than 8,500 acres.

In December, Souverneva was ordered to a state mental hospital after a judge found her mentally unfit to stand trial. Her attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

But legal experts say her case and others like it raise important questions about how the state responds to instances of arson, which often involve external factors such as homelessness, mental health and drug use.

"The issue is not whether the punishment fits the crime  it's that the punishment of incarceration doesn't necessarily get to the root of the problem," said Louis Shapiro, a defense attorney and former public defender in Los Angeles.

"Most arsonists have mental health issues which, if were timely treated, would avoid the arson fires from starting altogether," he said. The "government needs to get ahead of these issues and proactively help those with mental health issues, rather than react to the damage after the fact. That is where the focus needs to be."

Joel Dvoskin, a forensic psychologist who has studied arson, said it's important to distinguish between people with mental disabilities and people experiencing emotional crises.

"When people do arson that's only intended to cause destruction, that's a despairing thing to do, and we live in a time when a lot of people are experiencing fear, anger and despair," he said. "Those are the three emotions that cause so much damage in our world, and I doubt that arson is an exception."

Like Shapiro, he said incarceration isn't always the answer, particularly since the reasons for committing arson are so varied and complex.

In California, the penalties for arson can include fines or several years of imprisonment. Shapiro said the outcomes of cases resulting from negligence  such as a 2020 wildfire ignited by a pyrotechnic device at a gender-reveal party  are harder to predict and largely depend on the way the sentencing judge views the case.

That fire, dubbed the El Dorado fire, went on to burn more than 22,000 acres and kill a firefighter.

It's an example of the kind of blaze that might have sputtered in a wetter climate but instead fed on hot, dry conditions that turned it into a monster, said Ed Nordskog, an arson investigator and co-author of "Arson Investigation in the Wildland."

"The fuel is so dry because of the climate, and of course if there's any sort of wind, that fire's gone off to the races," he said.

Still, what seems like a trend of arson in California may not actually reflect an increase in the number of people setting fires. California has more arson investigators than any other state and is becoming more proficient at catching offenders, Nordskog noted. States such as Colorado that may seem to have fewer instances of arson don't have as many investigators contributing to their statistics, he said.

Dmitry Gorin, a defense attorney and former prosecutor, similarly emphasized that the numbers remain small.

"You're seeing a lot of [cases] in the news now, and they usually happen during the fire season when it's dry with high winds, so we hear about them," Gorin said, "but as a matter of percentage of criminal cases in court, they're pretty rare, even in California."

Some arsonists are easier to catch than others, such as the woman who admitted to starting a fire near South Lake Tahoe in August after she emerged from the scene in a bikini and "covered in scratches and soot." Other cases are more complicated, including the large number of fires that are started by people living in the wildland-urban interface or people struggling with mental health issues and drug use, Nordskog said.

But in nearly all instances, the danger has gotten worse, he said. "Every fire has the potential to be a giant megafire."

Earlier this month, prosecutors filed reckless-arson and firearm charges against David and Travis Smith, a father and son suspected of starting the Caldor fire near South Lake Tahoe. That blaze, along with the Dixie fire, became the first to ever burn from one side of the Sierra to the other, and leveled the Gold Rush-era mountain town of Grizzly Flats.

The Smiths' attorney, Mark Reichel, said via email that they are "100% innocent" and even called for help as soon as they spotted the fire. They intend to beat all charges, he said.

But the outcome of the case won't do much to budge statistics. Of the 140 arson arrests this year, only 29 were in the "reckless" category while 111 were willful, said Muschetto of Cal Fire. The agency issued about 360 citations for fire and fireworks violations this year.

Still, the confluence of cases and conditions is undeniably creating more challenges for the state's residents and for those trying to protect them from the worst effects of wildfire.

"Whether it's an accidental act or lightning or arson, that risk of those fires getting larger quicker is increasing with climate change," Muschetto said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Napa slimmed down its first pandemic-era Lighted Art Festival and spread its schedule out over nearly two months for spectators safety, and those changes should allow the open-air downtown exhibition to return in mid-January as planned despite another surge in coronavirus cases, according to the parks department.

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The festivals long-delayed fourth edition is still on course to open Jan. 15 and remain on display nightly through March 13, according to the citys recreation manager Katrina Gregory. A move away from animated projections onto buildings and toward a set of eight static outdoor-only light displays  as well an expansion of the viewing period from nine days to eight weeks, to spread out spectators over the greater part of winter  should allow the show to safely go on, she predicted.

Thinking back to earlier this year, we knew there could still be uncertainty at this time of year, she said of the revamped 2022 festival, which will include a fraction of the displays showcased each year since its debut in December 2017. This is all sculpture art, where people can interact at their own pace. With this format, it lends itself more to our current environment.

Art installations will be displayed during the festival from 6 to 9 p.m. Mondays to Thursdays, and from 6 to 10 p.m. Fridays through Sunday.

Organized by the city Parks and Recreation Department, the Lighted Art Festival has turned various downtown landmarks into giant canvases in light and video, crafted by artists from across the U.S. and as far afield as Great Britain, Germany and Italy. Highlights of the exhibition have included kaleidoscopic projections onto First Presbyterian Church and the Riverfront building; colorful animations developed by New Technology High School students; and interactive pieces like the Angel of Freedom that invited passers-by to stand among a glowing, seraphic halo and wings. (The installation by the OGE Group of Haifa, Israel will make a return engagement at the upcoming festival as one of four works by visiting artists.)

Two months after the most recent festival in January 2020, however, the global spread of the coronavirus halted triggered shelter-at-home orders across the U.S. and pushed the Lighted Art Festival  along with most other mass gatherings  into extended limbo. Napa canceled the events 2021 edition before refashioning it to eliminate indoor displays  hosted in past years at CIA at Copia, the Napa Valley College auditorium, and elsewhere  to keep spectators away from confined areas where COVID-19 might spread more readily.

Festival organizers have announced four of the 2022 festival pieces, including the returning Angel that will be shown at the First Street Napa shopping arcade. The other visiting artists who will be featured are:

- Lindsay Glatz and Curious Form of New Orleans, whose work Cloud Swings will be displayed at CIA at Copia

- Hybycozo of Los Angeles, who will exhibit Lightforms at Veterans Memorial Park

- Liquid PXL of Los Angeles, who will be represented by Electric Dandelions at Napas Riverfront

Lasers, projectors and imagination dress up downtown Napa during Lighted Art Festival Video, lasers and music are giving an artistic bend to Napa landmarks during the city's third Lighted Art Festival, which runs nightly through Jan. 19.

The remaining four festival sites are at Dwight Murray Plaza, the Brown Street pedestrian corridor, First Street Napa and the Goodman Library and will showcase the works of Napa artists, whose pieces remained under development as of this week.

Meet-the-artist gatherings with festival creators will take place on the events opening day Jan. 15. For dates, times and locations, visit Eventbrite.com and search NAPALIGHT.

During the festival, Veterans Park also will host a free one-hour vibraphone concert March 5, starting at 7 p.m.

You can reach Howard Yune at 530-763-2266 or hyune@napanews.com

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By Azernews





By Laman Ismayilova

Baku Book Center has presented a New Year play for children "Azerbaijan is my Motherland".

The play was prepared by the Center for Development of Children and Youth No. 2. The play was directed by Shahana Abbasli.

During the performance, young participants of the "School Theater" and "Children's Folk Dances" clubs operating at the Center performed in the images of well-known fairy-tale characters, and demonstrated the dances of various peoples living in Azerbaijan. Young talents sang songs of popular cartoon characters.

In conclusion, inmates of orphanages No. 1 of Nizami district and No. 3 of Khatai district, who attended the play, were presented with New Year gifts from the Baku Book Center.

Baku Book Center was officially opened to visitors on September 1, 2018. The main goal of the Center is to encourage people to read books as a bearer of cultural, spiritual values and useful knowledge.

Here booklovers can also take part in presentations of books, literary and musical evenings, meetings with cultural and art workers, thematic master classes and much more.

The Center also organizes events with the participation of international organizations and diplomatic missions.

By the decision of the CIS Executive Committee, Baku Book Center has been awarded the diploma "For the great work in development of domestic book distribution and international book exchange in 2018."
The Azeri Times: Azerbaijan closes airspace for Russia military aircraft to disrupt transportation to Armenia

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Erdogan says will hold talks with Putin this week

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Hungary says 10 European countries opened bank accounts in Russia to pay for natural gas in rubles

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Authorities in the US state of Colorado said nearly 1,000 homes and other structures were destroyed, hundreds were damaged, and three people were reported missing in a wildfire that incinerated numerous neighborhoods in a suburban area at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, reports the Associated Press.

Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said on Saturday that investigators are still trying to identify the cause of the fire.

Pelle noted that utility officials did not find any broken power lines in the area where the fire broke out. He said the authorities are reviewing a number of reports and have issued a search warrant for one specific location. He declined to provide details.

In turn, an anonymous source confirmed that one site is being inspected in Boulder County in the Marshall Mesa open grassland area, about 2 miles (3.2 km) west of the fire-affected city of Superior.

Access to the site, which was only one of several under investigation, was blocked by the National Guard, the source said.

Officials previously believed that at least 500 homes, possibly 1,000, had been destroyed by fire, which posed no threat by Friday.

The authorities had previously stated that there were no missing persons. It was later stated that this was due to confusion over the emergency.

Pelle said authorities are organizing brigades to search for bodies and missing persons in the Superior area and in Boulder County, outside the county. According to him, the task is complicated by the wreckage of destroyed buildings.

At least 991 homes and other buildings were destroyed, Pelle said: 553 in Louisville, 332 in Superior and 106 in unincorporated parts of the county. Pelle warned that this count is not final.

At least seven people were injured in wildfires in Louisville and Superior, neighboring towns 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Denver with a total population of 34,000. The fire burned out at least 9.4 square miles (24 square kilometers).
South Korean defects to Pyongyang

South Korean soldiers stand guard near the Demilitarised Zone where a defected South Korean national is spotted on New Year's Day. File photo: AFP

A South Korean has crossed the heavily fortified border in a rare defection to North Korea, South Korea's military said on Sunday.



The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it carried out a search operation after detecting the person around 9:20pm on Saturday on the eastern side of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas.



"We've confirmed that the person crossed the Military Demarcation Line border about 10:40pm and defected to the North," the JCS said.



The JCS said it could not confirm whether the person was alive, but sent a notice to the North via a military hotline asking for protection.



The border crossing, which is illegal in South Korea, came as North Korea carries out strict anti-coronavirus measures since shutting borders in early 2020, though it has not confirmed any infections.



A public and political uproar emerged after North Korean troops shot dead a South Korean fisheries official who went missing at sea in September 2020, for which Pyongyang blamed anti-virus rules and apologised.



Two months earlier, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared a national emergency and sealed off a border town after a North Korean defector who he said had Covid-19 symptoms illegally crossed the border into the North from the South.



The North's prolonged lockdowns and restrictions on inter-provincial movement have also pushed the number of North Korean defectors arriving in the South to an all-time low.



Cross-border relations soured after denuclearisation negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington stalled since a failed summit in 2019. (Reuters)
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US sees another 2,400 flights scrapped

Travellers wait in line to check-in for their flights at Los Angeles International Airport. Photo: AFP

Americans returning home from holiday travel had to battle another day of airport chaos on Sunday, with more than 2,000 flights cancelled due to bad weather or airline staffing woes sparked by a surge in Covid cases.



Further disruptions are predicted for Monday, as a winter storm blows eastward.



As of 2030GMT Sunday, a total of 2,432 domestic flights or international ones starting or finishing in the United States had been cancelled  almost as many as the 2,749 scrapped over the course of Saturday, said the flight-tracking service FlightAware.



Southwest Airlines, one of the hardest-hit carriers, had to cancel some 400 flights on Sunday morning, a spokesperson said in an email to AFP, adding that it expected further cancellations.



On Saturday, poor weather, much of it linked to Winter Storm Frida, forced Southwest to cancel 490 flights, most of them in the centre-north states south of the Great Lakes and reaching west to the Great Plains.



The result: intense frustration for many travellers.



"Our flight this morning was cancelled. We were now forced to rent 4x4 cars to drive all the way to Colorado from Texas," Southwest passenger Katie Armstrong posted on Twitter.



A woman named Kayla described her own ordeal: "I was supposed to get home at 10.30am yesterday. And at this point I've had three flights cancelled and one delayed to the point where I missed my connection."



Airports in Chicago  a major transit hub  were the most affected on Saturday, but by Sunday the airports in Atlanta, Denver, Detroit, Houston and Newark were also hard hit.



Around the world, air traffic has suffered snarls since Christmas because of airline staffing issues linked to the spread of the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus variant. (AFP)
The national flag carrier on Saturday operated a special flight to facilitate the Indian pilgrims, who earlier in the day arrived in Pakistan through the Wagah-Attari border.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)'s Ramesh Kumar Vankwani received the pilgrims at the Wagah border.

They were then flown to Peshawar where they would make a one-day stopover before proceeding to Karak in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Samaa TV reported.

The pilgrims would visit the Teri temple in Karak. The temple in Teri village of Karak is devoted to Paramhans Ji Maharaj, a Hindu saint who died in 1919, and it houses his mausoleum.

It is the same temple that was restored at the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan after vandalism in 2020.

A total of 250 Hindu yatris from the UAE, the US, India, and other countries are visiting the temple at the invitation of the Pakistan Hindu Council, according to a report by Dawn.

The 159 yatris who arrived from India will also visit the Katas Raj temple complex in Punjab's Chakwal during their four-day tour.

Vankwani, also the patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Hindu Council, told reporters that there would be exchange of delegations between Pakistan and India every month.

"The year 2022 will begin between Pakistan and India with religious tourism," he said adding that trade visits would also follow soon.

--IANS san/ksk/

( 269 Words)

2022-01-02-12:12:04 (IANS)
Dilip Kumar Singh, president of the Hatibandha Upazila Puja Udjapan Parishad told IANS that the bags were found on Friday night on the doors of the Gendukuri Camp Para Sri Sri Radha Govinda Mandir, Gendukuri Kuthipara Kali Mandir, Gendukuri Battala Kali Mandir and in the house of a Monindranath Barman.

He said that four complaints have been filed with Hatibandha Police Station.

Hatibandha Police Station Officer-in-Charge Ershadul Alam told IANS that they are investigating the incident.

"All involved will be brought to book," he said on Saturday.

Local Hindus gathered at Sri Sri Radha Govinda temple in the village to protest the incident. They said their religious sentiments were hurt and that they would continue the protest until the culprits were arrested.

The locals informed the matter to the police. After visiting the spot, Singh said: "Police have assured us that the culprits will be arrested."

He said they suspect the incident could be linked to the local union Parishad polls held on December 26.

--IANS sumi/ksk/

( 208 Words)

2022-01-02-12:24:04 (IANS)
Hollywood star Jennifer Aniston bid adieu to 2021 with a video montage of unseen moments from the past year. On New Year's Eve, the 'Friends' star treated her over 39 million Instagram followers with a video collage of moments throughout the year that didn't quite make the IG main feed -- including a quick clip of herself doing a yoga-inspired leg extension while wearing a sleek black leotard, sheer tights and a pair of heels. Aniston captioned the memories, "The little in-between moments of 2021 that didn't make the feed. Happy new year everybody. Now... onto the next." R.E.M.'s classic 'It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)' accompanied the video, which features cameos from a plethora of her famous friends, including BFF Courteney Cox, Aniston's 'The Morning Show' costar Reese Witherspoon and pals Jimmy Kimmel and Will Arnett. She also shared behind-the-scenes moments of the HBO Max's 'Friends reunion special', plus pics of her fur babies, dogs Lord Chesterfield, Clyde and Sophie. Her celebrity friends showered her with love in the comments section. Ali Wentworth wrote, "The feel-good movie of the year! Happy New Year Gorgeous!", while 'Hocus Pocus' star Kathy Najimy commented, "Indeed," and movie producer Aleen Keshishian gushed, "Jesus! Who knew u could do SPLITS!!!! this and u!!!!" In December, Aniston opened up to The Hollywood Reporter about how the pandemic forced her to hunker down in her home state of California for nearly two years, and the excitement and terror she feels about jet-setting, again. "I'm excited to get on a plane again -- and terrified as well. I haven't left California since January 2020. Courteney in Malibu is as far as I've been," Aniston, who also filmed 'The Morning Show' season 2 during the pandemic, explained of where she has been, adding, "It's Sony studios, Courteney's, the Batemans' -- there are, like, five houses I've been to." Aniston added that while the pandemic pause was beneficial in some ways, she plans on revving up her career projects in the coming years. "I'm about to speed up and not be free for two years. But I'll schedule it so that I get breaks in between, and not just go back to back to back. You need that time to recharge and be with your friends and your family and your dogs," she said. (ANI)
Max Julien, who starred in the 1973 blaxploitation classic 'The Mack', has passed away. He was 88. He died on New Year's Day at Sherman Oaks Hospital, his wife of 30 years, Arabella, told The Hollywood Reporter. The cause of death had not been determined, she said. His PR team paid tribute to the actor in a statement to TMZ: "During Julien's decades-long career, he was known for being bold, honest and straightforward. He would live and speak his own truth both professionally and privately. He was thought of as a rare 'man among men.'" David F. Walker, a comic book writer and filmmaker who was Julien's friend, also posted a tribute on Instagram. "I met Max back in 1996," he wrote. "He was a great human being, and we had so many amazing conversations. He was brilliant and hilarious and charismatic...R.I.P," he added. In 'The Mack', Julien played Goldie, an ex-con who becomes a big-time pimp in Oakland after he's released from prison. The film has been praised as a standout of the blaxploitation genre. Quentin Tarantino also has said he's a fan. He once wrote: "Even including its flaws, 'The Mack' is the best and most memorable crime picture of the whole blaxploitation genre." The Washington, DC native also appeared in off-Broadway productions, including in Shakespeare in the Park for famed producer Joseph Papp, and wrote the screenplay for 'Cleopatra Jones' (1973), starring Tamara Dobson. His other acting credits included 'Psych-Out' (with Jack Nicholson), 'Getting Straight' (with Candice Bergen), 'The Black Klansman', 'Thomasine and Bushrod' (which he also wrote), 'Def Jam's How to Be a Player, The Mod Squad', 'The Bold Ones: The Protectors and One on One'. (ANI)
By Trend





Uzbekistan and Afghanistan are discussing the resumption of the construction of the Surkhan-Puli-Khumri transmission line, Trend reports citing Uzdaily.

Negotiations on this took place in Tashkent from 25 to 30 December. According to Sputnik, representatives of the Taliban and Afghan energy company DABS attended the talks.

The agreement on the construction of a 260-km 500 kV transmission line was signed in December 2017. It will increase the volume of electricity supplies to Afghanistan by 70% - up to 6 billion kWh per year.

In October 2020, the Asian Development Bank allocated US$110 million to Kabul for the implementation of the project. The main funds were planned to be spent on construction work, which is entrusted to Uzbek contractors. However, they never started due to security threats.

Uzbekistan has already built 45 km of the line on its territory.
The much-in-love couple Michael B. Jordan and Lori Harvey were joined by friends as they celebrated New Year 2022 together. The couple, who celebrated their one-year anniversary in November, were dressed to the nines for their New Year's celebration. People magazine spotted one of Harvey's IG stories in which she shared a boomerang video of herself and Jordan. "Babydaddy," she wrote alongside the clip. The duo was also joined by several friends for the New Year's party. Harvey shared another fun clip to her Instagram Story with the group, writing "Bringing in the new year with my girls." Jordan celebrated his one-year anniversary with Harvey in November, after making the relationship Instagram official in January. A source told People magazine back in February of their relationship "They have gotten serious quickly. It's obvious that they don't want to be apart. When they don't travel together, Lori spends a lot of time in Los Angeles with Michael." Jordan then told the outlet in April why it was the first time he's been so public about his love life. "I'm still private, and I want to protect that, but it just felt like it was a moment of just wanting to put it out there and move on. I am extremely happy," he said at the time. "I think when you get older, you feel more comfortable about the [public nature] of the business that we're in. So for me, it was a moment to, I guess, take ownership of that and then get back to work," Jordan added. (ANI)
According to Variety, Bones, who became a full-time mentor on the singing reality show during Season 17, revealed via a now-expired Instagram story that he won't be returning due to a scheduling conflict with another network.

When asked during a fan Q&A why he has recently been in Costa Rica, Bones addressed his absence from 'American Idol' season 20 promos.

Bones wrote, "And some of you noticed, I'm not in the 'Idol' promos this season. My contract [with] my new network won't let me do another show right now. Love 'Idol,' BTW. Was a great 4 years."

In the Instagram story, Bones kept tight-lipped about his new project, writing that "the network hasn't even announced the show yet. So I'm going to chill for a bit. But it's a really good show."

Bones has served as an 'American Idol' mentor for the past four years, giving contestants much-needed advice as they navigate through their musical journeys.

As per Variety, host Ryan Seacrest and judges Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie and Katy Perry would all be returning for the show's 20th season, which is set for a February 27 premiere on ABC.

Bones is also the host of 'Breaking Bobby Bones' on the National Geographic Channel and recently helmed 'CBS New Year's Eve Live: Nashville's Big Bash' on December 31 along with Rachel Smith. (ANI)
The US Army is among the number of organizations and public figures to offer up tributes to the late Betty White following her passing. The television icon's death was confirmed on Friday at the age of 99, just 18 days shy of her 100th birthday, as per Fox News. Since the news of her passing, many admirers have paid tribute to her legendary career on the big and small screens. What some might be surprised to learn, however, is that White was also involved in the American Women's Voluntary Services (AWVS) during World War II. Her service in the organization, which provided support services to aid the nation during wartime, was highlighted by the Army after her death. "We are saddened by the passing of Betty White," read a message from the organization's official Twitter account. It continued, "Not only was she an amazing actress, she also served during WWII as a member of the American Women's Voluntary Services." The message added, "A true legend on and off the screen." The tweet also contained a pair of photos of the 'Golden Girls' alum, one in her AWVS uniform back in the day, and another much more recent. White first joined AWVS in 1941 and drove a PX truck of supplies in California, according to a magazine. The actor told the outlet, "It was a strange time and out of balance with everything, which I'm sure the young people are going through now. We'll never learn. We'll never learn." As per Fox News, her agent and close friend Jeff Witjas confirmed the news of her passing on Friday. The cause of death is unclear. (ANI)
A sudden spurt in the number of cases of the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus in the country has forced actor Silambarasan to postpone a success meet he had planned to hold for fans. Silambarasan better known as Simbu had planned to celebrate the success of his latest film 'Maanaadu' with fans on January 6. However, with the numbers of those being infected by the Omicron variant fast rising in the country, the meet has now been postponed. A statement from his fans club said that the meet was being postponed, keeping in mind the welfare of fans who would be attending it. "The date for the success meet would officially be announced later," the statement, which was in Tamil, said. --IANS mani/kr ( 138 Words) 2022-01-02-19:12:04 (IANS)
In a major cause of worry for the Karnataka Health Department, as many as 1,033 Covid cases were reported across the state on Saturday, with 810 in capital Bengaluru alone, as well as five deaths. The authorities are predicting that the third wave of Covid is slowly rearing its head in the state. The testing has been increased by authorities and 1,19,225 tests have been conducted. The number of infected persons in the state rose to 30,08,370. The active cases in the state stand at 9,386. The number of discharges in the state stood at 354, way behind the number of infections. The infection rate is standing at 0.86 per cent. In Bengaluru, 218 people have been discharged from the hospitals and active cases stand at 7,876. The authorities have screened 1,702 international passengers, including 597 international arrivals from at risk nations. There are 2,569 Delta cases in the state and 66 persons have tested positive for Omicron so far. Meanwhile, state Education Minister B.C. Nagesh has tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday. The minister, who shared the information on social media, has requested all the people in contact with him to isolate and get tested. He has undergone a test after minor symptoms cropped up. He is quarantined and being treated. The authorities are more concerned with this development as Nagesh has attended many programmes in Bengaluru and other places in the recent past. --IANS mka/vd ( 255 Words) 2022-01-02-00:08:03 (IANS)
A recent study has found that having plenty of people around them and an available community are two of the most important factors for helping children of mothers with depression. The findings of the study were published in the journal 'Developmental Science'. New studies among Syrian refugee families in Turkey and families with infants in Sweden and Bhutan have found that children of mothers in poor mental health risk falling behind in their cognitive development. However, very small changes may be sufficient to break this correlation. Having plenty of people around them and an available community are two of the most important factors for helping children, in all three countries. "If you improve the mental health of mothers by four per cent, the child wins an entire year in their cognitive development, in statistical terms. Small measures, in other words, can make a big difference in supporting the next generation," said Gustaf Gredeback, Professor of Developmental Psychology at Uppsala University and Director of the Uppsala Child and Baby Lab, which led the studies. The research was done through interviews and experimental studies onsite in Bhutan, Turkey and Sweden. In Sweden and Bhutan, 120 families with 9-10 month-old infants participated. In Turkey, 100 families who had fled from Aleppo in Syria participated in the study. They have children between the ages of 6 and 18. In Sweden, families with small children were the primary participants in the research conducted by Uppsala Child and Baby Lab. In Bhutan, the material was collected in collaboration with the Faculty of Nursing and Public Health and Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan. In Turkey, the studies were done with the help of researchers from the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University. A common finding for the families in all three countries was that several of the children's cognitive abilities were impacted by the mental health of their mothers, regardless of whether they were a refugee family in Syria or the family was in a safe environment in Sweden. The child's intelligence did not seem to have been affected; rather, it was the child's attentiveness, social understanding and ability to make decisions that were adversely affected. Individual conditions around the mother can make the situation worse. The impact on the child is greater if the mother has a low level of education, has low social support, feels discriminated against and has fallen in social status. However, there are also clear initiatives that society can take to improve the mother's situation and well-being, and in this way reduce the impact on the child: receiving support from her partner, having a large family or a large social network, and that society rallies around and supports the mother. "All the cultures have aspects that are positive. In Sweden, we have our individualistic environments. We have more gender equality, for example, being able to share parental leave can be a form of relief. At the same time, we have few natural meeting places for relatives and social situations, something that is much stronger in the groups in the other countries," Gredeback said. "In Bhutan, an active religious life helps quite a bit. There is a strong connection to religion, and many people participate in religious gatherings several times a week. This gives them routines for regular meetings with others and widespread social support," Gredeback added. It is important to note that all the described correlations are statistical, i.e., based on observations between different parts of the studies. The researchers have not yet studied the causality of the correlations by improving the mothers' mental health in at-risk settings and measuring the effects on the children's development. That will be the next step after the current correlation studies. "It inspires hope that apparently only small improvements are needed for the child to revive. In Sweden, we have to work hard to break the isolation, particularly for single mothers. We do not have any social glue. Many lack strong ties to their relatives and have no extended family to share the burden," Gredeback said. "We lack continuity in religious rites and do not have many natural contexts to connect to. If we can create more of these opportunities, we can help turn the tide in the cognitive development of many children and offer them better lives," Gredeback concluded. (ANI)
Recent studies among Syrian refugee families in Turkey and families with infants in Sweden and Bhutan have suggested that children of mothers in poor mental health have the risk of lacking in their cognitive development. However, very small changes may be sufficient to break this correlation. Having plenty of people around them and an available community are two of the most important factors for helping children, in all three countries. The findings of the study were published in the journal 'Developmental Science'. "If you improve the mental health of mothers by four per cent, the child wins an entire year in their cognitive development, in statistical terms. Small measures, in other words, can make a big difference in supporting the next generation," said Gustaf Gredeback, Professor of Developmental Psychology at Uppsala University and Director of the Uppsala Child and Baby Lab, which led the studies. The research was done through interviews and experimental studies onsite in Bhutan, Turkey and Sweden. In Sweden and Bhutan, 120 families with 9-10 month-old infants participated. In Turkey, 100 families who had fled from Aleppo in Syria participated in the study. They have children between the ages of 6 and 18. In Sweden, families with small children were the primary participants in the research conducted by Uppsala Child and Baby Lab. In Bhutan, the material was collected in collaboration with the Faculty of Nursing and Public Health and Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan. In Turkey, the studies were done with the help of researchers from the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University. A common finding for the families in all three countries was that several of the children's cognitive abilities were impacted by the mental health of their mothers, regardless of whether they were a refugee family in Syria or the family was in a safe environment in Sweden. The child's intelligence did not seem to have been affected; rather, it was the child's attentiveness, social understanding and ability to make decisions that were adversely affected. Individual conditions around the mother can make the situation worse. The impact on the child is greater if the mother has a low level of education, has low social support, feels discriminated against and has fallen in social status. However, there are also clear initiatives that society can take to improve the mother's situation and well-being, and in this way reduce the impact on the child: receiving support from her partner, having a large family or a large social network, and that society rallies around and supports the mother. "All the cultures have aspects that are positive. In Sweden, we have our individualistic environments. We have more gender equality, for example, being able to share parental leave can be a form of relief. At the same time, we have few natural meeting places for relatives and social situations, something that is much stronger in the groups in the other countries," Gredeback said. "In Bhutan, an active religious life helps quite a bit. There is a strong connection to religion, and many people participate in religious gatherings several times a week. This gives them routines for regular meetings with others and widespread social support," Gredeback added. It is important to note that all the described correlations are statistical, i.e., based on observations between different parts of the studies. The researchers have not yet studied the causality of the correlations by improving the mothers' mental health in at-risk settings and measuring the effects on the children's development. That will be the next step after the current correlation studies. "It inspires hope that apparently only small improvements are needed for the child to revive. In Sweden, we have to work hard to break the isolation, particularly for single mothers. We do not have any social glue. Many lack strong ties to their relatives and have no extended family to share the burden," Gredeback said "We lack continuity in religious rites and do not have many natural contexts to connect to. If we can create more of these opportunities, we can help turn the tide in the cognitive development of many children and offer them better lives," Gredeback concluded. (ANI)
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Sunday urged states/UTs to better utilise the approved funds under Emergency Covid Response Package (ECRP-II) and directed them to expedite the progress in terms of ICU beds, oxygen beds, Paediatric ICU/HDU beds, among others. He also brought attention of the states and UTs to the fact that collectively, they have only used just over 17 per cent of the available approved funds under Emergency Covid Response Package (ECRP-II). The states were urged to effectively use IT tools for tele-medicine and tele-consultation, including training and capacity building of human resources, timely availability of ambulances, readiness to operationalise Covid facilities for institutional quarantine, and effective and supervised monitoring of those in home isolation. In a virtual interaction with State Health Ministers and Principal Secretaries to review the Public Health Preparedness to Covid-19 and progress of National vaccination campaign, Mandaviya urged the states to re-invigorate their teams to work at the ground level and strengthen monitoring and containment mechanisms. The meeting was held in view of rising cases of the Omicron variant and the recent decisions to roll out vaccination for the age group of 15-18 years and precautionary dose for identified vulnerable categories. The meeting also discussed the critical bottlenecks in medical infrastructure. The Union Health Minister noted that globally, countries are experiencing 3-4 times the surge in Covid-19 cases in comparison to their earlier peaks. The Omicron variant being highly transmissible, a high surge in case can overwhelm the medical system. He therefore advised the states to leave no stone unturned in ramping up infrastructure to manage a high surge so that India escapes unscathed from this episode of Covid-19. "We have put up a strong fight against Covid earlier and this learning must be used to re-focus on efforts against the Omicron variant", said Mandaviya in the meeting. He stressed on the continued need to follow Covid appropriate behaviour along with renewed and stringent focus on containment measures for addressing the present surge. "We must focus on planning with regard to the 15-18 age group vaccination and precautionary doses for eligible beneficiaries", said Mandaviya while underscoring the critical importance of vaccination drive. He also urged states to ensure that the healthcare workers and frontline workers are fully vaccinated, as they form the vulnerable categories. Stressing the need to ensure smooth implementation of new vaccination guidelines, the minister asked states to ensure the orientation of team members for vaccination of 15-18 years age-group. To avoid mixing-up of vaccines during administration, separate CVCs, separate session sites, separate queue (if at same session where adult vaccination is ongoing) and separate vaccination team (if at same session site) are to be strived for. States/UTs were also advised to share their requirement of vaccine doses through district wise estimation of beneficiaries using CoWIN. They were urged to plan for distribution of Covaxin to identified session sites well in advance and publish sessions for at least 15 days to provide sufficient visibility. State Health Ministers who joined the meet included S. Pangnyu Phom from Nagaland, N.K. Das from Odisha, Dr Prabhuram Choudhary from MP, Ma Subramanian from Tamil Nadu, Keshab Mahanta from Assam, Anil Vij from Haryana, Satyendar Jain from Delhi, Alo Libang from Arunachal Pradesh, Banna Gupta from Jharkhand, Mangal Pandey from Bihar, T.S. Singhdeo from Chhattisgarh and Chandrima Bhattacharjee, MoS Health from West Bengal. --IANS avr/svn/skp/ ( 574 Words) 2022-01-02-17:06:01 (IANS)
Four Delhi Police personnel were injured while two others, of which one has been identified as a notorious criminal, received bullet injuries on Saturday when a police team had gone to nab a drugs supplier in the Indrapuri area of the national capital. Furnishing details about the encounter, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer North District), Brijendra Kumar Yadav, told IANS that the incident took place at around 8.30 a.m. when a narcotics team reached Indrapuri to arrest drug smuggler Dharamveer alias Palla and conducted a raid at his house. However, the accused was not present there at the time of the raid. "As the police team came out of the house, Dharamveer came from the front with about 50-60 people carrying sticks and stones. The mob attacked the police team and pelted stones on them," the DCP said. Seeing the furious mob, the police retaliated and fired shots in the air. However, Yadav said, the rioters also opened fire on the police party. During the exchange of gunfire, two rioters received bullet injuries. "In an attempt to defend the police party, Inspector Brijpal opened fire by aiming at the feet of the attackers," Yadav said. The two injured persons have been identified as Amit and Shoaib. Amit, who is a relative of drug kingpin Dharamveer, was involved in six criminal cases in the past, including cases of robbery, dacoity and attempt to murder. The injured have been admitted to the hospital. The condition of Shoaib is stated to be critical. "Both Amit and Shoaib were active part of the mob that attacked the police," the DCP said, adding that the police are currently collecting more details about Shoaib. The four police personnel injured in the incident are Brijpal, ASI Rajesh, and Constables Rinku and Vinod. Meanwhile, Dharamveer took advantage of the chaos and fled from the spot, the senior official added. --IANS uj/arm ( 332 Words) 2022-01-01-21:26:02 (IANS)
The accused, Mohammed Shakeel, was wanted in a Customs gold seizure case, in which the police seized 7.790 kg gold at the IGI Airport on February 20, 2021, the police said.

During the investigation, it was found that the owner of the gold consignment was Mohammad Shakeel, who ran a gold smuggling racket with the help of two others -- Mohammad Irfan and Mohammad Kashif.

The travel records of Kashif indicated that he left India for Dubai on August 31, 2021. Irfan was arrested on October 1, 2021. Shakeel was not joining the investigation and was still at large, despite being served notice under, officials said.

On the request of the Customs department, the task was assigned to a team of narcotics cell of Crime Branch to render assistance in arresting Shakeel. During the probe, the police team got the information of Shakeel's presence in the Jama Masjid area, and a secret informer was deployed.

On Friday, secret information was received that Shakeel would come to the New Delhi Railway Station in the evening.

Accordingly, a trap was laid and Shakeel was nabbed by a team of the Crime Branch from outside the railway station while he was trying to flee.

The police said that Shakeel was the kingpin of the gold smuggling racket.

--IANS jw/arm

( 251 Words)

2022-01-01-23:02:05 (IANS)
By Trend





Kazakhstan exported 4.02 million tons of wheat from January through September 2021, which is by 18.1 percent more than in the same period of last year, Trend reports citing Kazakhstans statistics.

According to the statistics, Kazakhstan exported 430,819 tons of wheat in September 2021, which is by 17.8 percent less than in the same month of last year and by nine percent more than in August 2021.

Kazakhstan exported 48,856 tons of corn from January through September 2021 while 1,434 tons in September 2021, which is by 90.3 times and 4.8 percent less than from January through September 2020 and September 2020, respectively.

Moreover, Kazakhstan exported 30,569 tons of barley in September 2021, by 58.3 percent less compared to the same month of 2020. Some 710,430 tons of barley were exported during the first nine months of 2021, which is by 4.8 percent more than in the same period of last year.

According to the statistics, Kazakhstan exported 2,490 tons of rye in September 2021 and 5,654 tons from January through September 2021, which is by 3.7 times and 2.3 times more than in the same period of 2020, respectively.

Thus, Kazakhstan exported 1,016 tons of oats and 4,488 tons of buckwheat from January through September 2021. These crops were not exported in September 2021.

Kazakhstan exported 6,559 tons of rice in September 2021 and 78,044 tons from January through September 2021, which is by 5.1 percent and 3.9 percent more than in the same period of last year, respectively.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday that his security entourage would be reduced by 50 per cent and the personal security officers (PSOs) of many politicians, officials and others would also be reduced by half to minimise government expenditure. The Chief Minister said that over 4,240 PSOs are now being posted with the politicians, in-service and retired officials, businessmen, surrendered militants, tea estate owners and others. According to Sarma, who also holds the home portfolio, of the 4,240 PSOs, 2,526 PSOs are deployed with the politicians of different parties, 854 with in-service and retired civil officials and 546 with judicial officers. "We have formed a security review committee to examine the necessity of PSOs for different persons. We want to reduce the number of PSOs by half. Except those people holding constitutional posts, PSOs for others would be reduced drastically," the Chief Minister told the media after the New Year's first Cabinet meeting. Noting that the Assam government has been spending around Rs 400 crore every year to provide PSOs to the politicians, officials and others, Sarma said that currently there are around 22 vehicles in his security entourage which would be reduced by seven to eight soon. "PSOs should not be the status symbol... It will be based on the necessity of the person concerned," he said. Sarma had recently courted a controversy by saying that PSOs are a "Congress culture". Slamming the Chief Minister over his "the PSO system is a Congress culture" remark, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee President Bhupen Kumar Borah and Congress' Rajya Sabha member Ripun Bora had asked the Chief Minister to surrender his huge security cover. "Sarma groomed himself in the Congress for many, many years, built his entire political career, and then switched over to the BJP and became the CM. Now he has become allergic to the Congress culture," Bora had told a television channel. Sarma had earlier urged BJP leaders and party functionaries to give up their PSOs. "There is no need for PSOs. We do not have any threat to life as we have done nothing wrong," the Chief Minister had said at a function in Guwahati. --IANS sc/arm ( 380 Words) 2022-01-01-23:24:02 (IANS)
"India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 145.40 crore (145,40,51,828) today. More than 22 lakh (22,56,362) vaccine doses have been administered till 7 pm today," read the ministry's official press release.

The vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from COVID-19 continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level. The vaccination for the children aged 15-18 years will also begin in the country from January 3.

Meanwhile, India reported 22,775 new COVID-19 cases and 406 deaths in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday.

According to the ministry, the number of Omicron infections stands at 1,431 and it has spread to 23 states. Maharashtra is the worst-affected state with 454 cases, followed by Delhi with 351.

As per the ministry on Saturday, the country also recorded 8,949 recoveries in the past 24 hours. (ANI)
As the COVID-19 vaccination of children falling into the age bracket of 15 to 18 years is scheduled to begin from January 3, the Kerala health department has prepared an action plan for inoculation of all eligible beneficiaries. In an official statement, Kerala Health Minister Veena George informed that the registration for vaccination of children has been started in the state and separate teams have been set up for the administration of COVID-19 vaccines to children and adults. "The vaccination centres for children will be set up in district and community health centres, primary and family health centres. Vaccination of children will be completed at the earliest as per the availability of vaccines," the statement read. The vaccine registration for 15-18 year old children began on Saturday on the Co-WIN portal. In a bid to provide an alternative for online registration, the state education department will also help children to register for vaccination. "Those who are unable to do registration online, can also directly register at the vaccination centre. School authorities will hand over the list of vaccinated and non-vaccinated students to the education department," it added. Further, it said, "Pink boards will be put at the entrance of registration counter and in the vaccination area to identify the vaccination centres of children, and Blue boards will be put for adults." Earlier on December 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the COVID-19 vaccination for children aged 15-18 years will start from January 3. In his address to the nation, PM Modi said, "Vaccination for children aged between 15-18 years will begin from January 3, 2022." This comes after Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin has received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for emergency use for kids aged between 12-18 years, said official sources. (ANI)
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is heading the second BJP-led government in the state, asserted on Saturday that the BJP government in Manipur would return to power for a second term in the ensuing elections, likely to be held in February-March. Sarma, who is the convener of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), said that the BJP government in Arunachal Pradesh is already in office for a second term, while the party-led government in Tripura would come to power in the next year's Assembly elections for a second term. "NDA (National Democratic Alliance) partners supported by BJP are in power in Nagaland, Meghalaya and Sikkim. BJP has formed a strong base in the northeastern states and the party will remain to stay in the region," Sarma told the media. The Chief Minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, while undertaking many ambitious developmental projects, have resolved several problems in the northeastern region, including the Reang tribal refugee problem in Mizoram, and signed two peace accords with the militant outfits of Assam. He claimed that if the BJP didn't return to power in Assam, Badruddin Ajmal, President of the All India United Democratic Front, would have become the Chief Minister of the state. "BJP's retaining power in Assam has kept Ajmal in abeyance," Sarma said. Lok Sabha member and perfume business baron Ajmal's AIUDF is the second-largest opposition in the state after Congress with 15 MLAs in the 126-member House. --IANS sc/arm ( 262 Words) 2022-01-02-00:16:03 (IANS)
Kerala Congress MP Benny Behanan on Saturday slammed the Centre for alleged attacks on minorities and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for alleged attacks on the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). "There is a strong movement for the ethnic cleansing of minorities in India. The secular forces must unite against this. The new threat is the communal pest. In Haridwar, the calls for a religious parliament organized by Hindutva activists and far-right activists are shocking," Behanan told a press conference. The Congress MP said there were several incidents of attacks on minorities. "Addressing the gathering, Swami Prabhodanandagiri, president of the Hindu Raksha Sena, called on the people to either die or be killed. He called on the police, politicians, army and every Hindu to take up arms," he alleged. He said, "Sadhvi Annapurna said that nothing could happen without weapons and they should be prepared to kill and go to jail. I am also ready to take up arms." "It is clear from this how horrible the situation in the country is. This is a call for ethnic cleansing of minority communities. Hate speech by Hindutva groups is a dangerous situation. Not a single accused has been arrested," the Kerala Congress leader said. Benny Behanan slammed the Kerala Chief Minister and said that attacks on the Muslim League are similar to the attacks by Hindutva extremists. The Congress leader said, "Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan is launching an attack on the Indian Union Muslim League in Kerala." "The insults and attacks on the Muslim League led by Pinarayi Vijayan are similar to the attacks of Hindutva extremists. CPIM cadres and leaders have been carrying out attacks on Muslim League in cyberspace. This cannot be allowed. The secular forces in Kerala must unite," he said. (ANI)
An Indore resident has lodged a police complaint against the alleged use of the number plate of a motorcycle illegally in a movie sequence by Bollywood actor Vicky Kaushal saying that it is of his vehicle. In the movie, actor Vicky Kaushal is seen riding the motorcycle with Bollywood actor Sara Ali Khan seated behind him. Speaking to ANI, Jai Singh Yadav, Indore resident and complainant said, "The vehicle number used in the movie sequence is mine. I don't know if the film unit is aware of it but this is illegal. They can't use my number plate without permission. I have given a memorandum at the station. Action should be taken in the matter." Responding to the complaint, Rajendra Soni, Sub-inspector in Indore's Banganga area said, "We received a complaint. We will see whether the number plate was used illegally. Action will be taken as per provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act. If the film unit is in Indore, we will try probing them." (ANI)
Two cadres of banned of proscribed National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) surrendered before the Border Security Force (BSF) on Saturday. While speaking to the media, Inspector General (IG) Sushanta Kumar Nath said that a total of 31 NLFT cadres surrendered before BSF in the last four years. He said that both the cadres- Khistish Debbarma and Swapan Debbarma, who joined the proscribed outfit in the year 2019 and 2020 respectively laid down arms before the BSF and returned to mainstream life. Both of them were members of NLFT's Biswa Mohan (BM) faction. "Two more active cadres of NLFT (BM) have chosen the right path and returned to mainstream life. One of them is an active old cadre namely Khitish Debbarma alias Kwkhwi, a resident of the Khowai district. The other member is Swapan Debbarma alias Bathar of the same district," he said. Khitish Debbarma, he said, joined NLFT (BM) outfit in the Year 2019 and underwent vigorous training in weapon handling and guerrilla tactics. Swapan Debbarm who is known by his codename Bathar reportedly joined the NLFT (BM) in the Year 2020 and has been continuing as its active member, said Nath. "In recent years, large numbers of NLFT (BM) cadres have surrendered before BSF and other security forces, which indicates their eagerness to renounce the path of violence. It is pertinent to mention here that, till date, total of 31 Insurgents of NLFT including Khitish and Swapan have surrendered before BSF Tripura. Apart from that, between the time frame of 2017 to 2020, 23 cadres laid down arms, and in 2021 six insurgents surrendered", he added. Nath on behalf of BSF Tripura Frontier appealed to the youth of the State not to get misguided by the false promises of the insurgent groups and not to follow the path of violence and extreme hardships. "Further, it is appealing to all the Cadres of NLFT to renounce violence and return back to the mainstream to lead a happy and peaceful family life." "Besides, its persistence efforts on the Anti-Insurgency front, BSF has also been carrying out our other mandates including defending Indo-Bangladesh International Border and checking border crimes like smuggling, illegal infiltrations etc", a BSF press statement added. (ANI)
Congress MP Deepender Hooda has demanded a fair investigation into the "heartwrenching" incident in which four people were killed after a portion of stone mine crashed down on workers in Haryana's Bhiwani mining area on New Year's Day. "I demand an investigation, not under the state, but monitored by the Supreme Court or High Court judge", said the Congress leader. According to Hooda, safety standards were not followed at the mining site which led to the deadly accident. "We have come to know of people who are involved with the tragedy. These people are linked to the influential people", alleged Hooda. "Ten to 20 people are still trapped in the mines", he added. Meanwhile, the Congress MP paid condolences to the families of those who died in a stampede at the Vaishno Devi temple in Jammu and Kashmir incident on January 1. Hooda also wished a speedy recovery to those injured in the mishap. (ANI)
A new study has found that despite knowing the concept of mindfulness, people often practise it incorrectly. The study has been published in the 'Clinical Psychology Review Journal'. Studying popular concepts of mindfulness, the researchers found most laypeople are confusing the practice with passive acceptance of the problem -- a misconception scientists said, ignores the important work of engaging with them. Originating in Buddhist religious practice, much of the mindfulness movement's popularity grew from clinical research affirming its potential for reducing stress and related health disorders. "Scientific understanding of mindfulness goes beyond mere stress-relief and requires a willingness to engage with stressors," said Igor Grossmann, corresponding author of the project and a professor of social psychology at Waterloo. "It is, in fact, the engagement with stressors that ultimately results in stress relief. More specifically, mindfulness includes two main dimensions: awareness and acceptance," he added. Grossmann and colleagues compared critics' claims to popular interpretations of mindfulness to evaluate how people understand and apply the concept in their daily lives. They found that in practice, most people conflate acceptance with passivity or avoidance. The research team conducted an extensive empirical project that examined the meaning of mindfulness in three parts: analyses of the semantic meaning of the term mindfulness in the English language, a meta-analysis of the results from a widely used mindfulness measure, and empirical tests of association with markers of wisdom and effective emotion regulation. "While we found that people seem to conceptually understand that mindfulness involves engagement, the general public is not walking the talk. Our results suggest that laypeople may understand what awareness is, but the next step of acceptance may not be well understood -- limiting the potential for engaging with problems," said Ellen Choi, lead author on the paper and an assistant professor of organizational behaviour at Ryerson University. Using social media as a topical example, Grossmann said that with algorithms curating increasingly hateful content, the ability to be mindful of others' perspectives has never been more critical. "Mindfulness might not provide an easy answer to the divisiveness that surrounds us, but an accurate understanding that includes the practice of acceptance may herald the re-emergence of sincere discussion and authentic connection," Grossmann added. (ANI)
"Those of us who were wearing hijabs were prevented from entering the classroom," said a student of the college.

Later, a delegation including some students of the college along with some members of the Islamic Organization of India approached District Collector Kurma Rao regarding the incident. Five girls who were stopped from entering the classroom were part of the delegation.

The collector said he spoke to the principal of the college regarding the issue.

"We were told to bring our parents to college but when they arrived, school authorities made them wait for some three to four hours," said a student.

"Everything was fine before we started wearing the hijab but now we are being discriminated in this manner," said another student. (ANI)
Saudi-based Amaar Real Estate Company has signed an agreement with globally leading consulting firm McKinsey & Company to help develop a strategy and business plan for the establishment of its new entity, Amaar capital.

Its shariah-compliant operations will focus on the real estate industry with the aim of integrating and aligning the strategy of Amaar Real Estate, said the company in a statement.

Amaar capital will have leadership with unique competitencies and a strategic competitive advantage through the deployment of modern fintech tools to facilitate its operations and serve its investors and partners, it stated.

The new entity will aim to exploit the significant developments in the real estate industry of Saudi Arabia.

Amaar Real Estate Board Chairman Abdulhadi Al Qahtani said the move was in line with the Saudi Economic Vision 2030, emphasizing the neccessity of creating a sustainable and prosperous economy.

It would be the beginning of fruitful cooperation with McKinsey, given the consulting firms prestigious professional history, and a proven record of crafting strategies and successful methodologies.

The Saudi economy has witnessed rapid development since the launch of the promising 2030 Vision, which paved the way for structural changes in government procedures, regulations and laws. This has resulted in the comprehensive modernization of the services provided by both the public and the private sector.

The largest non-oil industry of Saudi Arabia, real estate, is an integral part and a significant driver of the overall economy of the Kingdom, enjoying great financial strength and a pioneering organizational structure formed in the past few years.

The Saudi real estate market is expected to witness remarkable improvement in the coming years, supplemented by a large infusion of quality government and private projects.

Therefore, unique and unprecedented opportunities are emerging for organizations that operate according to advanced & effective systems, as well as a high regard for corporate governance.
Indian Army on Sunday informed that in breach of the ongoing Ceasefire Understanding between the two armies across the Line of Control (LoC), an infiltration bid was foiled by neutralising a terrorist in the Keran Sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district yesterday. The killed terrorist was identified as a Pakistani national--Mohd Shabbir Malik. He was equipped with weapons, ammunition and warlike stores, the Army informed. "Swift action by the troops deployed at the Line of Control foiled the bid and eliminated the terrorist, later identified as Mohd Shabbir Malik, a Pakistani national, equipped with weapons, ammunition and warlike stores," Major General Abhijit Pendharkar said in a press conference said. As per the Army, the incident site is located on the Pakistani side of the Anti Infiltration Obstacle System and has been kept under surveillance by the Indian Army to effectively counter any nefarious activity by the infiltrators or Pakistan Army. Briefing about the incident, Pendharkar said, "In a complete breach of the Ceasefire Understanding arrived at between the DGMO's, one-armed intruder dressed in Pathani suit and the black jacket was detected moving from areas under the control of Pakistan Army across the Line of Control at around 1500 hours on Jan 1." "Ambushes were laid along likely routes that could be adopted by the intruder and movement was followed till 1600 hours. The ambush was sprung at the opportune moment and the infiltrator was eliminated," he added. The Army further informed that the body of the slain terrorist was recovered along with one AK 47 and a large quantity of ammunition including seven grenades. The search of the belongings of the eliminated terrorist revealed Pakistani National identity card and vaccination certificates (issued by Ministry of National Health Services Regulation and Coordination Government of Pakistan) identifying him as Mohd Shabir Malik. "This clearly establishes that Pakistan continues to sponsor cross border terror. A hotline communication has been made to Pakistan Army asking them to take back the body of the killed individual," Pendharkar said. (ANI)
While addressing the media here, Baghel said, "COVID cases are rising in a few cities like Raigarh and Raipur of Chhattisgarh. Since many samples have been sent to our genome sequencing centre at Odisha for Omicron, it's taking some time. No need to panic, all arrangements done by the state government."

Notably, Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi spoke to Baghel today to take stock of COVID-19 and the Omicron situation in the state.

According to sources, the two Congress leaders held a detailed discussion over the possibility of a third wave of COVID-19 and its variant Omicron.

The Chief Minister assured the Congress interim chief that Chhattisgarh is fully prepared to deal with any such eventuality.

Chhattisgarh reported 279 Covid-19 new cases in the last 24 hours, as per the medical bulletin released on Saturday.

Meanwhile, India reported 27,553 new COVID-19 cases and 284 deaths in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday. (ANI)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday informed about his government's preparedness amid the surging COVID-19 cases in the national capital and said that there are 37,000 oxygen beds available in the city with only 0.22 per cent of them occupied at present. Addressing a press conference here, Kejriwal said, "Today we have the preparation of 37,000 beds. Only 82 oxygen beds are occupied in Delhi. Only 0.22 per cent of beds are occupied and 99.78 per cent of beds are unoccupied." The Chief Minister further urged the people not to panic as the cases being detected are mostly asymptomatic with lesser need of hospitalisation. "On December 29, 262 beds were occupied in New Delhi's hospital by the COVID patients. On January 1, 247 patients were admitted in total. It means the people who are getting infected with COVID, most of them are not having the need to be hospitalised. There are mild and asymptomatic cases," he said. "COVID-19 cases in Delhi is increasing at a fast pace. But there is no need to panic. On December 29, 923 cases were reported. 1,313 cases were detected on December 30, 1,796 cases on December 31, and 2,796 cases on January 1. Nearly 3,100 new cases are expected to be reported today. The active cases as of today stand at 6,360," Kejriwal added. Comparing the present scenario with the second wave last year, he said, "Today there are about 6300 active cases. There were about 6600 cases on 27 March. But then 1150 oxygen beds were occupied, whereas today only 82 beds are occupied. Then 145 ventilators were being used, today only 5 are being used. Then there were about 10 deaths every day, today there is one or no death reported in a day." Meanwhile, India reported 27,553 new COVID-19 cases and 284 deaths in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday. According to the ministry, the number of Omicron infections stands at 1,525 and it has spread to 23 states. Maharashtra is the worst-affected state with 460 cases, followed by Delhi with 351. (ANI)
Class teachers will be responsible for informing parents about the nearest COVID vaccination centre, says Delhi government's new guidelines for vaccination of children from 15-18 age group that will begin from January 3 in 159 centres spread across the national capital. As per the guidelines, the responsibility of informing the parents about the nearest vaccination centre has also been given to class teachers of respective classes. Also, separate rooms should also be designated for the parents coming with the children to the vaccination centres. "Schools will have to appoint a nodal officer that will ensure vaccination of all the students in the school. In addition to the ID proof already valid for vaccination, the school ID cards of a child is also valid. Walk-in registration facility will also be provided at the vaccination centre," reads the order. These centres have been set up in government hospitals, dispensaries, polyclinics and schools run by the Delhi government and municipal corporations. Most of the centres notified for vaccinating children have stocks pile of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. Out of 159 centres notified to vaccinate children, maximum of 21 centres are notified in the South West district. Apart from this, 17 are in Central Delhi, 15 in East Delhi, 18 in New Delhi, 11 in North Delhi, 16 in North East Delhi, 12 in North West, 10 in Shahdara, 11 in South Delhi, 13 in South East Delhi and 15 are in West Delhi. "We have the infrastructure to vaccinate to 3 lakh people per day and we can vaccinate all the children of Delhi in 7 to 10 days," earlier Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain had said. Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday has said the national capital is expected to see 3,100 new Covid-19 cases during the day as he urged people not to panic. "COVID-19 cases in Delhi is increasing at a fast pace. But there is no need to panic. On December 29, 923 cases were reported. 1,313 cases were detected on December 30, 1,796 cases on December 31 and 2,796 cases on January 1. Nearly 3,100 new cases are expected to be reported today. The active cases as of today stand at 6,360," he said in his address to media. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 25, 2021, had announced that the vaccination for the age-group 15-18 years is scheduled to begin from Monday while administration of precautionary third dose for the vulnerable categories is to commence from January 10, 2022. (ANI)
"Acting on a specific input, teams of the STF had launched the operation there on Saturday night. Today morning, an encounter broke out with the Naxals and during the encounter, an STF jawan, identified as Yuvraj Sagar, suffered a bullet injury in his abdomen," said Vijay Pandey, SP, STF.

He further said that after a brief exchange of fire, the rebels fled into the dense forest towards Odisha.

The injured jawan has been shifted to Raipur for further treatment, and his condition is stable, he added.

"Odisha Police has been informed. They have launched a cordon and search operation. A team of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have also been sent for the search operation. Odisha Police has been alerted," said Pandey.

Further details are awaited. (ANI)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin will inaugurate Covid vaccination camps for children in schools on Monday at the Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Porur. The vaccination for children in the age group of 15-18 will commence in the country from January 3, Monday. Registrations have already started since January 1. State Public Health Department in a statement on Sunday said that it will open the camps in schools for children in the age group of 15-18 years from Monday. According to the statement, the health department has joined hands with the education department to open the camps in schools, so that children are not required to travel to distant places to take the jab. There are around 33.46 lakh eligible children in the age group of 15-18 in the state. Registration in the CoWIN portal for vaccination can be done using the Aadhar card, school ID, or the class 10 registration number, the health department said. The Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine has issued guidelines to the deputy directors of health services in all districts on the vaccination camps at schools. Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, T.S. Selvavinayagam in a statement said that a teacher in each school will be appointed as liaison officer and he or she will coordinate with the Deputy Director of Health Services in each district collectorate. The health department said that the Deputy Directors have directed Block level medical officers to prepare a micro plan to enlist students from government, aided schools, and private schools, who are born on or before 2007. The medical officers will also be responsible to download the list of beneficiaries in their respective blocks from the CoWIN portal and forwarding it to the respective school authorities. --IANS aal/shs ( 308 Words) 2022-01-02-11:10:04 (IANS)
General Ved Prakash Malik's endorsement of Shiv Kunal Verma's epic book, "1965: A Western Sunrise" is a show stopper in its own right. It's a classic case where some of the points being made by the former army chief, who was at the helm of affairs in 1999 when Pakistan's Northern Light Infantry, under the guise of the Mujahideen, ingressed into the Drass and Kargil Sectors, are perhaps as interesting as Verma's book itself. Since Independence, for 75 years a lot of water has flown down the Indus and the Brahmaputra rivers. With India's northern boundary defined by the geographical entity of the Himalayas and the western frontier by the whimsical machinations of the British (the Radcliff Line), the public at large never really knew what happened in the bloody conflict with Pakistan in 1947-48, then with China in 1962, and then again with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971. The complete lack of any worthwhile objective writing on these conflicts reflected the void that existed in India's thinking when it came to understanding geo-politics and matters military. As General Malik points out, Shiv Kunal is the son of Major General Ashok Kalyan Verma. Having been born and bred in the cauldron of the armed forces, Shiv Kunal's emergence as the country's premier military history 'sutradhar' is not surprising as "he not only has excellent sources but also the ability to separate the chaff from the wheat when it comes to looking into the fog of war and getting to what may have happened". Shiv Kumar's previous book, "1962: The War that Wasn't", published in 2016, not only chronicled a terrible defeat, did not shy away from looking at both the civilian and military leadership, and calling a spade a spade. As Gen. Malik writes: "Shiv Kunal Verma's ruthless holding of a mirror to the leadership, which some might say is a bit opinionated, his immense research, his very detailed descriptions of each action with the background of the higher political and military leadership juxtaposed" makes his writing very interesting and his books very readable. Every year, the Indian Army's Shimla-based Training Command, better known as ARTRAC, after researching the entire material available, suggest books that are 'prescribed' and 'recommended' for entrance examinations for various courses. In its latest circular to all commands dated October 20, 2021 (incidentally the 59th anniversary of the PLA's attack on 2 Rajput positions on the Nam ka Chu), "1962: The War that Wasn't" has been prescribed for the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) and Defence Services Staff Course (DSTSC) for 2023-2030. Interestingly, Gen. Malik's "Kargil: From Surprise to Victory" also makes the cut, with "Blood on the Snow", written by Maj. Gen. Ashok Kalyan Verma, coming under the 'recommended' category. Air Marshal Denzil Keelor who also has high praise for Shiv Kunal's two books, says: "The only reason why '1965: A Western Sunrise' is not on the list is that hadn't been released (at the time the list for 2023-30 list was drawn up). By far the most lucid and detailed account of the war, the book knits the political, the military and the personal aspects in a manner that the quagmire of events become crystal clear. These two books set the bar in military writing." So, are the Armed Forces today more open to hard hitting, objective writing than before? Probably yes, for earlier any criticism was met with either stony silence or resulted in counter-charges, the Army and the Air Force perhaps being the most sensitive of the lot. It is the complete lack of coordination and planning (in 1965) between Gen. J.N. Chaudhuri and Air Marshal Arjan Singh (the Army and Air Force chiefs at the time) that repeatedly riles Verma in his book. Gen. Malik echoes the sentiment. "Shiv Kunal, in his narration, is highly critical of the military leadership for poor planning and operational conduct during the war, with most of the blame going to Choudhuri, considered 'an impetuous and unthinking Army Chief'. The disdain Chaudhuri had for the other two services was clear in his handling of affairs. Air Marshal P. C. Lal, who was the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) six years later, said that Chaudhuri treated the whole business of fighting Pakistan or China as 'his personal affair, or at any rate that of the army's alone, with the air force a passive spectator and the navy out of it altogether'," Gen. Malik says. Can this acceptance of objective criticism spread to other forms of writing that focus on the defence establishments, or will some areas always remain closed to public perception? There are multiple contentious issues, especially when it comes to internal security matters, where the defence forces instinctively pull back when something negative is perceived to tar their image, especially when it is related to AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act). Even if contemporary events require to be handled away from the glare of public scrutiny, other events that are now a part of history perhaps also need to be objectively revisited. Krishna Kumar Candeth, whose uncle was an Army Commander in 1971, says in response to Gen. Malik's observations: "The book (on 1965) would've more than served its purpose if it leads slowly (beginning with these articles and reviews) to a re-examination of the 1965 war - the egregious mistakes that were made and which are quite likely to be repeated if that re-examination does not take place." "Our military history," says Darshan Singh, the Chairman of Welham Boys' School in Dehradun who with Shiv Kunal's help has initiated introducing the subject at the school level, "has to be an integral part of our education system. Most importantly, it has to be shorn of jingoism and the students, be they be in schools or universities, need to be familiarized with the challenges we have been faced with as a nation. We cannot move forward unless we can look back and draw the lessons from our past, for almost everything has the nasty habit of coming back at us." The question is, having set the bar, will Shiv Kunal's two books now inspire a new generation of writers - and a military hierarchy that will encourage its own junior officers to study our own past in this manner? "I think we need to go beyond that and look at reaching out to various segments of society," says Pankaj P. Singh of Chandigarh's The Browser Library and Bookstore, who is venturing into publishing military history books under its BlueOne Ink imprint. "For a start, we are looking at translating both the 1962 and 1965 books into Hindi, so JCOs and men can also be brought into this loop. Language versions will hopefully be our next step. We are certainly looking at also expanding the coverage to other major events that have impacted the country's post-Independence history," he adds. In the recent past, even the events relating to Doklam and Eastern Ladakh are shrouded in mystery. More than information, misinformation seems to be the order of the day. The Kargil War, now 22 years old, remains the last major conflict and some questions, continue to remain unanswered. Past governments, and in some cases even the Army leadership, have coloured events the way they wanted to project them. Other writers, usually themselves having been key protagonists, have either written self-exonerating versions or built up narratives whose veracity can be questioned. There are umpteen cliches about history repeating itself and not learning from history. Lessons can only be drawn if we are willing to face the reality of what happened - and we must remember that in the rear-view mirror of time, objects are a lot closer than we think. (Vishnu Makhijani can be reached at vishnu.makhijani@ians.in) --IANS vm/ksk/ ( 1304 Words) 2022-01-02-11:40:01 (IANS)
Days after West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) underwent major organizational changes, party MP Soumitra Khan on Sunday informed that party national president Jagat Prakash Nadda will visit the state on January 9 to strengthen and guide state party leaders. Alleging that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is destroying democracy in the state, Khan asserted that BJP will make West Bengal 'Sonar Bangla' again. Speaking to ANI here today, the BJP MP said, "JP Nadda will be on a two-day visit to the state. This visit is considered important to strengthen and guide party leaders. West Bengal BJP has made a big organizational change in which many new and young faces have been given an opportunity." He further said, "BJP will make our West Bengal 'Sonar Bangla' again. BJP will put an end to the manner in which state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is destroying democracy in the state." This visit holds importance as Municipal corporation elections in Bidhan Nagar, Chandannagar, Asansol and Siliguri are slated to be held on January 22, 2022. "Nadda will meet all his organizations from District President to zonal President. In this meeting, all the office bearers of the West Bengal organization, Vice President General Secretary, will be present," said Khan. Of the four, Asansol is the largest municipal corporation with 106 seats, followed by Siliguri with 47, Chandannagar with 33 and Bidhannagar with 41 wards. Soumitra further informed that the top leaders of the party have decided that the age limit to become the president of Yuva Morcha is below 35 years. "On the other hand, the maximum age limit for Mandal President is 45 years. The purpose is to give priority to the youth. Under this, the age limit has been fixed at the organizational level," added the BJP MP. He further added, "There is no employment for the youths and teachers. There are no vacancies. We are in opposition in West Bengal and we will fight as an Opposition, as West Bengal is going backwards, we will try to bring it forward." Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress (TMC) emerged as the largest party in the recently-concluded Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) elections, gaining victory in 134 out of total 144 wards of the local body. BJP emerged as the second-largest party in the polls, winning in only three wards. Left and Indian National Congress (INC) won two wards each while others registered wins in three wards. There are seven municipal corporations in West Bengal namely Asansol Municipal Corporation, Bidhan Nagar Municipal Corporation, Chandannagar Municipal Corporation, Durgapur Municipal Corporation, Howrah Municipal Corporation, Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Siliguri Municipal Corporation. (ANI)
Ahead of Punjab the Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a public rally in Firozpur district on January 5. This will be the first rally of PM Modi in Punjab after the repeal of three farm laws. The Prime Minister is also scheduled to inaugurate a satellite center of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMR) in Punjab's Firozpur. He is also likely to address a rally after the event. Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi is also likely to attend the event at PGIMR. The political rally by PM Modi assumes much significance as he will be joined by former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. According to the sources, former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and Shiromani Akali Dal-SAD (Sanyukt) leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa will also take part in the rally. Reacting to the proposed rally by PM Modi, Aam Aadmi Party's Raghav Chadha said, "BJP can hold as many meetings as they want but they would not be able to win even a single constituency." It is worth mentioning that the 23 old alliance between the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal broke last year when the Shiromani Akali Dal quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over the farm laws. The Shiromani Akali Dal has stated that they will not let the Prime Minister hold any rallies until the demands of farmers are not fulfilled. Recently, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)'s former MLA Jagdeep Singh Nakai and close aide of Sukhbir Singh Badal joined the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) . The three farm laws were repealed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 19. These bills were passed during the winter session of Parliament in 2020. The farmers, who had been protesting on the borders of Delhi against the three laws for almost a year, have suspended their agitation on December 9 and returned to their homes. The Assembly polls in Punjab will be held in 2022. Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) and Amarinder Singh-led Punjab Lok Congress has formed a six member-Committee to decide on seat sharing, informed Punjab BJP in charge Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. In the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls, Congress won an absolute majority in the state by winning 77 seats and ousted the SAD-BJP government after 10 years. Aam Aadmi Party emerged as the second-largest party winning 20 seats in 117-member Punjab Legislative Assembly. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) could only manage to win 15 seats while the BJP secured 3 seats. (ANI)
Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday said that the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or the UAPA should be invoked on offenders who have committed a crime under it and they should be arrested. The remark from Sibal came after the Haridwar police added names of more accused in the hate speech case but "not arrested" anybody. The police has added the name of Yati Narasimhanand -- the controversial religious leader who allegedly used provocative speech against a community. "Haridwar Hate Speech What's the point in just naming accused Arrest them Prosecute them under UAPA," he said in a tweet adding, "Modi ji Yogi ji: why are you silent?" The hate speech was reportedly made during an event in Haridwar held from December 17 to 20. Video clips of the event, circulated on social media, says that "Hindus should arm themselves like those seen in Myanmar, every Hindu must pick up weapons and conduct a Safayi Abhiyan." The event was organised by Yati Narasimhanand, a controversial religious leader who has been accused in the past of inciting violence. The Uttrakhand Police have lodged an FIR in the case against Jitendra Narayan Tyagi -- former Shia Waqf board chairman, who recently converted to Hinduism. In a similar incident, Chhattisgarh Police had arrested Kalicharan Maharaj for allegedly using derogatory language against Mahatma Gandhi from Madhya Pradesh's Khajuraho. The police had registered an FIR against the religious leader and others for allegedly making derogatory comments on Mahatma Gandhi and praising Nathuram Godse. The Congress is criticising the delay in action against the accused in Haridwar. --IANS miz/shs ( 275 Words) 2022-01-02-12:20:02 (IANS)
Saudi Water Partnerships Company (SWPC) has invited expressions of interest (EOIs) for the development of two independent strategic water reservoir projects - Al Ahsa and Eastern Province - in the kingdom with a total ultimate treatment capacity of 4.9 million cu m/day.

According to SWPC, the Eastern Province Independent Strategic Water Reservoir will be constructed with an indicative water storage capacity of 3.51 million cu m, while the Al Ahsa Independent Strategic Water Reservoir will boast a water storage capacity of 1.4 million cu m.

The project will include water reservoirs and all the associated infrastructure and facilities, it stated.

This comes in accordance with the Saudi Vision 2030 and the National Water Strategy 2030, and is aimed at improving the water sectors resilience and its ability to respond to emergencies and disruptions as well as to provide peak load management of water demand.

Among the main objectives of this strategy is to increase water storage to seven days of water demand by 2030, said the statement from SWPC.

Announcing the floating of tenders for the project, SWPC said it will conduct a competitive process to select a private sector developer (or developer consortium) for the funding, procurement, implementation, operation, maintenance and transfer (Boot) of the project.

The successful bidder, through a project company to be incorporated, will provide the required storage capacity to SWPC under a 30-year water storage agreement.

SWPCs obligations under the WSA will be supported by a credit support agreement from the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it added.

For the Al-Ahsa and Eastern Province projects, Synergy Consulting IFA is the lead and financial advisor; Amer Al Amr Law Firm the legal advisor and WSP Middle East Limited the technical advisor.

The last date for submitting the EOIs has been set at January 6, it added.
Union Health Ministry on Sunday informed that media reports claiming that India has missed COVID-19 vaccination targets are misleading. In an official release, the ministry said, "In a recently published news article by a reputed international news agency, it has been claimed that India has missed its vaccination target. This is misleading and does not represent the complete picture." It read, "In the fight against global pandemic COVID-19, India's national COVID-19 vaccination programme has been one of the most successful and largest vaccination programmes compared with the many developed western nations with significantly low population base to vaccinate." The ministry informed that since the start of the National COVID vaccination drive on January 16, 2021, India has administered over 90 per cent of 1st dose and 65 per cent of 2nd dose to its eligible citizens. In the drive, India has achieved several milestones unprecedented in the world, including administering over 100 crore doses in less than 9 months, administering 2.51 crore doses in a single day and administering 1 crore doses per day on several occasions. Compared with other developed nations, India has done a better job in administering COVID vaccination to its eligible adult citizens of 93.7 crores (as per RGI) across all its states and Union Territories. In the case of 1st dose coverage to the eligible population, the USA has covered only 73.2 per cent of the population, the UK has covered 75.9 per cent of its population, France has covered 78.3 per cent of its population, and Spain has covered 84.7 per cent of its population. India has already covered 90 per cent of the eligible population with 1st dose of vaccine against COVID-19. Similarly, for the 2nd dose of vaccines, the USA has covered only 61.5 per cent of its population, the UK has covered 69.5 per cent of its population, France has covered 73.2 per cent of its population, and Spain has covered 81 per cent of its population. While India has covered over 65 per cent of the eligible population with 2nd dose of vaccine against COVID-19. Further, in over 11 states, UTs in India has already achieved 100 per cent of 1st dose vaccination, while in three states, UTs have already achieved 100 per cent full vaccination (both 1st and 2nd dose) against COVID-19. In many states, UTs are soon expected to achieve 100% vaccination very quickly. A nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign 'Har Ghar Dastak' campaign was implemented from November 3, 2021, which includes mobilization, awareness, vaccination campaign through reaching out to all missed out and dropped out eligible beneficiaries through House to House visit. This has also resulted in an increase of 1st dose coverage by 11.6% since the introduction of the campaign. While the 2nd dose coverage increased by 28.9% in the same period. Keeping in view the global surge of COVID-19 cases in December 2021, detection of Omicron variant which has been categorized as a Variant of Concern (VOC), scientific evidence, global best practices and the inputs/suggestions of "COVID-19 Working Group" of "National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI)" as well as of "Standing Technical Scientific Committee (STSC)" of NTAGI it was decided to further refine the scientific prioritization & coverage of COVID-19 vaccination of teenagers in the age-group of 15-18 years to be started from 3rd January 2022. Further strengthening India's fight against COVID-19, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has given approvals to two additional vaccines in December 2021. These include Biological-E's CORBEVAX vaccine and SII's COVOVAX vaccine for restricted use in an emergency situation. This takes the number of vaccines given restricted to use in an emergency situation in India to 8. (ANI)
The Delhi Zoo, spread over 176 acres of land, witnesses tourist footfall from across the country and to make it a place to remember for life, the zoo administration is making necessary changes and facelifts. The zoo not just houses animals but also different varieties of trees and plants. Under new changes, 100 species of trees will be planted in the zoo and the spot will be named as 'Tree Point', so that tourists who want to see trees and plants can see all at one place. Currently, the zoo have 75 species of trees which will be increased to 100 this year. This exercise is taking time as trees grow in their specific season. In the past few months, many animals have been brought to the Delhi Zoo. At present, it has 1200 animals of 96 species. Under the masterplan, in the next ten years, the aim is to increase the number of species to 236. Soon, four new species of animals will be added that will take the species tally to 100. For the first time, the Delhi Zoo has received 'Dhole' (wild dog) and star tortoise. On September 23, an ostrich was brought here from Chandigarh zoo. Apart from this, three lions, one turtle from Junagadh and a 'Chousingha' (four-horned antelope) had also arrived. On October 5, two tigresses and as many bears were also brought. In the past six months, 14 new species and 37 wildlife animals have been brought in the Delhi Zoo. A primate park has also been set up in the zoo, in which types of primates - bonnet, baboon, colobines and Rhesus macaque - will be kept so that tourists can see them at a place. Presently, a tourist has to go from one place to another to see similar species. Under the plan, the zoo administration is trying to put a certain category of animals at one place, like if a tourist wants to see carnivorous animals, he/she can see all of them at one place. Though such changes will take time and it will not be easy for the zoo administration too. The work will began from this year itself and it is expected that by 2032 the zoo will get a complete facelift. Delhi Zoo Joint Director Anamika Narwal said: "Delhi Zoo is a world of its own. Recently, the zoo has added many new species. The zoo has many new additions like Dhole (wild dog), Star tortoise, hyena and others. Apart from these, the zoo is actively organising various programmes for the visitors and celebrating the 'Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav'." To promote research in various aspects of the zoo, MoUs have been signed with various universities including, Ashoka University, Amity University, Turtle Survival Alliance. Further under a special campaign, animals were also given special food on the occasion of Christmas and New Year. --IANS msk/svn/shs ( 486 Words) 2022-01-02-13:54:03 (IANS)
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which recently lodged a case of unlawful activity prevention act against Germany-based Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) member Jaswinder Singh Multani, has indicated that they will also investigate his involvement in the use of drones for smuggling across the border. An NIA source said that for drones have been used for smuggling arms, ammunition, explosives and drugs. "Pakistan-based terrorists backed by the ISI are involved in this. Jaswinder is in touch with them. He also has an Indian contact who receives smuggled arms, explosive and drugs. By this he is pumping drugs and arms into Indian teritory. We are probing this and are collecting evidences in this respect," said the source. Around 70 drone sightings were reported last year along the border in Punjab and Jammu. These drones were used by Pakistan-based elements to supply arms and narcotic in India. Few drones were shot down by Border Security Forces (BSF). Another drone wad sighted by the BSF, and the personnel tried to shoot it down and it flew back to Pakistan after dropping six packets containing narcotics, these were seized by the agencies. Multani was booked by the NIA for hatching conspiracy against India along with his associates. "The case was registered on December 30, under sections 120B, 121A of IPC and sections 10, 13, 17, 18 & 18B of UA(P) Act, against Multani and his other associates. Multani was detained by German authorites in Berlin following the inputs of Indian Agencies, he was later set free after he gave an affidavit to the German government saying he would assist in the probe," said an NIA official. The official said that Multani along with several other pro-Khalistani elements located abroad were radicalising, motivating and recruiting youths in Punjab on ground and online through social media platforms to propagate their ideology with the aim to secede Punjab from India. "They have been involved in raising funds to procure arms, ammunition and explosives by using smuggling networks in Punjab to revive terrorism in Punjab. Jaswinder Singh Multani has also been in contact with ISI operatives to carry out terror attack in Mumbai and other parts of India," the NIA official said. A team of elite officials was formed to look into the matter. The NIA official said that they want to bring back Multani to India to prosecute him for his offence.A --IANS atk/ksk/ ( 408 Words) 2022-01-02-14:04:02 (IANS)
AAP leader Raghav Chadha on Sunday accused Charanjit Singh Channi led government of engaging in an "election stunt" by not arresting Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA Bikram Singh Majithia, who has been booked under the NDPS Act, alleging that a "compromised" FIR was filed against the SAD leader after a "secret deal" was struck with the Badals. "Bikram Singh Majithia has not been arrested even after the rejection of his anticipatory bail. Compromised FIR was filed by the Punjab CM as an election stunt, concerning the upcoming polls. Channi is a compromised CM. He has entered into a deal with the Badals," Chadha told ANI. He further stressed that "rejection of anticipatory bail is equal to immediate arrest" and slammed Punjab police for its inaction. Alleging that Majithia is "roaming openly in Punjab", Chadha claimed that Majithia on Sunday offered prayers at Golden Temple and the proof can be found in the CCTV footages. The AAP leader alleged that the Channi government did not want to nab the SAD leader as there was a "secret deal" between them. "Punjab police is deployed around the Golden Temple and even then they are not arresting him but looking at him pass by. The Channi government does not want to arrest Majithia. There is a secret deal between them. They have given instructions to not arrest Majithia," Chadha said. Taking a dig at Punjab Chief Minister, he remarked, "Channi is a compromised chief minister." "No action will be taken by the government against Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS)," he added. "Several years ago, in the Ludhiana City Centre scam, Channi had gone to Badals to release his brother, a co-accused in the case. For repaying the favour, Majithia is not being arrested," Chadha claimed. Majithia, who previously served as a minister in the Punjab government, has been booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act at SAS Nagar Police Station on the basis of a 2018 report submitted by the anti-drug Special Task Force (STF). A lookout circular, which prevents a person from leaving the country, had been issued against Majithia in December 2021. Following the rejection of Majithia's anticipatory bail plea by a Mohali court, he had moved to the Punjab and Haryana High Court. (ANI)
Months after the derogatory "Sulli Deals" app, another app called "Bulli Bai" has appeared that targets women of a particular religion on code hosting platform - GitHub. Reacting to the development, Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Sunday sought action against those who demean women. She said, "I had raised the issue of 'Sulli Deals', which was trying to target women of a particular religion. I had raised it in July and then in another letter on September 7 but got a response in November that they will take action and only the sites were blocked then and now the 'Bulli Deals' have surfaced." She demanded that action should be taken against the perpetrators of the crime so that this would not be repeated, as it leads to mental harassment of women whose names and pictures are used without any authorisation. "Bulli Bai" popped up on January 1, with a number of pictures of women including journalists, social workers, students and famous personalities, being used with derogatory content. "Bulli Bai" was also being promoted by a Twitter handle with the name @bullibai, which displays picture of a self-proclaimed "Khalistani supporter", and saying women can be booked from the app. This handle was also promoting Khalistani content at the same time. Priyanka Chaturvedi said that the matter is with Mumbai Police and the culprit should be arrested at the earliest. Mumbai Police said that they were looking into the matter and were taking legal opinion to lodge the case under relevant section of the IPC. When "Sulli Deal" appeared, two FIRs were lodged against unknown persons. However, no arrests were made and the culprits are still at large. --IANS miz/shs/skp/ ( 292 Words) 2022-01-02-14:52:02 (IANS)
"Following the instructions of the Chief Minister of Assam, Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Assam Police has launched a massive anti-narcotic campaign across the state. Under which the police have succeeded in confiscating drugs worth crores of rupees in the entire state as well as a large amount of cash," said Balaram Terong, Officer in Charge, Dibrugarh.

"In this episode, on the midnight of Saturday in Dibrugarh, Dibrugarh Police, on the basis of intelligence sources, we seized 292 grams of heroin from a woman's house. The market value of which will be close to Rs 80 lakhs," he added.

"After this campaign, there is a stir among the drug dealers. There is an atmosphere of panic among criminals and drug dealers," he stated.

Earlier on December 25, Assam Police arrested a person and seized 84 vials of heroin from his possession in Nagaon district on Saturday. (ANI)
State Disaster Management Department of Jharkhand is likely to take a decision after holding a meeting on rising COVID-19 cases across the country on Monday. During the meeting, decisions will be taken in regards to containing the spread of infection and ensuring the safety of the people. The government has sought suggestions from various departments in view of rising COVID-19 infections. "In view of the increasing infection of COVID-19, the government has sought suggestions from various departments. Your government is closely monitoring all aspects for your safety and in the proposed meeting of disaster authority tomorrow (Monday), keeping all the aspects in mind, will take appropriate decision in the interest of all of you," read a tweet from the Chief Minister Hemant Soren's office. The Chief Minister has advised the public to not fall for rumours, wear a mask while going out, and taking special care of elders and children in their families. "Till then all of you are requested not to pay heed to the rumours. Do not leave the house without a mask. Take special care of elders and children of the house," said another tweet from CM's office. Notably, India reported 27,553 new COVID-19 cases and 284 deaths in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday. According to the ministry, the number of Omicron infections stands at 1,525 and it has spread to 23 states. Maharashtra is the worst-affected state with 460 cases, followed by Delhi with 351. The country recorded 9,249 recoveries in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 3,42,84,561. India's recovery rate is currently at 98.27 per cent. (ANI)
Out of 45, 9 cases came from high-risk countries, 32 from low-risk countries, and 4 got through contact.

The current list of "at-risk" countries for the Covid-19 Omicron variant includes the United Kingdom, other countries in Europe, South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Ghana, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Hong Kong, and Israel.

As per the state government official statement, Kerala reported 2,802 new COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, Kerala Health Minister Veena George in an official statement informed that COVID-19 vaccination of children falling into the age bracket of 15 to 18 years is scheduled to begin from January 3.

Meanwhile, India reported 27,553 new COVID-19 cases and 284 deaths in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.

According to the ministry, the number of Omicron infections stands at 1,525 and it has spread to 23 states. Maharashtra is the worst-affected state with 460 cases, followed by Delhi with 351. (ANI)
"To uphold ancient Indian values, I urge Assam government employees to spend quality time with their parents/in-laws on January 6 and 7 designated as special holidays," the Assam Chief Minister tweeted.

"I request them to rededicate themselves to the cause of building a new Assam and new India with blessings of their parents," his tweet added.

Assam state government employees will get two-day casual leave and two days of holidays in the first week of January. The state government has also allowed ministers to spend time with their parents and in-laws during this time. (ANI)
Accompanied by former MLA Nav Prabhat, Chauhan before meeting the Congress General Secretary has met state incharge Devendra Yadav.

The Congress considers Chauhan a prize catch as the party is wary of AAP cutting into its prospects in the hill state.

In the upcoming assembly polls, Congress is facing incumbent BJP and the AAP.

The AAP is eyeing the vote bank of ex-servicemen with Colonel Ajay Kothiyal, an ex-serviceman is heading the party.

Kothiyal, is a decorated former officer of the Indian Army and AAP CM candidate for the upcoming 2022 Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly elections.

The Congress sensed this move of the AAP and had organised a rally to honour veterans.

Congress felicitated the war veterans of the 1971 India-Pakistan war after the end of the year-long celebration of 50th anniversary of Bangladesh Liberation War.

The celebrations formally concluded with a ceremony in the national capital on December 15, 2021.

On December 16, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi addressed a rally in Dehradun that saw a 'huge' footfall of 1971 War Veterans and other military veterans.

In the 2017 Legislative Assembly elections, the BJP won 56 seats with 46.5 per cent votes while contesting on all 70 seats in the state. Intrestingly, the Congress had won just 11 seats in the assembly polls despite getting 33.5 per cent votes.

Seeing the mood of the people of the state, BJP had to change its Chief Minister thrice within five years.

After winning the election in 2017, it made Trivendra Singh Rawat the Chief Minister. In March 2021, he was replaced by Tirath Singh Rawat and after a few months the command of the state was handed over to Pushkar Singh Dhami.

The BJP's main rival in Uttarakhand is the Congress, and by winning again, it wants to send a message that revival of the latter in 2024 is difficult.

--IANS miz/shs

( 343 Words)

2022-01-02-15:34:05 (IANS)
India can be a world leader in providing skilled manpower across sectors, said Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Indias Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology and Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship.

India can be a leading partner for the countries in the Middle East, the Emirates and other countries across the world in creating a trusted, highly qualified and skilled manpower and entrepreneurs that can shape the future of the world economies, he said during his visit to the India Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.

Talking on India-UAE relations, Chandrasekhar said: India and the Emirates have a strong trade and investment relationship across sectors. This relationship will continue to grow, deepen, strengthen, especially in the post-Covid era to create economic prosperity and opportunities for people all over the world.

Highlighting the significance of the India Pavilion, the Minister said: The Pavilion represents Indias rising ambitions and aspirations to create opportunities for its citizens and collaborate with other countries to create a better, peaceful and prosperous world of the future. The Pavilion is guided by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modis vision of opportunity and prosperity for all in this New and Self-reliant India (Atmanirbhar Bharat).

In his message to global investment community, Chandrasekhar said: The pandemic has shown to the world the resilience and capabilities of India  its entrepreneurs, government, and young population. Going forward, Indias ambition is to be a strong participant driving economic prosperity and growth across the world.

We invite all investors from the middle east and around the world to come and be a part of the new India economic story and witness the resurgence, growth and revival of the global economy.

-- TradeArabia News Service
A pet parent performed a baby shower ritual for her pregnant cats in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore on Sunday. Pet parent, said, "We have performed this to shower blessings on our pregnant cats. We are giving them special cat food, snacks. People conduct baby showers for humans so we did the same for our cats as they are members of our family. We came to the clinic and organized the baby shower along with the doctors." A veterinary doctor who attended the baby shower said, "This kind of ceremony for pregnant cats is a first of its kind and it will make the pregnant cats happier." (ANI)
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday called for making India fully self-reliant in all areas, including strategic domains. As per an official release, "Addressing scientists and staff of the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory at Kochi, the Vice President, stressed the need for increasing indigenous content in the defence sector and cutting down on imports." "To achieve that, we need to not only give greater thrust to R&D activities but also allow private collaboration, wherever it is possible and feasible, with stringent quality controls", Naidu observed. On this occasion, the Vice President virtually laid the foundation stone of the "Towed Array Integration Facility", essential for the development of towed array sonar systems, which is critical to underwater defence. The towed array sonar system is expected to enhance the Navy's capabilities to detect quieter enemy submarines underwater. Asserting that India is strongly marching ahead on its way to becoming a global superpower in the coming decades, he lauded the scientists In defence, space and other areas for doing excellent work in strengthening India's security. Referring to the fact that India is still one of the largest importers of defence equipment, the Vice President said, In this context, the contribution of a small lab like NPOL in empowering the nation in its defence needs is truly commendable. Keeping in view the geopolitical scenario in our neighbourhood, the Vice President said NPOL's role towards national security is paramount as all warships or conventional submarines in the fleet of the Indian Navy are installed with NPOL-developed sonars. "Besides bringing in the socio-economic gains by stopping imports in this niche domain, NPOL has been able to master a very complex and critical technology that is giving a strategic edge to the Indian Navy in anti-submarine warfare capabilities", he added. Lauding the laboratory for establishing itself as a leading Research and Development centre in the area of underwater surveillance systems, he noted that it is currently working on ambitious mission mode projects and technology demonstration projects, besides undertaking a major Flagship Programme, the INTEGRATED MARITIME SURVEILLANCE (INMARS) Programme for Indian Navy's future requirement for the next 15 years. Appreciating NPOL for building a strong network with industry and contributing towards improving the financial performance of PSUs, the Vice President noted that NPOL has also nurtured more than 100 local industries, including MSMEs and Startups, for developing niche technologies. On the occasion, the Vice President also inaugurated Dr APJ Abdul Kalam memorial and an installation on the occasion of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav near the laboratory. Describing the memorial as "truly befitting", he said that it will inspire countless people from all walks of life every day. Governor of Kerala, Arif Mohammed Khan, Minister for Industries, Government of Kerala, P. Rajeev, Member of Parliament, and others were present on the occasion. (ANI)
Two global platforms - UNFCCC COP and UNSC - witnessed India's prowess as not just good negotiators for safeguarding her own interest but also for the global south. In a way, what India has been advocating all along vis-a-vis climate change, came to fruition in November and December 2021. "Year 2021 saw a steady stream of UN-backed reports reinforcing a stark message: man-made climate change is an urgent and even existential threat to life on Earth. Will the international community's efforts to tackle the crisis, as seen at the Conference of Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Conference (UNFCCC), result in meaningful action?" said the UN release on the last day of 2021. In November, at Glasgow, the UK, the last day of the COP was when India - ably led by Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav - insisted on the use of the term 'phase down' coal instead of 'phase out' in the Glasgow Climate Pact that 190 plus nations agreed to. It was necessary insertion as the rich nations, the principal polluters and high energy consumers, wanted just the coal to phase out leaving other energy sources in the fossil fuel basket untouched. It would have meant that poorer countries that are dependent on coal will have to forsake it at the same time that richer countries do but sans the option of oil and gas as they have. It is not that India only preached but not practiced, unlike much of the western world that may have cleaned up their air but have an energy-intensive lifestyle leading to highest per capita energy consumption. Offering a new mantra and raising its pledge for combating climate change, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced at the COP26 that India will target a net zero goal by the year 2070 and aim at increasing its non-fossil fuel energy to 500 GW in its energy mix by 2030. Terming it as 'Panchamrut Ki Saugat' - India's contribution to climate action called as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), Modi had said, India will reduce its carbon intensity by 45 per cent by 2030 starting with reducing projected carbon emission from now till 2030 by 1 billion tonnes and committed to have renewable energy component of 50 per cent by 2030. Modi gave a new mantra for sustainable development through sustainable lifestyle, LIFE - 'Lifestyle for Environment' which, he said, can be a mass movement wherein instead of mindless and destructive consumption, there should be mindful and deliberate utilization. The other platform was not a regular climate change related but the prestigious United Nations Security Council (UNSC) where in December, India - with support of Russia and China - shot down a proposal to "Integrating Climate-Related Security Risk into Conflict-Prevention Strategies." While stressing that India is "second to none" in addressing climate action and climate justice, India stated that the Council is not the place to discuss either issue. "Today's attempt to link climate with security obfuscates a lack of progress on critical issues under the UNFCC process. The text would constitute a step backward from collective resolve to combat climate change," India's permanent representative at the UN had said and also made it clear that "including climate change within the UN Security Council's mandate would exclude most developing countries from discussions." Unlike the UNFCCC - which works on consensus and gives equal weightage to each and every country that is party to it - the UNSC is dominated by rich nations. Therefore, India putting its foot down came as a godsent for the global south - comprising mostly poorer and developing countries from South Asia, Africa and Southern America. Having done all that, India now has the onus to put into domestic actions whatever it has said on global platforms. Much is left to be done for the poorest of the poor that is inevitably the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. India is committed to green energy as it acknowledges that the solution to climate related problems is within the renewable energy. India has already committed to its expansion. "India will be carrying out the promises that the Prime Minister made at the COP. Our programmes such as railways on renewable energy, cutting down on carbon emission and increasing share of renewables in the energy mix are on track but at the same time we also believe that the developed countries need to enhance climate finance and technology transfer," Yadav told IANS. Resilient infrastructure, adaptation, agriculture and afforestation are focus areas with Nagar Vans (City Forests) function as carbon sinks in view of increasing urbanization and outside, maintenance of wetlands/Ramsar Sites in rural areas, increasing forest cover for mitigation are few others focus areas for the Ministry. But going beyond this, Yadav brought in clarity on the regular conflict between his Ministry and that of Tribal Affairs as he said, "We believe that we cannot save our forests without public participation. Livelihood of the local community, sustainability of the local flora and fauna and protection of the wildlife are all interdependent, not independent. So, we move ahead with Samagrata (comprehensiveness). Our ideology too believes in Samagrata and not in separatism." (Nivedita Khandekar can be reached at nivedita.k@ians.in ) --IANS niv/skp/ ( 887 Words) 2022-01-02-16:44:02 (IANS)
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu visited the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) 'Vikrant' under the advanced stage of construction at Cochin Shipyard Ltd in Kochi on Sunday. During his visit, Naidu was briefed on the uniqueness of the project and the progress of construction during the visit. He was also briefed about efforts being made towards ship's delivery and commissioning prior to August 2022 to commemorate 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav'. Naidu was appreciative of the country's capability in designing and constructing an Aircraft Carrier and lauded it as a shining example of its quest for 'Atmanirbharta' or self-reliant India. The Vice President was also briefed about the contribution of the indigenous technologies and capabilities during the walk-around of the carrier and he expressed satisfaction and appreciated the efforts of the Indian Navy and Cochin Shipyard towards strengthening the Indigenous warship building capabilities. Indian Navy is a formidable resident maritime power in the Indian Ocean Region, and the Aircraft Carrier Battle Group remains central to its concept of operations. Vikrant will provide the Indian Navy with the requisite flexibility, mobility, reach and combat power in pursuance of national interests and also serve as a strong catalyst for peace and stability in the Indian Ocean Region. An Aircraft Carrier also holds a position of strategic and technological eminence and is rightly considered the pinnacle in the domain of warship design and construction. With the construction of an Indigenous Aircraft Carrier, India will enter into a select band of countries having niche indigenous capability for designing and building an Aircraft Carrier. The Indian shipbuilding industry has come a long way since the 1960s with the IAC Vikrant being the hallmark of India's indigenous industrial capability. The indigenous content in the construction of IAC is close to 76 per cent of the overall project cost of Rs 19341 Crores. The ship has a large number of indigenous materials such as steel, besides other equipment and systems manufactured by Indian industrial houses and about 100 MSMEs. The indigenous construction of the carrier has generated employment opportunities not only within the shipyard but also for many other industries supporting the project externally. Close to 2000 shipyard and 13000 non-yard personnel have been employed per annum towards the construction of IAC. During the visit, Naidu was accompanied by the Governor of Kerala Arif Mohammed Khan, Chief of Staff Southern Naval Command Rear Admiral Antony George, NM, VSM, CMD Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) Shri Madhu S Nair, and other senior officials of Navy and CSL. Later, the Vice President visited Naval Physical & Oceanographic Laboratory as part of 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' and unveiled Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Memorial. He also laid the foundation stone of a Towed Array Integration Facility and handed over an Automated Sonar Trainer to the Navy. Naidu is on a three-day visit to Kerala and arrived at Kochi Naval airport on Sunday morning, after his tour of Lakshadweep. Earlier on the day, a ceremonial 100 men guard was paraded at INS Garuda in honour of the Vice President. (ANI)
South Korean tech giant Samsung today unveiled three new models of its monitor line-up for 2022. All of these are slated to be officially announced during CES 2022 from January 5-7 in Las Vegas. According to GSM Arena, the first of these new monitors is the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8. This is a 32-inch display with the world's first 4K 240Hz panel. It also features a 1000R curvature and Quantum Mini LED backlighting. The mini LED backlighting system uses units that are 1/40th the size of conventional LED units. With Samsung's Quantum Matrix and Quantum HDR 2000 technologies, the display can achieve up to 2000 nits of peak brightness in HDR content with 4096 step backlight adjustment. The monitor also supports dual HDMI 2.1 ports and a single DisplayPort 1.4 connection. The Auto Source Switch+ feature will automatically change sources when a connected device is powered on. The CoreSync feature adjusts the RGB lighting on the back of the monitor to match the contents of the screen. The next model is the Smart Monitor M8, which features a webcam that works with the built-in Google Duo app. The monitor also comes pre-installed with apps for streaming services, letting you use the monitor as a smart TV without having to connect to a source device. It features a 32-inch panel with UHD resolution and you also get a wireless remote control, similar to the ones you get with Samsung TVs. Lastly, there is the Samsung S8, which is designed for content creation. It comes in 32-inch and 27-inch sizes with UHD resolution and is the world's first monitor to be certified as glare-free by Underwriters Laboratories. The S8 features 98 per cent coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space, VESA DisplayHDR 600 certification (32-inch only), and wired LAN support. It also features USB-C connectivity and can be connected to supported laptops to send video and audio signals to the monitor and Ethernet data and 90W of power from the monitor to the laptop. As per GSM Arena, the monitors are slated to be launched in the first half of 2022. More information will be revealed during CES 2022. (ANI)
"When asked to leave the spot in view of rising COVID-19 cases, the protestors started pelting stone," officials said.

The contractual workers of the plant, which is operated by Chhattisgarh State Power Company, have been protesting for the past 28 days demanding their services be made permanent.

Earlier, these employees had requested the administration to hold talks with the chairman of Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board, on which the administration fixed the time of January 4, but the employees demanded that it be held earlier, an official said.

It further stated that owing to their demand the administration proposed on fixing a new date on January 3 but the agitators did not agree to this and insisted on holding talks through video conferencing on Sunday.

"Even after the video conferencing was arranged, those taking part in the stir refused to vacate the area," officials said.

Police had reportedly used water cannons to remove the protesters as some workers at the Madwa plant, who were suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes, had to be evacuated immediately. (ANI)
Telangana's ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has called for week-long celebrations to mark crediting of Rs 50,000 crore into the accounts of farmers since the launch of Rythu Bandhu scheme three years ago. The state-wide Rythu Bandhu celebrations will be organised from January 3 to January 10. TRS Working President K. T. Rama Rao, Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy, and Rythu Bandhu Samiti President Palla Rajeshwar Reddy held a teleconference with the TRS MLAs, MPs, MLCs, ZPTCs, Rythu Bandhu Samithi district Presidents on Sunday and gave directions on how to take forward the celebrations while following Covid restrictions. KTR, as Rama Rao is popularly known, stated that no other State in the country has brought in a scheme such as Rythu Bandhu. He added that TRS Party President and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao has introduced this scheme for the welfare of the farmers community. Nowhere in 70 years of Indian history such a great scheme was introduced, he added. He also said that Telangana stands at the top of charts when it comes to the implementation of initiatives for the welfare of the agriculture sector. KTR noted that the Chief Minister introduced various schemes such as Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bheema and also built the Kaleshwaram Project which widely provides water for irrigation in the state. He asked the party leaders and workers to conduct programs such as Sankranthi Muggulu, essay writing and painting competitions for students based on Rythu Bandhu theme. On January 10, all the celebrations will take place at the 2,600 Rythu Vedikas across the state. KTR gave directions to conduct these celebrations by following Covid restrictions. He also asked the party leaders to share pamphlets on the schemes and works done by the TRS government for the farming sector. He also asked them to write letters to the people regarding the celebrations, asking them to become a part of it. Niranjan Reddy said the government is providing Rythu Bandhu funds to 63 lakh farmers. Under the investment support scheme for farmers launched in May 2018, the government is providing financial assistance to all farmers for two crops every year. When the scheme was launched the amount was Rs 8,000 per acre per year (for both Rabi and Kharif seasons) and the TRS government enhanced the amount to Rs 10,000 since the year 2019. The government is crediting Rs 5,000 per acre into the farmers' bank accounts before beginning of every crop season. For coming Rabi season, the disbursement of Rs 7,646 crore began last week and on January 10, the cumulative assistance under the scheme will touch Rs 50,000 crore mark --IANS ms/vd ( 450 Words) 2022-01-02-21:04:06 (IANS)
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday called for making India fully self-reliant in all areas, including strategic domains. Addressing scientists and staff of the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory at Kochi, he stressed the need for increasing indigenous content in the defence sector and cutting down on imports. "To achieve that, we need to not only give greater thrust to Research and Development activities, but also allow private collaboration, wherever it is possible and feasible, with stringent quality controls", Naidu observed. On this occasion, the Vice President virtually laid the foundation stone of the "Towed Array Integration Facility", essential for the development of towed array sonar systems, which is critical to underwater defence. The towed array sonar system is expected to enhance the Navy's capabilities to detect quieter enemy submarines underwater. Referring to the fact that India is still one of the largest importers of defence equipment, Naidu said that in this context, the contribution of a small lab like Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) in empowering the nation in its defence needs is truly commendable. Keeping in view the geo-political scenario in our neighbourhood, the Vice President said, NPOL's role towards national security is paramount as all warships or conventional submarines in the fleet of the Indian Navy are installed with NPOL-developed sonars. "Besides bringing in the socio-economic gains by stopping imports in this niche domain, NPOL has been able to master a very complex and critical technology that is giving a strategic edge to the Indian Navy in anti-submarine warfare capabilities", he added. Appreciating NPOL for building a strong network with industry and contributing towards improving financial performance of the Public Sector Unit, the Vice President noted that this lab has also nurtured more than 100 local industries, including MSMEs and startups, for developing niche technologies. On the occasion, the Vice President also inaugurated Dr APJ Abdul Kalam memorial and an installation on the occasion of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav near the laboratory. Describing the memorial as 'truly befitting', he said that it will inspire countless people from all walks of life every day. --IANS ams/skp/ ( 363 Words) 2022-01-02-21:20:03 (IANS)
A team of researchers studied how many safe working hours people living in the tropics have lost due to local temperature change associated with deforestation during the past 15 years. The study has been published in the 'One Earth Journal'. "There is a hugely disproportionate decrease in safe work hours associated with heat exposure for people in deforested locations versus people in forested locations just over the past 15 or 20 years," said first author Luke Parsons, a climate researcher at Duke University. "There is a small amount of climate change that has happened over the same 15-year period, but the increase in humid heat exposure for people living in deforested relative to forested locations was much larger than that from recent climate change," he added. Previous research had revealed deforestation is associated with an increase in local temperature. Trees block out the sun's radiation and provide shade. They also cool down the air via evapotranspiration, a process when plants transport water from the soil then evaporate water from the leaf surface, similar to how sweating cools the skin. "The trees in the tropics seem to limit the maximum temperatures that the air can reach. Once we cut those trees down, we lose that cooling service from the trees, and it can get really, really hot," Parsons said. "In the Brazilian Amazon, for example, where huge swaths of the rainforest have been cleared in the last 15 or 20 years, the afternoons can be up to 10 degrees Celsius warmer than forested regions," he added. The study went a step further and estimated the number of people who live in locations affected by warming associated with deforestation. Using satellite data and meteorological observations, Parsons and his team tracked the local temperature and humidity in 94 low-latitude countries with tropical forests, including countries in the Americas, Africa, and Asia, from 2003 to 2018. They estimated that in recently deforested locations, almost 5 million people lost at least half an hour of safe work time per day -- when the weather outside is too hot and humid to safely conduct heavy labour. Among them, at least 2.8 million people are outdoor workers that perform heavy physical work in the agriculture and construction sectors. Heavy physical work increased the heat generated within the human body, which when combined with hot and humid environments, increased the risk of heat strain and heat-related illnesses, including heatstroke, which can be fatal. "Those tropical locations are already on the edge of being too hot and humid to safely work because of climate change. Deforestation may push these places over the edge into even more unsafe work environments," Parsons said. Notably, this study estimated that there are nearly 100,000 people living in the tropics in locations that lost more than 2 hours of safe work time per day due to temperature increases associated with deforestation, and over 90 per cent of those people live in Asia. Parsons explained that the disproportionate distribution is likely due to Asia's highly dense population. "I think the research has a positive message and a negative message. The negative message is that if we cut down trees, we not only cause problems for the ecosystem and global carbon emissions, but we also lose local cooling services that provide a comfortable and safe place to work. But the positive message is that if we can prevent forest loss, we can maintain cooling services along with all the other benefits forests provide. Importantly, the relationship between the health of the forests and nearby people offers an additional, locally relevant reason to prevent tree loss," he said. (ANI)
The Nokia G50's Android 12 update requires a download of 2.09GB. It has version number V2.160 and comes with the November 2021 Android security patch, reports GSMArena.

Apart from Nokia G50, the Android 12 stable update is also available for Nokia X20 and Nokia X10.

Nokia G50 offers a display of a 6.82-inch HD+ screen of 1640x720p resolution with a waterdrop notch.

The Nokia G50 smartphone comes powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 processor. On the storage front, the device offers 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage.

Nokia G50 has a triple-camera setup on the back. The primary camera is a 48MP sensor. There is also a 5MP ultra-wide sensor and a 2MP depth sensor. On the front, users get an 8MP sensor.

The device is backed by a 5000mAh battery and comes with 18W fast charging support.

--IANS wh/ksk/

( 175 Words)

2022-01-02-10:00:03 (IANS)
BNET, Bahrain's telecommunications infrastructure company, has announced the appointment of Shaima Al Hamed as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO).

With more than 17 years of experience in the field of ICT and media-technologies management, Al Hamed is a result-oriented leader applying business transformation, restructuring and growth strategies. She holds an MBA from the University of Strathclyde with a focus on strategy building and implementation, and a BSc. in Computer Science from the University of Bahrain, according to a statement from BNET.

CEO Ahmed Jaber Aldoseri said: Al Hameds appointment comes in line with our strategy to attract qualified and expert national talent, which supports BNETs plan to empower highly qualified Bahraini women in leadership positions within the company.

On behalf of BNETs management, Aldoseri welcomed the new CCO.

On her appointment, Al Hamed said: I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to the board of directors and CEO for their confidence. I look forward to contributing my extensive experience and passion in digital transformation towards a goal of further achievement and success of the company.-TradeArabia News Service
A total of 874 vehicles were set ablaze across France on new year's eve as part of a decades-old tradition with coronavirus-related restrictions in place, figure is lower than in previous years, reported CNN citing Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.

French Interior Ministry on Saturday said that a total of 1,316 cars were set on fire in 2019.

Meanwhile, authorities in the country also had taken in more people for questioning than in previous years, with 441 brought in compared to 376 in 2019.

The tradition took place despite the massive rise in COVID-19 infections in the country. France is reporting over 2 lakh cases as nowadays. The European country on Saturday reported 2,19,196 cases in the past 24 hours.

Officials informed that despite the COVID restrictions in central France's Yonne department, an illegal party with nearly 1,500 people was held. Authorities said that the police forces attempted to control the situation and an investigation will be opened for the illegal organization of the gathering. (ANI)
The ground battle took place in the area of al-Balak al-Sharki in the government-controlled southern Marib, during which the army recaptured several positions of the militia, he said on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the Saudi-led Arab coalition backing the Yemeni army announced the launch of 23 airstrikes, killing 160 Houthi militants and destroying 17 vehicles in southern Marib frontline, the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV reported.

Houthi media made no comment on the battle. In February last year, the Iran-backed Houthi militia began a major offensive against the Saudi-backed Yemeni government army to capture the strategic oil-rich province. (ANI/Xinhua)
"The IDF is currently attacking the Gaza Strip," the IDF said on Twitter in the early hours of Sunday.

In another post, the IDF specified that the attack comes after rocket fire toward Israel.

"As fireworks lit up the skies to celebrate #NewYear2022 around the world, a different type of fire came from Gaza - terrorist rocket-fire toward Israel. In response, we just struck Hamas sites in Gaza, including a rocket manufacturing site and military posts used for terrorist activity," the IDF said.

On Saturday, the IDF announced that two rockets had been fired from Gaza toward Israel.

According to the Israeli forces, no sirens were sounded and there was no interception since the rockets landed in the sea off the coast of central Israel. (ANI/Sputnik)
"Over 10 rocket firings were conducted by ship formations in the Pacific Fleet in 2021," the district's spokesperson said.

The test firings included two drills carried out by Russia's modernized frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov.

In April, the frigate successfully test fired a Kalibr cruise missile in the Sea of Japan. In December, Marshal Shaposhnikov hit a training underwater target in the Sea of Japan with a missile of Russia's newest anti-submarine complex Otvet. (ANI/Sputnik)
While Bangladesh marked 50 years of the Liberation War, Pakistan has come up with multidimensional propaganda aimed at hiding its "notorious character" and portraying itself as Dhaka's "genuine friend". In an opinion piece in Bdnews24, Sajid Yousuf Shah said several Pakistani online and print media are trying to portray Pakistan as a "genuine friend" of Bangladesh and "spreading venom" against India. He said that Pakistan's main narratives for portraying as a friend include, "Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman never wanted the independence of Bangladesh; Mujibur was one of the champions of the Pakistan movement in the 1940s; He was a patriot Pakistani all through his political carrier"; he represented Pakistan in many international forums; since Mujib and his party Awami League got an overwhelming majority in the election of Pakistan's National Assembly, they should have been allowed to form the government for the sake of the integrity of Pakistan; Pakistan was divided due to some communication gaps and mishandling of the political situation by the army junta of Yahia Khan." On November 9, 2021, a "Pak-Bangladesh Friendship Conference" was arranged in Lahore by Jamhoori Watan Party, which was attended by the Bengalis living in Pakistan and some unknown Bangladeshi "youth leaders". According to Yousuf Shah, the speakers from different parties and groups emphasised ways and means to develop more friendly relations between the two "powerful Muslim countries" of this region. The organisers chose the day because it was poet Iqbal's 175th birthday. Yousuf Shah said that normally "Pakistani propaganda machines portray Mujibur as a traitor, deny the genocide of 1971 and accuse Bangladeshi "rebels" and the Indian Army for the indiscriminate killing of innocent Pakistanis". Now they have come up with a new strategy." In the Lahore conference, Pakistani speakers asked their government to apologise for the 1971 "tragedy", respect Bengali language and culture, increase the number of scholarships to Bangladeshi students in Pakistani universities, name important roads in big cities of Pakistan after Mujibur and other great Bengali leaders, he explained. He said that "we have never seen such aggressive propaganda and "love" for Bangladesh in the Pakistani media before and sadly many Bangladeshis are responding positively to such propaganda on social media. The second edition of this conference is scheduled for January 02, 2022, in Lahore." (ANI)
Pakistan's far-right Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq has called for the country's Prime Minister Imran Khan's resignation saying that there are mafias all over the country, and 2022 will be the last year of the ruling government. Addressing a public rally in Islamabad, JI chief announced an anti-government movement and said that Pakistan's central bank is no longer in its control, rather it has been subordinated to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), The Express Tribune reported. He called on called for State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Dr Reza Baqir's resignation, saying if he is not removed, "we can besiege SBP". The JI chief pointed out the "failures" of the government, ranging from Pakistan's retention on the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) 'grey list' to the introduction of a 'mini-budget'. He suggested a nexus between the government and the opposition, saying that the latter facilitated the former's moves instead of talking about the public's problems, the Pakistani publication reported. He asked Imran Khan to tell the nation how many houses did his government build-out of the five million houses promised by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). He said that the incumbent government's schemes are the same as its predecessors. He asked how can those who came to power through the support of the establishment undermine it now, The Express Tribune reported. He said that the government has mortgaged the country's economy. "Today, the situation is that 27 million youngsters are unemployed and there is no welfare, while retired judges and generals have been rewarded with government jobs," he added. (ANI)
For the first time since 1990, China has officially reopened its embassy in Nicaragua after the two countries resumed diplomatic relations last month. On December 10, the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry had announced that it "breaks diplomatic relations with Taiwan and ceases to have any contact or official relationship", adding that it "recognises that there is only one single China". The reopening ceremony on Friday held at the new location of the Embassy in the capital Managua, which was inaugurated by Yu Bo, representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada, reports Xinhua news agency. In his speech, Yu said that the "one-China principle is the consensus of the international community and a universally recognised norm governing international relations. It shows an overriding trend that represents international justice and enjoys popular support". China welcomes the Nicaraguan side to actively participate in the Global Development Initiative and join the Belt and Road Initiative at an early date, said Yu. For his part, Moncada said Nicaragua will adhere to the one-China principle and join forces with China to move towards a new international order featuring multi-polarisation, peace, social justice and equity as well as the realization of human development and progress, the foreign minister said. Presidential Advisor Laureano Ortega Murillo said the two sides will jointly formulate an agenda for developing Nicaragua-China ties, strengthen bilateral exchanges, enhance brotherhood and strengthen mutually beneficial relations, to take a path of common progress and development, he added. More than 200 people attended the ceremony, including the president of Nicaragua's National Assembly, central and local government officials, military and police officials, representatives of foreign missions and international organisations in Nicaragua. --IANS ksk/ ( 288 Words) 2022-01-02-09:44:02 (IANS)
Ramesh Lal Nand Lal had gone to Hub to recover his loan from someone, according to Pakistan vernacular media.

The attack on Ramesh Lal Nand Lal is yet another example of the attack on minorities and their places of worship in Pakistan.

In recent years, there has been a surge in attacks on places of worship of religious minorities in Pakistan. The country has been repeatedly slammed by the international community for not safeguarding the interests of its minorities. (ANI)
Officials of Vietnam and China on December 31 discussed urgent measures to handle goods congestion in the areas bordering China's Guangxi, citing Vietnam News Agency (VNA), Vietnam + reported.

The cargo congestion was debated during the online talks between the Asia - Africa Market Department under the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), authorities of the northern border provinces of Lang Son, Quang Ninh and Cao Bang, and Guangxi's Department of Commerce.

It suggested restoring customs clearance at the border gates and increasing the time for customs clearance.

The MoIT said COVID-19 prevention and control measures currently imposed by Guangxi like suspending the operations of border gates or the import of certain fruits have disrupted the supply chain, adversely impacted the bilateral trade and caused great losses to businesses and people of both sides, reported Vietnam +.

The ministry also urged Guangxi to provide updates on the operations of border gates in Guangxi, while coordinating to review and complete goods delivery process in line with pandemic prevention and control regulations.

In reply, the Chinese side called on Vietnam and said that it will extend customs clearance duration following consideration and consensus reached by authorities of the two countries' border localities, reported VNA.

On December 29, the Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien sent official dispatches to Chinese authorities regarding the cargo congestion.

Due to tightened COVID-19 measures and technical difficulties, thousands of container trucks have been stuck at Vietnam's border gates with China since mid-December. (ANI)
South Korea's military announced on Sunday that an unidentified person crossed the eastern inter-Korean land border into North Korea the previous night despite its efforts to stop the move. The person was spotted moving into the North across the Military Demarcation Line at around 10.40 p.m. on Saturday, some 80 minutes after being detected by surveillance equipment installed on the heavily fortified border, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The JCS is yet to identify the person, with an investigation underway, Yonhap News Agency reported citing officials as saying. After first detecting the person in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas at around 9.20 p.m., the military authorities sent troops to the scene to capture the person but failed, according to the JCS. "Due to various geographical conditions, including the mountain terrain, we failed (to capture the person)," a JCS official told reporters. In a fact-finding process later, the authorities used monitoring equipment to find the person breaking through the barbed-wire fence to enter the DMZ at around 6:40 p.m. -- an indication they remained unaware of the border breach for nearly three hours. "In our initial response, we think some part of our efforts were insufficient, something we think should have been done more actively," the official said, noting the military is looking to see what needs to be improved in its border defence. It remains unknown whether the person in question is a South Korean citizen or a North Korean defector. The military is said to be putting more weight on the person being a civilian rather than a uniformed personnel. On Sunday morning, the South Korean authorities sent a message to the North over the incident through a western military communication line, the official said. The fate of the person was not immediately confirmed amid reports the North has a "shoot-to-kill" policy in place as part of tougher border control measures against Covid-19. After the border crossing, no unusual North Korean military movements have been detected, the JCS said. In September 2020, a South Korean fisheries official was apparently shot dead by the North's border guard after disappearing from a patrol ship near the Yellow Sea border. In February last year, a North Korean man swam ashore into the South undetected, leading Defence Minister Suh Wook to offer a public apology. In November 2020, another North Korean civilian crossed the inter-Korean border undeterred. --IANS ksk/ ( 413 Words) 2022-01-02-11:04:03 (IANS)


Talking to the media during an online press briefing, the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) vice-president Prof. Salim Engineer welcomed the law against mob lynching brought by the Jharkhand government.

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NEW DELHI  Expressing serious concern over increasing incidents of hate crimes and hate speeches all over the country, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) vice-president Prof. Salim Engineer has urged the government to take strong action to check it effectively.

Talking to the media on the current issues during an online press briefing, the JIH Vice President welcomed the law against mob lynching brought by the Jharkhand government.

Responding to media questions on recent hate speeches at the Haridwar Dharma Sansad, in which an open call was allegedly given to take up arms against Muslims, Prof. Salim said that it was a direct challenge to the authority of the government, the Constitution of India and the law and order agencies that guaranteed protection to life and property of every citizen irrespective of their faith.

Expressing concern over Prime Minister Narendra Modis silence on the hate speeches that were delivered at the Haridwar religious summit, the JIH leader stated that it was the constitutional duty of the government and enforcement agencies to take a response to the hate speeches and incitement to violence against Muslims in the country.

Prof. Salim said the police and administration did not appear serious about the issue and that was why they had not taken any stringent action against the accused persons.

Whether it was the hate speech at the Haridwar meet or by some individuals, it appeared that this was all done under a set agenda, he said.

Replying to a question, Prof. Salim said that the JIH would discuss submitting a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind, the Prime Minister and Home Minister Amit Shah, drawing their attention to the Haridwar meet and hate speeches by individuals that might provoke religious intolerance in the country and cause great harm to religious harmony.

Expressing grave concern over the rising attacks on places of worship of minorities, Prof. Salim said, It is very unfortunate, that this politics of hate is practised to divert the attention of people, especially when elections are around, from the real issues so that the performance of the government and the ruling establishment is shifted from development to other emotional issues. We are confident that the people of our country will realize this deceit and not allow it to succeed.

Welcomes law against mob lynching

Welcoming the law against mob lynching brought by the Jharkhand government, the JIH Vice President advised other state governments to legislate a similar law to give a strong message to those who took the law into their own hands.

Jharkhand is the third state, after Rajasthan and West Bengal that have legislated a law against mob lynching.

Speaking on the issue, Prof. Salim said, Hate crimes and lynching of Muslims and Dalits have increased a lot recently. Some well-organized groups and cow-vigilante gangs along with anti-social and criminal elements feel emboldened to carry out lynchings in broad daylight, filming them and circulating them on social media. They do so with impunity because no serious action has been taken against them by the police and so they have taken this as a signal that the government is not concerned about the safety and security of the minorities and the marginalized. This is creating fear in the common citizens. JIH feels that it is the duty of the Central government and the state governments to protect the life of its citizens. Hence, they must take the lead and quickly pass similar Prevention of Mob Lynching bills and ensure that lynchings become history in our country.

Concerned over legislation raising marriage age of girls

Speaking about raising the marriage age of girls from 18 to 21, Prof. Salim said that hasty legislation on this issue would only result in atrocities on women and their parents.

Expressing concern over the government move, he said, Currently, there is a global consensus that the legal age of marriage for women should be 18 years. This is being followed in maximum countries including many developed countries. Raising the age limit will have no bearing on the current poor health indicators of mothers and infants if poverty and lack of healthcare access remain at existing higher levels. JIH feels that the move goes against the law of nature. The increase in age limit will also impact our demographic dividend in the long run, which is currently quite favourable. Once the proposal becomes law, it will negatively affect the tribal communities and subject them to more harassment at the hands of law-enforcement machinery.

He said that if boys and girls could be given the right to vote at 18 to select a good candidate for state assemblies and Parliament, why should they wait till 21 to marry?

Prof. Salim wanted a debate on the issue before passing any legislation in this regard. He hoped that the Parliamentary Standing Committee, which has been assigned the job to evaluate the Bill and submit a report, would reject the proposals in the larger interest of the nation.

Avoid huge political rallies in poll-bound UP

The JIH advised all political parties to avoid holding huge public rallies keeping in view the Omicron pandemic. It also advised the Election Commission of India to issue directions to political parties to desist from holding big public rallies to prevent the spread of the infection that can pose a serious threat to the health of the people.

Prof Salim urged political parties not to raise communal issues in elections and conduct election campaigning on real issues concerned with the needs of the people.

Hoping new year will usher in peace, prosperity to our nation

Asking for introspection and evaluating the past years performances, the JIH leader said that it was essential to look back at the important events and trends of the past year and learn the appropriate lessons therefrom.

He said that during the second Covid-wave in 2021, the country experienced one of the worst crises of its recent past.

JIH has been consistently demanding that the government must increase its allocation towards the health sector. The other major concern last year was the considerable drop in the countrys GDP due to the pandemic. The government must come out with schemes that help those pushed into poverty and unemployment. The year also saw a spike in atrocities against women, Dalits and minorities. JIH feels that the government should learn lessons from the past and focus on growth and development, he said.

Prof Salim hoped that 2022 would usher in peace and prosperity to the country and the people would get rid of those who thrive on polarization, discrimination and oppression.
Chairman of Jamaat-e-Islami Sirajul-Haq said that Pakistan and neighbouring Islamic countries should form an economic market together. He also further advocated that the curriculum of the Islamic world should be uniform and there should be a joint defence force, according to Pakistan vernacular media.

Sirajul-Haq also said that tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran are a main concern for the entire Muslim Ummah worldwide and Pakistan should come forward to end the Iran-Saudi distance.

"The conference of foreign ministers of Islamic countries in Islamabad was a welcome and positive step, but it did not achieve the desired goals," he said.

"Iran is also a victim of US economic terrorism. The unity of the Ummah is the solution to all problems. The problems of Kashmir and Palestine can be solved immediately if the Islamic countries raise their voice with full force," he added. (ANI)
After two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the world's most remote regions - a Belgian outpost in Antarctica was exposed to coronavirus. A coronavirus outbreak has hit the station with two-thirds of the 25 workers at the Belgian Princess Elisabeth Polar Station in Antarctica having caught the virus since mid-December, citing Le Soir magazine, The Jerusalem Post reported. All of the employees at the station are in light condition and all were vaccinated with at least two doses of the coronavirus vaccine. The first case was detected on December 13, with three infections. Although the three were evacuated on December 23, the virus spread throughout the station, reported The Jerusalem Post. The Antarctic station is equipped with two emergency physicians and all the necessary equipment on hand to treat the disease caused by the virus, as well as the ability to analyze PCR tests. Entry to the station has been blocked until the numbers begin to drop, according to Le Soir. A virologist consulted by the Belgian Polar Secretariat stated that the outbreak was likely caused by the Omicron variant, as it was the most common variant in South Africa, the last stopover before Antarctica, reported The Jerusalem Post. The outbreak took place despite very strict health cautions taken by the crew on their way to Antarctica. The researchers who are at the station currently had to undergo a PCR test in Belgium two hours before leaving for South Africa and then another PCR test five days after arriving in Cape Town, as well as ten days of quarantine. After quarantine, the workers had to undergo a PCR test before leaving, followed by yet another test five days after they arrived in Antarctica. Antarctica was the last continent to be COVID-19 free until December 2020, when dozens of workers at the Chilean Bernardo O'Higgins base and Las Estrellas' village were found to be infected with SARS-CoV-2, reported The Jerusalem Post. (ANI)
Paris [France], January 2 (ANI/Sputnik): France will ease isolation restrictions for the vaccinated starting next week, reducing the number of quarantine days to seven, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Sunday in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche. "From Monday, fully vaccinated people who tested positive [for COVID-19] will have to isolate themselves for seven days. This isolation can be lifted after five days in the event of a negative antigen or PCR test," Veran said. According to the minister, there will be no quarantine for fully inoculated individuals whose close contact tested positive. Until January 2, those who tested positive in France had to isolate for 10 days with their close contracts also quarantined for a week. On Monday, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced a set of new restrictions in the face of the active spread of the new variant of the coronavirus, Omicron, including mandatory mask-wearing in city centres, limits of 2,000 people in indoor gatherings and 5,000 outdoors, the reduction of waiting time for booster vaccine shots from four to three months, partial remote work, and others. The measures will go into effect on Monday. The daily number of new coronavirus cases in France has been growing since November. The country passed the 10 million cases mark last week. (ANI/Sputnik)
The US State Secretary asked Afghanistan's new rulers to uphold human rights, allow freedom of movement, halt reprisals and combat terrorism, reported Pajhwok Afghan News.

Speaking about his priorities for 2022, Blinken said that they are considering a number of approaches to enable injecting more cash into Afghanistan for the economy of the country, reported The Khaama Press.

Pakistani newspaper Dawn quoted him as saying the US was part of the release of about USD 280 million recently in the Afghan Trust Fund, reported Pajhwok Afghan News.

Meanwhile, the US secretary of state acknowledged that the approaches will not allow the Taliban access the cash.

Meanwhile, as the Taliban have not been recognised by any country, their spokesperson said that recognition is not their need but a need of the international community.

"Recognition of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) is not a need of Afghanistan but of the international community as Afghanistan is a member of the community and political engagement with Afghanistan will benefit all," Khaama Press quoted Taliban spokesperson Inamullah Samangani as saying.

Samangani warned the international community of adverse consequences if it does not recognize the IEA. (ANI)
All these people were immediately quarantined upon arrival on December 20-25, 2021, Xinhua news agency quoted the local media as saying citing the Ho Chi Minh City Centre for Disease Control.

Their samples were sent for gene sequencing and the result confirmed that the specimens were positive for the Omicron variant.

They are now in stable health conditions and their tests results turned negative after 5-7 days, according to the report.

All 305 passengers travelling on flights with these Omicron variant cases have been quarantined in line with regulations of health authorities and have tested negative for the virus.

The municipal administration is implementing Omicron response measures including closely monitoring arrivals from overseas, taking them to quarantine sites as regulated, and conducting genetic sequencing tests and contact tracing for positive cases.

Since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, Vietnam has reported 1,746,092 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 32,610 deaths.

--IANS ksk/

( 193 Words)

2022-01-02-13:26:03 (IANS)
Fifty-five per cent Pakistanis have declared performance of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government as under par, 13 per cent above par, while 32 per cent found it according to their expectations, according to a fresh survey, conducted by Ipsos. The survey results made public on Saturday showed that 46 per cent of dejected people said they had voted for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in the 2018 elections. People said the provincial governments and the opposition parties also fail to come up to their expectations during the last three years, according to News International. Further, every three Pakistanis out of five said they were disappointed by the provincial government's performance. Also, 56 per cent of people showed their dissatisfaction with the opposition parties performance during this period. The survey was conducted from December 18 to 24, 2021, and 1,100 people were interviewed for the purpose. Those showing dissatisfaction with the government performance consisted of 56 per cent of Pakistan Muslim League ( Nawaz) voters, 47 per cent of Pakistan People's Party voters and 51 per cent other parties' voters, according to News International. Sixty-three per cent of Pakistanis showed displeasure at provincial governments' performance apart from the Federal government, 10 per cent found performance above par while 27 per cent declared it according to the expectations reflecting the performance of the Imran Khan government. A large majority of criticising the provincial governments' performance, 82 per cent, belonged to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces. Seventy-five per cent in Sindh and 52 per cent in Punjab were found dissatisfied with their provincial governments' performance. Fifty-six per cent of people found the opposition performance under par, 15 per cent above par and 29 per cent said it was according to their expectations, according to News International. (ANI)
A total of 1,023 plaintiffs filed the suit on Friday with the Seoul Administrative Court against Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong, and Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon to challenge the so-called vaccine pass, reports Yonhap News Agency.

Under an administrative order, people are required to present their vaccine records when entering restaurants, cafes, theatres, cram schools and other indoor multipurpose facilities.

Unvaccinated people must show negative Covid-19 test results issued within 48 hours in order to use such facilities.

The plaintiffs, including doctors, accused the government of forcing people to get vaccine jabs by barring unvaccinated people from much of public life and requested an injunction to nullify the administrative order.

"The government is effectively forcing people to get Covid-19 vaccines that lack clinical trials by imposing serious restrictions on unvaccinated people in their use of public facilities," the petition said.

Instead of enforcing "excessive regulations", they urged the government to relax rules on patients who had mild symptoms or were asymptomatic to help create herd immunity and provide intensive care for critically ill patients.

The legal action came as the government is set to require proof of vaccine in department stores and large discount store chains next week, with plans to adopt the system for youths in March, which has drawn complaints from students and their parents.

Proof of vaccination required for access to multiuse facilities will be valid only for six months after the primary series or booster doses starting Monday.

--IANS ksk/

( 298 Words)

2022-01-02-13:52:04 (IANS)
The protestors urged for the US sanctions on Afghanistan to be lifted as it has aggravated the economic crisis, reported The Khaama Press.

The protesters said that the US must lift imposed sanctions and ease economic pressures on Afghanistan and allow the Afghan people to rebuild their country.

Following the Taliban takeover in mid-August, the US froze nearly 10 billion dollars in Afghanistan's assets and slapped sanctions on the Islamic Emirate.

On December 21, hundreds of protesters marched through the streets of the capital towards the US embassy, calling for the release of Afghanistan's frozen funds, reported Pajhwok Afghan News.

In the meantime, the stoppage of foreign aids to Afghanistan has crippled the already fragile economic system of Afghanistan and has adversely affected the lives of millions of people. (ANI)
Elite Afghan military pilots resettled in the US are fearing for their families left behind in Afghanistan. Belal Khohestani, a former pilot for the Afghan Special Mission Wing recently moved from Fort Pickett in Virginia to Chicago, fearing for his wife and four children, his two sisters, and his mother, who are still thousands of miles away, trapped in his native Kabul, reported CNN. In mid-August, he and other pilots from the Special Mission Wing flew their aircraft across the border to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in a desperate bid to keep some of the Afghan military's most advanced equipment from falling into Taliban hands and thereby enabling their own de facto air force. Many fled the country without their families during the audacious move. They have waited for the US to evacuate their loved ones ever since. "All those families, they're stuck in Kabul," Khohestani told CNN. He feels a sense of shame that he left his family behind. "Now everyone is moving around, changing houses, changing apartments," Khohestani said. His wife and children have waited in Afghanistan ever since he left, afraid of the Taliban coming after them. After the military completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan at the end of August, the State Department took over the efforts to bring out American allies and others. But those evacuation flights, conducted by Qatar Airways and other foreign commercial airlines, have slowed to a trickle as the US works out what sort of diplomatic relationship it will have with the Taliban, reported CNN. State Department press secretary Ned Price said last week that the US effort to evacuate Afghans at risk, as well as American citizens and green card holders, is ongoing. "We have continued as well to do what we can to support Afghans to whom we have a special commitment, and that includes those who fall within the category of the (Special Immigrant Visas)," said Price. Despite the Taliban's promises of amnesty, Khohestani fears retribution against his loved ones. A Human Rights Watch report released in late November alleged that the Taliban executed dozens of members of the Afghan security forces after they surrendered. The report focuses on a few provinces across the country, but Human Rights Watch says the 47 cases it examined "reflect a broader pattern of abuses" throughout Afghanistan, reported CNN. Researchers at the organization said the Taliban "have also targeted family members of former security force members." Another Afghan Hashmatullah Ahmadzai, also a helicopter pilot with the Afghan Special Mission Wing laments that he had not seen his wife and son in more than four months. The hardest time was right after he arrived in Uzbekistan, he said, because the authorities there took his cell phone. He would wait hours for a three-minute call with his family. Now living in California, he is thousands of miles farther away, but he can communicate with them on messaging services, reported CNN. For their own safety, Ahmadzai said his family is constantly on the move. His father and brothers were also in the Afghan military fighting the Taliban, which he fears make them a target for retribution. "We lost everything. Our job, our house, our money. We start here from zero," Ahmadzai said. (ANI)
At a press briefing in Gusau, the state capital, Mohammed Shehu, the police spokesperson in Zamfara, said the police received a distress call on Friday night, informing that bandits blocked a highway near the Kucheri village, abducting an unspecified number of commuters from five vehicles, reports Xinhua news agency.

Shehu said police operatives were immediately sent to the area and engaged the bandits in a fierce gun battle, and rescued 21 children who were heading to their school in the neighboring Katsina state when the attack happened.

An unknown number of victims, including the children's teacher and the driver of the bus they used, are currently held by the bandits, the spokesperson added.

He said the police have sent reinforcements to complement the efforts of the joint security operation currently working to rescue the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers.

The police spokesperson called on local residents to support the police and other security agencies with credible information about the hideouts, movements and other activities of the bandits.

There have been a series of gunmen attacks in northern Nigeria in recent months, leading to deaths and kidnappings.

--IANS ksk/

( 217 Words)

2022-01-02-14:38:04 (IANS)
Volker Perthes, the UN special representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan, made the appeal in a statement on the 66th anniversary of the country's Independence, reports Xinhua news agency.

The UN envoy urged the authorities to respect the right of peaceful assembly and to allow protesters adhering to non-violence to express themselves freely.

Perthes stressed that the UN remained committed to supporting the people of Sudan in realising their aspirations for a democratic and stable Sudan.

Sudan has been rocked by regular mass protests demanding civilian rule in recent weeks.

At least 52 people were killed in 11 large-scale street protests since October 25 when the general commander of the Sudanese army Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan declared a state of emergency and dissolved the government, a move which triggered a political crisis in the country.

On November 21, Al-Burhan and then removed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok signed a political declaration, which included reinstating the latter to his post, but the deal has so far failed to calm the street.

The protests were also fuelled by sky-rocketing prices of foods, gases and household essentials in the country.

--IANS ksk/

( 229 Words)

2022-01-02-14:40:07 (IANS)
The pro-government forces including the southern Giants Brigades targeted the Houthi-held sites in Usaylan district of Shabwa, the official told Xinhua news agency.

Intense armed confrontations erupted between the two warring sides following the large-scale military operation, he said.

He said the pro-government forces achieved on-ground military progress and managed to capture a number of areas from the rebels in Usaylan.

Warplanes of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition are participating in the ongoing military operation through shelling the Houthi-held sites and backing the pro-government forces, according to the official.

Medical sources confirmed that nearly 12 soldiers of the pro-government forces were killed and several others injured as a result of the ongoing battles.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels made substantial advances on the battlefield in September 2021, capturing Bayhan and other key areas in Shabwa.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since the Houthi militia overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces, including the capital Sanaa, in 2014.

Saudi Arabia has been leading an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Houthis forced him into exile.

--IANS ksk/

( 231 Words)

2022-01-02-14:44:03 (IANS)
Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians have flared up, causing a spate of injuries among Palestinians in the West Bank and damage in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said in a statement that 85 Palestinian protesters were injured during clashes late Saturday night in the village of Burqa, north of the West Bank city of Nablus, reports Xinhua news agency. Palestinian witnesses in the village said that the clashes erupted when a group of Israeli settlers tried to reach the settlement of Homesh, which was evacuated in 2005. The PRCS statement added that five Palestinian protesters were shot and wounded by Israeli soldiers during clashes near the West Bank city of Qalqilya, while dozens fainted after inhaling tear gas fired by the soldiers. Similar clashes also took place in two villages near the city of Jenin in the northern tip of the West Bank between dozens of Palestinian protestors and Israeli soldiers, leaving several protesters injured by rubber bullets and tear gas. The Israeli army has made no immediate comment on the clashes or the Palestinian injuries. In Gaza, Israeli fighter jets and tanks on Saturday night attacked several military posts and facilities that belong to the armed wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in southern and northern Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian security sources. Several explosions were heard in the two areas, and flames of fire and smoke were seen coming out from the targeted military posts, the sources said, adding that damage was caused but no injuries were reported. The Israeli strikes and bombing came in response to the earlier firing of two rockets from the Gaza Strip on Saturday morning, which landed on the shores of southern Israel, causing no damage or injuries. Israel has accused Hamas militants of launching the two rockets, but no one has claimed responsibility yet. --IANS ksk/ ( 319 Words) 2022-01-02-14:58:02 (IANS)
The democratic island of Taiwan is expecting a new wave of arrivals from the former British colony of Hong Kong, where the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is presiding over a city-wide crackdown on civil society, public dissent and political opposition under a draconian national security law, according to Radio Free Asia.

The latest statistics from the Taiwan Immigration Department indicate that number of Hong Kong residents emigrating to Taiwan hit a new high in 2021, the island's Mainland Affairs Commission (MAC) spokesman Chiu Chui-cheng told reporters on Friday.

Earlier, the island's interior ministry handed out 9,772 residence cards to Hong Kong residents between January and November 2021, compared with 9,501 in the same period in 2020, according to Radio Free Asia.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong public servants who had already taken a mandatory oath of allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be rejected by Taiwan, unless they were employees of the Hospital Authority, serving in public healthcare facilities.

Taiwan's interior ministry handed out 9,772 residence cards to Hong Kong residents between January and November 2021, compared with 9,501 in the same period in 2020.

Permanent residency was awarded to 1,572 Hongkongers, compared with 1,397 in the same period the previous year, according to Radio Free Asia. (ANI)
More than five dozen civilians have been killed and tens of thousands displaced due to clashes between Myanmar's military and anti-junta forces in four of Myanmar's s remote border regions in December. At least 61 people died and more than 40,000 fled fighting this month the 10th since the military seized power from the democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government in a February 1 coup last year in Kayah and Kayin states, as well as in Sagaing and Magway regions, according to Radio Free Asia. The Military junta says voter fraud led to the NLD's landslide victory in the country's November 2020 election but has yet to provide evidence for its claims and has violently suppressed nationwide protests calling for a return to civilian rule, killing 1,382 people and arresting 8,331 in the nearly 11 months since, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. The military has also launched several offensives in the country's remote border regions, battling ethnic armies and local branches of the pro-democracy People's Defense Force militia that have formed to help protect residents. Many civilians have lost their lives in the crossfire, while reports of looting, torture, rape, and summary executions by junta troops are common, according to Radio Free Asia. Sources estimate that in December alone, more than 40,000 people were displaced in Kayah and Kayin states as well as in Sagaing and Magway regions. Also, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, a Norwegian Non-Governmental Organization those displaced by the recent fighting join more than 500,000 refugees from decades of conflict between the military and ethnic armed groups who were already counted as displaced at the end of 2020. (ANI)
"Kuwait's embassy in the UK recommends that nationals staying in the UK leave it and return home due to an unprecedented rise in infections with the new COVID-19 strain Omicron," a statement published by the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry read.

The ministry has updated travel advisory to warn against unnecessary trips to the UK, which reported 162,572 new coronavirus cases on Saturday. The highly mutated Omicron strain is dominant in parts of the country. (ANI/Sputnik)
Taliban rubbished US claims over releasing the Islamic State - Khorasan "(ISIS-K) affiliate" who carried out a suicide attack on Kabul International Airport that killed nearly 200 people including US marines and said it is impossible as the timeframe between the released prisoners and the blast was too narrow to plan an attack. A spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) Bilal Karimi in a series of Twitter posts said that the release of the perpetrator of the August 26 attack is "baseless" and there is no proof of the claim, reported The Khaama Press. Bilal Karimi said that the timeframe between the release of prisoners from Bagram prison and the suicide attack was too narrow and that it was not possible to plan an attack during that short time. He added that the ISIS-K prisoners were freed before they (Taliban) gain control over prisons, reported The Khaama Press. "The affiliates of ISIS-K were released before Taliban gain full control of prisons. We have eliminated or arrested back those who affiliated the terror group," reads the Twitter post. The ISIS-K affiliate conducted the heinous attack on August 26 on Kabul International Airport killed 13 US marines. (ANI)
Video footage released by the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) showed its staff pouring alcohol stored in barrels into the canal after seizing it during a raid in the capital, reported Daily Pakistan.

An intelligence official said in the footage the agency posted on Twitter on Sunday, "Muslims have to seriously abstain from making and delivering alcohol."

It was not clear when the raid was carried out or exactly when the alcohol was destroyed, but a statement issued by the agency said three dealers were arrested during the operation, reported Daily Pakistan.

The Taliban, known for their hard-core brand of Islam, are stricter in their opposition to alcohol as it is forbidden in Islam and is considered as haram or unlawful and its consumption is considered as impure. (ANI)
China is still learning the lessons from the collapse of the Soviet Union that happened in December 1991 to prevent the disintegration of the communist rule country under Xi Jinping. Dr Laksiri Fernando writing in the Sri Lankan paper Sunday Island questioned What happened 30 years ago in the Soviet Union? Will it happen in China? The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has written thousands of internal papers, held study sessions and even produced a documentary about the downfall of its former rival and ideological cousin, wrote Rebecca Armitage in ABC News. The Chinese Communist Party, already one of the longest-ruling political parties (72 years) in the world, is determined to avoid the scrap heap of history. "Why did the Soviet Union disintegrate?" Chinese leader Xi Jinping asked party officials in a leaked speech in 2012. The CCP has made a bid to outlive the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. China has learnt three lessons from the Soviet Union collapse - Embrace capitalism with Chinese characteristics; Avoid Glasnost and Watch the periphery. By embracing capitalism, China has undoubtedly been able to develop the economy and lift millions of people out of poverty. However, it appears that the younger generations are different, reported Sunday Island. Because of these economic developments, income gaps have widened and a rich business class, with connections to the communist party, has emerged. Corruption, perhaps surpassing that of the Soviet Union before its collapse, is also a major ailment in China. China is also allowing big companies, including state companies, to exploit and cheat small and poor countries in Asia and Africa. Sri Lanka probably is one victim. These must be the Chinese characteristics of capitalism! said Fernando. Many Chinese leaders consider Glasnost as the main reason for the Soviet collapse. After decades of censorship and secrecy, Gorbachev said the time had come for increased government transparency and freedom of expression, said Armitage. People who were in power, particularly in the name of 'one party, one class,' conveniently went for secrecy and censorship. China should learn that lesson, not the opposite. It is that opposite that China is now implementing in Hong Kong where there were freedoms and democracy before. This effort can easily boomerang on China, said Fernando. Chinese leaders today strictly control the circulation of information in China. State laws and technology are used for this purpose with a 'Great Firewall.' The COVID-19 pandemic is also used for this purpose. The third consideration is the periphery. At its peak, the Soviet Union was the world's largest country, making up nearly one-seventh of the Earth's land surface. However, within the behemoth nation were 15 dramatically different republics, dozens of ethnicities, languages and cultures, reported ABC News. China is very sensitive about the situation. In the case of China, the centralised thinking is far beyond the Soviet Union, given the country's Asiatic despotic history. In contrast, Beijing has tried to keep regions on the periphery -- Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet -- under increasingly tight control, said Armitage. Huge protests in Hong Kong in 2019 were derided by a top Beijing official as having "'obvious characteristics of a colour revolution". The contrast between the Soviet Union in its dying days and modern China could not be starker. China can be considered more 'homogeneous,' compared to the Soviet Union. In the Soviet Union, the diversity was enormous. But Tibet and Xinjiang are different. Taiwan and Hong Kong are more different in a different manner. This is disregarding differences between Cantonese and Mandarin speakers, said Fernando. (ANI)
A Paris-based international group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that a record 488 journalists have been detained around the world because of their work, reported NHK World.

RSF in its annual round-up published last month reported that the figure is the highest since record-keeping began in 1995.

China, including Hong Kong, topped the list for the fifth straight year with 127 journalists in detention. It was followed by Myanmar with 53, Vietnam with 43, and Belarus with 32, RSF reported.

RSF Secretary-General Christophe Deloire expressed concern about "the extremely high number of journalists in arbitrary detention," saying, "it is a reflection of the reinforcement of dictatorial power worldwide."

He called on the international community to take action to protect journalists by considering sanctions against countries that arbitrarily detain journalists, reported NHK World.

A freelance photographer died in custody in Myanmar. He had been documenting demonstrations against the military, which took power in a coup last February.

Local media said that the photographer may have died after being assaulted during interrogation, reported NHK World. (ANI)
US President Joe Biden hopes to pull off a diplomatic coup that bolsters his sagging political fortunes ahead of the 2022 general elections. When it comes to Russian policy, Biden has sought to promote what might be called detente-lite with Moscow without using the dreaded word "reset." The governing theory of the Biden administration or, to put it more precisely, national security adviser Jake Sullivan--has been that China, not Russia, poses the gravest foreign policy challenge to America, according to National Interest. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin requested a second phone conversation with Biden. The Russians believe that absent Biden's personal involvement any potential progress would likely be sabotaged by the State Department bureaucracy, which is highly sympathetic to Ukraine, writes Jacob Heilbrunn for the National Interest. Indeed, at a recent foreign ministry meeting, Russian sources indicate, Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov specifically referenced Biden to praise his positive role in promoting dialogue with Moscow. Earlier, in the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance, the White House mentioned China fifteen times, Russia five, and Ukraine not at all. Biden himself is working through the National Security Council (NSC) to attempt to craft a new policy towards Moscow. Biden, in other words, is the Decider, writes Jacob Heilbrunn for the National Interest. Moscow's concerns do not center on military supplies that the West is contemplating sending to Ukraine, including helicopters that could be diverted from Afghanistan or the prospect of bolstering the Ukrainian Navy, according to National Interest. All of this would come as a bitter pill to Ukraine itself. But neither Europe nor the United States appears to have much of an appetite for engaging in protracted economic and military standoff with Russia over Ukraine. The last thing that Biden needs is a Russian invasion of Ukraine that would drive up oil prices and add to the sense of siege surrounding his presidency. In coming weeks, he may well seek to score a diplomatic success abroad, according to writes Jacob Heilbrunn for the National Interest. Earlier, to some degree, Putin has already scored a victory by forcing the administration to accede to his demand for successive calls with Biden. Now three upcoming diplomatic parleys will take place. Biden's goal will not be to propitiate Putin but to allay his vociferously expressed national security concerns, according to National Interest. (ANI)
The Central Committee of Sudan Doctors, who oppose the military, said on social media that the protesters died from gunshot wounds to the head and to the chest.

This brings to 56 the number of civilians killed by Sudanese security forces since the military, led by General Abdel Fattah Burhan, arrested Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on October 25, Sputnik reported.

Hamdok was reinstated on November 21 after signing a pact with Burhan that seeks to install a civilian cabinet that will be subject to military oversight. Protesters demand transition to a fully civilian rule, the news agency added. (ANI)
According to Pajhwok Afghan News, after the political change in Afghanistan in August 2021, the passport distribution process was stopped but it was resumed on September 5, last year in Kabul.

Passport Director Alam Gul Haqqani had said that a new passport forms will be distributed only to sick persons, government employees and sportsmen only.

Last week, the Taliban suspended the process of issuing passports to applicants in Kabul.

Shafiullah Tasal, a spokesman for the Central Passport Department had told Pajhwok Afghan News that the distribution of passports in the capital had been suspended as per directives of the Ministry of Interior.

The Taliban earlier had said that Afghan passport applicants should apply online to avoid overcrowding.

A Pajhwok report quoted Passport Director Alam Gul Haqqani as saying a new online form had been designed, invalidating the previous one.

Earlier in December 2021, the passport-issuing process in Afghanistan commenced in 14 more provinces, taking the total to 32 at present.

Afghans in Kabul desperately need passports and are eagerly waiting for the passport office to reopen.

As revealed by the passport department, over 125,000 passports have been issued so far since the reopening of offices in Afghanistan, reported Tolo News. (ANI)
Johannesburg [South Africa], January 3 (ANI/Sputnik): A South African opposition leader has implicated the ruling African National Congress in a fire at the national houses of parliament that erupted two days before the planned release of a damning report on a probe into government corruption. A commission was set up in 2018 to investigate allegations of state capture, corruption and fraud in the country's public sector. It submitted its findings to President Cyril Ramaphosa in late December and was to make a part of the report public on Tuesday. "I suspect that information in there shows government corruption... I rise to say government itself led by Ramaphosa and his ministers and people deployed there might want this information to be destroyed," Willie Madisha, of the Congress of the People, told Sputnik. The fire erupted early on Sunday in the oldest wing of the sprawling parliament complex in Cape Town, used by the National Council of Provinces as well as for committee meetings. A blaze was later reported in the so-called New Wing, where the lower house National Assembly sits. That fire has not been extinguished yet. Madisha, who sits on the National Assembly, told Sputnik he was surprised by the fire given that security at the complex was very tight. But he argued that the place was prone to mishaps "whenever serious issues are raised." There were copies of the commission's report locked up in the offices of certain officials in parliament. Madisha told Sputnik he was unable to access his office to retrieve the information. The cause of the fire is not known, but the police arrested and questioned a suspect. Jermaine Carelse, a spokesperson for the City of Cape Town Fire and Rescue, told Sputnik in a text message there were "no casualties." Investigations continue. (ANI/Sputnik)
The independent Hong Kong news site Citizen News has announced that it will shut down to "ensure the safety of everyone", days after the city's national security police raided another independent online news outlet over allegations of sedition. On late Sunday, the media outlet said that it will be shutting down on Tuesday, citing the deteriorating media environment in the city and the need to protect its staff, CNN reported. "Unfortunately, the major changes in our society in the last two years, and the deteriorating media environment, have made it impossible for us to realize our mission without worries," the news outlet announced the decision on Facebook, saying it was made to protect the safety of everyone involved. "At the centre of a brewing storm, we found ourself in a critical situation. In the face of a crisis, we must ensure the safety and well-being of everyone who are on board," the Facebook post cited by CNN added. According to CNN, Citizen News was the largest remaining independent news outlet in Hong Kong following the shuttering of Apple Daily in June and Stand News last Wednesday. On December 29 2021, the arrests and raid on the offices of the now-defunct news outlet Stand News attracted condemnation from the United Nations, the European Union as well as other countries including the US, Germany and Canada. 7-year-old pro-democracy digital news outlet saw seven people connected to it arrested by national security police over suspected conspiracy to publish seditious materials, including its top editor, former editor-in-chief, his wife, as well as four former directors, Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) reported. In recent months, crackdowns against news organisations and pro-democracy activists have intensified. In June 2021, Apple Daily witnessed similar actions by authorities. It was later shut down. Just after the raid on the newsroom of Apple Daily, Stand News removed all opinion pieces from their website in June. It also halted donations as six of the board's eight members stepped down. (ANI)
Khartoum [Sudan], January 3 (ANI/Sputnik): Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok announced his resignation on Sunday, in an address broadcast by state television. "I announce my resignation from the post of prime minister. I leave this position to other sons and daughters of my homeland so that they can continue to govern the dear homeland and live out with it what remains of the transitional period toward a civil, democratic state," the prime minister said. On October 25, Hamdok was arrested by the Sudanese military led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan. He was reinstated on November 21 after signing a deal that seeks to install a civilian cabinet that will be subject to military oversight. (ANI/Sputnik)
Citing FlightAware, The Hill reported that a total of 1,956 flights within, into or out of the US were cancelled as of 8:30 am ET today.

While another 870 flights within, into or out of the US had been delayed, it added.

According to The Hill, Southwest recorded 264 cancellations today, JetBlue reported 169 cancelled flights, and Delta followed with 161 cancellations.

Americans Airlines cancelled 136 flights today, and United called off 94 trips, as per the media outlet.

The US has seen a large number of flight cancellations within recent days, driven largely by the nationwide spike in COVID-19 cases.

During the past 10 days, including Sunday and Christmas Eve, airlines have cancelled more than 14,000 flights in the US, according to a CNN tally of FlightAware statistics.

The Hill reported that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned on Thursday that more travel delays are likely in the coming days because of COVID-19 infections among FAA employees and "weather and heavy seasonal traffic." (ANI)
US President Joe Biden on Sunday (local time) told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the United States and its allies will "respond decisively" if Russia invades Ukraine, according to White House. During a call with Ukraine leader, President Biden expressed support for diplomatic efforts, starting next week with the bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue. "President Biden made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine. The leaders expressed support for diplomatic efforts, starting next week with the bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue, at NATO through the NATO-Russia Council, and at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Sunday (local time). The call comes days before Russian and US officials are set to meet in person in Geneva on January 10 amid a Russian military buildup on the Ukraine border and ongoing tensions. Zelensky spoke with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ahead of the call earlier this week. White House Press Secretary in the statement added that Biden underscored Washington's commitment to the principle of "nothing about you without you." Biden also "reaffirmed the United States' commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. He also expressed support for confidence-building measures to de-escalate tensions in Donbas and active diplomacy to advance the implementation of the Minsk Agreements, in support of the Normandy Format," Psaki said. On Thursday (local time), Biden held a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, discussing the escalating tensions over Ukraine and European security. The call between Biden and Putin comes at a time when the US continues to pressure Russia to draw down its large military presence near Ukraine's borders. US intelligence officials have warned Ukraine and its allies that Russia could be planning to launch an attack as soon as January. The US and NATO have voiced concerns over Russia's alleged preparations for invading Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly denied the accusations, saying that Russia has the right to relocate the troops within its territory at its own discretion, while NATO's military activity near Russian borders poses a threat to its security. (ANI)
Ford developed the Bronco to challenge Jeep for off-road supremacy.

The Bronco is a breath of fresh air and innovation in a market segment thats been begging for competition to liven things up. Designed specifically to challenge the Jeep Wrangler for off-road supremacy  with a side order of grabbing a slice of Land Rovers pie  the Bronco combines boxy "heritage" styling with loads of modern features the Wrangler doesnt offer.

The result: top flight off-road capability, but additional on-road comfort, better steering response and advanced electronic aids for rock crawling.

The base engine is a 275-horsepower 2.3L turbo four-cylinder. A 315-hp twin-turbo 2.7L V6 is optional. You can get a seven-speed manual transmission with the four-cylinder, or a 10-speed automatic with either engine.

Unique features include trail turn assist, which locks one of the rear wheels so the Bronco can pivot for extremely tight turns around obstacles.

2022 Free Press Car of the Year: Honda Civic leads with value, performance, style

2022 Free Press Truck of the Year: Ford Maverick breathes new life into small pickups

Like the Wrangler, the Bronco has two- and four-door models. The four-door will account for around three-quarters of sales, but the two-door matters because its shorter length will allow it to tackle boulder-strewn trails too tortuous for the longer  and much more practical  four-door. All Broncos have four-wheel drive.

A vanishingly small proportion of SUV owners actually go off road, but the capability can elevate a whole brand. Ford expects the new Bronco to do that, first with the smaller Bronco Sport thats already on sale, but later with more models, including a Raptor-style desert-racing model.

2021 Ford Bronco lineup and prices

Base: $28,500 two-door; $33,200 four-door

Big Bend: $33,385 two-door; $35,8800 four-door

Black Diamond: $36,050 two-door; $38,545 four-door

Outer Banks: $38,955 two-door; $41,450 four-door

Badlands: $42,095 two-door; $44,590 four-door

Wildtrak: $46,980 two-door; $49,475 four-door

First Edition: $56,915 two-door; $61,110 four-door

Story continues

Second place: Hyundai Ioniq 5

Compact electric SUV

Hyundai Ioniq 5 EV

The Hyundai Ioniq 5s main bragging point is one owners will love: Its batteries can recharge at superfast 800-volt DC charging stations. It can charge to 80% in 18 minutes  enough to go about 240 miles in the long-range model. The same charge takes about 25 minutes at the more widely available 400v rate.

The only other vehicles currently capable of 800v  also called 350kW  DC fast charging are much more expensive models like the Lucid Air, Porsche Taycan and GMC Hummer EV.

Prices run from $39,700 to $54,500. The Ioniq qualifies for a $7,500 federal tax credit.

The Ioniq 5 is about the size of Hyundais Tucson compact SUV, but it has more passenger space, thanks to an EV-only architecture that takes full advantage of the technologys attributes.

"Ioniq" is the name of Hyundais EV sub-brand, incidentally; "5" identifies this model by its passenger capacity. The distinctive, ultramodern SUV deserves a more evocative ID or to inherit one of Hyundais established names, but Hyundai, like several other automakers, is struggling with what to call its EVs.

The 5 claims a 303-mile range for rear-drive models, 256 for AWD. The 320-hp AWD model handles well and accelerates eagerly. The base standard range model offers 168 hp and 220 miles range.

2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 prices and trim levels

SE standard range: $39,700

SE RWD: $43,650

SE AWD: $47,150

SEL RWD: $45,900

SEL AWD: $49,400

Limited RWD: $50,600

Limited AWD: $54,500

Third place: Jeep Grand Wagoneer and Wagoneer

Large luxury SUV

Luxurious Jeep Grand Wagoneer interior

Jeeps big new Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer give the SUV specialist models to compete with luxury vehicles like the Cadillac Escalade, Lincoln Navigator and Mercedes G-class.

Boasting three rows of seats and seating for seven or eight, the Grand Wagoneer can top $100,000 for a loaded model. Wagoneer prices start at $57,995.

The Grand Wagoneers interior offers new features like a touch screen thats only visible to the front passenger that can suggest amendments to a drive route, and stream Amazon Fire TV. The driver cant see the streaming video, a safety step Jeep took to heart, but which Tesla just belatedly added.

Available features include a 23-speaker McIntosh audio system; air suspension; middle row touch screens for streaming video, games, etc.; interior color schemes like Blue Agave, walnut wood. Power comes from a 5.7L or 6.4L Hemi V8 linked to an eight-speed automatic transmission.

While Jeep built its reputation off road, the brand prioritized towing performance for owners likely to haul horse trailers or luxury trailers. The Grand Wagoneer can tow 9,850 pounds. Wagoneers can tow up to 10,000 pounds.

Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer prices and trim levels

Wagoneer Series I RWD: $57,995

Wagoneer Series I 4WD: $60,995

Wagoneer Series II RWD: $67,995

Wagoneer Series II 4WD: $70,995

Wagoneer Series III RWD: $72,995

Wagoneer Series III 4WD: $75,995

Grand Wagoneer Series I 4WD: $86,995

Grand Wagoneer Series II 4WD: $93,995

Grand Wagoneer Obsidian 4WD: $98,995

Grand Wagoneer Series III 4WD: $103,995

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 2022 Free Press SUV of the Year: Ford Bronco brings new ideas to off-roading
Southwest temporarily suspended operations at Chicago's airports, according to reports. Steven M. Keller

Airlines continued to slash flights in the new year amid rising staff illness and hazardous weather.

Over 8,000 flights were canceled over new year's weekend, according to FlightAware data.

More than 500 flights were axed in Chicago, which has been hit hard by severe weather.

Worldwide flight cancellations bled into the new year as thousands more were slashed over the holiday weekend.

At the time of writing, data from flight-tracking website FlightAware suggested over 8,000 flights had been canceled over the weekend.

The data showed that on Saturday, 4,740 flights were canceled, while the figure for Sunday was 3,415.

The disruptions came amid an increasing number of Omicron coronavirus variant cases among crew members, as well as hazardous weather conditions.

Chicago was the area most affected by heavy snowfall. Forecasts said up to 9 inches of snow could hit some areas of the city, according to CBS Chicago. More than 400 flights had been axed at O'Hare International Airport and more than 100 at Midway International Airport on Saturday.

Southwest, SkyWest, American Airlines, and Delta were among the airlines involved in the mass cancellations over the new year's weekend, with Southwest suspending operations at both Chicago airports due to the severe weather forecast, AP reported. The airline also canceled more than 470 flights Saturday nationwide, according to FlightAware.

Southwest did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

International carrier China Eastern led the list of cancelations after it axed almost 1,000 flights across the weekend.

Mass flight cancelations have plagued the travel industry over the holiday season. Insider's Cheryl Teh and Jeremy Berke reported that airlines canceled at least 4,200 flights across Christmas Eve and Christmas Day due to a spike in Omicron COVID-19 infections. And about 13,000 flights were scrubbed in the last week of 2021, per Insider's Grace Dean.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty

The Facebook group Soldiers of the Righteous Caliphate was a bubbling cauldron of noxious extremist support drawn from rival groups including the Islamic State, and the Taliban. It was filled with beheading imagery, military exercises, hand-drawn faceless portraits of the late ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, andsomehowplenty of anime porn.

With just over 24,000 members, the Facebook group represented a perfect case study in the malicious mix of extremist support on the platform, which continues to evade detection and gain traction. So why was it full of pornography?

There has been plenty of analysis about extremist groups and how their content evades detection, but not many reports have focused on the antics of people trying to fight these extremists online. Some of these vigilantes are lone actors, others are part of cyberarmies aligned with other extremist groups fighting rival terrorist supporters online.

The Soldiers of the Righteous Caliphate group was a microcosm of vigilante digital detractors at play. It was the digital equivalent of a wrestling cage match between cyberarmies of extremist group supporters targeting the Islamic State, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and the Taliban.

The battlefields of these cyberarmies and the conflict they spurred in weaponized group posts and comment sections represents one of the lesser known moderation challenges for Facebook.

Their weapons of choice: anime porn and numbered kama sutra positions. Put simply, when terrorist supporters go violent on Facebook, their enemies tend to go pornographic.

For instance, a 15-position numbered Kama Sutra menu of sex acts was recently shared with a post that read the army of the Caliphate is on the path set by Hind, daughter of Abu Sufyan. Some sex posters in the group used more straightforward messaging. Using a police line-up of naked female anime characters, each with progressively larger busts, one detractor derided the dogs of hell, a well-known Middle Eastern moniker for Islamic State supporters.

Story continues

Other lone actor vigilantes targeting the Taliban supporters in the group made sexual references about the Taliban, posting dancing videos of young Taliban fighters with emojis that represented index fingers into OK signs as a means to suggest the Taliban were homosexuals who love dark holes. When Hayat Tahrir al-Sham accounts posted adoring photos of Abu Muhammad al-Joulani, the groups leader, a non-extremist account, posted a doctored photo of him having sex with himself, in reference what some to believe is his narcissistic nature.

The question, however, is just how networked are these posters? Does it indicate the presence of cyberarmies, or are these just average people with a taste for shitposting terrorist supporters?

The answer is both.

All of these explicit prevention efforts are often used by the most fringe of the terrorist group detectors as well as networks of opposing extremist groups on Facebook. The answer to why these tactics are utilized is buried in a large tranche of internal Facebook documents released in late October to 12 media organizations, which The Daily Beast has reviewed. Prepared in December 2020, the issues noted by Facebook employees actually provide researchers with a better understanding of how networks of anti-extremist accounts, as well as the cyberarmies supportive of a range of extremist groups, operate on the platform to take on terrorist content when the platform does not.

In the papers, the Middle East and North Africa Integrity Team at Facebook reported that Iraq is a proxy for cyberarmies working on reporting content in order to block certain pages or content. The papers went on to mention that reporters in Iraq understand the zero tolerance FB has for CN [child nudity] and this is used by cyberarmies to close certain pages.

While none of the lone actors or the extremist cyberarmies fighting one another in the Soldiers of the Righteous Caliphate used child nudity or children as extremist repellents, a number did use pornographic material to troll extremists and attempt to get their accounts banned.

Irans Cyber Army Is Under Attack From All Sides

Averaging 259 posts a day, the Soldiers of the Righteous Caliphate was essentially the Golden Corral buffet for a range of dueling jihadists groups across the platform and the occasional, loosely network band of do-gooders. Using the group as a case study, its clear that some of these accounts are just simply friends whove had enough of extremist content on the platform and have banded together, while others are members of cyberarmies affiliated with extremist groups intent on dominating the platform and knocking out their competition. Many of them claim to be based in Iraq, Syria and other locations across the Middle East and North Africa.

By following the accounts, and systematically going through their friends, followers and likes, The Daily Beast was able to assess who were linked to cyberarmies and who were loosely constructed members of vigilante Facebookers. What is clear is that many of those involved in posting the sexually charged material were members of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Force political party pages in Iraq. Even more obvious are the networks of Taliban, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, and Islamic State supporters on the platform that are part of those cyberarmies.

Although they each hate each other, the Taliban supportersthrough large groups of their ownand Hayat Tahrir al-Sham supporters, also linked to groups of their own, equally detest the Islamic State, and have formed virtual armies to both troll and ban the Islamic State off the platform.

Meanwhile, individuals who seethe at the thought of extremists sharing content space on the worlds largest social media network take them all on by photo-bombing them in shared spaces with explicit posts.

There is actually a history to these antics. Back in 2016, members of Anonymous, the shadowy hacker collective, dumped pornography into the timelines of Islamic State supporters on Twitter. In September 2020, infiltrators spammed porn into Telegram channels manned by Islamic State supporters, who grew frustrated with their inability to get rid of the content.

This, of course, reads and looks like quite childish antics to the casual observer, and isnt necessarily effective, but it adds an element of circus theatrics to the challenge of blunting terrorist support on the platform.

Facebook took down the groups when reported by The Daily Beast. A spokesperson for Meta, Facebooks parent company, said it doesnt allow terrorists on our platform, and that it removes content that praises, represents or supports them whenever we find it.

Ultimately, scrolling through the Facebook groups timeline reveals not just the lapses in content moderation on a regional level, but also gaps in moderating terrorist content that is explicitly forbidden by the platforms own community standards.

Whats clear, for now, is that in the darkest corners of Facebook, one mans porn is another mans terrorist repellentand there seems to be no end to this bizarre phenomenon in sight.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Ryan T. Fulmer

Long-term investors attempt to predict what a business may look like in 3, 5, and even 10 years into the future; believing that long-term value creation comes from owning a great business for many years.

Depending on the business, forecasting the future can be quite challenging. One business niche that has historically been easier to predict is that of products critical to operating a company every day. These products or software are deeply integrated into all aspects of a business and as a result, customers are less sensitive to price increases and switching providers is complex and time-consuming.

A classic example is the Microsoft Office suite. Most businesses use Windows, Outlook, Word, and other programs every day. As you likely know, Microsoft now sells its software in the cloud on a subscription basis, compared to CD-ROMs that could be kept and only upgraded every few years.

Similar trends exist in other mission-critical software packages such as Adobe, Salesforce, and Autodesk, to name a few. These companies are predictable and highly profitable, but current valuations generally reflect investor enthusiasm.

Salesforces stock price hasnt performed well recently, falling from the low $300s to about $255 per share today, as investors were disappointed with the backlog of new subscribers.

One inefficiency in the stock market is when high growth companies begin to decelerate. Investors previously willing to pay high valuations for growth, sell shares as they become disappointed with slowing growth. When this happens, companies occasionally no longer have a clear owner, such as growth or value stock-pickers. During this inflection point in these companies lifecycle, sales growth has started to slow, but profit margins are expanding, and investors are rewarded with more predictable financial results.

Salesforce has become the leading customer relationship management (CRM) software package for most businesses, and growth certainly hasnt disappeared as investors expect sales to nearly double from $21BN in the fiscal year 2021 to $43BN by 2025.

Story continues

Patient long-term investors are likely to be rewarded with Salesforces stock!

Sources: Company reports

Beese Fulmer Private Wealth Management was founded in 1980 and is one of Stark Countys oldest and largest investment management firms. The company serves high-net-worth individuals, families, and non-profits, and has been ranked as one of the largest money managers in Northeast Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Ask the Rational Investor: Investing in critical software
Winter finally came to Austin on Sunday, when predawn temperatures plummeted into the mid-20s, signaling the first freeze for the city this season and a frigid start to 2022.

Thankfully, this freeze won't last beyond Monday night, according to the National Weather Service forecast. A return of warmer, southerly winds Tuesday will bring tropical air to Central Texas and send temperatures rebounding into the 60s, forecasters said.

What just happened?

Austin had closed out 2021 with unprecedented levels of warmth all last month, the city's warmest December on record. The average temperature for the month was 65.1 degrees, not only 11.5 degrees warmer than normal but also 5.5 degrees higher than the previous record, which had stood for 88 years.

Alex Silverman and Anna Berman have some coffee to stay warm as they walk along South Congress Avenue on Sunday. A cold front dropped area temperatures into the 20s overnight.

The trend continued over the New Year's Day weekend, as the city on Friday matched the daily heat record for Dec. 31 when temperatures reached 83 degrees at Camp Mabry, site of Austin's main weather station. That tied the mark set in 1951.

On New Year's Day, Austin temperatures soared to 78 degrees  not a record, but 16 degrees warmer than the normal high for this time of year.

But Austin woke up Sunday to weather radically different from the day before, which had mirrored January temperatures in Hawaii, to a biting chill whose fierce gusts pummeled leftover Christmas lawn decorations.

More: Answers to common questions about recycling your Christmas tree, holiday trash in Austin

A strong arctic front plunged deep toward South Texas, throwing most of the state into a level of frigidity not experienced since last February, when a weeklong freeze led to widespread utility outages and deaths.

The cold air mass also brought blustery winds with gusts as strong as 35 to 40 mph that intensified the freezing temperatures.

Some of the National Weather Service readings as of 6 a.m. Sunday included:

28 degrees in Austin (Travis County) with a wind chill of 20.

22 degrees in Burnet (Burnet County) with a wind chill of 10.

21 degrees in Fredericksburg (Gillespie County) with a wind chill of 7.

23 degrees in Georgetown (Williamson County) with a wind chill of 7.

23 degrees in Lago Vista (Travis County) with a wind chill of 9.

29 degrees in San Marcos (Hays County) with a wind chill of 14.

Story continues

Austin's lowest temperature Sunday was 25 degrees at 7 a.m., according to the weather service. That's not a record, but it's still 16 degrees colder than normal.

Jasmine Esmial, left, talks to bundled-up Kimia Lalezari while walking Sunday on South Congress Avenue after a cold front sent temperatures in the area plummeting.

Weather for the week ahead

Austin's daytime temperatures Monday should stay below 55 degrees, despite plenty of sunshine and clear skies, with the overnight low sinking to around 34.

"Skies will be mostly clear Monday night and much of the area will see a light freeze with lower to middle 30s elsewhere," the weather service said in a bulletin Sunday.

More: Feeling itchy? Cedar fever is here. Know what to do, how to tell allergies from COVID-19

After another bone-chilling night, Austin should enjoy sunny skies Tuesday with a more seasonable high of 65. But south-southwest winds will kick up to 10 to 15 mph in the morning with gusts as strong as 25 mph.

"Low temperatures Wednesday morning will be in the 40s," the weather service's bulletin said, warning that another cold front, albeit a dry one, is due to arrive Wednesday afternoon.

"Highs Wednesday will be in the 60s and 70s ahead of the front with lows Thursday morning in the 30s to lower 40s," forecasters said. "A secondary surge of colder air arrives Thursday with highs in the 50s and 60s Thursday and in the 50s areawide on Friday."

True to its reputation for fickleness, Central Texas weather is expected to flip back to freezing before the week is over.

"Another freeze will be likely for much of the area Friday morning," forecasters said. "Southerly flow returns Saturday with highs back into the 60s for most locations."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin's first winter freeze chills city, temps to flip-flop this week
On the third day of his second-grade school year at Bayside Elementary, Castor Rossmanith escaped during physical education class.

The 7-year-old ran out a gymnasium door, over school grounds and across traffic on Bayside Road near its intersection with Diamond Springs Road to a Citgo gas station across the street. He was gone for several minutes until a stranger called police, and school staff returned him to Bayside.

I kept imagining my son running in traffic, and I cant imagine what was going through his mind, or what made him want to do that, said Stacy Rossmanith, Castors mother.

Castor is autistic and nonverbal and uses an Augmentative and Alternative Communication Device to communicate. Like other kids with autism, he sometimes wanders. Its called eloping in special education terminology, and was noted in Castors Individualized Education Program, which outlines instructional needs and goals and is tailored to an individual student.

The Sept. 13 incident prompted the Rossmanith family to file a special education complaint Oct. 29 with the Virginia Department of Education, arguing that Castors right to a free appropriate public education  the federal legal standard for special education  was violated.

Castors IEP detailed his need for adult assistance during transition times, like walking from one class to another. It also noted that he requires assistance during face-to-face instruction in P.E., music and art classes.

The Rossmaniths said they didnt learn the extent of what happened on Sept. 13  that their son traversed a busy street until someone phoned police  until they obtained security footage from the gas station. The Rossmaniths said they received the footage nearly a month after the incident with help from an attorney with the Navys Exceptional Family Member Program, and they shared it with The Virginian-Pilot.

The footage from four different gas station security cameras, reviewed by The Pilot, shows a boy sprinting down Bayside Road before turning right onto Diamond Springs Road. As he runs down a lane of traffic, cars slow behind him but others traveling in the lane to his left zip by before school staff catches up with him.

Story continues

The familys complaint seeks the revocation of teaching licenses from school staff involved in the incident. They also seek resolutions aimed at preparing the school for students prone to elopement  functional cameras at all school entrances and exits, mandatory training for school staff on appropriate supervision of special needs students with communication or elopement concerns and a school-wide safety plan for student elopement, including immediate notification of law enforcement and emergency services.

Complaints filed with the state education departments Office of Dispute Resolution and Administrative Services must be resolved within 60 calendar days, with extensions permitted for exceptional circumstances. A parent or the school can appeal the findings within 30 days of a decision, according to the departments parents guide to dispute resolution. Stacy and Eric Rossmanith said Thursday they have not yet received a letter of findings  a document issued by a complaint specialist explaining why the school division is or isnt in compliance with applicable law.

If the division is found to be out of compliance, the specialist issues a corrective plan for the school to ensure its compliance with the law, according to the parents guide.

A Virginia Beach Public Schools spokesperson declined to confirm whether an internal investigation was conducted regarding the incident, citing educational privacy laws.

This matter has been handled in accordance with all applicable laws, regulations and policies, the spokesperson wrote in an email.

The military family is unsure their complaint will come to fruition before they have to relocate. Eric Rossmanith is a Marine Corps officer up for orders in the spring.

Its a common problem for military families with special needs, said Jennifer Barnhill, chief operating officer for Partners in Promise. The organization is a nonprofit focused on bringing awareness and positive change to the experiences of military children in special education.

Getting the services their child needs is stressful for any family, but the constant relocation that comes with military service often exacerbates the stress, Barnhill said. It might take months for a family to settle into a new school and notice that an IEP is not being followed, Barnhill said.

By the time all that happens, theyre about to move again, Barnhill said.

Partners in Promise encourages families to record school meetings with consent from people involved. The Rossmaniths recorded all meetings with consent following Castors elopement, and shared the recordings and relevant documents with The Pilot.

A series of meetings with teachers, school employees and administrators followed the elopement incident, according to Stacy Rossmanith.

The day Castor eloped, his teacher and assistant principal called Stacy to inform her that her son had run out of the gym, through the back basketball court and into the parking lot where the teacher and other staff caught up with him, according to the audio recording of the meeting.

Of course, I was like, Oh my gosh. But OK, he just got to the parking lot, Stacy said.

Feeling that some of Castors instructional needs were not met, the Rossmaniths requested an emergency IEP meeting for the next day. Beforehand, the couple heard from a mutual friend that dispatchers received a call about a boy outside Bayside Elementary the day Castor eloped.

Stacy Rossmanith asked about the call during the meeting. An administrator told her someone had called it in, but it wasnt from the school. At that meeting, Stacy requested one-on-one supervision during P.E., art and music be added to Castors IEP.

The family set up a time to watch school surveillance footage of the incident the next day, Sept. 15. That day, the Rossmaniths obtained a copy of the police incident report regarding the elopement. In it, the caller tells dispatchers about a boy running in the middle of traffic.

I was extremely distraught when I got that information  one that 911 was called and the school didnt tell me, and that he was running in traffic, Stacy Rossmanith said.

Going into the meeting, Stacy assumed her son proceeded onto Bayside Road a little bit to prompt the 911 call. She brought up the report during the meeting, which included Baysides assistant principal, principal, a school resource officer and another school staff member.

Thats when the Rossmaniths learned their son had run to the gas station.

After that meeting, the family received an incident letter from Baysides principal describing the incident in more detail. While one person called police, a driver  who was in the Bayside Elementary Bus loop  drove to the gas station and positioned their vehicle to block access to Diamond Springs Road, according to the Sept. 23 letter. As that driver got out of their vehicle, school staff met up Castor and brought him back to the school, the letter said.

My impression of all of our conversations was they could have at any point told me that he was running down Diamond Springs in traffic, and not one conversation did they tell me that, Stacy Rossmainth said.

Concerned for Castors safety, the Rossmaniths pulled him out of Bayside Elementary immediately after the incident. He missed eight days of school before enrolling in Pembroke Elementary.

Castor is doing well at his new school, but the Rossmaniths are still reeling.

This cant happen to kids, military special needs kids. It just cant happen, Stacy said. And I dont want this to happen to any other child or parent.

Ali Sullivan, 757-677-1974, ali.sullivan@virginiamedia.com
Trachele Minnifield, who was diagnosed with cervical cancer last April, is pictured with her five children: Nazier, 13; Aryelle, 4; Jeniah, 12; Nike, 6; and Kalee, 7. The family received help this Christmas through the Salvation Army's Empty Stocking Fund.

The Empty Stocking Fund, which the Sun Journal has supported for more than 50 years, helped bring Christmas gifts to 400 children in 2021, according to Corps Officer Curtis Kratz of the Salvation Army of New Bern.

The Empty Stocking Fund raises a substantial amount of money for the Salvation Army each year for families in need during the holidays. This years donations totaled just under $27,000.

We were able to help a lot of families with the funding this year, Kratz said.

Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Kratz said fundraising numbers from 2021 year were on par with past years.

We got a late jump on it this year but I think it was around the same amount as last time, he said. We havent had anyone checking the mailbox since Christmas Eve so theres probably a couple more checks in the mail.

Kratz said, if anything, the COVID-19 pandemic has helped the Salvation Armys fundraising efforts. While food assistance services are abundant in Craven County, he said he is starting to see an upswing in families dealing with financial crises.

Its interesting because people have been more generous during this whole thing, Kratz said. The impact has been kind of strange because initially a lot of the needs seemed to go away because people were getting a lot of help. But as the next year came around we started to see more need with rent and utility assistance, so thats starting to pick up.

One of the families that had a merrier Christmas this year due to the Empty Stocking Fund included Trachele Minnifield, a single mother of five, who was recently diagnosed with cervical cancer.

Related reporting: New Bern cancer survivor turns to Empty Stocking Fund for holiday aid

She said the assistance was invaluable for her and her family.

I havent been able to do anything this year, thats why I turned to the Salvation Army, she said. Theyve been awesome.

Kratz said assisting families like Minnifields is the very essence of the Empty Stocking Funds mission.

Story continues

Its always good to be able to help a family give a child a toy for Christmas, he said. At the Salvation Army were all about Christ, so we meet needs in his name without discrimination. We just want to show love and kindness the best way we can.

Empty Stocking Fund Donations Totals

Nov. 30-Dec. 1

Anonymous - $5,000

Andrew Davidson MD - $500

Anonymous - $20

Jerry Mella-$200.00

Dec.3-Dec.9

Karl Mielenhausen-$100

Linda Taylor-$100

In Memory of Ed-$500

Dana Clay-$50

P.A Miller-$500

Thomas Blickensderfer-50$

Dec.10-Dec.13

Leann Fordyce-$1,000

Anonymous-$125

Anonymous-$52

Anonymous-$1,000

In Memory of Dave Rohrbach-$100

Marshall Falkenberg-$75

Bern Bear Gifts-$100

Millard Godwin-$50

CarolinaEast-$2,500

Dce.14-Dec.15

Anonymous-$300

Anonymous-$25

Delta Sigma Theta New Bern Chapter-$100

Kathleen Klecker-$100

Robert and Suzanne Kayla-$150

Becky and Dennis West-$100

In Memory of Jack Huddle-$500

Dec.15-Dec.18

In memory of Chaplain Walt Golding By Lena Golding-$100

Anonymous-$500

Dorothy Wolf-$100

Joseph Manfield-$250

Corrie Schaefeer-$200

Dec.19-Dec. 20

Teresa Kruske-$50

Erika Pam-$25

Susan Hammer-$250

John Magiera-$25

In Honor of Charles and Dolores Ferrini-$100

Mark and Jane Villucci-$50

Virginia Jones-$500

Ralph Hazen-$200

In memory of John David-$150

Anonymous-$200

Anonymous-$200

Anonymous-$70

In memory of Jennifer Bowman-$500

Paul Reinhard-$100

In Memory of Jack Huddle-$1,000

Sam Love-$35

James Irvin-$200

Dec. 21

Anonymous-$500

Anonymous-$200

Laurel Mazzotti-$450

Lt. Col Larry Massner-$200

Dec. 22

Anonymous-$5,000

Anonymous-$50

Anonymous-$1,100

Anonymous-$50

In memory of Alvin Morefield-$50

Grace Webber-$50

Michael and Carolyn McCulley in Memory of Catherine McCulley-$150

Dec. 23

In Honor of Jack Huddle Family-$500

Dec. 24

Janet Staus-$25.

Grand Total To Date  $26,907

This article originally appeared on Sun Journal: New Bern 2021 Empty Stocking Fund brings gifts to 400 children




President Biden's to-do list in 2022 in many ways resembles the one he had when he took office in 2021.

Biden campaigned on a pledge to shut down the coronavirus, but he enters 2022 facing record-setting case numbers from the omicron variant and public fatigue with the pandemic.

The president called for unity in his inauguration speech, but that has been hard to come by, as polls have consistently shown a swath of Republicans, including some holding or running for office, refuse to acknowledge that Biden legitimately won the 2020 election.

Biden took office touting decades of Senate experience and a reputation for being able to cross the aisle. But his signature legislative proposal is in limbo after he was unable to convince a members of his own party, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), to vote for his Build Back Better agenda.

While White House officials argue the country is in a stronger economic and public health position than it was a year ago, the challenges facing the president and his team in the new year resemble the ones the country was grappling with 12 months ago.

"While the American Rescue Plan Act and the bipartisan infrastructure bill the president signed were indisputably major achievements, Mr. Manchin's defection on the Build Back Better Act caused doubters to ask whether the president had placed too much faith in the Senate as an institution, in his own negotiating skills and in his steadfast belief that he could cajole the West Virginian, one Old Bull to another," David Axelrod, former top strategist in the Obama White House, wrote in a New York Times op-ed published this week.

"Or maybe he misread what the Covid crisis would allow him to accomplish legislatively, causing him to shoot for too much," Axelrod wrote.

The White House put out a list of its accomplishments from Biden's first year in office, which touted progress on the pandemic, economic growth and the passage of a bipartisan infrastructure law that marked a rare instance of lawmakers working across the aisle.

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Unemployment dropped roughly 2 percentage points during Biden's first year in the White House. Officials boasted that roughly 70 percent of Americans have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus since the vaccination campaign began at the start of 2021.

"In spite of unprecedented crises and opposition from Congressional Republicans, President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Congressional Democrats got an enormous amount done for the American people in 2021," read a year-end White House memo outlining the administration's achievements.

But the challenges Biden will confront as he turns the calendar are many of the same ones he faced when he took office and that were highlights of his campaign.

Biden repeatedly pledged on the trail in 2020 that he would shut down the virus and listen to the medical experts, seeking to contrast himself with the Trump administration's approach that sidelined health officials and saw hundreds of thousands of Americans die.

While the virus is in many ways out of Biden's control, as evidenced by the omicron variant that was first detected in South Africa and is now the dominant strain in the United States, his approval rating in handling the pandemic has dipped from its peak over the summer.

The nation is seeing record-setting case numbers because of the infectiousness of the omicron variant, nearly six months after Biden held a celebration at the White House to mark the nation's independence from COVID-19.

Biden has responded to the latest wave with efforts to ramp up testing and repeated encouragement for Americans to get booster shots.

"They make many of the right decisions, just too late," said one former Trump administration official who worked on the pandemic response. "And I suspect that is because Trump's mistake was having no deliberative policy process, and Biden is too far in the other direction of having one that is so cumbersome that they take way too long to make decisions when in a pandemic."

Many public health experts argue the country is undeniably in a better position in the fight against the pandemic than when Biden took office, pointing to the majority of the country being vaccinated and the approval of treatments for COVID-19.

Another challenge for Biden has been turning down the political temperature after four years of the Trump administration, where coarseness, threats and division ruled the day. Biden used the word "unity" eight times in his inaugural address. But after one year in office, the country remains bitterly divided along political lines.

The divide was perhaps best reflected when an Oregon man used the anti-Biden euphemism "Let's Go Brandon" after the president wished him and his family a merry Christmas on a phone call last week.

Biden did find some success falling back on his reputation as a former senator capable of getting things done in Congress. His party united to pass a $1.9 trillion economic rescue package early in the year, followed by a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that won GOP support in both chambers.

But his signature policy, the Build Back Better agenda that includes investments on climate change, child care, health care and more programs, faces an uncertain future after Biden was unable to win Manchin's support despite months of personal negotiations.

Biden's ability to find a path forward for that bill in the Senate could largely determine his party's fate in the midterm elections and the shape of the rest of his first term, according to Axelrod.

"In his first year in office, Mr. Biden passed the Rescue Act, which jump-started the vital distribution of Covid vaccines and helped families, businesses and the nation navigate the coronavirus," Axelrod wrote in The New York Times. "He defied the skeptics and passed a bipartisan plan to rebuild the country's fraying infrastructure, with enormous implications for America's economic future. That alone is pretty good work."

"If he can retool the Build Back Better Act to make it permanent... rather than piece together a hodgepodge of temporary programs, it, too, may be able to stand the test of time and a decade from now may be even more popular than it is today," Axelrod added.
BOTTINEAU - Intelligent.com, a trusted resource, for online/on-campus program rankings and higher education planning, has included Dakota College at Bottineau to its list of programs assessed for 2022. The research identifies programs in the nation based on flexibility, faculty, course strength, cost, and reputation.

Intelligent.com implemented a unique methodology that ranks each program on a scale from 0 to 100 across five categories. The scoring system compares each university according to program strength, student readiness, return on investment, cost, and student engagement. Researchers compared 704 programs from 2,900 universities and colleges across the United States.

Higher education resource guide releases the best institution programs for 2022

Dakota College at Bottineau offers flexible distance learning through online delivery. Experts at Intelligent.com assessed programs that help students enhance and develop advanced skills for a variety of in-demand positions.

Studies show that obtaining a degree increases income substantially, degree holders earning 84% more than those with only high school diplomas or those without a completed GED. The percentage difference in earnings continues to grow with higher learning degrees such as masters, doctoral or professional degrees, with the unemployment rate decreasing to as much as 1.1% for those with a doctorate.

Dakota College at Bottineau has been recognized for the following degree programs:

Best Community Colleges in North Dakota | Ranked 3

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Students enrolled with Dakota College may earn a full degree entirely online. Online education provides flexibility and convenience. Students can take classes at almost any location and receive individualized attention with small class sizes. Learning online provides flexibility in class schedules allowing students to work around personal schedules without having to travel.

Intelligent.com provides unbiased research to help students make informed decisions about higher education programs. The website offers curated guides that include the best degree programs and information about financial aid, internships, and even study strategies. Intelligent.com is a trusted source among students and prospective students with comprehensive, user-friendly guides and hundreds of program rankings.

This article originally appeared on Devils Lake Journal: Bottineau included in best institution programs for 2022 listings
The Western Wayne Schools Administration Building in Pershing will house the new Western Wayne Boys & Girls Club.

RICHMOND, Ind.  A new Boys & Girls Clubs of Wayne County program has received additional funding.

The Indiana Department of Education awarded $209,559 to extend the Western Wayne Boys & Girls Club from a single year to multiple years. The unit, which is a partnership with the Western Wayne School Corporation, opened with initial grant funding received in June.

The new grant is part of $35.2 million awarded to 123 partners throughout Indiana as part of the Student Learning Recovery Grant Program, according to a news release. More than $122 million was awarded during the summer.

COVID: Wayne County surpasses 13,000 laboratory-confirmed cases

Crime: Richmond man jailed after he apparently shot himself in the leg

Parks: Richmond Parks Department bursting with successes, future plans

Its more important now than ever that our communities, families and schools come together to accelerate student learning, Gov. Eric Holcomb said in the release. This important work requires unparalleled collaboration, and Im thankful that so many partners across the state have stepped up to the plate to deliver these extended learning opportunities for our students.

The grant money is to accelerate student learning in literacy, mathematics and college and career readiness.

The Western Wayne Boys & Girls Club opened with the 2021-22 school year in the Western Wayne Schools Administration Building, 519 Queen St., Pershing. Youth ages 6 to 18 may join the club for $15 annually, and the club is open 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. during the school year.

STAY INFORMED AND SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM: Subscribe today using the link at the top of this page.

The unit's academic programs fit the usual Boys & Girls Club programming of academic success, healthy lifestyles and good character and citizenship.

House Enrolled Act 1008 created the Student Learning Recovery Grant Program and allocated $150 million for accelerated learning programs with a focus on partnerships between community organizations, education service centers, higher education institutions and K-12 schools.

Story continues

Educators across the state are working strategically to help close learning gaps and reduce the significant academic impact weve seen from pandemic-related school disruptions. This is an enormous responsibility  and it requires all of us, said Katie Jenner, Indiana's secretary of education. This includes our schools, our higher education institutions, our families, and our community partners, joining together through student-focused partnerships.

"Im grateful for the important work thats being funded through Indianas Student Learning Recovery Grant Program, as we all come together to ensure that every student has the opportunity to build the knowledge and skills they need to succeed.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Boys & Girls Clubs program receives additional grant funding
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty

One warm summer day, I met the composer Caroline Shaw in New York City, where we spent an hour in Central Park talking about her music. Not long after we found a bench, it began to rain, lightly at first and then harder and then really hard. But we had brought umbrellas, so we decided to ride it out. This was not, we gradually but inevitably realized, an especially wise decision, but we were each too stubborn to be the first to give up.

Coincidentally we are both from North Carolina and therefore reflexively polite, so there was a lot of Should we move? and Are we under the right tree? and Are we under a tree at all? Nevertheless, we stayed put and kept talking, even as the rain came down hard enough to sound like a third party in the conversation when I replayed my recording. By the time we finished talking, we were, umbrellas notwithstanding, thoroughly soaked. But not unhappy. It all seemed like one of those oddball moments in a bubble that came and went, never to exist again.

And then a strange thing happened: I found myself ghosting her, or ghosting the story, not entirely volitionally but thoroughly all the same. I wanted to write up the interview, and at the same time, I didnt. Its been nagging at me ever since.

Charlie Watts Was the Beating Heart of the Rolling Stones

Instead, I spent what remained of the summer and then the fall listening and relistening to as much of Shaws work as I could find. And the more I listened, the more I wondered if I was equipped for this job.

Because the more you know about Shaws work and the trajectory of her career, the more intimidating she seems. She became, at the age of 30, the youngest person to win the Pulitzer prize for music (2013, Partita for Eight Voices). She has filled the decade since winning her Pulitzer by continuing to perform as a violinist and vocalist, all the while composing for orchestras, chamber ensembles, and soloists, often collaborating as a performer with those for whom she composesin the classical realm but further afield as well, with such artists as Kanye West, Nas, The National, and at least one member of Arcade Fire. And she has written film scores. And won two Grammys. And even appeared, as herself, in season four of the Amazon series Mozart in the Jungle.

Story continues

And for Jeopardy Daily Double genealogical lagniappe, shes the great-great-granddaughter and great-great-grandniece of Chang and Eng Bunker, the original Siamese twins (thus named because they hailed from what was then Siam).

Her work inspires articles with headlines like Is Caroline Shaw Really the Future of Music? and Caroline Shaw Is Firing on All Creative Cylinders and Caroline Shaw Is Making Classical Cool. Even the contrarian headline Caroline Shaw Is Not Here to Save Classical Music implies that someone thinks she is.

Its all very overwhelming, especially when you stir in the fact that most of this activity takes place within the gated community of classical music. So, for a while there, months in fact, I choked. Until, finally, embarrassment overcame fear and I went back and listened again to the conversation I had with Shaw last summer. And that was the key to the puzzle, because in reviewing what she said about herself and music generally, I realized that the demon I was wrestling was in my head and nowhere else.

Ive gone on at embarrassing length because I dont think Im the only one who ties themselves into knots over classical music. I think that intimidation sinks a lot of people. I also think its a mistake to get trapped like that. And I think the work of Caroline Shaw, not intentionally perhaps but all the same, is the perfect way to beat that particular devil. Because in her conversation, and certainly in her music, both in what she writes and what she performs, Shaw is not out to intimidate anyone.

Sooner or later, in most music stories introducing new work, a writer will resort to simile: This artist/band/string quartet/whatever sounds like Taylor Swift or The Clash or Debussy or This is not laziness, or not entirely laziness, because successfully describing music that readers havent heard yet is nearly impossible otherwise. And after all, most music, even original, innovative music, does sound like something thats come before.

But trying to describe Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part, Shaws latest recording, 10 songs produced in collaboration with the So Quartet, I keep coming up empty-handed in the comparison department. It truly isnt like anything Ive heard before. At the same time, theres something familiar about it, like an unmet friend. Set to music written by Shaw or in collaboration with members of the quartet, who are percussionists, or composed collaboratively in the studio, the lyrics come from texts by authors as disparate as James Joyce, Anne Carson, and the Book of Ruth. Some lyrics are originals by the group, and there are also two hymn or gospel song texts. And one ABBA cover.

My favorite song, the buoyant title cut, has a Shaw lyric. That was really quick, Shaw said. We sort of made those chords and a sort of free-flow text in a short amount of time, and improvised a melody, and we did it once, and we said, lets do it one more time, and I think the second try is whats there on the record and more or less unedited and just what is. Music cannot make us airborne, but this song comes close.

The album began as a happy accident. The So Quartet, with pianist Gilbert Kalish and the vocalist Dawn Upshaw, had been recording a five-part Shaw composition called The Narrow Sea, with lyrics taken from shape-note hymns. Because Dawn Upshaw is so professional, Shaw said, we finished early. And there was a song Id written a few months earlier with an orchestra called Other Song, and I made this kind of one-page abstract reduction of it. So I said, why dont we take this extra time and see where this goes. It went really well, so we said we should do something together.

Basic recording for the album took three days. I was sort of the creative director on Narrow Sea, with everything written down in advance, Shaw explained. And here we wanted to come in more like a band and build pieces in the studio. On day one, she showed up with nothing composed in advance. One of the anchors was that I knew I wanted to do four duets. The idea was that wed come in and within one hour two of us would make something from scratch.

When we went in, we didnt intend to write 10 songs that are all under five minutes. At first, there were much longer sections and instrumental pieces, maybe a little more expansive and experimental than the final version on the record.

Sometimes the words came first and sometimes it was the music. To the Sky is a set text from an old shape note hymn, and Gradual Dazzle is basically a complete setting of an Anne Carson poem. For those songs I had the text in front and improvised a melody that felt like it sat well. And then [So percussionist] Adam Swilinksi would slip me little pieces of Ulysses. Thats an instance of having an anchor text and finding the melody along the way. 

The results are songs that sound neither like pop songs nor land solidly in classical territory. Each melody finds its own formno verse verse chorus bridge progressions hereand the lyrics are elliptical, evocative, and sometimes more about sound than sense. Im always a little fearful about direct content in songssongs being directly about something, Shaw says. If you fold things in and sort of work around it, theres something very beautiful about that. With that in mind, consider this album exhibit A.

With a freckled, friendly aspectshort-haired and lithe at 39, she has that look that people blandly like to call youthful, by which they generally mean that the person addressed does not look their age, but in Shaws case this means that the way she looks has more to do with openness and curiosity than with innocence or naivete.

She is an energetic conversationalist, game for almost any topic. The only time she balked was when she was asked for her five top candidates for a desert-island disc, and then it was to object that five was way too restrictive. And she addresses questions with such enthusiasm and velocity that you might not notice, until you replay the interview, that she is also unsettlingly articulate, one of those people who really do speak in complete paragraphs.

Nico Muhly Composed a Revolution in Classical Music. He Hopes Beyonce Is Listening.

Shes been a musician since forever, beginning with violin when she was two. Her home town of Greenville, N.C. had a robust Suzuki instruction program. My mom was a Suzuki teacher, and there were like hundreds of kids in Greenville who played the violin. So it was a big social thing. I played music so I could see my friends. I didnt like to practice. I didnt really understand what music was, but I liked doing things with people.

At some point, though, very early, the music bug hit. I have this memory of playing a simple Clara Schumann piano trio as a child, and I remember that performance just being completely in that moment, where theres nothing else that exists.

I kind of joke about it, but music is there in everything all the time, you can just pluck it out of the air. But the thing I keep going to is its this miraculous way to pass the time. Its like the most humble way I can think of to describe music and also the most meaningful. Its a way we have found to pass the time before we go.

Shaw attended Rice University as an undergraduate and Yale for her Masters, specializing in music but as a performer, not as a composition student. Composing in a serious way came later.

I loved making music when I was little, but I never really thought you could call that a composer, she said. Making up songs and singing them was just something to do. There were occasions where because I was violinist I would have a recital and I would write something for it. And then I began to write music for dancers. But because I was never in a composition class at Rice or Yale, I never really was part of that world.

The turning point, the moment when she truly caught the composing bug, came when I wrote the last movement of the Partita, which is called Passacaglia, which was really just an experiment with Roomful of Teeth in 2009. An a cappella group of which Shaw is a member, Roomful of Teeth has a mostly contemporary repertoire and explores an array of global singing styles and traditions, embracing the experimental both in its performances as well as the composers whose work it performs. It was like anybody who wants to try something can try it, so I spent every last second that was free making this little six-minute piece. It went really well. And I thought, I loved doing that and want to do more.

Four years later, the completed piece captured the 2013 Pulitizer for music, with the jury praising the composition as a highly polished and inventive a cappella work uniquely embracing speech, whispers, sighs, murmurs, wordless melodies and novel vocal effects. After that, Shaw would continue to perform, but she became more in demand as a composer.

You define yourself by what you do, Shaw said, and right now I write a lot of music so I guess I am aI dont know if Id use the word composer I try to use the word musician as often as possible because its a bigger umbrella. A lot of people from different traditions or backgrounds dont feel comfortable calling themselves composers, because it feels like putting people in boxes, and the idea now is that music should be open and porous.

Her compositions are very much the work of someone who is both an instrumentalist and a vocalist. Many people who write music are competent or better on an instrument, but few are as gifted as Shaw and fewer still know first hand what singing is all about. Anyone who has ever sung in a choir or chorus, upon hearing one of her compositions, would recognize a kindred soul.

In completely nonmusical terms, there is something generously warm and sensual about Shaws music, an openness that teases your ear and draws you in. Its energy seduces your complicity and spurs your imagination, and its not surprising to find out that the composer herself is synestheticone of those people who sees particular colors when they hear certain sounds and musical tones. The album Orange references that color in the titles of several selections, and the vinyl record itself is tinted an orange so delicious-looking you want to bite into it. Often color is somehow a big part of it, flavor, Shaw said. I dont talk about it a lot. My belief is that we are all synesthetic to some degree. I think its how were able to memorize things. I dont think about it consciously, but if asked to articulate in this thing we call language what something is, I just rely on metaphor and relationships and associations.

Another hallmark of Shaws music is its joyful embrace of older musical forms (the Partitas four movements take their titles from Baroque dance forms), and sometimes she will interpolate an almost direct quote from an earlier composer (her string quartet Punctum builds toward the melody from Bachs main chorale in the Matthew Passion).

I love music so deeply and I fell in love with music early, early on, and I was playing new things where I felt like they were missing the thing that made me love music. Sometimes it was harmony, sometimes it was a kind of conversational quality in music. I just wanted to make the stuff that was in my head.

I really dont know what that impulse is. Like why do writers decide to write a story with that character and that plot and that language and that point of view that has never been told? Somehow we have this impulse to make that thing that didnt exist before.

And also I found in rehearsals that I could do the music pretty easily, so I could just think about other things in rehearsal. Just thinking about how it could have been done differently or what I would have done, and then begin to make that. I joke that now and forever a lot of what I write will be classical music fan fiction because I love this thing so much, but what if it did that?! What if this is what had happened, wouldn't that be fun? Maybe its not a very grand ambition, but it keeps me writing from a place of love, which is something I have to go to periodically to make sure Im on the right spot.

In hip hop, sampling is about thatloving this little piece of music so much and then building something out of the repetition and fragmentation of that. Again, its making something out of love and then having something to say over it.

The pandemic for Shaw, like a lot of us, became a time to take stock. It was very strange at first. For the first few months I didnt compose anything, I didnt do social media. I went home to North Carolina for a while and looked at the turtles in the swamp.

Some things she didnt miss at all. Id gotten to a place where I was on a plane a lot, going places. I dont miss that.

Some things, she discovered, she missed deeply. I miss singing with people. Thats the thing I missed the most. Singing on Zoom or recording by yourself is horrible. I will go on record and say it is a horrible, horrible thing. Singing is about all the micro decisions you make when resonating with someone else. Or playing. Youre making these very intuitive micro decisions constantly, and thats one of the things I really love about it. The sound of other people near you. I miss that a lot. Theres something about just being with people in a room. I think we make music as a reason for people to be in a room together. Before you die, you might as well do something to pass the time with people. And I missed that.

While she waits for the world to open back up, she reflects on how her identities as composer, instrumentalist, and vocalist interact and influence one another. Sometimes, she says, it gets chaotic, but rarely in a bad way. Im probably too close to it now to articulate any reasonable description of that process. I know that I probably write differently because of everyone Ive ever met. And every piece Ive ever played. And thats why, if someone asks me to do something that Ive never done before and I dont know how to do, thats the greatest reason to say yes. Its about finding another door and finding out more about who you are. I feel really lucky in that. To open a lot of doors.

Encore: Caroline Shaws spur of the moment, rainy day desert island selections:

I have a Spotify playlist thats just labeled Drugs. I dont do drugs, but its music that are drugs to me. One of these is this anonymous 18th-century song that Cecilia Bartoli sings, and its just the most simple, beautiful thing. O Leggiadri Occhi Belli.

Theres a Beethoven string quartet, op. 74, its called The Harp, which I got to sight read with some friends a couple of days ago, and about 90 percent of the way through you have the best moment in music ever.

Whitney Houstons I Will Always Love You, which is actually Dolly Parton, that might make it on there.

Oh, the one Im obsessed with lately, Schuberts An die Musik. Its one of those things that I almost gloss over, like its just a nice Schubert song. But I was watching this four-part Netflix series Unorthodox, and in the fourth episode the main character sings An die Musik in this way that is just absolutely heartbreaking. I will listen to that for an hour on repeat while walking. Every single day. And I dont know why.

Sometimes you dont know why. You just fall in love with something. And then sometimes you fall out of love with them, and you cant listen to them anymore. That would be hard on desert islands.

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Remarkable Rochester: Reflections on the people, places and things that bring us together

By any standard, Jack Feldman, a Holocaust survivor who died on Dec. 20 at age 95, had a life harder than most.

But as much as Feldman, who would have been 96 on New Years Day, was tested by unspeakable cruelty and loss, he lived a life marked by extraordinary kindness.

He was not someone who was angry, says his granddaughter Stacey Saiontz, who grew up in Pittsford. He was just a happy person who gave to others.

For his perseverance and his generosity, lets add Jack Feldmans name to the list of Remarkable Rochesterians that weve been compiling for years, though, it may be that remarkable is an inadequate adjective to describe his life.

As a Jewish teenager in Poland, Feldman and his family members were taken from their home into a ghetto. In the 1940s, the Nazis grabbed him off the streets and sent him to a series of labor and death camps, the last being Auschwitz. From there, in 1945, he and hundreds of others were sent on a death march that lasted more than three months before they were liberated by Russian troops.

Feldman would go on to marry another death-camp survivor, settle in Rochester and raise a family.

Jack Feldman

He opened a fish market on Joseph Avenue in the mid-fifties. He knew what hunger was like and was well-known for giving food to those in need. Its likely that, because of this, his market was spared during the 1964 riots.

In 2007, when he was 81, Feldman was shot during a robbery at his store. If they would have known who Jack is, they would never, ever done that, Eddie Felder, a long-time employee of the market, told the Democrat and Chronicle. Jack fed everyone.

As the newspaper story predicted, Feldman came back to the store after he recovered, working there for many years.

When she was young, Saiontz, who now lives in Chappaqua, Westchester County, would talk to her grandfather about the story behind the number (A-17606) tattooed on his arm, the identifier he was given by the Nazis after he was taken prisoner.

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Jack Feldman with his great-grandsons Jared (left) and Elliott Saiontz (right). It was taken at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in 2018 on the day of the premiere of "The Number on Great Grandpas Arm."

In 2016, her son Elliott, then 10, would ask some of the same questions in the extraordinary HBO documentary, The Number on Great-Grandpas Arm.

In the film, which was released in 2018, Elliott and his great-grandfather look at pictures taken before the war, pictures of Feldmans family life, of peace, of all that was lost when the Nazis arrived.

Prompted by Elliott, Jack Feldman, who was the only member of his immediate family to survive the Holocaust, talks about life in the death camps, about nearly starving, about the long march, about rescue.

The conversation is tender, a young boy learning the harsh facts of a time when his great-grandfather was young as well.

Jack Feldman and his wife, Sally, who died before him, had three children, seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Diagnosed with cancer last year, he was living at the Summit at Brighton when he died peacefully after a last meal of fish, the food he knew so well. Thus ended a good life.

His story has changed a lot of people, the way they think, the way they act, Elliott says at the end of the film. You need to know it, to understand, to stop it from happening in future generations.  Hes a hero to most people for how he survived and stuff. I know hes my familys hero.

Remarkable Rochesterians

As was mentioned, lets add the name of this resilient and kindly man to the list of Remarkable Rochesterians found at https://data.democratandchronicle.com/remarkable-rochesterians/:

Jack Feldman (1926-2021): A Holocaust survivor who went on to settle in Rochester, he ran a fish market for years and gave back to the community in many ways. Born in Skarzysko-Kamiena, Poland, he grew up in Sosnowiec, Poland. After the Nazis invaded, he, and his family, were forced to live in a ghetto. In the 1940s, he was taken to a series of concentration camps ending in Auschwitz-Birkenau. In January 1945, he and other prisoners were forced on a death march from Poland to Germany. Many died before they were liberated by the Russians in May 1945.

From his home in Geneseo, Livingston County, retired senior editor Jim Memmott, writes Remarkable Rochester, who we were, who we are. He can be reached at jmemmott@gannett.com or write Box 274, Geneseo, NY 14454

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Remarkable Rochesterians: Jack Feldman endured Holocaust, owned market
WARWICK  State police have arrested a suspect in a crash that killed an East Greenwich teenager early Saturday morning on Route 95 in Warwick.

Aramis Segura, 30, of Charlestown, was located at his house and taken to state police headquarters, where he was arraigned on charges of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, driving to endanger resulting in death, obstruction of justice, and operating on a suspended license.

More: 17-year-old driver dies when car struck by speeding sedan shortly after New Year

Bail was set at $10,000 with surety, but he is being held at the Adult Correctional Institutions, as a probation violator on a previous charge in Superior Court of breaking and entering.

On Sunday in a letter to the school community, East Greenwich Supt. Alexis Meyer identified the victim as Olivia Passaretti, a junior at East Greenwich High School.

"We are shocked and devastated by the news of her untimely passing," Meyer wrote. "Our hearts are heavy with this loss to our East Greenwich community."

Grief counseling was available at the high school on Sunday and will continue to be available in the days to come, she wrote.

Students found their way to the cafeteria on Sunday, and they were able to talk individually or in groups with a variety of professionals who were there for them.

Our condolences go out to the loved ones of the victim for their loss, said Col. James M. Manni, superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police and director of the Department of Public Safety. The investigating troopers worked very hard to quickly apprehend the suspect and we are working with the Attorney Generals office to ensure that justice is served.

Olivia was the youngest of three whose father died in 2015. The oldest, Jacqueline, wrote a tribute to her on Facebook:

"You were the brightest most amazing soul this world had ever met. Over this past year, I watched you become the healthiest happiest version of yourself. It made me happy seeing how happy you were. You had just gotten your first job at Dicks, you had finally found and experienced true love, and you were FINALLY happy. Your smile lit up every room you walked into and I loved hearing you walk into my house to just play video games or watch a movie. Im so heartbroken buddy, you were such an old soul. I used to tell you all the time how even though I was your big sister, I looked up to you. I admired your way with words and the way you truly cared about everyone you encountered. This should not be happening. My baby sister. You were only 17. I couldnt wait to watch you play another softball season. I couldnt wait to help coach you again. Ill miss our late night drives to Walmart and everything in between. My little buddy, I will always love you and there will not be a day that goes by that I dont miss you. This should NOT have happened to you. The night before New Years Eve, I drove to moms after work to see you and we had such a nice heart to heart. I will cherish that. I just wish it was longer. My last words to you as you left my house last night were 'I love you, text me when you get home' that text never came. I wish it was me kiddo. You deserved all the beauty this life had to offer you. Thank you for being such a light to this world."

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On Jan. 1, at about 1 a.m., state police responded to a two-car crash on Route 95 south in Warwick near Route 117. An investigation found that a Mercedes was traveling at high speed when it drifted from the leftmost lane into the second lane. clipping the rear of a Nissan in the second lane and sending it into a spin. The spin ended at the bottom of an embankment, where the Nissan struck a tree and flipped.

The driver of the Nissan, later identified by East Greenwich schools as Passaretti, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said the operator of the Mercedes, which came to a stop on the right shoulder, ran away.

Linda Borg covers education for The Journal.

With reports from Donita Naylor, staff writer.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Charlestown, RI, man arrested in fatal New Year's crassh in Warwick
Adam Cohen

When I pulled up at the airport on Christmas Eve, I spotted my older son standing on the curb. Will slung his backpack over his shoulder and began walking toward my car.

I pointed to the mask I was wearing.

He scowled. And then he pulled out a mask and put it on.

I expected to catch some flak when he and his brother (now also masked) climbed into the car. I pointed to a pair of COVID-19 antigen tests Id brought along. Id like you to take these, I said.

My sons, ages 20 and 22, had just returned from a short vacation in Miami, Florida, where theyd shared a hotel room for several days. With the omicron variant driving a big surge in cases, I figured we should go ahead and test, especially before hosting a holiday gathering the next day.

I left them at their mothers (unoccupied) house, where they wanted to get some things together before coming over for the holiday weekend. As I cooked and my girlfriend wrapped presents, Marys phone rang.

Um, Theos test shows two lines, Will said.

Womp womp.

I guess it wasnt as if I should have been surprised. Id asked my sons to test for a reason. Seven-day averages for new infections had doubled in the previous month. Wed also seen a bump in cases and exposures among staff members at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.

Yet it hadnt really dawned on me that one or both kids would be positive. Id just figured infections were something that happened to other peoples families. You know, the ones who werent vaccinated and boosted.

We packed up dinners and brought them over to my sons. Theo sat at the top of the stairs. We all wore masks. He felt pretty much fine, he said. Just a minor sore throat, some congestion and muscle aches that, until a few minutes before, hed attributed to working out for the first time in a couple of weeks.

Mary and I returned to my quiet house. The two of us ate dinner at a table set for four. Last year, wed watched a Christmas movie with my sons. This year, we felt too deflated for Miracle on 34th Street or the like. We cleaned up the dishes, finished wrapping and went to bed.

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Christmas morning brought unseasonably warm temperatures and, with them, a new plan: an outdoor holiday. That afternoon, my sons, their mom, her boyfriend, Mary and I opened presents on my porch.

Theo sat removed from everyone else. A fan spun overhead. People took different, and not always logical, approaches to masking: At one point, I found myself donning a KN95 to enter my empty house.

Happily, neither Will (who isolated with  but carefully circumnavigated around  his brother for the better part of a week) nor any other porch Christmas attendee subsequently tested positive or showed symptoms. Everyone enjoyed themselves. And when were taking stock of holidays years from now, this one wont blur with others.

In the week that followed, Theos condition never worsened. I had the flu when I was little, and I remember crying all day, he told us one morning when we delivered a bagel and coffee to his quarantine quarters. This doesnt compare. Once his cold-like symptoms disappeared, he got a PCR test. It was negative, and hes headed back to college today.

So, what might this mean for omicron and our future with COVID-19?

I hope it represents one tiny, decidedly non-scientific signal that 2022 will outshine 2021. Im not sure thats saying much, though. Because this past year hasnt exactly been a walk in the park.

As Dave Barry wrote in his Year in Review, we can say that 2021 was marginally better than 2020. However, he quipped, this is not high praise. Its like saying that somebody is marginally nicer than Hitler.

Adam Cohen is senior vice president & general counsel and interim president of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. He can be reached at contact@omrf.org.

As 2021 turns to 2022, what does the future hold in regard to COVID-19?

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Cohen: Will COVID-19 conditions decrease in 2022?
More people in Hong Kong are buying insurance coverage from a younger age, as the Covid-19 pandemic and wider access to online financial products and services help push sales of new policies in the city.

The average age for Hongkongers buying annuity products, a type of pension plan sold by insurers, dropped to 40 as of December from 47 in 2019, according to data published by the Insurance Authority. Hong Kong issued first of five online insurance licences in December 2019.

"It is an encouraging sign," said Carol Hui, executive director of long-term business at the Insurance Authority. "We will continue to spur more younger people to buy products that offer protection for their families and their own retirement needs."

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

People crossing the street at Central, Hong Kong on December 5. 2021. Photo: Felix Wong alt=People crossing the street at Central, Hong Kong on December 5. 2021. Photo: Felix Wong>

The industry has embraced advanced technologies to help boost coverage, with five virtual insurers competing with traditional giants in reaching out to more Hongkongers through the internet, as customers became more tech-savvy during the pandemic.

Hong Kong faces a mortality protection gap of HK$6.9 trillion (US$884.6 billion) or HK$1.9 million per person, exposing many families to financial troubles in the event of the death of the breadwinner, the Insurance Authority said in a study published in September.

For its part, the Insurance Authority has loosened a rule to help grease sales during the pandemic. Since February 2020, agents from traditional insurers have not been required to strictly conduct their sales through face-to-face meetings, given the social distancing rules and efforts to contain the virus.

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alt=>

"The pandemic has helped encourage more people to buy insurance products online," said Charles Hung, CEO of Blue, one of the five approved online insurers. "This is likely to be the long-term trend even after the outbreak is over."

Hung said online insurance companies have invested in technology to introduce more innovative products and speed up claim processes in the industry, while also helping customers trim costs.

At Bowtie Insurance, about 40 per cent of medical insurance policyholders are below 30 years old, said Fred Ngan Yiu-fai, the online insurer's co-founder and co-CEO.

"More than half of our customers are first-time insurance buyers, which means Bowtie successfully appeals to an underserved market of millennials," he said.

Purchases by younger customers contributed to a 24 per cent year-on-year growth in the sale of new life insurance policies amounting to HK$122.5 billion in the first nine months of 2021, according to industry data.

Edward Moncreiffe, chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Insurers. Photo: Xiaomei Chen alt=Edward Moncreiffe, chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Insurers. Photo: Xiaomei Chen>

They partly compensated for the massive loss of business from mainland Chinese customers due to the border shutdown. They bought only HK$470 million of new policies during the January-to-September period, a 93 per cent slump from the same period in 2020. Their share was only 0.4 per cent versus 40 per cent at the peak in 2016.

Younger customers are also buying more policies at Prudential Hong Kong, its CEO Derek Yung said. The pandemic, as well as government support, has given sales an impetus and the trend is likely to continue, he added.

Edward Moncreiffe, chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Insurers, an industry body representing 138 local insurers, was cautiously optimistic about the outlook for 2022, as people become more aware that their long-term savings are insufficient to tide over any major emergency.

"With the expected opening up of the border with the Greater Bay Area, we are expecting to see the revival of some lines of business," he said. "We still see growing demand from Hongkongers to close their protection gaps."

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright  2022 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2022. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
CHATHAM, NJ  With a number of staff members having tested positive for COVID over the holiday break, Superintendent Dr. Michael LaSusa says the school districts plan to return to classes on its first day back, Monday, will be delayed by two hours.

In a letter to families on New Years Day, LaSusa said that all of the districts schools will be delayed by two hours on Jan. 3, with pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classes cancelled for the day, as staff works through the positive cases that have cropped up during the break.

We have had a number of staff members test positive for COVID over the holiday break and this will affect staffing and instruction this week, LaSusa wrote.

As the district begins to map out a plan with the new positive COVID cases, he said, transportation and food services could also potentially change, alerting parents to please be prepared for disruptions in these areas.

We hope the delayed opening on Monday will also help in this regard for the first day of this week, LaSusa added.

Before the holiday break, the School District of the Chathams began live-streaming classes on Google Meet because of the rise in COVID cases, something the district plans to continue for students who are ill or for parents who do not feel comfortable sending them to school, said LaSusa.

Other adjustments to the district's regular format:

Open Campus at lunch will be allowed at the High School, with parent permission, to enable students to pick up younger siblings or head home during lunch, so there are fewer students in the lunchrooms.

Parents will have the option to sign out K-8 students during lunch in the coming days, which will also allow for more space in cafeterias.

The schools plan to space students further apart at lunchtime and eat outdoors when temperatures are warm enough.

LaSusa provided new information in the letter about CDC updates for isolation and quarantining, that happened during the holiday break. He said New Jerseys Departments of Health and Education havent incorporated the guidelines into school-specific guidance" yet, with school districts told to use isolation and quarantine rules already in place. However, New Jersey Department of Health recommends new measures, which the school district will introduce in the coming week, LaSusa said.

The school district is considering a pilot test-to-stay model program, that aims to reduce quarantine when students are exposed to COVID-positive close contacts.

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Read LaSusas full letter here.

Questions or comments about this story? Have a local news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.

This article originally appeared on the Chatham Patch
The Pottawatomie County Election Board is now located at 330 N Broadway Ave.

Voters in Pottawatomie County who want absentee ballots mailed to them for the Feb. 8 Board of Education primaries being held for Prague and Konawa Schools or the special election in the Town of Bethel should apply now, County Election Board Secretary Patricia Carter said.

Absentee ballots are available to any registered voter, provided they are eligible to vote in the election requested. No excuse is needed to vote by absentee ballot.

The deadline for requesting an absentee ballot is 5 p.m. Monday, January 24. Voters can submit a request using the OK Voter Portal at oklahoma.gov/elections/ovp. Request forms are also available at oklahoma.gov/elections and at the County Election Board office located at 330 North Broadway, Shawnee.

With some exceptions, all absentee ballots must be notarized before being returned. Voters should give themselves plenty of time to make sure all steps have been followed and that the ballot is returned correctly in order to be counted, Carter said.

Voters exempt from having an absentee ballot affidavit notarized include those who are physically incapacitated and those who care for physically incapacitated individuals that cannot be left alone. Those voters must have their absentee ballot affidavit witnessed by two people.

Military personnel and residents living overseas, along with their spouses and dependents are also eligible for certain allowances. Military personnel should contact Voting Service Officers in their units for absentee application forms. Residents living overseas may obtain absentee voting applications from any United States military installation or United States Embassy or Consulate. Military personnel and overseas citizens who are already registered voters in Oklahoma may apply for absentee ballots using the OK Voter Portal at oklahoma.gov/elections/ovp. Those who need to complete a new Voter Registration Application should apply through the Federal Voting Assistance Program at FVAP.gov.

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All completed absentee ballots must be in the hands of the County Election Board no later than 7 p.m. on Election Day.

For questions, please contact the Election Board at (405) 273-8376 or pottawatomiecounty@elections.ok.gov.

This article originally appeared on The Shawnee News-Star: Deadline to request absentee ballots approaches for February school elections
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona speaks with reporters at the White House





U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Sunday signaled his resolve to maintain in-person learning amid the most recent surge in COVID-19 cases due to the omicron variant, but acknowledged there will likely be some "bumps in the road."

"We've been very clear, our expectation is for schools to be open full time for students for in-person learning. We remember the impact of school closures on students last year, and our science is better, we have better tools, we have $10 billion in the American Rescue Plan for surveillance testing," Cardona said while appearing on "Fox News Sunday."

"We recognize that there may be some bumps in the road," Cardona added, noting that many superintendents across the U.S. are reporting that 5 to 10 percent of their staff may not be available due to the rise in COVID-19 cases.

Many students are expected to return to school this week after going on break for the holidays. Parents and officials have expressed concerns about sending kids back to classrooms as the highly transmissible omicron variants surges.

Cardona stressed that keeping schools open amidst the most recent surge would be the preferred plan of the Department of Education, saying it would be the department's "plan B and plan C" going forward.

While the Education secretary praised teachers' ability to "turn on a dime" when they moved to remote learning, he stated that hybrid learning had a "very real" impact on parents.

Fox News Channel's chief breaking news correspondent, Trace Gallagher, also asked Cardona for his thoughts on school districts issuing vaccine mandates.

"I've always said vaccination decisions need to be made at the local level and at the state level. But we know over the last year and a half in those places where vaccination numbers are high, there's less disruption. There are less students in the hospital," said Cardona.
Welcome to 2022! While most people are happy to see a new year, it is hard to say Happy New Year. The vestiges of a horrific 2021 have been dragged into a year that from all appearances will change only in the last two digits of the year, 22.

If you began your new year with no New Years resolutions, you indeed did the right thing. Resolutions, as they now are called, are asserted to have begun more than 4,000 yours ago in Babylon, by the Babylonian people. They made promises to the gods in hopes of earning good favor in the coming year.

The Babylonians often resolved to get out of debt. The concept had origins in religion that really involved praying to the gods to do better for good crops. The society was agricultural, so good crops meant everything. The phrase New Years resolution was first used, allegedly, in a Boston newspaper in 1813.

Research indicates that when resolutions are made, they generally are promises to do something differently in the new year. With these resolutions, the findings show that only 8% succeed and 80% fail by February.

I think the people of Alabama need one community-wide resolution; to stop electing people at every level, local, state and national, who do nothing to uplift the people in Alabama or the conditions in this state; who serve the resolute purpose of making Alabama the most undesirable state in the union; and who use politics for their personal aggrandizement while turning a blind eye to the pitiful conditions of the people and the state at large.

A footnote to that resolution should be to stop electing people who blindly follow the party line that is designed to deprive people of their right to vote and draw district maps that eliminate districts where minorities have a chance for elective office.

The New York Times had a quote of the day by Norman T. Ornstein, a political scientist and an emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank. He said, We dont have two parties anymore. We have a party and a cult, and in a cult, the fear of being excommunicated or shunned is overwhelming.

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Illustrations of his concern run rampant in the state of Alabama. Close to home, there is a congressional representative who chose to join a Roman state senator in the quest to stop a pet ingredient plant from locating on property owned by the Gadsden Airport Authority. This drum major ran to the front of a parade already marching, to intercede in the controversy.

Need I say nobody that I know of can think of anything that he has done to improve the quality of life in Gadsden, or the area that he is from. As Gadsden became a publicity target, he now expresses pride in his role in depriving a great many people, many on the borderline of poverty, of decent, livable wages.

The Roman state senator, a resident of Centre, has taken a spot front and center in Gadsden matters that did not need his inexperienced, lack of knowledge on governmental matters involvement. Those who are charged with examining or studying economic development for Gadsden and Etowah County have far more of the experience, education and background needed to make thoughtful decisions that have an impact on all local residents.

If the Roman senator is so concerned about smell and property devaluation, did he smell Lowndes Countys sewage problem? Lowndes County is between Montgomery and Selma. 60 Minutes filmed the issue and warned that it was difficult to watch. Since the senator delves in cities issues other than Centre, why didnt he use his persuasive skills to work with his cohorts to do something before the federal government had to step in? A Department of Justice investigation is underway.

The senatorial forum is in Montgomery, so those in the Senate had to know about the problem. It is not only Lowndes County, there are other primarily rural and poor parts of Alabama where sewage treatment is not provided, and the poverty rates are double the national average.

The jobless, nearly homeless people in these areas cannot afford a septic tank to prevent this public health hazard. Maybe a job at a pet ingredient plant could help them help themselves. This might prevent a response that was given on 60 Minutes of They should put up outhouses. The incredulous and disgusted look on the interviewers face was palpable as he responded, Do you know that this is 2021?

The governor and the Department of Public Health declined to speak on this Alabamas Dirty Secret segment.

Alabama nor any of its cities will have to worry about a pet ingredient plant, or any other kind of industry coming to its environs, as long as we witness an educational system that produces the narrow and closed minds that we see on a daily basis.

Elaine Harris Spearman, Esq., a Gadsden native, is the retired legal advisor to the comptroller of the City of St. Louis. The opinions reflected are her own.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Alabamians need one New Year's resolution
LONDON (Reuters) - Children in secondary schools in England will be told to wear face coverings when they return after the Christmas holiday next week to tackle a surge in cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said on Sunday.

"We want to maximise the number of children in school and college for the maximum amount of time," he said in an article in the Sunday Telegraph.

"One of the additional, temporary measures that will help achieve this in light of the omicron surge is recommending face coverings are worn in secondary school classrooms and teaching spaces for the coming weeks  although not for longer than they are needed."

England was the only one of the four UK nations where face coverings were not previously recommended in the classroom.

With daily infection numbers at record highs and people who test positive required to isolate for at least seven days, schools and other public services are facing disruption from staff shortages.

The government has asked public sector managers to prepare for a worst-case scenario of 25% of staff absent in the weeks ahead.

Zahawi said some remote learning would be necessary given the number of pupils and teachers who would have to self-isolate.

But he added that face-to-face teaching would continue to be the expected norm and exams would go ahead as planned this month.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle, Editing by Louise Heavens)
BRUSSELS (AP)  Draft European Union plans that would allow nuclear and gas energy to remain part of the bloc's path to a climate-friendly future came under immediate criticism over the weekend from both environmentalists and some governing political parties in EU member nations.

In draft conclusions seen by The Associated Press, the EU's executive commission proposes a classification system for defining what counts as an investment in sustainable energy. Under certain conditions, it would allow gas and nuclear energy to be part of the mix.

The plans would have a huge impact on nuclear-fired economies like France and on Germany's gas-fueled power plants since they might have had to fundamentally change their strategies.

Energy use accounts for about three-quarters the greenhouse gas emissions produced in the EU and is thus instrumental to the 27-nation bloc's efforts to meet its commitments for curbing global warming.

The plans still need the backing of a large majority of the 27 member states and a simple majority in the European Parliament. But the initial thrust from the EU Commission is a key element of the procedure for passage.

"Classifying investments in gas and nuclear power as sustainable contradicts the Green Deal," the EU's initiative that is intended to make the bloc climate-neutral by 2050, said Ska Keller, the president of the Green group in the European Parliament.

France has asked for nuclear power to be included in the so-called taxonomy by the end of the year, leading the charge with several other EU countries that operate nuclear power plants and want to make it eligible for green financing.

French Minister for European Affairs Clement Beaune said the proposal is good on a technical level and insisted on Sunday that the bloc "cannot become carbon neutral by 2050 without nuclear energy.

Germany, the EU's biggest economy, is heading the other way, Germany shut down half of the six nuclear plants it still had in operation on Friday, a year before the country draws the final curtain on its decades-long use of atomic power.

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Gas is a polluting fossil fuel, but it is still considered a bridge technology by the EU to reach a cleaner energy future.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck criticized the plan to classify investments in gas and nuclear power plants as climate-friendly.

The EU Commissions proposals water down the good label for sustainability, Habeck, who represents the Germany's environmentalist Greens in the country's coalition government, told German news agency dpa. We dont see how to approve the new proposals of the EU Commission, he said.

In any case, it is questionable whether this greenwashing will even find acceptance on the financial market, Habeck stressed, referring to the practice of painting investments as sustainable when they actually are not.

In Austria, Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler from the Greens also sharply rejected the proposed regulation, saying "the EU Commission took a step towards greenwashing nuclear power and fossil gas in a night and fog action.

"They are harmful to the climate and the environment and destroy the future of our children, Gewessler said.

The environmental NGO Greenpeace called the Commission draft proposals a licence to greenwash.

"Polluting companies will be delighted to have the EUs seal of approval to attract cash and keep wrecking the planet by burning fossil gas and producing radioactive waste, said Greenpeace's Magda Stoczkiewicz.

Especially nuclear power remains extremely controversial in Europe, where many are still vividly remember the fear following the 1986 nuclear accident in Chernobyl, Ukraine. In Germany, children werent allowed to play outside anymore for months, couldnt go mushroom hunting for years and the farmers had to destroy their entire harvest the year it happened.

On the other hand, nuclear plants release few pollutants into the air, which have made them an option as nations around the world seek clean energy to meet climate change targets.

Climate activists also say that relying on nuclear power risks slowing the rollout of renewable energy sources.

___

Grieshaber reported from Berlin. Barbara Surk contributed from Nice, France.
Three Louisville hospitals welcomed the first babies of the new year on Saturday.

Archie Loveland was born first at Norton Womens & Childrens Hospital at 12:03 a.m. on Jan. 1 to Karissa and Austin Loveland. He weighs eight pounds and 11.5 ounces and is 20.5 inches long.

Archie's mother, Karissa, was admitted to the hospital and due Dec. 31, but "he just wanted to wait in there a little bit longer," she said. "So he was expected, but he was just a few minutes late."

Kentucky weather: State of emergency issued in Kentucky as rain, cold temperatures bring possible tornadoes

"I was stoked," father Austin said of the New Year's Day birth. "I wanted that title ... our baby's going to be firstborn in Louisville."

Archie is the Louisville couple's first child. Of all the names they went back and forth on, Archie is the only one that stuck.

"I'm excited just to start motherhood because I've always wanted to be a mom," Karissa said in a video interview Saturday.

Karissa and Austin Loveland welcomed baby Archie Saturday at Norton Hospital in Louisville.

Now that Archie is here, Austin, who is in his second year of dental school, said he's excited about his next big step  a new hairdo.

"I've kind of been waiting for the baby to come to cut my mullet, finally," he said. "I've had it for a little over a year now. It's just been getting too long. I want to cut it. I kind of just wanted a picture with baby and the mullet, so now I can get it cut without pics."

"He'll be a new man," Karissa said.

Just over an hour after Archie's arrival, Payson Grace Cecil was born at Baptist Health Louisville at 1:05 a.m. on New Year's Day, weighing in at 7 pounds, 7 ounces.

Payson Grace Cecil was born at Baptist Health Louisville at 1:05 a.m. on Jan.1, 2022, weighing in at 7 pounds, 7 ounces.

Parents, Josh and Jessica (and big sister, Piper) were excited to welcome their newest family member into the world.

Paysons name was chosen by her father based on a television show that he enjoyed watching called "Make It or Break It," Jessica Cecil told Baptist. The name of one character on the show was Payson and it remained in his mind for naming their second daughter.

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One in 3,000: How this Louisville woman fought and survived breast cancer while pregnant

Paysons birth is not only special for her family because she is the first baby born in 2022 to Baptist Health Louisville; it was also an anniversary present for her parents. The Cecils celebrated seven years of marriage on Dec. 31, 2021.

We are so blessed," Jessica said in a news release. We just cant wait to get Payson home and introduce her to her sister.

University of Louisville Hospital Center for Women & Infants welcomed its first baby of 2022 at 8:36 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2022. Sophie weighed in at six pounds, 8 ounces, and is 20 inches long. Her parents are Elizabeth and Garett Ross.

Finally, Sophie Ross was born at the University of Louisville Hospital at 8:36 a.m. on Jan. 1 to Elizabeth and Garett Ross. She weighs six pounds and eight ounces and is 20 inches long.

Contact Ayana Archie at aarchie@courier-journal.com or follow on Twitter @AyanaArchie. Support strong local journalism by subscribing to The Courier Journal.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville hospitals welcome 2022 New Year's babies
DENNISON  The State Fire Marshal will help the fire department investigate a fire that caused extensive heat and smoke damage to a downtown building Saturday night, according to Fire Chief David McConnell.

He said firefighters were initially unsure of the location of the fire when they responded to a call at 10:05 p.m. about heavy black smoke throughout downtown.

McConnell said firefighters found the fire in "a couple minutes" at the Cotton Club, 208 Grant St. He said they extinguished it within 10 to 15 minutes of arrival. They remained at the scene until almost 1 a.m. Sunday to put out hot spots and clear smoke from the building.

The cause of the fire and value of the damage were undetermined on Sunday afternoon. The State Fire Marshal was expected arrive Monday.

The building, now operated as a private club, previously housed the union for clay and brick workers, McConnell said.

Dennison firefighters were assisted by others from Uhrichsville, the Arrowhead Joint Fire District, New Philadelphia and Rush and Warwick Townships. Smith Ambulance of Dover and Dennison and Uhrichsville police also responded.

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Saturday fire damages Cotton Club in downtown Dennison
Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia De Lille described it as "a sad day for our democracy".

She added that the fire was currently burning in the National Assembly chamber, but had been contained in other parts.

There were no reports of any injuries in the fire, according to De Lille.

The cause of the blaze was not yet known.

Jean-Pierre Smith, a Cape Town mayoral committee member responsible for safety and security, said it appeared the fire detection system appeared not to have worked properly.
A fire broke out at the South African parliament in Cape Town on Sunday (January 2), causing extensive damage to the complex.

Firefighters tackled the blaze for several hours.

By mid-morning, the smoke had started to subside.

The disaster came a day after late Archbishop Desmond Tutu's state funeral at St. George's Cathedral - a stone's throw away from where the fire happened.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said the work of the parliament would carry on.

"Yesterday was a day crowned with celebration, a day crowned with sending off our beloved Archbishop and to wake up the devastating news of the burning down of the National Assembly, of parliament, is just really a terrible set-back to what we were basking in yesterday. Our Arch would have been devastated as well."

He also said he believed one person was being questioned in relation to the fire.

No injuries have been reported, according to a government minister.

The cause of the blaze was not immediately known.

The parliamentary complex, some of which dates back to 1884, consists of a cluster of buildings.

According to Jean-Pierre Smith, a Cape Town mayoral committee member, the roof of the old building had collapsed and the fire had gutted the third floor of the building.

He added that the parliament's fire alarm only rang when firefighters were already on site.
Monroe County Sheriff's Office

Four suspects have been arrested in connection with an armed robbery and stabbing that occurred on Christmas morning in the Frenchtown Villa Mobile Home Community.

The incident began at approximately 5:35 a.m. on December 25, according to a press release from the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies responded to the area of Mimi St. and Paree St., in the mobile home park, regarding an armed robbery. Upon arrival, deputies located the victim, a 37-year-old male from Lincoln Park, who reported being robbed of cash and was bleeding from two stab wounds.

The initial investigation revealed the victim was walking along N. Monroe St, near Walnut St. attempting to solicit a ride from strangers. The victim accepted a ride from three subjects and was driven to the Frenchtown Villa Mobile Home Park. While stopped on Paree St, a male passenger in the rear of the vehicle reportedly produced a knife and demanded the victims wallet. A struggle ensued, at which time the victim was stabbed twice by the suspect who then stole his wallet containing an undisclosed amount of cash.

The victim was forcefully removed from the vehicle, at which time the vehicle fled leaving the victim in the street. The victim was transported by Monroe Community Ambulance to Beaumont Trenton Hospital, where he was admitted, treated for injuries and later released.

Detectives from the Monroe County Sheriffs Office actively investigated this incident. In the days following, they identified the vehicle and three suspects believed to be involved in the incident. Two of the suspects were arrested without incident on December 28, while the third suspect remained at large. As a result of the investigation, an arrest warrant was obtained for the third suspect.

On December 29, detectives were conducting surveillance and requested the Monroe City Police Department (MPD) assist with conducting a traffic stop on a vehicle believed to be associated with the original investigation. The vehicle reportedly refused to stop for the MPD officers, at which time a pursuit began. The vehicle pursuit traveled through several streets within the City of Monroe and into Frenchtown Charter Township. The suspect vehicle lost control and crashed near the intersection of Hurd Rd. and Yax Rd. Two male subjects reportedly fled the vehicle on foot, at which time sheriff's deputies, Monroe City Police Officers and Michigan State Police Troopers gave chase on foot.

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Within minutes, both subjects were apprehended. One of the subjects was identified as the third suspect who was wanted in connection with the robbery/stabbing on December 25 in Frenchtown. The second subject was identified as the driver of the vehicle that attempted to elude police during the pursuit. Both subjects were arrested and lodged at the Monroe County Jail, pending formal charges.

Gee

Griffin

On December 29, 2021, 36-year-old Erica Gee was arraigned in 1st District Court on charges of Armed Robbery and Violation of Controlled Substance, with a total bond of $520,000. That same day, 36-year-old William Griffin was arraigned in 1st District Court on a charge of Armed Robbery, with a $500,000 bond.

Thomas

Tackett

On December 30, 33-year-old Errol Thomas was arraigned in 1st District Court on charges of Armed Robbery and Conspiracy to Commit Armed Robbery, with a total bond of $500,000. That same day, 25-year-old Ezra Tackett was arraigned in 1st District Court on charges of Fleeing and Eluding, 3rd degree, and Resisting and Opposing a Police Officer, with a total bond of $100,000.

As with all criminal proceedings, defendants are considered innocent until proven guilty.

The case remains under investigation by Detectives Michael Swiercz and Joshua Motylinski of the Monroe County Sheriffs Office Detective Bureau along with Deputies Austin Harvey and Christine Ost of the Uniformed Service Division. Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff's Office - Detective Bureau at 734-240-7530.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Four arrested in connection with Christmas Day armed robbery
PARIS (Reuters) - French Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Sunday the isolation period for fully vaccinated people who test positive for COVID-19 would be cut to seven days from 10 days.

French authorities followed other countries such as the United States, which this week cut the isolation period to prevent disruptions in industries for lack of staff.

"This isolation could be lifted after five days in case of a negative test. Those who are not vaccinated will have to self-isolate for 10 days, with a possibility to come out of isolation after seven days under the same terms", Veran told newspaper le Journal du Dimanche published on Sunday.

He also said the new COVID-19 Omicron variant was too contagious to be stopped unless a "strict lockdown" was re-imposed.

In his New Year's Eve address, French President Emmanuel Macron said the next few weeks would be difficult but he stopped short of imposing new restrictive measures to contain the virus.

"We will remain vigilant throughout January", Veran said, adding the current Omicron-fuelled spread could be the last one.

France became the sixth country in the world to report more than 10 million COVID-19 infections since the outbreak of the pandemic, according to official data published on Saturday.

French health authorities reported 219,126 new confirmed cases in a 24-hour period, the fourth day in a row that the country has recorded more than 200,000 cases.

(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Sandra Maler)
The following is the full transcript of an interview with Representative Liz Cheney that aired Sunday, January 2, 2022, on "Face the Nation."

MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to FACE THE NATION. We now turn to the Congressional Committee investigating Jan. 6, Republican Liz Cheney of Wyoming is the vice chair of the committee, and she joins us now from Capitol Hill. Good morning to you.

REP. LIZ CHENEY: Good morning, MARGARET. Thank you for having me.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We know Democrats are planning a vigil. We know the former president is planning a news conference. Are you concerned about the country being at risk of political violence this week and in the years ahead?

REP. CHENEY: Look, I think that if- if what he has been saying since he left office is any indication, former President Trump is likely again this week to make the same false claims about the election that he knows to be false and the same false claims about the election that he knows caused violence on Jan 6. I think that it is indeed very concerning, given what we know happened in the lead up to the sixth and what the committee is finding out about the events of that day. But I think that it- it's not surprising. But again, he knows these claims caused violence and we've seen now people who were in the Capitol, people who've been arrested because of their activities on that day, they themselves have told us in court filings, they've told us on social media, we've seen it on videos; that they were here because Donald Trump told them to be here. And so, he's very- he's doing this press conference on the sixth. Again, if he makes those same claims, he's doing it with complete understanding and knowledge of- of what those claims have caused in the past.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You've raised in the past the possibility of criminal culpability for the president. Is that the consensus view of the committee?

REP. CHENEY: Look, the committee is obviously going to follow the facts wherever they lead. We've made tremendous progress. We have had now- if you just think about, for example, what we know now about what the former president was doing on the 6th while the attack was underway. The committee has firsthand testimony that President Trump was sitting in the dining room next to the Oval Office, watching on television as the Capitol was assaulted as the violence occurred. We know that that is clearly a supreme dereliction of duty. One of the things that the committee is looking at from the perspective of our legislative purpose is whether we need enhanced penalties for that kind of dereliction of duty. But we've certainly never seen anything like that as a nation before.

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MARGARET BRENNAN: But one of the things that we've seen in CBS polling is that there is just a hard percentage of the population that believes what the former president is claiming. Eight million people believe in violence to restore him to office. Seven out of 10 Republicans still believe President Biden's illegitimate 66% believe there was widespread voter fraud. So, these numbers are pretty hard here. Why hasn't this conviction abated within your party?

REP. CHENEY. Look, I think that- that we are in a situation where people have got to understand the danger of President Trump and the danger that he posed on that day. You know, if you think MARGARET, he- he could have simply walked a few feet to the White House briefing room, he could have gone immediately on live television and asked his supporters to stop what was happening, ask them to go home. He failed to do that. He- he instead, we know, had the motivation, at the same time, the violent assault was happening, he's watching television, he's also calling at least one senator urging delay of the electoral vote. So, this is a man who has demonstrated that he is at war with the rule of law. He's demonstrated that he's willing to blow through every guardrail of democracy, and he can never be anywhere near the Oval Office again. He's demonstrated a complete lack of fitness for office. I think one of the really important things that our committee has to do is lay these facts out for the American people so that they really have a sense of the truth of what happened that day.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.

REP. CHENEY: --And so that they inform us in terms of our legislative activity going forward.

MARGARET BRENNAN: That assumes facts can actually persuade. What happens with this committee if Republicans take the majority in 2022? Have you asked Kevin McCarthy to keep it?

REP. CHENEY: Look, Leader McCarthy has said a variety of things. He has both acted to obstruct the operations of the committee, but he's also, on a couple of occasions, said that he's willing to come talk to the committee. I think that the- the American people again and particularly the Republican Party, you know, we as Republicans, have a choice to make. I am a conservative Republican. I believe strongly in the policies of low taxes and limited government and a strong national defense. I think the country needs a strong Republican Party going forward, but our party has to choose. We can either be loyal to Donald Trump or we can be loyal to the Constitution, but we cannot be both. And right now, there are far too many Republicans who are trying to enable the former president, embrace the former president. Look the other way and hope that the former president goes away, trying to obstruct the activities of this committee. But we won't be deterred. At the end of the day, the facts matter, and the truth matters.

MARGARET BRENNAN: It goes beyond the former president, in a number of state capitals around the country in 19 different states, election laws are being changed and in some there is concern that Republican controlled legislatures could be able to change certification of an election if they don't like the outcome of it. This is undermining confidence among some in the public about the integrity of our elections. Would you ask your fellow Republicans in states around the country to stop trying to do that?

REP. CHENEY: Absolutely. I think that again, you know, as a nation, we've got to be founded on the rule of law. We've got to be founded on fidelity to the Constitution. And when you look at what former President Trump continues to do to this day in terms of trying to undermine our belief in our democratic process, in terms of trying to undermine the rule of law, in terms of trying to find local officials who will help him do that. One of the really important lessons we learned on January 6th was how important it was that we had a few individuals who stood up. We had individuals at the Department of Justice before Jan. 6 who stood up to the president who said, absolutely not, we will not claim that this election was stolen, who told him the truth. And we had local officials in the party, the Republican Party, who did the same. And so, I think for people all across the country, they need to recognize how important their vote is, how important their voice is. They've got to elect serious people who are going to defend the Constitution, not simply do the bidding of Donald Trump.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But this is happening in 19 different states. As we mentioned there, there are efforts underway, but I want to come to the future in 2022 as we face elections, this isn't just about the presidential election, right? We have congressional races in 2022. You yourself are running out in Wyoming. We know the former president endorsed your primary opponent. He's promised to help campaign against you. You have one of his biggest donors, Peter Thiel, a billionaire throwing money behind your primary opponent. This is a direct challenge here. Given how red your state is, how do you expect to win that primary?

REP. CHENEY: Look, I am absolutely honored and privileged to be able to represent the people of Wyoming in Congress. I absolutely anticipate that we will have a very energetic and hard-fought campaign this year. But at the end of the day, I am also incredibly privileged to be able to stand up and defend the Constitution of the United States, and I'm confident that the people of Wyoming will not choose loyalty to one man. One man as dangerous as Donald Trump is, you know, imagine a man who, while the violent assault was underway, while he was watching television, watching it unfold, not telling his supporters to stop and go home instead was sending out a tweet saying that Mike Pence was a coward. This is a man who is simply too dangerous ever to play a role again in our democracy, and I look forward to the opportunity to continue to help the American people see the facts about what happened and to continue to make the case at home about the kind of representation that we need in Washington for the people of Wyoming.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Would you be willing to run against him in 2024?

REP. CHENEY: I'm very focused right now on my re-election and on the work of the select committee, and I can tell you that that the single most important thing, though, is to ensure that the Donald Trump is not the Republican nominee and that he certainly is not anywhere close to the Oval Office ever again.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Congresswoman Cheney, thank you for your time today. We'll be right back with the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee.

REP. CHENEY: Thank you, MARGARET. Good to be with you.

University of Chicago professor studying January 6 says "what we're seeing is a mainstream movement"

Schiff says House January 6 committee intends to "use every effort to get out the full facts" of what happened

Cheney says House January 6 panel "will not be deterred"
The following is the full transcript of an interview with University of Chicago Professor Robert Pape that aired Sunday, January 2, 2022, on "Face the Nation."

MARGARET BRENNAN: We want to take a closer look now at the 725 people who've been charged for their roles in the attack on the Capitol. Who are these individuals? And what can we learn from their backgrounds that can help us understand the political violence that we saw that day on January 6? Joining us now is Professor Robert Pape of the University of Chicago. Professor, I know you've studied insurgencies in war zones. You're working with the Pentagon now, I mean, you're looking at what is happening in the United States. And one of the things that was chilling to me was that you found the majority of those who attacked were not affiliated with any organized militia; they were everyday people.

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PROFESSOR ROBERT PAPE: Exactly right, MARGARET, what we're seeing is a movement that is a mainstream movement, not simply confined to fringe elements. And this is important, because we're so used to thinking of right wing extremism, or really extremism in general as part of the fringe. They're just a tiny fraction of America, less than 1%, and they come from people that are economically destitute, many often unemployed. Well, that's not what our studies of the Jan. 6,- those who broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6 show, or the studies of the insurrection of sentiment in the country.

MARGARET BRENNAN: And what you found is that some of these people were- were business owners, they were employed. These were people who had something to lose. They were putting things at risk when they went to Washington and carried out this violence.

PAPE: Absolutely. A very striking finding is their economic profile, over half of the 700 who broke into the Capitol had been arrested so far for breaking into the Capitol are business owners, CEOs from white collar occupations, doctors, lawyers, architects and accountants. Only 7% were unemployed at the time of their Jan. 6 insurrection, nearly the national average. This is very different than we're used to seeing from right wing extremists, where typically 25%, 30% of right wing violent offenders are unemployed and virtually none are CEOs or business owners. Further, if we look at their relationship to the militia groups, so only 13% of those who broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6 were members of militia groups like the Oath Keepers were extremist groups like the Proud Boys. That means not- nearly 90% were not.

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MARGARET BRENNAN: So if these people believe in what they were doing, who are they getting their information from? How could they truly put everything on the line and carry out this violence? Like who is telling them what to do?

PAPE: Well, we can see their media consumption from a-a surveys that we've done after our studies of who broke into the Capitol we find that fully 21 million people believe two radical beliefs in America today: one that Joe Biden is an illegitimate president, and two that the use of force to restore Donald Trump to the presidency is justified. And their media sources of those 21 million, they come from 42% of the 21 million their main media source is Fox News, Newsmax, One America that is mainstream conservative news. Their second most prominent news source is actually liberal and centrist media like CNN, NPR, CBS. And you might say, Well, how could that be? It's because often when people watch ideas they disagree with, that makes them angry. Only 10% of the 21 million are getting their news, mainly from right wing social media like Gab or Telegram.

MARGARET BRENNAN: President Biden has said that he believes racism was a key part of the attack on the Capitol on Jan 6. Have you seen anything that bears that out to be true?

PAPE: Race is an element and race is a driver. So when we look at the counties that the 700 who broke into the Capitol came from, where they live, what we see is over half live in counties that Joe Biden won. They don't mainly come from the reddest parts of America. They're coming from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, Houston and Dallas. Further, when we look at the key characteristic of why some counties and not others, what we see is the counties that sent the insurrectionists are the counties losing the most white population. Well, that dovetails with this right wing conspiracy theory that used to be part of the fringe called the great replacement. The idea that whites are being replaced. This idea is also that the Democratic Party is doing this deliberately. Well, that idea now is voiced by mainstream political leaders, by mainstream media figures, embraced full throttle.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So what are the triggers that you are watching, because I know you have said in the past this isn't just about violence in Washington, you could see sparks of violence in Atlanta, Georgia, in other major cities. What is the trigger?

PAPE: That's exactly right. So what we're seeing in our surveys are national surveys. Of the 21 million in the insurrectionists movement is a massive combustible material, think of it as like dry wood that can be set off from a lightning strike or a spark, as in wildfires. Well, we're moving into a highly volatile 2022 election season, where there could be many sparks at the local levels and a lot of our election laws, say Georgia or Texas, the counting of the vote has been more politicized than ever before. What that does is it creates a very dangerous season which means as we go through the 2022 election season, it's crucial to have dialogue with our political leaders, our community leaders, especially the White House, over this new empirical reality.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Professor, important work, thank you for sharing it with us.

PAPE: Thank you.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We'll be back in a moment.

University of Chicago professor studying January 6 says "what we're seeing is a mainstream movement"

Schiff says House January 6 committee intends to "use every effort to get out the full facts" of what happened

Cheney says House January 6 panel "will not be deterred"
A different person is holding the office but Stanislaus County prosecutors once again are making a plea to the governor to reverse a parole boards decision to release one of the participants of a horrendous double homicide.

Ronald Ray Anderson, 60, was one of four then-teenagers convicted of killing Phil and Kathryn Ranzo at their Modesto home in 1979.

After being denied parole nine times, the State Board of Parole found him suitable for parole in 2017 but the decision was reversed by then Governor Jerry Brown.

On Dec. 28, the Board again found Anderson suitable for parole, according to a press release from the DAs Office. If the decision is upheld after a review by another parole unit, Gov. Gavin Newsom will have 30 days to uphold, modify or reverse the decision.

On June 25, 1979, Anderson and three others, Marty Spears (aka Marty Jackson), Jeffrey Maria and Darren Lee, planned a home invasion robbery of the Ranzo home because they believed large amounts of cash were kept inside the home.

In preparation for the robbery, Anderson drove by the Ranzo home as many as five times. The four executed a plan in which Anderson stayed in the car and acted as the lookout while the others knocked on the door of the Ranzo home, pretended to be out of gas and asked to use the telephone.

The teens spoke of an intent to kill the Ranzos and Spears, Maria and Lee went to the house with weapons and rope to tie them up.

Approximately 20 minutes later, Maria and Lee returned to the car in a hurry with envelopes full of cash and jewelry. Without seeking aid for the Ranzos, Anderson drove Maria and Lee to safety and then returned to the Ranzo home to get Spears.

Anderson maintains that he never went into the Ranzo home but trial testimony indicated he saw what happened inside, according to the press release.

On June 26, 1979, the hogtied bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Ranzo were found in their home.

Phillip Ranzo was found dead on the floor of the garage. He had been beaten over the head with a blunt instrument at least six times and suffered a fatal stab wound to the neck.

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Kathryn Ranzo was found in the bathroom of the house. She had been raped, struck multiple times in the head with an ax and suffered a fatal stab wound to the throat. Multiple cuts to her eyes and face indicated she had been tortured before her death.

The house had been ransacked, with cash, jewelry and a gun missing.

The murders orphaned their 10-year-old son, who happened to have spent that night at his grandparents house.

The teens were convicted of the murders and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. But a change in the law decades later allowed offenders who were under the age of 18 at the time of their crimes to eventually be eligible for parole.

As result, family of the Ranzos have had to attend 29 parole board hearings for Anderson and his crime partners.

At the Dec. 28 hearing, Deputy District Attorney Amy Neumann urged the Board not to release Anderson for the safety of the community and given the heinous nature of his crimes. She argued that he needed additional insight into the role he played in the killings, lacked sufficient parole plans, and had lied to the Board about his involvement in the crime.

The victims surviving family told the Board they fear for their safety if Anderson is released, and spoke of the heartache they have endured.

After deliberations, the Board determined that Anderson qualified for both elderly parole and youthful offender considerations, and that he did not pose a risk to public safety.

The Boards decision to grant parole advances to the Decision Review Unit of the Board of Parole Hearings which will have 120 days to review the grant of parole. If the unit approves it, the decision will go to Newsom.
(Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc is encouraging its eligible U.S. staff to work from home until Jan. 18, a company spokesperson said, as it followed a number of its rivals in altering return-to-office plans as the Omicron variant spreads.

Goldman's offices will continue to remain open with previously announced COVID-19 safety protocols, the spokesperson added. Those measures are: a vaccine requirement, booster requirement for all eligible populations effective Feb. 1, bi-weekly testing effective Jan. 10, and mandatory masks.

Financial firms have been grappling with when they can realistically get back to business-as-usual, and how to communicate to staff and retain workers amid the uncertainty. A number of other banks had asked staff to work remotely due to the latest surge in cases.

Goldman was among the Wall Street banks that had pushed hardest to bring staff back into offices, and had been the last holdout trying to keep most staff working in the offices through the Omicron variant's surge.

JPMorgan Chase & Co, which was also among those pushing staff to work in its offices, told workers last week https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/jpmorgan-citi-staff-start-2022-with-remote-work-2021-12-31 they could from home for the first two weeks of January. However, JPMorgan said in the memo to employees that all staff are expected to return to offices no later than Feb. 1.

Citigroup (C.N) has also asked its employees to work from home during the first few weeks of 2022, a spokesperson confirmed late last month.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Dilts Marshall in New York and Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Megan Davies and Daniel Wallis)




Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced on Friday that the state has requested federal assistance to help with COVID-19 testing and treatment amid a surge in cases.

The Texas Division of Emergency Management and the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) asked for federal resources to support testing centers, medical personnel and more monoclonal antibody treatments.

Abbott, who has been a leading opponent of COVID-19 vaccine mandates, said in a statement that Texas is "urging the federal government to step up in this fight and provide the resources necessary to help protect Texans."

"Testing sites, additional medical staff, and continued shipments of therapeutics from the federal government will help us continue to save lives and mitigate the spread of COVID-19," he said. "Detecting COVID-19 and preventing COVID-related hospitalizations are critical to our fight against this virus."

The state is specifically requesting testing sites in Bexar, Cameron, Dallas, Harris, Hidalgo and Tarrant counties based on COVID-19 metrics, including positivity rates and hospitalizations, and asking for more supplies of the sotrovimab monoclonal antibody treatment.

As of Sunday afternoon, Harris County had the fifth-most confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University's coronavirus resource center.

Additionally, Texas requested three teams of medical personnel to help in hospitals in urban areas that do not have staff contracted with the DSHS and asked the federal government to continue supplying the Regeneron and bamlanivimab monoclonal antibody treatments.

The requests comes after the Texas Health and Human Services Commission revealed last week that the state had run out of its supply of sotrovimab, which has proved to be effective in combating the omicron variant. The omicron strain is driving a nationwide surge in COVID-19 cases.

The state said infusion centers would not be able to provide the treatment until "federal authorities ship additional courses of sotrovimab to Texas in January."

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Abbott last week said that while President Biden "vows full federal support to help states combat COVID," in reality, "he's not."

"Biden is hoarding the anti-body therapeutic drugs & denying states independent access to that medical treatment. Now, he has stopped providing any of that medicine to Texas," he added.

Biden vows full federal support to help states combat COVID. But he's not. Biden is hoarding the anti-body therapeutic drugs & denying states independent access to that medical treatment. Now, he has stopped providing any of that medicine to Texas. https://t.co/e0D36ulIpJ - Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) December 27, 2021

Texas is currently seeing a spike in coronavirus cases. At the end of December, the state was reporting more than 10,000 new coronavirus cases per day, up from the roughly 4,000 new daily COVID-19 infections in November, according to the state's COVID-19 dashboard.

Biden last month announced new efforts to safeguard Americans and bolster communities and hospitals amid the spread of omicron.

The state of Texas made headlines on Friday after a federal judge blocked mask and vaccine mandates in the state's Head Start program. Abbott, in a tweet after the ruling, said, "Texas just beat Biden again."

Abbott issued an executive order in October barring vaccine mandates from being implemented in the state after Biden announced a series of federal mandates for health care workers, large employers and federal contractors.
Three bear cubs, a bobcat and a pig rescued from Northern California fires in 2021 went safely home or will soon be released.

In October, the Redding Record Searchlight published stories about animals who were victims of the state's raging wildfires, including the 1,500-square-mile Dixie Fire.

They and other animals were rescued by wildlife experts and caring neighbors. Injured wildlife received medical attention, then bunked at animal refuges where volunteers fed them and helped them keep their specialized skills and wild ways.

As 2021 wrapped up, we circled back with people who care for five of the animals we featured to see how they were doing.

Three little bears still need care

Three orphaned bear cubs are slowing down a bit and eating more as the weather turns cold, said Sallysue Stein, director and volunteer at Gold Country Wildlife Rescue in Auburn. They probably wont hibernate until next year, after they're released into a mountain wilderness where temperatures drop well below freezing.

The three bears arrived weighing 16-25 pounds.

Leo, also called Smokey Junior, was rescued with burned paws from the Antelope Fire in Siskiyou County on Aug. 11.

TR was rescued from the Dixie Fire near Taylorsville in Plumas County on Aug. 16.

Vinnie was also rescued from the Dixie Fire on Sept. 5.

"Theyre 75 to 80 pounds each now, Stein said. Theyre typical kids. They wrestle and play."

At 11 months old, the bears are too young to be released until spring, Stein said. They'll spend winter in a special bear enclosure where they can climb, play and hide in make-shift dens.

Their diet consists of fresh fruits and vegetables, and zoo-formula Bear Chow. "Vinnie is a food hog," Stein said. "Grapes are his favorite.

Rescuers keep contact with humans to a minimum to keep the bears wild, she said.

Bobcat is back at home near Mt. Shasta

Lava Bob wasn't expected to live when he was rescued by Axel Hunnicutt, a biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's Siskiyou County unit in Yreka.

Story continues

The bobcat was unable to hunt after he suffered fourth degree burns in the Lava Fire in July.

He was so skinny. I was surprised I could get a dart in him," Hunnicutt said.

But the cat made an excellent recovery, Stein said, healing quickly from his wounds and growing from a malnourished 15 pounds to 35 pounds  a good weight for a bobcat.

Then he grew to 45 pounds, mostly healthy muscle and ferocious cat-itude.

Capturing him for release was quite the challenge, Stein said. It took two of us to get him into the carrier using a catch pole."

Lava Bob was released in October at the base of Mt. Shasta, 8 miles from where he was rescued. If we release animals close where they were found, they usually go home to their original territory, Stein said.

See video about Lava Bob's journey from rescue to release at https://bit.ly/3zbrVmF.

Pumba the pig escapes Fawn Fire

In September, the Fawn Fire burned toward the Billing familys farm near Mountain Gate.

With her husband away, Leighellen Billing had to work fast with help from her in-laws to evacuate her three young children, 12 chickens, seven goats, four ducks, two pigs, seven newborn kittens with their mother and three other cats.

The familys older pet pig Pumba took advantage of the situation and ran off, she said.

Unable to catch the American Guinea hog, Billing had to evacuate without Pumba  believing he would run away from the fire.

American Guinea Hog "Pumba" ran away in September when his family evacuated during the Fawn Fire in Shasta County.

When the Billing family returned home eight days later, they saw hed returned home, rooted up the yard and wallowed in the mud made by the sprinkler, but Pumba was gone.

After posting his photo on social media, Billing learned a neighbor found Pumba. He put the pig  who didnt seem at all frightened or put out, Billing said  in his goat pen and gave him treats.

"He was a good 10-minute drive away," she said. Pumba had crossed the highway, over Old Oregon Trail.

While the edge of their property burned, the Billing home was spared by the fire  a blessing for which Billing credits her goats for munching and clearing defensible space.

Pumba returned to his pen and lived another month before he died of natural causes in October.

He was a spoiled pig while we had him, Billing said.

More: 'Weve learned how resilient nature is': Animals recovering from fires get a little help

How the three bears and donors returned the favor

Publicity over the rescue and medical care of the three bear cubs helped Gold Country Wildlife Rescue raise $250,000 for a new habitat designed for future rescued bears.

Ground broke in November on a 15-acre property in Auburn  the future site of "Bear Cub University," Stein said.

The new habitat will help keep rescued bears wild, ensuring they don't become accustomed to humans while they grow up or recover from injuries.

There will be denning and climbing opportunities, so they can practice all the skills theyll need in the wild, Stein said.

Construction will start on the steel enclosure when the weather improves, a bear-proof design created by the CDFW.

More: The story of 3 bears: Cubs burned in California wildfires recovering together

Gold Country's Bear Cub University is one of four bear rescue sites in California. Others are in Tahoe, Ramona/San Diego and Sonoma County.

For the bear facts go to goldcountrywildliferescue.org or https://bit.ly/3ez5JK4 on Facebook.

Jessica Skropanic is a features reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. She covers science, arts, social issues and entertainment stories. Follow her on Twitter @RS_JSkropanic and on Facebook. Join Jessica in the Get Out! Nor Cal recreation Facebook group. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: What happened to animals rescued in Northern California fires in 2021
One year after a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol building, investigators continue to bring charges and build cases against those accused of taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.

Six Iowans are among the more than 700 people who have so far been charged in relation to the riot. They include a mother and son from central Iowa who entered the Capitol together; a Redfield man accused of trying to take an officer's gun away; and a Cedar Rapids man who spoke to media the night of the riot to admit his role in the siege.

Although none have been charged since June, it's still possible that more will eventually be indicted. Nearly 20 new defendants were arrested or charged in December 2021, according to a database maintained by USA TODAY, and the FBI is still trying to identify dozens of people photographed during the attack.

More than 100 defendants have pleaded guilty to date, and more than 50 have been sentenced. None of the Iowa defendants resolved their charges in 2021, although one is scheduled for a plea hearing on Jan. 4. Here's where each case currently sits:

More: Who is Doug Jensen? Tracing a QAnon believer's path to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Doug Jensen

The first and most notorious Iowan arrested, 42-year-old Doug Jensen of Des Moines, was seen on video at the head of a crowd pursuing a lone U.S. Capitol Police officer up a flight of stairs inside the building. In subsequent interviews and court filings, Jensen has admitted to being a "true believer" in the QAnon conspiracy theory, which peddled a belief that then-President Donald Trump was executing a secret plan to rid the government and elite society of child sex traffickers.

Jensen was arrested Jan. 9 and faces seven charges: civil disorder; obstructing an official proceeding; assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer; entering a restricted building with a dangerous weapon; two disorderly conduct charges; and parading or demonstrating in the Capitol. In March, it was reported Jensen was in plea talks with prosecutors, but no deal has yet been reached.

Story continues

More: What we know about Doug Jensen, the Des Moines man photographed at the Capitol riot and arrested by the FBI

Since his arrest, Jensen has remained in custody, with the exception of a one-month interlude this summer in which he was granted release to home incarceration, only to violate the terms of his release and be returned to jail.

In December, Jensen asked the judge to consider releasing him again. He has also asked the judge to dismiss the obstruction charge against him. The judge has yet to rule on either matter.

Jensen's attorney has declined repeated requests to comment on the case.

More: Who is Doug Jensen? Tracing a QAnon believer's path to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Leo Kelly

Leo Christopher Kelly

On the evening of Jan. 6, one of the Iowa rioters spoke to a reporter to explain what had happened.

Leo Kelly, a 36-year-old technology executive from Cedar Rapids, gave an interview to LifeSiteNews.com, an online outlet focused on Christian and anti-abortion content, in which he said he'd been in the Capitol for 30-60 minutes and had prayed inside the Senate chamber.

More: What we know about Leo Kelly, the Iowa man who said he prayed on the Senate floor during the US Capitol riot

Kelly was arrested on Jan. 18. He initially faced two charges, but in December, he was indicted on seven: obstructing an official proceeding, entering a restricted building, parading or demonstrating in a Capitol building, two disorderly conduct charges and two charges for entering certain parts of the Capitol.

Kelly has been free on bond since his arrest. His attorney declined to comment after his arraignment in December.

The latest: Cedar Rapids man Leo Kelly faces five more charges related to Jan. 6 riot at U.S. Capitol

Deborah and Salvador Sandoval

Salvador Sandoval Jr., in the grey hood, is allegedly seen grappling with police officers during the Jan. 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol building in this surveillance video image filed in court.

Deborah Sandoval, 55, of Des Moines and her son Salvador Sandoval, 24, of Ankeny attended the riot together, prosecutors say. Both were arrested in February.

Investigators say both posted photos or video of themselves inside the Capitol on social media. Salvador allegedly shoved and tried to take a shield away from police officers inside the building.

A photo reportedly shared by Deborah Sandoval after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, showing her among the protestors outside. Capitol surveillance cameras later captured her moving through the building, according to court documents.

The latest indictment against the pair includes 12 charges, accusing one or both of various counts of civil disorder; assaulting, resisting or impeding officers; obstructing official proceedings; entering, disorderly conduct or physical violence in a restricted building; and parading or demonstrating in the Capitol. They are due to be arraigned on Jan. 10.

Bill Kutmus, an attorney for Salvador, said it appears the case will go to trial in Washington, D.C., but otherwise declined to comment, citing the presiding judge's orders.

Deborah's attorney, Anthony Martin, said in an email that his client "is standing firm on her Constitutional right to a trial by jury."

He expects a scheduling order in the coming months to set a date for that trial.

The latest: Deborah, Salvador Sandoval face new 12-count indictment; arraignment scheduled for Jan. 10

Kyle Young

In this video screenshot included in court filings by federal prosecutors, Iowan Kyle Young can be seen in a throng of people grappling with a D.C. Metropolitan police officer during the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Perhaps the most serious case involving an Iowan is that against Kyle Young, 47, of Redfield, who attended the riot with his 16-year-old son. He was arrested in April and is accused of taking part in the beating of D.C. Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone and of trying to take his service weapon away from him.

Fanone, who suffered a heart attack after being repeatedly shocked with his own Taser in the attack, later identified Young from a lineup as "the one who had his hand on his gun and threatened to kill him with it," prosecutors say.

Young was indicted in April alongside Thomas Sibick of New York, who stole Fanone's radio and police badge; and Albuquerque Head of Tennessee, who dragged Fanone into the crowd where he was assaulted, according to court filings.

In his most recent indictment, Young is charged with obstructing an official proceeding; two counts of civil disorder; two counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers; robbery; entering a restricted building; two charges for physical violence in the Capitol grounds; two counts for impeding entrance or passage through the Capitol; and disorderly conduct.

Court records show a status conference set for Jan. 14. Young's attorney did not return a message seeking comment.

More, for subscribers: US Capitol riot suspect Kyle Young assaulted multiple officers, threatening to kill one, prosecutors say

Daryl Johnson

Prosecutors have filed this video screenshot in court documents showing Daryl Johnson, right, and his son Daniel inside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot.

The most recent Iowan to face charges is Daryl Johnson, 51, of St. Ansgar. He and his son, Daniel Johnson, 29, of Austin, Minnesota, were both arrested in June.

Prosecutors say the two men were among the crowd to enter the Capitol, although they are not accused of violence or damaging property. Both later posted repeatedly about the riot on Facebook, with Daryl Johnson claiming that any damage from the riot had been caused by "Antifa" and that the crowd had been peaceful until police attacked with tear gas and other munitions.

Their latest indictment, filed Dec. 20, charges both with civil disorder, entering a restricted building, parading or demonstrating in a Capitol building and two disorderly conduct charges.

Daryl Johnson's attorneys did not respond when asked to comment, but on Dec. 28, the court file was updated to show a plea agreement hearing for both men on Jan. 4.

The latest: Daryl, Daniel Johnson face new charges, including civil disorder, a felony

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com, 715-573-8166 or on Twitter at @DMRMorris.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: U.S. Capitol riot: Where the Jan. 6 cases stand against 6 Iowans
Variety

The Judds were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame Sunday evening in Nashville, in an emotional medallion ceremony that went on as scheduled the day after Naomi Judds death. The Hall had announced Saturday that the induction would go on in the wake of the tragedy due to the wishes of the family. []
The Jelks Family Foundation has awarded a $25,000 grant to the Conservation Foundation for priority land in the Myakka region.

OSPREY  The Jelks Family Foundation recently awarded a $25,000 grant to the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast to preserve priority land in Manatee County.

The grant will be held in Conservation Foundations revolving Land Fund. Established in 2017, the Land Fund is used to quicken the pace of land conservation when other public and private funding resources are unavailable.

Conservation Foundation Board of Trustees oversee the use of the Land Fund to conserve priority land based on staffs recommendation of the propertys ranking against scientific criteria. Utilization of the Land Fund allows Conservation Foundation to act quickly in hot real estate markets when time is of the essence.

Land conservation is expensive and urgent, said Christine P. Johnson, president of Conservation Foundation. Our dedicated Land Fund allows us to respond to market demands and quicken the pace of conservation. We are incredibly grateful to the Jelks Family Foundation for strengthening our available resources and investing in our mission.

The Jelks grant supports land conservation in the Myakka region of Manatee County. To date, Conservation Foundation has protected over 18,500 acres across 48 properties in five counties. Of those 18,500 acres, 1,794 are in Manatee County.

The Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast protects land and water in Southwest Florida by working with landowners, businesses, and government. Learn more at conservationfoundation.com.

Submitted by Sam Valentin

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Jelks Family Foundation awards $25,000 grant to Conservation Foundation
Broward County Sheriff deputies said they made contact with the 24-year-old rapper, whose real name is Bill Kapri, around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday

Rapper Kodak Black started off 2022 in police custody early Saturday morning when he was arrested for trespassing in his Poblano Beach hometown in South Florida.

Broward County Sheriff deputies told the Sun-Sentinel they made contact with the 24-year-old lyricist, whos real name is Bill Kapri, around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday. The arrest took place near the 1600 block of Northwest 10th Drive in the Golden Acres neighborhood of Pompano Beach where Kodak grew up.

Kodak Black on stage at Rolling Loud at Hard Rock Stadium on July 24, 2021 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images)

The ZEZE rapper was transported to Broward Countys main jail, where he posted bond before being released, per the Sun-Sentinel.

Authorities havent said exactly what led up to Kodaks arrest. Trespassing is considered a first-degree misdemeanor in Broward County, county court records show.

This is Kodaks latest run-in with the law. Last April, he was sentenced to probation after accepting a plea deal in a 2016 sexual assault case involving a teenager, an alleged incident that reportedly took place in a South Carolina hotel room, according to the Associated Press.

In April 2019, Black was booked on drug and firearm charges while crossing the Canada-U.S. border near Niagara Falls with three associates, as previously reported by theGrio.

Seven months later, he pleaded guilty to lying on a background check to buy guns in Florida and was sentenced to 46 months on federal weapons charges.

Blacks prison time was cut short in January 2021 when President Trump commuted his sentence.

Have you subscribed to theGrios podcast Dear Culture? Download our newest episodes now!

TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!

The post Kodak Black arrested for trespassing on New Years Day appeared first on TheGrio.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)





A bipartisan group of lawmakers will press in 2022 for a renewal of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) for the first time in nearly a decade following a rise in domestic violence cases during the pandemic.

Sen. Lisa Murkowksi (R-Ala.), who announced a bipartisan deal on a framework for the VAWA reauthorization earlier this month with Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), said lawmakers hope to introduce the legislation in the next few weeks.

"I think what we're trying to do is we want to get a solid bipartisan bill introduced in January," Murkowkski said.

"We've got strong advocates around the country behind us that have been helping us with this. We want to build on the momentum and we want to update the law," she added.

If passed, it would mark the first time in almost nine years that VAWA, a landmark piece of legislation then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) championed that was made law in 1994, was reauthorized.

VAWA, which has been reauthorized three times since it took effect, seeks to bolster domestic violence response at multiple levels of government, as well as efforts to combat dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

Its last authorization, which was approved by Congress in 2013, expired five years later after lawmakers failed to renew it. At the time, authorizations for appropriations for VAWA programs lapsed, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Lawmakers have continued to approve funding for the programs in annual spending bills. But until VAWA is reauthorized, advocates say the measure, which is usually updated when its authorization is renewed, will fall short of meeting the needs of the victims it is designed to protect.

"Each time we reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act ever since it was first authorized in 1994, we really build on the progress of the years before," Terri Poore, policy director at the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, said in an interview this week. She added that leaders learned a great deal about how to address violence in the intervening years of past authorizations.

Story continues

Poore noted that when the bill was first passed, "there weren't a lot of provisions to address sexual assault specifically, and the next authorization really tried to look at those issues."

"Each time the bill's reauthorized, there's a chance for advocates and survivors to think about it, look at it and see what changes need to be made to really address all the needs of all survivors to be safe and have an opportunity to heal and be protected," Poore said.

Among the proposals detailed in the framework announced by the four senators days are provisions that aim to strengthen rape prevention and protections for young survivors, as well as expand access to emergency housing support for survivors.

Advocates say the legislation would come at a critical time after data emerged showing an uptick in domestic cases in parts of the U.S. not long after much of the nation went into lockdown during the pandemic last year.

"People have been at home more with fewer resources," Poore said. "I think domestic violence programs and sexual assault programs have been trying to transition to meet all survivors where they are. But of course, people have been at home more, so some of the pathways for getting out and getting free have been more difficult."

The framework announcement also outlines a provision that would target what advocates and lawmakers have referred to as the so-called "boyfriend loophole" by prohibiting individuals convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence against a dating partner from possessing or purchasing firearms or ammunition.

Lawmakers said the provision would only apply to protective orders and convictions that are issued after the new VAWA reauthorization is enacted.

The move marks the latest attempt by lawmakers to go after the apparent loophole in recent years.

Earlier this year, the House voted to pass legislation reauthorizing VAWA that would prevent dating partners from purchasing or owning guns if they were convicted of domestic violence or abuse, instead of just applying the restriction to spouses or formerly married partners.

However, the legislation stalled in the Senate after opposition from the National Rifle Association (NRA), which attacked a similar provision included in another House-passed bill to reauthorize VAWA in 2019 that also hit a roadblock in the upper chamber at the time.

In a statement to the Detroit News earlier this year, the gun rights group blasted the provision, which was offered by Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), arguing the legislation would restrict people's rights with "gun control provisions."

Though it's unclear what the NRA's position is on the current framework, advocates and lawmakers contend the legislation has been carefully reviewed.

The NRA did not respond to a request for comment.

Murkowski, who described herself and Ernst as "strong supporters of the Second Amendment," said the lawmakers "worked hard to make sure that there were those protections" in their legislation.

Rachel Graber, director of public policy at the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), also said the way the framework takes on the boyfriend loophole differs from the legislation passed by the House months ago.

"The House bill fully closes the dating partner loophole, while the Senate bill only partially closes it," Graber said.

"The Senate bill adds dating partners to the existing domestic violence prohibitors, but only for people who are convicted of dating abuse after the bill takes effect or who are subject to protective orders issued after the date of enactment. So it's not a full fix, but it's a partial fix, and it will save lives," she said.

Additional provisions in the framework include those to expand programs to ensure that VAWA provides access to survivors in rural areas, as well as survivors "requiring culturally specific services," among others.

Ruth Glenn, president and CEO of NCADV, said those measures underscore the importance of understanding the different needs of survivors and supporting Black and Brown organizations, noting "sometimes that community can provide the best service based on cultural norms and cultural resources."

Murkowski, whose state's population is among those with the largest portion of residents identifying as American Indians or Alaska Native, added there are "significant" tribal provisions in the framework.

"We've incorporated the Native American, American Indian and tribal protections ... I have been more immediately involved in this, although I was involved in 2013 and have been involved in years past because this is a significant issue in my state," she said.

A 2016 study funded by the National Institute of Justice found that more than 80 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native women experienced violence in their lifetime, over half of which said they have experienced sexual violence or physical violence by an intimate partner.

In Alaska, where American Indian and Alaska Native residents make up almost a fifth of the state's population, a 2020 survey from the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) Justice Center, and other partners, estimated that nearly three-fifths of Alaska women had experienced intimate partner violence, sexual violence or both in their lifetimes. The figure represents a 14.7 percent jump from a previous survey taken five years prior.

"Our domestic violence, statistics are just awful," Mrkowski said.

Glenn, who said her organization has been in touch with lawmakers behind the framework on the plans, added she believes the measure, which lawmakers say also aims to expand access and resources to LGBT survivors, will "allow for us as a nation" to ensure trans women "are supported and receive the services."

"We are very aware as a nation that trans women in particular have really entered violence, specific kinds of violence, that haven't always been addressed," she said.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, this year, at least 50 transgender or gender non-conforming people have been "fatally shot or killed by other violent means."

The data comes a year after the organization reported a record 44 fatal incidents against transgender and gender non-conforming people, many of which the group said are Black and Latinx transgender women.
FRAMINGHAM  He's long been referred to as simply "Charlie," but as of New Year's Day he now goes by another name: Mayor.

Charlie Sisitsky was officially sworn in Saturday as the city's second mayor during a virtual inauguration ceremony that was broadcast live but attended by only a limited number of people due to COVID-19 concerns.

Sisitsky was sworn in by his daughter-in-law, Framingham District Court Judge Jennifer Stark, during the ceremony at Nevins Hall. He was overwhelmingly elected on Nov. 2 to replace Mayor Yvonne Spicer, and becomes the second person to hold the position since Framingham transitioned to a city in 2018.

More: FSU professor says 'perfect storm of political forces' led to Spicer's loss

Mayor-elect Charlie Sisitsky recites the Pledge of Allegiance during the inauguration ceremony at Nevins Hall in Framingham, Jan. 1, 2022.

Sisitsky, 76, thanked the community for electing him and for the support he received from elected officials, including state Rep. Maria Robinson, D-Framingham, who served as the ceremony's emcee. He also recognized Spicer for her efforts and wished her well as she leaves office.

I promise you, that starting right now, my administration will be open, accessible and transparent," Sisitsky said. "I intend to bring a spirit of cooperation, respect and civility back to City Hall."

Framingham Mayor Charlie Sisitsky speaks during his inauguration at Nevins Hall in Framingham, Jan. 1, 2022.

His transition team of nine committees and 60 members is working to support his efforts, he said.

The seven pillars of my campaign will be the foundation of what I hope to address as mayor, said Sisitsky, which includes offering better civic engagement, being fiscally responsible, being inclusive, enacting effective environmental initiatives, supporting public education, addressing senior citizen needs and how the COVID-19 pandemic has effected the community.

Some of his goals include expanding trails throughout the city; cleaning up Mary Dennison Park; building an early childhood center and elementary school on the city's south side; adding more downtown parking; and building a new courthouse, City Hall and arts center.

Story continues

More: Lead contamination announcement upsets residents near Cedar Swamp, renewing debate about property's future

Mayor Charlie Sisitsky delivers his remarks during his inauguration ceremony at Nevins Hall in Framingham, Jan. 1, 2022.

I am here to work with you, so lets get to work together, said Sisitsky, ending his speech.

More: What will a Sisitsky administration look like? Framingham's mayor-elect sounds off

More: Framingham Mayor-elect Sisitsky says he will consider an indoor mask mandate

Several elected officials spoke on Saturday via recorded video messages, including U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, who opened the ceremony with words of support for Sisitsky.

Ive known Charlie for many, many years, back when his son Adam worked on my congressional campaign, said Markey. I just know that Charlie is going to serve the people of Framingham so well, and will continue to improve the quality of life in every neighborhood and for every family in Framingham."

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey speaks in support of Framingham's new mayor, Charlie Sisitsky, via video during the city's inauguration ceremony at Nevins Hall in Framingham, Jan. 1, 2022.

U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark also praised the new mayor.

For decades, Charlie has lived and led here in Framingham, said Clark. Like me, his service started as a parent interested in his childrens education, and after serving as selectman and city councilor, his dedication to this community has led him to the mayors office.

Now that Sisitsky is an office, state Rep. Jack Patrick Lewis said he expects a more collaborative government.

Im confident that if we move beyond the divisions of the past, move beyond dangerous brinksmanship and the gotcha politics of social media commentary, that the future of our young city will be bright, said Lewis, D-Framingham.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said Sisitsky has been "such an asset and such a good steward of the resources in Framingham for such a long time."

"Im really looking forward to working with you in this new role, she told him.

Other elected officials and dignitaries who spoke included Attorney General Maura Healey, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Senate President Karen Spilka, state Rep. Danielle Gregoire, State Treasurer Deb Goldberg, Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian and Framingham State University President F. Javier Cevallos.

Rabbi Sam Blumberg, of the Temple Beth Am, and Rev. Gregory Morisse, senior pastor of The Plymouth Church in Framingham, also gave remarks.

Charlie is kinda like Bono, Madonna or Liberace  he's a one-name celebrity, said City Council Chair George King. It's gonna take a while to get used to anything else  people know him as Charlie.... Framingham elected someone they knew personally, someone they trust.

One example of Sisitsky's dedication to Framingham is his role in helping found the new Fuller Middle School Building Committee and being its first chair, said School Committee Chair Adam Freudberg.

Mayor Sisitsky is the type of mayor that hears all voices and has the expertise to get big and little things done, and everything in between," said Freudberg. "He's respectful, responsible, ready to learn and ready to lead.

Freudberg, who was named co-chair of the mayors Education Subcommittee in his transition team, said the committee plans to issue a report to Sisitsky later this month.

Framingham officials wait to be sworn in during the inauguration ceremony at Nevins Hall in Framingham, Jan. 1, 2022.

Along with the new mayor, several other city officials were sworn in Saturday by City Clerk Lisa Ferguson, including:

City Council

Christine Long, Cesar Stewart-Morales, Michael Cannon, Noval Alexander, Philip Ottaviani Jr., Leora Mallach, John Stefanini and Tracey Byrant.

School Committee

Beverly Hugo, Richard Finlay, Jennifer Moshe, Adam Freudberg, Priscila Sousa, Valerie Ottaviani, Tiffanie Maskell, Jessica Barnhill and William Labarge.

Library trustees

Isabella Petroni, Jenny Dearcangelis, Leslie White-Harvey, Ruth Winett, Steven Malchman and Heather Woods.

Cemetery trustees

Dennis Cardiff, Julie Ferrari and Nicholas Paganella.

Lauren Young writes about business and pop culture. Reach her at 774-804-1499 or lyoung@wickedlocal.com. Follow her on Twitter @laurenwhy__.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Charlie Sisitsky sworn in as Framingham's second mayor
Dear Brevard School Board ...

Your No. 1 responsibility is the health and safety of students and employees in order to run our schools to their fullest potential.

We ask that as district staff returns on Jan. 5, and students and teachers on Jan. 6, BPS leadership put all safety measures back into place, due to the uncontrollable spread and high infection rate of the Omicron variant, the two-week winter break, the lack of state government responsibility concerning Omicron, the behavior of Brevard citizens concerning COVID protocols, etc.

We recommend:

1. All employees and students wear masks inside all BPS schools and facilities.

2. All school meetings and teacher training be held virtually, including faculty, grade level, IEP meetings, etc.

3. Send data to all employees about the effectiveness of vaccinations and booster shots against Omicron, such as a report out of Imperial College from the UK stating basically that booster shots are at least 80% effective against Omicron.

4. Conduct an emergency board meeting at 9 a.m. Jan. 4 with health officials who can give the latest data and discuss what needs to be done for students, such as masks, student gatherings and sporting events.

Please note: It will be logistically easier to implement all effective strategies now rather than when schools reopen.

As we learned from the first couple weeks of school in dealing with COVID in August, we must take ownership in what we can control. We cant control COVID but we sure can control our behavior.

Amy and Steve Tidd, Rockledge

In April 2020, Rebecca Talaia, a sixth-grade teacher at Indialantic Elementary School, began a drive to donate the unused containers of disinfecting wipes at their school to help the staff at Health First. Soon, most of the Brevard public schools joined in, and almost 600 containers, seen in the background, were donated to Health First, for use in COVID-19 isolation units, while still keeping some in each classroom.

First, let's tackle seagrass dilemma

I admire Pat Rose and Bob Atkins for their commitment to their respective causes ('Save the manatees: Decades-old debate about manatees future in Florida rages on as sea cows starve,' Dec. 15).

I only wish they would devote the same amount of effort to the real problem and that is the absence of seagrass in the lagoon. When this community eliminates the causes of lagoon pollution we will once again see sufficient seagrass to support an optimal manatee population and a reduction in propeller caused injuries.

Story continues

FLORIDA TODAY missed the boat when its front page story was not about stormwater runoff, nutrient loading, fertilizer leaching, septic tank pollution, aging sewage infrastructure, overdevelopment, political inaction and tidal flow restricted by causeways. When those issues are addressed we can then concern ourselves with starving manatees and overfishing.

Donald Thomas, Melbourne Beach

More: Will clams help save the Indian River Lagoon? Melbourne angler is aiming to find out

More: Florida mulls the once unthinkable: feeding starving manatees in the wild

More: Climate change is causing white pelicans to winter in Florida later, for briefer stays

FPL cartoon took a cheap shot

The Dec. 27 editorial cartoon, "I'm sorry we have to increase your power bill, ma'am, but we have hungry mouths to feed too," takes a cheap shot at the power rate increase process.

The NextEra Energy-FPL corporate CEO pay is $22.8 million. The pay for the top four officials is $47.3 million. FPL has 5.6 million accounts. Pay per account is $4.07 per year for the CEO and $8.45 per year for the top four officials.

The rate increases are to pay for increased natural gas costs and to support green energy investments.

An increase of $810 million was approved by state regulators in December to cover increased natural gas costs. The increase would add $7 per month to a residential bill for 1,000 kilowatt hours, which is more than the 34 cents per month per account for CEO pay.

A four-year rate settlement was approved by the Florida Office of Public Counsel in August. The increase is to pay for continuation of the plan to install 30 million solar panels by 2030. It also includes other green initiatives such as an integrated solar power battery storage system which is needed to provide solar generated power at night.

Even with this investment not all fossil fuel generation will not be replaced. Thus electric vehicles will not be emission-free in Florida without further investment in generation capacity.

One can debate what the proper executive pay rate should be. But it does not drive the cost of electricity.

James Beasom, Melbourne Village

In a photo from mid-March 2020 and the early days of the pandemic, Meals on Wheels volunteer driver Tom Johnston heads to his car with a cooler at the Brevard Community Kitchen. In the background, the volunteer coordinator puts out boxes of gloves and safety instructions.

Thanks to all who make meals roll

This letter is to recognize the Meals on Wheels volunteers who deliver our meals five days a week.

The Monday lady, whom I'll call California, is one of the nicest people I know. She may be my favorite. The Tuesday delivery person, a gentleman, is great and always inquires about our health. The Wednesday gal looks no older than 20 but informed me she has five kids. Our Thursday lady is from Pennsylvania and goes out of her way to make sure my wife Shirley and I are OK. And the Friday delivery person, a Realtor from the Suntree area, is a very classy gentleman.

My wife and I are both 90 and this program is a lifesaver for us. We have lived here for 43 years and this Christmas Eve was our 70th anniversary. This program is to be commended for their selection of folks who go out to meet the public and represent their program.

Jim and Shirley Sanborn, Satellite Beach

Dragging UF through mud: disgraceful

It is stunning that the No. 5 top public university in the United States is now facing an inquiry by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges because they may have significant noncompliance issues with their academic freedom standard and undue external influence.

Why? Because our governor and his staff have put pressure on University of Florida faculty and administration to ensure that they do not speak out against or contradict any of DeSantis' or his surgeon general's policies or statements, especially those concerning COVID.

This university has worked too hard and done the right things to get where they are. The hundreds of thousands of alumni, including three in my family, don't deserve to have their university dragged through the mud because a politician doesn't want to hear the truth. Disgraceful.

Jeffrey Schiff, Port St. Lucie

What would a 'state guard' do?

Be careful who youre aligning with, Rep. Fine.

I read that Gov. DeSantis is requesting, in the new session in Tallahassee, his idea to re-establish a 200-member Florida State Guard.

Never mind that we have a National Guard, a highway patrol, sheriffs' offices and police offices. I guess our governor needs his own army.

He also wants an office of at least 52 people to monitor election-related crimes and security. Funny that after he was elected he claimed Florida held the smoothest, most successful election of any state. Would these 52 people be needed at certain voting places to intimidate certain voters?

He made no mention of passing what the majority of voters (64%) wanted, allowing previously incarcerated people who served their time the right to vote. Those folks languish without their civil rights.

Jacqueline Dunkel, Melbourne

Gov. Ron DeSantis, shown here speaking Oct. 15 at the Collier County Public Schools building in Naples, has outlined a series of priorities for the 2022 legislative session.

Transgender women and competition

As a former competitive swimmer, I would be remiss if I did not comment regarding Lia Thomas, a transgender woman competing on USA Swimming's women's team. It is not only an unfair advantage, based on a male's biological composition, to compete against women, it is a travesty of God's creations.

If someone wishes to change his/her gender, that someone should "stay in their lane," [sic]. That lane does not include the limelight, on a small or large stage, for personal gain.

How did we get to this unfathomable issue? If I were a current member of the USA Swimming team, I would leave that situation. Beyond the swimming competitions, there is the locker room situation that should only be for women. If a biological woman pursued a position on a men's team, the locker room situation would be the same. Ugly.

I laud Cynthia Millen for taking the stand she did by resigning her USA Swimming official position. That being said, isn't that what we do  we walk away because we would be fighting a losing battle, a battle that should have never been allowed to exist in the first place.

Diane Norwood-Steven, Rockledge

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Letters and feedback: Jan. 2, 2023
Chris Slusar of Evansville, host of the Great Milwaukee Classic antique fishing tackle show, assesses a selection of vintage lures.

Here's a universal truth courtesy of the outdoors world: If you're an angler you're also a lure collector.

The proof is in our tackle boxes, gear bags and fishing vests.

My collection dates to the first Arbogast Jitterbug I bought when I was a kid in the 1970s. I climbed trees to retrieve that lure from snags.

It's still with me along with oily, early-model rubber worms and slightly tarnished Little Cleo spoons from the same era.

They don't get used much on the water anymore. But who can throw away old fishing tackle?

They still prove their value each winter when I break out the old tackle boxes and storage bins and sort through the items. The memories they evoke are priceless.

Chris Slusar of Evansville knows exactly where I'm coming from.

"I absolutely love taking inventory of my lures," said Slusar, 54. "And I don't know a fisherman that doesn't have a ridiculous number of lures well beyond anything they can use."

That's a compliment, by the way. The fraternity of anglers encourages acquiring, keeping, cherishing and preserving fishing tackle. Sharing, too.

Slusar, in fact, has taken his hobby to a completely different level.

He got hooked on lure collecting when he was in his late teens and now spends much of his leisure time researching and collecting fishing tackle. His specialty is gear made in Wisconsin.

And once a year, he serves as a lure collecting ambassador when he hosts the Great Milwaukee Classic.

The 41st annual show, which allows the public to view as well as buy, sell and trade a vast assortment of fishing lures and other tackle, is scheduled for Jan. 14 and 15 in Brookfield. Free appraisals are also available.

The show is sponsored by the National Fishing Lure Collectors Club, the world's largest organization dedicated to the pastime.

Fishing tackle is nearly as old as humankind. Hooks made from bone and wood are commonly found at archeological sites around the globe.

Story continues

When fishing evolved from survival to recreation, the manufacture of gear increased markedly.

Most collectible items in circulation today were made from the 1800s on, Slusar said, with the vast majority dating from the 1930s to present.

A Milwaukee native, Slusar started fishing as a youngster in the 1970s. His lure collecting can be traced to the late 70s when his uncle Joe took him on a musky fishing trip to the Chippewa Flowage.

It was there Slusar was introduced to Frenchy LeLures made by Vern "Frenchy" LeMay, a fishing guide and lure designer who worked out of Indian Trail Resort on the flowage.

An assortment of Frency LeLures, musky baits made by Wisconsin lure designer Vern "Frenchy" LeMay.

"I was completely taken by the musky mystique and fascinated with those lures," Slusar said. "That got me started and there was no looking back."

As he began to dig into his new passion, Slusar found out about the National Fishing Lure Collectors Club, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering awareness of lure collecting.

Slusar joined the club in 1986 and is now a life member. He has hosted or co-hosted the Great Milwaukee Classic for the last 20 years.

Learning the history of lures, especially those made in Wisconsin, has helped increase his appreciation for fishing and fisher people, Slusar said.

The story of one of the earliest patented wooden fishing lures  from Ashland  helps illustrate his point.

The bait was designed by Charles Dunbar (a painter) and David Huard (a cobbler) in the early 1870s.

It featured a wooden, minnow-shaped body with a spring hook that could be retracted or released. The basic intent was to keep the hook close to the body to make it relatively weedless on retrieve and then allow the hook to be more exposed when struck by a fish.

In 1874, when Ashland was a remote outpost in the northern forest reachable to most only by boat, Dunbar and Huard obtained a U.S. patent for the lure.

"It's mind boggling to think that, about 150 years ago when Ashland was basically a wild west town, these two fishermen secured a patent for a lure," Slusar said.

The lure didn't bring the men fame or fortune. But their work is etched forever in the rich history of lure making.

A selection of fishing lures made in the 1900s.

Over the last 150 years in Wisconsin, there has likely been at least one lure manufacturer in every city and town.

It's sort of like breweries and bakeries. They're signs of life.

Slusar can rattle off dozens of Wisconsin locations where collectible lures were made, including Antigo, Chetek, Fremont, Ladysmith, Land O' Lakes, Maple, Medford, Packwaukee, Richland Center, Saynor, Two Rivers and West Bend.

The list goes on.

"It's been very rewarding to learn about the past and the places and people who made these lures," Slusar said. "The knowledge also translates to the collectibility of the items."

Which brings us to another universal truth: Collecting can be a lifelong hobby.

"It's endlessly educational and fun," Slusar said. "There are a lot of unique stories out there and I just love to share them and learn about new ones."

Fishing tackle show

The 41st annual Great Milwaukee Classic will be held Jan. 14 and 15 at the Sheraton Milwaukee-Brookfield, 375 S. Moorland Road, Brookfield.

The event, billed as one of the largest antique fishing tackle shows in the country, is sanctioned by the National Fishing Lure Collectors Club. It will feature displays and vendors from more than 20 states. Items can be bought, sold or traded.

Products on display will include lures, reels, rods, minnow buckets, paper catalogs and ephemera.

Free appraisals are available. Show hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 14 and 9 a.m. to noon Jan. 15.

Admission is $10 per person, which may be applied to membership in the National Fishing Lure Collectors Club. Military veterans and kids are admitted free. For more information, contact Larry Fonk at kfonk1@wi.rr.com or (262) 945-7139 or Chris Slusar at cjslusar@gmail.com or (262) 960-2230.

THANK YOU: Subscribers' support makes this work possible. Help us share the knowledge by buying a gift subscription.

DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Great Milwaukee Classic for lure collectors, fishermen is Jan. 14-15
NEW YORK  His first day on the job is done  and it was a doozy.

Eric Adams, New York Citys newly minted 110th mayor, kicked off his Saturday morning waiting for the J train with a call to 911 after witnessing a fight. He gave his first speech to New Yorkers as mayor  remotely from City Halls Blue Room. And after that, he headed to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center to check on a cop whod been shot earlier in the morning.

It wasnt even 2 p.m. yet.

But Adams  just hours after being sworn in at the Times Square New Years Eve ball drop  appeared well rested and exuded hope, even in the face of a resurgent COVID-19 pandemic, rising crime and what he has called the citys dysfunctional government.

We will get our city back by making a commitment to each other, right here, right now, beginning today. This will be our New Years resolution: we will not be controlled by crisis, he said. We will make this city better every day through actions big and small. Getting vaccinated is not letting the crisis control you. Enjoying a Broadway show. Sending your kids to school. Going back to the office. These are our declarations of confidence that our city is our own.

Adams, 61, started his day early  in marked contrast to his predecessor Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was often criticized for arriving late to City Hall  but that was not the only way he set himself apart.

Adams took the train to work  a move that appeared designed to differentiate him from the now ex-mayor  and said he intends to take the subway often.

While standing on the platform, he witnessed a violent confrontation on the street below. And since he was not accompanied by a police detail, he called 911 to report the fracas.

When asked why he didnt have an NYPD detail with him, Adams laughed.

Grandma doesnt have a detail. So, if the citys safe, we should have just a limited amount ... of police personnel, he said. If Intel tells me theres a credible threat, well make sure we have the appropriate amount.

Story continues

He later pointed out that he was not carrying a gun with him to work  something he suggested he would do while he was campaigning for mayor. He didnt rule out using a security detail though, and indicated hed travel with a pared down unit or none at all moving forward  a departure from de Blasio, who was slammed in a recent city Department of Investigation report for misusing his NYPD security team.

I informed the police department and told them how I want to move around the city, he said outside the 103rd Precinct stationhouse in Jamaica, Queens. I dont want anybody holding doors for me. I dont want anyone to hold my umbrella. I dont want anyone deifying me.

During his City Hall speech and at his Q-and-A in Queens, he ticked off some promises and goals, and touched on how he says being beaten by police as a youth inside the 103rd Precinct stationhouse changed him and his path forward.

This experience here had a major impact on me becoming a police officer, said the former NYPD captain. I turned that pain into purpose. I was able to become a captain, and Im able to come back here today in front of the same precinct. Its an American story.

Today the demon is off my back, he added.

And while he did lay out some promises, he also wasnt heavy on specifics when it comes to his immediate policy goals.

In his speech, he promised to make city government better every day, and later said he would revisit a proposal to allow noncitizens to vote in city elections  a measure passed by the City Council, but not signed into law by de Blasio.

Were going to look at the bill, he said. One part of the bill Im concerned about  the 30 day part  if someone is in the city for 30 days, they have the right to vote. Thats problematic to me. I understand the importance of local elections, but to give that power to someone thats here for 30 days, I think thats a problem.

The theme of his first 100 days will be GSD  get stuff done, he said, but when asked what concrete goals he aims to accomplish within those 100 days, he wouldnt lay out anything very precise.

We have a comprehensive 100 day plan, he said. We have to start right away, day one, so youll get them all.

But as of Saturday evening, City Hall still had not released a plan.

One top priority will be wrapping his head around the citys COVID-19 situation and he vowed to have something solid ready by next week.

I want to make sure we have a real plan in place for Monday, he said.


NORTH DAKOTA - North Dakota Department of Human Services has received approval by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to amend its Medicaid 1915(i) state plan amendment to increase access to in-home and community-based behavioral health services for children and adults and build a more robust network of service providers.

Implemented in February 2021, the Medicaid 1915(i) state plan amendment allows North Dakota Medicaid to pay for additional in-home and community-based services for qualifying individuals enrolled in Medicaid or Medicaid Expansion with mental health conditions, substance use disorders and/or brain injuries.

The most significant change to the Medicaid 1915(i) state plan amendment is the lowering of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS) eligibility score from 50 to 25, which will allow more individuals to qualify for 1915(i) services. The WHODAS is an instrument used to measure an individuals function and disability in activities of daily living. Also, provider qualifications for prevocational training, supported education and supported employment have changed, so more providers can now enroll to provide these vital services.

All changes to the Medicaid 1915(i) state plan amendment are effective Jan. 1, 2022.

We continue to see significant need for behavioral health services and supports across the state, said Pamela Sagness, Behavioral Health Division director. The enhancements will make it easier for more North Dakotans to qualify for the in-home and community-based services to better support their behavioral health needs.

The Medicaid 1915(i) state plan amendment addresses gaps in the states behavioral health system and is considered to be the most robust program approved by CMS in the country. Services offered include educational, employment and housing supports; community transition services; peer support; care coordination; respite care and other supportive services.

Story continues

Group provider development grants

The department is offering development grants to help build a more robust service provider network to provide in-home and community-based services to qualifying individuals through the Medicaid 1915(i) state plan amendment.

A total of $80,000 in grants is available, and providers may request up to $10,000. Interested organizations can learn more online at www.behavioralhealth.nd.gov/1915igrant. The deadline to apply is Dec. 30, 2021. If grant funding remains following the Dec. 30 deadline, the department will continue to accept applications until the total funds are awarded.

This is a wonderful opportunity for North Dakota providers to bill for new services, expand their workforce through nontraditional behavioral health professionals and improve access to services in underserved areas of the state, said Caprice Knapp, North Dakota Medicaid executive policy director.

As of Dec. 1, 2021, there are 40 individuals and 25 group providers enrolled in the Medicaid 1915(i) state plan amendment. For a complete list of providers and services by region, visit www.behavioralhealth.nd.gov/1915i-providers.

During the 2019 legislative session, North Dakota lawmakers authorized the department to create a Medicaid 1915(i) state plan amendment. After gathering input and stakeholder recommendations from six community meetings around the state and a 30-day public comment period, the department submitted its draft state plan amendment to CMS in April 2020. It was approved in December 2020.

Information about the states Medicaid 1915(i) state plan amendment can be found online at www.behavioralhealth.nd.gov/1915i.

This article originally appeared on Devils Lake Journal: Medicaid state plan amendment expands access to behavioral services
Registered nurse Rafaela Ramirez walks inside the respiratory tent outside the emergency department at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in the Willowbrook neighborhood of Los Angeles last week. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Los Angeles County continued to ride a wave of coronavirus infections through the holiday weekend, with one in five of those tested finding they have contracted the illness.

L.A. County recorded 23,553 new cases on Saturday and 21,200 more on Sunday, far above last winters peak average of 16,000 cases a day. Officials say the latest wave is fueled by a few factors, including increased travel, large holiday gatherings and the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant.

County health officials urged residents to curtail higher-risk activities, such as indoor events where people are unmasked for long periods of time and crowded outdoor gatherings.

Our hearts remain with those families experiencing the sorrow of losing those they love to COVID, said Barbara Ferrer, the countys director of public health. During this surge, given the spread of a more infectious strain of the virus, lapses can lead to explosive transmission.

With the spread of the outbreak outstripping last winters peaks, public health officials could take some solace in the fact that the now dominant Omicron variant remained less deadly than earlier strains of the coronavirus.

Ferrer called well-fitted masks essential to keeping people healthy through the surge. She acknowledged that masks can be annoying and uncomfortable to some people but added given that many infected individuals are spreading COVID 1-2 days before they are symptomatic, the physical barrier tendered by a mask is known to reduce the spread of virus particles.

Actual case counts were likely even higher than those reported over the weekend, when numbers tend to be tamped down by undercounting, officials said. Still, the increased spread of the virus has been obvious; with 7,425 new cases on Wednesday, a number that more than tripled by Saturday.

Hospitalizations also rose sharply, from 904 two days after Christmas to 1,628 on Sunday. And the seven-day average rate of those testing positive also increased, from 14.9% on Monday to 21.8% by Sunday.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
LONDON (Reuters) - OPEC ministers are due to hold a meeting on Monday to discuss the appointment of a new secretary general, two OPEC sources said, with Kuwait's candidate for the job holding widespread support from the group.

Haitham al-Ghais, a former Kuwaiti governor to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, is the only candidate for the role, OPEC sources have said.

Current OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo of Nigeria, who helped clinch a deal with non-OPEC producers such as Russia to cut global oil output to balance the market, is due to step down at the end of July once his second three-year term ends.

OPEC and its allies, known as OPEC+, is due to hold a separate meeting on Tuesday to decide output policy.

OPEC+, which is unwinding record output cuts made last year, is likely to stick to existing policy and confirm an output increase of 400,000 barrels per day in February.

(Reporting by Alex Lawler and Ahmad Ghaddar; Editing by Frances Kerry)
Editor's note: Open Call is a weekly column in which we ask arts and cultural leaders to share their perspectives on emerging from the COVID-19 crisis and welcoming back audiences.

Its a new year and I just started a new job. Im excited to introduce myself to you as the recently appointed director of the Delaware Division of the Arts.

The Division of the Arts is the states arts agency, and we are committed to supporting the arts and cultivating creativity to enhance the quality of life in Delaware.

Im taking over for Paul Weagraff, who retired from the Division this past summer after decades of service to Delawares arts community. To say that I have big shoes to fill is an understatement, so Ive decided to cobble a new pair.

Many know me from my work as the executive director of the Delaware Arts Alliance (DAA). Since 2018, Id been leading the organization and working closely with cultural, civic and community leaders to develop statewide advocacy strategies to advance arts and culture.

Arts rising to challenges: In creating this space, we witnessed huge impact arts played in our community

But what some people may not know about me is that Im not only an arts advocate and administrator, I am also a maker, a creator, an artist. And while I wont literally craft a new pair of shoes for my new role, I will work with the Divisions passionate staff to design and build a new operational plan that addresses the most pressing needs of the sector today, particularly cultural equity and innovation.

My connection to the arts is deeply personal. My grandparents, who helped raise me, met at art school. My grandmother was an artist for Hallmark and my grandfather started his own design-build exhibit company that is still family owned.

I grew up in my grandfathers shop, cutting out airplanes on the band saw as soon as I was old enough to reach it while standing on a stool. To this day, I design and make things as a form of creative self-expression and to reduce my stress and promote my mental health.

Story continues

My grandparents taught me to draw, paint, carve and knit. I remember that learning to paint was particularly tough for me. Id have a vision of how I wanted something to look but was often stymied by the fear of making a mistake.

Finally, one day my grandpa told me that there are no mistakes in art, only opportunities.

Art and culture are resilient and transformative because every mistake, obstacle, parameter and challenge is an opportunity for creative innovation. That has never been more apparent than in the last 22 months.

More Open Call: Growing minds, building a beautiful future at Longwood Gardens

The pandemic shut the arts down. Arts organizations and artists have had to invent new ways to engage audiences and deliver their art forms.

It is apparent that COVID is something well have to learn to live with for some time. Fortunately, many in the field have taken the challenges posed by the pandemic as an opportunity to transform. They have been reevaluating who they are at their core. They are taking a critical look at who they are serving and how they are bringing art and culture to communities.

Art on display at the 'Afro-American Images 1971: The Vision of Percy Ricks show' through Jan. 23 at the Delaware Museum of Art.

For most, cultural equity and access are at the heart of these transformations. The future viability of a robust arts and culture industry is hinged on cultural equity  ensuring that all people are represented in the development of arts policy; the support of creative workers; the nurturing of accessible, thriving venues for expression, and the fair distribution of programmatic, financial and informational resources.

We must do this work continuously and hold ourselves and each other accountable. Because every human deserves equitable access to a full, diverse, and vibrant creative life.

The Division of the Arts understands that Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access (IDEA) are the core of what will bring our new strategic plan to life. We will work hard to operationalize these concepts and bake them into our organizational culture. And we will help others in the field do this, too.

More Open Call: New Winterthur CEO invites you to give the gift of Delaware this season

The Division is piloting a new program with five organizations throughout the state: The Arts Equity and Innovation Incubator. It provides technical assistance and resources to organizations to develop custom strategies for sustainable practices and programming that integrate the principles of IDEA into all aspects of their operations.

Wilmington Children's Chorus choristers film scenes for their documentary film at the Latin American Community Center mural.

Weve also created the new role of Community Engagement Officer, recently filled by Leeann Wallett. Leeann will research and address the issues of IDEA in our granting allocations, services and processes. She will provide greater capacity to develop programs and services that reach all Delawareans, particularly BIPOC populations not currently being served effectively.

As we look forward, we know that together we can build a more perfect Delaware through the arts.

Jessica Ball is director of the Delaware Division of the Arts.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Future of a robust arts and culture industry hinges on cultural equity
A Greenwood woman is missing New Years evening, and with the cold weather moving into the Shreveport-Bossier area over 20 Caddo Sheriff's Officer are searching for her.

Heather Diane Russell, 40, was reported missing to the sheriff's office around 4 p.m. when family said she never returned home home her walk.

More: Victim named in first Shreveport homicide of 2022

Local businesses donated new collars and badges to Caddo Parish Sheriff K-9s on Wednesday, June 17, 2020.

With cold temperatures moving into the area, officers are working to locate Russell before the temperatures get dangerous.

This is all the information available at this time.

Instant access. No shipping delays. Subscribe today.

Makenzie Boucher is a reporter with the Shreveport Times. Contact her at mboucher@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Caddo Sheriff's officers searching for Greenwood woman
A Paterson man has been arrested for allegedly shooting another city resident Friday afternoon near the corner of Rosa Parks Boulevard and 12th Avenue, the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office said.

Authorities say Calvin Holmes, 34, shot an unnamed 27-year-old man after an argument at about 3:15 p.m. on New Year's Eve. Holmes also threatened to kill a 27-year-old Paterson woman during the same altercation, cops said.

City police officers arrested Holmes about five hours later near North York and Sparrow streets in Paterson, county Prosecutor Camelia Valdes said in a statement.

The man he allegedly shot was expected to live.

Holmes has been charged with first-degree attempted murder and several weapons offenses, Valdes said. Her office did not immediately respond to a request for more information about the alleged shooting.

The attempted murder charge could land Holmes in state prison for up to 20 years. The weapons offenses could add another 55 years to his sentence, Valdes said.

A pretrial detention hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 5, before Judge Marybel Mercado-Ramirez in state Superior Court in Paterson.

Steve Janoski covers law enforcement for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news about those who safeguard your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: janoski@northjersey.com

Twitter: @stevejanoski

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson man shot city resident on New Year's Eve, police say
Even as so many Americans decry the events of January 6, the day has had lasting impacts on the nation's psyche, the most immediate of which is that millions of Americans think more violence is coming, and that democracy itself might be threatened.

The reality  and this won't allay all those fears  is that there are some Americans who generally view force or political violence undertaken by others as justifiable, depending on the situation. That applies to the violence on January 6, and to a few for whom 2020 remains unsettled, but also extends to other issues, from abortion to gun policy to civil rights. And it's partially related to beliefs that political opponents are an existential threat, or being convinced they'll do worse to you. We stress this is not how most people feel, and that those who do are a low number in percentage terms. But then, we've also seen that it doesn't take large numbers to provoke these wider concerns in the nation.

So, when people feel democracy is threatened, their concerns about violence become even more critical, and here's where public opinion really matters: democracy depends on its citizens adhering to its norms both because they believe in them, and because they expect others will, too.

More violence to come?

The implications of January 6 are reverberating through the polity: two-thirds see the events as a harbinger of increasing political violence, not an isolated incident. That leads to larger misgivings. When people see it as a sign of increasing violence, they're more likely to think violence is a reason democracy is threatened.

January 6 views  then and now

The events of January 6 were widely condemned when they happened and still are today by majorities of both parties. But there is an alternative set of descriptors and interpretations of those events, and of what should happen next, largely on the right, along with a softening of their disapproval that's worthy of attention.

Story continues

Despite overall disapproval of the events on January 6, Republicans do stand apart from others in offering descriptions that are less harsh. One, the intensity with which Republicans disapprove softened over the summer and has stayed softer. A year ago, most Republicans strongly disapproved, but today, their disapproval is spread between strongly and a bit more only somewhat disapproving.

Americans who no longer strongly disapprove are less likely to describe the day's events as an insurrection than they were in January. They are also much likelier to consume conservative media than those consistent in strongly disapproving.

Moreover, four in 10 Republicans have a different conception of who was involved in the first place, saying most of those who forced their way into the Capitol were left-leaning groups pretending to be Trump supporters.

Outright approval of what happened comes only from a minority of Americans, but it certainly is there. Those who approve are younger and use right-leaning news sources and social media more, but they also have what seem like larger items than just their views about 2020 or an election. They are more likely to say the United States should divide into "red" and "blue" countries. There's a relationship between approval and conspiracy theories: among Americans who think QAnon ideas are at least probably true, approval of the Capitol events goes up to 50%.

Descriptions of what happened are also similar to how they were a year ago after it happened. People widely call it a protest that went too far, but how much further becomes more partisan. Most Americans  including most Democrats, but just a fifth of Republicans  call it an insurrection and describe it as an attempt to overturn the election and the government.

Four in 10 Republicans say those who went into the Capitol were actually left-leaning groups pretending to be Trump supporters.

Only a quarter of Americans call what happened "patriotism" or "defending freedom." They tend to be on the political right, identifying as conservatives. When asked why they describe it that way, they say those who entered the Capitol were "exercising their right to protest" and drawing attention to (what they see as) election fraud  more than twice as often as they say January 6 participants were trying to stop the electoral count, per se. So, they are still supportive of the act, even though it didn't meet its alleged goals, which could partially explain why they're also willing to see other actions as justified.

What should Trump do next?

So, what do they want now? There is 12% of the country, and a fifth of Trump's 2020 voters, that want Trump to fight to retake the presidency right now, before the next election.

When we follow up with them on that idea, they mostly say they would like to see that done through legal channels. But then a third of the people within that 12% say he should use force if necessary. While that only amounts to 4% of the population, it still translates into millions of Americans effectively willing to see a forceful change in the executive branch.

The specter hanging over the next election

In particular  and perhaps because it's still so tangible  a majority of the nation now expect there will be violence from the losing side of a future presidential election.

We then followed up and asked, "If that's your side that loses and there is in fact violence, would you be in favor of that or not?" It's an abstraction right now, of course, and a mere 2% would favor it. But another quarter left it open, saying it depends on the circumstance  and in that, we start to see political differences, with 2020 Trump voters twice as likely as Biden voters to say that it depends.

Specifically, those who claim widespread voter fraud in 2020 and those who don't consider Biden legitimate now are relatively more likely to be in favor, should violence occur after their side loses a future election. And they're more likely to say that violence over election results might be justified in general.

It's not just elections

The idea of political violence historically isn't confined to anger over elections, of course. And to be clear, most don't condone it on the left or right. But there are some Americans who could see justification for political violence over some issues, at least in principle. We'd also stress this by no means suggests they would do it themselves.

Gun policies, abortion policies, civil rights, labor issues, and even vaccine and coronavirus issues are each issues at least a quarter of Americans say are important enough that violence might be justified, depending on the situation.

Among liberals and Democrats, about four in 10 say civil rights and equality issues are important enough that violence might be justified over them, and a quarter name labor issues and abortion policies. For the right  that is, conservatives and Republicans  it's more likely to be gun policies and election results, with about four in ten saying force might be justified on these issues.

Then there's how people respond to political actors who might call for violence, or otherwise violate political norms. It's 14% who feel that elected officials or candidates might be justified in calling for violence in public speeches. This is somewhat lower than the one in five who say that public insults might be justified.

Within each group, those who would justify violence tend to be younger, and somewhat more ideologically extreme  that is, identifying as very liberal or conservative. It's important to note they also report being less likely to vote, which may reflect an inclination to seek political outcomes by other, less traditional means.

But it's also associated with attitudes toward opponents: the partisans among them are more inclined to think the other side threatens their way of life and less likely to favor compromise in general.

On that, too, we see what looks like a vicious circle: Americans who consider violence potentially justified aren't necessarily eager for it, but may feel it is forced upon them. For example, looking at people who say that calls for force from political leaders can be justified, about half say this approach can be justified because their opponents do the same or worse.

This is not wholly relegated to one ideology or political party, because on several issues, like labor issues, civil rights, abortion, and vaccines, we find comparable numbers of Democrats and Republicans saying violence might be justified, though Republicans are more apt to say so on elections and guns. Across all six issues tested, Republicans are slightly more likely than Democrats to select at least one issue as important enough to possibly justify violence. The formation of citizen militias  which for the purposes of this study, is not directly measuring action or violence  is acceptable to three in 10 Americans, driven by those on the right.

The good news?

It's not necessarily related to violence but speaks to some of the mood that underpins animosity: not all partisans think of the opposition as enemies threatening their way of life. Those who do tend to be more ideological, though. And few Americans favor the idea  as far-fetched as it might be  of a "national divorce" between red and blue states.

Given all this, going forward, the important divisions into 2022 and beyond might be not just along partisan lines, but between that large group of Americans who don't condone violence, along with those who don't see themselves as engaged in an existential struggle with an opposing party, and those smaller numbers who do.

What does run throughout public sentiment, though, is that wider apprehension about the state of democracy, and that measure may be the most important of all to watch. On a certain level, democracy has to be self-reinforcing; when people adhere to its norms, they need to believe and trust in its stability, particularly that others will adhere to them as well.

This CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 2,063 U.S. adult residents interviewed between December 27-30, 2021. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the U.S. Census American Community Survey and Current Population Survey, as well as to 2020 presidential vote. The margin of error is 2.6 points.

Toplines

Twitter suspends Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene's personal account

University of Chicago professor studying January 6 says "what we're seeing is a mainstream movement"

Schiff says House January 6 committee intends to "use every effort to get out the full facts" of what happened




The Hong Kong news site Citizen News announced on Facebook on Sunday that it would cease publishing on Tuesday, just days after a different news platform was raided by police - the third pro-democracy news platform to cease operations in the city-state in the last few months.

"We have never forgotten our original intentions, but it is a pity that the rapid changes in society in the past two years and the deterioration of the media environment have prevented us from achieving our ideals without worry," Citizen News wrote, according to The Associated Press.

The news site added "we are not only facing wind and rain, but tornadoes and huge waves."

On Dec. 29, seven people associated with Stand News, another pro-democracy news outlet in Hong Kong, were arrested by officials for sedition following a raid on their workplace, the AP reported.

Two former senior editors for Stand News have since been charged with conspiring to publish seditious materials and refused bail, while the platform has ceased publication.

Last year, authorities arrested five editors and executives from Apple Daily, another pro-democracy news outlet, and the newspaper was shuttered.

Hong Kong saw record-low voter turnout last month for its "patriots"-only Legislative Council election, in which candidates were vetted by Beijing, amid escalating restrictions and suppression on democracy and speech.

Hong Kong's justice chief on Friday blasted critics of the Stand News arrests, saying that press freedom "has always been well respected in Hong Kong."

"It is appalling to see that some even openly demand the immediate release of the arrested persons," Secretary of Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah wrote, according to the South China Morning Post.

"Such demands are not only a gross disrespect for the rule of law, but also are in blatant violation of international law and the basic principle of non-intervention," she added.
The rain pattered on the pop-up tents lined along Centre Road as dozens of people crowded beneath them preparing for the half-mile trek to President Joe Bidens Greenville home.

Saturday marked the final day of the weeklong Occupy Biden event, where dozens of people from various organizations and multiple states had camped out at 909 Centre Road since Christmas Day calling for Biden to act now on climate change.

Dozens of people gather at 909 Centre Road, Greenville, on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022, for the last day of the weeklong Occupy Biden event, where attendees camped out near President Joe Biden's home demanding action on climate change.

Neither wind nor rain prevented nearly 50 people marching along Barley Mill Road on New Years Day to call on Biden to declare a climate emergency and require all federal agencies to oppose any new fossil fuel-related projects.

Today is the eighth day that weve been out here for Occupy Biden, and we are calling on President Biden to take executive action on climate by declaring a climate emergency and directing federal agencies to oppose new fossil fuel projects, University of Delaware senior Anthony Chan said to cheers and applause. Because with a stroke of a pen, he could do just that.

Anthony Chan, a senior at the University of Delaware, speaks to attendees of Occupy Biden, a weeklong event held at 909 Centre Road, Greenville, where attendees camped out near President Joe Biden's home demanding action on climate change. Nearly 50 people later marched to Biden's home on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022.

The event was born out of the Walk for Our Grandchildren event that arrived in Wilmington over the summer, said Ted Glick, one of the organizers. They also held a sit-in at Chase Bank, protesting the financial institutions investments in the fossil fuel industry, he said.

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE: Biden's $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill: What is coming to Delaware

HOME FOR HOLIDAY: President Joe Biden, Jill Biden will spend New Year's Eve in Delaware

Wilmington-area resident Andy Flack came for his 8-year-old daughter, Phoebe, who marched quietly beside him.

Ive always been involved with environmental issues, but mainly because I have a child and shes the one who is going to suffer, he said. Ill be gone.

When asked why it was important for him to attend, Flack responded incredulously: Climate change? Seriously? Look what happened yesterday in Colorado.

Wildfires recently destroyed communities abutting the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, prompting the president on Friday to declare it a disaster. The blaze, which has been deemed the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history, prompted further warnings from scientists of the real-world impacts of climate change.

Story continues

Karen Igou, an organizer of the event, said there is more that the president can be doing to address climate change, pointing to the Biden administration auctioning off 80 million acres of land for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico shortly after returning from a climate event.

If they say he is doing all he can, that is not simply true, she said. Why is our president acting as though we are not in an emergency?

Beyond the key demands the group gave to Biden, attendees also championed celebrating indigenous people and giving land back to them, ending car culture and creating walkable cities, and getting to know and support your neighbors.

Even if you dont like them, get to know them because you are going to need them, Igou said. We need to take care of each other. Our government is not going to do it.

Dozens of people gather at 909 Centre Road in Greenville, on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022, for the last day of the weeklong Occupy Biden event, where attendees camped out near President Joe Biden's home demanding action on climate change.

As the rain abated, Occupy Biden attendees reached their destination  the checkpoint to Bidens Delaware home at Barley Mill Road and Fairthorne Avenue. Met with Secret Service, New Castle County police, barricades and vehicles, the organizers asked to deliver their demands to Biden, but were told officers couldnt contact the president.

Bullhorn in hand, Glick gathered the group and told them the news. They weren't leaving yet. Not until Occupy Biden attendees spoke with someone who could relay their demands and their urgency.

If we are not met with these two demands, we will be back, Igou said. We cant go down this way with this absurdity, this literal madness  we are the only species that has ever destroyed their own environment.

Got a tip? Contact Amanda Fries at afries@delawareonline.com, or by calling 302-598-5507. Follow her on Twitter at @mandy_fries.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Dozens march to Biden's home seeking climate emergency declaration
Guns and consequences

If people want to keep their guns, let them, but there should be consequences if the guns are used to kill innocent people. Laws should be enacted that enforce the following:

 If a gun owners weapon results in a crime, the gun owner should be held responsible if the gun was not properly locked up to prevent access either in a home, business or vehicle.

 If a child is involved in a mass killing, parents should be prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter or murder.

 No guns can be sold at estate sales, garage sales or other private sales without proper paperwork. If sold without proper paperwork, the previous owner should be charged for any crime committed.

 If a child kills himself with a weapon not properly secured, the parents should be charged with child neglect or murder.

 Children should not have access to websites that describe how to kill themselves or others. If a child is unsupervised on the Internet, parents should be charged with neglect or even murder if a death results.

Remember Mothers Against Drunk Driving? Its time to organize against gun crimes involved in mass killings and child suicide.

The children in Florida tried. It is time for all responsible citizens to act.

Lili Coleman, Hilton Hilton

Through a childs eyes

A recent letter made an analogy about growth in Beaufort County, and specifically the Bluffton area. We began with a few fish in a bowl until more and more were added. Life has become untenable due to overdevelopment and the addition of too many fish.

The other day, as I was pulling into the front entrance of Woodbridge, my seven-year-old granddaughter gasped. She was sitting in the back seat, staring at another pile of cut trees and land torn by bulldozers. Suddenly, she began to cry. What will happen to all the animals? The birdsOh no! A resident of Bluffton all her short life, she has come to her own conclusions about rapid development.

We used to make a game of port-a-potty sightings, counting how many we saw driving about Bluffton. Now, as she grows, she understands that these sightings represent a much more serious threat to our environment. She hasnt yet come to see that such rapid growth has led to overcrowded schools, lack of child care providers, difficulty finding new physicians, and traffic nightmares.

Story continues

I only hope that her generation will do a much better job understanding the ramifications of seemingly unstoppable growth.

Leslie K. Natoli, Bluffton

Proper disposal & signage?

In the past we were told not to discard old batteries into the soil because of contamination.

Enviromentalists thought fines should be imposed for doing so.

Recently I carried a bag of AA batteries and others to the county dump and asked the attendant if there was a special drop off for them. I was instructed to throw them into a regular trash bin.

What has happened with concerns about contaminations?

Also of interest are the signs placed by the town of Hilton Head on properties preserving the land against commercial development by the town of HH.

I think the signage is incorrect. It should say by the citizens of HH. They voted to authorize the program. The town just utilizes the authority.

LaMar Acuff, Bluffton

Very dissatisfied resident

In my opinion, our councilmen/women are not doing their job for us residents.

My main concern is the convenience centers. You changed the hours of operation for what reason?

It took me half an hour to get to the recycle bin and only one was open. Many of us cannot afford the luxury of pick-up service.

Example: We had a closing on Dec. 22, and then we had Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Why werent two recycle containers available?

We as residents never were given the chance to vote on the closing.

Robert Williams, Beaufort
In an emotional sit-down interview, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) opened up about the death of his son by suicide just days before the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and how as part of the House committee investigating the attack he wont let American democracy go down the tubes.

Ive already lost my son, the thing most precious to me, but Im not going to see American democracy go down the tubes. We are in the fight of our lives to defend American democracy, he said in an interview that aired Sunday with CBSs Sunday Morning.

Rep. Jamie Raskin goes through some family photos with a visitor, focusing on the memory of his son, Tommy. (Photo: The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Raskins son, Tommy, died by suicide on Dec. 31, 2020, at the age of 25 after struggling with mental illness. It followed a particularly difficult year for the Harvard Law School student, who was taking classes remotely due to the pandemic and was particularly shaken by the violent death of George Floyd by police and the relentless false election claims by President Donald Trump, his father said.

The darkness of the time overcame him, said Raskin, who said he found his son lifeless, along with a note.

Please forgive me. My illness won today. Please look after each other, the animals, and the global poor for me. All my love, Tommy, the letter read.

In this Sunspot, Rep. Jamie Raskin and his wife, Sarah Bloom Raskin, who a year ago lost their 25-year-old son, Tommy, to suicide, offer their thoughts for parents who have concerns about their own children or who have suffered loss pic.twitter.com/yJNiZfzsw7  CBS Sunday Morning  (@CBSSunday) January 2, 2022

So when thousands of protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol just one day after Tommy Raskins burial and called for the hanging of then-Vice President Mike Pence  prompting the senators colleagues to fervently pray and text their loved ones, as Raskin recalled while speaking to the Senate back in February  Raskin huddled with other lawmakers but said he was devoid of fear.

Story continues

I didnt feel any fear the entire time and I think that was because of Tommy. The very worst thing that could ever happen to me already happened, he said.

Raskin in his interview credited Pence as a hero that day for refusing Trumps order to reject Joe Bidens certification. Up until that point, Raskin said, he believes Pence went along with way too much during the Trump administration. But on that day, he was a constitutional patriot.

Raskins interview comes ahead of the release of his memoir, Unthinkable, on Tuesday, which recalls his familys experience grappling with his sons suicide and the violent insurrection.

If you or someone you know needs help, call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. You can also text HOME to 741-741 for free, 24-hour support from the Crisis Text Line. Outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention for a database of resources.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Richard Leakey, a Kenyan conservationist and paleoanthropologist who spearheaded campaigns against the ivory trade to save the dwindling African elephant population, has died, the Kenyan presidency said on Sunday. He was 77.

For years Leakey served in various roles in the government including as director of the state-run National Museums of Kenya and twice as board chairman at the Kenya Wildlife Service.

President Uhuru Kenyatta said Leakey had "served our country with distinction".

"Besides his distinguished career in the public service, Dr. Leakey is celebrated for his prominent role in Kenya's vibrant civil society where he founded and successfully ran a number of institutions."

Leakey was the son of palaeontologists Louis and Mary Leakey, whose work helped demonstrate that human evolution began in Africa. He was celebrated for his work to save wildlife from poachers and for leading campaigns against the ivory trade.

Paula Kahumbu, a wildlife conservationist who heads WildlifeDirect, told Reuters she had been mentored by Leakey, as had many other young Kenyans.

"Very courageous, he was a person who stood for integrity whether it was in wildlife conservation, whether it was related to archaeological and paleoanthropological research at museums or whether it was related to politics," she said.

Leakey also served Kenya's head of civil service from July 1999 to March 2001, at a time when then president Daniel Arap Moi was under pressure from donors to tackle corruption and other inefficiencies in government.

He was a co-founder of the Safina Party in 1995.

At the time of his death, he was serving as chairman of the Turkana Basin Institute at Stony Brook University in the United States, which works to facilitate research and education in palaeontology and archaeology in northern Kenya.

Leakey was also a fellow of the UK-based Royal Society and an honorary fellow of the African Academy of Sciences.

(Writing by Elias Biryabarema and George Obulutsa; Editing by Alison Williams)
Russia is very likely to invade Ukraine and might only be deterred by enormous sanctions, the chair of the US House intelligence committee said on Sunday.

Related: Ukraine crisis: how Putin feeds off anger over Natos eastward expansion

Adam Schiff also said an invasion could backfire on Moscow, by drawing more countries into the Nato military alliance.

I also think that a powerful deterrent is the understanding that if they do invade, it is going to bring Nato closer to Russia, not push it farther away, he said.

After the California Democrat spoke, the White House said Joe Biden had spoken to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said in a statement: President Biden made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine.

On Twitter, Zelenskiy said: The first international talk of the year with [Biden] proves the special nature of our relations.

He also said the joint actions of Ukraine, the US and partners in keeping peace in Europe, preventing further escalation, reforms, deoligarchisation were discussed. We appreciate the unwavering support of Ukraine.

Russia has amassed around 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine. Earlier this week, Biden told Vladimir Putin the US would impose serious sanctions if Russia attacked.

Talks are scheduled for Geneva on 9 and 10 January. But amid tensions heightened by both sides possession of nuclear weapons, Russias foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said that if the west continues its aggressive line, Russia will be forced to take all necessary measures to ensure strategic balance and eliminate unacceptable threats to our security.

Russia has for years complained about Nato encroachment. Ukraine is not a member of the alliance, which guarantees collective defence, but Nato has expanded eastwards since the fall of the Soviet Union and Kiev urgently seeks admission.

Story continues

Russia invaded Ukrainian territory in 2014, annexing Crimea.

The US has supplied small arms to Ukraine.

On CBSs Face the Nation, Schiff was asked what would stop Putin ordering an invasion.

I think that it would require enormous sanctions on Russia to deter what appears to be a very likely Russian invasion of Ukraine again, Schiff said. And I think our allies need to be solidly on board with it. Russia needs to understand we are united in this.

Related: Ukraine urges Nato to hasten membership as Russian troops gather

An invasion, Schiff said, would see more Nato assets closer to Russia. [It] will have the opposite impact of what Putin is trying to achieve.

Schiff said he had no problem with going after Putin personally, but thought sector-sized sanctions will be the most important.

Asked if he thought scheduled talks had any chance of averting an invasion, he said: I fear that Putin is very likely to invade. I still frankly dont understand the full motivation for why now hes doing this, but he certainly appears intent on it unless we can persuade him otherwise.

And I think nothing other than a level of sanctions that Russia has never seen will deter him, and thats exactly what we need to do with our allies.
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP)  Clifford Omoruyi had 19 points and 12 rebounds and Rutgers built a 45-point lead early in the second half en route to a 79-48 victory over Central Connecticut on Saturday.

The Scarlet Knights led 44-14 at halftime then went on a 20-5 run to open the second half before weary Central Connecticut found any consistency on offense.

Geo Baker scored 11 points for Rutgers (7-5) and had seven of the Scarlet Knights' 25 assists. Paul Mulcahy had eight points and eight assists. Backup forward Aundre Hyatt had nine points and nine rebounds.

Rutgers opened the game with a 15-3 run and closed the first half with a 15-0 run for its 44-14 lead. Central Connecticut shot 14% in the first half and made only one 2-point field goal.

Stephane Ayangma had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Blue Devils (4-11). Joe Ostrowsky also scored 12 points.

Central Connecticut finished at 27% shooting. Rutgers shot 50% and had a 49-31 rebounding advantage.

Rutgers was playing just its third game since upsetting then-No. 1 Purdue on Dec. 9. The Scarlet Knights originally scheduled Central Connecticut on Dec. 23 but had to reschedule due to COVID protocols in the Rutgers program. The new game day meant the Blue Devils had to play on back-to-back days after defeating St. Francis (New York) on Friday.

Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell was an assistant coach at CCSU from 1997-2001.

-

More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
Pianist Garrick Ohlsson is a guest artist with the Sarasota Orchestra for the concert Ohlsson plays Rachmaninoff.

Editor's Note: On Jan. 3, the Sarasota Orchestra announced that due to a COVID exposure, conductor Jeffrey Kahane is not available to travel to Sarasota to lead next weekends concerts. He will be replaced by two-time Grammy Award winner David Alan Miller, music director of the Albany Symphony Orchestra.

So, is Rachmaninoffs towering Piano Concerto No. 3 fiendishly difficult, as the Sarasota Orchestras website describes next weekends concert?

In a word, yes, said Garrick Ohlsson, the pianist who will join forces with guest conductor Jeffrey Kahane and the full orchestra to perform the infamous Rach 3. It was written by one of the greatest pianists who ever lived. He was a towering virtuoso; he wrote it for himself. There was nothing a pianist could do that he couldnt do.

Arts Newsletter: Sign up to receive the latest news on the Sarasota area arts scene every Monday

A new home?: Sarasota Orchestra may have a site for new music center by spring

Enrolled at the Juilliard School at age 13, Ohlsson first encountered the Rach 3 in New York City, hearing Jerome Lowenthal perform under the baton of the legendary Leonard Bernstein.

He was very surprised when he was 15 and his piano teacher instructed him to learn the concerto over the summer, telling him, If you learn it now, youll never be afraid of it. It didnt hurt that he was already 6-feet-2-inches tall and had the big hands helpful in large-scale piano works.

Since then, the award-winning Ohlsson has performed it dozens of times, perhaps as many as a hundred, including at least one previous performance in Sarasota.

Its more a beloved favorite, he said. I now know it so well its part of my hard drive.

Sergei Rachmaninoff wrote the concerto in 1909 and dedicated it to another giant of the piano, his good friend Josef Hofmann, who for reasons unknown never played it. Vladimir Horowitz made it a signature work in the 1930s, and the concerto became part of popular culture with the 1996 movie Shine, in which John Gielgud described it as a mega monster piece.

Story continues

Ohlsson joined Kirill Gerstein for a duo piano performance and conversation in February for the Sarasota Concert Association, which included a different Rachmaninoff piece, the Symphonic Dances.

Jeffrey Kahane is artistic director of the Sarasota Music Festival.

The Sarasota Orchestra concerts will be led by Kahane, who served as artistic advisor to the orchestra during the period before the arrival of Music Director Designate Bramwell Tovey, and now is music director for the orchestras Sarasota Music Festival.

Meet Bramwell Tovey: New Orchestra director eager to meet Sarasota audience in debut concert

A new theater prize: Playwright and filmmaker Radha Blank wins first $35,000 Hermitage Major Theater Award

The two have worked together before.

He has been one of the pianists, and musicians, I most admire, said Kahane. Hes been a hero of mine for a very long time. So when the Sarasota Orchestra invited me to conduct this program and said Garrick was going to be the soloist, I was over the moon about it.

The program also includes Brahms Symphony No. 2, which is a piece that has been very close to my heart for a long time, said Kahane.

Pianist Garrick Ohlsson is a guest artist with the Sarasota Orchestra.

What I love about this is (the program) provides two very different takes on the Romantic spirit. These are both deeply Romantic pieces but coming from completely different places, he said.

Brahms writes with the spirit of a Romantic but also with the specific kind of attention to formal detail as a Classical composer. His models were Mozart, Haydn, Schubert. He lived until 1897, at which time Rachmaninoff was a very young man. Theres always this wonderful tension in Brahms music between the Classicist and the real Romantic. It makes for a wonderful foil for the Rachmaninoff, which is first of all very Russian, as Russian as could be.

Ohlsson Plays Rachmaninoff

Sarasota Orchestra Masterworks. 8 p.m. Jan. 7 and 8, 2:30 p.m. Jan. 9, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets $35-$98. Classical Conversation with Jeffrey Kahane, 10:30 a.m. Jan. 6, Holley Hall, Beatrice Friedman Symphony Center, 709 N. Tamiami Trail. Tickets $11 advance, $16 at the door. 941-953-3434; sarasotaorchestra.org

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Guest pianist Garrick Ohlsson talks challenge of Rachmaninoff concerto
BEDFORD PARK, IL  The Walmart Supercenter in Bedford Park closed temporarily Sunday to allow for third-party cleaning crews "thoroughly clean and sanitize the building. The Bedford Park location is expected to reopen Jan. 4. The closure was prompted by the rise of positive omicron variant cases throughout the Chicago region and country.

"As you know, several areas across the country have begun seeing a renewed increase in positive COVID-19 cases, and we want to assist health officials working against the pandemic, Walmart spokesperson Felicia McCranie said in a written statement. In support of this effort, we have chosen to temporarily close our Bedford Park store location at 7050 S Cicero Ave  as part of a company-initiated program. This will allow extra time for a third-party specialist to further sanitize the store and will also give our associates additional time to restock shelves and prepare the store to once again serve the community. We plan to reopen the store to customers at 6 a.m. on Tues., Jan. 4.

The Walmart Supercenter in Orland Hills was also closed over New Years weekend and is expected to reopen Monday. Last week, the Olympia Fields location also closed.

The retailer said it would continue to follow CDC guidance, which includes fully vaccinated people wearing masks in public indoor settings in counties with substantial or high transmission, based on CDC data. Based upon weekly COVID-19 transmission rates, guidance on mask usage is likely to change over time in locations.

In these counties and where there are state or local mask mandates, associates will be required to wear masks inside our facilities, including stores, clubs, distribution centers and fulfillment centers, the retailers statement said.

Walmart continues to offer COVID-19 vaccines to customers through walk-in or online appointments. The retailer is also making access to vaccines available for associates.

Associates can receive their vaccinations at their home store pharmacy, on or off the clock. Theyll receive two hours of paid leave to receive their vaccination and up to three days paid leave, should they experience an adverse reaction, the retailer said.

Story continues

Early in the pandemic, two employees at the Walmart store in Evergreen Park died from coronavirus in April 2020. Then-Mayor James Sexton suspended and reinstated the Evergreen Park locations liquor license, stating he was satisfied that Walmart had taken corrective action by having a third-party cleaning crew clean and sanitize the building.

A wrongful death lawsuit was later filed on behalf of the family of one of the employees over claims the same month over claims that management ignored an outbreak at the Evergreen Park store even though several employees were showing symptoms of COVID-19. The retailer claims that it has since initiated extensive measures to protect store associates and customers during the pandemic to reduce the possible spread of the virus in its stores.

We will continue working closely with elected and local health officials, adjusting how we serve the community while also keeping the health and safety of our customers and associates in mind, the retailer said.

This article originally appeared on the Oak Lawn Patch
TUNIS (Reuters) - The speaker of Tunisia's suspended parliament, Rached Ghannouchi, said he had asked President Kais Saied in a letter to reveal the whereabouts and condition of Ennahda party official Noureddine Bhairi, who was arrested on Friday.

Members of the moderate Islamist party said Bhairi had been in poor health, and that they had received information that he had not been allowed to take his regular medication since his arrest.

Pictures and videos published by Ennahda members and supporters on Facebook showed people gathering in front of the hospital in Bizerte, saying Bhairi had been taken there.

The Interior Ministry has not confirmed Bhairi's arrest, saying only that two unnamed people have been placed under house arrest to protect national security.

No officials in Saied's administration were immediately available to comment.

Ennahda, which has accused Saied of a coup for suspending parliament in July and accumulating executive powers, said plainclothes agents had seized Bhairi on Friday morning.

Since Saied's intervention, several senior politicians and business leaders have been detained or prosecuted, many of them on charges of corruption or defamation.

Rights groups have criticised some of those arrests and the use of military courts to hear cases.

Saied has promised to uphold the rights and freedoms won in Tunisia's 2011 revolution, which ushered in democracy and triggered "Arab Spring" uprisings across the region.

(Reporting by Tarek Amara; Writing by Ahmad Elhamy; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Philanthropic funders make possible several projects and coverage areas at the Free Press as well as our Summer Apprentice Program. We depend on grants and the backing of our subscribers and partners to sustain our public mission. This year we collaborated with more media organizations and university programs to cover issues ranging from redistricting to environmental justice. Here are the ways we've put these contributions to work for Michigan:

Report for America

The Free Press was proud to continue its work with Report for America in 2021 tooffer strong coverage of the unprecedented economic challenges metro Detroiters experienced during the pandemic and to closely cover a multitude of consequential political stories, including the state's historic redistricting process.

Report for America is an effort by the GroundTruth Project to report on under-covered issues by placing corps members in local newsrooms across the country. GroundTruth Project pays for a portion of each corps member's salary, the Free Press pays for a portion and then we raise money to cover the balance.

In June 2022, the Free Press will welcome a third Report for America corps member, who will cover issues related to the wellbeing of children, including mental health, physical health as well as the juvenile justice and foster care systems.

Economic mobility

With no tenant to answer the door, Tenesa Sanders, the lead organizer for Detroit Action, leaves a legal help flyer for those facing eviction in October 2021.

The Free Press zeroed in on a key challenge for many residents in need: staying housed. We tracked the eviction moratorium, and a delay in deploying millions of dollars in federal aid intended for vulnerable Michiganders that was caught up in red tape. We served readers with daily updates as well as pieces intended to anticipate questions from renters who need the funding to stay in their homes. The popularity of these pieces illustrates the demand for explanatory coverage, practical resources and service journalism. These articles also prompted calls from renters seeking help, allowing the Free Press to connect renters with resources. We also highlighted activists and local nonprofits working tirelessly to help people stay in their homes. Ultimately, this work led us to put a spotlight on systemic issues that have made housing across Michigan largely unaffordable.

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The Free Press is partnering with nonprofit media organization BridgeDetroit on this coverage, which is informed by BridgeDetroit's community priorities model. That model uses several inputs, including interviews with Detroiters and surveys of Detroiters conducted by the University of Michigan, to identify priorities of residents across the city. This model has helped the Free Press zero in on home repair as an important issue. That work has drawn calls from residents seeking to repair their homes and a deeper look at why weatherization programs are out of reach for many residents.

Factchecking/political reporting

Elaine Edmonds, left, and Denis Strauch process absentee ballots before they are scanned at Livonia City Hall in August 2020.

After nonstop factchecking during the 2020 presidential election, this work continued in 2021. In fact, reporting on the pillars of our shared democracy was a hallmark of our Report for America coverage this year. Michigan became a center for political misinformation. Our work debunked falsehoods about the 2020 election long into 2021 and covered legislative committee reports that showed Michigan's election results were accurate and trustworthy. We also thoroughly reported on proposed election laws, many of which would make it tougher to vote in Michigan.

This role also gives us the opportunity to provide in-depth coverage of Michigan's historic redistricting process. The new process was prompted by a 2018 ballot initiative that requires an independent commission to draw political districts for the U.S. House, Michigan Senate and Michigan House. The maps had previously been drawn by the party in charge of the Legislature, leading to political districts that have favored one party over another. The Free Press will continue its thorough coverage of what the new maps will mean for democracy in Michigan.

How you can support this work

We can't do this work without the support of readers and local funders. To support reporting on the wellbeing of children, economic mobility and factchecking elected officials throughout 2022 with a tax-deductible contribution, go to https://bit.ly/freepRFA. You also can support local journalism by becoming a subscriber at freep.com/impact.

Apprentice program trains next generation of journalists

From left: Louisa Stuhec of Ann Arbor, Kenndall Wallace of Detroit, Sydney Neal of Canton, 2021 Summer Apprentice Program Director Erin Perry, Clare Hong of Ann Arbor, Chase Wade of Detroit, and Cal Martinez of Dearborn make up the Summer Apprentice Program.

The Free Press' annual Summer Apprentice Program selects high school students with a demonstrated interest in journalism to join the Free Press newsroom for a summer. In 2021, our newsroom operated remotely, and so the apprentice program went virtual. Six students joined our staff, taking part in journalism training, taking on assignments and pursuing their own story ideas. Among their stories in 2021: how gay pride events were bouncing back amid the pandemic, after school programs that got a boost in funding and how a host of new little libraries arose to help kids discover books that feature Black children. Through this program, apprentices improved their writing and interviewing skills, forged friendships with like-minded young journalists and built a network of professional journalists they can lean on throughout their careers. The 2021 apprentice program was possible thanks to the support of the Lipinski Journalism Fund, endowed by John and Holly Madigan, and The Michigan Daily.

National Press Foundation funds environmental justice project

The National Press Foundation and the National Press Club Journalism Institute awarded a grant to the Free Press to report on environmental justice this year and next. This project examines how the principles of environmental justice, community input and disproportionate impact are (and are not) included in the permit approval process for pollutants.

We'd like to thank our generous funders and supporters

Lipinski Journalism Fund at The Michigan Daily

Google

National Press Foundation

Report for America

Spencer Fellowship in Education Reporting at the Columbia University School of Journalism

Detroit Journalism Engagement Fund, a partnership of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan

U-M English Department

Hudson-Webber Foundation

Duchene Foundation

Ford Foundation

Thanks to the Free Press' many partners

James Jack of Human I-T at Focus: Hope in Detroit in June 2021.

The Free Press wants to recognize its partnerships with community organizations and other media organizations and groups. We appreciate each of these partnerships. Large and small, they have strengthened our connections with the community, enhanced coverage for Free Press readers and helped the Free Press identify important issues for coverage this year and beyond. These partners include: Michigan Community Resources, Bridge Michigan, Michigan Radio, BridgeDetroit, the Michigan History Center, Outlier Media, Chalkbeat Detroit, Detroit Public Television, ProPublica, the Detroit Chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists, Detour Detroit, Planet Detroit, Detroit Documenters, Columbia University School of Journalism, Columbia Journalism Investigations at New York's Columbia University, Documenting COVID-19 project at Columbia University's Brown Institute for Media Innovation and MuckRock, and Type Investigations.

Join us in 2022

To learn more about supporting journalism in 2022 and funding efforts like the Free Press Summer Apprentice Program, internships for aspiring journalists and coverage of crucial issues like economic mobility, factchecking and the wellbeing of children  or other coverage areas that contribute to a more equitable and informed community  please reach out to Peter Bhatia at pbhatia@freepress.com. Subscribing to the Free Press is another way to support public service journalism and inspire change. Subscribe at freep.com/impact.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: A special message to Detroit Free Press funders and supporters
CAIRO (AP)  Egypts Suez Canal said Sunday its annual revenues reached $6.3 billion last year, the highest in the crucial waterway's history.

Admiral Ossama Rabei, head of the Suez Canal Authority, said last years revenues rose 12.8%, compared to 2020, when the canal achieved $5.6 billion.

He said in a statement that 20,649 vessels flowed through the Suez Canal last year, an increase of 10% compared to 18,830 vessels in 2020.

About 10% of global trade, including 7% of the worlds oil, flows through the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean and Red seas. The canal, first opened in 1869, is source of national pride and foreign currency to Egypt.

The unprecedented 2021 revenues came as the shipping industry is still under pressure from two years of the coronavirus pandemic.

The canal, one of the worlds most vital waterways, was blocked for six days in March when a massive Panama-flagged container ship, the Ever Given, ran aground in the single-lane stretch of the waterway.
By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The chief executives of AT&T and Verizon Communications rejected a request to delay the planned Jan. 5 introduction of new 5G wireless service over aviation safety concerns but offered to temporarily adopt new safeguards.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Federal Aviation Administration chief Steve Dickson had asked AT&T CEO John Stankey and Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg late Friday for a commercial deployment delay of no more than two weeks.

The wireless companies in a joint letter on Sunday said they would not deploy 5G around airports for six months but rejected any broader limitation on using C-Band spectrum. They said the Transportation Department proposal would be "an irresponsible abdication of the operating control required to deploy world-class and globally competitive communications networks."

The aviation industry and FAA have raised concerns about potential interference of 5G with sensitive aircraft electronics like radio altimeters that could disrupt flights.

The exclusion zone AT&T and Verizon propose is currently in use in France, the carriers said, "with slight adaption" reflecting "modest technical differences in how C-band is being deployed."

"The laws of physics are the same in the United States and France," the CEOs wrote. "If U.S. airlines are permitted to operate flights every day in France, then the same operating conditions should allow them to do so in the United States."

The FAA said in a statement on Sunday that it was "reviewing the latest letter from the wireless companies on how to mitigate interference from 5G C-band transmissions. U.S. aviation safety standards will guide our next actions."

FAA officials said France uses spectrum for 5G that sits further away from spectrum used for radio altimeters and uses lower power levels for 5G than those authorized in the United States.

Verizon said it will initially only use spectrum in the same range as used in France, adding it will be a couple of years before it uses additional spectrum. The larger U.S. exclusion zone around U.S. airports is "to make up for the slight difference in power levels between the two nations," Verizon added.

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Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), representing 50,000 workers at 17 airlines, on Sunday wrote on Twitter that pilots, airlines, manufacturers and others "have NO incentive to delay 5G, other than SAFETY. What do they think  were raising these issues over the holidays for, kicks?"

The Air Line Pilots Association also backed the delay.

Government and industry officials said the exclusion zones proposed by the wireless carriers is not as large as what has been sought by the FAA.

The FAA and Buttigieg on Friday proposed identifying priority airports "where a buffer zone would permit aviation operations to continue safely while the FAA completes its assessments of the interference potential."

The wireless carriers, which won the C-Band spectrum in an $80 billion government auction, previously agreed to precautionary measures for six months to limit interference but say the upgrades are essential to compete with other countries like China and to enable remote working.

Trade group Airlines for America, representing American Airlines, FedEx and other carriers, on Thursday asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to halt deployment around many airports, warning thousands of flights could be disrupted daily.

The airline group has said it may go to court Monday if the FCC does not act. The group urged the FCC and the telecom industry to work with the FAA and the aviation industry to "enable the rollout of 5G technology while prioritizing safety and avoiding any disruption to the aviation system."

An FCC spokesperson said Sunday the agency is "optimistic that by working together we can both advance the wireless economy and ensure aviation safety."

Wireless industry group CTIA said 5G is safe and spectrum is being used in about 40 other countries.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Mark Porter)




Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen is warning China that "military adventurism" is not the answer, Reuters reported on Sunday.

"We must remind the Beijing authorities to not misjudge the situation and to prevent the internal expansion of military adventurism," Tsai said in a live Facebook message on Saturday to mark the new year.

Taiwan has publicly said that it is an independent country and has vowed to defend its freedom and democracy.

The Chinese government, meanwhile, has claimed Taiwan as its own territory and in the past two years has increased military presence and diplomatic pressure to support its claims, Reuters noted.

A spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, Zhu Fenglian, said Beijing is "willing to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification."

"But if Taiwan independence separatist forces continue to provoke and coerce, or even cross any red line, we will have to take decisive measures," Zhu said in a statement.

"The pursuit of independence will only throw Taiwan into a deep chasm and bring about profound catastrophe," Zhu added.

Tsai also added that military presence isn't an option to solve "cross-strait disagreements," saying those types of conflicts would hurt the economic stability, Reuters reported.

In his address marking the start of the new year, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the complete unification of "the motherland" is an inspiration shared by people on both sides of the spectrum, Reuters noted.
Then & Now

Before opening as a record store in 1979, this location already had a rich retail history all its own.

In 1926, J.J. Newberry Co., part of a New York-based five-and-dime chain that once had 650 stores across the country, opened for business here.

After four decades, Newberry vacated the spot in 1968, and a year later Narcus Brothers office supply store moved in.

In December 1972, Narcus Brothers Inc. was taken over by creditors. The assets of the 58-year-old business at this location sold for about $25,000 on June 11, 1973.

In October 1973, the Old Brass & Copper Shop moved into the location. In March 1979, the shop moved to larger quarters, clearing the way for the store in this week's Then photo.

The location's latest business made rock n roll, punk, new wave, rap and country records available to the masses.

Thinking downtown shopping is coming back, notorious New York City businessman Morris Levy bought this property for $100,000. Opening on May 10, 1979, the record store was the eighth in the Framingham-based chain.

Rex Smith, who made his Broadway debut in the musical Grease and had a Top 10 hit with You Take My Breath Away, conducted the first autograph signing here.

Other in-store signings would follow, including Kiss (in full makeup), Poison and the Tubes.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Then & Now: Do you know where this is?
This year is poised to be a big one for space exploration. By midyear, the revolutionary James Webb Space Telescope will likely be fully operational, allowing astronomers to peer deeper in space than ever before to capture early galaxies and distant planets.

But there is plenty to be seen without the help of a $10 billion telescope positioned a million miles from Earth.

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From Maryland, observers will be able to catch two lunar eclipses, two planetary conjunctions and some meteor showers in 2022  all with the naked eye.

[ Meet the Baltimore team readying the James Webb Space Telescope for discovery after its launched ]

This calendar was compiled using resources such as amsmeteors.org, EarthSky.org, and TimeandDate.com.

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Here are some celestial sights to look out for in the New Year:

January

Look to the skies in early January to catch the six-hour peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower. For observers in the Northern Hemisphere, the shower will be best visible between midnight and dawn Jan. 3, away from urban light pollution, according to the American Meteor Society. Astronomers recommend facing the northeast quadrant of the sky and looking about halfway up. When weather conditions cooperate, you may be able to see dozens of meteors an hour.

From Jan. 3 to 5, you may be able to catch the thin crescent moon passing beside Venus, Mercury, Saturn and Jupiter in turn. On the 3rd, the moon will be rather close to Mercury and Venus, and the glare may make the planets difficult to spot. Try a pair of binoculars. But seeing Saturn beside the moon on the 4th and Jupiter beside the moon on the 5th should be possible, if conditions cooperate.

On Jan. 4 at 1:52 a.m., Earth will be at the end of its elliptical orbit closest to the sun  a point known as perihelion. That days sunrise at 7:26 a.m. will be one of the latest of the year.

February

From Feb. 11 to 16, look to the southeast sky about 40 minutes before sunrise to catch Earths three nearest neighbors  Mercury, Venus and Mars.

Then, cast your eyes to the southeast an hour before sunrise on Feb. 27 to catch the crescent moon in line with Mars and Venus. With a pair of binoculars, away from city lights, you might be able to catch the asteroid Vesta nearby.

March

The vernal equinox arrives on March 20 at 11:33 a.m. On that day, the first of spring, the length of day and night will be roughly equal, before the days grow longer.

On March 28, a bright Venus, accompanied by a dimmer Mars and Saturn, will join the moon in the southeast sky an hour before sunrise.

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April

On the morning of April 4, Mars and Saturn will nearly merge in the sky, in whats known as a conjunction. Saturn will be the brighter of the two. The next morning, the two planets will switch positions. Look to the southeast about an hour before sunrise.

That evening, about an hour after sunset, several star clusters will be well positioned for viewing: the Pleiades cluster (also known as the Seven Sisters), the Aldebaran star (the eye of the Taurus bull) and the V-shaped Hyades cluster will all join the moon in the sky. Look to the northwest.

In late April, the Lyrid meteor shower will hit its peak. Between sunset on April 21 and the early morning, look to the northeast. This shower, which can produce about 10 to 15 meteors an hour, is known for rare outbursts of as much as 100 meteors an hour.

On April 30,

observers in Maryland will be able to see Jupiter and Venus meet in conjunction. Because of the planets glares, they may even appear as one in the sky. The next day, the two planets will switch positions.

May

In early May, look for the Eta Aquarid meteor shower. Astronomers say the best time to meteor-hunt will be the hour or two before dawn on May 5. The nights crescent moon will set around midnight, allowing for better viewing conditions. In the southern U.S., as many as 10 to 20 meteors an hour may be visible.

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Around 11:30 p.m. on May 15, the moon over Baltimore will take on a reddish glow amid the years first total lunar eclipse. From then until to 12:53 a.m. on the 16th, the moon will sit completely in the Earths shadow, creating one of the years most spectacular sights.

June

June 14 is the first of three so-called supermoons. The nights full moon may appear a bit larger and brighter than normal, since the moon will be near its closest approach to Earth. This moon has also been dubbed the Strawberry Moon, since it coincides with the zenith of the strawberry harvest.

2022s summer solstice, the longest day of the year, will be June 21. On this day, the Earths Northern Hemisphere will be tilted closest to the Sun.

The earliest sunrise of the year will be on June 13 or 14 at 5:39 a.m., and the latest sunset of the year will be on June 27 or 28 at 8:37 p.m.

July

On Independence Day, the Earth will reach its aphelion  its farthest point from the Sun  at 3:10 a.m. in Baltimore.

The years second supermoon is July 13. That full moon has been nicknamed the Buck Moon, since it aligns with the time of year male deer would begin to grow their antlers.

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Late July might be a good time for a warm-weather meteor-watching session. The Delta Aquariids will peak around July 29 and 30. The best time to watch this shower, which offers a maximum of 15 to 20 faint meteors an hour, is usually an hour or two before dawn.

August

Unfortunately, 2022 is not a great year for the normally rich Perseid meteor shower, because the predicted peak  Aug. 11 and 12  falls during a full moon. But this shower has a fairly long range: from July 14 to Sept. 1. Look to the sky in the early morning hours in early August, after the moon has set, or look between sunset and moonrise after the showers peak. These meteors often leave persistent trains, and are visible in all parts of the sky.

Aug. 12 is the years final supermoon. Often called the Sturgeon Moon, its named after the fish native to the Great Lakes.

Two days later, Saturn will be at opposition, meaning the ringed planet will be as close as it gets to Earth. Any time that night will be a great time to view the planet, and with at least a medium-sized telescope, youll likely be able to see its rings and some of its moons.

September

The night of Sept. 16, Neptune will reach its closest point relative to Earth. But even at its brightest, the planet appears as little more than a blue dot on most telescopes due to its great distance from Earth.

Just after 9 p.m. on Sept. 22, Earths two hemispheres will again receive equal amounts of light for the autumnal equinox. From that day forward, the nighttime hours will outweigh the daylight, until the spring of 2023.

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Sept. 26 is a great time to view Jupiter, which will be making its closest approach to Earth. Spot the planet and some of its larger moons with a pair of binoculars, or look through a telescope to see Jupiters cloud bands at their brightest.

October

Last years Orionid meteor shower was somewhat drowned out by a bright moon, but this years is poised to be better. This shower, which radiates from the club of the Orion constellation, can produce a maximum of 10 to 20 meteors an hour in good conditions, and the occasional bright fireball. Look in the hours before dawn on Oct. 21 for best viewing.

November

The Evening Sun Daily Get your evening news in your e-mail inbox. Get all the top news and sports from the baltimoresun.com. >

Early risers are likely to catch the years second total lunar eclipse. Starting at 5:16 a.m. on Nov. 8, the full eclipse will end with the sunrise. Because the moon will be close to the horizon, its recommended to find a high point to view the eclipse, with an uninhibited view west-northwest.

The next night is the best opportunity youll get to see distant Uranus. The planet will be shining its brightest that night, but even with a telescope it will be rather small.

On the night of Nov. 17, the Leonid meteor shower will be at its peak. This shower, which produced a notably spectacular meteor storm in 1966, radiates from the Leo the Lion constellation. That night, the best viewing will be between midnight and the rise of the crescent moon at about 2 a.m.

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December

The years earliest sunset will take place on Dec. 7 at 4:43 p.m.

Look to Mars on the night of Dec. 8, when it will be shining the most brightly. With a telescope, you may even be able to see some of the details on the red planets surface.

Meteor enthusiasts should consider venturing out in the cold on the night of Dec. 13 before midnight, when the Geminid meteor shower hits its peak. Unfortunately, this years shower occurs only six days after a full moon, meaning the moons brightness may make it more difficult to see. But the high rate of meteors makes this shower attractive nonetheless  50 or more meteors an hour, at times.

The winter solstice takes place on Dec. 21  the years shortest day.
Several thousands flights were canceled in the U.S. over the new year weekend amid continuing Covid-related disruptions and weather issues.

Airlines canceled 2,749 domestic flights on Saturday, with another 1,974 cancelations as of Sunday morning, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware. Additionally, over 7,000 flights in the U.S. were delayed on Saturday, while the site recorded over 1,200 delays on Sunday morning.

Over 12,000 U.S. flights were canceled over the past week, according to ABC News.

Teams across our system continue to do all possible to mitigate constraints from increasing winter weather and the omicron variant, Delta said in a statement on its website on Thursday.

The Federal Aviation Administration warned on Thursday that weather and Covid issues could continue to disrupt travel, and on Friday said some of its own operations could be cut back because of Covid.

Like the rest of the U.S. population, an increased number of FAA employees have tested positive for COVID-19, the agency said in a statement. To maintain safety, traffic volume at some facilities could be reduced, which might result in delays during busy periods.

Meanwhile, a snowstorm in Chicago forced the cancelation of close to half of all flights at OHare International Airport and a majority of flights at Midway International Airport.

The Chicago storm is affecting both flights in and out of Chicago and other flight sequences for our crew, American Airlines told ABC. The number of COVID-related sick calls is consistent with what we have seen over the past few days.

Flight cancelations began to multiply with the onset of the Christmas holiday and the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

More from National Review
August 9, 2006. It was evening in Walthamstow, East London. Two local men had arranged to meet at the Town Hall complex to discuss an urgent matter. They met in the parking lot, briefly rummaging around in the back of one of their cars, before walking off toward the Walthamstow War Memorial. There, they leaned against a wall in the dark, chatting.

A little way off in the darkness, the command crackled over the police comms. The surveillance team watching the men from afar was ordered to move in and arrest them immediately. Their high-priority targets had converged on a single spot, and there was little time to waste. But this was Great Britain, where the police do not carry guns. These men and women were suddenly tasked to arrest the two top suspects in al-Qaedas largest terror plot in the West since 9/11  and they didnt have a single firearm among them.

All they had were, at best, cuffs and a stern voice. And so the team aggressively approached the men, hoping they wouldnt have a gun or a knife. Or a bomb, possibly hidden in one of the cars, ready to detonate with a flick of the switch.

Utterly caught off guard, two men who had spent the last several months plotting to bring down multiple passenger planes over the Atlantic Ocean gave up without a fight.

Thus began a massive crackdown throughout the United Kingdom. That night and into the following morning, scores of police kicked down doors across London and elsewhere, tackling suspects on the street, dragging others from their homes and safehouses. It was the culmination of Operation OVERT, a massive investigation that had been whirring relatively quietly for months as the U.S., the U.K. and Pakistan worked together to crush what would come to be known as the transatlantic aircraft plot: a terrorist conspiracy to kill thousands of passengers by detonating liquid explosives hidden in plastic bottles.

OVERT was a huge undertaking; over 800 surveillance officers worked on cracking that cell, with teams pulled in from Northern Ireland and the military. If the Boy Scouts had a surveillance team, Steve Dryden of the London Metropolitan Police dryly noted, wed have used them as well. Across the Atlantic, the White House, CIA, NSA and other departments were providing as much assistance to their British counterparts as possible. Cooperation from the United States, as well as from Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), had been critical to the effort that ended with the raft of arrests on that August night.

Story continues

Most people remember the transatlantic terror plot  if they do at all  as the reason they cannot bring more than 3 oz. of liquid on a flight. But the thwarted scheme has a bigger legacy: as an object lesson in how to successfully fight transnational terror alongside allies and without resorting to illegal or legally dubious tactics. The U.S. war against terrorist groups over the last two decades has had a mixed track record at best. But the 2006 disruption of the liquid bombers stands out as a highlight in a long, and still ongoing, struggle to keep citizens of democracies safe while respecting civil liberties, human rights and the rule of law.

By mid-2006, British authorities were monitoring a London native named Abdulla Ahmed Ali, tipped off by his communications with a man who had tried and failed to blow himself up on the Underground the year before. The British quickly informed the Americans that Ali was in contact with other suspicious individuals in Pakistan and Britain with known and suspected al-Qaeda ties. It became increasingly clear that the terror group was planning something big. Because the suspects were British citizens trained in Pakistan, all the countries intelligence agencies had to get involved. London focused on the plotters, Washington monitored their emails, and Islamabad began to try to locate the mastermind hiding somewhere inside Pakistan. As the fuzzy bits of data sharpened, intelligence officials realized the men they were tracking planned to blow up several passenger flights bound for North America.

What ultimately became a model for successful international cooperation against a major terror plot was not always such, because of fundamentally different perspectives about how to confront the adversary. The United States, still reeling from the trauma of 9/11, saw the conflict against al-Qaeda as a war against an implacable foe that needed to be destroyed one way or another. London, perhaps informed in part by decades of battling the Irish Republican Army, viewed this more as a law enforcement problem  quite serious, certainly, but requiring a scrupulous commitment to collecting evidence for a future trial.

But that didnt mean the U.K. wouldnt play close to the edge. In their quest to build an airtight case by catching the plotters red-handed, the British wanted to let the terrorists proceed far longer than what the Americans could stomach. At one point, according to a former CIA official, London floated an unorthodox proposal: They would permit the plotters to pass through Heathrow Airport security with their explosives, board North America-bound planes and let them settle onto their flights. At a predetermined time, the pilots would announce regretfully that the planes had some sort of mechanical problem and ask all passengers to get off. The authorities would be waiting at the entryways, beyond the jet bridge, where they would arrest the suspects.

When briefed on this plan, the Americans couldnt believe it was serious. They gently responded, yes, it might work. Then again, the bombers might see each other inside the terminals and realize what was about to happen. One of the plotters might then decide to blow up right then and there  within the confines of a crowded airport or a fully fueled U.S. plane with 250-plus people strapped inside. The plan didnt stay on the table for long.

As both American and British authorities unearthed bits and pieces of this plot, there remained lots of angst and concern in Washington that London was moving at the speed of molasses, according to Larry Pfeiffer, at the time chief of staff to CIA Director Michael Hayden. The CIA thought the 7/7 attacks the year before, in which al-Qaeda suicide operatives had struck Londons transportation system at rush hour, showed that British security services needed to ruthlessly excise the Islamist threat before an even larger plot occurred. People thought that was the wake-up call for them, Pfeiffer recalled of the subway bombings, but here it was, a year later, and they still were struggling.

From Washingtons perspective, each day the terrorists walked free, the United States was decidedly less safe. The Americans, many former officials told me, considered this plot to be the biggest operation since 9/11 and treated it as such. On the other hand, the British viewed the conspiracy as deadly but ultimately manageable through aggressive surveillance and policing. At any rate, the effort was consuming significant national security resources on both sides of the Atlantic, and the Americans wanted to crush this conspiracy as fast as possible. Thus, when an opportunity to nab the mastermind in Pakistan became available, the choice was obvious. The strong Anglo-American alliance and British legal needs notwithstanding, the United States was confident in the decision to go it alone.

As President Bushs homeland security adviser Frances Townsend put it, Our citizens. Our planes.

But the Anglo-American dynamic was a symbol of harmonious unity compared to the fraught relationship with Pakistans spy agency, the ISI.

The U.S. and Pakistan had been carrying out joint operations on Pakistani soil since mid-2002. Pakistani intelligence officials certainly had their gripes about their American counterparts. During one meeting between the American and Pakistani spy chiefs around the time of the London arrests, ISI Director General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani muttered, Im tired of you Americans saying we are not doing enough to fight the terrorists. The Pakistanis were irritated about being blamed for every slipup that occurred, and didnt want to be left hanging if an operation on their turf went sideways. So when Kayani asked CIA Director of Operations Jose Rodriguez, Are you with me?  was the Agency behind the ISI in its counterterrorism operations?  Rodriguez told me he knew what answer was needed to keep the delicate relationship on track.

Of course, he replied.

Perhaps they should have been looking closer to where they were sipping their tea. Public Enemy Number One Osama bin Laden was lounging at his Abbottabad compound a little over two hours by car on the E35 Expressway.

Despite the freedom of movement terrorists were enjoying in Pakistan at this time, OVERT was, in many ways, the highwater point in the comity between the American and Pakistani intelligence services. The greatest level of cooperation occurred in the first years following 9/11, when the two nations worked together to down many of the worst of the worst. Sometimes, they had to take pains to cover up the extent of this cooperation, as in the case of the drone strike that took out al-Qaeda external operations chief Hamza Rabia in 2005. It quickly became clear that Washington and Islamabad had worked together on the operation. A Pakistani official urged the press not to examine the specifics of his death too closely. Comments on media reports that it was a Predator strike would invoke sovereignty issues, the official gamely noted. Lets enjoy the fact that al-Qaeda has lost another key person.

The takedown of Rashid Rauf, a U.K. citizen and the liquid bomber mastermind, was a similar model of cooperation. On August 9, Rodriguez recalled, intelligence suggested Rauf was on the move in Pakistan. His phone was pinging off a series of cell towers. He was traveling fast on a highway  probably inside a vehicle, likely a bus.

Rodriguez and other former intelligence officials I interviewed described the setup: ISI officers had set up at a mobile checkpoint on a patch of earth where the highway intersected with some railway tracks. A CIA officer was on the ground, providing technical assistance. Raufs cellphone had been positively identified, and was headed right toward the checkpoint.

This was a golden opportunity to take down an al-Qaeda operative known to be targeting American citizens on American aircraft. To let Rauf pass through the checkpoint unmolested could mean letting him escape into the tribal areas, where it would be difficult, if not impossible, to capture him. Yet to arrest or kill him would set off a firestorm in London, since British authorities were still collecting evidence against the local cell for the trial. Rodriguez had to make the call.

Rauf was snoozing as the bus approached the checkpoint. When it suddenly came to a halt by the railway tracks, Rauf opened his eyes and glanced out the window. It wasnt the usual bored policeman or train operator idling along the side of the road, but a unit of elite police officers armed with gleaming Kalashnikov rifles. In the group were several plainclothes men; one motioned to the driver to open the front door. The driver obeyed and the officers told him to pull over and cut the motor. The bus driver quickly complied.

As the fog of sleep lifted, Rauf quickly put two and two together. According to his written notes that were later obtained by German authorities, he felt a terrible sinking feeling when he realized he had forgotten to switch off one of his cell phones. In a desperate, pointless effort, he turned off a few phones before the authorities made their way to the back of the bus. After visually identifying Rauf, they cuffed and hooded him, bundling the terrorist mastermind into the back of a waiting van. He didnt put up a fight. It was over in a few minutes. Rashid Rauf was in custody.

The British, who favored letting the plot develop further, were displeased about this turn of events. The Mets Peter Clarke was well and truly miffed; surveillance chief Steve Dryden was angry. Livid was how the BBCs Margaret Gilmore described the cops reaction. This was an enormously complicated, calibrated operation involving hundreds, perhaps thousands, of officers. The surveillance squads had been working at full tilt; few had any semblance of a normal home life. But now the American bull had barged into their china shop.

Still, the operation was a great joint U.S.-Pakistan success. But by the following year, the shine was off that relationship. The Pakistanis began withholding assistance. Hayden, the CIA chief, recalled in his memoirs that when the United States went to Pakistan in 2007 with a plan to take out a specific al Qaeda operative, the response was no, maddening delay, or our target suddenly and unexpectedly relocated. In response, the CIA chose to aggressively pursue unilateral operations within Pakistan, cutting out the ISI completely. And in December 2007, Rashid Rauf mysteriously escaped Pakistani custody and disappeared.

The lack of cooperation became more obvious a few years later in the 2011 bin Laden raid, in which the United States inserted forces deep into Pakistan to kill the al-Qaeda leader without the ISI realizing what had happened. Relations between the two countries have never recovered.

The story of the transatlantic terror plot has a happy ending  a dastardly plot was stopped, and most of the plotters were convicted. The good guys won and thousands of innocent lives were saved without resorting to the illegal or dubiously legal measures that characterized other phases of the war against al-Qaeda.

But the outcome could have been very different. The OVERT plotters might have succeeded had they tried to carry out their attack a few years earlier, or had the authorities missed the initial clues, or had any of the nations decided to withhold intelligence from each other. Fortunately, intelligence agencies in the United States, Great Britain and Pakistan came together, albeit with somewhat differing objectives, to take decisive actions that stopped the plot. There remains a shared pride among the three countries intelligence professionals at having successfully spotted and stopped the conspiracy.

If one of the lessons of 9/11 was that a single countrys intelligence agencies needed to adequately share information to thwart international terror plots, the disrupted liquid bomb scheme showed how different countries could come together to do precisely that. As unsexy and bureaucratic as intelligence cooperation may sound, it is critical to stop common adversaries. As Hayden remarked a year after the conspiracy was thwarted, Nothing less than intensive cooperation with our overseas colleagues could have achieved such a complete success.

The OVERT saga is now almost 15 years in the past. It lives on through the so-called 3-1-1 rule, which allowed gels, liquids and aerosols containers in one quart-sized, resealable bag onto aircraft. (Technically its 100ml of liquid, as Americas hoary system of weights and measures meant Americans were secretly allowed an extra 0.4 ounces in order to harmonize with the metric system.)

Yet the disrupted plot also contributed to a mellowing of Americas aggressive post-9/11 approach to counterterrorism. In the last 20 years, the United States has in many ways moved far closer to the British perspective  viewing terrorism as a difficult-but-manageable law enforcement concern rather than an existential threat to civilizations very fabric. We now routinely arrest, convict and jail individuals on terrorism offenses and we do so in a way that is legally sound. America has come to treat terrorism as a crime, not as an act of war.

There remains a delicate balance between the need to protect society from violent groups and the need to preserve the blessings of a free and open society. Arguably, the United States veered too far in the former direction in the years after 9/11. But the OVERT conspiracy was crushed within 24 hours, across two countries on opposite sides of the globe  by the book and without bloodshed.

The work continues. Democracies must protect not only their security but also the civil liberties of their people. And while the Anglo-American intelligence alliance remains rock-solid, the Pakistani-American one has badly foundered. But decades from now, historians will look back on this eras checkered legacy and highlight OVERT as a model. The menace of transnational terrorism will likely stay with us, and so we should hope that both friendly and adversarial nations will continue to work together to keep their populations safe without losing sight of their values.
CONNECTICUT It's been an up-and-down year for unidentified flying object fans.

ET enthusiasts began 2021 with a renewed zeal, as an oddball provision in a coronavirus spending bill promised an unsealing of government UFO records. And unsealed they were, brimming with tales of aviators amazed at the speed and physics-flouting antics of the strange objects  even if those stories didn't quite trigger the existential crisis many long feared they would.

But with a new administration in Washington came a brand-new Defense Department office with a charter to handle the government's examination of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). The Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force has been given a frosty reception by the international community of ufologists who believe the new entity will only muddy the government's newfound UFO report transparency, according to The Hill.

Fortunately, politics hasn't stopped Connecticut sky watchers from racing to the database of the National UFO Reporting Center every time they spy something awry in the sky. Residents of the Nutmeg State averaged more than an entry a week into the NURC archives, where the reports on possible extraterrestrial jaunts and patrols are classified, categorized and mulled over by amateur and professional ufologists.

Back in the less-complicated 20th Century, when government authorities were united in their intent to keep a lid on UFO reports, sightings were often dismissed as weather balloons. That was the first impression of a Middletown resident who described an oddly shaped UFO that just hung in midair for about five minutes a little after 6 p.m. on Sept. 25, not moving at all. The object "was a metallic color and it ended up having a flat top and a pointy bottom but still has rounded sides," according to the NURC database entry.



Bristol continues to be a favorite Nutmeg State stomping ground for ETs. A couple watched a "glowing triangle shape" move slowly away from them as they drove down a street just before 6 p.m. on Sept. 6. "I watched it closely as we drove and can say I truly have never seen anything like that in my life," the sky watcher posted.

Story continues

See Also: 'Bogeys Over Bristol' And More Reports Of Connecticut UFOs



Nearly 100 percent of the Connecticut entries in the NURC database are fly-bys, but one Oxford resident reported a most unusual drop-off on Sept. 8. In what is the most full-on Hollywood report from the last few months, the sky watcher reported witnessing three bright but silent objects hovering for about 30-40 seconds, and then:

"A bright flash almost like the light was scanning from front to back but the light was intense almost as bright as a spot light on a helicopter. Then I was able to see something/someone lowered out of one of the crafts into the field across the street then quickly go back up into the craft. Shortly after the 3 bright lights flashed and disappeared but could see the light trails behind them and still without making any noise."

See Also: Connecticut Still A Favorite Haunt For UFO Pilots



The eyewitness said there was "an aura or haze" around the UFO, which left a trail, and "emitted beams."

Now, all of these silent UAPs in the latter months of 2021 don't bother us half as much as the multimedia event reported over West Suffield in the early morning of Oct. 23.

"I felt dizzy and my ears started to ring and I heard strange sounds it went by so quickly and disappeared," one witness reported. The "pinkish cyanish blueish purplish" object initially resembling a meteorite "almost looked like dust when it separated" into something the reporter could not distinguish as either solid or liquid.

The marquee event among the UAPs reported in Connecticut over the past four months might best be described as a fleet action, similar to the one above Old Saybrook in September of 2020. This time, there were multiple reports, all filed between 6-6:30 p.m. on Dec. 4.



A UPS driver in Collinsville described the maneuvers as resembling "geese in a flock," a perfect line of 20-30 red dots, speeding up and slowing down, overlapping each other:

"Whatever it/they were, they were ascending, approximately a 40 degree angle from our position. While continuing the ascent speeding up and slowing down overlapping one by one dimmed and vanished as if getting too far up to see anymore. The positions in the line were not graduated. I worked in aviation as an active duty Marine and I've never seen anything like it, it's notable that there was no sound. The only way I can describe the speed is like the speed of an F-18 in burn, but the massive drops in speed to return to the rest of line's speed was shocking."

Around the same time the UFOs were reported over Collinsville, a Norwalk sky watcher reported a "whole bunch of lights that seemed to be connected together somehow in a straight line and it was moving and then disappeared." Two separate reports of silent, cigar-shaped crafts hovering over Woodbury were also filed that evening. Still more cigar and tic tac-shaped craft were reported over Greenwich and Suffield the two previous nights.

A month earlier, on Nov. 11 around 5:13 in the morning, another Woodbury resident "witnessed a bright orange glowing object that resembled an intense sunrise," according to the NURC records. The "orange fireball" continued to moved behind a hill, and the sky returned to its normal nighttime color. Three more orange fireballs were spotted over Southington a week earlier, according to another report.

See Also: Flaming Green Meteorites And Other UFOs Above Connecticut



As disturbing as these isolated reports of UAP may be, creepiest by far is the one by a Branford resident who seems to have attracted the attention of a curious alien in Nevada who later followed him home:

"I've seen this craft since May 2021 and saw it then in daylight in Nevada. Now only In the evening in my home state. Every night. Hovering above with a red flashing light."

Maybe the government's right, and we are better off not knowing...

This article originally appeared on the Brookfield Patch
CLEWISTON  A West Palm Beach woman is dead after authorities report she ran from a private driveway into the path of a car traveling on U.S. 27 in Clewiston on New Year's Day.

In a report issued Sunday, Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies say 57-year-old Alieda Jo Thomas was killed after she ran from a driveway on the south side of the highway in front of an eastbound Honda Accord at about 1:59 p.m. Saturday.

More coverage: Woman, 23, survives one I-95 crash only to be killed in second collision near Boca Raton

Scooter crash: Police: 2 killed on scooter in West Palm after being rear-ended

The report said the Honda's driver, Inocente Negrin, 60, of Winter Haven, said he saw her "dart" into the road at 49199 US 27 N., violating the car's right of way. He told investigators he tried to avoid her, but was unsuccessful. When the car struck her, she was vaulted over the driver's-side fender and landed in the roadway.

Thomas was taken to St. Mary's Medical Center, where she later died from injuries sustained in the crash.

@sonjaisger

sisger@pbpost.com

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: West Palm woman runs in front of car in Clewiston, is killed
A Roanoke man faces a charge of second-degree murder in connection with the killing of a Huddleston man in Moneta, the Bedford County Sheriffs Office said Saturday.

An incident at a Moneta restaurant resulted in Clinton Minter, 28, of Bedford, being charged with robbery of Shamanique Peter Mickle, 44, of Roanoke, by using physical force resulting in serious injury, a news release from Sheriff Mike Miller said.

Approximately two and a half hours later, Mickle returned to the restaurant and was engaged in a confrontation with James Sipos, 49, of Huddleston, the release said. Sipos was killed during the incident, and Mickle is charged in the homicide.

The series of events occurred late Friday and early Saturday, according to authorities.

Mickle also faces one count each of use of a firearm in commission of a felony and possessing a firearm after having been convicted of a felony. The investigation is active and no further information will be released at this time, according to Miller.

Anyone with any information on the whereabouts of Minter and Mickle is asked to call (540) 586-7827 or Central Virginia Crime Stoppers at 1-888-798-5900 or enter a tip online at http://p3tips.com or use the P3TIPS app on your mobile device. Crime Stopper callers remain anonymous and could receive a cash reward up to $1,000.

- Justin Faulconer

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Joe Bidens conduct of foreign policy in 2021 was notable for rebuilding political ties with NATO allies after Donald Trump denigrated Europes contribution to the alliance. Despite the humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan in August, the president and his team maintained U.S. security interests in East Asia and the Middle East and avoided war to date with Russia over Ukraine.

Americas chaotic withdrawal from Kabul was intended by the Taliban as a repeat of its humiliating ouster from Saigon in 1975. It didnt succeed because of the remarkable Air Force evacuation of most Americans who wanted to leave Afghanistan and thousands of Afghans who worked for the Americans during the war.

U.S .intelligence agencies should have anticipated that the Kabul government would collapse early and leave the capital open to a potentially disastrous outcome. Why ending US military involvement in Afghanistan took twenty years is left for historians to answer. But three presidents  Obama, Trump, and Biden wanted withdrawal  and Biden showed courage in removing all troops, not leaving residual force as the Pentagon wished. Afghanistan, in my view, is not a vital interest for the U.S. and should not have consumed tens of thousands of casualties and cost a trillion dollars for operations.

On the positive side, one should appreciate events that didnt happen. Biden may take credit for avoiding new wars and preferring negotiations to military interventions. Still, in 2022 he will be confronted with dangerous situations in Ukraine, Taiwan, Persian Gulf, and the Caribbean.

Putin and Ukraine. At years end, Vladimir Putin laid out demands for NATO to scale back its military involvement in Eastern Europe, including Poland and the Baltic States. Most of these were rejected by NATO earlier, but Putin clearly wants negotiations on Ukraine that will prevent its western orientation and NATO. membership. The Russian leader also sees an opportunity to divide Europe and America on how tough NATO should be confronting Russia over Ukraine.

For President Biden, the crucial issue is not only Ukraine but how his negotiations affect other adversaries who hope to benefit from what they believe is a weakening of Americas resolve to stay actively involved abroad. We should know in early 2022 whether Ukraine can be negotiated or whether Washington and NATO should prepare for Putins invasion of Ukraine.

Xi and Taiwan. Putin and Chinas Xi Jinping recently agreed to coordinate policies in order to counter Americas power in Europe and East Asia. If Putin gets a deal on Ukraine that accommodates his demands, we may expect President Xi to increase his pressure to bring Taiwan into Greater China. Japan and Australia recently stated that Taiwan is a strategic interest for their countries.

But Taiwan may not be Xis top priority. Thats because control of Southeast Asias vital waterways may be strategically more beneficial to his longer-term goals. Indonesia is strategically crucial because of its location and population of 274 million. The Malacca Strait between Indonesia and Malaysia is a major choke point for commercial trade. China hopes to extend its control there.

Irans Khamenei and the Gulf. Like Chinas Xi Jinping, Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, wants to control the politics and commerce of the Persian Gulf. Like Malacca Strait, the Hormuz Strait between Iran and Oman is a strategic choke point that Iran could use to force the U.S. and Gulf States to cede it control over shipping of oil to world markets. The U.S. Navy based in Bahrain stands in the way of Khameneis ambitions.

Irans determination to produce nuclear weapons presents a major impediment to negotiations. Tough U.S. economic sanctions have not slowed Tehrans ambitions. But it knows that if it interferes with commerce in the Persian Gulf, it will produce US retaliation and potentially lead to open warfare.

Venezuela and the Caribbean. Most Americans, including the media, have not given the Caribbean, especially the strategic role of Venezuela, serious attention. Its especially dangerous for its spreading anti-U.S. propaganda in impoverished Central American countries that send millions of migrants flocking to our southern border. The far-left government of Nicaragua foments anti-American turmoil among its neighbors. This is a major political and foreign policy problem for the Biden administration, especially if Russia or China attempts to establish a base of for military operations. This could lead to war, as nearly occurred in 1962 when Russia secretly established missile bases in Cuba. Russia and China can still undermine US influence in the Caribbean by expanding economic and clandestine operations in the region.

We will know early in 2022 whether any of these crises will confront the Biden administration with hard choices about Americas role in the world.

Donald Nuechterlein is a political scientist who lives near Charlottesville. E-mail him at nuechtd@cstone.net.
Nikkei - Apr 20

Elderly Western visitors to East Asia often say they enjoy their trips partly because of the respect accorded to older people. But these cultural habits can hold back countries such as Japan and South Korea when it comes to sport.
Elizabeth French, in white, and her son Andrew, left, follow the casket of her daughter, Chicago police officer Ella French, after a funeral service at the St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021, in Chicago. French was killed and her partner was seriously wounded during an Aug. 7 traffic stop on the city's South Side. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)

The year of 2021 ended as one of the most violent on record in Chicago, as a rise in the number of shootings left more people dead than in any single year in a quarter century, according to statistics released by the police department on Saturday.

According to the department, 2021 ended with 797 homicides. That is 25 more than were recorded 2020, 299 more than in 2019 and the most since 1996. And there were 3,561 shooting incidents in 2021, which is just over 300 more than were recorded in 2020 and a staggering 1,415 more shooting incidents than were recorded in the city in 2019.

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Other cities have also seen an increase in the number of homicides. But Chicago, as it has in previous years, ended 2021 with more homicides than any other city in the United States, including New York and Los Angeles, both of which had recorded at least 300 fewer homicides than Chicago for the year as of late December, according to police data from those cities.

We all know this has been a challenging year here in the city of Chicago, Police Superintendent David Brown told reporters at a news conference earlier this week. Too many families are reeling from the loss of (loved) ones due to senseless gun violence.

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Brown said the bulk of the homicides are the result of conflicts between rival gangs.

He has tried to highlight some positive statistics when discussing the monthly crime figures and he continued to do so with the release of the end-of-the-year statistics.

He said, for example, that the department cleared 400 homicides  a total that was higher than in any year in nearly two decades. Saturdays news release did not specify how many of those cleared homicides were committed in previous years but reported that the clearance rate for the killings was just under 50%.

The department, which says it takes more illegal weapons off the street than any other local police force in the United States, said that it took a record 12,088 guns off the street in 2021. That total coincided with the creation of a Gun Investigations Team that has focused on interrupting the flow of illegal guns into the city.

Brown, who came under scrutiny by some members of the City Council and others as the death toll mounted, said that he hopes to increase the number of detectives investigating violent crimes from 1,100 to 1,300 during the first few months of this year. And he said his goal is to reduce the caseload for detectives from about five to three cases per detective.

He also said the department hopes to recruit more new officers this year, and said, There will be more officers on the street, not just in patrol cars or behind desks, to interact with all Chicagoans.
DES MOINES  Senate Republicans in the Iowa Legislature are formulating a moon shot tax-cut plan that would eventually eliminate the states personal income tax.

But skeptics hungry for mission details worry the trick in engineering such an endeavor would be pulling off a successful landing that doesnt crash and burn.

For years, Statehouse Republicans have contended one of Iowas biggest impediments to growth has been a top state income rate  skewed by a provision that allows Iowans to deduct their federal income tax paid from their state tax liability, like few other states do  that makes Iowa appear to be a high-tax state when in reality its roughly in the middle of 50-state comparisons.

Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and the GOP-run Legislature already have implemented a plan to phase out federal deductibility to lower tax rates and compress taxable income brackets. But now with the state general fund surplus and taxpayer relief fund projected to top $2 billion, with another $900 million in reserve, GOP senators say its time to take an aggressive run at cutting personal income taxes deeper with a goal of eliminating them in the future.

We want to take as big a chunk as we can, and put as much money back in the taxpayers pockets as we possibly can, said Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny. The goal should be zero. And how long we get it takes to get to that goal, whether we put that in place this year or not, is still to be determined.

Whitver points to the latest state budget projections that indicate Iowa will collect nearly $9.1 billion in revenue from various sources next fiscal year, with the expectation that state spending will be the $8 billion range. But that points to a surplus that need not be amassed, he said.

Iowa is in a really strong position and thats after record investments in foundational priorities, said Reynolds, who appears to be all in on the GOP tax-cutting momentum, although she did not make herself accessible to reporters for the traditional pre-session interviews this year to discuss her priorities.

We have a significant, healthy balance, Reynolds told a public hearing on the states fiscal 2023 budget mostly attended by lobbyists for business groups and interests sympathetic to GOP causes. Weve over-collected and its time to turn that money back to the taxpayers. Were not competitive; were not near where we need to be.

I looking forward to working with the Legislature to pass generational tax relief which I believe we have the capacity and we absolutely should be moving in that direction, she added. Were going to come (this) year with a comprehensive, ambitious tax plan that will really make Iowa competitive and I think really help spur economic growth in the state of Iowa, so Im really excited about that.

House Speaker Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, said Statehouse Republicans are in agreement on a goal to return as much over-collected money to taxpayers as quickly as possible  most likely through lower rates  within a responsible plan that keeps the state solvent and does not come at the expense of other things.

At the same time, Grassley said his 60-member House GOP caucus is taking a cautious view on how to address a stockpile of one-time money  some from economic growth and some with the federal cash infusions to help weather the COVID-19 pandemic  in the context of maintaining ongoing financial commitments and government services that Iowa citizens expect.

We want to do something thats sound and sustainable. So, whatever we do needs to be long-term feasible. Were not going to just pass something to pass something. Whatever commitment we make, we want to make sure that it has long-term impacts, and then we can uphold our commitments. So that will be a major part of whatever we do, said Grassley.

Now, obviously, how we do that is going to be the part where theres not necessarily everyones on the exact same page, he added. But I think knowing that, ultimately, thats our goal. It makes it a lot easier starting down that path.

Along with the shared goal of reducing individual income taxes, Republicans say they plan to accomplish it without raising other taxes or fees charged to Iowans  which has been the case in some of the other nine U.S. states that currently do not collect personal income taxes.

They point to action theyve already taken to lower Iowas top income tax rate from nearly 9 percent to just over 6 percent, and they plan a reduction in roughly $500 million the state currently provides in business and other tax credits before they add any discussion of corporate tax rate reductions into this sessions tax-policy discussions.

Skeptics point to the latest quarterly estimates from the states Revenue Estimating Conference in December that show about $5.4 billion of the $10.7 billion in gross general fund tax collections the state is estimated to take in during the fiscal 2023 year that starts next July 1 will come from personal income taxes paid by Iowans. That nets out at $9.075 billion after refunds are paid and other adjustments are made.

House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst of Windsor Heights said that is a huge amount of money that funds many government functions that will not be replaced by more economic growth or some other tax  such as a huge spike in the state sales tax, cost shifts to local property taxes, the establishment of tolls road or new or higher fees for services. She and others worry the end result could have devastating consequences.

Its appropriate to call it a moon shot because youd have to live on the moon to think that it was a good idea. Wed have to get rid of public education in this state, the regents, the Department of Corrections, the Department of Public Safety and we still wouldnt get to the number that is required to meet that hole in the budget, said Konfrst.

Or you increase property and sales taxes so much that people are still paying it but just in a different way? she added. There is no solution that doesnt wholesale change the state of Iowa when youre looking at getting rid of the income taxes.

Its a political ploy, its a starting point, its a moon shot and it would have huge ramifications in the state one way or another for everyday Iowans. It is an extreme proposal to say the least, Konfrst noted. Theyve got a short-term solution to a long-term problem and they dont seem to be worried about whats going to happen three, four, five years down the road.

Legislative Democrats say they are open to cutting taxes but believe the relief should be directed to middle-class, working families who have been hard hit by the pandemic. They also say a share of the state budget surplus that is artificially propped up by federal relief money should be used to fund services and amenities that will attract new residents who are as interested in the quality of life as tax policy.

The devil is going to be in the details, obviously, said Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls of Coralville, who noted the state is in a strong position to also supplement some of the priorities that have been underfunded in recent budgets. He said legislative Republicans have talked about making investments in child care, housing, broadband, water quality and mental health needs at the same time that theyre cutting off 45 percent of the state revenue.

Grassley noted that the fastest-growing segment of the state budget has been in Medicaid spending because states have been barred from dis-enrolling recipients during the pandemic  which could provide considerable savings once that prohibition is lifted.

Whitver said the states rosy fiscal position is the result of true economic growth and years of good GOP fiscal planning rather than some sort of false growth from the federal money, which has topped $9 billion through a host of pandemic related aid.

Its a combination of good fiscal stewardship of investing in priorities where we need to, but also not spending every dollar we possibly can, the GOP Senate leader said. And so were creating a surplus that we can actually go and reduce taxes as well and, in turn, more people have more money in their pocket, they spend more and it grows the economy.

At the same time, Statehouse Republicans will continue funding priorities when they construct their fiscal 2023 spending plan, he noted, with expectations they will set next years K-12 public education system funding level in the sessions first 30 days. The yearly investment in elementary and secondary schools currently tops $3.4 billion, making it the largest line item in the state general fund budget.

Whitver said that despite constant Democratic naysaying, the GOP approach to fiscal management has worked for the past five years exactly like we thought: we have more revenue than we really planned on, we have bigger surpluses than we ever thought, and so we want to continue to have down that same path.

Konfrst likened the GOP tax-cut talk coming into the session to quitting your job because you have a bunch of money in savings without fully knowing the long-term consequences. She also said she expects Statehouse Republicans will want to take credit for fixing problems like child care, broadband and housing, but Democrats will be here to remind folks that they havent fixed those problems. Weve got a long way to go.

Chris Hagenow, a former state legislator who is vice president of Iowans for Tax Relief, said lawmakers have a tremendous opportunity to make permanent, structural and significant across-the-board tax policy reforms during the 2022 session.

While eliminating the states personal income tax is a great goal, Hagenow recently told an Iowa PBS Iowa Press audience, he doubted it would be accomplished quickly and Senate Republicans initially have discussed their moon shot plan in the context of a five-year starting point.

However, Peter Fisher  a retired University of Iowa professor who is research director for Common Good Iowa, a liberal-leaning Iowa City-based think tank  told the same Iowa PBS audience that Iowas surplus is more a function of the state underestimating its tax collections and that using one-time surplus money to enact permanent tax cuts would be a recipe for disaster. He pointed to problems the state of Kansas had when elected officials proposed to phase out their income tax.

Legislators likely will spend much of the scheduled 100-day session slated to begin on Jan. 10 pouring over computer models and various tax reform scenarios before landing on a final approach, Grassley said, adding I think its a fair assessment to say that the Legislature wont go home until theres been a reduction in taxes.
The true heroes of the GOPIt is about time we recognized the true heroes of the Republican Party. They are not the dopey louts who rampaged through our nations capital and the moral cowards who still cover for them. They are not the ranting demagogues exploiting the emotions of the resentful.

They were the unsung people not seeking attention, but doing their jobs: from poll workers to police officers. They were Republican state legislators and governors who did not bend to pressure to overturn the elections in their state. They were Republican judges who did not allow mere allegations unsupported by credible evidence to deny votes that happened.

They were a vice president who stayed loyal to the Constitution and the rule of law above any man. They were Republican congressional representatives and senators who did not fear to try and hold their own president accountable, and dared to stand on their conscience instead of follow the majority in their party. They did not win. But they showed more bravery than the majority in their party who did.

It is Republicans like those who could save the soul of the party from being lost to a band of fascists, if they find the nerve to do so. My father was a lifelong Republican who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the sacrifices that generation made to defeat fascism, Im glad he was not alive to see his party dishonored by Americas Mussolini.

James Tweed

Ocean City, New Jersey

Animal health is key to a sustainable planet and food securityWith record heat waves, tragic flooding, and wildfires in the news, its hard not to have climate top of mind. Understanding the role that agriculture specifically livestock  plays in climate is paramount, and finding solutions to minimize environmental impact is a priority.

As a veterinarian, I have seen first-hand the benefits of focusing first on improving animal welfare. When animals are healthy, the food supply is safer, resources are used more efficiently, and growers maximize output.

Still, globally, one in five food-production animals is lost to preventable disease. This isnt just bad for the animals. When animals are healthy, emissions are lower and farmers can operate more sustainably.

Furthermore, innovative supplements and vaccines can cut emissions by targeting methane within the digestion process. In fact, emerging therapies can lower methane in dairy cows by 30%.

Improving animal welfare through new medicines is the key that unlocks efficient livestock production, more sustainable farming practices, and reduced emissions from animals. We need a regulatory framework for new animal drugs that rewards science-based innovation to enhance animal health, which in turn boosts the health of our planet.

Will McCauley, DVM

Animal Health Institute

Washington DC
The groundwork was laid in 2021.

Here comes 2022  its going to be a big one in Iowa politics.

Its an election year again, and there will be some big races on Iowans ballots this fall. And it starts right at the top of the ballot, with the states races for governor and U.S. Senate.

While she has not yet officially announced, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds is expected to seek re-election for a second full term. She was promoted to governor in 2017 when former Gov. Terry Branstad resigned to become U.S. ambassador to China, then won a full, four-year term in 2018.

While Reynolds goes into her latest campaign with an edge  she has the benefits of incumbency, including fundraising  her re-election is far from a foregone conclusion. Remember that she won in 2018 by a narrow margin: just shy of three percentage points. And that was before Reynolds, like all other governors, was thrust onto the tip of the spear as the leader of the states response to a global pandemic.

Iowas gubernatorial election will have significant consequences. This year will be Iowa Republicans sixth-straight with complete control of the state lawmaking process. With their large majorities in both chambers of the Iowa Legislature  a 10-seat advantage in the House and 12-seat advantage in the Senate  the Democrats likely are multiple cycles from winning back a majority in either. So Democrats best hope to create split-control government is to win back Terrace Hill, which the party has not occupied for more than a decade.

There was not exactly a rush to flood the Democratic primary in 2021. Two of the best-known names took a pass and decided to stay where they are and run for re-election: U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne and State Auditor Rob Sand. The lack of interest in the race could suggest that Democrats do not like their chances of unseating Reynolds; were she considered more vulnerable, surely there would have been more sharks in the water.

The best-known names in the Democratic field as 2022 begins are Deidre DeJear, a Des Moines businesswoman who ran for Iowa Secretary of State in 2018; and Ras Smith, a state legislator from Waterloo. DeJear ran a statewide race four years ago, and Smith has been active even in the minority party, including his work on racial justice legislation passed in 2020. Kim West, an attorney from Des Moines, has also announced his candidacy.

Another big choice for Iowa voters in 2022 will not feature any political candidates  it will be a proposed amendment to the Iowa Constitution.

Iowa Republicans have proposed adding gun ownership rights to the Iowa Constitution. But it is not a simple reproduction of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states Americans right to bear arms. What Iowa Republicans have proposed goes a step further, declaring that any gun regulations must be subject to strict scrutiny, a legal term that applies the highest level of judicial scrutiny to any law.

That is a proposal with significant ramifications to Iowa, and an argument could be made that the proposed constitutional amendment could have a larger impact than the outcome of Iowas gubernatorial or U.S. Senate elections, given the virtual permanency of constitutional amendments.

Those are some significant elections on the ballot in 2022. For Iowa voters, with a new year comes critical new choices.

Some personal newsSpeaking of big things happening in 2022, this will be my final political column as the Des Moines Bureau Chief for Lee Enterprises. On Jan. 3, I assume the same position  Des Moines Bureau Chief  for The Gazette in Cedar Rapids.

With a new job comes new responsibilities. And while I will continue to report on the same political arenas for The Gazette  the Iowa Legislature, Iowa state and federal government, and the Iowa caucuses  I will no longer be writing a weekly political column.

Readers of Lee newspapers will continue to see my byline because of the news sharing agreement between Lee and The Gazette. So if you need to contact me for any reason, I will not be far away.

Thank-you to everyone who read my work in this space, and for your engaging emails. I have appreciated it all.

Erin Murphy covers Iowa politics and government for Lee Enterprises. His email address is erin.murphy@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter at @ErinDMurphy.
The Rabat-based Bayt Mal Al-Quds Al-Sharif Agency has launched the Winter of Al-Quds 2021 campaign, for the benefit of schoolchildren and families of orphans sponsored by the Agency.

The agency has allocated $80,000 to this campaign, which is part of the programs and projects implemented by Bayt Mal Al-Quds Al-Sharif Agency in various priority social sectors.

This operation was marked in particular by local interventions to restore the ceilings and walls of several schools and provide them with heating means, especially with the onset of the winter season.

In this context, the Agency intervened to restore the ruined brick roofs of the Wadi Al-Joz elementary school for girls, repair the electrical network of the school and maintain the storm drains, in response to the call of the Directorate of Education in Al-Quds.

The operation also involved the distribution of 200 heaters to a number of schools included in the census of the Directorate of Education of the schools most affected by humidity and cold, allowing the educational process to continue without interruption.

In addition, and as part of the sponsorship program for Al-Quds orphans, the Agency has taken the initiative to allocate an exceptional grant to the families of orphans to help them acquire blankets and basic necessities for this season.

The director of education and teaching in Al-Quds, Samir Jibril, expressed, in a statement, his sincere thanks to King Mohammed VI and to Bayt Mal Al-Quds Al-Sharif Agency for their continued support for better education in the city.

Samir Jibril pointed out the difficult situation of the education sector in the city due to the residential houses converted into schools which suffer, from time to time, from humidity and need continuous maintenance, restoration and rehabilitation works.

In this regard, he praised the valuable and qualitative actions and initiatives undertaken by Bayt Mal Al-Quds Al-Sharif Agency.

For his part, Ismail Al-Ramli, coordinator of the Agencys programs and projects in Al-Quds, said that the campaign Winter of Al-Quds 2021 aims to intervene promptly and locally to address a number of problems that relate to rainfall and water leakage and contribute to the heating of classrooms.
Individuals facing mental health crises could find comfort  and added anonymity  when they gain the option to text a suicide prevention hotline, local experts say.

The Federal Communications Commission in 2020 voted to require phone companies to support the 988 number to allow people to reach an existing suicide prevention hotline. In November, the commission voted to require a texting option, too.

Phone companies have until July 2022 to implement the 988 number for calling and texting.

People facing a physical injury don't hesitate to call 911, head to the emergency room and seek treatment, said Sheri Dawson, behavioral health director within the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

But individuals facing mental health issues still feel a stigma.

"There's still shame," Dawson said. "It's OK not to be OK, just like it is on the physical health side."

Texting allows for more anonymity, which may make people in crisis more apt to be honest about their thoughts and feelings, said Kris Bosiljevac, manager of the Boys Town National Crisis Line.

Texting could prove popular with younger people, who over the years have been less likely to pick up the phone to reach out for help, Bosiljevac said. Instead, they're more comfortable chatting online.

But the option to text also benefits individuals who are deaf, have hearing loss or speech disabilities.

"It's a wonderful move," Bosiljevac said. "Everybody knows to call 911 when they've got a police emergency. The 988 is kind of that number for mental health situations. It's the whole continuum."

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline currently uses a 10-digit number, 800-273-8255, which routes calls to about 170 crisis centers, including the one at Boys Town. The FCC said that 988 already is accessible via the country's largest cellphone companies  AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.

Suicide rates largely have been going up in the U.S. for the past two decades, although they dropped slightly last year, when officials say nearly 45,000 people died by suicide.

Suicide was the ninth-leading cause of death in 2019, according to the latest data provided by the state. It was the second-leading cause in those ages 15 to 24 and 25 to 34.

When state officials started planning for the 988 rollout, they also decided to look at other protocols that aid those facing mental health crises, Dawson said.

State officials knew the call center would need updates as far as how to answer calls and texts, Dawson said. But with additional grant funds, they decided to also consider the state's mobile crisis response teams and making sure individuals have somewhere to go after a crisis, if needed.

"Within the state of Nebraska, in terms of crisis services, there has been active work in trying to continue to grow that continuum," Dawson said.

Making sure people have someone to talk to, someone to respond and somewhere to go will help to "level the playing field across Nebraska" and ensure consistent standards of care, Dawson said.

This report includes material from The Associated Press.
UPDATED, Jan. 4, 2022, 11:30 am: Updated to reflect corrected city draft of UTV ordinance to say operating hours would be between sunrise and sunset.

***

North Platte City Council members will decide Tuesday whether to start down the road toward bringing Lee Bird Field inside city limits.

The councils first 2022 agenda also includes first steps toward tracing the sources and extent of odors in the city before Sustainable Beef LLC starts building its planned beef processing plant.

The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. in the City Hall council chamber, 211 W. Third St.

Council members will take up a resolution to trigger a series of public hearings and votes on what would be North Plattes first city-initiated annexation since 1977.

A nonvoting work session Dec. 14 gave the council its first look at a plan to annex nearly 2,000 acres, most of it airport property. No people live on that ground, officials say.

The annexation area would start near East Fourth Street and Bicentennial Avenue, run east between East Fourth/U.S. Highway 30 and the Union Pacific tracks, narrow to cross the North Platte River and then widen to take in the airport.

If the council passes Tuesdays resolution, Clark said, the Planning Commission would hold the proposals first public hearing Jan. 25 and decide whether to recommend annexation to the council.

Council members would hold their own hearing Feb. 15 before taking the first of three votes on a formal annexation ordinance.

State law says the council cannot waive one or more readings of an annexation ordinance. That means a final vote couldnt take place until March 15.

Another law forbids annexation of residential areas in an election year. That law doesnt apply this time because no residences are involved, Clark said.

The Airport Authority board asked the city to annex Lee Bird in a Sept. 21 letter. Doing so would help us facilitate planned airport upgrades, Airport Manager Sam Seafeldt said in that letter.

An airport master plan awaiting federal approval envisions, among other projects, new offices and additional hangars for fixed base operator Trego-Dugan Aviation.

Tuesdays agenda also includes a proposed $6,000 agreement with Foulweather Consulting of Hansville, Washington, to help the city buy odor detection equipment and train four to five city employees to use it.

City Administrator Matthew Kibbon said the equipment would help establish an odor baseline  in other words, document where odors currently originate in North Platte and measure their nature and extent.

With that in place, city officials would be better equipped to distinguish where new odors are developed, provide a scientific approach to odor determination and alleviate potential finger-pointing, Mayor Brandon Kelliher said in a council memorandum.

Foulweather would work in tandem with Northern Applied Sciences Inc. of Toronto, Ontario.

Chris Scullion, the latter firms founder, said in a letter that the city also would need to spend $500 for an odor sensitivity kit and $3,000 for a field olfactometer to detect and measure odors.

In other business, council members will hold first-round debate on a proposed ordinance to allow utility-type vehicles to operate inside city limits.

It would continue to ban all-terrain vehicles inside North Platte but allow UTVs on city streets between sunrise and sunset. They couldnt operate on state highways.

UTV drivers would have to be at least 18 and have a valid Nebraska drivers license or farm permit.

They couldnt drive faster than 30 mph and would have to observe posted speed limits lower than that, the proposed ordinance says.

More by Todd von Kampen

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Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greenes personal Twitter account has been permanent suspended because of repeated violations of the companys COVID-19 misinformation policy, Twitter confirmed Sunday. On Saturday, the Georgia Republican falsely tweeted that COVID vaccines had caused extremely high amounts of deaths, which the company said was her fifth strike, resulting in a permanent suspension of her @mtgreenee account.

The ultra-MAGA congresswoman is not completely banned from Twitter yet. Her official congressional account, @RepMTG, remained active as of Sunday morning  though as New York Times reporter Davey Alba noted, its possible that account could also be taken down if Greene attempts to use it to evade the other ban and posts tweets there that are in violation of the companys policies.

In a message posted on Telegram, Greene responded to the ban with an attack against Twitter, which she said is an enemy to America and cant handle the truth.

Twitter had temporarily suspended Greenes account for 12 hours in July and again for a week in August  her fourth strike  following earlier tweets pushing COVID-19 misinformation about vaccines.
Despite decades of mismanagement, malfeasance and corruption, strict U.S. sanctions and crumbling energy infrastructure, Venezuelas national oil company PDVSA has stunned observers by reporting a significant increase in crude oil output for November 2021. OPECs December 2021 Monthly Oil Market Report shows based on primary sources Venezuela pumped an average of 824,000 barrels daily for November 2021. This represents a notable 9% increase compared to a month earlier and is nearly double the 434,000 barrels per day produced for the same period a year earlier. That number is significantly greater than the 569,000 barrels produced per day during 2020 and just shy of the 1 million barrels pumped daily for 2019. The spike in output can be attributed to a range of factors, crucial being the technical assistance and diluent provided by Iran.

By June 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control had blocked the supply of crucial diluents to Venezuela. Prior to former President Trumps harsh sanctions enacted as part of his policy of maximum pressure on Venezuela and the autocratic government of Nicolas Maduro, the U.S. had been a key supplier of diluent to the OPEC member. Diluents are an essential element for PDVSAs extra-heavy crude oil production in the Orinoco Belt. The extremely light hydrocarbon liquids are added to the extra-heavy crude, which has an API gravity of around 8 degrees, to make it flow so that it can be transported for processing and export. A chronic shortage of diluent forced PDVSA from early 2019 to mix locally produced higher-value light sweet crude with the extra-heavy oil, produced in the Orinoco Belt, to formulate export heavy crude oil grades such as Merey. That was impacting export earnings because Venezuelas lighter crude oil grades sell at a premium to the OPEC members heavier crude oil grades. It also adversely affected refining operations in the crisis-riven country because light crude oil is the primary feedstock for Venezuelas crumbling refineries which are not configured to process heavy crude oil grades. That has weighed heavily on gasoline and diesel production in a country beset by chronic fuel shortages.

The deal established by Caracas with Teheran to swap Venezuelas heavy crude oil blends for diluent is crucial to boosting Venezuelas crude oil output and the notable spike in November 2021 production. During that month PDVSA received its fourth cargo of diluent from Teheran since the start of the year. Venezuelas national oil company is using the stable supply of Iranian condensate as an opportunity to ramp up extra-heavy crude oil production in the Orinoco Belt. PDVSA is receiving assistance from Chinas largest oil producer, state-controlled China National Petroleum Corp, to bolster operations. During early September 2021, it was reported that CNPC was reviving its operations in Venezuela, where it participates in five heavy oil joint ventures with PDVSA, sending engineers and other resources to the crisis-riven country. A key project for CNPC is overhauling an all-important oil-blending plant it operates with PDVSA, which is vital for processing the extra-heavy crude oil produced from the Orinoco Belt. That points to further production growth if the supply of crucial diluent from Teheran can be maintained.

Another key reason for significantly higher production was PDVSAs ability to amortize and settle overdue debt with local oil service companies. That generated a substantial increase in drilling, well workovers, and other development activities. According to a recent Reuters investigation, by December 2021 there were 47 rigs performing workovers and other development activities in the Orinoco Belt and 19 more operating in other hydrocarbon basins in Venezuela. If PDVSA can maintain production at or near Novembers level, then Caracas is well on its way to generating urgently required additional export income that can be directed to performing critical maintenance on infrastructure as well development. That will allow PDVSA to invest additional funds in its capital-starved operations, pointing to further hikes in crude oil output.

For the first week of December 2021, PDVSA announced (Spanish) it had pumped an average of 930,000 barrels per day, just shy of the national oil companys end of year target of one million barrels daily. This, coupled with Novembers substantial increase in production indicates that Washingtons strict sanctions, which target Venezuelas access to global energy and capital markets, forming part of the U.S. policy of maximum pressure have failed. Not only has Venezuela with the help of Iran, China and Russia, been able to rebuild its shattered hydrocarbon sector and keep exporting crude oil in breach of U.S. sanctions but its broken economy will grow this year for the first time since 2013. Estimates vary but a November 2021 Wall Street Journal article argued that Venezuelas economy will expand by 5% to 10% during 2021. Swiss investment bank Credit Suisse, in early October 2021, revised its annual GDP forecast for Venezuela upgrading its estimate from 4% GDP growth to 5.5%. If that eventuates, 2021 will be the first year where Venezuelas economy has grown since 2013.

While the substantial increase in crude oil output for November has caught global energy markets and analysts by surprise, it is important to note that Venezuelas oil output is still significantly lower than the 1.5 million barrels per day target set by Venezuela's Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami at the start of 2021. The parlous state of Venezuelas hydrocarbon infrastructure coupled with a lack of capital to invest in crucial workovers and development as well as maintenance activities, saw PDVSA slash that target to one million barrels per day during November 2021. There is evidence that, despite growing investment in workovers and maintenance activities, PDVSAs operations are reaching production capacity. Director of the Latin American Energy Program at the Houston-based Baker Institute and respected Venezuela expert Francisco Monaldi stated in a recent Reuters article; We are reaching that capacity now. To see an output increase during 2022, investment in new wells and upgrading infrastructure is needed. Monaldi has previously stated that it will take an annual investment of $10 billion to $12 billion annually to rebuild Venezuelas petroleum industry and return production to pre-Chavez levels of 3 million barrels or more per day.

Until U.S. sanctions ease Caracas is unable to attract the necessary capital and expertise from foreign energy companies, notably those from the U.S. and Europe, needed to develop oilfields and overhaul or replace heavily corroded industry infrastructure. For as long as Washingtons current sanction regime remains in place PDVSAs position will remain fragile, meaning the slightest glitch could trigger a massive setback causing crude oil output to fall. Venezuelas national oil company must continue paying local oils services companies and manage existing debts owed to those businesses if the current tempo of operations is to be maintained. That means additional U.S. sanctions or increased enforcement of existing requirements by Washington could impact PDVSAs operations and oil exports causing revenue to fall, ultimately impacting production.

By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
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While cities across the nation grappled with historically high homicide rates in 2021, Omaha instead reversed course.

Criminal killings decreased about 14% in 2021 as compared with 2020, when the city saw a 61% rise from the year before.

Of the nine peer, competitive or aspirational cities that the Greater Omaha Chamber uses to compare Omaha with others via various metrics, eight cities broke records in 2021 or saw increases from their 2020 homicide numbers.

Peer cities Louisville and Colorado Springs had their deadliest years on record. Competitor Kansas City crossed the second-worst-year threshold in late December, and aspirational city Austin shattered its all-time homicide total with a more than 50% increase over the previous record, which was set in 1984. Only Des Moines, rated as a competitive city, also saw a decrease in killings.

Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said that while the departments goal is to return to the 14-year lows of 2018 and 2019, 2021 marked remarkable progress, especially compared with nationwide trends.

In that context, that progress looks even more promising as we move into 2022, he said.

What was troubling, however, was the number of teens who died violently in 2021. Ten teens were criminally killed in Omaha  all by gunfire  making up nearly a third of 2021s homicides.

Even though our homicide numbers have gone down ... we do have to take caution with the number of juveniles that have been murdered in our city, Schmaderer said. Were seeing more guns in the hands of our juveniles and, likely consequently, were seeing a rise in the number of homicides with our juveniles.

In total, 26 people were fatally shot in 2021, amounting to roughly 81% of the 32 homicides in 2021.

Police Capt. Steve Cerveny, who oversees the Omaha Police Departments criminal investigations section, said while the number of gang-related homicides is steady compared with years past, juveniles involved in gangs have sparked more violence.

Were concerned because were seeing a little bit more gang-related activity with violence, and a lot of it centers around retaliation, he said.

About 7:15 p.m. June 8, shooters fired 33 rounds outside a house near 19th and Spencer Streets. At least one bullet struck 14-year-old Desmond Harrison in the head, killing him. Schmaderer said at the time that the homicide was being investigated as retaliatory.

No one has been arrested in that shooting. But overall, arrest clearance rates in homicides continued to stay high in the city, topping 81% in 2021. That figure counts two homicides from 2020 in which detectives arrested suspects in 2021. Since 2013, the department has maintained a homicide clearance rate of at least 70% or higher, which is well above the national average in similarly sized cities.

Officers currently are dealing with a surge in violence among the Sudanese community related to killings in 2021. The departments first South Sudanese officer, Muorter Majok, and a gang prevention specialist from South Sudan, Galat Toang, are helping make inroads with Sudanese elders and others to help find peace.

Its been very beneficial, Cerveny said. Especially when were addressing violent crime that might involve certain aspects of communities that dont normally know how or wont want to communicate with a police department that theyre not familiar with.

Schmaderer said the Police Department also is partnering with the FBI and other federal agencies to address violence in the Sudanese community.

The city saw three double homicides, on March 27, June 3 and Nov. 27. All six victims were killed by guns.

The sole woman who was arrested in connection with a homicide in 21 is alleged to have killed two men separately in January. Authorities have said Autum Acacia-Cortes strangled 53-year-old Francisco Santiago to death after he failed to pay her for sex, then later sliced the throat of witness Jose C. Martinez, 58.

Authorities added Janet Franks-Bohm to 2021s tally of homicide victims after she died Oct. 23. A coroner in Colorado determined that her death was directly related to injuries she suffered in a 2019 Omaha fire that police said was set by her husband, Carl Bohm.

Franks-Bohm, who was 59 when she died, suffered third-degree burns on more than 60% of her body.

In 2021, Omaha police spotlighted a different cold homicide case for every day in September on its website and social media pages. The Cold Case Awareness Month was spearheaded by Buffy Bush, whose sister was fatally shot a decade ago and who now heads a group called Families of the Stolen, for those who know someone who has been killed.

Cerveny said two such cases are very close to an arrest thanks to tips garnered from that initiative.

The department also started a homicide victim awareness group with help from other community organizations. The program helps facilitate ongoing communication with police detectives handling the cases but also connects loved ones to other resources such as counseling that can assist in the grieving process.

It allows victims family members who have needs to be addressed, Cerveny said. Its being built right now, weve started it, and its continuing and it will progress.

Schmaderer said he thinks his force is close to being able to fully resume pre-pandemic intervention and prevention efforts as life has gotten back closer to some sort of normal.

One thing the pandemic has done is it shows whats life like without our partners who necessarily and understandably had to deflect, he said. It shows how crime can spike. And its my opinion that once those systems get up and running, youll see (crime) go down again. But its a good indicator of how important police and community is.

This report includes material from the Associated Press.

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In 1904, Omaha had no need for traffic signals and parking meters. But it did have speed limits.

Eight miles per hour downtown, 12 mph elsewhere. And if you violated either, you were arrested for scorching.

Omaha publishing company owner Alanson Root was the first to be tried. The police acted on a complaint by a city councilman. But Roots case was dropped and it exposed a weakness in the citys first traffic law.

On the evening of June 22, 1904, Root  in his Pope-Toledo  was driving back and forth on 29th Street between Farnam and Leavenworth Streets. At the time, Root was president of the citys automobile organization that numbered 40-some chauffeurs, as drivers then were called.

Police had to do math to determine a scorching violation. In this instance, the policeman testified that Auto No. 17  in the days before license plates, cars had to display their registration number  covered the five blocks in 40 seconds and that equated to a rate of between 20 to 30 mph.

Judge Louis Berka dismissed the case for insufficient evidence. The World-Herald reported that the court held that the owner of the machine could not be held responsible if someone else drove the automobile at an unlawful pace. It was Berkas opinion that the police court must arrest the one who was operating the machine. The policeman who timed the vehicle stated he did not know who was the driver.

Root wasnt alone in allegations of having a lead foot. The same week, D.C. Bradford, C.E. Wilkins and F.M. Connor also had complaints filed against them for scorching 16th Street between Center and Vinton Streets. Bradfords case was dismissed. He left the city for a European vacation and the city prosecutor, according to the Omaha Daily Bee, didnt think it was advisable to go into international litigation to get the defendant into court. Newspaper archives dont include the fate of the two remaining cases, but likely they also were dismissed.

Traffic signals came to Omaha 20 years later, and 10 years after the first was installed in Cleveland, Ohio. They were installed first in downtown and as a trial paid for by businesses.

In March 1924, Sam Hauser of the Yellow Cab and Baggage Company received City Council permission to install a signal at 16th and Farnam Streets. His firm was bearing the $1,000 expense in the name of safety and after the 60-day trial, it would be transferred without charge to the city.

The green lantern stayed on for 30 seconds, the amber light for five and the red light for 30. Wrote The World-Herald: Remember, green means Go. Amber means Get Ready. Red means Stop. Just watch the light and obey its indication, and you cant go wrong. Funny how almost a century later, drivers can go wrong.

The signal was operated automatically from a control box. Soon after, a bell was attached to ring when the traffic changes. A second Yellow Cab-funded signal, at 16th and Harney Streets, had stop and go spelled out in the lights. Western Electric paid for signals on 15th Street at Farnam and Harney. Traffic officers still were needed to explain to drivers and pedestrians how the signals operated.

History does not tell us who was the first cited for running a red light. But in one day in 1925, plainclothes officers wrote 300 summons for signal violations. About a third showed up in court, and they got off with only warnings. Only four apparently were fined $2 in police court.

Parking meters began to grace downtown streets in April 1937. Downtown merchants were frustrated that parkers, not customers, were using the spaces in front of their stores all day long. Parking meters were new. The first one was in Oklahoma City in 1935.

The city purchased 750 meters from National Park-O-Graf of Chicago and the first ones were installed on the west side of 18th Street from Douglas to Howard Streets. Police sergeant Harry Marchant inserted a nickel for the distinction of feeding the first meter for the first hour. Collecting the coins proved difficult during the two-week trial period. Coin boxes had yet to be installed, so the nickels dropped to the bottom of the hollow standards.

When all the meters went live on April 21, overtime parkers discovered immediately that the city meant business. Six cars were towed to the police station in the first five hours. Four had been parked more than 30 minutes overtime and the other two were in one-hour zones beyond the pay area. The grace period in effect was 20 minutes. The only times metered spaces were free were Sundays and the legal holidays when stores were closed.

The World-Herald reported that the first-day receipts from one-third of the meters totaled $90.25  and seven slugs. The city said the 36 cents per meter hit its estimates. Gradually, the city expanded the meter zones in downtown and, from 1952 to 1980, South Omaha and Benson had their main thoroughfares in metered parking.

Incredibly, a nickel still was buying an hour on the meter in 1960. Those were the days.

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Omaha native Symone Sanders this past week wrapped up her time as a senior adviser and spokeswoman for Vice President Kamala Harris and walked away from what she calls the best job in government and the honor of a lifetime.

Sanders, 32, grew up in North Omaha and graduated from Mercy High School and Creighton University. She has since risen rapidly through the political ranks.

She was Bernie Sanders press secretary during his 2016 presidential campaign and a senior adviser to President Joe Bidens successful 2020 campaign before assuming her most recent role in the White House.

In an interview Wednesday, Sanders talked about her experience working with the first woman and first woman of color to serve as vice president of the United States, witnessing history each day. Before joining the Biden administration, Sanders said she often talked about being authentic, speaking up and speaking truth to power.

I had never been in a professional scenario where I actually got to witness that every single day: A woman that looks like me, doing that, every single day in a position of power, she said.

Watching it, she said, was transformative not just for the people in her office or the people that work at the White House. Thats transformative for our country.

She pointed out the administrations accomplishments. She also acknowledged that the administration still has plenty of work to do. Theyve made gains on coronavirus testing, she said, but theres more to be done. The bipartisan infrastructure deal passed, and now theyre pushing for the broader social safety net bill, the Build Back Better Act.

This administration has a positive story to tell, and I think those are the kinds of things you will hear from the president and vice president as they head into Quarter Two of their administration at the top of next year, she said.

Recent national news reports, though, have often pointed to dysfunction and infighting in the vice presidents office.

A story published by the news outlet The Hill attributed two unidentified sources with saying a number of Democrats had come to believe that Sanders was the voice in numerous blind quotes in news reports about friction in the office. Sanders had no interest in talking about that  she hadnt read the story, she said, and wasnt going to comment on salacious gossip (expletive).

Asked about the reports of dysfunction more broadly, Sanders said she thinks shes been very clear about her experience, and that her thoughts on people that like to complain to the papers are also well-documented. She called it the honor of her life to serve Harris.

She is someone who I watch every single day bring her full self to work, Sanders said. I watch her challenge her teams, I watch her push us all to be better. I watch her raise issues and perspectives and topics and policy that other people  other folks just werent thinking about.

The White House hosted the first-ever maternal health summit under Harris, she said. She reflected on traveling abroad and witnessing the vice presidents phone calls and meetings with world leaders.

World leaders know that when Vice President Kamala Harris speaks, she speaks for the president, Sanders said. This has just been such a powerful and transformative experience.

A fellow staff member in the vice presidents office, who asked not to be named, said Sanders brought an important perspective  as a younger person who grew up outside of Washington, D.C.  to the job and brought a variety of voices to the table. Omaha should be proud, the staff member said.

The pride goes both ways.

I am a proud product of North Omaha, and I really think that the communities that we grow up in  they shape us, they mold us, and my community definitely did that for me, she said. And North Omaha  Omaha  always has a special place in my heart.

Sanders got her start in politics at home, as an intern for Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle. She also volunteered to help Suttles successful effort to defeat a recall campaign.

That experience in local politics is what galvanized me to, frankly, where I am right now, she said.

She went on to work for a firm hired by the Suttle campaign to organize North and South Omaha in that effort, she said, and later as deputy communications director for Democrat Chuck Hassebrooks 2014 gubernatorial campaign.

Hassebrook, a former University of Nebraska regent, said last week that he was impressed by Sanders work back then. He knew she was destined for great things.

She was just a take-charge person, she was direct in a very good way, she was confident in a good way, and I just thought a lot of her, he said.

Three years into a fast-paced lifestyle filled with hopping on and off planes, briefings and interviews, Sanders said it was time for her to leave the role. She said shed be turning in all her devices Friday morning, marking the official close of her time in the White House.

Before her job under Harris, observers had considered Sanders a top candidate to be press secretary for Biden. But she said shes not eyeing a job in government as her next step.

She has no new job to announce just yet, but whatever it is, she said, will allow her to plan her wedding thats slated for August  and shes looking forward to things like happy hour, brunch and spending time with people.

At this moment in time, I feel so honored to have served President Biden and Vice President Harris, and Im going to continue to be a reliable voice for this White House on the outside, regardless of whatever I do next, she said. But, at this time, you know, I just think its my time.

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The number of people killed on Nebraska roads dropped in 2021 as the death toll rose nationally, but two safety experts in the state still see room for improvement here.

As of Friday morning, motor vehicle crashes on Nebraska roads had taken the lives of 220 people in 2021, a decrease of a little more than 5% from 2020s 232 fatalities, according to the Nebraska Department of Transportation Highway Safety Office.

A drop in motorcycle and pedestrian fatalities led the decrease in Nebraskas death toll. Twenty-two fatalities from motorcycle crashes occurred in 2021, down from 26 in 2020. The year also saw 14 pedestrians die, compared with 19 in 2020.

Its definitely a positive that our (traffic) fatalities are down, said Bill Kovarik, the administrator for the Nebraska Department of Transportation Highway Safety Office. Thats unlike most other states this year, and were hoping to see that pattern continuing.

In the first six months of 2021, according to the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration, the number of fatalities climbed by nearly 20% over the previous year as 20,000 people died on U.S. roads. It was the largest six-month jump in traffic fatalities since record-keeping began in 1975.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement accompanying the report that incidents of speeding and failure to use seat belts were found to be higher than before the pandemic.

This is a crisis. More than 20,000 people died on U.S. roads in the first six months of 2021, leaving countless loved ones behind, Buttigieg said. We cannot and should not accept these fatalities as simply a part of everyday life in America.

Traffic deaths in 2021 on rural Nebraska roads declined a modest 2% from 2020, according to the Nebraska Department of Transportations Highway Safety Office. Urban areas saw a 16% decline in traffic deaths.

Lt. John Wells of the Omaha Police Departments traffic unit said his officers investigated 39 deaths in 2021 compared with 46 last year.

A lot of these crashes are preventable because speed, alcohol and distracted driving are contributing to crashes, Wells said. Its not just those factors. Were seeing people not wearing seat belts and being ejected, and thats a big cause of deaths.

Wells would like to see Nebraskas state legislators take aim at distracted driving during the coming legislative session. Distracted driving now is a secondary offense, and even though officers can see drivers all around them looking down at their phones, they cant pull a vehicle over solely for that infraction.

Distracted driving is becoming more and more common, Wells said. Id like to see it become a primary offense.

Kovarik said his office will be leading the charge for seat belt awareness in the new year. Studies show seat belt usage in Nebraska has fallen by 5%, he said.

Even if (drivers) are doing everything else right but you are not wearing a seat belt, youre more likely to be killed, Kovarik said. My wish for the new year is that everybody needs to wear a seat belt, not drive distracted or while youre impaired. Other people are counting on you to come home.

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As a mom, I know firsthand that the decision about whether and when to become a parent is one of the most consequential life decisions we make. Thats why I believe so strongly that Nebraskans should have the freedom to make their own choices about what is best for their lives and their families, including decisions about abortion care.

Put simply, decisions about reproductive health care arent mine to make. They belong to Nebraskans, not the government.

Abortion is safe and legal in Nebraska, but lawmakers who are opposed to those rights have added layers of medically unnecessary barriers that make the procedure harder to access than it should be. These barriers fall hardest on Nebraskans who are financially struggling, most often young Nebraskans, rural Nebraskans and Nebraskans of color.

Every time I speak with local health care professionals who provide abortion care, I hear a similar story: Barriers related to cost and travel are taking decisions out of Nebraskans hands, risking their health, and sometimes putting them on track to be pushed into poverty or further into poverty. Although abortion is a right, some Nebraskans effectively dont have access, so the right means nothing to them.

This is unacceptable, but not unsolvable. In the 2022 legislative session, my colleagues must join me in expanding access to care rather than joining the stampede of other state legislative bodies that are tripping over themselves to take away peoples rights and tie doctors hands.

Many Nebraskans dont know about our medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion care until they or someone they love is in need of abortion care. For example, currently you must purchase an optional rider from your private insurance if you need abortion care coverage in most situations. This can result in unexpected bills totaling thousands of dollars. Legislation Im introducing this session could change that.

Im also seeking an end to Nebraskas inexplicable and unnecessary ban on telehealth for medication abortion. Omaha World-Herald readers may have seen the announcement that the Food and Drug Administration is permanently authorizing medication abortion by mail. This is an exceedingly safe two-pill procedure legal in 31 states, but state law currently denies telehealth options to Nebraskans by requiring them to be in the same room as a provider, even if its just to swallow a pill and go home. A bill I introduced last year, LB 276, would repeal this requirement and bring abortion care in line with every other treatment offered in this state. It is important for all Nebraskans, but especially those in rural communities who cannot access care close to home.

Finally, we need to recognize that given the safety of abortion care, many duties that are performed by physicians can also be safely done by our skilled licensed advance practice registered nurses, certified nurse midwives and physician assistants. I will be introducing a bill modifying requirements to allow these practitioners to better support patient access.

I hope other state senators will join me and the majority of Nebraskans who support these measures and will reject any proposal that would add new restrictions.

The common theme with all of this is that a patients health should drive medical decisions, not politics. These issues belong between Nebraskans, their families and their doctors. We must trust Nebraskans to make the right decisions for their personal circumstances with the guidance and support of medical providers they trust. I believe that to my core and I know Im in good company. According to the Pew Research Center, most Nebraskans oppose outlawing abortion.

None of us can walk in each others shoes. Nebraskans believe in respecting others privacy, dignity and bodily autonomy. We need to shop shaming and stigmatizing and start doing better to ensure every Nebraskan and their rights are respected.

We must do better, and I believe that we can.

Megan Hunt of Omaha represents District 8 in the Nebraska Legislature.
Over the past three years, the Nebraska National Guard has helped Nebraskans through floods, fires and a global pandemic. Through it all, the Guard has proved time and again how vital its members are to the citizens of our state in times of need. As commander-in-chief of the Nebraska National Guard, I could not be more proud of these men and women.

While generations of Nebraskans have served in the Guard, its mission changed significantly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Twenty-five years ago, individuals joining the Nebraska National Guard didnt expect to be deployed. Airmen and soldiers usually werent called on to support overseas missions. Now, they receive a much higher level of training and preparedness than in years past. Todays young women and men who join the Guard not only know they will be deployed  they want to be deployed. Theyre eager to take the fight to the enemy. Theyre looking for opportunities to serve their fellow citizens. Theyre trained to do so.

The Guard has shown its versatility and value during the disasters of the past few years. It stepped up in heroic ways when Nebraska endured the 2019 floods  the most widespread natural disaster in our states history. Members of the Guard dropped sandbags to protect homes and businesses from rising floodwaters. They delivered hay so that ranchers could feed their livestock.

The Guard also conducted daring rescue missions to save Nebraskans. Helicopter pilots told me the rainy and windy conditions of the flood were every bit as hazardous as flying in combat. During the floods, the National Guard saved 112 Nebraskans  66 by helicopter hoist  and 13 pets. A Nebraska National Guard crew won the DUSTOFF Award for performing the 2019 Rescue of the Year after pulling seven first responders out of the cold, surging waters of the Elkhorn River.

After the floods of 2019, the Nebraska National Guard again swung into action in 2020 to help their neighbors through the coronavirus pandemic. Members of the Guard volunteered to conduct coronavirus testing at Test Nebraska sites in multiple cities, seven days per week.

The Guard distributed personal protective equipment to first responders and health-care workers across Nebraska. In total, the state delivered 18.6 million masks, 39 million sets of gloves, 5 million surgical gowns and more than 50,000 gallons of hand sanitizer. The Guards logistical support helped Nebraska become the first state in the country to accumulate a 120-day supply of critical PPE.

The Guard also played a key role in supporting coronavirus vaccination. Members of the Guard directly administered nearly 70,000 vaccine doses to the public. Their work greatly boosted capabilities of our local health departments.

Additionally, airmen and soldiers supported the Food Bank of Lincoln and Food Bank for the Heartland to distribute food to pantries throughout the state. Over two months in the spring of 2020, Guard members helped package and deliver more than 400,000 pounds of produce and packaged food.

The Guard plays a leading role in the states firefighting efforts as well. In November, I called on the National Guard to help contain the Buffalo Creek wildfire in Banner and Scotts Bluff Counties. The Guard flew two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters to the blaze and dropped more than 100,000 gallons of water on the hottest spots of the fire. These aerial firefighting capabilities played a big role in our success putting a stop to the fire before it harmed anyone. This wasnt the only wildfire the Guard helped fight in 2021, either. Helicopter crews provided aerial assistance to combat wildfires in Holt County in June, the Hackberry wildfire near Harrison in August, and September fires south of Crawford and west of Scottsbluff.

The fantastic job done by the Guard in Nebraska is only part of its work. The Nebraska National Guard also deploys around the world to serve our country on missions vital to national security. This spring, the 179th Cyber Protection Team returned to Nebraska after over a year of guarding the U.S. from virtual threats while stationed in Fort Meade, Maryland. About 200 soldiers based in Columbus and Grand Island are helping to manage the humanitarian crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border.

We also have soldiers of the 67th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade serving in Africa, as well as the 1057th Military Police Company and 734th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion serving in Kuwait and Qatar. Members of the 192nd Military Police Detachment returned to Nebraska just in time for Christmas after a 10-month deployment to Jordan. Were grateful to have them home for the holidays, and we pray for the safe return of all the women and men still on mission out of state.

The Nebraska National Guard is carrying on the tradition of service, sacrifice and honor that have made this the greatest country in the history of the world. Maj. Gen. Daryl Bohac, adjutant general of the Nebraska National Guard, is doing great work to prepare his soldiers and airmen for whatever comes their way in 2022. On behalf of all Nebraskans, thank you to members of the Guard for your dedicated service to our state.

The Nebraska National Guard Museum in Seward tells the stories of brave Soldiers and Airmen whove served Nebraska since before the Civil War. I encourage you to make a visit. For museum hours and information, go to nengm.org.

Pete Ricketts is the governor of Nebraska.
The Omaha we know today was shaped by strategic investments in projects that addressed the state and the nations most urgent needs.

More than 150 years ago, the need to transport people and goods westward led to the establishment of Union Pacific in Omaha. The selection of our city as a trailhead for the way to the west was an economic catalyst that also shaped our identity as a determined, resilient community.

After World War II, when the United States needed a headquarters for its nuclear strike forces, the Department of Defense selected Offutt Air Force Base as the location for Strategic Air Command. Today, Offutt is one of Nebraskas largest employers and has annual economic impact of $2.7 billion.

As young professionals and their families flocked to our community to fill jobs created by these economic booms, teachers were in high demand to educate their children. The need for an educator pipeline became imperative. Today, 50% of teachers in the metro area and one-third of all teachers in Nebraska hold at least one degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

As the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the nation in early 2020, the White House looked to the University of Nebraska Medical Center to monitor some of the nations first coronavirus patients and provide insights about how to mitigate the spread of the virus. UNMC continues to be trusted for its insight as the nation continues to address this pandemic and anticipate and combat future pandemics.

The thread that connects each of these projects throughout Omahas history is the fact that they were built by Nebraskans and are sustained through strategic investments for the benefit of our city, our state and our nation.

History doesnt always repeat itself, but it certainly rhymes.

Today, our state and our nation both face pressing needs for which the University of Nebraska at Omaha is in a strategic position to provide solutions. We need a new generation of counterterrorism experts to track, understand and mitigate domestic and international threats to national security. We need professionals with skills in science, technology, engineering and math who can quickly adapt and meet the workforce demands of an ever-evolving economy. We need to produce research, technology and devices that support a healthier society and human mobility as we work toward a post-pandemic world.

Nebraska is ready and willing to meet each of these needs. This time, the foundations to address these issues dont need to be built from scratch the same way they needed to be in our states past. In fact, they already exist on UNOs campus.

UNO is home to NCITE, a counterterrorism center developed in collaboration with the Department of Defense, as well as 17 other universities across the nation. In its short time, NCITE has already proven itself to be essential to national security efforts. The university is also home to cutting-edge interdisciplinary biomechanics researchers and facilities dedicated to advancing human health and mobility. In addition, UNOs commitment to lifelong learning is manifested through the STEM TRAIL Center, which is dedicated to educating and reskilling students of all ages in STEM fields.

Just like the creation of Union Pacific and the selection of Offutt to house the Strategic Air Command, investment in these areas will be the catalyst for untold economic benefit for Omaha and for Nebraska.

Just as we have in our past, now is the time to seize this opportunity as a city and state to invest in these priority areas that hold the potential to transform lives around the globe, boost the states economy and refocus the nations attention on the heartland.

History is speaking to us. We need to listen.

Joanne Li, Ph.D., is chancellor of the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Betty White: Now that was a career. And that was a pro, adored by millions who appreciated comic skill and the ability to get the last laugh.

The Oak Park native, who died Dec. 31 just weeks before her 100th birthday, was the daughter of a homemaker and a lighting company executive. She became a Californian when she was just a year old, after the familys move to Alhambra, California, a few miles from downtown Los Angeles. She worked in radio  first in 1930, at age eight!  and would seek out radio gigs as she grew older, having already been dismissed as unphotogenic by Hollywood casting agents.

Over the next half century and more, White avenged that idiotic mischaracterization by wielding one of the greatest, most recognized smiles in American television. She did so across a remarkable spectrum of vivacious sincerity and subtly wicked parody, supported by timing and presence and craft that came together as a natural force as it has for precious few others.

We know her for so much long-running situation comedy: As Rose Nylund, of St. Olaf, Minnesota, on The Golden Girls; as Elka Ostrosky on Hot in Cleveland; and as Sue Ann Nivens, star of The Happy Homemaker on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Casting the peerless MTM ensemble, Moore and company wanted an icky sweet Betty White type, with a twist. The character was like whipped cream concealing knives: a shark one second, a kitten the next. Lo and behold! Betty White turned out to be perfect for it.

In 2021, we lost Ed Asner, Cloris Leachman and Gavin MacLeod before White. For countless Americans (Ill just count one: me), the ritual of The Mary Tyler Moore Show followed by The Bob Newhart Show Saturdays on CBS was like going to comedy school once a week, learning from geniuses. Newhart, still with us at 92, is another Oak Park native. Hemingway wasnt very funny, but he and White made up for that.

With White its worth remembering what she did and when, at the point of TVs relative infancy.

In 1949 White and LA disc jockey Al Jarvis began co-hosting a daily five-and-a-half-hour talk show, Hollywood on Television, live. After a brief stint with a new co-host, Eddie Albert (who left to do Roman Holiday), White fronted the show solo. She was, by most accounts, the first female TV talk show host.

Shed do sketches featuring a fictional spin-off character, which led to a domestic sitcom soon afterward, Life with Elizabeth co-starred Del Moore (best known as Prof. Warfield in The Nutty Professor), airing from 1953 to 1955. Take a look at one of those Life with Elizabeth episodes sometime. In the opening credits, she holds a broad, friendly smile for a full eight seconds, like a champ. From the perspective of today, it looks like a joke; back then, it was the blueprint. Smile, girls! Hold it!

Elsewhere on the show, in between scenes, White pitched Geritol (for tired blood) and other products of dubious worth nonetheless worth millions in revenue. White, too, was basically a product for sale at that stage, though of increasingly evident value and versatility.

She married her third husband, Password host Allen Ludden, in 1963, a year after White appeared in a dramatic role as a Kansas senator in Advise and Consent. With her luck (to go with the prodigious expertise) in landing long-running sitcoms, luck and expertise that continued in various forms well into the 21st century, drama took a back seat.

What I love about White, among other reasons to love her, is the way she gently but firmly turned the tables on her own persona. She came into national familiarity as a sugary paragon of female domesticity. And complicated and deepened that cliche by sheer will and skill.

Revisit any number of Mary Tyler Moore Show episodes, such as the one where Sue Ann auditions for a locally produced program outside her Happy Homemaker wheelhouse. Its a special kind of hilarious. She took a character type  the slightly unnerving font of hospitality White was allowed to be in the 50s  and in that archetype, she found nugget after nugget of gold.

Late in life, she advised: Dont try to be young. Just open your mind. Stay interested in stuff. It worked for Betty White, to the end. She served in the American Womens Voluntary Services in WWII and, as former first lady Michelle Obama tweeted Friday: She broke barriers, defied expectations, served her country, and pushed us all to laugh.

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Mark Francis Grasso, a Baltimore County attorney and musician who played guitar and violin at local venues, died of complications of non-small cell lung cancer on Dec. 15 at Stella Maris Hospice. The Perry Hall resident was 67.

Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, he was the son of Louise Rita Sica, a homemaker, and Francis Joseph Grasso, a Fort Meade accountant. He liked to tell friends he was born in the same hospital as Frank Sinatra, and added, on the same sheets.

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His family moved to Sykesville, Maryland, where they lived for a couple of years before settling in Glen Burnie in 1958.

He was a 1972 graduate of Glen Burnie High School and earned degrees at Anne Arundel Community College and the University of Baltimore School of Law.

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He was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 1986 and established his law practice on York Road in Lutherville. He practiced for 35 years as the managing partner of the Trazzi & Grasso firm. He worked mostly on personal injury and workmans compensation cases. He represented many police officers and some firefighters and teachers injured on their jobs.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 101 Betty White, Hollywood's "Golden Girl," died Friday, Dec. 31, 2021. She was 99. (Matt Sayles/AP)

He met his future wife, Mary Helen Seay, in 1979 in Fells Point at an Aliceanna Street pub. It was a casual first encounter, and they later were reacquainted at a square dance at the VFW Hall on Harford Road. They were both drawn to The Gandy Dancer in South Baltimore where they socialized and enjoyed Irish traditional music and dancing.

Mark was someone who really cared about his clients and he took time to learn all he could about their situations, his wife said. He was dedicated and tenacious in working for them. He was quite a force when he went into court and was always well prepared. He was charismatic. He attracted clients through word-of-mouth. She said he had a strong work ethic and was proud of the successful legal practice he created with his partner, Damon Trazzi.

The Irish music has been a continuing thread in our lives, she said. Even though he was 100% Italian, Mr. Grasso became well known and appreciated in Baltimores Irish traditional music circles.

In the 1990s, Mark played the fiddle in a family band, Relatively Irish, with siblings-in-law, Bob and Christine Seay. He often played guitar with his son, Eliot, a Uilleann piper. In recent years he played with another family group called Irish Relatives Anonymous, which included his nephew Bobby Seay VI and niece Michaela Seay.

Most recently, Mr. Grasso played guitar and fiddle as a regular at In Like Flynn, a Locust Point bar formerly known as J. Patricks.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 78 Peter N. Marudas was a respected political strategist and adviser to three Baltimore mayors and a U.S. senator.

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Marks love of music and performing knew no bounds and encompassed many genres, his wife said. He took up the guitar around age 12 and played in several rock bands in his youth, but he also enjoyed blues and jazz. In 1980, he began studying the violin, his favorite instrument, learning many styles: classical, bluegrass, Irish traditional and jazz. For a time, we played bluegrass music together, sometimes with friends.

Mr. Grasso followed in his fathers musical footsteps and picked up the piano accordion and delighted in playing popular Italian folk songs. He also played classical violin with the Baltimore Philharmonia Orchestra and other music with his hootenanny friends in Fells Point.

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He could be heard informally jamming with an eclectic group at Berthas on South Broadway, playing everything from country to Led Zeppelin to Stephane Grappelli.

[ Mark H. Beck, architect who designed Lexington Market Arcade, dies ]

His wife said: Mark took pleasure in playing music anywhere  at weddings, parties, festivals, fundraisers, nursing homes  on guitar, violin or accordion. If he was playing music, he was happy. Music was his bliss.

My husbands confident, funny, sensitive, openhearted presence attracted people like moths to a flame, his wife said. He will be remembered for his dedication to family, career, and music and also for his wit, his love of animals, his joie de vivre  and his unforgettable smile.

Survivors include his wife of 41 years, Mary Helen Seay, a Baltimore County teacher and library media specialist; a daughter, Alison Elena Grasso of Brooklyn, New York; a son, Eliot John Grasso of Springfield, Oregon; a brother, former Del. John Joseph Grasso of Glen Burnie; and three grandchildren.

Plans for a memorial service are incomplete.
BLOOMINGTON  A Chicago man spent the New Year's weekend at the McLean County jail after Bloomington police say they caught him trying to steal car parts.

An arrest report sent to The Pantagraph from the McLean County State's Attorney's Office said officers were called out early Friday morning after three male suspects were seen lifting a car up with a jack. When they arrived, officers said in the report, they caught the three "in the act."

The statement said a Toyota Prius was found jacked up with its catalytic converter hanging from the exhaust pipe. Police stated in the report Jason S. Russell, 22, was arrested after he tried to run from officers.

Sgt. Robert Raycraft with the Bloomington Police Department said the man has a Chicago address, and a BPD officer arrested him.

The report also said a car jack, power tools and safety glasses were found at the scene and had been left by Russell and his accomplices.

The man was charged with attempting to possess or sell stolen vehicle parts, the report said, which is a Class 2 felony. It added he was also charged with resisting police officers, a Class A misdemeanor.

Russell remains booked at the McLean County jail. His bond was set at $10,000.

Contact Brendan Denison at (309) 820-3238. Follow Brendan Denison on Twitter: @BrendanDenison

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Two suspects have been picked up by the police in connection with the death of an American citizen at a hotel room in Accra on December 14, 2021.



The suspects are currently in police custody assisting with investigations.



Identified as Julie Diane Williams, she was found dead at the Rayporsh Hotel at Abelemkpe, a suburb of Accra, on December 14, 2021.



A police statement dated December 31, 2021, signed and issued by the Director of Public Affairs, ACP Kwesi Ofori said her family in the US has officially been informed of the investigations being conducted into the circumstances leading to her death.



The police said on December 29, 2021, a post mortem examination was conducted at the Police Hospital mortuary in the presence of the Police and one Godwin King Akpalu, a representative of the deceased's family who identified the body to the pathologist.



"We await the full autopsy report, including toxicology and histopathology examinations," the statement added.





What happened?



According to the police, the investigation has established that the deceased, a US national arrived in Ghana on December 3, 2021, from Nigeria.



Having tested positive for COVID-19 on arrival, she was taken into an isolation centre at Ave Maria Hotel, South Legon in Accra.



On December 6, 2021, the deceased was reportedly picked up by some alleged friends from the isolation centre and taken to Zoko Lounge at Airport residential area where she reportedly had lunch and was then taken to the Rayporsh hotel at Abelemkpe.



Records available at the Rayporsh Hotel, according to the police indicate that the deceased checked out from the hotel on Sunday, December 12, 2021, at noon with the intention to travel back to Nigeria but could not proceed because of visa issues.



The police said she returned to the hotel the same day at 2:00 pm and checked in again.



On December 14, 2021, the police received a complaint from two of the staff of the hotel to the effect that the said Julie Diane Williams was found unconscious in her room at the hotel.



A Police team proceeded to the hotel and after the necessary protocols, took her to the Police Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Source: graphic.com.gh









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The funeral mass for South African anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu has taken place at the Anglican cathedral in Cape Town.



Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who helped end the racist regime in South Africa, died last Sunday aged 90.



In his eulogy, President Cyril Ramaphosa described Tutu as "the spiritual father of our new nation".



Tutu had insisted there should be no "lavish spending" on the funeral. He wanted "the cheapest available coffin".



Family, friends, clergy and politicians were among those who gathered at St George's Cathedral for Saturday's service, which had limited numbers because of coronavirus restrictions. Tutu's widow Nomalizo Leah sat in a wheelchair at the front of the congregation wearing a purple shawl - the colour of her late husband's clerical robes.



Tutu was one of the driving forces behind the movement to end the policy of racial segregation and discrimination enforced by the white minority government against the black majority in South Africa from 1948 until 1991.



In the main eulogy at the official state funeral on Saturday, Mr Ramaphosa described the archbishop as a "crusader in the struggle for freedom, for justice, for equality and for peace. Not only in South Africa but around the world as well".



"If we are to understand a global icon to be someone of great moral stature, of exceptional qualities, and of service to humanity there can be no doubt that it refers to the man we're laying to rest today," he said.



Saturday's funeral was given a special status, usually designated for presidents and very important people.



Tutu had requested that the only flowers in the cathedral should be a "bouquet of carnations from his family", according to the Archbishop Tutu IP Trust and the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation.



His ashes are to be interred behind the pulpit at St George's Cathedral - the Anglican diocese he served as Archbishop for 35 years.



It was earlier revealed that Tutu is to be aquamated - a process using water that is described as an environmentally friendly alternative to cremation.

Source: BBC









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A family of five is feared dead in an accident at Akrofuom in the Ashanti Region while returning from a December 31 all-night service.



Reports gathered at the scene indicate that the family was rescued lifeless after a Toyota Corolla with registration number WR-28-48 they were driving in collided head-on with an articulator truck.



According to reports, the driver of the Toyota Corolla attempted to overtake a truck when the accident occurred.



Due to the impact of the crash, the front side of the vehicle mangled, trapping the occupants.



It took a combined rescue team of police, fire, and emergency medical personnel to remove trapped bodies from the mangled car trapped under the truck.



An eyewitness, Elder Godwin told Adom News that the man, his wife and two female children were rescued unconscious, but their dad was conscious.



An ambulance was called to the scene to transport the victims to the hospital.







Source: Adom news









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On Dec 31, 2021 firefighters walk near a home destroyed by a wildfire in Boulder County, Colorado.

Three people are missing after a wildfire tore through several Colorado towns, quickly destroying nearly 1,000 homes as part of the latest in a string of US natural disasters.

"We're very fortunate that we don't have a list of 100 missing. But unfortunately we do have three confirmed missing people," Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle told a press conference.

At least 991 homes are thought to have been destroyed as the blaze raced through the towns of Superior and Louisville on Thursday, just outside the state's biggest city Denver, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee with little notice.

Shocking aerial footage showed whole streets as little more than piles of smoking ash, destruction that appeared almost total but somehow left a few homes oddly untouched.

Pelle said the search for the missing had been hampered by the destruction and snow.

"The structures where these folks would be are completely destroyed and covered with about eight inches (20 centimeters) of snow right now."

Investigators found no credible evidence to back earlier reports that downed power lines may have caused the fire, with Pelle stating that some residents may have been confused by downed telecom lines.

However, investigators have "executed a search warrant in one particular location" as part of an ongoing investigation that Pelle described as "very active" and comprising federal and state partners.

Louie Delaware embraces his wife Judy as his daughter Elise embraces her fiance McGregor Ritter after returning to the remains of their home in Louisville, Colorado on December, 31, 2021.

The fire, which was sparked in a tinder-dry landscape, was then fanned by winds gusting at more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) an hour on Thursday.

"This was a disaster in fast motion... over the course of half a day. Many families having minutes to get whatever they couldtheir pets, their kidsinto the car and leave," Governor Jared Polis said, "just as in the blink of an eye."

At least 33,000 people in Superior and Louisville were told to flee, many doing so with little more than the clothes on their backs.

Pelle said he spoke to the granddaughter of one of the missing on Saturday morning.

"They're trying to find grandma. And we're trying to find grandma for her," he said. "But the conditions right now don't make that possible to do quickly."

While snowfall had helped extinguish the fire, it was a "hard thing for crime scenes, and recovery efforts and damage assessments," Pelle said.

Debris lies scattered in the basement of a home destroyed by wildfire in unincorporated Boulder County, Colorado on December, 31, 2021.

The fire, which occurred just before the New Year's holiday, follows mid-December tornadoes in the state of Kentucky that left dozens dead and thousands of families in crisis mode ahead of Christmas.

Although fires are a natural part of the climate cycle and help to clear dead brush, their scale and intensity are increasing.

Scientists say a warming climate, chiefly caused by human activities such as the unchecked burning of fossil fuels, is altering weather patterns.

 2022 AFP
GLENS FALLS  New Glens Falls Mayor Bill Collins assured city residents his administration would encourage inclusive practices going forward, despite having to limit the number of audience members at his swearing-in ceremony.

Unfortunately, due to the rise in COVID cases, we had to limit the number of attendees today. I am truly sorry for that, Collins said. My administration will be about increasing participation, not limiting it.

The Glens Falls Common Council held the first meeting of the year on Saturday to swear in Collins and the members of the council.

The ceremony at City Hall was limited to family and friends of the appointees, after Collins announced the cancellation of the public event and reception to follow at the Morgan & Co. Restaurant.

Mayor Collins thanked his successors Dan Hall and Jack Diamond, as well as his fellow Common Council members, for being a part of his growth and helping him easily transition into office.

Other members of Collins administration were sworn in at the ceremony on New Years Day.

Jim Clark Jr. was sworn in to the office of councilman-at-large, Edward Donohue, Ward 1 councilman; Robert Landry, Ward 2 councilman; Diana Palmer, Ward 3 councilwoman; Mary Gooden, Ward 5 councilwoman, as well as the new Deputy City Clerk Zoe Morgan and City Clerk Megan Nolin.

Ward 4 Councilman Benjamin Lapham did not attend after testing positive for COVID.

The official ceremony was followed by the first Common Council meeting of the new year, which outlined the roles of city employees, Public Works Department employees, along with the fire and police chiefs.

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QUEENSBURY  A Glens Falls man was charged with reckless endangerment, reckless driving and criminal mischief after intentionally rear-ending a vehicle driven by an acquaintance on Friday, police said.

At about 8:30 a.m. Friday, the Warren County Sheriffs Office responded to what was reported as a motor vehicle accident on Highland Avenue near Lower Warren Street.

Police said it was determined that a 2009 GMC operated by Clayton McKinney, 37, of Glens Falls, was northbound on Highland Avenue and began intentionally and repeatedly rear-ending a 2013 Honda CR-V operated by Michael Wolfe, 39, of Queensbury.

The impact caused the Honda to cross into the southbound lane, striking a 2012 Chrysler minivan driven by Matthew Waddilove, 40, of Argyle.

After the collision, McKinney and a passenger in the Honda engaged in a physical altercation, police said.

"Through the investigation it was determined that McKinney and Wolfe were acquaintances and the collision was believed to be a continuation of a prior incident that occurred in Washington County," a news release said.

No injuries were reported as a result of the crash.

McKinney was charged with three counts of second-degree reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor; two counts of second-degree criminal mischief, a felony; and reckless driving, a misdemeanor.

There were no charges filed in regards to the physical altercation between McKinney and the passenger in the Honda.

McKinney was arraigned in the Warren County Centralized Arraignment Court and released on his own recognizance.

This incident was investigated by sheriff's Patrol Officer John Bateholts, who was assisted at the scene by members of the state police.
SARATOGA SPRINGS  Dr. Clarisse Kilayko recently returned to the region to join Saratoga Hospital Medical Group.

She brings 10 years of experience in infectious disease medicine.

For five of those years, Kilayko practiced at Hudson Headwaters Health Network in Queensbury with providers who are now members of the Saratoga Hospital infectious disease team.

In a time of heightened demand for infectious disease specialists, we were extremely fortunate to be able to recruit a physician with Dr. Kilaykos skills, experience and commitment, said Dr. Richard Falivena, vice president and chief medical and physician integration officer at Saratoga Hospital.

Kilayko comes to Saratoga Hospital from Berkshire Medical Center in Massachusetts. She earned her medical degree at the University of the Philippines and completed an internship, residency and fellowship at St. Lukes Roosevelt Hospital in New York City (now Mount Sinai Morningside).

Kilayko is board certified in internal medicine with a subspecialty certification in infectious disease. She is a member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Saratoga Hospital Medical Group  Infectious Disease is located at 665 Saratoga Road, Wilton.

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PUTNAM  The Lake George Land Conservancy will use a $3,762,800 grant awarded through the New York State Water Quality Improvement Project program to purchase the 59.6-acre Clark Hollow Bay property in Putnam.

The property is across Lake George from Silver Bay, adjoining more than 1,000 acres on the northeastern shore that the LGLC helped to protect more than 30 years ago.

The land includes 2,530 feet of shoreline and 1,300 feet of streams that feed Lake George, as well as steeply forested slopes that would be highly susceptible to erosion if disturbed. Its protection will result in the prevention of previously approved development that could impact the public drinking supply, according to an LGLC news release.

In protecting this property, we will be closing the gap in shoreline protection of the northeastern region, a total of more than 3 miles of critical land buffer between the lake and its uplands, LGLC Conservation Manager Monica Dore said in the release. In addition, creating a contiguous block of forested land supports a wide range of wildlife.

The Clark Hollow Bay property is also a documented summer habitat of the timber rattlesnake, which is legally protected as a threatened species in New York state.

According to a survey conducted by William S. Brown, Ph.D., and Jed Merrow on the property in 2012, Clark Hollow Bay provides habitats for thermoregulation and protection, making the preserve a significant refuge in ensuring survival of the species.

The Clark Hollow Bay Project is the largest undertaking in LGLC history, with a total cost of $5 million. We will use the momentum from this grant to raise the remaining funds needed to complete the purchase in 2022, LGLC Interim Executive Director Jeff Brozyna said.

More than $272 million is being awarded to 179 projects to protect and improve water through the WQIP program, according to an announcement made by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Dec. 21. Grants were awarded to projects such as land acquisition, municipal wastewater treatment upgrades and marine habitat restoration.

The Lake George Land Conservancy is an accredited nonprofit land trust based in Bolton Landing.

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MOREAU  A drive through the Moreau Industrial Park feels more like a scenic drive between forgotten fields than a space designed for industrial warehouses and factories. Families can be seen walking their dogs on the dead-end road leading to a cul-de-sac with only one driveway attached or into the trees posted with no dumping signs.

Piles of stone and concrete left behind by the highway department can be seen on one of the snow-covered lots across from large industrial power lines on metal towers that stretch beyond visibility, as smoke billows from the only factory on the land.

The park has been grossly underused since $1 million was spent by taxpayers to install water, sewer, electricity and natural gas lines to encourage businesses to occupy the land donated to the town by National Grid in the 1990s.

The land is located on Farnan Road, set back from Bluebird Road and nestled behind clumps of dense trees with 243 acres currently separated into lots ranging in size from 2.7 to 26.9 acres. The town of Moreau shares the property with Moreau Industrial LLC. The town owns 13 lots, with the remaining 14 belonging to the Moreau Industrial LLC.

Currently, the park houses just one business, Hexion Inc., a specialty chemical plant that produces adhesive and epoxy solutions.

Town Supervisor Todd Kusnierz suggests the location may be the reason behind businesses shying away from the potential opportunity.

We couldnt be further from the interstate here. Companies are often looking at Route 9 as a potential location, where zoning doesnt always allow for the buildings desired, he said, motioning to the land around him.

Due to the recent growth in the town of Moreau, over the past two years multiple companies have expressed interest in purchasing lots in the almost vacant park, Kusnierz said.

The biggest appeal is the land is shovel-ready. Companies wont have to worry about sewer, water or power, its all here, Kusnierz said. If you look at the most recent census, Moreau is one of the fastest-growing towns in the state. We have great schools and low taxes. Its an ideal location for investments.

The recent interest in the land could be attributed to a shift in the focus of the town and the future of Moreau, according to Kusnierz.

Thirty years ago, the town wanted to bring in businesses that would create jobs. The reality is, technology has completely transformed the way industrial manufacturing is done. Now its about what these businesses will bring to the town in terms of new industries and investments for the town of Moreau, he said.

Most recently, Cerrone Builders and Nexamp Inc., which have not been allowed to build in other locations in the town, are seeking approval to purchase some of the available industrial lots.

After being denied the use of farmland, Nexamp, a solar energy company based in Boston, submitted plans to the Moreau Planning Board seeking approval for a solar array to be built in the industrial park. The 2.5-megawatt project would involve the construction of a tracking solar array, which moves with the sun from east to west, unlike most stationary solar panels.

The energy company currently has 30 projects across the state under development.

The company has met some pushback from the Planning Board and came before the Town Board last week to negotiate terms of the plans for the solar array. The Planning Board was most concerned with the aftermath, asking: What would become of the land with the panels once the company has moved on?

Michael Cucchiara, vice president of business development, assured the town that the company would not only purchase the land, but would also complete the construction and maintain ownership of the property for the next 25 years.

I think what sets us apart from other developers is that we are not just a developer or a construction firm. We own our projects from start to finish. We develop, own and operate, and recruit our subscribers, both residential and corporate. We stay with the project for the life of it, thats our business, Cucchiara said.

Kusnierz said the hopes are that the solar energy project would become an asset in the park and provide power to the other facilities occupying the land.

Cerrone Builders had been looking to construct a 30,000-square-foot, $4 million warehouse to serve as a marijuana growing and processing facility on Route 9 in Moreau. The lot the company first looked at was not zoned for the type of building the contractors were hoping to construct.

The plans submitted by Cerrone Builders now express intent to construct a single-story manufacturing building on a 2.7-acre lot in the park, according to the most recent documents.

Saratoga Biochar Solutions will also go before the Town Board and the community this month to obtain approval for a $12 million carbon fertilizer plant proposed in the park. The plans include a wood chip receiving and processing center, which will service the town of Moreau and Saratoga County, to be built during phase one of construction to immediately begin benefiting the town.

The factory would be built in three phases and have a low impact on the environment, according to company representatives.

Kusnierz said business was his mission when he was elected as town supervisor four years ago and growth in the town will continue while he is in office.

I have served on the board for 20 years. When I became supervisor, I vowed to be an ambassador for business in the town of Moreau. I would love to see this park fill up, no question, he said.

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Bob and Alberta lived on their ranch in central Florida, on land that was occupied by pine barrens, prickly pears and palmettos. Bobs people had settled the place who knows how long before. I wouldnt be surprised if one of his great-, great-, great-grandparents didnt spring from a marriage between the early European explorers and the Native population of the time.

I met Bob and Alberta in the early 1970s when I went to work there in the summers. I was still a boy.

I dont know how I was allowed to get away with it. Maybe it had to do with me making a little money, and giving my parents a break from my presence at the dinner table. (I was skinny, but my appetite knew no bounds.)

I think of Bob and Alberta this time of year.

Bob told me it might be weeks between visitors during the winter. Then that visitor might only be the state trooper coming by on his monthly rounds.

If they got visitors in the winter, he said, they would almost get giddy with joy.

By Florida standards, December, January and February were cold and barren. Snow would fall and gust sometimes, but of course, it would never stick for long.

It could be cold, close to freezing. To old Floridians, that near freezing could spark fear of an apocalypse. Thats because every 20 years or so, the fingers of the winter of the real north would come down and kill orange groves and winter crops, while bursting pipes and wreaking havoc.

Bob and Albertas ranch was pretty far removed from everything. It wasnt like it is today, a world of freshly sprung-up suburbs full of Northerners, and whats left of the cattle ranches, citrus groves and growers all owned by the banks, corporations and investors.

Roads that were nearly vacant in the cold months 50 years ago are now in a continual state of agitation as the new hordes travel to the strip malls, office buildings, doctors offices, megachurches, big box stores, building sites and convenience stores.

Central Florida was still Old Florida 50 years ago, occupied by cattle ranches and citrus groves.

Folks did not just jump into the car and take the half-hour trip into town. That would have seemed improvident  not just a waste of money, but a loss of money and time. Money that could only be earned through untold hours of blood, sweat and tears, and time that could never be replaced.

The tears would have been hidden, but a life working with lines of cattle that go back not only through generations in your care, but generations of your familys stewardship as well, and cash crops that could be destroyed in one night by a killer frost, could be nearly heartbreaking at times.

Bob would say, Well, those are the times that separate the men from the boys.

With those words, they would cheer themselves up. With them, they used to get through the lonely times, the various downturns in the wider economy, and loss.

The way people are is so different today.

I take time to see Bob and Alberta around the New Year. They have long gone from the land, but their spirits remain to visit me during these cold lonely times at our place in the real north, a place that is not yet ready to give up the old ways.

Forrest Hartley lives far, far away in Hadley, N.Y. Leave a message at new_americangothic@yahoo.com.

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For those of us who care about protecting democracy, 2021 has at times resembled the sort of nightmare where you see a friend standing on a train track but your screams about the looming danger cant be heard. The runaway train of illiberalism continues to bear down on American democracy, and the need to act could not be more urgent.

In truth, this nation avoided the worst that many anticipated might happen during and after the 2020 presidential election. Notwithstanding the Big Lie promoted by former President Trump and his cronies, the election, in fact, went off properly, and the candidates who received the most votes were allowed to assume their offices.

However, what the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 showed, and which subsequent congressional investigations have made even clearer, is that Trump and his minions were very much willing to try to steal the election. They considered a variety of specific plans, with some going so far as to wargame strategies for overturning his electoral loss.

Yet the main reason that Trump and his team were unable to pull off their schemes was because the election wasnt all that close. Of the 59 presidential elections since 1792, there have been 13 that were narrower in the electoral college and 17 that were closer in terms of the popular vote.

Despite Trumps failure, the right-wing anti-democratic forces are still at it. Over the last year, Republicans in state legislatures crafted various measures to make it easier to pull off what they tried to do in the 2020 election. The GOPs anti-democratic strategy has several dimensions.

First, gerrymander so aggressively that they can win majorities of seats with minorities of votes. The template here is the Wisconsin State Assembly, where the GOP has so successfully gerrymandered the state that in 2018, they received only 47% of the Assembly votes but picked up 64% of the Assembly seats. As congressional redistricting unfolds after the 2020 census  which (by design) undercounted Democratic-leaning residents  similar efforts are underway in every state controlled by Republicans.

Second, make it harder for those same Democratic constituencies to vote. For example, by striking them from electoral rolls, or limiting the number of polling stations in heavily Democratic areas, including in communities of color, or by making it illegal to provide various forms of voting assistance. In just the first half of 2021, 18 states enacted more than 30 laws that restrict access to the vote.

Third, if all else fails and Democrats somehow still manage to get more votes, nullify the votes themselves. Trump demanded this of Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania lawmakers and election officials after his losses in those states in 2020. The elections officials, who upheld normal electoral practices, have in many cases been replaced by ones making few bones about their desire to ensure GOP victories occur no matter what.

Fourth, purge any Republicans critical of anti-democratic political strategies. In one swing state after another, Trump supporters are working to replace impartial election administrators with partisan hacks who, in some cases, have explicitly said they will try to enforce results on the basis of the Big Lie. Of the 10 Republicans in Congress who voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection, all appear headed for the exits, either voluntarily or by primary challenges from Trump loyalists.

All of this adds up to a Republican Party that has made a complete turn toward what in other countries, such as Viktor Orbans Hungary or Recep Tayyip Erdogans Turkey, is known as illiberal democracy. Illiberal democracies are ones where elections take place, but they are rigged in the sense that not everyone has equal access to the ballot; or the ballots themselves do not get counted in impartial ways. In such nations, the purpose of elections is not to ensure that elected representatives reflect the will of the people, but rather to legitimate and consolidate the power of one party or leader.

Despite ample evidence of how this has happened in other countries, and of the explicitly stated intentions of Trumpist Republicans in the U.S., Americans continue to stand on the railroad tracks, their backs turned to the impending danger. The primary imperative, then, is for all citizens to take seriously the danger of election nullification, achieved through various means.

Taking that threat seriously means passing federal voting rights and election security bills to ensure that every citizen is empowered to vote, that every vote is properly counted and that the candidates with the most votes assume office. Unfortunately, Democrats have failed to get these bills to President Bidens desk. They need to do so immediately, if necessary, by carrying out filibuster reform.

Perhaps even more important is the critical political work at the state and local level, where the clearest threats to our democratic system appear at present. For ordinary citizens, this means getting directly involved with local politics, because showing up to vote every four years is hardly enough.

This can include volunteering to serve as a poll worker; getting involved in the campaigns of pro-democracy candidates for governor and secretaries of state; and running for one of the thousands of local electoral administration positions across the country. Ideally, we will move toward nonpartisan professionals overseeing elections, while citizens insist that elected representatives commit to respecting ballot outcomes.

A liberal democracy in the end depends not on laws, but on the political virtues and commitments of its citizens. Those who would tear down our democratic traditions are a minority in this country, but a focused one. To defend against this deepening threat, Americans, regardless of party, will have to respond with greater fervor and dedication.

Nils Gilman is vice president of programs at the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles.

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The annual CES gadget convention will be three days instead of four following an uptick of COVID-19 cases and the withdrawal of some of its best-known tech presenters.

Convention organizer The Consumer Technology Association announced in a statement Friday that CES will run from Jan. 5-7, one day shorter than planned. The event still has over 2,200 exhibitors confirmed to show off their products at the Las Vegas convention, spokeswoman Jeanne Abella said.

The announcement follows the withdrawal of tech giants from CES last week citing health risks of the omicron variant, including cellphone carriers like T-Mobile, whose CEO had been slated to deliver a keynote speech. Computer maker Lenovo and social media companies like Twitter and Facebook parent company Meta also canceled plans to attend. News outlets including CNN said they would cancel or reduce coverage.

CES was held entirely virtually last year. It will be a hybrid of online and in-person this year, with organizers offering digital registration allowing access to around 40 livestreamed events, Abella said.

Lawsuit targets geothermal plants: Conservationists and tribal leaders are suing the U.S. government to try to block construction of two geothermal plants in northern Nevadas high desert that they say will destroy a sacred hot springs and could push a rare toad to the brink of extinction.

The lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe says the project would turn a pristine and unique location of ecological value and spiritual significance into an industrial site.

 Associated Press
Sorrow for the dead and dying, fear of more infections to come and hopes for an end to the coronavirus pandemic were  again  the bittersweet cocktail with which the world said good riddance to 2021 and ushered in 2022.

New Year's Eve, which used to be celebrated globally with a free-spirited wildness, felt instead like a case of deja vu, with the fast-spreading omicron variant again filing hospitals.

The venue that many chose for New Year's celebrations was the same place they became overly familiarly with during lockdowns: their homes. Some cities cancelled traditional New Years Eve concerts and fireworks displays to avoid drawing large crowds.

Yet elsewhere boisterous New Years Eve celebrations kicked off and mass gatherings were allowed despite fears of the omicron variant. In mnay coluntries including the United States, large crowds gathered Friday evening for outdoor concerts, fireworks or light shows, and hotels and bars were packed.
ATLANTIC CITY  Nancy Katz lives in the resort, which has been called a food desert for the past decade, but she doesnt let that fact keep her from eating fresh fruit, vegetables and meats.

For the past three years, Katz, 72, has been taking regular shuttle rides from her home at Best of Life Apartments to the ShopRite in Absecon, courtesy of Atlantic Countys Division of Intergenerational Services.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the state, the shuttle did not run. Katz decided to have her fresh food delivered from the Absecon ShopRite to her home. It cost her  a retiree living on a fixed income  an extra $34 a month in expenses for tips and fees.

Its my favorite store for grocery shopping, Katz said. We learned what that (the shuttle) was worth.

In 2019, the New Jersey Hospital Association developed a Vulnerable Communities Database that shows many of the zip codes hit hardest by COVID were the same as those identified before the pandemic by the associations vulnerable communities algorithm.

The 08401 zip code of Americas Favorite Playground ranked the sixth worst in the state, out of 537 zip codes.

Among the categories in which the city fared poorly were fetal deaths, unemployment and households in food deserts.

Limited access to healthy food

The resort ranked 517th out of 537 in the state when it came to households in food deserts, the association said last month.

When people live in an area with limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables and meats and increase their intake of packaged, processed and fast foods as a result, they increase the chances of multiple health issues including obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease, said Kelsey Allen, an advance practice nurse for Shore Physicians Group.

In two years, the food access problem for the resorts residents will be improved when an $18.7 million ShopRite opens on a property that now serves as a parking lot on Baltic Avenue.

Atlantic City will no longer need to make the trip to the mainland to do a full shop, as they will now have direct access to a large assortment of fresh produce, meat, seafood and dairy products along with other fresh prepared foods and better for you grab-and-go meals, said Bill Sumas, chairman of the board for family-operated Village Super Market Inc., which operates ShopRite stores.

Trenton man caught with stolen guns in Atlantic City, police say ATLANTIC CITY  A Trenton man was charged with possession of two stolen handguns Wednesday, 

In the meantime, the Community FoodBank of New Jersey tries to decrease food insecurity by distributing 300,000 pounds of food monthly in the city.

Neighborhood grocers, such as Boom Food Market, Brighton Grocery & Produce, Cedar Basic Food and 7-Eleven, are helping to fill the void.

Shawn Rinnier, president of Save Philly Stores, owns the Save A Lot discount grocer in Renaissance Plaza. Rinnier, an independent retailer, took over as the new owner of Save A Lot last January.

Over the last 8 to 10 months, weve increased our produce, meats, international and national brands, and our sales have grown dramatically, Rinnier said.

High rate of those without jobs

Many resort residents deal with food insecurity because they dont have money for fresh food due to being unemployed.

Slow down for whales off South Jersey coast, NOAA says Boaters on Thursday were cautioned to be aware of North Atlantic right whales off the New Je

With a 12.9% unemployment rate, the city ranks 523 out of 537 zip codes in the state.

A number of programs exist to help residents find meaningful employment. Isaac Wiggins, 43, who lives here and was unemployed last year, took advantage of the commercial drivers license program offered at the Pleasantville One Stop Career Center by the Atlantic County Office of Workforce Development.

Now, Wiggins is a laborer who works at A.E. Stone Inc. in Egg Harbor Township and can drive a dump truck, a crash truck (a safety truck built to protect workers doing highway repairs) and a lowboy truck, which hauls oversized loads.

I always wanted to elevate myself, Wiggins said, adding he moved into his own apartment after earning his CDL. I wanted to drive a truck. Class A is the highest level of a CDL that I can get.

The Workforce Development Board also has training programs for medical assisting, cosmetology, computerized accounting and other jobs where grants are available to help defray the costs for those who are eligible, said Francis F. Kuhn, the organizations executive director.

One of the things we are trying is training for jobs rather than occupational training, Kuhn said.

The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority voted in February to provide $492,780 for a free job training program at Atlantic Cape Community Colleges Worthington Campus in the resort.

Of jobs that are available now, health care is one of the areas. Medical assistants, paramedics and EMTs are consistently filled, said Sherwood L. Taylor, senior director of workforce development for Atlantic Cape. Blackjack and roulette dealers are also in demand, Taylor said.

Joseph R. Jingoli Jr., CEO of the Jingoli development firm, said the job training and preparedness programs his companies have put in place with their partners in the building trades and Friends in Action have resulted in the placement of young people and adults in meaningful careers in Atlantic City.

These careers include work within Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City, Atlantic (City) Electric, and the building and construction trades, said Jingoli, who is also the co-owner of the Hard Rock.

There are also growing industries to look forward to. If rsted, developer of the states first utility-scale offshore wind farm, receives all its approvals, it plans to build an operations and maintenance building in the resort and a wind farm off the coast of the city, which would both be operational in 2024.

This year, the CRDA awarded a community development grant to the Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City totaling nearly $2.2 million to expand workforce development and college readiness programming.

CRDA also approved $2.25 million for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 68 Training and Office Facility Project.

I think the investments have been worthwhile by the CRDA. You could make the argument that these investments should have been made years ago, said Matthew J. Doherty, CRDAs executive director.

A healthy start essential

Of course, city residents first have to survive being born before they can face the challenges that may await them as adults. When it comes to fetal deaths, the city ranks 501 out of 537 zip codes in the state.

The Center for Childbirth at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center includes the regions only neonatal intensive care unit.

AtlantiCare is building a $38.3 million Medical Arts Pavilion, which is anticipated to open late next year, to enhance its programs and services that address community health and wellness issues, including addressing disparities in health care in the city.

Among the programs AtlantiCare will expand are Safe Beginnings, Maternal Fetal Medicine and Family Planning.

A number of programs are operating in the city in that regard, all aimed at improving infant and maternal health, including an Atlantic City NAACP Branch Infant and Maternal Mortality Task Force that has been in existence for almost two years.

Improving infant and maternal health is an ongoing fight here.

Obviously, we havent solved the problem, but were in the fight, 3rd Ward Councilman and NAACP Atlantic City chapter President Kaleem Shabazz said. We are working.

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The Central Municipal Court of Atlantic County, the first such court run by a county in New Jersey, will open Monday and begin hearing cases from nine participating towns, a county spokesperson said Saturday.

We will be open and operational in January as promised, county Executive Dennis Levinson said in a news release.

Most court proceedings will be conducted virtually with in-person proceedings limited to once or twice per week, according to the county.

Until the central court's permanent home is renovated, the in-person hearings will be held in the Criminal Court Complex at 4997 Unami Boulevard in Mays Landing.

The permanent location of the Central Municipal Court will be at 5901 Main St. in Mays Landing, in the historic courthouse.

Renovations to the courtrooms in our historic court building on Main Street in Mays Landing have been delayed due to supply-chain shipment issues for HVAC replacement equipment, Levinson said.

Atlantic County central court proponents promote ability to connect defendants with social services The conversation around the Central Municipal Court of Atlantic County has centered on how i

Those in favor of the system say a consolidated court will be more efficient and save money for participating municipalities. They also say it will better enable nonprofits to help people struggling with social emotional problems.

County officials announced Nov. 17 that Jewish Family Service had agreed to run a pilot social-services program in the central court. JFS will station three social workers in the court for its first 90 days of operation to immediately connect those in court with programs that provide mental-health and drug-addiction treatment as an alternative to traditional municipal fines.

Opponents of the courts, meanwhile, have raised concerns over transportation, having lawyers and court staff unfamiliar with the municipalities they serve and whether the new court would be too lenient on municipal-level offenders.

Staff has been hired, summonses have been printed and a new website is being launched, Levinson said.

Timothy Maguire will serve as the chief judge of the Central Municipal Court. Michele Verno, Richard Fauntleroy and Howard Freed will serve as associate judges, and Antoinette Tummon will serve as court administrator. Additional hires include deputy court administrators, violations clerks, municipal prosecutors and public defenders.

The Atlantic County Sheriffs Office will provide security and transport operations.

Egg Harbor Township Committee discusses central court with Atlantic County officials EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP  The Township Committee held a special meeting Wednesday night to revie

The court also will handle all filings by the State Police and other state agencies, including the Division of Gaming Enforcement.

The nine participating towns are Egg Harbor Township, Galloway Township, Hamilton Township, Linwood, Northfield, Ventnor, Estell Manor, Weymouth Township and Port Republic.

For more information, visit aclink.org/centralcourt.

REPORTER: Michelle Brunetti Post 609-272-7219 mpost@pressofac.com

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Fuel efficient hybrids answer to gas prices

I would like to simply point out that there is an answer to the fuel crisis and costs for fuel. I fortunately own a Prius V passenger vehicle. This is my third Prius ownership. On any trip within the city or even on the highway this car provides outstanding mileage. I consistently get over 60 mpg while driving within the city and maintaining speed within common city limits. On the highway and continuing at highway speed of 65 mph, the cars computer registers gas mileage on the dashboard at 60 mpg plus. This auto is an electric/gasoline hybrid and the battery is guaranteed by Toyota. I have never had a battery problem with any of the Toyota Hybrids Ive owned.

Toyota has stopped importing this vehicle and directed American auto buyers to the RAV 4. The Prius V is now only provided to the European market by Toyota. As a hybrid, these cars provide economy and also more than enough pick-up and power, without plugging them in at the end of the day.

The answer to our fuel problem concerns is to stop making and selling fuel guzzling chrome laden heavy metal cars! A Prius V seats five comfortably and also can, at the same time, carry a substantial amount of material behind the rear seats in the luggage area. The rear seats can also lay down to make this car a true delivery auto. This auto, with its four cylinder engine, can also achieve 80 mph or more in several heartbeats.

Hybrid autos are an answer to our current fuel needs. Toyota also backs their cars with an outstanding warrantee. Several years ago my wife and I, while in Florida, experienced a major component failure on our Prius that had 90,000 plus miles on the odometer. The local Toyota dealer replaced this $2,000 plus labor component, free of charge and also provided a loaner car, while the work was being done. Several weeks later, I received a letter from the Toyota front office in America. They guaranteed in writing the new part for a 100,000 more miles. If youre looking for an answer to $3.50 to $4 per gallon fuel prices, this is one place to look and to consider.

James K. Aumack

Cape May

Lawless rioting, looting invite defense by citizens

A vigilante is one who, without authority, undertakes law enforcement. This was part of the recent murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse.

Some large Democrat-controlled cities have ordered the police not to interfere with the rioters and looters. Now, these anarchists feel that the local governments have given them the authority to break into businesses and steal merchandise.

Just recently in California, these roving lawbreakers entered multiple upscale department stores and pilfered merchandise. All under the watchful eyes of the police. Due to the inept restrictions set down by the local governments, the police have their hands tied.

To prevent these type of actions by anarchists, it may be up to law and order citizens like Rittenhouse to help defend through legal means the business property owners. If said prosecutors dont reverse their rules of engagement, there will be many more defenders on the street. Which as mentioned above, could lead to an armed conflict with the anarchist or looters.

Ted Hesser

Mays
OAKLAND  Republican U.S. Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois, who has a fresh endorsement from former President Donald Trump, has announced she'll mount a primary challenge against five-term U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis.

Miller, known for controversy including quoting Adolf Hitler outside the U.S. Capitol, was first elected in 2020.

"I'm looking forward to working with you in Washington to defend the Second Amendment, secure our borders, and protect life, while also bringing back high-paying jobs and continuing to make America great!" she wrote Saturday on Twitter.

Miller's Oakland home was drawn into the same district as four-term Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro. She previously said she'd run again, but it was unclear where. Illinois lost one House seat in the new map drawn by Democrats.

While members of Congress don't have to live in the district they represent, Davis of Taylorville raised it as an issue.

"Miller is so desperate to stay in Congress she's running in a district she doesn't live in ..." Davis' campaign wrote in a statement Saturday.

Davis, who is also a strong Trump supporter and co-chaired his 2020 reelection campaign in Illinois, has already received establishment backing with endorsements from most Republican county chairmen in the district. Davis, who had considered running for Illinois governor, announced in November that he'd seek a sixth term.

The Illinois primary is in June.

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Simply put, "Harvey" is a very fine, very profound play (you can also see it as a wise meditation on the complexities of alcoholism) and, frankly, it needs a more honest treatment than the farcical performances that dominate De Mayo's uneven production. Kane is very much believable, which leads me to think that De Mayo was going with the idea that he is the only person in the play with any kind of grip on his senses. But I think the play doesn't work as well without a larger world in which you can believe.
There are two problems with the conventional wisdom about polarization in American society. The first is that it mistakes widespread conflict with one master battle between conservatives and liberals. The second is that it overlooks a large percentage of Americans who do not identify with either the Democrats or the Republicans.

The result of these two mistakes is the ongoing, misleading narrative that the people of the United States are engaged in a red vs. blue war, a division that is roughly parallel to the division between the North and the South prior to the Civil War.

Consider the first mistake. There is no doubt that there is an enormous amount of conflict in the United States. After all, we have 330 million people, making us the third largest country by population in the world. We are, moreover, a very diverse country, with an increasingly large nonwhite population.

Experts say that by 2050 we will be a majority-minority country, where Hispanics, African Americans, Asian Americans and other non-Caucasian Americans will be the majority of the population. We also have considerable diversity from the standpoint of religion and class. We are the furthest thing from a homogeneous society.

With so much diversity there is bound to be a lot of conflict. But it does not follow from the fact that we have a lot of conflict that the conflict is divided into two groups of people who are divided along party lines.

For example, we have a great deal of conflict over issues of gender, which involves males in conflict with females, and both males and females in conflict with those who are transgender or nonbinary.

The conflict between males and females may arise within individual families, where we still have a divorce rate in the range of 40%. But the conflicts within families hardly line up with political conflicts, as couples frequently belong to the same party: Couples in ghettos have conflicts, just as couples in the working class, middle class and upper class have conflicts.

Likewise, we have Americans who favor abortion rights but are strong Second Amendment advocates. Admittedly, you are more likely to find Republicans being pro-life and pro-gun and Democrats being pro-choice and pro-gun control, but many people do not fit neatly into either party.

The second mistake overlooks the 40% of Americans who identify as independents, according to a recent Gallup poll. They definitely do not line up with either party on all of the issues. They may be 50-50 or they may have views that are not clearly embraced by either party. Someone may support a family policy that offers child care subsidies or a tax credit for a stay-at-home parent, but since neither party supports this policy the person in question doesn't side clearly with either party.

Pew has also reported since 2014 that the two parties have become more partisan but there is a group in the middle (as much as 40% of the public) that has "mixed views."

If you review the mountains of data available from Gallup, Pew and other organizations that do polls and surveys, you will see that there is a massive amount of conflict in the country on policies, but there is also a large group of citizens who don't fit neatly on either side of many of the major conflicts. The parties are clearly very polarized, but the evidence shows that about 40% of the public is not polarized.

What is eminently clear is that there is a clear two-sided conflict in our national politics, where we have a 50-50 Senate and a near even split in the House of Representatives. Washington has little room for a middle position. Legislating, or not legislating, does require that you be on the red side or the blue side, recognizing that each side has its own factions.

The picture that emerges is one where everyone feels conflicted about many policy issues, but only about 60% of the country fits nicely on the red side or the blue side. Our conflicts therefore do not add up to a polarized country; they add up to a conflicted country in which well more than a third of the people do not have representation in Washington, which is extremely polarized. Surveys report that these Americans are less politically engaged, which is probably a result of having no one who will listen to them.

The upshot is that the media and the politicians tell us that we have a divided society  they keep each other in business  and those who identify with the Democrats or the Republicans believe what they hear. The 40% of Americans who do not identify with either of the two major parties, however, know that this national narrative is seriously mistaken.

There has been a great deal of necessary discussion about how our democratic institutions, especially the electoral process itself, are under threat. A problem that pre-dates this threat to our democracy is the decadeslong deception about how polarized we are.

We're not. There just isn't much motivation for either the media or the politicians, their staff and their consultants to speak to the 40% who are not a part of a red vs. blue war.

Dave Anderson has taught at five universities and ran for the Democratic nomination for a Maryland congressional seat in 2016. This was written for The Fulcrum, which covers what's making democracy dysfunctional and efforts to fix our governing systems. It was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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The terrible year of 2020 ended with a glimmer of hope. While the United States and California were in the grip of the worst surge yet of the pandemic, the first vaccines against COVID-19 were being distributed to health care workers and plans were underway for the largest immunization rollout in the nations history.

At that point, it looked like 2021 would be the year that the U.S. got a handle on the pandemic.

Alas, it was not to be. Too many people rejected the free vaccinations and chose to flout simple infection-control methods like mask-wearing, leaving the door open for the more infectious delta variant. Then, in November, the world was shaken by the emergence of an even more infectious strain of the coronavirus, omicron, which has quickly overtaken delta to become the dominant strain in the U.S.

In the end, more Americans died of COVID-19 in 2021 than in 2020. As of Tuesday, nearly 820,000 Americans have died from the disease, which is considerably more than those thought to have died during the 1918 H1N1 influenza pandemic. And with a second winter surge well underway, the dying will continue into 2022.

But there is some hope as data trickle in about omicron. Early studies out of Britain and South Africa and initial data from U.S. hospitals support what health care professionals have been reporting anecdotally for weeks  that omicron appears less likely than earlier strains to result in serious illness and hospitalization, especially for vaccinated people.

If the data hold, it would be a tremendous relief given that omicron replicates and spreads with terrifying speed, even among vaccinated people. And it could mean that the coronavirus is on the path to a mild, endemic state that would put an end to the pandemic.

Now, heres where we temper this sliver of hope with stark reality. Even if omicron is just half as lethal (as some data suggest) it is still quite deadly  just not as much as we feared. And even if its relatively mild for many of those who are fully vaccinated, tens of millions of Americans remain unvaccinated, including children under 5 who are not yet cleared for COVID-19 shots and whose numbers are increasing in hospitals.

Its nice to have a tiny bit of good news as 2021 ends in another round of canceled plans and overtaxed hospitals. We should use this occasion to double down on public health protections, such as placing vaccination and testing restrictions on domestic air travel, and to increase vaccination and booster shots. The pandemic may not be over, but its possible that with effort, 2022 may really be a better, less deadly year.

This was written by the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board. It was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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While 2021 was a boom time for legal marijuana sales in Illinois, it was another wasted year for minority entrepreneurs trying to break into the business, and a mixed experience for customers.

Recreational cannabis retail sales continued to climb steadily this year, to more than $1.2 billion, roughly an 85% increase from 2020 through November of this year alone. The medical cannabis program reached 136,000 active patients, who spent another $362 million. The sales generated more than $300 million in tax revenue in fiscal year 2021  more than from alcohol.

But after new applicants waited through more than a year of delays for business licenses, judges prevented them from opening dispensaries while litigation dragged on, with no solution in sight.

The year saw many new twists in the cannabis field. Sales took off for hemp-derived Delta-8 THC, called weed light, despite existing in a legal gray area. Huge multistate companies gobbled up independent dispensaries and expanded dramatically. In one constant, prices of marijuana in Illinois remained among the highest in the nation.

While cannabis remains illegal under federal law, proposals to decriminalize it or let banks finance it have been slowly gaining some support among lawmakers. The year also ushered in a vast array of new products and consumer trends. Here are a few reasons why 2021 was a great year for big cannabis operators in Illinois, but frustrating for newcomers.

Consolidation

Several cannabis companies founded and headquartered in Chicago have become among the largest operators in the nation, while out-of-state operators have come into Illinois, by opening new facilities or buying up competitors. Cresco Labs and Curaleaf each have grown to the maximum 10 retail sites in Illinois; PharmaCann has eight; Ascend Wellness, seven; Green Thumb Industries lists nine stores on its website; nuEra has six, and Zen Leaf operates 10.

Together, that means seven companies control 60 of the 110 weed stores in the state.

The number of growers is even more limited. A mere 18 companies are allowed to grow cannabis  compared with hundreds of companies that do so in Western states like Oregon or California, where they have the opposite problem of oversupply to the illegal market.

Licensed growers in Illinois say they support new entrants to the market by helping with the complicated application process, by paying hundreds of thousands of dollars each in state fees to help fund startups and for seed projects to help them get started. PharmaCann promised $600,000 to help fund scholarships and build Oakton Community Colleges new cannabis cultivation laboratory. Cresco Labs created its new Illinois Cannabis Education Center in Chicago, which offers a mock dispensary and training facility for aspiring workers and owners.

By state law, there was supposed to be a slew of new businesses licensed last year, with favoritism toward poor, largely minority areas with high rates of cannabis arrests. But after a series of delays, applicants complained that consultant KPMG had scored applications unfairly, resulting in wealthy, white, politically connected winners.

To address the complaints and associated lawsuits, state lawmakers authorized 185 new dispensary licenses. But Cook County Judge Moshe Jacobius ordered that those licenses not be awarded while he wades through lawsuits challenging the process.

The state did award 40 new craft grower licenses plus infuser and transporter licenses, but Cook County Judge Neil Cohen forbade the issuance of up to 60 new craft grower licenses due this year, while the courts try to resolve litigation from applicants who were disqualified.

None of this slowed down the existing market. Companies that had been granted licenses to open medical marijuana dispensaries since 2015 were allowed to also sell recreational weed, and to expand to second locations. Because of its artificially constrained market, Illinois still has among the highest-priced weed in the country.

Wholesale flower prices reached nearly $4,000 per pound, analyst Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. estimated  three times the U.S. average pegged by price tracking company Cannabis Benchmarks. With customers paying $19 per gram for retail flower, Cantor Fitzgerald estimated average annual sales per store at nearly $17 million.

Moldy weed worries

A big part of the demand  $1 out of every $3 spent  is from out of state, since Illinois is surrounded by states that dont allow recreational sales. Michigan does have adult use sales, but was hit by a large public recall of cannabis that had high levels of mold or other contaminants, with stores required to post notices alerting customers for a month after sales.

Illinois, in contrast, issued a recall and quarantine this year, but kept it quiet. In May, the state Department of Financial and Professional Regulation sent dispensaries notice of a voluntary recall of Veranos Mag Landrace flower due to possible mold contamination. The department investigated the issue, but said it is prohibited by the state cannabis law from disclosing the results.

In addition, a former production supervisor for PharmaCann, William Sanford, filed suit claiming that he was fired for repeatedly reporting moldy cannabis for removal after it had passed lab tests. The tests only sample a small part of each crop, so mold may grow undetected and may sicken those who eat it or inhale its spores. Sanford said he was told to stop reporting mold, but continued to do so, and was terminated in July.

PharmaCann acknowledged that mold is a factor with any agricultural product, but is tightly controlled. By state law, all legal cannabis products must undergo lab tests to pass strict state limits on mold, pesticides, metals and other contaminants. If they fail, they may be treated with solvents for use in edibles, vapes and other products, but must be tested again to meet safety requirements. Options for sterilizing cannabis include irradiation or ozone gas, as used in the food industry.

Microdosing

Customers may have noticed a dizzying variety of new products this year. One growing trend was in the area of low-dose edibles, for consumers to better control their experience. Rather than the 10 milligrams of THC, the main component that gets users high, which was previously suggested as a serving size, mints and gummies now often contain 5 or 3 mg, often with matching cannabidiol, or CBD, for users who want to relax without getting too high or paranoid.

One study by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Chicago found that low levels of THC reduced stress, while slightly higher doses that produced a mild high actually increased anxiety.

And a survey by BDS Analytics Report found that 43% of edibles customers prefer low-dose products, and half of customers chose products based on the amount of CBD, which is thought to have a moderating effect on THC.

Beverages are also growing in popularity, offering moderate doses of THC and the quick onset of effects without the smoke. For hardcore users, there are still plenty of high-powered flower, vapes and concentrates approaching 90% THC.

For those who dont like the high prices and taxes of licensed weed, this year saw the rise of Delta-8 THC. Its typically said to be derived from hemp, and provides similar, if milder, effects as the traditional Delta-9 THC found in pot. Its often sold in gas stations or vape shops. A proposal to outlaw such knockoff cannabinoids did not pass in Springfield this year, but may be reconsidered in the spring session.

Cannabis suppliers continue to compete for customers through word-of-mouth and the occasional competition. Most recently, the High Times Cannabis Cup named its winners for 2021, as judged by public participants.

Wait till next year

Looking ahead to 2022, state Rep. La Shawn Ford, a Chicago Democrat, has proposed legislation to expand the new craft growers licenses from 5,000 square feet to 14,000 square feet or more. That would still be a far cry from the 210,000 square feet of canopy that existing growers are allowed, but would help business owners get more financing based on their ability to produce more revenue.

Also, in light of the courts de facto lockout of new minority owners, a group called Ex-Cons for Community & Social Change held protests this year, calling for consumers to support their local weed man, or illegal dealers.

Found Tyrone Muhammad of Englewood, who served 21 years in prison for murder and now says hes trying to rebuild his community, called for creation of a peddlers license, so people without the money to open a bricks-and-mortar facility can take part in the cannabis industry. He believes licensing would reduce the violence that accompanies illegal drug dealing.

Muhammad is also pushing to change state law to drop the ban on former felons working in the field. As it stands, only those with low-level convictions can get expungements and get licensed.

Its still a farce, he said. In any other industry, as an ex-con, I can work. But I cant work in the cannabis space.

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Immigrant detainees will continue to be held at McHenry and Kankakee county jails temporarily, while a federal court considers the counties appeal to keep imprisoning detainees into the future.

The immigrants, charged with violating civil immigration laws, were due to be released by New Years Day, under the Illinois Way Forward Act, which prohibits counties from entering federal contracts to jail them.

But the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued a stay Thursday delaying the law from taking effect until Jan. 13, while it considers the case.

McHenry and Kankakee county officials had filed suit, alleging that the law exceeds the states authority by superseding federal law. Both counties have contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to keep detainees behind bars until their court hearings. In December, U.S. District Judge Philip Reinhard dismissed the suit, ruling in effect that it limited local officials, not the federal government.

In 2021, McHenry held about 180 detainees a day, and Kankakee about 120, numbers that had been reduced while fewer detainees are being held during the COVID pandemic. Historically, the contracts had brought about $8 million a year to McHenry and $4 million annually to Kankakee.

ICE Out of McHenry County, a coalition of groups opposing immigrant detention, held a candlelight vigil this week for the detainees, singing, Silent Night/Noche de Paz. The coalition had pushed for McHenry County to end the practice, calling it cruel and unnecessary. But after a heated debate in May, the county board voted to continue the practice.

Were very glad to get this stay to preserve our longtime contract with ICE as we argue our case, County Board Chairman Mike Buehler, a Republican from Crystal Lake, said. The Illinois Way Forward Act is an unconstitutional and poorly thought out law that was hastily thrown together by the General Assembly to make a political statement regarding current federal immigration enforcement. We thank the 7th Circuit for their understanding, and we look forward to making our case.

Fred Tsao, senior policy counsel for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, emphasized that the court order is a temporary measure.

We agree with the district court judge that the law is very clear: The state was fully within its authority to pass the Illinois Way Forward Act and to require the counties to end their contracts with ICE, Tsao wrote in an email. We look forward to the full implementation of Illinois Way Forward and the end of immigration detention in Illinois and throughout this country.

The detentions are meant to ensure that detainees show up for court, with federal statistics showing about one-third of immigrants didnt make it to completed cases.

But a UCLA analysis that included ongoing cases found that 83% showed up for court. More than 80% had no criminal record, while those that do were handled in separate proceedings in criminal court.

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Some of Miller's supporters had been courting Trump to endorse her against Bost or Davis, CNN reported last month. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy reportedly told Trump to stay out of any potential interparty primary, a request that was ultimately unsuccessful.

Davis' campaign, which had been subtle in its criticism of Miller to this point, came out swinging Saturday.

Mary Miller is only an outsider in the sense that she doesnt live in the 15th District," said Davis spokesman Aaron DeGroot. "Shes a carpetbagger and Chicagoland native. Miller is so desperate to stay in Congress shes running in a district she doesnt live in, just like her husband. The Millers are taking a page out of the Springfield political insider playbook. Politics is their family business."

Rodney Davis is a conservative who gets things done," DeGroot added. "Hes already been hard at work highlighting his conservative accomplishments and work with President Trump during his time in office."

DeGroot did not directly address Trump's endorsement of Miller, however, saying that the campaign "looks forward to educating voters on how Rodney is an effective conservative member of Congress and Mary is not.

Davis is considered a rising star in Washington. First elected in 2012, he has slowly climbed the ladder and is in line to chair the House Administration Committee next year if Republicans take the majority.
With COVID-19 cases surging just as students are about to return from winter break, dozens of U.S. colleges are moving classes online again for at least the first week or so of the semester  and some warn it could stretch longer if the wave of infection doesn't subside soon.

Harvard is moving classes online for the first three weeks of the new year, with a return to campus scheduled for late January, "conditions permitting." The University of Chicago is delaying the beginning of its new term and holding the first two weeks online. Some others are inviting students back to campus but starting classes online, including Michigan State University.

Many colleges hope that an extra week or two will get them past the peak of the nationwide spike driven by the highly contagious omicron variant. Still, the surge is casting uncertainty over a semester many had hoped would be the closest to normal since the start of the pandemic.

For some students, starting the term remotely is becoming routine  many colleges used the strategy last year amid a wave of cases. But some fear the latest shift could extend well beyond a week or two.

Jake Maynard, a student at George Washington University in the nation's capital, said he is fine with a week of online classes, but beyond that, he hopes officials trust in the booster shots and provide a traditional college experience.

He has already taken a year of online learning, which he said "did not work" and wasn't what he expected from a school that charges more than $50,000 a year.

"I'm a junior, but about half my schooling experience has been online," said Maynard, 20, of Ellicott City, Maryland. "You lose so much of what makes the school the school."

The university is inviting students back to campus starting Monday, but classes will be held online until Jan. 18 as officials ramp up virus testing and isolate any infected students. The school has more than doubled its isolation space and moved up the deadline for a new booster shot requirement by three weeks because of omicron.

"The omicron variant hit us at a terrible time, basically the last couple weeks of the fall semester, which doesn't give us much time to prepare for spring," said Dr. Lynn Goldman, dean of George Washington's school of public health.

The university was among many that saw infections soar in the days before winter break. The campus averaged more than 80 cases a day during finals week, compared with just a few a day for much of the fall. And while most recent cases were mild, nearly all were among students who had received at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.

As for the mid-January target date for resuming in-person learning, Goldman said officials "recognize there's some possibility that it won't be possible."

So far, more than 70 colleges across 26 states are starting the term online, and others say they are considering it. Many making the move now use quarter systems that start earlier than those with semesters.

Many of those shifting online are in recent virus hot spots, including George Washington, Yale and Columbia on the East Coast, along with Wayne State University in Detroit and Northwestern University near Chicago. The list also includes most of the University of California campuses and Rice University in Houston.

At the University of California, Riverside, students can return on Monday but face two weeks of online classes. They are also being being asked to sequester for five days while they undergo two rounds of virus testing.

It's the first time since last spring that the school has moved fully remote, but Chancellor Kim Wilcox said it is the best way to prevent the virus from spreading after students return from holiday travel.

"We think about it as rebuilding our bubble," he said. "It gives us a chance to reset things and then hopefully be off and running."

Some other colleges are delaying the new term without offering remote classes. Syracuse University pushed its semester back a week, citing projections that the first three weeks of January will be "the most challenging of this surge."

Others are pressing ahead with in-person learning, saying the health risks are low with masks and booster shots.

At Northeastern University in Boston, one of a growing number of schools requiring boosters, students are returning as planned. Officials said the school is shifting its focus from preventing all cases to warding off serious illness or hospitalization.

"As we move into this endemic phase of the pandemic, our job is to continue to control COVID effectively, not let COVID control us," Ken Henderson, chancellor and senior vice president for learning, said in a message to the campus.

The move drew praise from Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, who said COVID-19 poses little risk to college students, while "prolonged isolation is a very real risk to their growth and mental health."

The University of Florida plans to return to in-person learning at the start of the semester, despite a request from a faculty union to teach remotely for the first three weeks.

Paul Ortiz, president of the campus chapter of the United Faculty of Florida, said older faculty members will be at higher risk, especially with no mask or vaccine mandates, which have been outlawed by GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis.

"We do not want our campus to become a super-spreader," Ortiz said. "There's just a lot of uncertainty right now, a lot of stress."

At some colleges starting remotely, officials say they are committed to a quick return to the classroom.

The 50,000-student campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign plans to resume in-person classes after one week of online instruction. Students are being encouraged to return during that first week so they can take two virus tests, which will clear them to resume in-person activities if they test negative.

"Every semester we've had a spike when students come back," university spokesperson Robin Kaler said. "We want to make sure we're on top of that so we can crush it as quickly as possible."

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CHICAGO - An $84 million plan to boost internet speeds at Chicago Public Schools has stalled again, officials say, because of red tape in securing construction permits from the city.

For several months, crews have been ripping up streets to build a new high-speed fiber network. Around 80 schools were supposed to be connected by Nov. 1 as part of the projects first phase, but that goal has been pushed to the first quarter of 2022.

The latest setback may mean more construction headaches for residents and more internet woes for students, who returned to school buildings for full-time, in-person learning in August and are due back from the winter break Monday.

Were running over 300 miles of fiber throughout the city, originally slated as a three-year project, Richard Burnson, CPS director of network services, told the Tribune. Were running a bit behind schedule, but continuing to push forward and have it wrapped up by 2023.

The new network is slated to reach about 570 Chicago schools and administrative buildings. Each school would connect to two of 11 hubs spaced across the city. If theres a problem with one of the connections, officials say high-speed internet would still be available.

Schools would have access to download speeds of 20 gigabits per second, Burnson said. When the project began, he said, elementary schools received 250 megabits of bandwidth. Now theyre at 500 megabits thanks to upgrades completed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most high schools each have access to one gigabit, though Burnson said CPS is completing an effort to upgrade the high schools to two gigs, and thats expected to wrap up by the end of (2021).

The nations third-largest school district, CPS has 421 elementary schools and 91 high schools. Burnson said CPS experienced few issues last spring with connectivity because the district welcomed students back to campuses in waves after months of remote learning. But most of CPSs 330,000 students have attended classes in person this fall, and technology tools such as Google Meet video sessions can tax a system.

Were really excited about future-proofing our network with this new project, CPS Deputy Chief of Information and Technology Services Ed Wagner said. Weve seen, historically, schools have consumed more and more bandwidth each and every year that theyre in operation because of use of online tools for education. Skyline  as an example, our new digital curriculum  we do a lot of assessments online.

CPS explored its options for a network redesign in 2018. At the time, AT&T was providing service, with network facilities located in Elk Grove Village; at the downtown Thompson Center, a site the state of Illinois plans to sell; and at CPS headquarters in the Loop.

The district estimated then it spent $19.6 million in circuit costs, fees and services, with $14.9 million funded by the federal E-Rate program, which helps schools and libraries obtain affordable internet access.

Weve had some service challenges with AT&T, Wagner said. What we felt was, this (network project) was a better way of doing it to decrease our cost overall and allow for better resiliency and performance.

The Chicago Board of Education approved an agreement with Houston-based Netsync Network Solutions in 2019. The five-year deal, with two options to renew for five years each, is not to exceed $83.8 million. E-Rate is expected to cover about $70.4 million. The rest of the tab will be paid for with government grants and by the board, which is on the hook for no more than $9.8 million, according to the contract.

Burnson said the project price tag has not changed, despite the delays. A Netsync representative declined to comment to the Tribune and referred questions to CPS.

The first shovel broke ground in November 2020  more than a year after the board approved the Netsync agreement and months after the start of the COVID-19 crisis. Burnson said the district focused its efforts on transitioning to remote learning and ensuring students had devices to connect to the internet at home.

He said crews are now concentrating on building the core network infrastructure. CPS says the first connections will be its data centers in Elk Grove Village and at its headquarters, along with 63 elementary sites and 18 high schools. A few of these schools share a campus.

Burnson said up to 240 facilities are targeted for the second phase.

The first step for us to build the network is theres a series of core rings that need to be established. Theres a north, central and south ring connecting all of the 11 hub locations. So those 11 hub locations had to be part of phase one in order to build out that foundation for the network, he said. Selecting the other 70 sites that would be connected was based on our focus on building out on the South and West sides.

The hubs are located on the North Side at Garvy Elementary School, William C. Goudy Technology Academy and Theodore Roosevelt High School; on the West Side at Michele Clark Academic Prep Magnet High School and John Spry Community School; in the South Loop at Jones College Prep; and on the South Side at Morgan Park High School, George Washington High School, Richardson Middle School, Wendell Phillips Academy High School and Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Paideia Academy.

Burnson said one of the greatest challenges has been securing construction permits. Requests that cover more than a million feet of fiber have been submitted, he said, with about a half-million feet approved.

There are more than two dozen members of the city Office of Underground Coordination, including Peoples Gas, ComEd and AT&T, that review proposals to determine if excavation work will affect their infrastructure.

If there is any change thats required by one of those organizations, you have to start the process over, so that way everyone is signed off on that final process, Burnson said. Weve been working with (the Chicago Department of Transportation) and other city agencies, and theyve been very supportive, but its still a very involved process to get the permits for the amount of work that were doing.

There have been some construction and street parking woes as well. Crews drill horizontally under the surface of the street to install pipework the fiber runs through. Burnson said some complaints have been lodged about the temporary patching thats put in place while the work is being completed.

There have been some quality issues that weve addressed with the aldermens office, as well as the subcontractors that are doing the actual construction work, he said. Were definitely working to make sure that any impact to citizens in the city are minimized as much as possible.

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CHICAGO  After a year of pronounced shifts in the COVID-19 pandemic related to mass vaccination, more infectious variants and the sorely tested patience of the public, Illinois is facing an even more complicated set of realities entering 2022.

The state is now seeing record numbers of COVID-19 infections  but these cases appear less likely to cause serious illness. At the same time, Illinois health care system is in worse shape than it was a year earlier, and the exploding case counts mean even a milder variant could further strain hospitals with COVID-19 patients.

Already, hospitals are treating more patients with fewer workers, leading to a space crunch so severe that hospitals are again canceling nonemergency surgeries to try to free up beds. And while the vast majority of patients arent in the hospital because of COVID-19, the odds of an unvaccinated person ending up hospitalized with the virus is notably worse than at any other time during the pandemic.

A year ago, mass vaccination was on the horizon, offering hope the virus could be extinguished through so-called herd immunity and life could return to normal. Now researchers expect the virus and its ever-evolving variants to stick around. The hope is that vaccinations can prevent most infected people from getting too sick and that the latest wave will subside as quickly as it came.

Those adjusted expectations follow another deadly year. The Illinois Department of Public Health blamed COVID-19 for at least 11,000 more deaths in 2021, bringing the total to nearly 28,000 since the pandemic began, with an additional roughly 3,200 deaths considered to have probable ties to COVID-19.

Heres where we are, as the new year begins:

Record case numbers

A year ago, the average number of new cases each day had begun to drop after soaring above 12,000 in fall 2020, and people began preparing for vaccines that leaders hoped would starve the virus out of existence.

The vaccines came, but millions of Illinoisans havent taken them. Along the way, the virus spawned new mutations that began to chip away at the vaccines effectiveness, particularly their ability to stop somebody from getting infected.

The delta variant fueled smaller surges in spring 2021, in late summer and  most recently  after Halloween. Then the omicron variant emerged, supercharging an already sizable surge.

A state that had averaged about 2,000 cases a day in late October was suddenly seeing daily figures double, then double again, and continue climbing. The week of Christmas  as people rushed to get tested before visiting family and friends  the daily count eclipsed 21,000 new detected cases. On Thursday, when post-Christmas tests began rolling in, there were more than 30,000 new cases.

To put that into perspective, that one-day figure was triple the number of Illinoisans testing positive in all of June.

Another jarring way to look at it: The worst day of the fall 2020 surge saw nearly 1 in 700 Illinoisans testing positive. On Thursday, the most recent date the state posted data, it was closer to 1 in 400.

In Chicago alone, new cases have recently topped 5,000 a day.

This is one of the steepest increases that weve seen, and this is due to the omicron variant, Chicagos health director, Dr. Allison Arwady, said during a Facebook Live event Thursday. This is also why, I am guessing, everyone of you knows somebody, at least indirectly, who has COVID right now.

The rate of infections for unvaccinated Chicagoans has tripled since late November to reach more than 900 cases a week per 100,000 residents. Vaccinated, but not yet boosted, Chicagoans have seen their infection rate climb to roughly 400 a week per 100,000 residents, with residents whove gotten boosters seeing a slightly lower rate, closer to 350 a week per 100,000 people.

Because the number of people tested each day can bounce up and down, public health agencies and researchers typically average out seven days worth of case numbers to create a rolling daily average.

Using this measure, the state set a record on Nov. 16, 2020, with an average of 12,384 new COVID-19 cases. But 13 months later, on Dec. 23, the state broke that record. And the average cases have continued to climb in the past week, eclipsing an average of 18,000 new cases a day roughly two months into this surge.

Case counts dont offer the full picture of a surge. They may rise because a lot more people are getting tested, as many people did before visiting friends and family over the holidays. And the numbers dont include people who come up positive on home tests, unless they also get tested through a lab.

A slightly more promising measurement for the latest surge comes from another metric: the case positivity rate, or the percentage of tests that led to a confirmed case. The lower the rate, the better. As of Thursday, the case positivity rate had been climbing fast but, at about 10%, was not yet as bad as the rates seen at peak of the fall 2020 surge, which approached 14%.

A milder COVID phase?

Even though the numbers of detected cases have reached unprecedented levels, thats not the case with hospitalizations and deaths, at least not yet.

One way to look at this is by comparing this surge with the fall 2020 surge. As of Thursday, the average daily case count was 48% higher than last falls peak. But average daily hospital admittances, as measured by federal data, were down 23% from last falls peak. And there were 65% fewer average daily deaths.

Its a welcome trend seen not only in Illinois, but nationally. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, told reporters Wednesday that the case spike nationally was out of proportion to hospitalization increases.

Now, we must remember that hospitalizations and deaths are lagging indicators, he said. However, the pattern and disparity between cases and hospitalization strongly suggest that there will be a lower hospitalization-to-case ratio when the situation becomes more clear.

Early studies suggest the emerging omicron variant may be milder than the delta variant that took hold in Illinois this summer and fueled the beginning of this surge. Vaccinations are another factor. Even if delta and omicron are more likely to infect vaccinated people than the original virus, the vaccines continue to limit serious illness and death.

Mass vaccinations were a key development for the pandemic in 2021, creating two tiers of risk.

A Tribune analysis of federal and state data found that fully vaccinated Illinoisans (with or without a booster shot) have been much less likely to be hospitalized during the latest surge than those not fully vaccinated. The latter group currently has a weekly admittance rate roughly nine times the rate for those fully vaccinated, based on a three-week rolling average.

Unvaccinated people also are being hospitalized at nearly double the rate seen for all Illinoisans during the peak of the fall 2020 surge, before vaccines were available.

As for deaths, the average weekly death rate  even for unvaccinated people  has yet to eclipse the rates from the fall 2020 surge. Better COVID-19 treatments, including broader use of monoclonal antibodies, are helping improve those odds.

Still, the death rate for unvaccinated Illinois residents, per 100,000 people, is now more than triple that for people who are fully vaccinated, even though the latter group tends to be older and more vulnerable to the virus.

Millions of Illinoisans are still unvaccinated, and public health officials continue to press them to get shots.

We dont have to continue to lose people, IDPHs director, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, told reporters Monday. We are not in the same place that we were at the beginning of this pandemic, or even a year ago. ... We have a vaccine thats highly effective, and it can prevent severe illness and death, if we take advantage of this effective tool.

Getting through omicron

The new year also brings hope that the latest surge will soon ease its grip.

In South Africa, where the omicron variant was first reported, case figures shot up in mid-November, then began dropping by Christmas. A top South African researcher, Fareed Abdullah, tweeted this week that it was staggering how quickly the wave peaked then declined: Peak in four weeks and precipitous decline in another two.

One early study suggests people who recovered from omicron inherited some ability to better fight off the delta variant, offering hope that such protection, combined with vaccine immunity, could further limit the future danger posed by COVID-19.

But concerns remain that Illinois hospital system could be overwhelmed. The Tribune has reported how, even before Christmas, hospitals had the lowest levels of available beds of any point during the pandemic, lower even than during the fall 2020 surge.

State data shows more beds have opened since, as some hospitals have canceled nonemergency surgeries. Still, many regions hospital systems remain stressed, according to state measurements. In some regions, such as the one covering Will and Kankakee counties, the number of available intensive care unit beds had dwindled to the single digits. And across Illinois, at last count, the number of open beds remained below 7,000, for a state with nearly 13 million residents.

Gov. J.B. Pritzkers administration has said its tried to help hospitals outlast the latest surge by distributing promising treatments and directing supplemental staff to the hardest-hit areas. But officials have long declined to tell the public which hospitals are worse off, even as nurses and doctors say some facilities are so overwhelmed that seriously ill patients are being boarded in emergency rooms for long periods, up to a week.

A grassroots group of health care workers, the Illinois Medical Professionals Action Collaborative Team, called on the governor Thursday to take a host of steps, including reinstituting indoor capacity limits and deploying more National Guard troops to shore up depleted health care staffing: Simply put, we cant keep up. We are drowning and need help immediately.

The governors office did not immediately respond. But on the same day, Pritzker asked hospitals to consider canceling nonemergency surgeries as part of an effort to take every possible measure to maintain and expand bed capacity, according to a news release the administration issued.

As much as the pandemic has changed, Pritzkers plea was similar to what he ordered hospitals to do in April 2020, when COVID-19 was still new.

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Today, we take our second step into the new year; only 363 to go.

At midnight, this past Friday, we had our Janus Moment, the instant when the old year passed into the new, rolling across the world's time zones to the accompaniment of noise and celebration. It is a transition long associated with this ancient god.

Janus is the only major Roman deity without a Greek equivalent, a survivor from simpler times. Roman gods were a homely and multitudinous lot, mostly associated with work on the farm. They were not so much gods as spirits or essences.

They were called numina and there seemed to be a numen for just about every activity you could think of: separate spirits for the first ploughing, the second, sowing, weeding, uprooting briars, spreading manure, pruning, top-dressing and reaping.

Mind you, that's a partial list, and it's just for farm work. There were numina involved in all aspects of cooking, housework, social customs, and every detail of the marriage ceremony. Like other polytheists, they saw this world suffused with divinity.

But the Romans came to feel that their culture, including their religion, was inferior to the Greeks' (It was), so they simply adopted Athenian deities, giving them Roman names: Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, etc.

But they kept Janus. He was considered "the custodian of the universe, the god of beginnings, the guardian of gates and doors." His name is derived from ianua, Latin for door. The first hour of every day was sacred to him, along with the first day of the week and the first month of the year. Hence, the latter's name, January.

While the other ancient spirits gradually vanished, Janus remained at the door, looking both ways, in and out. He is depicted as two bearded heads, joined at the back, facing in opposite directions.

He personifies our habit around the new year of summing up the recent past even as we plan for the year ahead. Midnight on New Year's Eve may be an arbitrary point in time, but Janus is its guardian.

The Roman New Year was one of the most boisterous of pagan celebrations. Citizens arose early to get bathed and dressed for a full day of feasting and frivolity. Early Christians were shocked at their behavior and church fathers labored long and hard to suppress the holiday.

It never really took. People continued to celebrate the January Kalends (the name for the first day of the month, the source of our "calendar") as they had before. The first of January may have been designated a holy day of obligation, but the obligation to celebrate the night before has always dominated.

Finally, the Christian Church decided to change the first day of the new year by moving it to March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation. They arrived at the date of Jesus' conception by counting nine months backwards from Dec. 25.

The fact that it was very close to the vernal equinox helped argue for the change. When you think about it, it's a logical time to start a new year: winter is over, the dead earth comes back to life, and all nature seems to begin renewing itself in another generation of plants and animals.

It wasn't until the reforms of the Gregorian calendar in 1582 that the church gave up the idea and returned New Year to Jan. 1, incorporating it into the 12 days of Christmas. There is no particular reason to start the new year on Jan. 1 rather than another time. The vernal equinox might be a rational choice, but reason doesn't seem to have much to do with it.

There must have been a reason in the beginning, but it has been lost in time, buried under centuries of tradition and social custom. Other religions and cultures have their own new year and who is to say that one is more appropriate than another.

Jews start the year in the fall and the Chinese celebrate later in January or early February. Both calendars are older than our Western version and have just as legitimate a claim. But the Jan. 1 date dominates much of the globe.

However, if you're really into partying, you might check out the world's differing calendars and join in the festivities when each new year begins. Consider it a gesture of ecumenical or multicultural good will.

Or, if that's too much trouble, just concentrate your energies on dealing with what lies ahead of us in 2022. It may very well be the year that future historians consider the hinge in time that hanged everything. We hope for the better, but nothing can be guaranteed, as everything around us seems to be shifting.

We have a Janus-like tendency to look to the past as we speculate about the future, imagining that what we have experienced in youth is the way things ought to be. It is a dangerous delusion.

We also want to believe that each new year, especially this one, will bring us, not back to the way things were, but on to a better life, peaceful and prosperous, one in which all peoples, however they reckon the date, may share. Its a nice idea, without much to justify it at the moment, but lets stay positive.

Happy New Year! (How do you like it so far?)

Don Wooten is a former Illinois state senator and a regular columnist. Email him at: donwooten4115@gmail.com.

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Three Chicago men are dead following a wrong-way traffic crash on the Eisenhower Expressway (I-290) early Saturday near suburban Hillside.

The wreck happened about 5:15 a.m. in the westbound lanes near Mannheim Road, according to a statement from the Illinois State Police.

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A man behind the wheel of a blue 2017 Mazda M6 was in the westbound lanes going east when he crashed head-on into a blue 2012 Nissan Maxima that was westbound, state police said.

Both drivers and one Nissan passenger, 24, 24, and 23, were killed instantly, according to state police.

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Their names were not immediately made available.

rsobol@chicagotribune.com
The turn of a new year is a time for reflection and for looking resolutely to the future.

That's what we plan to do today.

It's become a tradition with this editorial board to mark the beginning of a new year by taking stock of the last 12 months on issues of local importance and offering our wishes for the coming year.

We won't cover everything important, of course. And some matters deserve greater attention than we can express in this brief space. Still, we have tried to touch on some of the concerns we think are broadly important to our community; that have some resonance with our readers and follow up on ideas we have touched upon over the past year.

 At this time last year, we were hoping for a swift rollout of coronavirus vaccines and acceptance by the public. Most adults have gotten the jab, but many haven't  and most children, while at lesser risk, haven't, either. It is our wish for the new year that vaccine resistance dwindle, particularly as we face the Omicron challenge. And we fervently hope the pandemic that has so consumed us for nearly two years will eventually release its grip in 2022.

 Many of us will remember 2021 for the opening of the new I-74 bridge. This momentous event reminds us what a difference bold vision, good planning and strategic investments can mean to a community. It is our wish for the new year that, with historic new federal infrastructure investments, 2022 and beyond will see still more bold ideas to improve our roads, bridges, shipping lanes and connectivity.

 We hope 2022 will be a year when we gain greater clarity on a new downtown Davenport flood protection system. The past year has seen a great deal of progress on a new plan for the future; now, it's time to put that plan into action.

 It is our wish that our pandemic-damaged economy continues to rebound in 2022. Roughly 7,500 more people are employed in the Quad-Cities than last year at this time. But we're still trailing other communities and our labor force remains 6,500 people smaller than it was pre-pandemic.

 We also wish that in 2022 our schools become less partisan battlefields. We admire the cooperation and professionalism that local educators brought to challenging circumstances last year. However, the year also saw sharp divisions in how schools are governed. In the new year, we hope politicians in Des Moines and Springfield play a lesser role in this space and local educators and school boards  in conjunction with all parents and the public  reach consensus on policies that keep our schools safe, make up for pandemic-related academic losses and confront our nation's history honestly, openly and with respect for all.

 We also have a wish that 2022 is the year the Davenport School District is returned to the governance of its locally elected board. The district has made progress since the state took over two years ago, and we think it's time Des Moines took a step back and let Davenporters control their own schools.

 The year 2022 is, of course, an election year. We wish to see a large number of candidates so people have a robust choice on the local, state and federal levels. And, as always, we hope for clean, fact-filled campaigns that honor our democracy.

 We also wish the Iowa Legislature will finally move ahead on a constitutional amendment allowing people with felony convictions to vote. The Legislature has failed in this area the last two years. Let it succeed in 2022.

 We look forward to the fall election for the Rock Island County Board, which has approved implementing a 19-member board. We would like to have seen it be smaller, but the board took a step forward on this issue in 2021, and we look forward to the 2022 board elections.

 We also look forward to the construction of a new federal courthouse and YWCA in downtown Rock Island, which will bring improvements and greater vibrancy to the city's core.

 It is our wish for 2022 that our community continue to take steps to be more inclusive. An example: The Figge Art Museum announced last summer it was creating a diversity and equity fund to help add more art by women and people of color to its permanent collection. These kinds of initiatives, throughout the Quad-Cities, get us closer to being a more just community. We wish for the success of all of them.

 Lastly, it wouldnt be our wish list if we didnt urge the state of Illinois to finally make progress on a passenger rail link between Chicago and Moline. We know some have lost hope, but we continue to believe. It is past time we see visible action.

Our final wish is that as we offer our opinions about these and many other issues that affect our community in 2022, you will join us; that you will consider our opinions, share your own and read the points of view on local and national issues we offer in this space. We look forward to 2022 and all that it brings.

Editor's note: This editorial has been changed to reflect that the Rock Island County Board has given final approval to downsizing to 19 members. Previously, the editorial misstated the number and suggested the process had not been finalized.

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Title: Principal with James River Housing Partners, which owns about 250 apartment units representing $40 million in assets under management. It also is involved in three properties under development.

Born: 1983 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Education: bachelors in business, concentration in real estate, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009; masters in commercial real estate finance, Georgetown University, 2011

Career: HSBC Finance, 2006-08; Thomas Reuters Property Tax, 2009-11; Freddie Mac Multifamily, 2011-14; Walker & Dunlop, 2014-17; Hunt Real Estate Capital 2017-19; Capital One Multifamily Finance, 2019-March 2021; and James River Housing Partners, November 2017-present

Best business decision: In 2017, I made the decision to take what I learned about debt placement through various jobs and equity underwriting from grad school to purchase a small multifamily building in Shockoe Bottom. The first purchase served as the catalyst to a series of smart purchases in core locations throughout the city, as well as meaningful partnerships with people in similar and complementary roles.

Worst business decision: The worst business decision is dwelling on past mistakes. Hindsight is always 20/20. Hone your craft and look forward.

Mistake you learned the most from: There were some opportunities I passed on that didnt seem right at the time for various reasons. It would have been great to capitalize on them. I say this with the benefit of knowing the outcome years later.

What is the biggest challenge/opportunity in the next two to five years: Decisions only work when matched with the business climate cyclicality. The challenge for the next five years will be in making smart acquisitions and developments in light of a market that may not increase in the same manner it has for the previous five years. The time for smart instead of lucky is on the horizon.

First job after college: I worked at a residential subprime mortgage company in Glen Allen.

If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently: Jump in sooner. Sometimes were lucky, sometimes were smart, but the results can be the same. Putting your raft in earlier means you learn to steer sooner, maybe even go faster.

Movie or book that inspired you the most, and why?: The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz. Growing up in NYC, I gained appreciation for direct personalities. Basically, rip the Band-Aid off and lets figure it out. The book is more practical and grittier than anything Ive read recently. While I enjoy positive thinking and setting BHAGs (big hairy audacious goals), sometimes youre in a tough position and need to get through stinky mud.
At the age of 16, Vincent Ellis White found out that the man he shared a name with and who signed his birth certificate was, in fact, not his father. It would be another 11 years before White came face to face with his biological father.

Throughout his journey of finding his dad and also a 14-year custody battle to have full custody of his own son, White has made it his lifes work to help others, especially fathers. He wants to support those who have gone through similar or identical situations as him.

White, 41, said he works in foster care because of his fatherhood journey. After coming from a fragmented family, he didnt want that for this son or for other children. White became a father at age 25 to Jordan, his son who is now 15.

The day White found out about his true father, it was like any other day. When he got home from Meadowbrook High School, his mother asked him to sit down and without giving great detail, said his real fathers name was Chris Anderson.

White immediately became angry after finding out the truth. His grades dropped, and he began to steal.

He was angry at his mother for keeping the decadeslong secret. He was mad at his real father for abandoning him. And he felt a mix of anger and relief toward the man he thought was his father.

White describes his father as a habitual offender, as White spent most of his childhood visiting jail. When White figured out what jail was, he was embarrassed of the man he thought was his father.

Later, White found out his mother never told Anderson about him. When she realized she was pregnant, they had already parted ways.

In high school and college, White began to mask his feelings toward not knowing his dad by always having a big smile on his face. He didnt want those around him to know what he was dealing with.

Thats my mask, White said. I know there are high schoolers and adults still wearing masks. If you cant heal from things or work through it and understand the importance of healing, you have to have the mask on.

Fourteen Christmases ago, in 2007, White found his real father. He was a team leader for a catheterization lab at Chippenham Hospital. White had been at the hospital every single day in the week leading up to Christmas because his grandmother had fallen ill. One day, however, White couldnt make the visit to his grandmother, so his mom went in his place.

He received a text from his mom, who excitedly said she had good news. But she kept the news to herself until Christmas Day.

On Christmas, she handed White a journal. The first couple of pages made White angry as his mom rehashed the trauma of the secret about his true father. She also said she felt White had never truly forgiven him. However, on the last page she said she had recently found his father, Chris Anderson, at Chippenham.

That very day, White called his father and went to Chippenham, with his then-2-year-old son to meet Anderson. They took a paternity test and talked every single day until the results.

The bond was a strong and instant one. To this day, the pair have a close-knit relationship.

A few years after meeting his father, White wrote a memoir about the experience that was later turned into a stage play. Both the book and play are called Finding Chris, My Father. White is currently working on his first childrens book, which is about bullying.

Having worked in the foster care field for years, he currently works at Extra Special Parents, a therapeutic foster care agency, as a home studies specialist. It is Whites responsibility to decide if couples are eligible foster parents.

In his individual and joint interviews, White asks a lot about trauma, grief, childhood and more to make sure the potential parents have healed or are healing so they can help their future child do the same.

White also hosts monthly foster parent trainings and is a fatherhood facilitator and a Henrico County CASA, or a Court Appointed Special Advocate. As a CASA, White advocates for children who are coming out of homes of abuse and neglect, to transition into healthy, loving ones.

White has also told his life story on countless college campuses. After each talk, students line up eagerly wanting to talk to him about their own lives.

In his limited free time, White spends time with Jordan. The self-named Marvel heads are always the first to see the latest superhero movie. They also recently traveled to California to look at colleges.

I made my whole life around being the best father I can be, White said, because I didnt have an example.
By noon on Sunday, traffic was backing up along Mosby Street at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School as Richmond Public Schools started handing out 8,000 at-home COVID-19 tests to parents of students and employees.

Similar traffic backups were reported at three other Richmond public schools that were giving out free test kits on Sunday, as thousands of parents and school employees turned out to pick up the packaged tests before the return to school from the holiday break.

Its mayhem, said parent Ellie Burke, laughing, as she waited behind the wheel of her car in a queue of vehicles that snaked around from the back of the school out front to Mosby Street.

Burke quickly reversed her first, joking response.

Its not actually  I shouldnt say that, she said. They are doing a really good job. Maybe some traffic control would have been helpful because of all the cars coming through.

Burke was picking up tests for her two children, Kofi and Anoushea, who attend William Fox Elementary School.

Well test them ... just to make sure they are negative after some travel over the break and to make sure they are good to go [to school] and not spreading it to anyone else, she said.

I am worried about the omicron [COVID] surge, but I also feel that RPS is doing a great job with everything they can do to keep everyone safe, she said. I feel worried, but my kids are vaccinated too so I am not super-concerned about really difficult health conditions.

The tests were offered to students of Richmond Public Schools as well as employees following the holiday break and as the school system prepares to implement a test-to-stay program meant to limit quarantine time for students and teachers.

Under the program, close contacts of people who have the virus could return to school sooner than the new five-day quarantine time set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by testing negative each day.

On Sunday, Richmond Public Schools ended up giving out all 8,000 of its tests it initially planned to give out, plus 2,000 extra that the vendor was able to provide given the demand, said Jason Kamras, superintendent of RPS.

This is the largest event in the region to my knowledge, so we are doing everything we can, Kamras said.

For the test-to-stay program, we have another 25,000 tests that are being shipped to schools tomorrow, Kamras said Sunday. This [the Sunday distribution of tests] is more of a screen on the way into school, and then the test-to-stay is once you are in school.

At-home tests also were given out at Henderson Middle School, Broad Rock Elementary School and Cardinal Elementary School. Employees of Test Here, a COVID testing company, handed out the test kits at drive-thru stations set up at the schools.

Even at 2:30 p.m., more than two hours after the tests started being handed out, traffic was backed up on Dorset Road and Ferguson Lane around Broad Rock Elementary School.

It just goes to show the demand for [COVID tests] everywhere, said Mike Damon, president of Damon Medical, a Richmond-based medical device products and supply company that contracts with Test Here and runs several testing COVID sites in Virginia. The company was helping manage the distribution of tests on Sunday.

I think the test-to-stay approach is probably going to be one of the more reasonable approaches for schools to get students back safely and keep them in schools, Damon said. That is the goal  to keep students in school.

Sharonda Samuels stopped at MLK to pick up tests for her son, who attends Bellevue Elementary School, and a niece and nephew who attend Henry Marsh Elementary.

She said she was a little worried about students returning to school after the holidays and during a surge of the omicron variant of the virus.

Providing this extra step to get them tests is a plus, Samuels said.

I think it is just knowing, she said. We have been out and around family, and so this is just about knowing and being careful for not just my children but the other kids that will be around.
Do at-home COVID-19 tests detect the omicron variant? Yes, but U.S. health officials say early data suggests they may be less sensitive at picking it up.

Government recommendations for using at-home tests haven't changed. People should continue to use them when a quick result is important.

"The bottom line is the tests still detect COVID-19 whether it is delta or alpha or omicron," says Dr. Emily Volk, president of the College of American Pathologists.

Government scientists have been checking to make sure the rapid tests still work as each new variant comes along. And this week, the Food and Drug Administration said preliminary research indicates they detect omicron, but may have reduced sensitivity. The agency noted it's still studying how the tests perform with the variant, which was first detected in late November.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said the FDA wanted to be "totally transparent" by noting the sensitivity might come down a bit, but that the tests remain important.

There are many good uses for at-home tests, Volk says. Combined with vaccination, they can make you more comfortable about gathering with family and friends.

If you've been exposed to a person who tested positive but you don't have symptoms, a rapid test five days later can give a good indication of whether you caught the virus. It can also help if you're not sure whether your runny nose or sore throat is COVID-19.

But consider the context when looking at results. If you feel sick after going out to a nightclub in an area with high infection rates, for example, you should look at a negative result from an at-home test with a little more skepticism, Volk says.
The weather pattern for the next couple of weeks is more typical of Virginia for the middle of January, with a brief shot of cold air for a couple of days, a modest warm up, some rain, and another shot of cold air.

The pattern repeats about three times over the next 10 days, but it does not look like enough cold air will be in place for ice or snow during that time. Richmond will get a few colder nights in that stretch, with lows falling into the teens for a couple of nights next week, but no prolonged stretch of especially cold weather is ahead in the next week and a half.

The rain and melting snow put a solid dent in the drought. Although most of the state is still abnormally dry, the area under a moderate drought dropped from 59 percent to 13 percent in the last week. The few cycles of rain in the next week and a half should keep us from falling back into a deeper drought, but an overly wet pattern is not expected.

Friday is windy and cold in the wake of the small early morning system. Most of the day is sunny, and you may notice the air turns much drier Friday and Saturday, so crank up the humidifier in the house for a couple of days if you have one.

But for early January, this weekend will be pretty good to be outside. Saturday will be cold, but with lots of bright sunshine and very little breeze compared to Friday. The morning starts in the teens and climbs into the 30s for the afternoon.

Sunday is not quite as cold, starting in the 20s with a clear sky. But clouds will increase as rain approaches from the west late in the afternoon. Its still a little far out to precisely determine when rain arrives, but for the moment, it appears it will wait until after dusk, allowing highs to reach well into the 40s for the afternoon.

Once the rain moves through Sunday evening or Monday morning, the pattern repeats, with another shot of Arctic air for a couple of days to start next week, meaning highs in the 30s to lower 40s with lows in the upper teens to 20s.

Richmond Climate Check

If you dont think it gets bitterly cold as often as a few decades ago, youre right. The coldest temperature recorded each calendar year in Richmond has been trending upward over the last 50 years as the planet has warmed.

10:30 a.m. Thursday update: Sun and scattered clouds through most of Thursday in Richmond, which gets afternoon temperatures in the upper 40s, and an area of rain and snow remains on track for Virginia on Thursday night. But the sweet spot of 2-4 inches will hold northwest of Richmond  toward Charlottesville and Culpeper in addition to Fredericksburg and the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington.

For metro Richmond, a few hours of rain develop Thursday evening, around 10-11 p.m., then a brief transition to snow takes shape for an hour or two before ending around 4-5 a.m. on Friday morning. The end result is a coating to an inch of snow for most of the metro area, but rain will change to snow a little bit earlier toward Ashland, Goochland, and Short Pump, where an inch or two is more likely.

Southern parts of the metro area, toward Matoaca, Colonial Heights, and Hopewell will get very little snow at all before the precipitation ends.

The sky clears quickly just before sunrise, making for a sunny Friday, but temperatures most of Friday will hold in the 30s with a gusty cold wind.

Wednesday evening update: Seasonably cold, but quiet weather continues with lots of cloudy periods Wednesday night and Thursday. Some areas of fog develop early Thursday morning, especially north and west of Richmond where there is more snow on the ground. But a few breaks of sunshine on Thursday get temperatures into the 40s for most of the afternoon.

The data show noteworthy trends for the storm that will impact Virginia on Thursday night, but none of them favor an increase in the snow forecast for Richmond.

The storm is weaker, containing less precipitation, with much lower precipitation rates.

The storm is faster, with precipitation starting earlier in the evening when the temperatures are still above freezing, and it only lasts about 6 hours.

The rain/snow line will pivot across Richmond during the storm, but it probably comes during the second half of the storm.

With that in mind, we will edge back a bit on the snowfall forecast for Richmond, calling it about an inch. The storm starts as rain a couple of hours after dusk, then changes over to snow before it all ends a few hours before daybreak.

However, north and west of Richmond, temperatures will be lower throughout the storm, so 2-4 inches will be common toward Fredericksburg, Charlottesville, and Roanoke (Winter Weather Advisories have been posted in those locations). Precipitation will also start a few hours earlier toward the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Statewide, this storm will not be anything close to the ferocity of the Monday storm, but travel is not recommended north and west of Richmond on Thursday night if it can be avoided.

More specifically for Richmond

In the wake of this system, Friday will turn mostly sunny, but windy and cold, with temperatures no better than the upper 30s in the afternoon. This leads to a clear and cold Friday night. Even as the winds back off during the evening, temperatures drop through the 20s after sunset and into the teens by daybreak Saturday.

For the weekend, Saturday brings bright winter sunshine and very little wind, so it will be a nice winter day to be outside as highs edge into the lower 40s. Clouds roll back in later Sunday morning, and rain will be approaching late in the afternoon. Despite the clouds, highs will reach the lower 50s on Sunday.

Once the rain clears Sunday night into early Monday morning, a fresh shot of cold air returns, keeping Monday through Wednesday dry, but with temperatures averaging a little bit below normal.

Normal highs this time of year are in the upper 40s. Normal lows are in the upper 20s.

**

Climate Check

In about a week, Richmond enters its climatologically coldest time of the year. The normal high each day from January 12-18 is 47.4 degrees. The normal low each day from January 20-27 is 28.4 degrees.

Most locations in Virginia had one of their five warmest Decembers on record.

Most of the Lower Mississippi Valley and the Southern Plains had their warmest December on record.

On Monday, NOAA will release its 2021 U.S. climate summary. Through November, Virginia was having its 16th warmest year on record since consistent records began in 1895. The nationwide ranking through that time was 7th warmest.
A Huddleston man died early Saturday during a fight that has resulted in a murder charge against his alleged assailant, according to the Bedford County Sheriffs Department.

Lago Pizza in Moneta was the scene of an incident around midnight, the sheriffs department said, during which Shamanique Peter Mickle, 44, was alleged to have been robbed by 28-year-old Clinton Minter of B edford.

About two hours later, Mickle, of Roanoke, returned to Lago Pizza. The sheriffs department said a confrontation occurred there between Mickle and James Sipos, 49, of Huddleston, during which Sipos died.

The sheriffs department said Minter has been charged with robbery of Shamanique Mickle of monies by using physical force resulting in serious injury.

Mickle faces multiple charges, including second-degree murder and felonious use of a firearm in Sipos death.

The sheriff department said an investigation of the incident is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to call 540-586-7827, or Central Virginia Crime Stoppers at 1-888-798-5900 or enter your tip online at http://p3tips.com or use the P3TIPS app on your mobile device.
Two men have been arrested on attempted murder charges in connection with last weeks shooting of two people on Hill Avenue, Elgin police said.

Giovanni Ramirez, 22, of the 3000 block of West 78th Street, Chicago, and Edward Williams, 18, of the 15000 block of Briar Lane, Oak Forest, were also charged with home invasion, aggravated battery/discharge of a firearm, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon and aggravated fleeing and eluding by the Kane County States Attorneys Office.

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The suspects are accused of shooting two people about 9:25 p.m. Dec. 29 in the first block of Hill Avenue. Both victims were taken to area hospitals, and one remained hospitalized Sunday, police said.

Ramirez and Williams were apprehended after witnesses told police they saw a vehicle fleeing from the scene and officers were able to take them into custody during a traffic stop, the police report said.

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The suspects and victims were known to each other, and the Dec. 29 incident related to a previous encounter, police said. No other details, including whether the shooting was gang related, were released.

The quick actions of our patrol officers coupled with the tireless work by our detectives resulted in a quick arrest, Elgin Police Chief Ana Lalley said in a statement. I would also like to thank members of our community for coming forward with information that assisted in bringing closure to this case.

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
For Jason Peters, moving forward is the only option.

Whether its dealing with his extended battle with cancer, or the recent death of his son to COVID-19, the chair of the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors keeps chugging along as a means of coping, and a way to keep doing what he loves most, serving his community.

Peters is described by his colleagues as someone who is very focused and driven to help the county move forward, especially in the face of such adversity.

Richard Caywood, who has worked for the county for years and will become its county administrator in February, said he is in awe of not just the fact that Peters continues to carry out his duties to the county, but just how well hes done it.

I dont know if Id be capable of doing what he is doing with all the weight on his shoulders, Caywood said recently. Not only is he showing up and doing his duties, but hes been instrumental in so many county initiatives over the last several years.

Caywood said the economic development projects the county has engaged in throughout the last several years, like the 419 Project, the revitalization of Vinton and the development of Explore Park have been successful due to the efforts of many, but Peters has played a significant role as well.

Hes always been one of those board members whos had that vision that the right public investment at the right place, at the right time can yield a lot of investment from the private sector, Caywood said.

A Roanoke native and William Byrd High School and Virginia Western Community College graduate, Peters has always called the Star City home.

I grew up about a half mile from where I live now, he said from his desk at First Citizens Bank in Vinton, where he is the branchs vice president.

He joined the board in 2014, but his desire to give back to the community started long before he was sworn into office.

Growing up, he often accompanied his stepfather, who was a member of the Roanoke County Fire & Rescue Department, to different events and hung out at the station quite a bit, describing his time there as very enjoyable with a family type atmosphere to it.

He would also help his grandparents with some of the care of their elderly neighbors in Stewartsville.

Ive always enjoyed helping people. I used to stay at my grandparents a lot, and it was an older community  My grandfather helped a neighbor that was bedridden, and I always went with him. It was just something I always enjoyed doing.

So when he was eligible, Peters became an EMT with the county in 1992 at the age of 16. Now 45, hes been a member for 29 years and currently serves as the president of the Vinton First Aid Crew

Before being elected to the board of supervisors, he also served on the planning commission for several years, before being asked to run for a seat on the board as the Vinton District representative.

It was something I was approached about and had great interest in. I wanted to serve the community and help the county reach its potential, he said.

It was in 2016 that Peters found out he had papillary thyroid cancer that had metastasized to lymph nodes.

His team of doctors from Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland removed his thyroid and 31 lymph nodes on the left side of his neck, 16 of which were cancerous.

Following the surgery, Peters also underwent radiation treatment, but the cancer never fully went away. Since then, he has undergone regular visits to monitor his condition.

The type of cancer Peters suffers from is slow growing and has to be monitored several years after treatment, he said.

It was from the dais of the countys board room at a November meeting where Peters gave his most recent update on his yearslong battle with cancer, and the latest prognosis was less than ideal.

An emotional Peters shared with colleagues, and those in attendance, that his latest checkup revealed that the cancer that likely had been in his body for a decade before he originally was diagnosed, according to doctors, was upgraded to persistent papillary thyroid cancer that is treatment resistant.

He will go back to Maryland in January for a biopsy on the lymph nodes on the right side of his neck, he said recently.

The best case is the cancer is there, and it can be removed via surgery, Peters said. If not Ill likely be sent to Sloan Kettering for further analysis and treatment options.

Its not ideal, but my team of doctors have been very positive. My doctor said not to get discouraged and that they have a lot of tools in the tool bag but its kind of hard not to. I thought I had this thing beat four years out of my initial surgery.

Not long after his announcement to the community, Peters was faced with what he has described as by far the most difficult time of his life.

His son, Nick Peters, died Dec. 13 due to complications from COVID-19.

Only 23, the Roanoke native worked as a long-haul tow truck driver and was described by his father as a big-hearted, gentle giant.

Hearing from many of the people he worked with that he was such a caring and giving person that would always help someone when they needed it, that was very touching, because thats the person weve always taught him to be, he said.

Peters explained that the loss of one of his children is something that was unimaginable even just a short time ago.

The loss of a child is something no parent should have to go through, he said. It leaves a void that nothing will ever fill, he said.

Jason and his wife, Candye Peters, have a combined eight children together, six of them, including Nick, from previous marriages.

The couple married 13 years ago after meeting at the church of which they are members, Bonsack Baptist, and said faith has been instrumental in dealing with his diagnosis and the tragic loss of his son.

I dont know how people get through this kind of thing without faith and friends. It doesnt wipe away the hurt, but you always know people are going to be there for you, he said.

Peters also noted that the community support has been incredible for his family.

Ive had some hard days where Im really down and people I dont even know come into the bank and pray with me. It makes all the difference in the world.

Candye said her husband is someone that has always been able to see the bigger picture, and moving forward despite the heartache is a necessity right now.

Theres just so much I dont think you can give up when you have younger kids  Now with grandkids as well, theres too much here not to keep going.

Fellow board member Martha Hooker said she is amazed by how Peters has been able to carry himself and uphold his commitment to the county.

She described him as a dear friend who is a faith-based person who adds humor to situations and is very enjoyable to be around and interact with.

Hes juggling a lot right now, and I think hes trying to handle it all with composure and grace, she said. But I also am confident that its not easy to compartmentalize all the plates spinning and all of the things thats going on that are emotionally taxing. Its a job few people can do and do as well as hes done.

Peters has used his job and position with the county as a way of coping with his diagnosis, but now the need for a welcome distraction is greater than Peters couldve ever imagined.

He said the death of his son makes him want to continue on that much more.

It definitely strengthens my resolve. It makes you realize how fragile life is and you have to use the time you have, he said. It makes me want to do all that I can while Im still here.

Peters has said that if his health ever got in the way of his duties he would resign immediately.

I wouldnt want to be a distraction and be a hindrance to the work the county is doing, he said.

Caywood said that in addition to Peters ability to work through adversity, his caring for the community and for individuals has also been something that he admires about the public servant.

Hes often one of the main board members to go out of his way to compliment staff, which Ive always appreciated, he said. The fact that he thinks about the people on the frontlines doing the work is something that always stands out to me.

Caywood said he could only hope to be as graceful as Peters has been through all of his hardship, and that it was really touching that the day following the death of his son, Peters still left a note for the board announcing that he supported Caywoods promotion.

I thought who would be thinking of someone else. I was touched by that, he said. He set the example for how Id like to be in those circumstances that I dont think I could realistically achieve.

Peters said while its hard not to think of the negatives in his life, he has so much to be thankful for and plans to continue his work for many years to come.

I try not to dwell on it, because if I spend my time doing that, Im taking away from other things that could be getting done, he said. I cant control what I cant control.

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Over the past couple of years, a small advertisement featuring two red squirrels forming a heart with their tails has appeared at an increasing number of businesses in the New River Valley.

The rodent-themed design is the logo for NRV Homegrown, an organization that formally launched in 2019 with the general intention of bolstering support for locally-formed businesses.

A summary of their overall goal can be found in a business directory that the organization puts out each year. The Why Local Matters section describes local businesses as the backbone of the economy and as entities that are better positioned to respond to the needs of the surrounding community.

Studies show that when you buy from an independent, locally-owned business, significantly more of your money is used to make purchases from other local businesses, service providers and farms, further strengthening the economic base of the community, reads some of the sections text. Shopping locally keeps more of your money in the community near you. This means better schools, roads and emergency response teams.

Similar initiatives to Homegrown exist elsewhere, but some of its founding members said the New River Valley program was directly inspired by a similar one in Asheville, North Carolina.

Mike Donnelly, a founding member and board member of the NRV initiative, said the group was formed by a loose group of friends, most of whom owned a small business in the region. He said they wanted to give the areas small businesses a stronger voice in the community.

Donnelly, however, said Homegrown isnt a dig at or a direct competitor to the retail chains that do in fact operate stores in the regionWalmart, for example.

Our goal is to drive awareness of local businesses in the community, he said, adding that buying at those businesses allows more local dollars to stay in the region.

In addition to its directories, Homegrown provides discount cards that can be bought online$20 eachor at a large number of member businesses in the area. To take part, member businesses need to provide some form of discount or special deal on certain products or services to those who use the card at the establishment.

Homegrown had over 419 members as of December, each of which can be found on the programs website at www.nrvhomegrown.org.

The cards are also sold by what the organization calls affiliates, or non-business entities such as the Kiwanis Club of Christiansburg and groups within some local school districts. Radford City Schools, for example, is an affiliate and was the first local school system to come onboard, said Lea Wall, a founding member of Homegrown and co-owner of the Wall Farm.

Half of the proceeds from the sale of each card goes back to NRV Homegrown, Wall said. The ad sales for the directories pay for the booklets, she said.

Donnelly said there is a civic element to the card sales, particularly when theyre done at the schools.

Again, if we get a school system  if they are able to sell 1,000 cards there, thats $10,000 that goes back to that school, he said.

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Differently drawn political districts are destined to impact state elections in 2023, but current lawmakers have time to decide how they might react to newly overlapping territories.

Sens. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, and David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, have served together for more than five years in the state Senate, but that coexistence is at odds with new district maps approved last week by the Virginia Supreme Court.

Both legislators now live in the new Senate District 4.

With a 60-day lawmaking session set to start Jan. 12, Suetterlein, who turns 37 this week, said in a written statement Thursday that now is no time for announcements regarding elections almost two years away.

But I hope to continue to serve our community, and am preparing accordingly, Suetterlein said in the statement. And although Im a Realtor, that does not include plans to put my home on the market.

According to Virginia law, elected state senators and members of the House of Delegates must live in the district they serve. Edwards did not respond to a request for comment on whether he might choose to run in 2023. Edwards, a 78-year-old attorney, has served in the Virginia Senate since 1996.

Also, Dels. Austin Terry and Chris Head, both Botetourt County Republicans, are grouped into the new House of Delegates District 37. Though both will serve out their presently elected terms for former House Districts 19 and 17, respectively, neither delegate has indicated whether he might run in 2023.

In similar straits is a pair of first-term lawmakers, Del.-elect Marie March, R-Floyd, and Del.-elect Wren Williams, R-Patrick, whose home counties now share common ground in the new House District 47. Neither of them responded to The Roanoke Times requests for comment last week.

With plenty of time for incumbents to decide where or if they will file next for another term in office, political scientists across the state are making sense of what the new electoral districts mean for Virginia voters.

Though voters in 2020 elected for a commission to take charge of redistricting Virginias 11 U.S. congressional districts and 140 Virginia General Assembly districts, the resulting 16-member panel spent most of 2021 in partisan deadlock.

As a result, the once-per-decade job of redistricting, which in years past was left up to elected politicians, fell to Virginia Supreme Court justices, who appointed two special masters to draw maps that define the states electoral districts through 2030.

At Hollins University, Edward Lynch is a professor and chair of political science. He said that in the special masters own words, they created maps that slightly favor Democrats.

They seem to have been working on the presumption that Virginia is a solid blue state and trending in that direction, but the most recent election results in Virginia were anything but, Lynch said during a phone call Thursday. It was a clean sweep for the Republicans in the statewide races, taking over the House of Delegates.

While the blue trend might have appeared true using 2020 data, Virginia voters turned out quite differently in 2021. In that regard, people will find the maps are outdated, Lynch said.

The minute theyre issued, theyre out of date, he said. Its kind of like buying a new computer.

That immediate obsolescence highlights what a difficult job it is to determine which voters share political districts.

Redistricting is a monstrously complex project, Lynch said. Because it is so complex, its almost impossible to keep political considerations out of it.

If identifying and deciding on communities of interest is not difficult enough on its own, districts must also include roughly the same number of constituents.

We have not killed gerrymandering. Redrawing district lines is an inherently and unavoidably political process. It always has been, Lynch said. The only difference between this year and other years is that the people who are creating the district lines are completely unaccountable to the people of Virginia.

For that reason, Lynch said he is less concerned about gerrymandering, and more interested in accountability for the people who decide political boundaries. In this case, Virginia Supreme Court justices and court-appointed experts are not elected by voters.

I dont know that the politicians did a demonstrably worse job of drawing lines than the experts and the judges did, Lynch said. 10 years ago, they didnt strike me as being obviously gerrymandered to favor one party or the other.

Another political scientist, Mark Rozell, is dean of the policy and government school at George Mason University. He said during a phone call Thursday that the two special masters who drew this decades map did well to create compact districts and avoid incumbent interests.

In the past, there was so much emphasis on protecting the people who are already in office. These two individuals who took control of the process apparently didnt think about that, Rozell said. They were more concerned with creating compact communities of interest than they were in the effects on incumbents.

In other states, nonpartisan redistricting commissions have successfully redrawn political maps, Rozell said, listing Iowa as an example. So why did Virginias inaugural redistricting commission fail, and what could be done differently in the next decade?

Where the Virginia case went south is in allowing incumbent legislators and other partisans to be a part of the nonpartisan redistricting commission, Rozell said. That was just a bad idea to begin with. It went against the spirit of the principle of having a nonpartisan commission. In my view, it was destined to fail.

At the congressional level, Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, will again live just outside the boundaries of the 9th Congressional District he represents, but there is no law specifying federal officials must reside in their elected district. Griffith lived in the 6th District when he was first elected in 2010, Lynch said.

Neither Lynch nor Rozell expected much difference to come from redistricting in Southwest Virginias 6th and 9th Congressional Districts, both of which tend to vote overwhelmingly Republican.

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Its a boy!

The Virginia Zoo welcomed a male calf Tuesday to its group of six Masai giraffes.

The calfs birth was not expected until 2022, but the zoos veterinarian said the baby seems strong and already is learning to run. It was the second calf born at the zoo this year.

At birth, the calf weighed 159 pounds and stood 5-foot-9, according to a release from the zoo. He was the third calf born to mom Noelle and 14th for his father Billy.

Masai giraffes are considered endangered due to habitat loss and poaching. The Giraffe Conservation Foundation said the population of wild Masai giraffes is nearly half of what it was 30 years ago. There are an estimated 45,400 in the wild today.

Noelle and Billy were bred at the recommendation of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan, according to the release.

The new calf doesnt have a name yet. The zoo expects to announce a naming contest on its Facebook page in the coming days.

The giraffes are the tallest mammals that live on land. The males reach heights of up to 18 feet tall and females can grow to 14 feet tall.

Masai giraffes are native to Kenya and Tanzania. They are characterized by their dark and jagged spots, according to the conservation foundation.

The arrival of the new calf comes just before two of the zoos young giraffes  Kylie and Tiana  leave Norfolk for a new home in Florida.

For more information about the zoo or to purchase tickets visit www.virginiazoo.org.
As a year of redistricting failure was ending, the Virginia Supreme Court handed Virginians what could be the states fairest legislative district maps ever drawn.

The high court was handed the thorny task of redistricting  drawing new maps for 11 congressional seats, the 40-member Virginia Senate and 100-member House of Delegates  this fall after the states new Redistricting Commission utterly failed to reach a compromise on the maps.

The justices hired a couple of map drawers who set out to do what the bipartisan panel could not accomplish thanks to gridlock that reigned on the panel of eight state lawmakers and eight citizen appointees.

The courts pair of map drawers, special masters Bernard Grofman and Sean Trende, compromised and put the public interest ahead of what always had been the dirtiest game of party politics: Gerrymandering for purely partisan advantage.

As a result, Virginias new congressional and state legislative districts were drawn compactly to reflect the states political balance without consideration for incumbents.

In a final order entered Dec. 28, the court unanimously ruled the new maps are fully compliant with constitutional and statutory law applied, as the Court directed, in an apolitical and nonpartisan manner.

State Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County and one of 60 elected officials drawn out of a district by the policy to ignore where incumbents live, said he will be moving to the Charlottesville area to run again.

I am doing work that is important, that I care about, Deeds said. I have had a 20-year relationship with Charlottesville and Albemarle County and intend to establish residency there soon. I will be a candidate for reelection so I can continue this important work.

In the greater Roanoke area, Reps. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, and Ben Cline, R-Botetourt, announced that they will be seeking reelection from the 9th and 6th Districts, respectively.

The courts line-drawing experts received good marks for achieving compactness and treating both parties fairly in coming up with districts that valued communities of interest and took Virginians comments into consideration.

Paul Wright, a former local Republican campaign manager who now lives in Charlottesville and no longer identifies as a GOP supporter, praised the courts handiwork.

These final maps are fairer to most Virginians than those proposed by either party, Wright said. The court order to not consider the address of any incumbents made all the difference. It helped Albemarle and other localities not be cut up into pieces.

Del. Sally Hudson, D-Charlottesville, called the maps a clear victory for voters. The special masters drew sensible districts that respect the Charlottesville-Albemarle region as the community we are. After a decade of fractured lines that left us with six different representatives in Richmond, our City and County will now have two Delegates, one Senator, and a coherent, empowered voice in state politics.

Hudson noted that the court responded whether it could be trusted to answer the critical question on which the [redistricting commission] amendment hinged: when legislators refuse to play fair, can we trust the state Supreme Court to do it for them?

The maps show the answer was yes, Hudson said.

For the first time in Virginia history, we have districts rooted in where the people live, not the sitting politicians, she said. These maps will, in turn, empower so many voices that have long been excluded from our politics. The Supreme Courts maps contain more majority-minority districts than any other proposal submitted to the Commission.

Wright noted that the most dangerous time for incumbents seeking reelection often comes when they find themselves running in new territory. On the other hand, he said incumbency can allow elected officials to run well even in territory that trends toward support of another party.

Even though Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle, finds himself in a new district more blue than he is used to, his constituent service and years in office should not be underestimated by any challenger, Wright said. Nor would it be surprising if Bell took a larger role in Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkins administration.

One of Virginias 11 congressmen is moving a substantial distance to run in her new district. Seventh District Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Henrico, will seek a third term in a more Democratic-leaning new Northern Virginia district that stretches south to Culpeper, Madison and Greene.

The special masters said they listened to comments and adhered to them by reuniting Charlottesville and Albemarle, but left both as the northern outposts of the Southside 5th Congressional District.

The special masters took pride in how balanced a set of maps they drew, allowing either party to prevail in a good year for that party, following the states most recent five years of party performance.

As they put it, a balanced map should give each party a realistic chance to control the congressional delegation and each of the branches of the legislature when that party has a good year, even if the overall partisanship of the Commonwealth makes it substantially easier for Democrats to do so in most years.

That surely beats gerrymandering Virginia for the next 10 years.

Bob Gibson is a member of Virginias Commission on Civic Education.
" " This topographic map shows the schematic circulation of surface currents (solid curves) and deep currents (dashed curves) of the Atlantic Ocean, which form a portion of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). The colors of the curves indicate approximate temperatures. Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

Imagine a world where North America is locked in snow. Winter storms ravage Europe, while Australia bakes in permanent drought. This isn't just the plot of Roland Emmerich's 2004 disaster flick "The Day After Tomorrow." It's also what could happen if a crucial network of currents in the Atlantic Ocean were to shut down.

Unfortunately, research published Aug. 5, 2021 in Nature Climate Change suggests that these currents are weakening due to manmade climate change. And if nothing is done to prevent it, they may collapse completely.

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The Pulse of the Ocean

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, plays an essential role in regulating ocean temperatures. It is composed of a network of currents branching throughout the Atlantic Ocean like veins and arteries  some scientists compare it to the ocean's pulse.

The AMOC works like a perpetually turning conveyor belt. As water warms in the tropics, it "upwells," or rises to the surface, becoming more buoyant and less salty. This warm upwell rushes northward towards the polar regions, where it cools, becoming denser and saltier, before sinking once more. The cold, dense water is then whisked back to the tropics to start the cycle anew.

"The crucial ingredient is a positive feedback loop," says Niklas Boers, a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. Salt water's density keeps the AMOC churning. However, "this also means that when large amounts of freshwater are added to the North Atlantic," Boers says, "the positive feedback might collapse."

Such an event is known as a "tipping point," a kind of ecological threshold that, once crossed, can take centuries or even millennia to stabilize. And evidence suggests that the tipping point is edging closer. In a 2019 report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) deemed the AMOC "very likely" to continue weakening under climate change.

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The AMOC Run Amok

So, what would a world with a collapsed AMOC look like?

Since the AMOC has been "on" for all of recorded human history, it's difficult to say for sure. But Earth's ancient past offers some clues.

The last time the AMOC shut down was during a period known as the Younger Dryas, some 14,500 years ago. The most recent ice age was coming to an end; as temperatures rose, massive glacial melt off the North American landmass flooded into the Atlantic, disrupting the flow of oceanic currents. Then something strange happened: without a current to carry tropical waters to higher latitudes, the north polar warming trend reversed. The Northern Hemisphere was plunged into near-glacial conditions for the next 3,000 years.

If this were to happen again, Boers says, "we'll see much cooler temperatures in northern Europe." Certain regions could cool by as much as 14 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius). Unlike the Younger Dryas period, some of this freezing may be offset by global warming trends; however, AMOC collapse plus a warmer planet would permanently flood some cities along the United States' eastern seaboard.

In contrast, the Southern Hemisphere would experience even more warming, particularly around Antarctica. Many parts of Europe would also experience severe flooding and winter storms. "For Western Africa," Boers says, "it has been suggested that an AMOC collapse could lead to permanent drought conditions."

So, with that in mind, how close are we to "The Day After Tomorrow"?

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A Real-life Disaster Movie?

Theoretically, the AMOC could be shut down by another massive influx of freshwater from a melted glacier the size of, say, Greenland. And the accelerated rate of glacial melt in that region does make this possibility alarming, to say the least.

That said, the effects wouldn't be as immediate or severe as disaster movies portray. Many comprehensive climate models don't predict a total AMOC shut down for another 250-300 years under current emissions, though they predict a bevy of negative consequences as the currents slowly slide toward collapse.

Climate catastrophe is a slow-burn issue  but it's one that has a clear solution. "Avoid emitting greenhouse gases," says Boers. We live at a tipping point in Earth's history, one where our species faces a choice: We can either be the hero of the movie, or the disaster.

Now That's Interesting An alternative theory for the Younger Dryas suggests that the period was sparked by a comet impact around 13,000 years ago. Archaeologists have backed this claim up with carvings on pillars from Gobekli Tepe, a site in Turkey that holds the oldest known structure built by humans.
Seguin, TX (78155)

Today

Windy at times...heavy thunderstorms this morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. High near 85F. Winds SSE at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 73F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams jumped headfirst into tackling the citys rise in crime when he called 911 to report an assault while taking the subway to work on his first day on the job.

The former police officer, who was sworn in as mayor just hours earlier, spotted three men fighting in a street in Brooklyn around 8am on Saturday morning.

@NYCMayor calls 911 to report an assault in progress as he awaits a train from Brooklyn to City Hall. He does not identify himself as the new mayor pic.twitter.com/ebHyPNX7dt  Julia Marsh (@juliakmarsh) January 1, 2022

Footage posted on social media shows Mr Adams watching the men through a railing from where he stood on the platform at the Kosciuszko J stop in Brooklyn on his way to City Hall.

The three men are seen throwing punches at each other on a sidewalk below.

The mayor, who was sporting a face mask, was filmed on his cellphone speaking to a 911 dispatcher.

Yes, Im at Broadway and Kosciuszko and I have an assault in progress. Three males, the mayor says.

Yes, Im sorry? No - assault in progress, not past assault.

They are fighting each other on the street right now, three males.

Mr Adams did not give his identity as the new mayor until the end of the call when he told the dispatcher: Adams, Mayor Adams.

Two police cars responded to the scene around five minutes later, by which time the men were getting into a car and leaving the scene, according to the New York Post.

The police officers then left the scene without questioning anyone.

The incident unfolded when Mr Adams was joined by members of the public and the media as he made his first days commute to his new workplace at City Hall.

Once a transit cop always a transit cop, he said of the encounter.

Mr Adams was sworn in as mayor just minutes after the ball dropped in Times Square at midnight to celebrate the New Year.

Story continues

The 61-year-old is the citys 110th mayor overall and second Black mayor, after David Dinkins was in office from 1990 to 1993.

Eric Adams is sworn in as the 110th Mayor of New York City during the New Years celebrations in Times Square (REUTERS)

As a retired NYPD captain, he vowed during his mayoral campaign to stop violent crime in the streets of the city following an increase during the pandemic.

During his first speech as mayor in City Hall on Saturday, he promised to put more resources into stopping violent crime while I work with [the police] commissioner [Keechant] Sewell to bring reform to our police department.

Mr Adams also called on New Yorkers to not be controlled by crisis and to get vaccinated as the city deals with a renewed spike in Covid-19 cases.

This will be our New Years resolution: We will not be controlled by crisis, he said.
DES MOINES -- Brent Johnson was elected president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation on Dec. 8, marking the end of a decade-long presidency for Craig Hill, who announced earlier this fall that he would not be seeking another term in office.

Johnson, of Calhoun County in Northwest Iowa, defeated two other candidates for the office, which oversees both the organization and its insurance company. He farms near Manson with his wife, LuAnn, and his son and daughter-in-law. Johnson previously served as IFBF District 4 Director. He and his family grow corn and soybeans and also raise beef cattle. He founded an independent precision ag company specializing in GPS soil sampling, data management and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Johnsons sales pitch to the voting delegates was that he has experience working in both technology and conservation, and those are two areas that will continue to be important to farmers in the coming years.

I think my background fits those challenges, he says.

Joe Heinrich of Jackson County was one of two candidates who ran against Johnson for the presidency. He continues to serve as vice president. Tim Kaldenberg was the third candidate.

In other elections at the annual meeting, Randy Brincks of Winneshiek County and Matt Schuiteman of Sioux County were re-elected to the board of directors and Brian Feldpausch of Grundy County was elected to the board following the retirement of Mark Buskohl.

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Tony winner Adrienne Warren felt a deep responsibility when she was cast as Mamie Till-Mobley in Women of the Movement.

This history is our history, she says. It is literally taking every part of being a storyteller and learning as much as you possibly can and presenting it in a way that is as truthful as possible.

The story, however, is one that has taken on different meaning over the years. Till-Mobley was the mother of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of offending a white woman in her familys grocery store. The men charged with his murder were found not guilty, sparking key events in the civil rights movement.

Because Till-Mobley wanted others to see what they had done to her son, she insisted on a public funeral with an open casket. The decision shed light on racism in America and the lack of justice for minorities in the country.

Women of the Movement, though, is more than just the story of a mother seeking justice. It shows what Till was like as a boy and it details what happened to the family after his death.

We wanted the first episode to really tell you who these people are and to sit and have dinner with them before we see the tragedy, says Marissa Jo Cerar, the shows creator, executive producer and show runner. Episodes 2 through 6, we see the aftermath of Emmetts kidnapping.

While Cerar was writing the finale, it was the summer of George Floyd. What happened is still happening. The portrayal of young Black boys and men is still the same  criminalizing victims. We just told the story; the audience will come to their own conclusions. Unfortunately, we are still experiencing the same injustice and trauma.

Tonya Pinkins, who plays Alma, Till-Mobleys mother, says its important to tell Tills story because it is how we survive. We created dance and music  to turn all of the lemons into lemonade. Levity is critical whenever you are telling one of stories. It is how we go on.

Like Warren, she and the other actors did intense research just to understand the time Till was living in.

Growing up, you get the CliffsNotes, bare-bones version of the Emmett Till story, says Ray Fisher, who plays Gene Mobley, Till-Mobleys third husband. One of the big things that I had very little awareness of was the medias role in the reporting of Emmetts murder and the trial.

Stories tried to paint Till as a predator and we see that kind of stuff even today, Fisher says. That is something that, I think, we can all agree needs to change. The limited series, he adds, debunks accounts that tried to paint a different narrative. To be able to tell this story that is going to affect the minds of, hopefully, generations to come is where the real work is.

The Rev. Wheeler Parker, the cousin of Emmett Till and a consultant on the series, says the story needs to be told over and over again, just to remind us of American history, showing how far weve come and how much work we have to do.

Warren, who won the Tony Award for playing Tina Turner in the Tina, the musical, says she tries to erase herself from the narrative and become the person. Sometimes, theres physical transformation that is involved in it, she says. The most important thing is the humanity.

Shot on location in Tennessee and Mississippi, the film included residents who may have had a connection to the story. The actors also met others whose families had been similarly affected.

Not much has changed since 1955, says Pinkins. You can feel it. You can feel the gravity of that, which just takes everything that we are doing and elevates it. This piece is so unbelievably important because its about education. This is about informing those who may not have known so that we dont continue to perpetuate these cycles.

Women of the Movement begins Jan. 6 on ABC.

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WHITECLAY, Neb. -- A dusty border town, once notorious for its beer sales, might someday become home to a health center dedicated to alcohol rehabilitation.

A nonprofit based on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation recently purchased 48 acres of land in Whiteclay, the former home of four liquor stores that sold nearly 4 million cans of beer a year.

Whiteclay, prior to the closing of the beer stores in 2017, was known for its street people, who openly drank and urinated along its small business district. The beer sales were blamed for multiple problems on the adjacent Pine Ridge reservation just a couple of miles north across the South Dakota-Nebraska border, including rampant alcoholism and fetal alcohol syndrome.

John Maisch, an Oklahoma law professor whose video documentary helped illuminate the problems in Whiteclay, facilitated the land sale with Thunder Valley Community Development Corp. He said he hopes that a restorative health care campus could be established on the land, that could include short- and long-term substance-abuse services, as well as transitional housing and trauma care.

While Thunder Valley will ultimately decide what to do with the site, Maisch said Thursday that he is hoping leaders and donors in Nebraska will embrace the idea of establishing a health center there.

My intent was to find a tribally-led entity that could help transform Whiteclay from a place of death and destruction into a place of hope and healing, Maisch said. Its the best insurance policy we have to keep the beer stores from returning to Whiteclay.

Establishing a center for rehabilitation work would be a good thing for Whiteclay, an unincorporated village that sits just south of the state line, said Lou Abold, who operates Abes New and Used Store in the village.

Catering to a Christmas rush of shoppers prevented Abold from making more comments recently. The village now includes a Family Dollar store, as well as a nursing home, grocery store and takeout restaurant.

Lack of substance-abuse treatment centers, and lack of staff for them, has been cited as a problem for the reservation.

It would be the first venture into health care for Thunder Valley, a tribal-led nonprofit based in Pine Ridge. According to its website, its current projects focus on housing, workforce development, child development and teaching the Lakota language.

Tatewin Means, the executive director of Thunder Valley, did not immediately return email and phone messages seeking comment. She is the former attorney general for the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the daughter of the late Russell Means, a Lakota activist and prominent member of the American Indian Movement.

Maisch purchased the former Lakota Hope Center in Whiteclay, which is leased as office space for the Oglala Lakota Nations substance-abuse treatment program, Anpetu Luta Otipi.

Maisch owned 16 acres of the land sold to the Lakota group. He had an option on the remaining acres. The site sits along Nebraska 87, just east of the tribal-owned Oglala Sioux Lakota Nursing Home.

The purchase price for the 48 acres was $152,000, according to the Sheridan County Clerks Office.

Dennis Carlson, a Lincoln attorney who was active in closing the Whiteclay beer stores, said the late Frank LaMere, a Native activist from South Sioux City, once described Whiteclay as a place where there is life but no willingness to live.

That can change now, Carlson said.

LaMere, who first called for closure of the Whiteclay stores three decades ago, died June 16, 2019, two years after Whiteclays beer stores were ordered closed by the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission. The commission cited an appalling lack of law enforcement in the unincorporated town.

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Democracy is dying, but Democrats are doing noting about it

I watch with a heavy heart over democracy dying a little bit more each day, right before our very eyes, due to lies, voter suppression laws, gerrymandering, etc. And then I watch the Democrats screaming from the rooftops that the sky is falling, but doing absolutely nothing of substance to fix the problem.

I am reminded of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who once said: History will not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or timid.

Jerry J. Kobs, Sergeant Bluff

Without immigration, population will start to decline

My response to the Journal mini editorial on Dec. 27: Yes, yes, yes, immigrants are the cause of COVID, drugs, crime and everything else wrong in America. But the fact is that last year our population barely grew at all and without immigration, in the next few years, will begin to decline.

We have millions of jobs, many that our citizens dont want, but a desperate immigrant would gladly take because its so much better than what they left behind. Democrats have proposed real immigration reform, but Republicans wont even discuss it because its so much easier to make cheap shots at the poor and vulnerable whose only crime is the desire for a better life.

Terry Dahlquist, Sioux City

Iowa farmland should not be taken for CO2 pipeline

Eying the infrastructure bill, Bruce Rastetter formed Summit Carbon Solutions. He armed this new entity with his advisor, Terry Branstad, who appointed two of the three members of the Iowa Utilities Board.

The IUB is the body that will grant or deny permits for hazardous pipelines. The stage was set to usurp over 700 miles of Iowa farmland to pump CO2 from ethanol plants under extreme pressure to North Dakota for storage. The price of this structure is to be shouldered by taxpayers through massive subsidies and the 45Q tax credit. Affected landowners also bear the burden of long-term damage to their land and relinquishing land rights forever.

Carbon sequestration is unproven technology posing toxicity and asphyxiation dangers when a pipeline ruptures. Science doesnt support the promise of permanent storage, especially when tapped for oil recovery. We cannot allow a private company to covet land safeguarded over generations and cared for by those providing food to the world for their personal profit.

Branstad recently attacked an organization, the Sierra Club, aiding those opposed to the pipeline, in the media and in a letter to landowners from a private list. There is a difference in a private company saying, Trust us, sign away your rights and a non-profit saying, Band together, you have a voice.

Do your research! Enter objections on the IUB open docket HLP-2021-001 (Summit) and HLP-2021-003 (Navigator). Yes, there are two. By emailing customer@iub.iowa.gov or mail to 1375 E Court Ave, Des Moines, IA 50319.

Deborah Main, Sioux City

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I was an American in Paris on New Years Eve, and while I understand that there is nothing worse, I was absolutely loving it. I made my way to the Eiffel Tower, where two friends and I jumped onto a carousel with bottles of Champagne. We escaped without paying, watched fireworks on the riverbank, and made fast friends with a group of beautiful European students. At the center of it was a very sweet French guy named Christophe who invited us all back to his apartment for an impromptu night of dancing, food, and wine. There, when asked his name, an odd ginger man in a black turtleneck and a Russian hat paused for an unnaturally long time before finally saying Cole as he gazed into the middle distance. I had a blowout fight with one of my friends. We made up. We stayed up ruinously late and wound up sleeping in Christophes apartment, splayed across his furniture and ancient wooden floorboards.

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What other holiday is there where the custom is do whatever you want?

It was the type of night that one dreams about before studying abroad, which I was doing at the time (like I said: the worst). But even more than all that, it was the type of night many people think about when they think about the myth of New Years Eve. Like Americans in Paris, I know that New Years is something many very reasonable people despise for very reasonable reasons. The crowds. The youths. The drunkenness. The pressure to do something magical. To kiss someone at midnight. To submit to the charade of resolutions. It can be a lot. John Oliver once compared New Years to a pets death: You know its going to happen, but somehow, youre never really prepared for how truly awful it is. Nearly every year brings screeds agreeing that it is the worst: A too expensive exercise in affected frenzy and anticlimax. Anti-climatic to the core, and usually, never anything but a let-down. Just this week, the New Yorker, seizing on what is sure to be a quieter holiday this year, called for us to cancel New Years forever.

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Heres the thing: Even in this terrible year, New Years is special. Like Paris, if you give yourself over to it, it doesnt have to be its worst self. The holidays loudest, ugliest revelers give it a bad rap. It is my avowed belief that New Years is the best holiday, full stop, even if you hate Champagne, parties, and Auld Lang Syne.

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See, the visceral things are actually not what make New Years the best. Yes, if you do choose to go out or gather with friends, the feeling that life is happening can animate New Years Eve in thrilling ways more than any other holiday. There really can be an uncommon and unexpected magic to some New Years nights. Given the midnight main event, many people are more open to staying up later than normal, and in my experience, they are more willing to following the night wherever it takes them, and that can lead to rare, loopy spontaneity. Even if youre nesting with your friends, its more likely something unexpected will happen. One year at a friends house in the Twin Cities, two of us ran outside and chased each other around in the snow, chucking snowballs at each other like idiots. A kind of intuitive, lets-do-it spirit pulls stronger on a lot of people on the holiday in a way it doesnt any other night of the year.

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But the real pleasures of New Years lie in how centrally it valorizes relief. Its practically an exercise in global reliefthat the year is over, and a new one is beginning. And for that, especially this year, it doesnt need some crazy party to be great.

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People seem to forget this, but New Years has literally no requirements. In a normal, nonpandemic year, after a season of family obligations, New Years is your own. Many people who hate it get hung up on pressure to do something fun or to find that midnight smoochbut thats all in your head. The pressure is not real, and if anyone is applying it to themselves or others, theyre doing it wrong. What other holiday is there where the custom is do whatever you want?

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By contrast, for many people, holidays with family often come wrapped up in drama or stressthe Thanksgiving arguments with your Trump-y uncle, or the sibling drama exploding on Christmas Eve. I love my family, but for me, New Years is designed to be a celebration with your friends, the family you chose. Again: what a relief! Friends get sentimental and say touching things to one another on New Years. They send texts to people they miss, and they say, I hope that life is better for us all soon and to see you in the coming months, in a way they dont at other times of year because, honestly, doing that all the time can be a little much. But on New Years, it feels right. Maybe you wont be in touch for another year, and maybe they got all in their feelings while they were drunk. But theyre thinking of you, because dammit, its New Years.

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Maybe youve read all this and still thought: Buddy, this is why I hate it. I hate people. I hate feelings. I love being inside alone more than anything. Quarantine has been my dream come true. I get that, truly. But lets say you just want to chill, stay indoors, relax and avoid crowds, or go to bed earlyon New Years, doing nothing is fine! Take some ZzzQuil and literally knock yourself out. Youre not skipping Easter dinner and making your mom cry here. Youre having a great New Years. One major point of the holiday is to be refreshed and to start anew with the calendar, so if the most refreshing thing to you means being a shut-in? Guess what, thats in the spirit! Its all fair game. Remember: relief.

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Like many people surely will this year, Ive had melancholy New Years Eves that felt appropriate, wherein recent heaviness meant reveling would have felt wrong. Five years ago, a close family member died, and my partner, her siblings, a close friend, and I sat around the living room feeling sad together. We played music and talked about the years behind and ahead and about the person we all lost. It was perfect, and it still felt like New Years, a holiday designed to be reflective even more than its designed to be fun.

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You have probably gathered by now that I am a sentimental person. New Years is also the best because it can be the most universally sentimental holiday. Especially in 2020, the point is not to go HAM because last year was the greatest. Regardless of any midnight plans, New Years announces, Here is an annual day or two to look your life in the face, and the past year of it as a whole, what is trash about it and what is the best about it, and what might be better about it in the coming year. Resolutions can be torturousa humiliating joke and a marketing ploy. But most therapists would tell you that its useful to think how you want your life to be better: how you want to be happier, or how you want to be a better person. And New Years sentimentality encourages you to get real. Its an optimistic holiday, but the melancholy and disapproval embedded in self-reflection tempers that optimism with realism. Thank God that crap year is over, yesbut theres an implied corollary that maybe this year will not be quite as crap.

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And that is true for everyone, all around the world. New Years stands alone among holidays in being literally for everybody, globally speaking. Sure, there are other calendars. (I see you, Hanukkah. I feel you, Lunar New Year.) But no one is left out of New Years either. Its about the freaking planet completing its orbit. Thats cool. Its the 21st century, and we still celebrate a celestial holiday. I know, I know, actually, 365 days is a little off, solar-systematically speaking. Can it, Galileo. The point is that we traveled around the sun one more timeand when that is far from a certainty every year, thats worth celebrating.

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Celebrating with a bunch of people indoors is a bad idea this year. That sucks if youre like me and you love a New Years Eve grind; Ill probably hang out with a lone friend in my pod or on Zoom. But even that simplicity is appropriate for a holiday that can be not just about reveling but also one about survival and perseverance through the terrible times, and about hope for the next go-round. I love New Years because its hopeful, but I also love it because the holidays overwhelming feeling is a grateful one: We made it.
Perhaps you saw this object on display at the Smithsonians National Museum of African American History in the past few yearsif you did, you wont have forgotten it. Its a cotton sack, much mended, with a hundred-year-old stitched notation:  My great grandmother Rose/ mother of Ashley gave her this sack when/ she was sold at age 9 in South Carolina/ it held a tattered dress 3 handfulls of/ pecans a braid of Roses hair. Told her/ It be filled with my Love always/ She never saw her again/ Ashley is my grandmotherRuth Middleton/ 1921.

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This object, known as Ashleys Sack, is the subject of historian Tiya Miles new book, All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashleys Sack, a Black Family Keepsake. All That She Carried is a master class in the use of context in historical writing. Stymied by a lack of records, Miles thinks around the sack from every available angle: enslaved womens relationships to their clothes, the meaning of hair in the 19th century, what we know about enslaved childrens reactions to separation, how Ashley might have gotten her name (an unusual one, for an enslaved girl), the natural history of pecan trees in the South. Through her interpretation, the humble things in the sack take on ever-greater meaning, its very survival seems magical, and Roses gift starts to feel momentous in scale.

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I asked Miles to talk a bit more about her process. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Rebecca Onion: I first read about Ashleys sack in Heather Williams book about slavery and family separation. I dont think Ive ever come across a more uniquely powerful object in all of the history of American slaverymaybe in all of American history. You write in an essay on method at the end of this book that you first saw the sack on a screen, in a digital image, and it affected you in a similar way. How do you explain this power? Emotional connection cant begin to describe it.

Tiya Miles: The power of this object seems to emanate from it, whether a person is seeing it from a distance, on the page of a book or on a screen, or up close and personal in a museum exhibit. And I think the power is anchored in the materiality of it, the fact that its a concrete and tangible item, and then the emotionality of whats expressed on the surface of the sack, through the embroidered story. So the experience of engagement for the viewer or reader is a double or triple whammythere are all these different modes of connection with the thing itself.

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The way I tried to convey this in the book was, you take a few steps back from the sack to talk about that space of emotion, that experience of feeling the kinds of things that we do often want to sidestep in historical investigation. I think that to have avoided emotionality in the research and interpretation of the sack would have been to set aside an important aspect of the meaning of the sack, to the women who packed it and gifted it and carried it, and also potentially for us today.

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This was somewhat of a struggle for me as a scholar, because so many of us are trained to try to adopt an objective stance in relationship to our sources. And though of course I have attempted to work within the accepted and proven methodological parameters of my discipline, I had to really make space for myself to relate to this object in a different way, and also to write about that mode of relating in the bookto be transparent about it, to expose it, and to encourage readers, people who have seen the sack in person or who will see an exhibit with it in the future, to be open to the feelings. Thats where so much of the power lies, so much of the usefulness for us today.

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What were the things that you were able to find out about this object, and what things remain a mystery?

When I started the project, I hoped and expected Id be able to identify the women who are named on the sack, to understand something more about their relationships, and to really trace them through time. And also to be able to trace more about the origins of the sack itselfto identify where it had been produced, and by whom. And with what specific materials.

I was very quickly disappointed to realize that records about all these thingsthe women, their relationship, their history, where they were from, the manufacture of the sackwere either nonexistent or had not been saved. And so what I thought was a project headed straight toward historical investigation turned into something else entirely. It turned into a deeply exploratory and experimental project.  I had to confront the paucity of sources and recognize that the book was going to be very different than what I had at first imagined, and recognize that this deficit could be a benefit for the project.

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Harriet Jacobs, a formerly enslaved woman, told us in her writing that we could not know what slavery was. We just do not have that capacity. She said this to her white, free Northern women readers back in the 19th centurybut we, too, due to our moment in time and place, cant know.

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And so we are in this place of not knowing, which is difficult for the scholar. But I think in the end, without this information, I was pushed to narrate the history of these women and their sack differently, and I hope that this will bring the readers a bit closer to the experience. These women had to stretch, bend, experiment, and innovate just to stay alive, to maintain their ties to one another, to their daughters, their sons; they had to innovate to tell their stories. And it has been an incredible gift and a learning experience for me to do something like the same in the research and writing of this book.

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I loved your section on the pecansI never know how to say it, but pee-cahn is what sounds right to me!the three handfulls that Ruth reports Rose put into Ashleys sack. You get into natural history, and botany, and write that you went so far as to plant a pecan tree, to observe its unfurling, to understand the objects in the sack from a bunch of different angles.

For that part of the story, all we have is the notation: three handfulls of pecans. Thats it! So what do we do with that? If we want to try to understand what pecans meant to Rose, and how she may have gotten ahold of them, what they could have meant to Ashley, and how they might have not only sustained her but symbolized her relationship to her mother, a relationship to Black culture, and so on  it was difficult to figure out how to access that when the record has only three words!

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So the move I made was to try to get closer to the thing itself in the present day. So, of course, I have my pecan sapling. Its still growing! Its wonderful. I love it.

Oh, good, I was afraid to ask!

Yes, its going! I wanted to see what would happen if Ashley had chosen toif she was able toplant a pecan tree. And if she tried to grow it, what would it have looked like? My sapling is not the same as Ashleys, if she ever had one, but being able to see the new leaves on a pecan sapling, to think about what kind of life that could have signified for Ashleythe kind of life that is embodied by a growing plant, the kind of life that is encapsulated in a source of foodthat helped me think about telling that part of the story.

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I also ate more pecans! I wanted to, through my own senses, connect to what was in the sack. For breakfast today, I had rice cakes with pecan butter and peanut butter. And youll see that in the book, I actually include pecan recipes. This is the kind of experimental, exploratory chain of thinking that unfolded: going from the stitched notation on the sack, to trying to grow a little sapling, to eating more pecans, to talking with you today about how pecan is pronounced.

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I want to ask about the political impact of feelings. I was interested to find out that Ashleys sack was rediscovered at a flea market in 2007 by a white woman, who recognized its value and sold it to Middleton Place for very little money; you say she might have quasi-donated this object because she had a dream about the sack, and had a daughter, and must have seen something in the story that moved her. Curators you interviewed who had seen the sack on display reported people weeping so much when seeing it that they needed to hand out Kleenex.

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For myself, a white woman, I was very interested in the history of slavery before I had a child, but since Ive become a mother my interest has sharpened, through some kind of feeling of empathy or maybe projection. Now I can barely think about this history without thinking about the situations mothers found themselves in. My maternal fellow feeling is intense, but is it useful? Does it have political force? Or is it self-indulgent, in some way, for audiences to consume this kind of story of Black traumamaybe especially white audiences?

Let me go first to the question of maternal empathy, and how I think it might be functioning in the book and with regard to the sack. Im a mother, and my experience as a mother has most definitely and profoundly affected and shaped my experience as a researcher who works on the period of slavery, and on enslaved women, both Black and Indigenous.

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Ashleys sack was exhibited in the Smithsonians National Museum of African American History and Culture. It was displayed in front of a wall that had many little notations from records about sales and family separations. There was one particular inscription that I remember being just stunned by, because it was about a boy who was 7 years old who was sold. It had his price. I think it was $300, but I dont precisely remember right now what that number was. I may have purposely put that out of my mind because my son was around this age when I saw this notation on the wall. It felt like a gut punch to me. It was a kind of a time warp. All of a sudden I could imagine the vulnerability of my beautiful son, my own child, to this kind of horrific possibility. It was so visceral; I felt for a moment dropped out of time.

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I felt that many times when writing this book. Many times, working on this book, especially on the section about children and their experiences, I had to remind myself: This is a different time. Your children are safe. Were OKin comparison with the status of Rose and Ashley.

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But that kind of electric feeling of connection isnt really an end goal of this kind of work. I certainly would not want people to become so lost in the horrors of this time period that the book is attempting to interpret that we forget that change is possible. The powerful emotions that we can feel, and that undertow of horror that can pull us underthey are real, they are true to the history of the experience, but we need pull ourselves back up again and look around in this moment and this time, and think about how we can apply the lessons of the past 

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Regarding your question about white audiences and their emotions: This is a tricky subject right now, and it comes up in so many of the discussions of anti-racism and cross-racial interaction. I tried to be careful with this in the book. I dont want the book to exacerbate divisions; I want the book to actually bring people who may have very different political views together, around the story of this object and the women who cared for it and passed it down.

Many people cry when interacting with this object, this story. These are gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching stories. These things happened, and our ancestorssome of themlived through these atrocious things, and if it werent for their persistence and survival, many of us wouldnt be here. When people who dont share that ancestral past engage with these materials and also feel an empathetic, emotional reaction, when they recognize, This is horrible. How could individuals, how could municipalities, how could states, how could the federal government be complicit in this brutality?I think thats a good thing.

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But that doesnt mean that anyone should think we know what it felt like, or think, We had a good cry, and now lets move on. I hope we would redouble our efforts to understand the threat that has been posed in the past, the threat thats being posed in our present, to recognition of peoples humanity, to democracy. And, instead of resting with those tears, turn them into action.

I dont think perpetually turning inward is at all productive. Think of how, if Rose had only turned inward at this terrible moment in her lifeI dont think, if she had, she would have packed the sack and given it to Ashley. Perhaps Ashley wouldnt have survived. And we definitely wouldnt have the story about what Rose did. She turned outward; she thought, I need to act. And thats what we need to do.
Care and Feeding is Slates parenting advice column. Have a question for Care and Feeding? Submit it here or post it in the Slate Parenting Facebook group.

Dear Care and Feeding,

I have two daughters. Allie is 28 and Grace is 26. Allie met her fiance in college and theyve dated continuously since then. They got engaged three years ago, planned a much-later wedding so they could save money, and have since set their wedding date for summer 2023. Grace met her fiance last year and they had a whirlwind romance. They have set their wedding for fall 2022. Allie has always been very clear that she wants her wedding to be a big affair (about 150 guests) including many extended family members whom we havent seen in a while because of COVID. She and her fiance are paying for it entirely on their own, and my husband and I have been excited about the de facto family reunion in summer 2023. However, Grace just announced that her wedding will also be large (and self-paid) and she will be inviting the exact same set of family members. Ive been fielding calls from many of these family members who are geographically/financially limited and can only attend one wedding in this time frame, wanting to know whose would be more appropriate for them to go to. Allie is livid. She feels that Grace is forcing people to choose between them. Grace contends she did nothing wrong. The tension between the two of them boiled over at Christmas and now they arent speaking. My husband and I are at a loss, as we arent financing either wedding, so we feel we have little room to adjudicate this. I know we should just let the two of them work it out  but in the meantime, is there anything we can do to help? What should we say to the family members who keep calling us? How do we keep this from causing a permanent rift between our daughters?

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Mama in Matrimony Mayhem

Dear Mama,

There is nothing you can do to adjudicate this. I will say that I am getting a whiff of your opinionthat you believe Allie is right and Grace is wrongand that if I can sense that, just by reading between the lines of this letter, your daughters surely can too. And the family members who are calling you and expecting you to tell them what to do (why on earth are they doing that?) may be able to as well. Just so you know.

Look, I get that youre disappointed by the way this has worked out, that it seems to you that your younger daughter, with her whirlwind romance, has thrown a monkey wrench into your dream of a big (and perfect) family reunion, and that youre distressed by your daughters anger at each other. But planning when and how they are going host their weddings is no ones business but theirs and their fiances. Stay out of it. When relatives call to demand to know whose wedding they should go to (again: Why are they asking? Do they really think you are going to choose for them between your two daughters? And can it be true that many people are asking you to make this choice for them?), why not say, Goodness, I dont know! and change the subject?

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I guarantee you can do nothing to keep this from causing a permanent rift between Allie and Grace. Id hazard to say that if this argument about their weddings is not a straw breaking the poor camels back on a long-simmering conflict between them, it absolutely will not drive a lifelong wedge between themand if their relationship wasnt solid, it may turn out to be the excuse theyve been looking for. (And who knows? At the rate things are going, they both may have to postpone their large weddings for the sake of everyones safety.)

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Slate Plus Members Get More Advice from Michelle Each Week

From this weeks letter, I Have No Idea How to Parent My Toddler Through This New Phase of the Pandemic: I feel like my risk-assessment software is broken after two years of this.

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Dear Care and Feeding,

My stepsons wife is about to have a baby. Although (obviously) I am not my stepsons biological mother, I did help raise him (for many years, he lived exactly half the time with my husband and me; as he got older, it was more like 80 percent of the time with us). Now that he is about to be a father, both my stepsons motherlets call her Kathyand I would like the baby to call us Nana. I have no problem sharing the name and even having the child call me Nana. My reasons for wanting to be called Nana are deep: for generations of my family, as far back as we know, all the women have been called Nana by their grandchildren. Kathys reason for wanting to be called Nana? She likes the name. Her parents are Grammy and Grandpa; her grandparents were also Grammy and Grandpa and thats why her son calls her parents Grammy and Grandpa.

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My stepson and his wife are fine with us both being Nana, but they are being pressured into making me feel like I need to give up the name because the child will be Kathys first biological grandchild. Im on the brink of giving up on being Nana for all of my future grandchildren (I have two children of my own, and I want all the grandchildren to use the same name for me! I dont want my stepsons future child[ren] to feel singled out or lesser than my blood relations), even though that would mean giving up on a tradition that has meant a great deal to me all my life. Should I give up on it, or should I hold my ground?

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Sad Stepgrandmother

Dear Sad,

Im sorry the rivalry between you and your stepsons mother is spilling over into your soon-to-be grandsons generation, but I wearily and grudgingly accept that this seems to be a fact of life in many families after (even long after) a divorce. Here is my verdict.

First: Kathys reason for wanting to be called Nana doesnt matter. She is entitled, as we all are, to request to be called whatever she wants to be called. Second: I am delighted that you are willing to share the name with hergood for you! Her refusal to accept this perfectly nice compromise (hardly even a compromise, since lots of people call both sets of grandparents by the same honorific, with or without the addition of the proper name) is churlishor at least childishbut so is your petulance, as is the drama of your posing this as a question of giving up a cherished, long-held family tradition. It would be nice if your stepson and his pregnant wife were able to say, kindly and warmly, So you shall both be Nana! Excellent! but if they cant (again, I call your attention to the rivalry between the two moms in your beleaguered stepsons life, and what I imagine is his wish not to disappoint his mother, even ifor especially ifas a teenager he spent only 20 percent of his time with her), why not just stop talking about this? The expectant parents have bigger fish to fry. Dont get involved in your co-grandmothers drama. (I find myself wondering, I admit, what the childs other grandmother[s?] hope to be called. Maybe you can all be Nanas.)

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If you want the child to call you Nana, refer to yourself as Nana when you are in the baby/toddler/preschool/etc. grandchilds presence. Oh, hello, sweetheartcome to Nana! and Look what Nana brought you! I shall assume you will be spending sufficient time with the child to imprint the chosen name on their little developing brainand that your co-Nana, if the two of you are ever in the same room at the same time, will not freak out over this and yell at her grandchild: THAT is not Nana! I am Nana! I am the only Nana! (If she does, you will win the prize for who-is-the-nicer-Nana.)

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And a P.S. verdict: If your stepson actually tells you, now or later, Im sorry, but your grandchild cannot call you Nana. It means too much to my mother, then you must gracefully go along with it, for his sake, and offer a reasonably palatable alternative. This would not mean that you have to give up the title (that is so important to you) for all your future grandchildren. I promise that this particular grandchild will not feel singled out or lesser because of using a different name for you than the others do. The name by which grandchildren address their grandmother, I feel obliged to tell you, is not an important part of their relationship with her. It matters, pretty much universally, only to her.

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Catch Up on Care and Feeding

 If you missed Fridays column, read it here.

 Discuss this column in the Slate Parenting Facebook group!

Dear Care and Feeding,

My 16-year-old daughter, Claire, is gradually turning into a snob. While we used to be able to bond over a mutual appreciation of music, food, art, travel, and other areas of culture, lately any discussions around those topics seem to end with her treating me as stupid and unsophisticated. For example: like many people, I was excited when Adele released her new album. But Claire belittles me for being basic and having mainstream taste. God forbid I ever mention that I enjoy songs from Taylor Swifts recent re-release. Claire herself used to love a lot of popular music, but now she views any musician whos been able to generate a real followingand pay the billsas an artistic traitor. Shes become similarly pretentious about food. Now everything that isnt Michelin-starred is inauthentic, low-quality, and unhealthy. She refuses to dine at a number of wonderful little mom-and-pop restaurants that she used to adore; now she says they arent innovative enough. And she will not eat anything I cook! She has been trying to push me to shop at grocery stores that I cannot afford and buy products that are exorbitantly priced. I refuse to give in (she can either eat what we eat or get a job and pay for her own food). Also, the way she talks about our past trips saddens me. Prior to the pandemic, I tried to take the family on an annual vacation to a different destination every year. We went to New York City, Hawaii, national parks, Canada, and various cities in Europe. Which the old Claire enjoyed! But 16-year-old Claire claims that her biggest source of embarrassment in her life is the fact that shes been to tourist traps like the Statue of Liberty and Buckingham Palacenever mind that my husband and I saved up for those trips and that many kids never have the privilege to travel. I know its common for teens to go through phases, but I really hate this one, especially since so much of what she says and does seems to be pointedly against me. Is it possible to get her back on track? She was brought up to respect other peoples preferences and tastes and to be kind! And if I cant fix this, then what can I do to maintain my sanity when Claires snobbery rears its head?

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Terminally Uncool

Dear Terminally,

Brace yourself: It is pointedly against you. And trying to get her back on track will only prolong this obnoxious phase. Shes 16! It is pretty much her job to reject everything you stand for and everything she used to enjoy that was a shared pleasure with you and the rest of the family. (I am only surprised it took her till 16. For lots of kids, this kicks in closer to 14.) Dont think for a moment that I am unsympatheticI am totally sympathetic. The I-hate-everything-you-love, Im-cooler-and-wiser-than-you phase is my least favorite of all the phases (Id take a tantrum over this meanness any day). But like all phases, it will pass.

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I dont know if this will help you keep your sanity while you wait, but try to keep in mind that the reason this is happening is that shes individuating from you, and that its as essential now as it was when she was an infant and first beginning to understand that she and you were not in fact one person. It would be nice if she could do this without lashing out at you, but that probably feels impossible for her. Still, that doesnt mean you have to take it lying down. My telling you that what shes going through is natural and inevitable doesnt mean you cant or shouldnt tell her when she hurts your feelings; it certainly doesnt mean that you should accede to her wishes about the food you prepare and serve in your home, or where you go out to eat as a family (but dont insist that she join you, eitherlet her stay home and forage). My advice for how to deal with her when she mocks your taste in music is to casually shrug it off (Really? You think so? To each her own), not to remind her that she used to like it too (this will do you as much good as it does a spurned lover who reminds the person who has just dumped her of the love they used to profess). When she badmouths the vacations you took together, likewise shrug: I had fun. And move on.

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The less you engage, the faster shell move through this. And if she comes out the other end as an adult with tastes that are permanently different from yourswell, she isnt you, after all. Theres no reason to suppose that the two of you will share the same tastes, distastes, preferences, and interestsright?

Submit your questions about parenting and family life here. Its anonymous! (Questions may be edited for publication.)

Dear Care and Feeding,

My in-laws are currently named in our will as our preschoolers designated guardians. This seemed only logical, as they absolutely adore him and he is very comfortable with them and in their home. They are the obvious choice for a whole host of other reasons, too: age, location, parenting approach, etc. However, over the past year they have become vehemently anti-vax and are deeply entrenched in a whole slew of COVID conspiracies; they are making life choices based on those beliefs that we definitely do not agree with. Now the question is: do we leave them as the guardians and hope that this all blows over eventually, or should we act now and change our will in response to the behavior were seeing from them? We have already added a line in our will indicating our wish for our son to be vaccinated according to the usual childhood schedule, but were afraid thats not going to be enough. We do have another option in my dad and his spouse, but choosing them as guardians would cause significant hurt to my mom, who is not in the running for the job and is still reeling from her and my dads nasty divorce a few years ago. It feels like we have no good options. What should we do?

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Vaxed and Vexed

Dear Vaxed,

Ive addressed the vexing question of naming guardians before, so for a fuller treatment of the issue, you might take a look at that two-year-old column. The short answer, though, is that you should not name anyone as a guardian whom you dont trust to raise your child. If you were hit by a bus tomorrow, and vaccinations were to become available to preschoolers a few months from now, these guardians would refuse to vaccinate himbut of course this is only one piece of the disturbing picture. Your in-laws have shown their true colors. If you dont want your child to be raised by crackpot conspiracy-theorists, you must change your will. Period.

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The fact is, its quite common for parents choice of guardian to change as the years pass (mine did). And while its natural to worry about whose feelings will be hurt when you designate the people you believe will best serve the needs of your child if you are not there to take care of him yourself (I worried too), that should not stop you from making the best choice thats available.

Michelle

More Advice From Slate

Im guessing our 5-year-old is celebrating Black History Month at school because the other day in the bathtub he blurted out Who is Barack Obama? Tell me about him. It was cute. But Im struggling with how to explain Obamas historical significance in an age-appropriate way. My son has no racial consciousness. Hes biracial himself and we live in a very mixed neighborhood where whites are the minority. What should I say?
Twitter permanently suspended the personal account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for repeatedly violating the companys policy against publishing COVID-19 misinformation on the platform. Greene still has access to her official congressional account, @RepMTG, although she most frequently used her personal account, @mtgreenee.

Twitter didnt say what exactly got the Republican lawmaker from Georgia suspended but it took place a day after she tweeted a false claim about the extremely high amounts of COVID vaccine deaths. The tweet included a chart from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, which includes unverified claims that officials have warned should not be taken as factual. Twitter said that the tweet that got Greene suspended amounted to her fifth strike, meaning she will not be able to get her account restored. Accounts that have been suspended can appeal and the suspension can be reversed if what was written is proven to be factual. Greenes previous strike had come in August when she said vaccines were failing, which led to a one-week suspension of her account. And she had received a third strike, and a 12-hour suspension, when she falsely said COVID-19 was only dangerous for people who were obese or over 65 years old. Weve been clear that, per our strike system for this policy, we will permanently suspend accounts for repeated violations of the policy, a Twitter spokeswoman said.

Greene harshly criticized Twitter in a statement on Telegram, a messaging app. Twitter is an enemy to America and cant handle the truth, Greene said. Thats fine, Ill show America we dont need them and its time to defeat our enemies. Greenes suspension comes almost a year after Twitter banned then-President Donald Trump shortly after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
https://sputniknews.com/20220102/50-person-new-years-eve-orgy-broken-up-by-spanish-authorities-over-broken-covid-rules-1091967933.html

50-Person New Year's Eve Orgy Broken Up by Spanish Authorities Over Broken COVID Rules

50-Person New Year's Eve Orgy Broken Up by Spanish Authorities Over Broken COVID Rules

Police in LIica d'Amunt, near Barcelona, Spain, reportedly broke up a 50-person New Years eve party that was in violation of Spains 10-person maximum rule... 02.01.2022, Sputnik International

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The party was described by police as an orgy, with guests said to have been having sex in upstairs rooms on the property. The event was reported to have been organized by Americans who are alleged to have hired prostitutes for the New Year celebration.Police were tipped off to the gathering when two guests mistakenly knocked on a neighbors door, thinking it was the intended party site. The total number of guests has yet to be identified but is believed to have been between 50 and 70 people in attendance, all of whom now face fines.Catalonia enacted clear restrictions on December 24, due to the surge of the Omicron variant. It is unclear the severity of the fines, but according to the US Embassy and Consulate in Spain and Andorra, fines for breaching Covid protocols range from 60 to 60,000 euro, based upon the relative severity of the violation.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220102/betty-white-100-years-young-film-to-screen-despite-death-of-actress-1091975939.html

Betty White 100 Years Young Film to Screen Despite Death of Actress

Betty White 100 Years Young Film to Screen Despite Death of Actress

Steve Boettcher and Mike Trinklein, producers of Betty White: 100 Years Young, said that they still plan to screen the film despite Betty Whites death

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Steve Boettcher and Mike Trinklein, producers of Betty White: 100 Years Young, said that they still plan to screen the film despite Betty Whites death.The new documentary-style movie about her life and career will be played almost 900 movie theatres nationwide, according to reports.The actress died on Friday, 31 December, of natural causes, the TMZ news outlet noted. She would have turned 100 on 17 January.US President Joe Biden expressed condolences over the death of White.White had the longest running career for any woman on TV, which began in 1939. She is famous for her roles in "The Golden Girls" sitcom (1985-1992), "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "Hot in Cleveland" and many other projects.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220102/bill-clinton-should-face-probe-over-ties-to-sex-traffickers-maxwell--epstein-claim-legal-experts-1091978038.html

Bill Clinton Should Face Probe Over Ties to Sex Traffickers Maxwell & Epstein, Claim Legal Experts

Bill Clinton Should Face Probe Over Ties to Sex Traffickers Maxwell & Epstein, Claim Legal Experts

Ex-president Bill Clinton should face investigation over his ties to the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his cohort Ghislaine Maxwell in the wake of her prosecution, reported The Sun, citing multiple US-barred attorneys.

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Ex-president Bill Clinton should face investigation over his ties to the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his cohort Ghislaine Maxwell in the wake of her prosecution, reported The Sun, citing multiple US-barred attorneys.Sophisticated predator Maxwell, a former girlfriend of the tycoon, was convicted in a New York courtroom on 29 December of recruiting and grooming underage girls, some as young as 14, for Epsteins sexual abuse between 1994 and 2004. She faces up to 60 years in jail, with sentencing expected at a later date.The sex trafficking couple had boasted connections with the rich and the powerful, such as politicians, Hollywood celebrities, and royalty. Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates and Donald Trump have all at some point been linked with the hedge-fund manager.These high profile associates of Epstein and Maxwell should be investigated by US prosecutors, insist legal experts cited by the outlet. They underscored that this could be invaluable in the hunt for more accomplices of the billionaire who died in his cell in 2019 while awaiting sex trafficking charges.While Clinton, who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001, is not accused of any wrongdoing, his association with the late sex trafficker has triggered speculations. In the course of the just-concluded trial of Ghislaine Maxwell in New York, Clintons name was mentioned by the pilot of the so-called Lolita Express  Epsteins infamous private plane.Larry Visoski testified in court that he remembered Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and a plethora of Hollywood celebrities being among the passengers. He also testified that while flying, he never witnessed any sexual activity.Who Else Knew?Attorney Lisa Bloom, who represented eight of Epstein's accusers in civil cases against his estate, was quoted as saying that all associates of partners in crime Epstein and Maxwell who ever boarded his private jets should be thoroughly investigated by prosecutors.According to Bloom, anyone who "participated in this massive pedophilia ring should be quaking in his or her boots". She added:Prosecutors should investigate everyone who rode on Epstein's jet "at a minimum", Wendy J Murphy, a former Massachusetts prosecutor, was cited by the outlet as saying."The case that was presented against Maxwell almost implied that the only people she and Epstein were servicing in this ring was themselves, and we know that's not true. It feels like, at the end of the day, that there's another shoe to drop - or many shoes to drop," Murphy was cited as saying. She added that the so-called customers have so far evaded any accountability.Attorney and former counsel to President Donald Trump, Jenna Ellis, was quoted as adding that known associates like Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, and others should be brought to justice if they had any involvement in sexual exploitation of minors".Both Bloom and Murphy deemed it unlikely that Ghislaine Maxwell would dish information on any high-profile figures linked to Epstein in exchange for a lighter sentence.This echoes the words of Maxwells brother, Ian, who was cited by The Sunday Times as saying:However, even if any high-profile figures were accused of Epstein-linked wrongdoing, there is "almost no likelihood" they would face any criminal charges, former US Prosecutor Bradley Simon told the publication. He cited the statute of limitations as likely having expired while adding that "prosecutors tend to shy away from the very powerful in the very rich"."Under no circumstances do I expect anyone else to be criminally charged," he suggested.Clinton-Epstein LinksBill Clinton has always denied having a close relationship with Epstein.In 2002, the former president flew on Epsteins private jet after he had started the nonprofit group, the Clinton Foundation, which is believed to be how he connected with the financier.Jeffrey is both a highly successful financier and a committed philanthropist with a keen sense of global markets and an in-depth knowledge of twenty-first-century science, Clinton was cited as saying by New York magazine in 2002.Clintons spokesman, Angel Urena, said that the former POTUS took four trips on Epsteins plane between 2002 and 2003. Later, flight records published by Gawker in 2015 suggested that Bill Clinton took at least a dozen separate flights on Jeffrey Epsteins plane.Furthermore, Epstein visited former US President Bill Clinton at the White House at least 17 times between 1993 and 1995, visitor logs cited by the Daily Mail in December 2021 revealed.Photos previously published by the Daily Mail showed Clinton being given a massage during his trip to Africa by Chauntae Davies, a flight attendant who claims she was raped by Jeffrey Epstein.There have been multiple reports that Clinton visited Epstein's private island in the Caribbean. Virginia Giuffre, the alleged Epstein victim who has since filed a civil lawsuit against Prince Andrew for sexual abuse, said in a 2011 deposition that Clinton visited Little St James. He had ostensibly arrived with two young girls from New York.I remember asking Jeffrey what's Bill Clinton doing here kind of thing, and he laughed it off and said 'well he owes me a favour,' she was cited as saying at the time.Clinton's spokesmen have vehemently denied the allegations. In July 2019 his office said in a statement, after Epsteins death in jail, that the ex-POTUS knows nothing about the terrible crimes that Epstein had been accused of, and that Bill Clinton had not spoken to the tycoon in more than a decade.

https://sputniknews.com/20220101/ghislaine-maxwell-prevented-vanity-fair-20-years-ago-from-airing-thoroughly-untrue-epstein-abuses-1091954898.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220102/ghislaine-maxwells-brother-says-convicted-sex-offender-wont-trade-names-for-lesser-jail-term--1091971516.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20220102/donbass-militia-accuses-kiev-of-illegal-deployment-of-weapons-equipment-near-conflict-zone-1091981694.html

Donbass Militia Accuses Kiev of Illegal Deployment of Weapons, Equipment Near Conflict Zone

Donbass Militia Accuses Kiev of Illegal Deployment of Weapons, Equipment Near Conflict Zone

Eastern Ukraine was thrust into a civil conflict in the spring of 2014, when Kiev deployed troops to crush early independence movements that sprang up in the... 02.01.2022, Sputnik International

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ukraine

militia

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donbass

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The Ukrainian military is continuing the illegal deployment of weapons and military equipment in settlements near the contact line, Lugansk Peoples Republic militia spokesman Ivan Filipenko has said.In a Sunday briefing summarising the situation on the front, Filipenko indicated that although there have been no violations of the ceasefire reported over the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian military has continued to deploy weapons and military equipment in settlements under Ukraines control, in violation of agreements banning such weapons from settlements near the frontline.Media ProvocationsLugansk Peoples Republic intelligence has also uncovered the presence of journalists from Ukraines Channel 5 and ICTV in the conflict zone, with the media working together with officers from the Ukrainian armed forces to prepare staged videos meant to compromise the peoples militia, according to Filipenko.Local residents in the Ukrainian army-controlled settlement of Valuyskoye previously reported on the takeover of the village school by nationalist battalions and equipment, with vehicles containing armed fighters, artillery reconnaissance, observation and target designation equipment and radio stations said to have been deployed in the area.7+ Year ConflictThe Lugansk Peoples republic submitted more than 100 war crimes complaints to the International Criminal Court and the European Court of Human Rights in 2021 over alleged criminal actions taken by the Ukrainian security forces. Earlier, LPR official Anna Soroka estimated that the Lugansk and Donetsk Republics together filed over 3,000 claims against Kiev over suspected war crimes by the Ukrainian military.The conflict in eastern Ukraine began in the spring of 2014, when Kiev launched a military operation to try to crush independence-seeking forces in the countrys east after the February 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev. The war led to the deaths of up to 31,000 people, with tens of thousands more injured, and more than 2.5 million residents either externally or internally displaced.In February 2015, the Normandy Four contact group, consisting of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France negotiated a peace agreement in the Belarusian capital of Minsk.The agreement put a freeze on the hot phase of the conflict (although the ceasefire has occasionally been punctured by violations including shootings and artillery strikes). The peace deals political phase  which requires Kiev provide the Donbass with broad autonomy in exchange for the regions peaceful reintegration with Ukraine, has not been carried through amid stiff resistance from the countrys successive governments.In mid-2020, additional security measures were agreed to try to ensure the stability of the ceasefire, among them a complete ban on the deployment of weapons in and near populated areas, and prohibitions on any offensive, reconnaissance and sabotage operations by either side. The restrictions also forbade the use of drones.In the spring of 2021 and again in the autumn, Donbass militias expressed fears that Kiev forces may be getting ready to try to resolve the civil conflict in the east by force. Over the past several months, Kiev and its western allies have sought to deflect from these concerns by claiming that Russia is amassing troops on the border in preparation for an invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has dismissed allegations of any invasion plans. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned that Russia would take all the necessary measures to protect the hundreds of thousands of Donbass residents who have been granted Russian citizenship, at the same time that Moscow continues to make every effort to resolve the internal Ukrainian conflict by political and diplomatic means.

https://sputniknews.com/20211228/excess-military-equipment-kiev-washington-working-on-deal-to-supply-more-us-arms-to-ukraine--1091864512.html

https://sputniknews.com/20211209/putin-what-is-happening-in-donbass-resembles-a-genocide-1091396012.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220102/ukraines-own-national-security-and-defence-council-debunks-claims-of-russian-troop-buildup-1091977865.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20220102/full-picture-coming-to-light-6-jan-house-panel-gears-up-to-go-public-with-findings--1091975346.html

Full Picture Coming to Light: 6 Jan. House Panel Gears Up to Go Public With Findings

Full Picture Coming to Light: 6 Jan. House Panel Gears Up to Go Public With Findings

The House committee probing the 6 January 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol is preparing to go public after interviewing more than 300 witnesses and accumulating thousands of documents.

2022-01-02T10:18+0000

2022-01-02T10:18+0000

2022-01-02T10:18+0000

joe biden

donald trump

us

nancy pelosi

us congress

us capitol

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The 9-member House committee probing the 6 January 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol is preparing to go public after interviewing more than 300 witnesses and accumulating thousands of documents over the course of six months of work, reported AP.The seven Democrats and two Republicans - Rep. Adam Kinzinger and Rep. Liz Cheney - are gearing up to start revealing their findings in the months ahead. Planned televised hearings and reports will seek to convince the American public that their conclusions are fact-based, as they attempt to underscore the connection between the attack on the Capitol on 6 January 2021 and Donald Trumps attempt to overturn Joe Bidens triumph in the November 2020 presidential election. The former POTUS has repeatedly claimed the rigged 2020 election was stolen from him.Throughout the past months, the committee has interviewed a spate of election officials in battleground states such as Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania about Trumps pressure campaign.For the hearings, slated to begin in the coming weeks, the committee wants to bring the people who conducted the elections to Washington and tell their story, said the panels chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.He added that the public needed to know that the events on 6 January were an organised effort to change the outcome of the election by bringing people to Washington ... and ultimately if all else failed, weaponize the people who came by sending them to the Capitol.Most Important Congressional ProbeThe panel has claimed that the 35,000 pages of documents, texts, emails and phone records from Trump allies and former staff  will be instrumental in supplying details about preparations before the attack. The materials in question purportedly shed light on the financing behind the Stop the Steal rally, where Trump told his supporters to fight like hell, that preceded the events at the Capital when Congress convened to certify Democrat Joe Bidens win. I think this is one of the single most important congressional investigations in history, added Liz Cheney.Democrats have hailed the two Republicans appointed to the panel by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as an asset. Pelosi had created the House Select committee after Republican senators rejected a bipartisan outside commission.They bring to the table perspectives and ability to translate a little bit what is being reflected in conservative media, or how this might be viewed through a conservative lens. And thats been really helpful, said Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla.A Sham ProcessOn 6 January, 2021, when Congress was convened in a joint session to certify Democrat Joe Bidens win in the presidential election, thousands of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol building. Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, died in the mayhem.The events were preceded by a rally of Trump supporters. The Democrats have insisted that Donald Trumps claims of voter fraud incited the so-called insurrection at the Capitol.The former POTUS had repeatedly claimed the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. Trump insisted such aspects of the election as manipulated voting machines and mail-in ballots in key swing states such as Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin had favoured his opponent. However, state courts refused to hear his campaigns claims.Despite vehemently rejecting the accusations, Donald Trump was accused of fomenting the Capitol violence and impeached by the US House of Representatives on charges of incitement to insurrection. He was subsequently acquitted by the US Senate.The Democrats established the House select committee investigating the January 6 riot at the US Capitol on 30 June after Republicans blocked a bill for an independent commission on the matter.The panel has since been gathering information on the planning process behind the events on that day, subpoenaing dozens of phone records from people linked to the rally that preceded the riot.Hundreds of protesters have since been prosecuted over the Capitol mayhem, with the Biden administration branding them domestic terrorists".Dozens of Trump former staffers have also been subpoenaed for their testimony, with many refusing to cooperate. Some, like former chief adviser to Trump, Steve Bannon, and his ex-chief of staff, Mark Meadows, were subsequently held in contempt of Congress.The 6 January probe has also requested the release of Donald Trump's White House records kept in the US National Archives. The former POTUS, however, has argued that such requests lack legitimacy, as his files are protected by executive privilege.Republicans have slammed the work of the 6 January probe as no more than a political witch hunt and a "sham process.The committee's final report is expected before the November 2022 US midterm elections, with an interim report possibly to be released in the spring or summer.

https://sputniknews.com/20211231/pelosi-announces-events-to-mark-6-jan-anniversary-in-spirit-of-unity-patriotism-prayerfulness-1091950986.html

https://sputniknews.com/20211231/jan-6-panel-wants-supreme-court-to-scrap-trump-privilege-claim-in-capitol-riot-probe-1091940305.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20220102/ghislaine-maxwells-brother-says-convicted-sex-offender-wont-trade-names-for-lesser-jail-term--1091971516.html

Ghislaine Maxwells Brother Says Convicted Sex Offender Wont Trade Names for Lesser Jail Term

Ghislaine Maxwells Brother Says Convicted Sex Offender Wont Trade Names for Lesser Jail Term

Ghislaine Maxwells brother, Ian, has claimed that despite being found guilty on five of six sex-trafficking charges in relation to the late tycoon Jeffrey Epstein, she will not trade names for lighter sentence.

2022-01-02T05:18+0000

2022-01-02T05:18+0000

2022-01-02T05:18+0000

us

ghislaine maxwell

jeffrey epstein

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Ghislaine Maxwells brother, Ian, has claimed that despite being found guilty on five of six sex-trafficking charges in relation to the late tycoon Jeffrey Epstein, she will not attempt any deals with prosecutors in exchange for a lighter sentence, reported The Sunday Times.According to the disgraced British socialites brother, she was understandably subdued by her conviction by a US court on 29 December, but remained strong in spirit. He added that despite facing 65 years in jail, Ghislaine Maxwell is not now, nor has ever been, a suicide risk.She will be appealing her conviction. She is a fighter and a survivor, he added.Ghislaine Maxwells legal team had also announced earlier their intention to appeal against the verdict.For a successful appeal in such a case, claim legal experts, the legal team would have to show some error in the way the case was tried, or some jury misconduct.After the arrest of Jeffrey Epsteins former associate and girlfriend in New Hampshire in July 2020, speculation had been rife whether she would cooperate with prosecutors. If Ghislaine Maxwell were to trade names, evidence could possibly be gathered against others who allegedly sexually abused children along with Epstein and his Madam.Furthermore, the tawdry sex trafficking duo had boasted connections with the rich and the powerful, particularly politicians, Hollywood celebrities, and royalty, such as Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates and Donald Trump.Sophisticated PredatorGhislaine Maxwell was convicted in a New York courtroom on 29 December of recruiting and grooming underage girls, some as young as 14, for sexual encounters with the disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein between 1994 and 2004. She was found guilty on five out of six charges, including the most serious one - sex trafficking - which carries a maximum sentence of 40 years. Thus, Maxwell, described by prosecutors as a sophisticated predator who committed one of the worst crimes imaginable faces up to 65 years in jail. The sentencing date is not yet known. Until then she will remain at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center. Ghilsiane Maxwell separately faces perjury charges pertaining to a deposition for a separate civil suit in 2016 filed by Virginia Giuffre, who claims she was abused by Epstein while a minor. Giuffre has also since filed a civil lawsuit against Prince Andrew, claiming she had been trafficked out by Epstein and Maxwell to have sex with him on three occasions when she was still a minor under US law.Convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, jailed in Manhattan on charges of sex trafficking involving teenage girls, was awaiting trial when he died in his cell in August 2019. The New York City medical examiner ruled Epstein's death a suicide by hanging.

https://sputniknews.com/20220102/too-broken-ghislaine-maxwell-sought-to-take-stand-in-trial-but-legal-team-urged-against-move-1091970700.html

https://sputniknews.com/20211231/wish-you-well-in-hell-woman-groomed-by-ghislaine-maxwell-celebrates-her-guilty-verdict-1091935123.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20220102/hamas-slams-tel-aviv-over-gaza-strikes-as-bennett-warns-those-pointing-missiles-at-israel-will-pay-1091982750.html

Hamas Slams Tel Aviv Over Gaza Strikes as Bennett Warns Those Pointing Missiles at Israel Will Pay

Hamas Slams Tel Aviv Over Gaza Strikes as Bennett Warns Those Pointing Missiles at Israel Will Pay

Israel Defense Force jets, choppers and tanks carried out strikes against a number of targets in Gaza just after midnight on Sunday morning after two rockets... 02.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-02T17:36+0000

2022-01-02T17:36+0000

2022-01-02T18:11+0000

hamas

naftali bennett

israel

gaza

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Hamas blasted Israel on Sunday for its new aggression against Palestinians in the form of Sunday mornings airstrikes.Our resistance will continue its duty to defend our Palestinian people and liberate our land and our holy sites from the occupation and its colonial settlers, until achieving the inevitable triumph, the spokesman added.Qassem saluted the honourable resistance who repelled the enemys raid and praised the steadfast Palestinian people on the frontline with the occupier in the prisons of the occupation, Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Negev and the Gaza Strip.Thunder StrikeNeither Hamas nor Islamic Jihad  the other major Palestinian militant group operating in Gaza - has claimed responsibility for Saturdays twin rocket launch in Israels direction. Israeli officials have alleged that Islamic Jihad was responsible, but the IDF maintains that Hamas is responsible and bears the consequences for all activity in and emanating from the Gaza Strip.Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Sundays strikes targeted a Hamas rocket manufacturing complex in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, and militant positions on the border with Israel. He dismissed Hamass denial of responsibility.Security cabinet member and justice minister Gideon Saar told Army Radio that Sundays strikes were proportionate and part of the far tougher policy against Hamas adopted by the Bennett government compared with that of its predecessor.Israels Iron Dome air defence system was not activated during Saturdays twin Gaza rocket launch, with the military confirming that the rockets were not aimed at populated areas and splashed down in the Mediterranean. Israeli police say no injuries or damage was caused by the rockets.Medical officials in Gaza have yet to report on any damage caused by the Israeli attacks. Hamas Radio indicated there were no casualties to report after several of the groups outposts and a training camp were hit by IDF aircraft and tanks.Aqsa TV has reported Hamas fired two Soviet-designed Strela-2 shoulder-fired surface to air missiles at Israeli choppers over Gazas western coast during an assault. The IDF has confirmed that its helicopters were fired on, but said the missiles missed their targets.Hamas warned negotiators from Egypt that the militants would retaliate should Israel launch any attacks on Gaza. The Egyptian side warned on Sunday against a further escalation after failing to convince Tel Aviv not to strike, with an unnamed negotiator telling media that neither side wants a full-blown war.Negotiators from Egypt helped to broke a fragile ceasefire after the 11-day May 2021 war between Hamas and Israel. That conflict, sparked by the Israeli Supreme Courts expected ruling to evict six Palestinian families from an East Jerusalem neighbourhood, prompted Gaza militias to fire more than 3,700 rockets into southern and central Israel, with Tel Aviv responding with hundreds of air and missile strikes into the strip. A dozen Israelis and at least 230 Palestinians were killed in the conflict, with more than 100 Israelis and in excess of 3,000 Palestinians injured. Human Rights Watch accused both sides of war crimes by targeting civilian areas.The weekends flare-up follows warnings by Gaza militants in recent days that they would respond to Israels detention without trial of hunger-striking Palestinians accused by Tel Aviv of plotting attacks. Islamic Jihad recently warned that it would retaliate should Hisham Abu Hawash, a Palestinian held by Israeli security services since October 2020, die in prison after going without food for more than 130 days. The West Banks Palestinian Authority has also condemned Hawashs detention and demanded his immediate release.

https://sputniknews.com/20211225/at-least-135-hurt-in-clashes-with-israeli-soldiers-in-west-bank--red-crescent-1091803597.html

https://sputniknews.com/20211119/israel-reportedly-fed-us-edited-intelligence-to-justify-downing-gaza-tower-hosting-media-outlets-1090856960.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20220102/high-level-probe-ordered-after-12-trampled-to-death-in-stampede-in-indias-jammu-and-kashmir--1091974033.html

High-Level Probe Ordered After 12 Trampled to Death In Stampede in India's Jammu and Kashmir

High-Level Probe Ordered After 12 Trampled to Death In Stampede in India's Jammu and Kashmir

12 pilgrims died and 16 were injured in a stampede on Saturday, as throngs of thousands emerged at the Vishnu Devi Mata Temple in Jammu and Kashmir to mark the... 02.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-02T09:11+0000

2022-01-02T09:11+0000

2022-01-02T09:11+0000

india

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stampede

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india

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Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha will hold a meeting with the Vaishno Devi Shrine Board chairman on Sunday and is expected to check all the security arrangements at Vishnu Devi Mata Temple after 12 pilgrims were crushed to death in a stampede.Earlier on Saturday night, Sinha ordered a high-level inquiry into the stampede incident, which will be headed by the Principal Secretary and Commissioner of the Union Territory. The panel has been asked to submit its report within a week. A local media report suggests that the stampede was triggered after a minor scuffle between a few pilgrims. Furthermore, it has also been alleged that there was a heavy influx of devotees on New Year.The cave shrine is situated at an altitude of 5,200 feet and is one of the most revered Hindu shrines in the country, attracting close to a million devotees every year.

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india, stampede, stampede, jammu and kashmir, india
https://sputniknews.com/20220102/hijab-clad-girls-banned-from-entering-classroom-in-indias-karnataka-1091976803.html

Hijab-Clad Girls Banned From Entering Classroom in India's Karnataka

Hijab-Clad Girls Banned From Entering Classroom in India's Karnataka

In a similar incident in 2017, a medical officer from Maharashtra was barred from entering a classroom wearing a hijab (headscarf). She was exonerated by... 02.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-02T12:34+0000

2022-01-02T12:34+0000

2022-01-02T12:34+0000

muslim

india

karnataka state

karnataka

india

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A college in the Udupi district of the Indian state of Karnataka refused to let six Muslim girls enter their classroom this week after they arrived wearing a hijab.A 72-second-video, posted by the girls in the state's local Kannada language, showed them standing outside the classroom for three days in protest. They were also forbidden to speak Urdu, Arabic or Byari - three languages spoken by Muslim communities in the state."Everything was fine before we started wearing the hijab, but now we are being discriminated against in this manner and not allowed inside the classroom," said another pupil.Members of the Islamic Organisation of India on Saturday approached District Collector Kurma Rao concerning the incident and urged the latter to intervene in the matter.The Social Democratic Party of India's representative in (SDPI) Udupi, Nazeer Ahmed, said they would protest if the six pupils were not allowed to return to classes wearing their hijabs.In 2019, the Bombay High Court, in its verdict acquitting Muslim girl, Fakeha, in her 16-month long legal battle, allowed her to wear the hijab in the classroom after she was forbidden by college authorities to attend classes and take exams. The division bench of the Bombay high court comprising Justice RM Savant and Justice Sarang Kotwal ordered the college to allow her to attend lectures with her hijab on and complete her education.

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muslim, india, karnataka state, karnataka, india
https://sputniknews.com/20220102/israel-army-says-detained-man-suspected-of-friday-knife-attack-on-soldiers-1091975244.html

Israel Army Says Detained Man Suspected of Friday Knife Attack on Soldiers

Israel Army Says Detained Man Suspected of Friday Knife Attack on Soldiers

The Israeli army has detained another suspect in an attempted melee weapon attack in the West Bank on Friday

2022-01-02T09:16+0000

2022-01-02T09:16+0000

2022-01-02T09:16+0000

middle east

israel

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According to IDF, Israeli soldiers have now detained a suspect who was driving the car that the attacker was in.On Friday, the Israeli military reported having prevented a knife attack on Israeli army personnel,. The attacker got out of the car and was neutralized, while the rest of the suspects fled the scene.In mid-December, IDF reported several knife attacks on Israeli citizens. On December 19, a Palestinian woman was arrested on suspicion of stabbing an Israeli citizen near the entrance to the religious site of the Cave of the Patriarchs, in Hebron. A week before that, a Jewish woman was stabbed in Jerusalem while walking with her children.Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers in the northern West Bank have been reported for three weeks in a row. Last weekend, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said that the number of Palestinians injured in the clashes had surpassed 300.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220102/israels-christian-community-is-happy-with-life-in-the-country--a-community-rep-says-he-knows-why--1091973771.html

Israel's Christian Community is Happy With Life in The Country, & a Community Rep Says He Knows Why

Israel's Christian Community is Happy With Life in The Country, & a Community Rep Says He Knows Why

The Israeli law does not allow any type of discrimination against citizens based on their colour, gender, origin or ethnicity, granting Jews, Muslims and Christians equal rights.

2022-01-02T07:32+0000

2022-01-02T07:32+0000

2022-01-02T07:32+0000

middle east

israel

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Israel's Christian community grew by 1.4 percent in 2020. It now stands at 182,000 and 84 percent of that population says they are satisfied with the life in the country, the Central Bureau of Statistics found.Happy with LifeSharbel Maroun, a Christian Arab from the northern city of Haifa, says he can "totally relate" to these findings.According to Israeli law, the state doesn't discriminate against its citizens based on their religion, ethnicity, colour or gender. But the Jewish state has been repeatedly accused of applying a different set of laws towards its Muslim population and other minorities. It has also been accused of persecuting the Palestinians.The sphere where this discrimination is most vivid is the military service. All Jewish citizens who reached the age of 18 are obliged to serve in the IDF, unless they have proven health problems or object for religious reasons.Such minorities as the Druze or the Circassians are obliged to serve too. The Muslims and the Christians are simply not conscripted.Maroun was one of those who did choose to enroll in the IDF. But he is one of very few.In 2012, for example, it was reported that out of the 158,000 Christians who resided in Israel, only 97 volunteered to serve in the army.Not Serving the CountryRecent reports suggest that this number is constantly growing but it is still rather insignificant. Maroun pins the blame of the low numbers on a "fear factor".However, this is far from being the only reason. In 2013, a report conducted by Im Tirtzu, a conservative organisation aimed at promoting Zionism in Israel, found that many Christians fail to enrol in the IDF simply because they don't have enough information about the system. Nor do they have relevant religious services that are available for the Jewish population.The same report also revealed that Christian youths face pressure from Muslim NGOs and politicians, who discourage them from serving in the army "of apartheid" that "occupies other people".Joint List as a Problem?The Joint Arab List was created in the lead-up to the 2015 legislative elections, uniting five Arab majority parties. At the peak of their popularity, in 2020, they managed to garnish 15 out of 120 seats at the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, becoming the country's third largest political group.The party that now unites four elements claims to represent the struggles and needs of the Arab citizens of Israel. But many have been slamming it for catering more to the pleas of the Palestinians, rather than ordinary Arab Israelis.Many others could not forgive the party for not joining the forces with the coalition to tackle the high rates of unemployment in the Arab sector. Nor could they forgive that the issue of crime that has been engulfing many Arab towns and cities has not been solved.That disappointment with the party and its politicians showed in the last round of elections that took place last March, when the party sank from its previous 15 to only 6 seats jn the legislature.Yet, politicians of the political group didn't learn from their past mistakes. They continued to slam Israel and its government for its inequality towards minorities and for its unjust policies vis-a-vis the Palestinians."I am proud I live here. I am proud I have served in the IDF, and if I could I would have done it again," he added.

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middle east, israel
https://sputniknews.com/20220102/jamaica-not-planning-to-extradite-moise-murder-suspect-to-haiti---reports-1091969855.html

Jamaica Not Planning to Extradite Moise Murder Suspect to Haiti - Reports

Jamaica Not Planning to Extradite Moise Murder Suspect to Haiti - Reports

Jamaica will be deporting former Colombian army officer Mario Antonio Palacios, a suspect in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, to Colombia, local media report.

2022-01-02T03:10+0000

2022-01-02T03:10+0000

2022-01-02T03:10+0000

jamaica

colombia

assassination

jovenel moise

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"The applicant should depart by Monday January 3," High Court judge Justice Courtney Daye ordered during a New Year's Eve court sitting, as quoted by The Gleaner.According to the newspaper, Haiti has twice requested Palacios extradition to face trial there, but the requests were denied by Jamaican prosecutors.Moise was shot dead at his residence on July 7, while his wife sustained injuries and received medical treatment in the United States. Haitian authorities have detained over 40 suspects in Moise's assassination, including 18 Colombian citizens.

https://sputniknews.com/20210912/haiti-dcp-seeks-prime-ministers-resignation-after-invitation-to-testify-on-moises-murder-1089001607.html

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jamaica, colombia, assassination, jovenel moise
https://sputniknews.com/20220102/man-did-i-have-fun-andy-cohen-speaks-up-after-his-new-years-eve-rant-about-bill-de-blasio-1091980393.html

'Man Did I Have Fun': Andy Cohen Speaks Up After His New Year's Eve Rant About Bill de Blasio

'Man Did I Have Fun': Andy Cohen Speaks Up After His New Year's Eve Rant About Bill de Blasio

Cohen also expressed hope in an Instagram post that others had fun on New Years Eve, and wished people a Happy New Year. 02.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-02T14:04+0000

2022-01-02T14:04+0000

2022-01-02T14:04+0000

social media

new year's eve

viral

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Following his animated speech during CNNs New Years Eve Live, TV host Andy Cohen has suggested online that he was overserved that night.During the programme, Cohen blasted then-outgoing NYC mayor Bill de Blasio, arguing that the latter being a horrible mayor is the only thing that Democrats and Republicans can agree on.So, sayonara sucker! Andy declared as he bid farew,ell to de Blasio who was succeeded on 1 January by Eric Adams, the new mayor of New York City.Hours later, however, Cohen tweeted: Um, I was a bit overserved last night.One of the recent Instagram posts of his was a little bit more elaborate regarding the subject, as Cohen stated: I was a hair over-served last night, but man did I have fun! I hope you did too. Happy New Year everybody.While some social media users voiced their appreciation of Cohens rant about de Blasio, there were also those who wished that it wasnt every year that getting drunk was the way to celebrate it.

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social media, new year's eve, viral
https://sputniknews.com/20220102/marjorie-taylor-greenes-personal-twitter-account-permanently-suspended-over-covid-misinformation-1091983789.html

Marjorie Taylor Greene's Personal Twitter Account Permanently Suspended Over COVID Misinformation

Marjorie Taylor Greene's Personal Twitter Account Permanently Suspended Over COVID Misinformation

In response to Twitters move, a visibly shaken Greene labeled the social media platform as an enemy to America. 02.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-02T19:30+0000

2022-01-02T19:30+0000

2022-01-02T19:30+0000

us

twitter

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account

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US Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has seen her personal Twitter account permanently suspended after her repeated violations of the social media platforms policy regarding COVID-19 misinformation.According to AP, one of Greenes final tweets prior to her suspension falsely referenced extremely high amounts of covid vaccine deaths."Twitter repeatedly suspended Greenes account previously for sharing misinformation about the coronavirus and vaccines, and has now reportedly switched to the more lasting measure.Greenes congressional Twitter account, however, appears active, as of the time of this articles writing.In response to this development, a visibly angry Greene issued a statement in which she baselessly claimed that Twitter cant handle the truth and is an an enemy to America.Social media platforms cant stop the truth from being spread far and wide, she asserted, according to an excerpt from a tweet shared by AJCs Washington correspondent, Tia Mitchell. Greene's tweeted sloganeering in response to her Twitter ban included such phrases as: Big Tech cant stop the truth. Communist Democrats cant stop the truth. I stand with the truth and the people. We will overcome.

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us, twitter, suspension, account, marjorie taylor greene
https://sputniknews.com/20220102/origins-of-norad-santa-tracking-tradition-through-eyes-of-founders-daughter-1091974639.html

Origins of NORAD Santa Tracking Tradition Through Eyes of Founders Daughter

Origins of NORAD Santa Tracking Tradition Through Eyes of Founders Daughter

Once upon a time, in December of 1955, when the world was anxious about Cold War turning cold, one man's imagination helped turn fears into a Christmas tradition

2022-01-02T08:01+0000

2022-01-02T08:01+0000

2022-01-02T08:01+0000

world

christmas

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US Air Force Colonel Harry Shoup was serving at the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Operations Center in Colorado Springs. Several weeks before Christmas, Shoup was on duty during what started as a quiet night shift. But everything changed when the top secret telephone on Shoups desk rang. The telephone could be reached only by top-ranking commanders and in very critical situations.The colonel picked up the phone and answered in a solemn tone by introducing himself. Yet instead of a superior officer, he heard the voice of a child on the other side saying, "Is this Santa?"The colonel then heard the little boy start to cry and then ask: "Is this one of Santas helpers?" Shoup understood that, however improbable it was, an actual child was talking to him, honestly inquiring about Santa Claus. He quickly changed his voice to say: "Ho-ho-ho! This is not one of Santas helpers, this is Santa Claus! Have you been a good little boy? Have you made Santas list?"The boy cheered up and shared the list of the gifts he expected from Santa Claus, but then Shoup asked the child to call his mother to the telephone.It turned out that the department store chain Sears had placed the advertisement inviting children to call Santa for a chat.Since the secret number was exposed, Shoup asked the telephone company to provide a new one. In addition, the colonel instructed his troops to answer all phone calls placed by children and to speak to them in Santas voice.Weeks later, on Christmas Eve, the Shoups and other military families gathered at the CONAD  which is now called NORAD, or North American Aerospace Defense Command  headquarters to celebrate the holiday and bring special Christmas cookies to the troops on duty.The colonel noticed a huge map there, where servicemen and servicewomen marked unidentified flying objects.Instead of answering, Shoup called the local radio station and said: "We have an unidentified flying object, it looks like a sleigh," she said.Kindness and MagicHowever, the story remained mostly unknown to the public for 25 years until 1980, when the Shoup family gathered in van Keurens older sister's house in Colorado. The sister called the newspapers and television stations to tell them that Col. Harry Shoup was going to celebrate the holidays there.The colonel's fame kept growing. When Shoups went out to lunch, they would have trouble placing order because people wanted to talk with the colonel.These days, NORAD continues to track Santa Claus and has even created a special web portal so that everyone can find where the Christmas Wizard is at any moment and how many gifts he has already dropped.Van Keuren noted that the Defense Department calls the tradition of tracing Santa Claus "the very best public relations program."Van Keuren said she is happy that her father was the original Santa tracker, because he loved both children and Christmas. She also took a personal lesson from that story.Van Keuren also said the tradition of tracking and calling Santa shows that there is still a place for magic in our modern and pragmatic world.Global FameVan Keuren recalled that when the story became known around the world, many people began writing to NORAD to thank Col. Shoup, and NORAD would pass all the correspondence to the Shoup family.A youngster from China wrote to Shoup saying his teacher said Santa Claus does not exist, but he found information about the tracking of Santa on the internet and showed her, van Keuren said.Santa tracking helped launch another tradition  that of US Presidents or First Ladies answering the phone calls placed by children. An unidentified First Lady had once opined that Santa should not be tied to the US military, but van Keuren said one cannot take it away now and NORAD is very proud of that program.The Shoups had drawn the attention of movie directors and received two offers that have not turned into actual movies so far, Van Keuren said, adding that the Hallmark company even wanted to turn the narrative into a love story.

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world, christmas
https://sputniknews.com/20220102/prime-minister-of-haiti-survives-assassination-attempt-near-gonaives-church-1091985571.html

Prime Minister of Haiti Survives Assassination Attempt Near Gonaives Church

Prime Minister of Haiti Survives Assassination Attempt Near Gonaives Church

A failed attempt to assassinate the prime minister of Haiti, Ariel Henry, took place on Sunday at a church in the city of Gonaives during a mass dedicated to the 218th anniversary of the country's independence.

2022-01-02T23:01+0000

2022-01-02T23:01+0000

2022-01-02T23:01+0000

haiti

assassination attempt

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The broadcaster reported that armed people had opened fire at the prime minister, and that at least one person was killed and several others wounded. Henry did not suffer any injuries during the Sunday incident.It was previously reported by local media outlets that local gangs had warned the prime minister against attending any events in Gonaives. The Dominican Today outlet detailed that there were no worshippers inside the Gonaives church at the time of the shooting, underscoring that solely local authorities and government officials had been present. Following the failed assassination attempt, Haitian authorities canceled all other events dedicated to the anniversary of independence.The latest development came about after reports earlier revealed that a suspect in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise would not be extradited to Haiti, and would instead be transported to Colombia. Haitian efforts to extradite the suspect have twice failed.

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haiti, assassination attempt
https://sputniknews.com/20220102/prince-andrew-may-lose-duke-of-york-title-be-cast-into-royal-exile-if-he-loses-sex-abuse-case-1091974167.html

Prince Andrew May Drop Duke of York Title, Be Cast Into Royal 'Exile' if He Loses Sex Abuse Case

Prince Andrew May Drop Duke of York Title, Be Cast Into Royal 'Exile' if He Loses Sex Abuse Case

Prince Andrew may be stripped of his Duke of York title if he loses the sex abuse civil lawsuit filed against him by Virginia Giuffre, according to the Sunday Times.

2022-01-02T08:02+0000

2022-01-02T08:02+0000

2022-01-02T09:45+0000

prince andrew

virginia roberts giuffre

uk

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Prince Andrew may be stripped of his Duke of York title if he loses the sex abuse civil lawsuit filed against him by Virginia Giuffre, according to the Sunday Times.The royal household is purportedly discussing other options, such as sending the embattled royal into an internal exile of sorts, and requiring him to relinquish remaining links to any charities. The Duke had stepped back from royal duties, including most of his charity work, in 2019 "for the foreseeable future". The decision followed heightened scrutiny over his relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.Persuading Queen Elizabeth II to remove the title of Duke of York would be difficult, as it was held by her father, George VI, before he became king and she bestowed it on her favourite son. But he has disgraced that title, insiders were cited as adding.With regard to reports that the Duke of York might lose his title, a Buckingham Palace spokesman was cited as saying:Toxic PrincePrince Andrew is reportedly under pressure to cede his nine military roles, according to defence sources cited by the Sunday People. Senior Army commanders purportedly deem it not feasible for the royal to continue in his role as colonel-in-chief of the nine military regiments, units and corps.The military roles are as follows:Vice-Admiral - Personal Aide-de-Camp to the Queen; Colonel - Grenadier Guards; Colonel-in-Chief - 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's); Royal Irish Regiment (27th (Inniskilling) 83rd and 87th and Ulster Defence Regiment); Small Arms School Corps; and Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th Foot); Royal Colonel - Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland; Honorary Air Commodore - Royal Air Force Lossiemouth; and Commodore-in-Chief - Fleet Air Arm.Senior military chiefs are cited as referring to Prince Andrew as toxic over his links to the convicted pedophile Epstein and the ongoing sex abuse case against him.A decision to remove Prince Andrews titles would need come from the Queen and Buckingham Palace officials.Sex Abuse LawsuitVirginia Giuffre, currently 38, alleges that she was trafficked out by the late tycoon Jeffrey Epstein and his pimp Ghislaine Maxwell to have sex with Prince Andrew three times when she was 17  a minor by US law. The first time was purportedly at the London townhouse of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's pimp. Maxwell was found guilty of recruiting and trafficking young girls for his sexual trafficking ring of abuse, with a US jury convicting her of five out of six charges on 29 December.The second time, in early 2001, was supposedly at Epstein's New York mansion, and the third time was on the tycoon's private island in the Caribbean.The formal allegations laid out in the civil lawsuit Giuffre filed in a New York court are battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The woman is suing for unspecified damages.The Duke of York has denied all the charges made against him, claiming he never even met the woman. However, when he attempted to clear his name by agreeing to a BBC Newsnight car crash interview it only made matters worse. Responding to his accusers claims, Prince Andrew had stated in the interview he could not have had sex with his accuser in 2001 because he was out with his daughter at Pizza Express in Woking. He also claimed that a medical condition he developed after being shot at during the Falklands War left him unable to sweat after Giuffre insisted that the two of them had danced together and he had been sweating profusely.In October 2021, the prince's lawyers slammed the lawsuit as baseless.After Ghislaine Maxwells guilty verdict the Duke of York is said to have held crisis meetings with his legal team.Prince Andrew has already suffered two setbacks in his attempts to have the case against him thrown out.Firstly, Judge Lewis A Kaplan issued a written order telling the disgraced Queens sons lawyers that they must adhere to an earlier scheduled document handover. The NY judge also rejected a motion by the royals attorneys to have the lawsuit dismissed on jurisdictional grounds as Giuffre no longer lives in the US. The defence, led by Andrew Brettler, argued that Virginia Giuffre has lived in Australia for all but two of the past 19 years.Two important developments take place next week. Firstly, on Monday, the 2009 agreement between Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew's accuser Giuffre will be released following an order by US judges.The Duke of York's lawyers have argued the settlement releases him from liability, yet Giuffre's team insists the agreement "on its face" applies "at most" to people involved in underlying litigation in Florida, thereby excluding Prince Andrew. The following day, on 4 January, Judge Kaplan is due to hear arguments on whether to dismiss Giuffre's civil lawsuit or whether the civil claim against Prince Andrew can proceed to trial. If it does, Virginia Giuffres legal team will seek further documentation from the prince, including proof of his Newsnight interview claim he cannot sweat.Prince Andrews legal team has previously said no documents exist in his possession, custody or control to substantiate the claim.

https://sputniknews.com/20211230/prince-andrews-accuser-says-ghislaine-maxwell-more-evil-than-epstein-1091919197.html

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prince andrew, virginia roberts giuffre, uk
https://sputniknews.com/20220102/russian-ambassador-to-berlin-says-moscow-to-react-to-rt-de-clampdown-1091977004.html

Russian Ambassador to Berlin Says Moscow to React to RT DE Clampdown

Russian Ambassador to Berlin Says Moscow to React to RT DE Clampdown

Moscow will certainly react to the termination of the broadcasting of the RT DE channel in Germany, with consequences for German journalists in Russia as a possibility

2022-01-02T11:22+0000

2022-01-02T11:22+0000

2022-01-02T11:22+0000

europe

germany

rt

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"A reaction will certainly follow from the Russian side," Nechaev told DPA.The diplomat did not clarify what form the reaction would take but noted that there were many options.At the same time, the ambassador stressed that Moscow does not want tensions to escalate.When asked if Deutsche Welle might face some restrictions in Russia, the diplomat said the reaction is these situations was not about doing something "automatically."In December, RT announced the launch of the RT DE news channel in German. A German media regulator MABB launched an investigation into RT DE Productions GmbH on December 17. A few days later, RT said that MABB had urged Eutelsat 9 network provider to remove RT DE from its broadcasting package. The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that Moscow would react to this attempt to block RT DE.The launch of RT DE has been surrounded by controversy in the European Union. In August, RT DE was refused a broadcasting license in Luxembourg after reportedly receiving some data from the German authorities. In September, YouTube removed two RT DE channels without the right of recovery for alleged "violations of community rules."

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europe, germany, rt
https://sputniknews.com/20220102/still-a-danger-he-will-commit-new-crime-says-prosecutor-as-anders-breivik-seeks-parole-1091981662.html

'Still a Danger He Will Commit New Crime,' Says Prosecutor as Anders Breivik Seeks Parole

'Still a Danger He Will Commit New Crime,' Says Prosecutor as Anders Breivik Seeks Parole

There is still a risk that Breivik will commit new, serious crimes after his release, Oslo's State Attorney Hulda Karlsdottir told the NTB news agency.

2022-01-02T17:00+0000

2022-01-02T17:00+0000

2022-01-02T17:01+0000

anders breivik

norway

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There is still a risk that Breivik will commit new, serious crimes after his release, Oslo's State Attorney Hulda Karlsdottir told the NTB news agency. After his imprisonment ends, Breivik will still have the desire and ability to commit brutal murders since he said that he wants to "continue his fight" and believes that violence is necessary to achieve his political goals, the Oslo District Court's verdict against Breivik added. In July 2021, when the minimum 10-year period of his custodial sentence expired, the 42-year-old Breivik used his right to seek parole. On 22 July 2011, Breivik carried out terrorist attacks on the government quarter in Oslo and at a Workers' Youth League (AUF) summer camp on Utoya island, killing 77 people and leaving hundreds more injured. In August 2012, he was sentenced to maximum detention of 21 years and has been serving his sentence in full isolation since then.

https://sputniknews.com/20211129/mass-killer-breivik-sending-letters-to-survivors-with-excerpts-from-his-manifesto-1091098523.html

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anders breivik, norway
https://sputniknews.com/20220102/ukraines-own-national-security-and-defence-council-debunks-claims-of-russian-troop-buildup-1091977865.html

Ukraines Own National Security and Defence Council Debunks Claims of Russian Troop Buildup

Ukraines Own National Security and Defence Council Debunks Claims of Russian Troop Buildup

Western officials and media have spent months claiming that Russia has concentrated forces on the border with Ukraine in possible preparation for an invasion... 02.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-02T12:19+0000

2022-01-02T12:19+0000

2022-01-02T12:26+0000

russia

ukraine

invasion

military buildup

army deployment

troop movements

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Kiev does not see any evidence of any massed concentration of Russian troops on the countrys borders preparing to invade, Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, an advisory body to the Ukrainian president, has said. We are monitoring everything and are aware of everything thats happening. Today we do not see a threat of naked aggression by Russia. What could happen tomorrow, well talk about it tomorrow,  the official added.Danilov suggested that the biggest danger to Ukraine today is internal destabilisation, which he claimed Russia might try to take advantage of and that this was something that must be prevented. He called on Ukrainians to rest easy and celebrate the winter holidays, and insisted that the country would have additional resources in the new year, including equipment for territorial defence to repulse the aggressor in case of an invasion. Weapons must be kept well-oiled, he stressed.Danilov is one of the few Ukrainian officials publicly calling for calm amid Western media hysteria over alleged Russian plans to invade its western neighbour. In November, after Politico released a report claiming that Russia was building up troops on the border with Ukraine, Danilov dismissed the story as deliberate misinformation and said it was not clear to us why US media was engaged in spreading such claims.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will speak to US President Joe Biden by telephone later Sunday, with the supposed Russian military buildup expected to be one of the topics of discussion, according to a White House spokesperson. Zelensky and Biden previously spoke 9 December, with the Ukrainian leader asking his US benefactor for additional military assistance, and urging Washington to preemptively sanction Russia over its alleged ambitions to invade Ukraine.Russian officials have dismissed the invasion claims at length, accusing the US and its European allies of spreading fake news as a pretext for new sanctions against Russia, and as a possible means for Kiev and its allies to distract their citizens from mounting internal problems. Moscow has also expressed its own concerns about a possible attempt by Kiev to try to resolve the frozen civil conflict in eastern Ukraine by force.Russia vocally opposes the countrys possible integration into NATO, with Russian President Vladimir Putin warning recently that the Western alliances attempts to pin Russia into a corner militarily l Moscow to set up its so-called red lines on the blocs continued expansion.On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused NATO of systematically transforming Ukraine into a military foothold against Russia, and warned that Russia would take all the necessary measures to protect the hundreds of thousands of civilians with Russian passports living in the Donbass.

https://sputniknews.com/20211230/estonia-plans-to-supply-ukraine-with-javelin-anti-tank-missiles-howitzers-1091924173.html

https://sputniknews.com/20211230/putin-biden-call-came-to-end-kremlin-spokesman-confirms-1091924744.html

https://sputniknews.com/20211231/nato-is-transforming-ukraine-into-military-foothold-against-russia-lavrov-tells-sputnik-1091937563.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20220102/ukrainians-poke-fun-at-defence-minister-spotted-wearing-armoured-bra-1091983313.html

Ukrainians Poke Fun at Defence Minister Spotted Wearing Armoured Bra

Ukrainians Poke Fun at Defence Minister Spotted Wearing Armoured Bra

The ministers strange outfit was spotted in a group photo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other defence officials. 02.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-02T18:30+0000

2022-01-02T18:30+0000

2022-01-02T19:01+0000

ukraine

photo

social media

volodymyr zelensky

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Ukrainian Facebook users have enjoyed a laugh at Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikovs expense over an ill-fitting suit which made it appear as though he has breasts.Reznikov and President Zelensky took a group photo on Saturday after the president appointed General Yuri Galushkin as commander of the armys territorial defence forces. An official statement on the appointment listed Galushkins many accomplishments, and pointed to Ukraines advances in the creation of an effective territorial fighting force.However, all that Facebook users seemed able to focus on was Reznikovs outfit.Who gave Reznikov this suit? This is an imperative question of defence! War is on our doorstep, and here he is wearing such a suit! one user complained.Would it be possible at all for the defence minister to put on a normal suit before taking the photo? Because I am embarrassed, another wrote.Others tried to focus on more substantive issues, such as the alleged overstaffing of Ukraines military command. All this endless growth of the staff of officials in the ministries and state structures comes at the expense of the peoples money. In the apparatus of the Ministry of Defence alone there are over 37,000 personnel; theres no end in sight and everyone is enjoying their cozy positions, one person grumbled.Reznikov assumed office as Ukraines defence minister in November, previously serving as deputy prime minister, and minister for reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories  a position created in 2016, ostensibly to brainstorm ways to try to restore Ukraines control over Crimea and the militia-controlled areas of Donetsk and Lugansk.Reznikov got into a spat with German officials last month after accusing Berlin of vetoing a NATO delivery of anti-drone rifles and anti-sniper systems.The laughter over Reznikovs armoured bra comes as a much-needed break from rising regional tensions amid months of claims by Kiev and its western allies that Russia has concentrated tens of thousands of troops on the border in preparation to invade Ukraine. Moscow has grown weary of denying these claims, accusing the West of artificially pumping up tensions as a pretext for new sanctions, and a distraction from internal problems.

https://sputniknews.com/20220102/ukraines-own-national-security-and-defence-council-debunks-claims-of-russian-troop-buildup-1091977865.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20220102/uproar-after-dozens-of-indian-muslim-women-auctioned-on-the-bulli-bai-app-1091971813.html

Uproar After Dozens of Indian Muslim Women 'Auctioned' on the 'Bulli Bai' App

Uproar After Dozens of Indian Muslim Women 'Auctioned' on the 'Bulli Bai' App

Photos of more than a hundred Indian Muslim women went viral on a social media platform, GitHub, a software-sharing platform, where they were sourced without... 02.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-02T06:43+0000

2022-01-02T06:43+0000

2022-01-02T06:43+0000

muslim

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india

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india

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India's federal Information Technology (IT) Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw tweeted on Saturday evening that the GitHub user behind the 'Bulli Bai' app, where Muslim women were being "auctioned" online, had been blocked and "further action" was being taken.On Saturday, a number of Indian Muslim women took to Twitter highlighting how their photos were being used on the 'Bulli Bai' app. The app was allegedly found auctioning photos of multiple Muslim women.After the news broke and started spreading quickly, a member of parliament from the Shiv Sena Party, Priyanka Chaturvedi, raised concern with the Mumbai police regarding the matter and demanded that the culprits be arrested as soon as possible.Ismat Ara, a journalist with the online platform The Wire, who is among one of the women named in the app, also filed a complaint with the Cyber Cell of the Delhi Police.This comes months after photographs of hundreds of Muslim women were uploaded to a similar app Sulli deals, where they were auctioned "for sale". "Sulli" is derogatory slang used by some Hindus to describe Muslim women.The app was first noticed by women who found their profiles - posted without their consent - promoted on social media, describing them as "deals of the day". Although police complaints have been filed, no arrests have been made in the case so far. The app was taken down following outrage on social media.

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muslim, muslim, india, anti-muslim, india
https://sputniknews.com/20220102/us-being-forced-to-leave-middle-east-in-disgrace-as-payback-for-soleimanis-death-irgc-says-1091983635.html

US Being Forced to Leave Middle East in Disgrace as Payback for Soleimanis Death, IRGC Says

US Being Forced to Leave Middle East in Disgrace as Payback for Soleimanis Death, IRGC Says

Monday will mark the second anniversary of the US drone strike assassination of Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian anti-terror commander who assisted the Iraqi and... 02.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-02T18:56+0000

2022-01-02T18:56+0000

2022-01-02T19:20+0000

middle east

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America being forced to leave the Middle East humiliated is one of the forms of restitution Iran will get for the January 2020 murder of Qasem Soleimani, Revolutionary Guard spokesman Ramezan Sharif has said.Just as the Americans left Afghanistan in humiliation, so too will they have to leave other countries of the region as well. This will be the first punishment that they have to suffer, the spokesman said, referring to the unexpected August 2021 collapse of Western-backed government in Afghanistan, two weeks before the US and its NATO allies were set to complete their withdrawal from the country after nearly 20 years of war and occupation.Sharif praised Soleimani as a visionary who confidently fought terrorists in Syria and Iraq despite initially being outmanned and outgunned.Commenting on Americas waning power in the Middle East, Sharif warned the countries of the Persian Gulf against depending on Washington for support.At a separate ceremony in Tehran on Sunday, Esmail Qaani, Soleimanis successor as commander of the elite Revolutionary Guard Quds Force, praised his predecessor as a professional who established a very good link between the battlefield and diplomacy and was one of the trailblazers and advocates of this logic.During the two decades or so that he commanded the Quds Force, Soleimani worked extensively with the Iraqi and Syrian militiaries, with Kurdish militias, and even with the US (indirectly) in the fight against Daeshs self-proclaimed caliphate. Before that, he fought al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Syria and Afghanistan.Soleimani was killed in US drone strike on 3 January 2020 while on a diplomatic mission in Baghdad aimed at improving Irans icy relationship with Saudi Arabia. His assassination brought Tehran and Washington to the brink of war, and the Islamic Republic has repeatedly vowed to avenge the commanders death.* A terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries.** The Taliban is an organization under United Nations sanctions for terrorist activities.

https://sputniknews.com/20211227/iran-says-soleimani-killing-true-example-of-state-terrorism-as-assassination-anniversary-nears-1091844771.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20220102/us-would-face-big-surprise-if-it-tried-f-35-raid-against-russia-in-black-sea-chinese-media-says-1091980549.html

US Would Get Big Surprise If It Tried F-35 Raid Against Russia in Black Sea, Chinese Media Says

US Would Get Big Surprise If It Tried F-35 Raid Against Russia in Black Sea, Chinese Media Says

Last week, the Russian military reported that the number of NATO reconnaissance flights in the Black Sea in 2021 was 60 percent higher than in 2020, with the... 02.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-02T13:45+0000

2022-01-02T13:45+0000

2022-01-02T14:55+0000

s-300

russia

us

f-35

air defense

nato

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The Pentagon would be in for a rude awakening if it attempted to launch a precision strike against Russia in the Black Sea region using its stealthy F-35 fighter jets, Chinas Sohu web portal has warned.It is believed that in the near future, as the situation in Eastern Europe continues to heat up, NATOs opportunities to deploy F-35s in warfare in the Black Sea airspace will appear more frequently, Sohu notes. However, some analysts have pointed out that Russias 'talent' in response to the F-35s is already waiting  As soon as the American F-35s violate Russian airspace, they will be mercilessly shot down using these systems, the outlet warns.Russia, Sohu says, has built an extensive, air defence network in the Black Sea region to challenge US and NATO operational plans to strike at strategically important Russian cities in the area, with upgraded S-300s, S-400s and soon even the new S-500s expected to be stationed in the region to cool any hotheads at the Pentagon.Last month, National Interest defence observer and former DoD employee Kris Osborn suggested that in the event of a Russia-NATO conflict over Ukraine, the US could conduct Tomahawk cruise missile strikes from vessels operating in the Black Sea to bring enormous destruction to Russian forces along the Ukrainian border. Osborn also believes that the massed deployment of F-35As, carrier-launched F-35Cs and amphibious assault craft-launched F-35Bs could play a decisive factor in any Ukraine land war.Russia's Mobile Air Defence ArsenalRussia has at least 71 battalions of S-400s at its disposal, with launchers and other components divided into 34 regiments, for a total of about 560 launchers. The country also has 125 battalions of the older S-300, totaling over 1,500 launchers, with these systems receiving a variety of upgrades.Last October, Russian media reported on Defence Ministry plans to convert some S-300 and S-400 systems simultaneously to carry a variety of missiles to provide for both long-range strike capability and highly accurate short-range defence for use depending on the tactical situation  allowing even a single battalion of S-300s or S-400s to serve as an graduated system of air defence.The modernisation is expected to affect versions of the S-300 made starting in the late 1980s, with S-300PM-series systems to be fitted with smaller, shorter-range anti-air missiles to complement the 48N6 and 40N6 projectiles designed to take down targets at ranges between 150 and 380 km. Under the plan, one or more of each systems launch tubes will be replaced with four smaller 9M96 and 9M96M missiles, which have a range of between 30 and 120 km.Regional TensionsThe Black Sea region has become a major arena of tensions between Russia and NATO amid continued claims by the US and its allies that Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine, with the bloc simultaneously increasing its reconnaissance, drilling activity and bomber training in the area in response. Russian officials have dismissed the allegations of any invasion plans, but have also expressed growing concerns about the Western blocs creeping eastward expansion  recently epitomized by the effort to swallow up Ukraine.Moscow has warned that the Mk-41 launchers deployed by the US in Romania and Poland could easily be converted to launch conventional or nuclear strikes deep into Russian territory, and last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that if offensive missiles were placed in Ukraine, the flight time toward targets inside Russia would be reduced even further.I have already said  theyll put missile systems in Ukraine, 4-5 minutes flight time to Moscow. Where can we move back to? They have simply driven us to such a state that we have to tell them: stop, Putin said, speaking about Russias red lines on NATO expansion.The Russian foreign ministry outlined a set of twin security proposals to the US and NATO in mid-December, calling for legally binding guarantees by the two sides not to deploy troops and missiles in areas where they may be perceived as a threat to the other side, and asking the western alliance to rule out Ukraines incorporation into the bloc. Russia and the US will hold security talks in Geneva on 10 January to discuss the proposals and the situation in Ukraine.

https://sputniknews.com/20210804/chinese-media-impressed-by-russias-s-500-says-worth-studying-possible-purchase-for-pla-1083528351.html

https://sputniknews.com/20201011/s-300s-s-400s-to-be-modified-to-use-various-types-of-missiles-simultaneously-report-says-1080741311.html

https://sputniknews.com/20211227/nato-preparing-for-large-scale-armed-conflict-with-russia-russian-defence-ministry-says-1091840807.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20220102/violence-against-government-sometimes-justified-one-in-three-americans-say-in-new-poll-1091975865.html

Violence Against Government 'Sometimes Justified', One in Three Americans Say in New Poll

Violence Against Government 'Sometimes Justified', One in Three Americans Say in New Poll

One in three Americans think violent action against the government could sometimes be justified, a new poll conducted by the Washington Post and the University of Maryland shows.

2022-01-02T11:30+0000

2022-01-02T11:30+0000

2022-01-02T11:32+0000

us

violence

poll

us capitol

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One in three Americans think violent action against the government could sometimes be justified, a new poll conducted by the Washington Post and the University of Maryland shows. Forty percent of Republicans approved of violent actions against the government, compared to 23 percent of Democrats and 41 percent of independents, the poll found. In general, the percentage of people who said violence against the government was sometimes justified has increased over the past few years. Sixty-two percent of respondents believe violence is never justified, while four percent either had no opinion on that or said they did not think violence was justified. The poll was conducted on 17-19 December and included 1,101 adults. It came just weeks before the US was nearing the one year anniversary of the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, when a mob of pro-Trump activists came to the Capitol to disrupt a Congressional session assembled to formally announce Democrat Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election. Some of the rioters clashed with police and vandalised property. The incident claimed several lives and left dozens more injured. Four police officers who responded to the attack committed suicide within months after the event. Hundreds of protesters who took part in the attack have been detained and charged for their actions.

https://sputniknews.com/20211217/florida-man-sentenced-to-over-5-years-for-assault-during-us-capitol-breach-1091616065.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20220102/watch-iraqi-protesters-trample-burn-us-and-israeli-flags-ahead-of-anniversary-of-soleimanis-death-1091976588.html

Watch Iraqi Protesters Trample, Burn US and Israeli Flags Ahead of Anniversary of Soleimanis Death

Watch Iraqi Protesters Trample, Burn US and Israeli Flags Ahead of Anniversary of Soleimanis Death

The first several days of the New Year mark two important milestones in Iraq: the passing of the 31 December deadline for the end of the US combat mission in... 02.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-02T11:00+0000

2022-01-02T11:00+0000

2022-01-02T11:06+0000

iraq

protest

us troop withdrawal

qasem soleimani

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Several thousand demonstrators rallied in the Iraqi capital on Saturday, chanting anti-American slogans, trampling and burning US and Israeli flags, and demanding an end to the US military presence in the country.The rally was organised by Iraqs powerful Shiite political factions, which established the PMF  a 124,000 militiamen-strong fighting force, in 2014 to fight Daesh (ISIS).* The PMF received training and organisational support from Soleimani and Irans Revolutionary Guard during the war against the terrorists. Following the self-proclaimed caliphates defeat, the PMF began agitating for the withdrawal of US forces from the country.Some Iraqi Shiite parties gave the United States until 31 December 2021 to pull out its remaining troops, and warned that US forces would be considered occupiers and resisted militarily if they stayed on after that. The United States formally ended its combat mission in Iraq in early December, with the estimated 2,500 troops left in the country reassigned to training, support and other non-combat roles. The PMFs 10,000 militiamen strong al-Nujaba militia warned last year that it would not accept any rebranded US role, and demanded that all US personnel, including its criminal Air Force, left.In the early hours of Saturday, a Shiite militia posted a video on social media showing an alleged RPG roadside attack on a US Army logistics convoy in Dhi Qar governorate in southern Iraq. The Pentagon has not commented on the suspected incident. Soleimani and al-Muhandis were killed in a drone strike on 3 January 2020, with US officials claiming that the Iranian commander and his Iraqi militia allies were involved in a deadly December 2019 attack on a base containing US troops and mercenaries in Kirkuk, Iraq. Iraqi intelligence later concluded that the Kirkuk attack was likely carried out by Daesh. The Trump administration eventually downgraded its claims about the danger posed by Soleimani, first claiming that he was an imminent threat to the US and its allies, but later admitting that there was no specific intelligence pointing to any Soleimani plots against America. Later, Trump told a group donors that Soleimani was saying bad things about the US and was a noted terrorist.During his time as chief of Irans Quds Force, Soleimani repeatedly accused the US of colluding with Daesh, once asking his deputy to slap the West in the face with proof of US cooperation with the terrorist group in Iraq.Iran responded to the Quds Force commanders killing by firing over a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases containing US troops on 8 January 2020 in an mission dubbed Operation Martyr Soleimani. The strikes left 110 US military personnel with traumatic brain injuries, and Washington threatened to retaliate with strikes inside Iran, before scrapping the plans.Iraqs parliament reacted by issuing a resolution demanding the withdrawal of US forces from the country, and the transfer of military bases back to the Iraqi side. The Trump administration initially balked at these demands, claiming Iraq would have to pay America billions of dollars to get its bases back. The United States nonetheless began scaling down its troop numbers in March of 2020, from a high of 5,200 to 2,500 by the time Trump left office, and transferred multiple bases to the Iraqi security forces.Tehran has vowed to prosecute those responsible for Soleimanis killing, including Trump and other members of his administration. Judges in Iran and Iraq have issued arrest warrants against the former president, but Interpol has refused to touch the case, citing its political nature. On Friday, Tehran stated that responsibility for Soleimanis death now lies on the Biden administrations shoulders, and that the president is responsible for the terrorist attack that was orchestrated and carried out in an organised manner by his predecessor.Last year, Iranian authorities alleged that Israel directed the killing of Soleimani. In December, Tamir Hayman, the former chief of Israels military intelligence directorate, made the unprecedented admission that Israel was indeed involved in the attack, hailing it as an achievement against the Iranian main enemy.* A terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries.

https://sputniknews.com/20180304/soleimani-documents-reportedly-prooving-us-daesh-collusion-1062208032.html

https://sputniknews.com/20211222/idfs-former-intel-chief-hayman-admits-israel-was-involved-in-soleimanis-assassination-1091705234.html

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The now four-year-old Control The Moment stallion Century Hannibal emerged through the squall well in front of his competition to win the $33,600 final for the Valedictory Pacing Series, completing a sweep of the stake on Saturday (Jan. 1).

Sent the 2-5 choice, Century Hannibal settled into fourth while Chantee charged to the front into a :26.2 opening quarter. He snagged a breather in the backside to a :55.3 half as few were willing to brave a trip off the pylons and through the snow. But with the tempo still tepid to three-quarters in 1:25.4, driver James MacDonald attacked with Century Hannibal, rushing the James Ritchie pupil out of fourth to take over the lead around the final turn and open five lengths on his competition off the corner. Great Somewhere kicked off cover through the stretch to narrow on the leaders margin, but settled for second in the 1:53.4 mile by 3-3/4 lengths. VP Rockin finished third and Kount Blaster took fourth.

Owned by Paul Ritchie, Century Hannibal won his eighth race from 22 starts, earning $100,864. He paid $2.70 to win.

Saratoga Blue Chip opened the card and a four-win night for trainer Carmen Auciello with an easy win in the opening $20,000 leg of the New Year Claiming Series.

Leaving from post 1, Saratoga Blue Chip floated away fourth to a :27.3 first quarter before rushing to the lead into the backstretch and leading the field by the half in :57.1. The four-year-old Hes Watching gelding then parried a first-over challenge from Montysgonemarble by three-quarters in 1:26.1 and coasted home a 2-1/4-length winner over pocket-sitter Little Willy. All Cheddar, the 8-5 favourite, closed for third and Sir A took fourth.

Owned by Daniel Sarafian, Saratoga Blue Chip scored his fourth win from 34 starts, earning $67,067. Jonathan Drury drove the $8.80 winner for Auciello, who won three of the first four races with victories by Goldinthebadlands ($8.50) and Rays Kredit ($7.50) before completing his grand slam towards the tail of the card with a win by Uhtred ($9.40).

Commanding Officer started the New Year with a bang to win in a $24,000 overnight event, grabbing his fifth-consecutive win in the process. The Ben Baillargeon trainee rallied from second over to deliver as the 1-2 choice in a 1:51.3 mile over his stablemate Undrthsouthrnsun N. Richard Berthiaume owns the four-year-old Captaintreacherous stallion who paid $3.10 to win.

Woodbine Mohawk Park also honoured its 2021 leaders during the first card of 2022. A presentation was held to recognize the meet's leading driver, James MacDonald; the meet's leading owner, Millar Farms; and the meet's leading trainer, Richard Moreau.

To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
The $20,000 Alan Horowitz Memorial for pacers is the main event Sunday evening (Jan. 2) at Cal Expo and it comes up extremely contentious, with last weeks second leg winners Hay Hay Alright and Western Devil among the major players.

Watch and Wager LLC will present nine races and first post is 4:55 p.m. The main event will go as the seventh event on the evening.

Hay Hay Alright comes into the Horowitz having posed for pictures following two of his last three outings for his owner/trainer/driver Ryan Grundy. Overall, the seven-year-old son of Vertical Horizon will be looking for his 22nd victory from 104 lifetime trips to the post.

Sent off at 7-2 last week while leaving from the outside post in one of two leg two divisions, Hay Hay Alright sat back early for Grundy as is his custom. He exploded when tipped very wide off the final bend and swept past the leaders for a length and a quarter score with the 1:55.1 clocking being just a tick off his career standard.

Western Devil also got the job done while leaving from the outside slot in his division, returning $55 with driver/trainer Nick Roland guiding the Cathy Dessert colour-bearer to a neck decision over even-money favourite Gear Upn Go Moe. Rene Goulet will now handle the lines and they will do their work from the No. 5 slot for the final.

Gear Upn Go Moe was an impressive winner in the first leg and was coming on nicely at the end last week to just miss. The 11-year-old goes about his business for John Schwartz and Kyle Husted, takes his lessons from Quentin Schneider and Husted will guide from the No. 2 post position. He is the 3-1 morning line favourite.

Completing the cast are Frisky Pedro, Northbrook Ron, Fox Valley Hoss, Dancin Lance, Paddy Murphy, Villa For Rent and Machet Time.

Sundays Alan Horowitz Memorial is coming up pretty tough, but Luke Plano has plenty of confidence in his protege Frisky Pedro, who leaves from the cozy inside post.

Frisky Pedro is a six-year-old Iowa-bred who went coast-to-coast in the slop in his division of the opening leg of the Horowitz, then suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune in last weeks second leg while doing his work from an outside post.

The horse caught my eye at Hoosier in September, said Plano, who claimed him for $8,000 for Nikki Hudson and Dave and Kimberly Haness.

Hed won a couple of cheaper races pretty nicely and I was looking for a horse to claim for this series. Being an Iowa-bred was the icing on the cake, because it made him eligible for the diamond alliance.

Frisky Pedro was in pretty steep in his first few California appearances, but it was all systems go in the first leg of the Horowitz as he flew away from there and was never threatened over the off going.

Last time he drew outside and there was a lot of speed in there, so I took back, Plano explained. I flushed out the horse I wanted to follow, but he wasnt too good on the last turn and I had to come three-wide earlier than I wanted.

With the inside draw for the final, Plano obviously has more options this time around.

Well just leave out of there and see how it plays. Its a tough field, but I know he has the ability.

Cal Expo will add a $25,000-guaranteed Hi Five pool on race nine after last night's wager went unsolved. There is a 7,000+ carryover to start on the 20-cent wager.

There is also a $3,107 carryover in the 20-cent Pick 6, which covers races four through nine on Sundays program.

In addition, each night Cal Expo offers three wagers with a reduced 16 per cent takeout rate  the 20-cent early and late Pick 5 and the 20-cent Pick 4  with the latter featuring a $25,000 guaranteed gross pool.

Cal Expo past performances are available on the Trackmaster website.

(With files from Cal Expo)
An Army colonel who found relief from post-traumatic stress disorder through an old woodworking craft hopes the same thing that helped him might help others.

Roger Lintz says his eventual freedom from PTSD came through working with his hands as a timber framer.

For me, theres something peaceful about using a chisel on a piece of wood, Lintz said, who was medically discharged from the Army in 2014 after 31 years of service. It takes time, patience, and when youre done, youve got something really beautiful that will outlast you and many generations after you.

After 2 years of timber framing on his own, Lintz recently opened Old School Timber Framing of Virginia at his Stafford County home, where he holds free Saturday workshops to teach the trade to others. Hes already attracted disabled veterans, first responders, law enforcement officers and others seeking something new.

Retired Army Sgt. Steve Hotz, president of Staffords Black Horse Forge at 29 Utah Place, said disabled veterans like Lintz are giving area veterans another old school trade option where they can find peace and friendship with others in similar situations.

If we have a million outlets for these guys to get help, then thats great, said Hotz, who has taught blacksmithing to 11,287 veterans and first responders at his forge over the last three years.

When a guy gets involved and hes in a dark place and he builds something, theres something that he has pride in, it gives him a purpose again, Hotz said.

Lintz said he suffered in silence with PTSD for many years after breaking his back after a jump from a helicopter in Iraq in 2010. Following that, he underwent multiple surgeries that eventually led him to years of bedridden depression until he finally discovered simple hand tools as his ticket to freedom.

Once I started doing it, I loved it, Lintz said. Its been my passion ever since, and it really did help me.

After the jump mishap 11 years ago, he said doctors crushed his spinal-cord roots during surgery and he went into acute respiratory failure and full cardiac arrest.

I shouldnt be here, but they were able to revive me, Lintz said. Im a walking miracle.

Seven surgeries and multiple spinal fusions later, the Purple Heart recipient still has a spinalcord stimulator and an intrathecal morphine pump implanted on his body to manage the pain. But on Monday, Lintz was up early in the morning, mixing and pouring concrete at his southern Stafford home.

Every days a struggle, but every days a victory, Lintz said.

Lintz lives at home with his wife and his now-retired, 12-year-old service dog. His children are grown and live out of state. Several Saturdays ago, he opened his small mill to the public to teach timber framing with the help of veteran timber framers Emil Ulfers of Fredericksburg and Keawe OConnor of Prince William County.

Im doing it for free, theres no charge, said Lintz. Anyone who wants to learn how to do timber framing is welcome.

Bobby, a Stafford resident and a federal agent who prefers not to have his full name published due to the nature of his work, attended a timber framing workshop recently and said students wasted no time jumping in to build sawhorses, two of which he was surprised to see were in use at the mill, supporting a single 2,000 pound tree.

You could see right away how strong they were built, said Bobby. It just gave me a lot of ideas.

Bobby found Lintz outdoor workshop informative and refreshing and said the knowledge he expects to gain learning the craft will bring lifelong gratification into the next home he builds.

Especially with this timber framing, how pretty it comes out afterwards, said Bobby. I think it would be very therapeutic for sure.

Navy veteran Mikkayla Bias of Stafford has a lifelong desire to build her own home someday, too. She came to the mill with a passion for building things made from wood. Now getting ready to attend her third workshop, she said shes glad she found Lintz through social media.

It can teach the person self-worth, essentially, and youre also learning patience and youre learning you can accomplish things, said Bias.

Lintz said workshop students use wood from donated trees Lintz picks up and hauls directly to his mill. During the workshop, Lintz not only teaches students details about types of wood, but he also emphasizes how it is possible, through patience and care, to create something beautiful out of something thats originally rough around the edges.

Laura Emberson, a Navy veteran and government worker who lives in Fredericksburg, said when she first came across Lintz offer for a free workshop, she couldnt believe it. She emailed Lintz who replied with a message explaining who he was and why he was trying to help others through the craft that helped him get his own life back.

He has a beautiful way of connecting the whole life cycle of trees and creating something permanent for people who are less fortunate or disabled, said Emberson. Its not very common to be giving that experience for free and to have no expectations on you.

Lintz said he advertises his free Saturday workshops on Old School Timber Framings social media page and said although a preferred class size is about eight people, hell never turn anyone away who wants to learn the trade. Lintz divides students into teams who eventually learn how to create mortise and tenon joints locked together with wooden pegs.

I teach them how to lay out a beam with a centerline technique, said Lintz. We create a grid all around the timber so we can be extremely accurate.

Lintz became involved helping veterans and first responders by providing timber to a mill that was once affiliated with Staffords veteran-owned Black Horse Forge.

I wanted to do something with [the trees] and get the veterans with PTSD involvedgroup therapy, woodworking would be great, said Lintz. But it never happened.

Many Black Horse Forge regulars now turn to Lintz to learn to make custom handles for the axes, blades and tools they craft at the forge.

His forge work and my timber framing work dovetail very nicely, said Lintz.

As his pool of timber framing students continues to grow, Lintz said hed eventually like to form a dedicated team to build a shed for a veteran or first responder who needs an additional structure on their property. Lintz said that over time, the same team of volunteers will help other veterans in the area with custom building projects.

I hope to be around long enough to support those types of projects, Bias said.

Lintz said he also hopes to join forces with Black Horse Forge to build a 36-foot-long wooden footbridge on the Wilderness battlefield in Spotsylvania County.

The project, already approved by the National Park Service, will allow Hotz and members of his forge to provide antiqued nails, steel plates and hardware for the structure, while the Lintz handles the timber work for the four-foot-wide bridge. Lintz said all of the work will be done at no cost and sees the upcoming project as a new opportunity to allow access to a Civil War site.

The project means more than I could really express, said Lintz. Im helping generations of family members whose loved ones fought and died there to pay their respects to that hallowed ground.
SCOTTSBLUFF  The 2022 private pesticide applicator training dates, times, and locations have been set, with sessions beginning in early January and continuing through early April at sites throughout the Nebraska Panhandle and Sandhills.

Notification letters will be sent out by the Nebraska Department of Agriculture to applicators whose license will expire in 2022. The cost of the training is $50, payable the day of the training.

Private pesticide licenses also can be obtained by completing an online course. Pesticide applicators can purchase access to the online course after Jan. 1 via a link that will be posted at https://pested.unl.edu. Cost of the course is $50. Call 402-472-1632 with any questions about this training.

There will be changes in the process year, both for first-time license applicants and those applying for recertification.

First, applicators new licenses will be tan in color and have the words General Agriculture and the code 00 printed on them.

Second, applicators who use soil fumigants must pass the commercial Soil Fumigation (category 01A) exam to receive this certification.

Also, applicators who use non-soil, structural, or rodent burrow fumigants will be required to pass the commercial Non-Soil / Structural Fumigation (category 11) exam to receive this certification. These additional categories are not required for applicators who use rodent burrow baits or smoke cartridges. Training manuals are available for purchase on the https://pested.unl.edu/ website or call 402-472-1632 for more information. Applicators who want to add these categories to their license are encouraged to purchase the study manuals as soon as possible and review the literature prior to taking the exam(s).

Third, applicators attending any training session will need to provide proof of identification at the training site, such as a drivers license.

Fourth, physical copies of the extension publication EC130, The Guide for Weed, Disease, and Insect Management in Nebraska, will no longer be provided at the trainings. However, every trainee will be provided with access to a digital copy of EC130. Copies of the 2022 guide may be ordered at https://marketplace.unl.edu/pested/commercial-noncommercial-study-materials.

Locations and dates for 2022 private pesticide training sessions:

- Mullen, Jan. 4: 1 p.m., Hooker County Courthouse (call 308-645-2267).

- Thedford, Jan. 5: 1 p.m., Thomas County Courthouse (call 308-645-2267).

- Hyannis, Jan. 11: 1 p.m., Grant County Courthouse (call 308-645-2267).

- Sidney, Jan. 20: 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., Cheyenne County Community Center (call 308-254-4455)

- Brewster, Jan. 25: 1 p.m., Blaine County Courthouse (call 308-645-2267).

- Chappell, Jan. 25: 1 p.m., Lions Den (call 308-874-2705).

- Scottsbluff, Jan. 27: 1 p.m., Panhandle Research & Extension (call 308-632-1480) (test only from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. for categories 01A and 11 Fumigation)

- Alliance, Feb. 1: 1 p.m., Knight Museum (call 308-762-5616)

- Kimball, Feb. 3: 1 p.m., 4-H Building (call 308-235-3122)

- Chadron, Feb. 8: 1 p.m., Dawes County 4-H Building, Fairgrounds (call 308-432-3373)

- Harrisburg, Feb. 9: 1 p.m., Banner County Courthouse (call 308-235-3122)

- Bridgeport, Feb. 10: 1 p.m., Prairie Winds Community Center (call 308-262-1022)

- Mirage Flats, Feb. 15: 1 p.m., St. Peters Lutheran Church Community Center (call 308-327-2312)

- Scottsbluff, Feb. 22: 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Panhandle Research and Extension Center, private applicator test only, Categories 01A and 11 Fumigation (call 308-632-1480)

- Scottsbluff, Feb. 24: 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Panhandle Research and Extension Center, private applicator test only, Categories 01A and 11 Fumigation (call 308-632-1480)

- Crawford, March 1: 1 p.m., Community Center (call 308-432-3373)

- Oshkosh, March 3: 1 p.m., Wesleyan Church (call 308-772-3311)

- Alliance, March 16: 1 p.m., Knight Museum (call 308-762-5616)

- Scottsbluff, March 24: 1 p.m., Panhandle Research & Extension Center (call 308-632-1480)

- Rushville, March 29: 1 p.m., Sheridan County Extension Office (call 308-327-2312)

- Scottsbluff, April 5: 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Panhandle Research and Extension Center, private applicator test only, Categories 01A and 11 Fumigation (call 308-632-1480)

- Harrison, April 7: 1 p.m., Fire Hall (call 308-668-2428 or 308-432-3373)

CONTACT: Gary Stone, Extension Educator, 308-632-1480, gstone2@unl.edu, or Dave Ostdiek, communication specialist, 308-631-1859 (cell), dostdiek4@unl.edu
CHEYENNE  The Wyoming Bean Commission (WBC) is scheduled to meet for a meeting via video and teleconference on Tuesday, Jan 4, 2022.

The meeting will begin at 8:00 p.m. via Zoom. During the meeting, the WBC will approve minutes from the previous meeting, hear a budget update, discuss assessment rate changes, discuss WBC logo/branding, hear an update on Chapter 1 Bean Commission rules, and discuss Seed Bean insurance in Wyoming. Along with this, the WBC will discuss the USDBC Winter Board Meeting, the RMBDA Annual Meeting, BeanCon22, and cover any other business as necessary. There will be an opportunity for public comment at the end of the meeting.

The members of the Wyoming Bean Commission are Beau Fulton (grower) of Park County, Jeffery Chapman (handler), Jerrod Lind (grower) of Platte County, Pascual Aguilar (grower) of Big Horn County, Wayne Hort (grower) of Goshen County, Cortney Allen (handler), and Dale Heggem (ex-officio member from the Wyoming Department of Agriculture).

The Bean Commission is comprised of six members initially appointed by the Governor. Four members are growers, and two members are handlers with facilities located in Wyoming. One member must reside in Laramie, Platte or Goshen County, Wyoming. The Bean Commission is funded through assessments collected on dry bean sales and is housed within the Wyoming Department of Agriculture. The commission will meet no less than two times each year and will keep a permanent record of its proceedings and report its activities to the Governor and Joint Agriculture, State and Public Lands, and Water Resources interim committee. Along with this, the commission may conduct or contract scientific research, disseminate information on dry edible beans based on research, study state and federal legislation with respect to matters concerning the dry edible bean industry, appoint advisory groups, make grants to research agencies for financing special or emergency studies, and a variety of other activates.

For an agenda and more information on the Wyoming Bean Council, visit http://agriculture.wy.gov/divisions/ts/wyoming-bean-commission or contact the Wyoming Department of Agriculture at 307-777-7321.
 Flash

The New Year speech of Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday has shown China's responsibility as a major country to advance global peace and development, and its resolution and action to promote building a community with a shared future for mankind, overseas experts and officials have said.

Meanwhile, they said they wish China success in hosting the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

Phay Siphan, chief spokesman for the Cambodian government, said Xi's speech has reflected China's commitment to building a modern socialist country.

"President Xi's speech inspires people around the world to love peace, to jointly protect peace, and to work together for common development and prosperity towards building a community with a shared future for mankind," he told Xinhua.

Ivona Ladjevac, deputy director of Serbia's Institute of International Politics and Economics, said the event of 2021, "without any doubt, was the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC)."

Led by the CPC, China is pursuing the Chinese dream, Ladjevac noted, adding "there is no reason to doubt that China will make the year 2022 at least as successful as the previous 2021."

"China has broadened the scientific reach of humanity by placing a space station into orbit," said Cavince Adhere, a Kenya-based international relations scholar.

Adhere said he believes in the year of 2022, "China will, in many ways, shape the course of humanity towards a more stable, peaceful and prosperous world."

Charles Onunaiju, director of the Abuja-based Center for China Studies, hailed China's important contributions to the world through its eye-catching performance in epidemic control and economic growth.

China has shouldered its responsibility as a major country, as it has offered COVID-19 vaccines and other medical assistance to developing countries, including those in Africa, Onunaiju said.

French writer and sinologist Lea Bessis said she quite agrees with Xi's remarks that "only through unity, solidarity and cooperation can countries around the world write a new chapter in building a community with a shared future for mankind."

The remarks have shown China's firm resolution to promoting global peace and development, she said.

Bessis added that China's efforts for development aim at improving the well-being of the people.

Pui Jeng Leong, a media veteran in Brunei, said China has declared a comprehensive victory in the battle against poverty, completing the arduous task of eliminating absolute poverty, which is not only a Chinese miracle but also a major contribution to the world's poverty reduction project and global development.

He said he appreciates Xi's remarks about China's contribution to the global anti-pandemic cooperation, adding the friendship and mutual support between Brunei and China in the joint fight against the pandemic have become an example of mutual assistance.
On Dec. 31, people from cultures all around the world will be raising a toast to welcome in A.D. 2022. Few of them will think about the fact that A.D. signals anno Domini, Latin for in the year of our Lord. In A.D. temporality  the one acknowledged by most societies today  next year marks 2023 years since the purported birth of Jesus Christ.

So why are we all toasting this new year, given that most of the worlds nearly 8 billion people arent Christians?

My fascination with time was nurtured by the millennium and the hype that surrounded its approach, as the globe anticipated traversing from 11:59 p.m., Dec. 31, 1999 to 12:00 a.m., Jan. 1, 2000.

Convinced that there was some truth to fears about technological disruptions caused by the Y2K bug, I stayed away from the ball drop in Times Square. Instead, I watched the celebration on my laptop and enjoyed trailing journalists reports abroad. I began to wonder: How did it come to be that people all over the Earth subscribed to  and were aware of  the temporal system followed by the Christian West? After all, cultures have historically experienced and documented time in a variety of ways.

These questions about time blossomed into a research project and book. Part of the phenomenon was caused by global capitalism, but I soon learned that another aspect involved the globalization of anno Domini. The A.D. system, often called C.E. or Common Era time today, was introduced in Europe during the Middle Ages. It joined the worlds other temporal systems like the Coptic, Seleucid, Egyptian, Jewish and the Zodiac calendars, along with calculations based on the years of rulers reigns and the founding of Rome.

Latin Christendom slowly but confidently came to dominate Europe, and its year dating system then came to dominate the world, so that most countries now take A.D. for granted, at least when it comes to globalized business and government. A.D.s ubiquity has almost silenced other ways of thinking about time. This began during the medieval era, under the influence of educated Christian monks  what historian Bernard Guenee describes as anno Dominis conquest of time.

My recent work as a medieval studies professor focuses on the demonization of Jewish communities in Europe at a time when the A.D. system was gaining prominence and marginalizing the Jewish calendar.

Counting backwards

Part of the story of anno Domini time takes us back to the fourth and fifth century, when Christian scholars like Eusebius of Caesarea and John Chrysostom were trying to calculate what they considered was the beginning of Christian time  in other words, the birth date of Jesus of Nazareth.

Eusebius and Chrysostom were working with the Gospel accounts of Jesus birth and death. According to the Gospels, Jesus was arrested around the time of the Jewish holiday of Passover, and the Gospel of John suggests that Jesus was about 33 when he died. Therefore, Eusebius and Chrysostom first tried to determine the date of his death based on Passover dates in the Jewish calendar. But both men failed in their calculations and blamed the Jews for their difficulty. In their twisted reasoning, the Jewish community had postponed Passover in order to make anno Domini time impossible to calculate. This accusation illustrates the intense antisemitism common in Europe at their time and which work like theirs helped continue.

But in many ways, the real author of the worlds modern sense of time, the one who decided to choose the date when Year One would begin, is the Venerable Bede, an English monk who lived circa 673-735.

Bede found himself with several calculations he did not approve of, and decided Christ must have actually been born on Dec. 25, 1 B.C.. By his reasoning, in other words, the A.D. system began a year after Jesus purported birth. Bede also determined that March 25, 34 A.D. marked Christs death.

Bede, a monk in an important monastery in Northumbria, popularized the A.D. dating system by using it in his work Ecclesiastical History of the People of England, which made him the first historian to tell time by anno Domini. The Ecclesiastical History was dedicated to King Ceowulf of Northumbria, written in Latin in 731, and translated into Old English around the end of the ninth or the beginning of the 10th centuries. Still read by many today, it popularized anno Domini time by infusing A.D. time into events Bede told about the English people.

Taken together, these ingredients helped A.D. time become the norm. While the Christian calendar is built on and infused with other cultures time systems, A.D.s popularization contributed to sidelining these calendars to the margins  what postcolonial scholars call temporal colonization. For example, the date Bede set for Easter in his work The Reckoning of Time is based on a polytheistic celebration of Eostre, a German goddess. Eostre has, thus, disappeared into Easter.

Likewise, the fraught connections between the dates of Jesuss Passion, Easter and Passover further fueled antisemitism at a time when Jewish communities were also trying to formalize a Jewish calendar.

Changing the name

Approximately 1,400 years ago, when Bede selected a date to begin "anno Domini time, he perhaps unwittingly started the process of privileging Christian time, which is now near-universally recognized.

[Over 140,000 readers rely on The Conversations newsletters to understand the world. Sign up today.]

Today, many people use the expressions common era and before the common era, or C.E. and B.C.E., instead of A.D. and B.C. But despite what we call it now, the roots of this system are not common but Christian. As the medieval studies scholar Kathleen Davis writes, using C.E. does little to diminish the effect of a globalized Christian calendar.

Initially, I too had applauded C.E. as a less Christian replacement for A.D. But today, Id argue it is just the equivalent of a yellow sticky note placed over it. Theres nothing naturally common about the common era, and its worth applauding all kinds of diversity  even in time  on planet Earth. This year, what will you be toasting at 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 31?

___

Miriamne Ara Krummel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

___
One summer night in 1980, 22-year-old Tom Downey left his house around 1 a.m. to chase a lightning storm with his old 1950s-era press camera. Little did he know, one of the photos he would capture that night would become one of the most famous photographs of western Nebraska landscape of all time.

Its pretty (dangerous), he said. You have an aluminum tripod and youre sitting out in the open, and so I dont recommend it, unless youre young and stupid  and I was. I was young  youre kind of fearless.

Still, Downey at least had some idea of what he was doing. He had just gotten back from his professional training at a photography school in Chicago, and he grew up around photography his whole life.

We had a studio in Scottsbluff, my grandpa started it 1934  and my dad and mom were involved in it, and then I came in, he said. So, it was a portrait studio and we sold landscape photography too.

Downey said hed always had an interest in landscape photography, which is why he couldnt pass up the opportunity to capture lightning that late summer night over 40 years ago.

Downey grabbed his camera and zipped over to a pasture near the old KOLT radio towers along 20th Street. The storm seemed to be hovering over the Wildcat Hills, he said, so he wanted to keep his distance, but still have an open space to shoot from.

If the storm is right on top of you, its real dangerous, and theres too much wind. ...You can gauge it  the lightning of the storm  by counting how long it takes the sound (to come) when you see the lightning  but you dont want to, if the storm is right on top of you, you definitely dont want to do this, he said. Sometimes you can do it safely if the storm is quite a ways away.

Downey set up his 4 by 5 speed graphic camera on his real sturdy tripod, and began adjusting the settings. He set the focus at infinity and used a setting called bulb, or time exposure, which allowed him to use a cable release to keep the shutter open for as long as he wanted. He left it open for 20 minutes.

You have to give it a chance (for) more than one strike to hit, he said.

Downey said it helped that there was a lot of sheet lightning, which is lightning high up in the clouds that lights up the whole way without exposing the bolts. It was that sheet lightning that helped fill in the foreground of the photo, he said.

It was a really incredible night and just got the right place, right time, he said. If theres any kind of wind gusts of any kind, even with a sturdy tripod, over 20 minutes, it will blow your tripod, move it enough, that your picture wont be sharp. So, you need a pretty calm (environment). This is why it was a really good night. I got lucky.

Downey took 15 photos that night over the course of several hours. One of the hardest parts of it all, though, was not knowing how the photographs turned out until developing the film the next day.

In film, you had to take careful notes, use light meters and then hope and pray that you made the right (choices), he said. Most of the time its just experience.

Downey made the transition to digital photography in the early 2000s, and he said the advantages of digital photography over film photography are incredible. Yet, its still this lightning photo shot on a 1950s-era film camera that remains one of his most popular photos.

Despite his familys photography studio having closed in 2015, Downey still does photography to this day and remains passionate about the artform.

Im still real passionate about it. The tools change; the cameras change and everything, but its still finding the image and seeing the image, even with technology the way it is today, he said. You have to kind of be able to have an eye for it and a passion for it. Thats the important thing, and Im still shooting things today. Im about as passionate (as), or maybe more than, I was (before).

You can find more of Downeys photography at downeyphotography.com.

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I began my career as a soldier by taking an oath to defend the United States Constitution. The Constitution was supposed to set up a government of checks and balances. Those checks and balances are how we protect liberty and prevent government abuse. The Second Amendment is a critical part of our constitutional system.

I do not think the government should charge you money for freedoms spelled out in the Constitution. As chairman of the Government, Military, and Veterans Affairs Committee, I can tell you that we do not charge people money for voting in Nebraska. We do not charge people money for attending public meetings. We do not charge people money for coming in and examining public records. We do not charge people money for these things because people have the right to do them.

But today in Nebraska, the government charges people money for their right to bear arms. We do that even though the Second Amendment says that people have the right to bear arms. Nebraskas Constitution says it, too. I do not agree with our current law on making it a crime to carry concealed without a permit. In 2021, the normal way that everyday people carry defensive sidearms is concealed carry. For this reason, more and more states do not require people to pay for a permit to carry concealed.

Vermont never had a ban on carrying concealed, and at least twenty other states have repealed their bans on concealed carry by law-abiding people. Five of our six neighbors are on the list  all but Colorado. Iowa was the most recent convert and just became a constitutional carry state in 2021. Sometime in 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States will be elaborating on what the Constitution means to bear arms.

This is the right time to act in Nebraska. This past January, I introduced LB 236. That was a county-option constitutional carry bill. Over the last two years, we have seen many Nebraska counties declaring themselves Second Amendment Sanctuary Counties. Giving those county boards the power to make their constituents more free seemed like a good idea. Well, against pretty tough odds we got LB 236 out of committee.

It was going to be a fight on the floor of the Legislature, but we were feeling good. Then the Attorney General weighed in at the very last minute. The Attorney Generals office did not think LB 236 was such a great idea. In fact, they thought that it was an unconstitutional idea. That opinion shook some folks up. We had to make a difficult decision. We decided to gut LB 236 and amend in some other important gun law improvements that we had been working on, including improvements to the Concealed Handgun Permit program and a very important clarification of how a person may legally transport guns in Nebraska.

Now, I am coming back for permitless carry. I will be introducing a Constitutional Carry bill in the Nebraska Legislature in January. My staff has been working with the NRA and many others to get draft legislation into shape. Our governor has promised to sign the bill if it comes to his desk. People should not have to pay money and ask government permission to exercise their constitutionally protected individual rights.

Please contact my office with any comments, questions, or concerns. Email me at tbrewer@leg.ne.gov, mail a letter to Sen. Tom Brewer, P.O. Box 94604, Lincoln, NE 68509, or call us at 402-471-2628.
My friend Joel Reese, our local history man at the Iredell County Library in Statesville, recently gave me a Christmas gift that I especially appreciated: The Travels of Marco Polo, translated by Henry Yule, and published by Sterling Publishing Company of New York in 2012. It is illustrated with many maps and color photographs of places mentioned in Polos book, making it the edition you would want in your home library.

It must be 30 years since I first read Polos book; high time I read it again. Everyone claiming to be educated should have read it. The book was written while Polo was in prison in Genoa.

No, he was not a criminal. In Polos time, the rich trading cities of Italy: Florence, Genoa, Milan, Pisa, etc., not only were trade rivals, but they actually fought each other militarily, sank each others ships, took each others sailors as prisoners and held them for ransom.

Such was the case for Polo (1254-1324) and his cellmate, a man named Rusticello, of Pisa, by occupation a writer. Lucky for us they were incarcerated together.

To pass the time, Polo dictated to Rusticello an account of his travels to Cathay (China) and the court of Kublai Khan (1215-1294) which Polo had made as a young man. The Great Khan was the leader of the Mongols, who had conquered the Chinese.

Although imprisoned, Polo was treated well. In 1299 Polos ransom was paid and he was released.

Eventually Polos book was published in German on the same presses as the first Bible, the printing presses of Johann Gutenberg, in 1477. The book was soon translated into other European languages. Sadly, there are no copies of the original printing known to exist.

Polos book was a bestseller, although most readers probably regarded it as fantasy or at least a travel book that contained wild exaggerations. Polo was referred to during the rest of his life as Mr. Marco Millions.

After all, whoever heard of rocks that burned? Or temple roofs covered in gold? Or armies numbering in the millions? Or paper money or gunpowder or animals unknown to Europe? The Great Khan even had a pony express system by which messages could be carried 250 miles in a day.

Well, coal is a rock that burns, some of the temples in Beijing do have roofs covered with very thin sheets of gold, the Great Khan did have a tremendous army  as evidenced by the buried terracotta army numbering over 8,000 discovered in 1974, etc., etc., etc.

In 1271, Marco had accompanied his father and his uncle on a trading expedition from Venice. The overland trip lasted much longer than expected, until 1295, in all, some 24 years.

Marco was gone so long, in fact, that when he returned, he had forgotten much of his native Italian dialect. He no longer looked like the young man he had been, and so was not admitted into his own house back in Venice.

During his absence his mother had died and some cousins were living in his boyhood home. None of them recognized him until he produced some jewels he had brought back with him from the court of the Great Khan. Then the relatives began to see his resemblance to the long-lost Cousin Marco. Funny how light reflecting off gems can improve your eyesight!

The Travels of Marco Polo is on reading lists for the college-bound and can also be found on most lists of the most influential books of all time. Consider:

Polos book was responsible for much of the sailing that took place during the Age of Exploration (circa 1400 to 1600). His book might well be considered the fuse that lit the Renaissance rocket.

Columbus is believed to have had a copy of The Travels with him aboard the Santa Maria on his voyages to the New World, better known today as North and South America.

After all, even if only a tenth of the riches Polo described in his book existed in Asia, then finding a way there and back was what every European sea-faring nation and ruler wanted to do.

When Polo was on his deathbed at the then-ripe old age of 69, friends urged him to come clean, to admit that he had made up or at least exaggerated much that was in his book. Polo gazed at his friends and calmly stated that he had not mentioned even half of what he had seen in China and the East.

A little culinary history detour: There is still, in some quarters, a debate over whether Marco Polo brought pasta noodles with him from Asia to Italy, or whether he took pasta noodles from Italy to Asia. Either way, pasta, in all its forms, is a very good thing, especially with my meat sauce on it.

You really should read Marco Polos book.

And thank you, Joel.

O.C. Stonestreet is the author of Tales From Old Iredell County, They Called Iredell County Home and Once Upon a Time  in Mooresville, NC.
A decade ago, the Washington Supreme Court ruled in the landmark McCleary case that the state was failing to uphold its state constitutional duty to amply fund basic education for all students. But that case, which upended many school districts reliance on property taxes, stopped short of changing the funding system for building construction and improvements.

Now, the lead lawyer in the McCleary case has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a small rural district in southwestern Washington, arguing the state is also violating the constitution by failing to ensure all students learn in safe and modern school buildings.

Public education is supposed to be the great equalizer in our democracy, reads the complaint filed Tuesday in Wahkiakum County Superior Court. Our state governments failure to amply fund the Wahkiakum School Districts capital needs, however, does the opposite. It makes our public schools a perpetuator of class inequality.

Thats because wealthy districts tend to vote in favor of taxing themselves for capital improvements, while poorer ones may not, according to the lawsuit and Tom Ahearne, the Seattle attorney representing the Wahkiakum School District, which lies along the Columbia River and has fewer than 500 students.

Funding also correlates to property values. Because real estate in wealthy districts is worth more, its residents pay a lower tax rate than would residents of poorer districts to raise the same amount of money, according to the complaint. In the affluent Mercer Island district, for instance, the complaint says, property owners would pay 12 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to raise $30 million, whereas the much poorer Wahkiakum district would pay nearly $4 per $1,000 of assessed value.

The state gives out grants for building improvements and will match money districts are able to raise according to complicated formulas, according to Ahearne. He noted, however, if voters dont pass a bond, you dont even get out of the gate. In Washington, school bonds must pass by a supermajority, or 60%.

Schools are the only place that we fund state infrastructure on the backs of local taxpayers, said Wahkiakum District Superintendent Brent Freeman. If we were to fund our bridges the same way that were asking to fund schools, you know, wed have bamboo bridges here in Wahkiakum County. 

Benjamin King, a spokesperson with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, said in an email the complaint was served to the Attorney Generals office, whos currently reviewing it. Not having learned many details of the complaint, its too soon for OSPI to comment.

Ahearne said he expects the case to go the state Supreme Court and could potentially have a significant statewide impact, especially in small and rural districts. He speculates theres a good chance the court will extend its reasoning in McCleary to capital funding and side with the Wahkiakum district.

He acknowledged, though, that the court might also take into account the tremendous amount of money the state has had to come up with because of the McCleary case  about $6 billion a year  and say I dont know if we want to give them another big bill.

Former state Rep. Jim Buck is betting the case will make waves. I think what its going to do is shine a whole lot of attention on the seismic school safety issue that has been dodged for a long time, said Buck, who worked on the issue as a lawmaker and currently volunteers with Clallam County Emergency Management.

Legislators have been reluctant to acknowledge the amount of funding required to make school buildings safe during earthquakes, he continued. This is going to take years, and billions, he said. He pointed to a multiyear school seismic safety study by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, the most recent results of which were released in June, showing 93% of 561 school buildings assessed for earthquake safety scored one star in a five-star rating system, with five being the highest.

Earthquake preparedness is certainly a problem in the Wahkiakum district, said Freeman, the superintendent. The school campus, in the town of Cathlamet, has elementary and high schools built in the 1950s and early 1960s, and a middle school built in the early 1990s. We dont meet the updated seismic codes, he said.

But thats not the only problem. The fire system is in fact a fire hazard, he said. Its control panel has gotten as hot as 370 degrees. He worries about a fire, too, resulting from outdated writing, noting that an electrical problem appears to have caused a fire that destroyed a school in Eastern Washingtons Almira district. That scares me, he said.

And the districts science lab facilities are essentially unusable, according to Freeman. In the high school lab, he said, the plumbing in there doesnt work. The ventilation in there doesnt work. There arent the right kinds of safety equipment.

When students in science classes do experiments, they go outside. On nice days, theyre in the grass, and on not-so-nice days, theyre in the grandstands that are at least partially covered, he said. The districts top-notch science teacher has to keep experiments basic, Freeman said.

A retired military officer, Freeman said he was shocked by the inequity when he came to the district four years ago.

He added many community members agree the schools are in desperate need of upgrading, but in a county with more residents than jobs, and a per capita income of $29,000, people have told him again and again they cant afford additional property taxes.

In 2020, the district put forward a $28 million bond proposal to upgrade the high school. Roughly 70% of voters rejected it.

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An asteroid as large as Big Ben will be approaching Earth in January, 2022. However, it is not the only asteroid heading towards Earth.

The year 2022 has just started and here we are with dire NASA warnings of potentially hazardous asteroids heading for Earth. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has reported that as many as five asteroids are coming towards the Earth in the first month of the year. An asteroid around the size if a bus will approach the Earth in the first week of January itself.

Asteroids, comets, and meteoroids are large rocks in space that orbit the Sun and occasionally vary their orbits due to the gravitational attraction of planets. When these space rocks do collide with any planet, it's usually a disaster. That's why, even when an asteroid with a diameter of more than 150 metres approaches Earth, NASA classifies it as a potentially hazardous asteroid and monitors it closely.

Looking for a smartphone? To check mobile finder click here. Also read:

Asteroids in January 2022

Asteroid 2021 YK

Asteroid 2021 YK which is 38 feet (12m) wide is expected to pass within 118,000 miles of Earth by today.

2014 YE15

On January 6, a 24 feet around 7m in diameter comet named 2014 YE15 will pass within 4.6 million miles (7.4 million km) of Earth.

2020 AP1

A small which is only 13 feet (4m) in diameter known as 2020 AP1 will pass Earth on January 7, at 1.08 million miles.

Asteroid 2013 YD48

One of the biggest asteroid coming near to Earth this month includes the Asteroid 2013 YD48 which is set to pass within 3.48 million miles of Earth on January 11. According to NASA, it is approximately 340 feet (104m) wide which makes it bigger than Big Ben. It has been reported that NASA identifies anything that passes within 120 million miles of Earth as a Near-Earth Object (NEO). Asteroid 2013 YD48 is being monitored by NASA on its Asteroid Watch Dashboard. According to NASA, anything passing within 120 million miles of Earth is classified as a Near-Earth Object (NEO). NASA's Asteroid Watch Dashboard is keeping an eye on asteroid 2013 YD48. Though it is not a dangerous object, but can be a matter of concern if it inches towards the Earth.

7482 (1994 PC1)

Another huge asteroid is set to pass near our planet on January 18. The gigantic rock, 7482 (1994 PC1), is around two-and-a-half times the height of the Empire State Building. According to Nasa's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, it will pass at a distance of 0.013 astronomical units.
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The UN special envoy for Sudan on Saturday called for trust among all parties in the country to find a mutually agreed path out of the ongoing crisis.

Volker Perthes, the UN special representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan, made the appeal in a statement on the 66th anniversary of Sudan's Independence.

The UN envoy urged the authorities to respect the right of peaceful assembly and to allow protesters adhering to non-violence to express themselves freely.

Perthes stressed that the UN remained committed to supporting the people of Sudan in realizing their aspirations for a democratic and stable Sudan.

Sudan has been rocked by regular mass protests demanding civilian rule in recent weeks.

At least 52 people were killed in 11 large-scale street protests since Oct. 25 when the general commander of the Sudanese army Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan declared a state of emergency and dissolved the government, a move which triggered a political crisis in the country.

On Nov. 21, Al-Burhan and then removed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok signed a political declaration, which included reinstating Hamdok as prime minister, but the deal has so far failed to calm the street.

The protests were also fuelled by sky-rocketing prices of foods, gases and household essentials in the country.


By the 2024-2025 school year, the College Station school district is projected to surpass 15,000 students, according to projections from Templeton Demographics.

Each November or December, College Station school board members receive a report from the Southlake-based company before using the data to determine facility needs and equity among the districts schools. This year, Rocky Gardiner, school district consulting director for Templeton Demographics, presented that data during the school boards Dec. 14 meeting  the last of 2021.

Following Gardiners report on projected enrollment and areas of growth in the district, Amy Drozd, chief financial officer for the district, presented a more detailed look at the data and its effects on 18 of the districts 19 campuses. College View High School, as a choice high school, is not included in the report.

Drozd focused on capacity and projected enrollment among the schools and then the comparability of economically disadvantaged populations at the intermediate, middle and high schools.

The district reported an enrollment of 14,189 on the Texas Education Agencys snapshot date in October, and an additional 20 students joined the district between October and December. The district is expected to have at least a 2% growth each year through the 2024-2025 school year when the projected enrollment is 15,310. In five years, Drozd said, the district could have 15,837 students.

She said the biggest note from the projection is that the district should expect to continue growing over the next five years.

Gardiner told the board most of the neighborhood developments in College Station  new or expanding  have or are expected to have a student yield of about 0.5, meaning 100 new homes could mean 50 new students in College Station schools.

Drozd recommended the district begin long-range facility planning in fall 2022 and spring 2023 to look at future facility needs throughout the district. She described the long-range planning as a roadmap for a future committee to use as a foundation when they start discussing more specific needs.

Basically taking a very detailed look at what the district has and where they see it going in the next 5-10 years, she told the board. Not necessarily a specific bond at that point, and then later a bond planning committee would use that as their, probably, base data to begin looking at any specific future bond.

In addition to the long-range facility planning, Drozd recommended the district monitor enrollment at Pebble Creek and Southwood Valley, the two largest elementary schools, and offer discretionary transfers from Pecan Trail Intermediate School to Cypress Grove Intermediate School and from Wellborn Middle School to College Station Middle School.

At the elementary level, she said, the district will need to watch enrollment at Pebble Creek and Southwood Valley closely as both are projected to reach 110% capacity in the next five years. Pebble Creek is expected to reach that threshold in the 2025-2026 school year and Southwood Valley the following year.

Both Pebble Creek and Southwood Valley, she said, are in areas that Templeton Demographics has identified as high growth areas.

On the other side of the enrollment analysis, Drozd showed board members that three elementary campuses will be below the 85% capacity threshold over the next five years: River Bend until the 2023-2024 school year, Forest Ridge until the 2024-2025 school year and Creek View through the 2026-2027 school year.

The recommended discretionary transfers are an effort to help balance the enrollment among the districts intermediate and middle schools, allowing students zoned for the largest school at each level to transfer to the one with the lowest enrollment.

We may be sitting here this time next year and the numbers look the same, and if thats the case, then we need to start having other conversations, College Station Superintendent Mike Martindale said. But I think its well worth the effort.

At the intermediate school level, none of the campuses are expected to exceed the 110% capacity limit; however, Cypress Grove and Oakwood campuses are projected to be below 85% capacity through the next five years. Both have a noticeably lower enrollment than Pecan Trail, which is not in danger of exceeding its capacity limits, Drozd said.

Pecan Trail and Oakwood also have the largest difference between comparable economically disadvantaged populations at 19.78%, which exceeds the 15% limit the district set.

At the middle schools, A&M Consolidated Middle School and College Station Middle School are both expected to be less than 85% capacity through the next five years, while Wellborn will be within the capacity limits during the same time. The comparability among the three schools also are above the 15% threshold.

While A&M Consolidated High School is expected to be in the capacity limits for the next five years, College Station High School is projected to reach the 110% threshold in 2023-2024. However, the projections show 63 students joining CSHS between the 2023-2024 and the 2026-2027 school years, which is growth the district can manage, Drozd said. The high school projections do not take into account additional students who may choose to attend College View High School for one of its programs, she said.

The two comprehensive high schools have a comparability of 3.38%, which is within the 12% requirement.

Board member Geralyn Nolan said the comparability between economically disadvantaged students in the intermediate and middle schools is concerning to her, saying she believes it has a huge impact on the schools, how they perform and the community in general.

Part of Gardiners report is a look at the districts newcomers in first through 12th grades and leavers in kindergarten through 11th grade, noting it is assumed kindergartners are new to the district and high school seniors will graduate and leave. Newcomers are students who did not have an ID geotag for the previous school year, and leavers are students who had an ID geotag the previous year but not the next year.

During the 2020-2021 school year, which included virtual instruction, the district saw a loss of 385 students with the number of leavers increasing. An increase in newcomers in the 2021-2022 school year created a 223-student increase this year.

The next step, Gardiner said, will be to compare this years newcomers to see if any are returning to the district after leaving during the 2020-2021 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The last time the district saw more than 300 leavers was in the 2018-2019 school year when the IL-Texas charter school opened.

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WILMINGTON, Del.  After tough talk between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin over the Russian troop buildup on the Ukraine border, both sides insist they are hopeful that a pathway to easing tensions could open during diplomatic talks set for January.

But with less than two weeks to go before senior U.S. and Russian officials are to meet in Geneva, Switzerland, the chasm is deep and the prospect of finding an exit to the crisis faces no shortage of complications.

Biden on Friday told reporters that he advised Putin when they spoke by phone a day earlier that the upcoming talks could only work if the Russian leader deescalated, not escalated, the situation in the days ahead. The U.S. president said he also sought to make plain to Putin that the U.S. and allies stood ready to hit Russia with punishing sanctions if the Russians further invade Ukraine.

I made it clear to President Putin that if he makes any more moves into Ukraine we will have severe sanctions, Biden said. We will increase our presence in Europe with NATO allies.

Meanwhile, Bidens national security team on Friday turned its attention to preparation for the Geneva talks, set for Jan. 9 and 10, to discuss Russias massing of some 100,000 troops on its border with Ukraine.

The Geneva talks, which are to be led on the U.S. side by senior State Department officials, are slated to be followed by Russia-NATO Council talks and a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Biden is scheduled to speak by phone Sunday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The leaders plan to review preparations for the upcoming diplomatic engagements, according to the White House.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday debriefed Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on the Biden-Putin call and discussed preparations for the upcoming talks.

The two weeks ahead are going to be tough, said Daniel Fried, a former U.S. ambassador to Poland who was a top adviser on Eastern Europe to Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. The Biden administration has done a pretty credible job of outlining, framing up the negotiations. But the toughest test is yet to come because Putin will continue to engage in threats and brinksmanship to see how determined we are.

While Biden reiterated that he stood ready to exact sanctions that would reverberate throughout Russia, Kremlin officials doubled down on their warning to Biden about making a colossal mistake that could have enormous ramifications for an already fraught U.S.-Russian relationship.

A top Putin aide on Friday reinforced that Russia stands by its demands for written security guarantees. Moscow wants it codified that any future expansion of NATO must exclude Ukraine and other former Soviet countries and demands that the alliance remove offensive weaponry from countries in the Russian neighborhood.

We will not allow our initiatives to be drowned in endless discussions, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the state RIA-Novosti news agency. If no constructive answer comes in a reasonable time and the West continues its aggressive course, Russia will have to take all necessary measures to maintain a strategic balance and remove unacceptable threats to our security.

The Biden administration and NATO allies have made clear that the Russian demands are non-starters.

The seemingly unrealistic rhetoric has made some in Washington question how effective talks can be.

Following the Biden-Putin call, a group of 24 former U.S. national security officials and Russia experts  a group that includes several officials who served in the Obama, George W. Bush and Clintons administrations  released a statement calling on Biden to immediately, and publicly, lay out the penalties Russia would face if Putin were to move forward with military action.

The signatories of the statement included several former U.S. ambassadors, including Fried, Russia envoys Michael McFaul and Alexander Vershbow, and Ukraine envoys Steven Pifer and John Herbst.

We believe the United States should, in closest consultation with its NATO allies and with Ukraine, take immediate steps to affect the Kremlins cost-benefit calculations before the Russian leadership opts for further military escalation, the group wrote. Such a response would include a package of major and painful sanctions that would be applied immediately if Russia assaults Ukraine. Ideally, the outline of these sanctions would be communicated now to Moscow, so that the Kremlin has a clear understanding of the magnitude of the economic hit it will face.

The Russians, for their part, continue to make the case that they are facing an existential threat with Ukraine.

Lavrov on Friday noted an increase in weapons supplies to Ukraine and the growing number and scope of joint military drills conducted by Western powers with Ukraine, charging that the Kyiv regime naturally perceives this support as a carte blanche for the use of force. He added that Russia will protect its citizens living in eastern Ukraine.

As for residents of Donbas, where hundreds of thousands of our citizens live, Russia will take all necessary measures to protect them, he said. An adequate response will be given to any possible military provocations by Kyiv against Donbas.

Russia supports a separatist rebellion in the eastern Donbas region that has killed more than 14,000 people since it began in 2014. In recent years, Russia has offered citizenship to those living in the region.

Simon Miles, a diplomatic and international historian of the Cold War at Duke University, said it would be a mistake for the White House to let Russia unilaterally set the tempo of what is about to unfold.

Whatever the U.S. can do to keep the Russians on their back foot, as opposed to letting the Kremlin set the agenda, is going to be important to securing a favorable resolution, Miles said.
EDITORS NOTE: This is another installment in a series of stories by the Independent staff writers as they recap the top news stories in 2021.

The notable crime and court stories for 2021 included two homicides, a nonfatal shooting and the appointment of a new district judge.

No. 1 - Shooting death of Tesloach Kek Yiel

Shortly after 3 a.m. on Nov. 4, Tesloach Kek Yiel of Grand Island was found with gunshot wounds inside a home at 2802 LaMar Ave.

A Grand Island Fire Department ambulance transported Kek Yiel, 28, to the emergency room at CHI Health St. Francis, where he was pronounced dead.

Grand Island Police asked neighbors with home security or doorbell cameras to come forward. Police dont believe the shooting was a random event.

No arrest has been made, but investigators are working on it.

Theyre still going full-throttle, Capt. Jim Duering said Thursday. Weve got guys all over the place working that case. But were not there yet.

No. 2 - Grand Island man sentenced for killing stepfather

Cody Clark of Grand Island was sentenced on Sept. 2 to 37 to 52 years in prison for fatally shooting his stepfather Feb. 6 in rural Hall County.

Clark, 27, was sentenced on the second-degree murder charge by Hall County District Court Judge John Marsh. He had pleaded no contest to the offense, which is a Class I-B felony.

Clark was given credit for 270 days already served.

His stepfather, Donald Carlin, was shot during a domestic disturbance at 4238 S. North Road. Carlin, 57, was shot in the head with a 9mm handgun, according to court documents. He died Feb. 10.

Three charges against Clark were dismissed. They were first-degree assault, use of a firearm to commit a felony and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, first offense.

According to the Nebraska Department of Corrections, with good time Clark could be eligible for parole in 2039, and possibly discharged from prison in 2046.

No. 3 - 36-year-old Grand Island man wounded in shooting

Tyler Manka of Grand Island was arrested after allegedly wounding Lucas Galusha in a July 10 shooting in the area of 16th and Broadwell streets.

Galusha, a 36-year-old Grand Island man, survived the shooting, which occurred at about 7:40 p.m. Police received a call from citizens saying they saw the suspect running not far from the Central Catholic school.

Manka was arrested after a foot pursuit and after he barricaded himself in a garage at 11th Street and Ruby Avenue.

Because the suspect was possibly armed, the GIPDs tactical response team was called.

After negotiations and the use of chemical munitions, Manka was taken into custody at 10:54 p.m.

Manka, now 27, currently faces 17 charges, including attempted second-degree murder, in Hall County District Court. A pre-trial hearing is set for Jan. 12.

No. 4 - New district court judge

Patrick M. Lee of Kearney was appointed District Court Judge in the Ninth Judicial District, filling the vacancy recreated by the Sept. 1 retirement of Mark Young.

Lee was appointed Nov. 29 by Gov. Pete Ricketts. The Ninth Judicial District consists of Buffalo and Hall counties. The primary place of office for the judicial position is Grand Island.

On Oct. 18 in Grand Island, Lee and two other attorneys appeared before the Judicial Nominating Commission for District Court judge in the Ninth Judicial District. The other two applicants were Sarah Hinrichs of Hastings and John D. Icenogle of Kearney. The commission forwarded the names of Lee and Hinrichs to the governor for consideration.

In his appearance before the commission, Lee said that he would move to Grand Island if appointed.

Lee, 37, has worked in the Buffalo County Attorneys Office as deputy county attorney since May 2011. In that capacity, he has prosecuted all levels of criminal cases. During the past decade, Lee has served as a special prosecutor on numerous occasions, including appointments in Adams, Dawson, Kearney and Phelps counties. Additionally, Lee routinely has created and presented continuing education courses.

Lee holds a bachelors degree in history from Nebraska Wesleyan and a juris doctor with a certificate in the litigation concentration from Creighton University School of Law. He is a member of the Nebraska State Bar Association and was named its Outstanding Young Lawyer in 2018. Nebraska Mothers Against Drunk Driving presented him with its Hero Award in 2018.

No. 5 - Man dies after being struck by vehicle Aug. 28

Antonio Nicholas Antonio, a 45-year-old Grand Island man, was struck by a vehicle Aug. 28 on Eddy Street and died of his injuries later that night at CHI Health St. Francis.

The accident occurred at about 9:20 p.m. at North Eddy and West Seventh Street.

Grand Island Police believe that the driver of the vehicle, Michelle Robinson, was under the influence of a prescription medication.

Robinson, 62, was driving north on Eddy when the accident occurred. Antonio was on foot.

Robinson remained on the scene after the accident and acknowledged that she hit the man unintentionally.

A drug recognition expert, who conducted an evaluation of Robinson, found what was believed to be significant impairment, GIPD said at the time.

While the drug was not illicit, it was a prescription that she should not have been operating a motor vehicle while taking, said Capt. Jim Duering.

Robinson was charged in Hall County Court with motor vehicle homicide with a prior DUI and driving under the influence of alcohol, first offense.

Her preliminary hearing will be 10 a.m. Jan. 12.

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Yolonde Byassee Peterson

July 28, 1928 - Dec. 28, 2021

MARION  Beloved Marion educator and "Matriarch of the Arts," Yolonde Byassee Peterson took her final bow Tuesday, December 28, 2021, at 10:18 p.m. at Heartland Regional Medical Center of Marion, with her niece by marriage, Linda Byassee, and dear neighbor, Jenna Fletcher by her side.

She was born Thelma Yolonde Byassee on July 28, 1928, to Sarah Elizabeth Vaughn Byassee and James Henry Byassee of Creal Springs, IL. Foreshadowing a lifetime of her name being spelled and pronounced incorrectly, her first name was recorded in error, as "Helen", on her birth certificate. "Yolonde" was the youngest of three children: Rosella Byassee (Taylor) and James Howard Byassee.

She was a beautiful and amazingly talented child. She attended school through 8th grade in Creal Springs, and transferred to Marion Township High School because they offered band and choir. Her teaching career began early in life. She taught piano lessons at age twelve, and dreamed about being a professional concert pianist. Her aspirations changed in 1947, when her father passed unexpectedly. Yolonde decided to stay home, care for her mother, and pursue her education and teaching career.

She faced many challenges during those years: Her health was shattered due to contracting tuberculosis, which took years to recover and left lifelong health issues. Fearing spread of the disease, marriage was postponed for two years after her recovery. She married Guy "Pete" Peterson of Creal Springs on August 8, 1951, and they celebrated 70 years together before he passed in October 2021.

During college and early professional years, she faced prejudice against women, derision for her small-town roots, and jealousy from her peers. In college, she 'gigged' with the newly returned military band members of WWII, such as Gene Stieman and other big band greats. She was the first accompanist for the Jean Street Modern Dance Troupe, touring with them for two years. She studied with many music greats of the time: Nadia Boulanger of the Sorbonne in Paris, the foremost female teacher of composition in the twentieth century; renowned choral director Dr. Lara Hoggard, Dr. Robert Mueller and Fred Waring. Peterson graduated from SIU-C in 1957, with a Bachelor of Music Education degree.

During her career as a choral director, she served many times as festival accompanist or conductor. A highlight was to conduct the 1250 voice elementary choir at SIU "Music Under the Stars" in the early 60s. She taught nearly 40 years in Marion Unit two schools in Creal Springs, Pittsburg, Junior High and High School. Mrs. Peterson brought the Broadway stage to MHS in 1964, premiering "Oklahoma" with her students as the cast. She produced classic Broadway musicals from then until she retired in 1989. Mrs. Peterson inspired excellence in her students by exemplifying excellence in herself. She served in all capacities as music and orchestra director, costume designer, set designer, choreographer, stage manager, publicity and marketing director of the shows. She also brought Hollywood-like glamour to her town with her sequined gowns from New York. Her intent was for students to feel a part of something special and she dressed as a movie star to elevate student excitement and pride in their production.

In 1967-68, after studying with Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians, she formed the first swing choir in the area. Through the years the MHS Show Choir made many guest appearances and were the first downstate group to ever perform for the Illinois Association of School Boards in Chicago in 1982.

Mrs. Peterson graduated June, 1970, from SIU-C with a Master of Science in Education. She and husband, Pete, combined education and love of travel by conducting summer Foreign Study League Educational Tours for students from 1970 to 1985, traveling to 11 European countries.

In 1973, she began another chapter that would be her legacy. Mayor Robert Butler shared Jaclyn Hancock's vision to reclaim the abandoned 1922 Orpheum Theater to repurpose as a cultural and fine arts center. Peterson was asked to spearhead that endeavor. In August of 1974, the former Orpheum Theater reopened as the Marion Cultural and Civic Center. Grand Opening was held May 9, 1975, with Will Rogers as the featured performer. The MCCC came to be considered Marion's "Crown Jewel" as a venue for local productions as well as hosting many greats during her 48-year tenure as Chairman of the Board. The Civic Center was tragically destroyed by fire March 9, 1997. During a news conference, with ashes still burning, she and the mayor vowed the Center to rise again like a phoenix. After years of fundraising including donations from private and corporate sectors, the rebuilding began. Peterson could be seen on the construction site nearly every day with her hard hat perched upon her coiffed hair. When Governor Rod Blagojevich toured the new center upon completion in 2004, "Mrs. P" donned her hat and proceeded to climb the rung ladder to the roof with him behind her. She was 76 years old! She served as Chairman of the Board from 1973 until December 1, 2021.

Mrs. Peterson knew no limits to her service and was active in many civic groups and charitable causes. In addition to her volunteer duties at the Civic Center (where she rarely missed a show), she was Music Director at First United Methodist Church in Marion for over 43 years; taught private piano, organ, accordion and vocal lessons for 50 years; member Friends Board of WSIU for 6 years, and received an award for her service; member of Marion Fortnightly Club for 17 year and Delta Kappa Gamma for 60 years, Director of Volunteers for the Arts Choir for four years; member of the JALC Womens' Health Conference Committees for 20 years; member of Marion Main Street, six years. She was a longtime member of Marion First Baptist Church.

Marion Chamber of Commerce recognized her as "Woman of Achievement Award", 1979; Mayor's Service Award, 2002; and the Award of Excellence for Service to the performing arts 2004. She was recognized as "A Leader Among Us" by the Southern Illinoisan in 2004, and received the SIU Inspiring Woman of Achievement Award in 2006. Her former students surprised her with a Flash Mob Tribute in December of 2011. In 2018 the MCCC Auditorium was named in her honor as "The Yolonde B. Peterson Performance Hall." She was recognized as a "Marion Star" in 2018 by Swinford Publications.

Mrs. Peterson has left a legacy that reaches around the globe, with many students following in her footsteps as music educators and performers. Her presence will be missed by former students, friends, and associates.

Surviving family members include nephews and spouse: James Byassee and wife, Linda Pinson Byassee, and Don Byassee all of Marion; great-nieces and nephews: Elizabeth Byassee Shore and husband, Jeff of Marion, Amanda Yolonde Byassee Gott and husband, Ashley of Marion, Margaret Byassee Edmondson and husband, Shawn of O'Fallon, MO, E. J. Byassee and Amanda Ross Byassee of Marion, Kevin Cox and wife, Mary, of Arnold, MD; nieces: Kara Cox Santi of Marion, Cammy Cox Duggins and husband, Mark, of Golconda, IL; great-great nieces and nephews: Benjamin Shore of St. Louis, MO, Victoria Shore of Marion, Jamie, Alex and Jeremy Gott all of Marion, Henry and Evangeline Edmondson of O'Fallon, MO, Rylee and Jason Byassee of Marion, Max Duggins and wife, Natacha of Charlotte, NC, Samuel Duggins of Long Beach, MS, Nico Santi of Marion and great-great-great-nephew, Silas Duggins of Charlotte, NC.

She leaves dear friends, John, Jenna (De Mattei), and David Fletcher, Caroline (Fletcher) and husband, Austin Mallow all of Marion, Gina (De Mattei) and husband, Larry Crippen of Mooresville, NC, Dr. Clay and Lety De Mattei of Marion, Johnny De Mattei of Berthoud, CO, Mike and Ronda De Mattei of Marion, J. J. and Teresa De Mattei of Centralia, Ed and Gloria Davis of St. Louis, as well as Barbara Bradley and Sue McCoskey both of Marion.

Mrs. Peterson was preceded in death by her husband, Guy H. Peterson, her parents and her two siblings; as well as her niece, Barbara Jane Taylor.

The family is grateful to her dedicated caregivers, Donna Austin, Pam Girdner, Heather Duplantis, Brenda Williamson, Shane Taylor and ICU staff at Heartland Regional Medical Center.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Wilson-McReynolds Funeral Home, 900 North Court Street, Marion, IL.

The visitation will be on Monday, January 3, from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Marion Cultural and Civic Center, located on the Marion Tower Square, in Marion.

The funeral service will be at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 4, 2022, in the Yolonde B. Peterson Performance Hall at the Marion Cultural and Civic Center with Dr. Bob Dickerson and Rev. Alan Rhein presiding.

Interment will follow next to her husband in Rose Hill Cemetery of Marion.

The family requests for those who prefer, memorial contributions be given to "MCCC Foundation Yolonde B. Peterson Scholarship." Memorial contributions may be mailed in care of Wilson-McReynolds Funeral Home, 900 N. Court Street, Marion, IL, 62959. Memorial envelopes will be available at the Civic Center and funeral home.

To leave an online condolence of memory, please visit our website at www.wilsonmcreynolds.com or for additional information call the funeral home at 618-993-2131.

Due to the executive order by the Governor of Illinois and the request of the family, for all those attending the visitation and funeral service inside, the wearing of a face mask and practice of social distancing is required.
A Clemson University-led project aimed at reviving South Carolinas rice industry has nabbed a federal grant to further its efforts.

Given the acronym iCORP  Increasing Coastal Organic Rice Production in South Carolina Using Salt Tolerant Cultivars  it tackles many issues regarding the environment and agriculture that researchers believe it could become a model research project for climate resilience in agriculture.

The potential of this moving forward is tremendous  because if you can do it with one crop, you can do it with other crops. Youre talking about salt tolerance and climate change. If youve been able to impact the worlds food supply on that kind of level, thats Nobel Peace Prize-type stuff, said Clemson Assistant Professor and Organic Vegetable Specialist Brian Ward.

The grant is part of the federal Organic Transitions Program funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which focuses on supporting the development and implementation of research, extension and higher education programs to improve the competitiveness of organic crop producers and those who are adopting organic practices.

South Carolinas premier rice cultivar, Carolina Gold, is salt-sensitive. It has been a staple of the food and culinary ways of Charleston dating back to colonial days and antebellum days  all the way through the present. But for a long period of time after the Civil War, Carolina Gold rice production dwindled down to nothing.

Now much of the land on which the crop was originally grown has succumbed to saltwater intrusion. In Beaufort and Savannah, saltwater is being drawn into aquifers as freshwater is pumped out. This plume of salt is drawn into the aquifer as freshwater is removed.

Its only a matter of time before that plume stretches all the way up to Charleston and further up the coast as we continue tapping into the aquifers and gathering water that has to be replaced by something, and the closest thing is water from the estuary that has a major salt component to it, Ward said.

That land then becomes marginal land, which is not necessarily fit for agriculture but rather becomes marsh or wetland  roughly 200,000 acres in South Carolina.

The Carolina Gold Rice Foundation (CGRF) has been a driving force in reviving the classic ingredients of Southern food, crops abandoned in the 20th century when productivity and disease resistance mattered more than flavor and nutrition in agriculture. But with technological advances, these days Carolina Gold rice is a standard for the regional culinary world.

Soil science and organic agriculture is very important, because you cant grow these old, heirloom grain varieties using modern, conventional, chemical-supplementation methods, CGRF Chair David Shields said. Organic cultivation, which is much more adjusted to the growing profiles of particular plants, is the best way to cultivate these heirloom varieties.

That is because organic rice grown in salt-affected soils will have the potential for less weed infestations and thus will need less hand-weeding  reducing labor costs and, in turn, increasing growers profitability.

Marginal lands inundated with saltwater that would otherwise not be used for organic production  as well as any food crop production  could be planted with salt-tolerant rice, increasing the acreage and production of organic agricultural commodities in South Carolina.

Were talking tens of thousands of acres is what wed like to see in the future, Ward said. So a complete restoration of the rice industry in South Carolina is what Id like to say. But baby steps first  weve got to prove that that we can do this.

Clemson Assistant Professor of Vegetable Weed Science Matthew Cutulle, Associate Professor of Agribusiness Michael Vassalos, Professor of Water Quality and Treatment Sarah White, Professor and Newman Endowed Chair of Natural Resources Engineering R. Karthikeyan, and Research Agronomist Jai Rohila at Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center (DBNRRC), Stuttgart, Arkansas, are part of the research team.

We may also be able to help rehabilitate the health of soils within these lands using salt tolerant rice cultivars so that other heirloom crops could be grown, White said.

The AFRI Foundational and Applied Science Program is part of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which provides leadership and funding for programs that advance organic and conventional agriculture-related sciences by investing in and supporting initiatives that ensure the long-term viability of agriculture.

The greenhouse studies will be performed on both Clemsons main campus and at its Coastal Research and Education Center (REC) in Charleston. Additional field trials will be performed at the Coastal REC and in growers fields. The overall goal of the project is not only to increase organic rice production in coastal South Carolina on salt-impacted lands, but also to make a positive economic impact on the states organic rice industry. The research is to be conducted over four years from October 2021 to September 2025.

This Clemson-led research and extension project in collaboration with DBNRRC will detail cultivation practices and economics of growing rice in salt affected coastal areas, enabling growers to make informed decisions. And ultimately, new cultivars would expand acreage under organic rice production, while ensuring the economic stability of producers and enhancing ecosystem services.

We just have to overcome the hurdles involved in growing rice in coastal areas, including salt tolerance, Ward said. We want to basically be able to create a gradient of rice that can tolerate salt at different levels and produce a different experience of culinary enjoyment, as well as productivity for growers.

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James Stavridis, a retired U.S. Navy admiral, has recently urged the United States to work with China on issues such as climate change and pandemic.

In an article published by Bloomberg Opinion, Stavridis wrote the United States and China "have at times broadly joined arms to pull the rest of the world along," despite differences in timing and methods to address environmental issues.

The former supreme allied commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) also suggested the United States should "work with China on preparing for the next pandemic."

"The world is going to be living with new Covid variants (Pi? Sigma? Tau? I'm Greek and know the letters) for a long time," he said. "And given our overcrowded world, urban masses and frenetic international travel, another pandemic is a certainty."

In addition, Stavridis said 2022 "could be a good year to readdress trade, tariffs and equal business access to the Chinese and American markets."

"The two countries should try to solidify what makes sense from the talks so far, then work to gain headway on bigger trade issues," he continued. "Our interwoven markets and businesses can be a foundation for better communication."


White inducted

into NSCS

Lakeisha Jessica Shante White of Orangeburg has accepted an invitation of lifetime membership in the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, the nation's leading certified honor society for high-achieving first- and second-year college students with a minimum 3.0 GPA.

NSCS is an honors organization that invites less than 10 percent of all eligible students nationwide to join the ranks of its diverse membership each year. A leading interdisciplinary academic honor society, NSCS is made up of scholars from two-year, four-year and online institutions.

CCU names

graduates

CONWAY -- Kendall Gordon of Orangeburg and Keoshia Huffman of North were among those recognized by Coastal Carolina University during its in-person summer 2021 commencement ceremony on Aug. 6.

Huffman majored in sociology. Gordon majored in graphic design.

Brown named new

member of ODK

LEXINGTON, Va. -- Ajzahn Brown of St. George is among the new initiates of Omicron Delta Kappa, the National Leadership Honor Society, during October 2021.

Students initiated into the society must be sophomores, juniors, seniors or graduate/professional students in the top 35 percent of their class, demonstrate leadership experience in at least one of the five pillars, and embrace the ODK ideals. Fewer than 5 percent of students on a campus are invited to join each year.

Brown attends Coastal Carolina University.

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Francies Harvey likes a little lemon with her hot tea. Shes got a big one now.

It started with a lemon she bought at the Piggly Wiggly on Edisto Drive.

She placed one of the lemons seeds in a pot and watched it grow until the little tree needed to be planted in the ground. She moved to Rowesville in March and took the lemon tree with her.

Two quarter-pound lemons have grown on the tree.

When you cut it, you can smell it a mile down the street. Boy, thats a lemon! she said.

Harveys surprised a lemon grew that large in South Carolina.

People stop by and ask her Thats a lemon?

Oranges in Orangeburg

Helen Bonaparte has several citrus trees on her Orangeburg property, including seedless oranges and tangerines.

She and her husband, Cullie Bonaparte, are becoming experts at growing the fruit.

After a recent trip to Florida, they learned that waiting until the end of December to harvest gives them the biggest, tastiest results.

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Much has been made in the news lately regarding Americas shortage of consumer goods. Increased consumer demand in the wake of the COVID pandemic has led to global shortages of many industrial products. And with cargo ships backed up and waiting to enter Americas congested west coast ports, theres now a bottleneck. Not only are consumers waiting for imported goods but many domestic producers are also waiting on inputs from overseas which has left them unable to assemble final products.

It doesnt have to be this way, however. Rather than remain dependent on imports, the U.S. must start manufacturing more goods at home. Significantly, some domestic producers are already proving that this is the smart path forward. In fact, companies that source their materials in the U.S. are enjoying a boom in business.

A good example is Kason Industries, which makes equipment for the foodservice and trucking industries at its two Georgia manufacturing plants. Despite the slowdown affecting many businesses, Kason is continuing to crank out products.

Kasons work requires plenty of steel, zinc, and aluminum. And given the current supply chain crisis, the company should be left in the lurch as much as everyone else. But Kason vice president Burl Finkelstein explains that the company simply doesnt rely on China as heavily as its competitors. And so Kason is currently doing record business instead of waiting on supplies from China.

It helps that Kason is vertically integrated. That means the company simply needs to buy the raw metals needed for its metal-stamping and die-casting operations in order to make products such as handles, latches, and hinges that are in high demand right now.

However, other U.S. companies  the ones that depend on China and other countries  are waiting months at a time just to get manufactured components.

Why is delivery from China so slow right now? One problem is that production in China has slowed due to the COVID pandemic. But also, U.S. consumers have grown more reliant on online retailers such as Amazon. And so, factories in China have shifted to cranking out more consumer products  rather than manufacturing industrial components needed by U.S. assembly plants.

Theres also the challenge of higher shipping costs. Cargo delivery from China now costs roughly five times more than it did a year ago, thanks to COVID disruption. As a result, Finkelstein says that Kason has seen a number of delays on specialty items. But the company is generally insulated from such shipping concerns. And Kason has also stocked up on American-supplied steel and other inputs.

There was a time when Kason contemplated moving its supply chain to China -- since its competitors were all moving offshore. But Finkelstein says that relying on China offers its own problems. Not only did U.S. companies inevitably transfer valuable industrial know-how to their rivals in China, but they subsequently experienced serious quality problems from unreliable Chinese vendors. Those quality problems are often compounded when companies find themselves waiting months just to get corrected parts from China. In contrast, U.S. companies that source from domestic suppliers are often able to get updated versions in mere days.

It doesnt have to be this way, however. U.S. producers should follow the example of companies like Kason that are thriving because theyve wisely opted to source materials from domestic U.S. companies.

Its past time for Washington to rethink this import dependence. For too long, policymakers have championed cheap imports as a cure-all for the economy. But that needs to change if Americans are to enjoy reliable access to the products they rely on every day.

Michael Stumo is CEO of the Coalition for a Prosperous America. Follow him at @michael_stumo. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.

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(TBTCO) - Vong T+3 au tien khi thi truong cham ay luon la thoi iem thu thach khi nha au tu se quyet inh co luot song ngay, hay giu co phieu lai. Hom nay VN-Index tu cho giam au phien sau o tang lien tuc en het ngay, cho thay nhu cau chot loi khong lon.
Fort Payne, AL (35967)

Today

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 85F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Low 62F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
The Borough Council Passes Resolution To Rebuild Trust With Latino Community

Candace Braun

In an effort to rebuild trust between police and the Latino community after a recent immigration raid in town, Borough Council unanimously passed a resolution last week calling for immigration reforms in the federal government.

The resolution states that the Borough "strongly disapproves of any conduct of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE) that creates needless mistrust and fear of the Princeton Borough Police Department and other municipal agencies which are committed to help, rather than harm, productive and valuable members of our community."

It also calls on the federal government to conduct its work in a "humane and professional manner," which would include allowing the individuals to present themselves to BICE officers before trespassing into their home; entering a home or workplace only with an arrest warrant; refraining from forcefully entering a home without an arrest warrant; taking into custody only those individuals for whom BICE officers have an arrest warrant; and encouraging detained individuals without deportation orders to seek a hearing before an immigration judge.

"We have people in our community whom we value and the federal government should recognize our concerns," said Councilman David Goldfarb.

Approximately 75 residents attended the Council meeting on November 9, many of them Latino residents who had come to show their support for the resolution.

"I want to thank [Council] for all its efforts to look at us in a humanly way  and making us feel safer," said Eduardo Gonzales, a Latino resident living on Leigh Avenue.

"We commend Borough Council for their prompt response," said Maria Juega, chair of the Latin-American Legal Defense and Education Fund in Princeton, who headed a march for immigration rights on November 6 in the Borough. She added that over 200 people signed a petition during the march in favor of the Borough's resolution.

The resolution also calls for BICE officials to refrain from inquiring into the immigration status of other individuals arrested during a raid, and for BICE officials to clearly identify themselves as "federal immigration officers" and not "police" when performing a raid, a measure crucial to the trust between immigrants and Borough Police. That trust was undermined during the mid-October raid that resulted in the arrest of eight immigrants by BICE officials, when there were warrants for only two of the men.

Because BICE officials identified themselves as police rather than immigration officers, local immigrants immediately assumed local police were to blame for the raid. Although Borough Police were only asked to be present as a safety measure, the mistrust that has since developed between local immigrants and the police could cause many undocumented immigrants to stay closed-mouth during a fire, vehicle accident, or criminal act in fear of being subjected to questioning that could lead to deportation, according to former Borough Councilman Ryan Stark Lilienthal.

An immigration attorney in the Borough, Mr. Lilienthal had previously attended a late October Council meeting to ask that the Borough consider adopting an ordinance that would eliminate local police involvement in immigration raids. The ordinance is currently under examination by the Borough's public safety committee.

In the meantime, this resolution speaks clearly to national policy and acknowledges the problems of illegal immigration, as opposed to illegal immigrants, said Mr. Lilienthal. The resolution was also heavily supported by the Borough Police Department, said Capt. Anthony Federico: "We protect and serve everyone and don't want to lose anyone's support."

Among those who felt that the Borough should do more than pass a resolution was Township resident Martin Oppenheimer, who came here from Germany during World War II.

"I find the whole idea of taking people from their homes  to be totally contrary to the American way of doing things," he said.

Council President Mildred Trotman responded that the resolution was the quickest way to move forward and show the Borough's displeasure to the government.

Copies of the resolution will be sent to President George Bush, the U.S. Attorney General, the Department of Homeland Security, and BICE.
BUFFALO  Three years of work came to a ceremonious end the morning of Dec. 16 as Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials and other stakeholders captured and examined a collared mule deer for the final time.

The study, conducted to help manage a declining Upper Powder River mule deer herd near Kaycee, will give biologists like Cheyenne Stewart, Game and Fish Sheridan region wildlife coordinator, an idea of the biggest problems facing the herd.

Game and Fish, along with the University of Wyoming Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources and the Bureau of Land Management, captured, collared and followed 119 adult doe mule deer over a three-year period. In total, 70 deer were collared at a time; 67 died during the study and had their collars re-deployed, Stewart said.

That is more than we expected and, in general, high rates of adult doe mortality can be a concern for herd productivity and management, she said. But it is too early to draw any specific conclusions because our final captures only mark the beginning of our data analysis. We still have a lot to learn about the relative impacts of different causes of mortality observed and how those may impact deer within the herd unit differently.

The study required cooperation with more than 40 landowners, Stewart said. Each year, crews set up staging areas and completed captures on private land with permission from landowners.

The goal for the final capture was 52 deer. Helicopter crews were able to capture all but four, whose collars will automatically drop off in January, at which point Game and Fish will review their movement data, Stewart said.

The capture process, after three years of practice, runs smoothly. Typically, two deer are captured at once. The animals are blindfolded and given a mild sedative to keep them calm as they are transported, probed and prodded.

Aside from a few attempts to wiggle away from researchers and subsequent bleats in protest, the mule deer largely submitted to the scientists testing. And its all done pretty quickly; the team was able to capture and take samples from four deer in 30 minutes.

Researchers removed the collars and piled them in the back of a truck after three years of following the herds GPS coordinates. After a series of tests researchers turned the deer loose, either by walking them away from the staging area and letting them take their own tentative first steps back into the wild, or by hitching them again to the helicopter to get dropped off where they came from.

Stewart said that use of a helicopter drop-off depends on how far away from the staging area the deer were picked up. If its more than a 3- to 4-mile radius, the helicopter is used.

The 30 minutes of discomfort for the deer makes available a comprehensive data set that shows the health of the herd through each individual animals measurements  weight, length and girth  as well as blood samples to analyze genetics, fecal samples to test for parasites and rectal tissue samples to test for chronic wasting disease. Researchers also performed an ultrasound to measure body fat.

The results for individual deer health are instant, though a comprehensive data set that characterizes the entire herd wont be available for several months. Game and Fish, along with University of Wyoming professor Kevin Monteith, will start analyzing the data in the spring, Stewart said.

Studying these same deer each year could help researchers learn about deer movement, habitat selection and how weather influences body condition of deer coming off summer range, Stewart said in a Bulletin interview at the start of the study.

GPS data on the collar is recorded every two hours, tracking their movements. Dan Thiele, former Sheridan region wildlife coordinator who kicked off the study in 2019, said one of the more surprising bits of data so far are deer movements across the Bighorn Mountains.

In the end, researchers learned that some deer are resident deer  occupying the same habitats year-round; some are short-distance migrants  moving up and down the elevational gradient; and some are long-distance migrants  moving up in elevation and north into the Bighorn Mountains.

The collars also notified Game and Fish if the deer wearing a collar died. From there, Game and Fish employees retrieved the carcass, which was then sent to Jennifer Malmberg, pathologist at the Wyoming State Vet Lab and an assistant professor in veterinary sciences at the University of Wyoming, who would determine the cause of mortality.

Part of this study is to try to get to the bottom of why that is, what is taking these deer out of the population so quickly, Malmberg said. So far, we found a lot of chronic wasting disease, some winter kills, some starvation type of issues. And then this year, we also had viral hemorrhagic disease.

Stewart said that mortality rates were higher than expected, which could be a concern for herd productivity and management.

This kind of research  and the subsequent ability to make science-based management decisions  has only come about in the past 10 to 20 years, Thiele said.

It was surreal when we finally collared the deer and got going, he said. We certainly have had some variation in precipitation over that (three years), and whether that will show in the body condition on some of these deer or not, I dont know. Research tends to answer some questions but always generates more, so there will be questions we dont have answers for.

Stewart said regional biologists learn a lot about the big-game herds they manage through annual survey work, general field time, habitat projects, population modeling, public contacts, harvest surveys and hunting seasons. Partnering with researchers can fill in the gaps for field managers to make more informed management decisions.

This type of work can help us with immediate decision-making, such as setting annual hunting seasons, as well as address longer-term resource management questions and concerns, Stewart said.

Once biologists and researchers analyze the data, the department will host public meetings in Kaycee and Buffalo to share the results and to discuss management options, Stewart said.

We want the data to help inform us about the most immediate concerns for these deer so our management decisions are effective and rooted in sound science, Stewart said.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday sent a message of condolence to Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou over the passing of former Greek President Karolos Papoulias.

Expressing deep condolences on behalf of the Chinese government and the Chinese people, Xi said that Papoulias was an extraordinary politician and leader of Greece, and also an old friend of the Chinese people.

Papoulias had long been committed to deepening the China-Greece friendship, actively promoted bilateral practical cooperation in various fields and firmly supported Beijing in hosting the 2008 Summer Olympic Games and the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, making important contributions to the development of the China-Greece comprehensive strategic partnership, Xi said.

Xi added that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Greece relations, and is ready to work with Sakellaropoulou to deepen the traditional friendship between the two countries and push for new achievements in bilateral cooperation in all areas to benefit both countries and their people.


In 2021, as vaccines against COVID-19 were rolled out to the general population, federal mandates soon followed.

Wyoming, where Gov. Mark Gordon has long maintained there will be no state-level mandates, has joined several other states in challenging those orders through the courts. So far, those challenges have worked by at least pausing enforcement in Wyoming, but changes may soon be coming through the courts.

At the same time, a new, more transmissible variant is dominating cases in larger cities and driving the largest surge of the pandemic, with an average of 265,000 new cases reported per day.

And as of the last week of 2021, the states vaccination rate  47.4%  is the second-lowest in the country, with only Idaho reporting a lower percentage of fully vaccinated people according to data from the New York Times.

By Wednesday, Wyoming had only reported six verified cases of omicron in the state.

But, just as with the delta variant, Natrona County Health Officer Mark Dowell said, Wyoming can expect a late spike from omicron.

From what little we know so far, it may cause fewer hospitalizations, Dowell said. But for those who are not vaccinated, it could act just like delta since our vaccination rates in the state are flat, I expect eventually an uptick in hospitalizations and potential deaths again.

On Dec. 17, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals removed a stay on the Occupational Safety and Health Administrations (OSHA) mandate that had been paused by an earlier decision in the Fifth Circuit. As written, businesses with 100 or more employees would require workers to be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing, plus wear a mask while inside.

The next day, Gordon announced that Wyoming and 26 other states asked the Supreme Court to block enforcement of the mandate. The court will hear that case on Jan. 7, just three days before the mandate is set to be enacted.

Most enforcement, if and when mandates do go into effect, will likely be done by employers, who are responsible for polling their workers on their vaccine status. They will also likely face the task of arranging weekly testing for those who havent gotten a shot.

OSHA has said it will not issue citations for non-compliance with the testing requirement in the first month of implementation.

A bill looking to repeal that mandate across the nation passed in the U.S. Senate earlier in December, but would have to overcome a Democrat-controlled House and a potential presidential veto to effectively block the order.

A separate mandate from President Joe Biden requiring anyone working in health care facilities that accept Medicare and Medicaid was also put on pause for Wyoming after an injunction in the Eighth Circuit.

But many facilities or healthcare companies, including Wyoming Medical Centers parent company, Banner, have implemented their own mandates. A small number of WMC employees did leave their posts or were terminated for refusing to comply with the requirement, which went into effect at the start of November.

Speaking from the hospital on Wednesday, Dowell said that hes mixed on the prospect of wider vaccine mandates, though heavily in support of mandates for those in healthcare.

I would think we wouldnt have to do that. I would think people would just want to do the right thing to help everybody else, he said.

And although cases have declined since the most recent surge, Dowell says that hes still seeing people die from COVID-19 at WMC far too often. Others who survive the virus emerge with costly hospital bills  he said that hed recently seen one case that racked up more than $1 million.

For people of Wyoming, if they dont think this is the real deal, read the statistics and ask those that are in the trenches, Dowell said. It is awful.

Follow city and crime reporter Ellen Gerst on Twitter at @ellengerst.

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Two people bundled for the winter winds hurry into the neon green-walled back office of Platte Hemp, tossing thick paper packets into an open safe in the corner before rushing back out again. Theyre going to The Fort Saloon next on this Wednesday afternoon, then theyll head over to Butchs Bar in Evansville after that.

The packets contain signatures collected for a pair of petitions, one to reduce penalties for marijuana-related crimes and another to legalize the drug for medical use. There are also copies on a table inside the entrance of the hemp store, with signs asking anyone who enters to add their name.

The petition carriers, who each have to be certified by the Secretary of State, have been gathering support for the initiatives since September. Sam Watt, owner of Platte Hemp, says he spends around $2,000 a month out of his own pockets  not the business  to employ a small team of people trying to get as many Hancocks on the petitions as possible.

According to a University of Wyoming study from a year ago, more than half of residents in the state support legalizing marijuana for recreational use, and 85% are in favor of legalizing medical use.

Wyoming is one of about a dozen remaining states where marijuana use and possession, besides low-THC hemp and CBD, are still entirely illegal.

But with several recent marijuana bills dying in the state legislature, organizers say that sending the matter to a public vote may be their best shot.

Ground effort

To get a measure on the ballot, Wyoming requires organizers to gather the number of signatures equal to 15% of votes cast in the last general election. Voter turnout was especially high in 2020 because of the contentious presidential election.

The signature requirement of 15% of the previous elections votes is the highest in the country, according to Ballotpedia. And petitioners also need to secure signatures of 15% of the qualified voters in at least two-thirds, or 16, of Wyomings 23 counties.

Roughly 278,000 people voted in Wyomings 2020 general election, which means that the initiatives would need more than 41,000 signatures each.

Apollo Pazell, chief strategist for the national Libertarian Party, says theyre at roughly 30% of that number as the year comes to a close.

Everything seems to be on pace, Pazell said.

The approval process for the petition took longer than expected, he says, pushing their start to the fall and missing the lucrative summer season with its county fairs and myriad events.

Theyre too far behind the goal to get the measures onto the 2022 ballot, Pazell said, so theyre aiming for the 2024 election. So far, the national Libertarian Party has spent around $20,000 on organizing the initiatives.

The tall hurdles that need to be cleared to get a ballot initiative passed in Wyoming make them an infrequent way of lawmaking.

The ballot initiatives are not as common here as they are in other states, said Ryan Frost, public information officer for the Legislative Service Office.

An 18-month window to collect signatures gives organizers until January 2023, before the start of that years legislative session, to gather support.

Once the signatures are collected, they have to be turned in to the secretary of state, whose office verifies each person and their address against the most recent voter logs. Signees must be Wyoming residents registered to vote with a current address.

Around 80% of the signatures collected by paid carriers so far are verified, Pazell said. The rate is slightly lower among volunteer carriers.

That means that ideally, organizers are aiming to collect 150% of the signatures needed in each county, to counteract that loss. In Natrona County, 5,300 signatures needed then becomes nearly 8,000.

Most attempted ballot initiatives in recent history have failed, a report from the secretary of state shows. In 2016, Wyoming NORML spearheaded a medical cannabis legalization initiative that eventually fell short of the ballot.

Wyoming has not successfully passed a ballot initiative since 1991. In the years since, most attempts have failed to earn enough signatures. Those that were sent to the ballot failed, even when more people voted yes than no, since initiatives require a majority of the total votes cast in the election to pass.

But theres not a total opposition to increasing leniency when it comes to marijuana in Wyoming. In 2015, the Legislature passed a bill that provided for deferred prosecution for first offenses of using or being under the influence of controlled substances, including marijuana.

Broad support

The reception on the ground has been surprisingly positive, organizer Mario Presutti said, especially in smaller, more rural counties.

In Hot Springs County, it took them three days to collect the nearly 400 signatures needed. Kirby, a town of 76 in the county with 40 registered voters, has the highest signing rate yet. Sweetwater County has also hit its goal of 2,505, and counties including Uinta and Carbon are nearing completion according to Pazell.

Around 65% of Republicans asked have added their names to the petition, Presutti said.

This rate among Republicans exceeded their expectations, and Pazell partially attributed their success with Republicans to the medical freedom debate, a concept recently popularized thanks to the COVID-19 vaccine.

Many of the Republicans Presutti encountered reportedly said that limiting access to marijuana as a treatment is also seen as infringement on medical freedom, in the same way they think about COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Support is even higher among those who self-identify as veterans, reportedly between 80 and 90% according to Pazell. Many of them are in favor of medical marijuana as a treatment for conditions including PTSD.

And while WASCOP, or the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police, has lobbied against attempts to pass legalization in the legislature, Pazell says hes spoken to individual officers that are in favor of at least decriminalizing the drug. Many of them decline to sign the petition even if they support it, Pazell said, because theyre worried about their employers finding out.

Watt said that some customers in his shop are also wary of signing for the same reason, though NORML intends to keep the signatures it collects confidential.

In Fremont County, Pazell said that concerns over jurisdiction, as both the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes have made moves towards decriminalization, also gave signees a reason to support laws that would make enforcement more uniform across the state.

Most people sign both petitions, Presutti said, but they prioritize the medical initiative if needed. It has around 5% more signatures than the one aimed at reducing criminal penalties, according to Pazell.

We think that the patients need to be first, Pazell said. This has proven to be an invaluable medication for so many patientsthat is being withheld for political reasons.

The statehouse route

Decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana is not required to be a ballot initiative. If lawmakers choose, it could also be enacted by the Legislature.

During the 2021 legislative session, a pair of bipartisan bills  one that would have authorized a study on medical marijuana and another aimed at full legalization  died without a hearing in the House. Both passed out of the House Judiciary Committee by a 6-3 vote.

Advocates spoke of the millions in tax revenue that could be earned through legalization, hundreds of added jobs and the medical benefits of cannabis. The regulation that comes with it would also ensure people who did choose to use marijuana were using a safe product, they argued.

On the other side, opponents of both measures cited the continued criminalization of cannabis at the federal level, high costs of necessary infrastructure and concerns about the effects of THC especially in young people.

We would prefer a legislative process, Pazell said.

Republican lawmakers with leadership roles  including Speaker of the House Eric Barlow, R-Gillette  have sponsored recent marijuana-related bills.

Keith Goodenough, a former Democratic senator from Natrona County, faced opposition from farther right lawmakers when attempting to pass marijuana-related bills in the early 2000s.

The fundamentalist candidates have consistently taken a position against cannabis, he said. [There are] many more fundamentalist legislators in there now than there used to be.

Economic impacts

As surrounding states have legalized marijuana, Wyoming is becoming an island. Colorado has sold legal weed for nearly a decade, and Montana opened dispensaries to recreational customers on Jan. 1.

Watt said that most Wyoming residents he knows who buy marijuana are going out of state to do it, rather than taking their chances with local dealers. The regulation comes with standards for purity and a guarantee of safety, Watt said, and its generally easy to access just over the border.

But with those dollars going in other states pockets, Wyoming is losing the tax revenue from those purchases.

The 2021 general session bill that aimed to legalize marijuana proposed that a 30% excise tax be levied on the sale of retail marijuana and marijuana products as well as license fees associated with marijuana. Rep. Jared Olsen, R-Cheyenne, who sponsored that bill, estimated the state would earn around $50 million in taxes in its first year of legalization. It died in the first chamber.

Demand for legal hemp and CBD products is also high in the state  since opening Platte Hemp in Casper last year, Watt and his wife, Alicia, have expanded to three more locations in Rawlins, Gillette, and Sheridan (opening soon).

Most of their customers are in their forties or older, Watt said, and looking primarily for pain relief. If medical marijuana was legalized in Wyoming, he said their storefronts would look to start selling it.

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Nearly 75 years ago, Sam Rayburn, the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, observed: Any jackass can kick a barn down, but it takes a carpenter to build one. Wyomings 2022 election will be an opportunity to tell our leaders whether the state wants to be represented by carpenters or jackasses.

Rayburn grew up near Windom, Texas, where his father moved the family from Tennessee to work on a 40-acre cotton farm. Rayburn was eventually elected to represent his Texas district, a seat he held for 24 consecutive terms, 17 of which were as the U.S. Speaker of the House. To this day Rayburn holds the record for the longest tenure as speaker.

He was not at all like most of todays Washington politicians. When Rayburn was first elected speaker, he told Congress that it was his sole purpose to help draft and pass just laws that were guided by what our common country desired. He said he dreamed of a country that shall know no East, no West, no North, no South.

Because of him, we have an interstate highway system. Under his speakership the country passed legislation that led to the creation of NASA. His legislative skills provided the funding that allowed our allies to withstand Hitler long enough for us to enter the war, and then played a critical role in passing the Marshall Plan that rebuilt a safer world. Thats what a functioning democracy looks like.

This is what a non-functioning democracy looks: no Democrats voted for Trumps 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act; not a single Republican voted for the Affordable Care Act. Under President Barack Obama the U.S. signed the Paris Accords and cancelled the Keystone Pipeline; under President Donald Trump it reversed both, withdrawing from the accords and approving the pipeline, so that four years later we can rejoin Paris and re-cancel Keystone under President Joe Biden. Thats what a non-functioning democracy looks like.

Do we reward the carpenter who pledges to shake hands with the other side and work for a common country, or do we instead elect a jackass who runs on the platform of kicking down barns and dividing our country?

And yet we reward this behavior every year at the ballot box because the political industry has carefully sorted us not by ideology but by tribe, creating a historic shift in how we view ourselves. Today 47% of Republicans think Democrats are immoral and lazy, while 70% of Democrats think Republicans are closed minded and 42% of Democrats believe Republicans are dishonest.

It is OK to align with principles and policies. Just recognize that within a broken system its all for show. You may vote for one party because of your views on carbon emissions. But how many election cycles do we need to endure before we realize that signing the Paris Accords and cancelling the Keystone Pipeline, only to withdraw from the accords and approve the pipeline, so that four years later we can rejoin Paris and re-cancel Keystone, hardly represents a functioning democracy.

Yet this is exactly how the political industry wants us to behave. The political industry has systematically extenuated our differences and divided us because its easier to get elected by dividing us than through the hard work of building consensus and legislating on the common ground. Today, most legislators measure their power by their number of Twitter followers, the size of their office and the frequency theyre asked to appear on cable news.

Sam Rayburn measured power in an altogether different way. To him there was no power in kicking down barns  any jackass can do that. To him power lay with the skillful lawmaker who could craft thoughtful legislation, and then convince colleagues across the ideological spectrum that it was good for the country, not just their tribes.

We know what we have is not functioning. The question is whether in this upcoming election cycle we tell our leaders if this is OK or not. Do we reward the carpenter who pledges to shake hands with the other side and work for a common country, or do we instead elect a jackass who runs on the platform of kicking down barns and dividing our country?

David Dodson is a resident of Wyoming and an entrepreneur who has helped create over 20,000 private sector jobs. In 2018, he was a candidate in the Republican Primary for Wyomings US Senate. He is on the faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he teaches courses on small business and entrepreneurship. He is a frequent guest on Fox Business and CNBC.

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An increase in measles cases in January and February 2022 is a worrying sign of a heightened risk for the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases and could trigger larger outbreaks, particularly of measles affecting millions of children in 2022, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF have warned.

Pandemic-related disruptions, increasing inequalities in access to vaccines, and the diversion of resources from routine immunisation are leaving too many children without protection against measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases.
HE was a giant in stature as well as character.

For the past 11 years that he had been a member of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS), PC Clarence Gilkes had shown an unwavering dedication to duty as a police officer.

And never once did he back out of a situation when he was called upon to place his own life on the line to protect the citizens.
The fact that 106 police killings dating from January 2019 to now are under investigation by the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) is staggering.

Whether the number reflects an actual increase in fatal police shootings, or is the result of greater public willingness to file complaints, growing public confidence in the PCA or the PCAs own willingness to initiate investigations, would require more than bald figures. However, it underscores the PCAs importance as an independent authority with the power to hold the police to account.
 Flash

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Uzbek counterpart, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, on Sunday exchanged congratulations on the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In his message, Xi said that in the past 30 years, China-Uzbekistan relations have kept pace with the times and forged ahead, setting a fine example of international relations featuring harmonious coexistence and win-win cooperation.

In particular, the two sides have learned from each other in the course of reform, opening-up, development and revitalization, and have worked together and assisted each other in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, making them genuine comprehensive strategic partners, Xi said.

Xi stressed that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Uzbekistan relations, and stands ready to work with Mirziyoyev to take the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties as an opportunity to jointly write a new chapter in the history of the development of the China-Uzbekistan comprehensive strategic partnership, so as to benefit the two countries and two peoples.

For his part, Mirziyoyev said that the past 30 years have been a glorious chapter in the age-old history of friendly exchanges between the two peoples.

Under President Xi's personal attention, Mirziyoyev said, the Uzbekistan-China comprehensive strategic partnership is thriving, adding that bilateral cooperation in various fields has seen smooth progress, people-to-people and cultural exchanges are being enhanced continuously, and the two countries have maintained close communication within the frameworks of international and regional organizations.

The Uzbek side stands ready to deepen the Belt and Road cooperation with China, and promote friendly relations and all-round cooperation between the two countries to a new historical stage, the Uzbek president added.


0005227160-01

TS No. 2022-00060-AZ NOTICE OF TRUSTEE'S SALE The following legally described trust property will be sold, pursuant to the power of sale under that certain Deed of Trust dated 12/21/2009 and recorded on 12/31/2009 as Instrument No. 20092510236, Book 13716 Page 1373 and rerecorded on as in the official records of Pima County, Arizona, NOTICE! IF YOU BELIEVE THERE IS A DEFENSE TO THE TRUSTEE SALE OR IF YOU HAVE AN OBJECTION TO THE TRUSTEE SALE, YOU MUST FILE AN ACTION AND OBTAIN A COURT ORDER PURSUANT TO RULE 65, ARIZONA RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE, STOPPING THE SALE NO LATER THAN 5:00 P.M. MOUNTAIN STANDARD TIME OF THE LAST BUSINESS DAY BEFORE THE SCHEDULED DATE OF THE SALE, OR YOU MAY HAVE WAIVED ANY DEFENSES OR OBJECTIONS TO THE SALE. UNLESS YOU OBTAIN AN ORDER, THE SALE WILL BE FINAL AND WILL OCCUR at public auction to the highest bidder Courts Building, On the steps outside the East entrance of the Courts Building, 110 West Congress, Tucson, AZ 85701, in Pima County, on 06/09/2022 at 10:30 AM of said day: Legal Description: The land referred to herein below is situated in the county of Pima, state of Arizona, and is described as follows: Lot 49 of picture rocks west subdivision, Pima county, Arizona, according to the map of record in the office of the county recorder, in book 47 of maps and plats, page 2. Except all coal and other minerals as reserved by the United States of America in deed book 214, page 631. Includes the manufactured housing unit as part of the real property described as: YEAR: 1998 MAKE: PALM HARBOR MANUFACTURER: FREEDOM HOMES INC SIZE: 28 X 68 VIN NUMBER: PH0223901U & PH0223901X Purported Street Address: 11090 W OLD PECOS PL, TUCSON, AZ 85743 Tax Parcel Number 213-03-2990 Original Principal Balance: $137,464.00 NOTICE OF TRUSTEE'S SALE Name and Address of Current Beneficiary: PHH Mortgage Corporation c/o PHH Mortgage Corporation 1 Mortgage Way, Mt. Laurel, NJ 08054 Name and Address of Original Trustor: HARRY BURLESON AND JUANITA J BURLESON, HUSBAND AND WIFE 11090 W OLD PECOS PL, TUCSON, AZ 85743 Name, Address and Telephone Number of Trustee: Western Progressive - Arizona, Inc. Northpark Town Center 1000 Abernathy Rd NE; Bldg 400, Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30328 (866) 960-8299 TERMS OF SALE: The trustee is only able to accept cash or a cash equivalent, like a cashier's check or certified check NOTICE OF TRUSTEE'S SALE SALE INFORMATION: Sales Line: (866) 960-8299 Website: https://www.altisource.com/loginpage.aspx If the sale is set aside for any reason, including if the Trustee is unable to convey title, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled only to a return of the monies paid to the Trustee. This shall be the Purchaser's sole and exclusive remedy. The Purchaser shall have no further recourse against the Trustor, the Trustee, the Beneficiary, the Beneficiary's Agent, or the Beneficiary's Attorney Western Progressive - Arizona, Inc. DATED: April 24, 2022 /s/ Glenda Hamilton Trustee Sale Assistant Pursuant to A.R.S. 33 - 803(A)(6), the trustee herein qualifies as a trustee of the Deed of Trust in the trustee's capacity as a corporation all the stock of which is owned by Premium Title Agency, Inc., an escrow agent in the state of Arizona. The regulators of Premium Title Agency are the Arizona Department of Insurance and the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions. Western Progressive - Arizona, Inc. is registered with the Arizona Corporation Commission. STATE OF Georgia COUNTY OF Fulton On February 24, 2022, before me, Iman Walcott, personally appeared Glenda Hamilton, who proved to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence to be the person(s) whose name(s) is/are subscribed to the within instrument and acknowledge to me that he/she/they executed the same in his/her/their authorized capacity(ies), and that by his/her/their signature (s) on the instrument the person(s) or the entity upon behalf of which the person(s) acted, executed the instrument. WITNESS my hand and official seal. /s/Iman Walcott Iman Walcott NOTARY PUBLIC Published April 25 & May 2, 9, 16, 2022 Arizona Daily Star
With 2021 poised to be the deadliest year on record for violence against transgender or gender non-conforming people living in the United States, one local nonprofit is stepping up its efforts to provide safe housing for Tucson's transgender women of color.

As of Dec. 4, 50 transgender or gender non-conforming people were fatally shot, or killed through other violent means, according to the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group and political lobbying organization. In previous years, the majority of victims were Black and Latinx transgender women, the organization says.

This is up from 2020's record 44 fatalities, making 2021 the most violent year on record since the Human Rights Campaign began tracking such crimes in 2013.

While the details of the cases differ, data has shown that fatal violence disproportionately affects transgender women of color  especially Black transgender women  and that unequal access to resources, including housing, increases their likelihood of being victims of crimes, the organization says.

Tucsonan Monica Jones has long advocated for the rights of transgender women. Now, she is increasing her efforts to help make an impact by providing safe, affordable housing to one of society's most marginalized groups.

'What we want to do is build communities'

Jones got her start fighting for transgender rights while attending Phoenix Community College. As she was transitioning, her access to the fitness center locker rooms was revoked and she found herself having to speak out.

"That was my first time being an activist," she said.

After graduating with her degree in social work, Jones began working as a public speaker, teaming up with nonprofits that advocate for transgender rights, and also for sex workers' rights.

A few years ago, she started her own nonprofit, naming it after her friend and longtime activist Sharmus Outlaw, who had died.

The Outlaw Project started out working to change policies, rather than provide direct services for people in need, but Jones said she always had the vision of creating a community of tiny homes for transgender women.

"Sharmus, even though she was an amazing policy person, because she was a Black transgender woman, she didn't have secure housing," Jones said.

"I wanted to do tiny homes after going to South Africa for an international AIDS conference," she added.

During her trip, Jones saw shipping containers that had been turned into offices and mobile HIV testing sites, quickly realizing they could also be used as homes.

She initially started looking at Phoenix, but with property values on the rise, Jones also considered Tucson as an option.

That's when the stars aligned.

"I have a friend who was selling a house and (The Outlaw Project) had an opportunity to purchase an acre of land," Jones said.

"We're still in the fundraising process so we can start prepping the land for tiny homes, but we'll always be fundraising because of the things we need to provide."

Electricity, water, food and other basic necessities will be provided to residents of the tiny home community. The main house that exists on the property will be used for meetings and group meals, and as a residence for Jones.

"It's about housing first, but we're also creating a community," Jones said. "We're building a community with transgender women so they can have a sense of community and so that when they decide to leave the program, they'll still have a community and have friends in Tucson and the state of Arizona."

Jones is in the process of getting the back yard area plumbed for the homes, which will be fashioned inside of four shipping containers. With solar panels on the roof, each home will also be sustainable.

"I really want trans women to have a place that is nice, not just something that's thrown together without thought," Jones said. "Everything they need is there. It might not be the biggest bathroom, but it's a fully functioning bathroom, and they'll also have a small kitchen."

Each resident will have access to community exercise equipment. And while every tiny home will have its own shower, there will also be a bathtub on site for the women to use, in the event there's a woman who uses a wheelchair, or if a resident just wants to unwind and take a bubble bath.

With the prices of building materials having increased during the pandemic, costs have increased, delaying the timeline.

"We're looking to get people aware that this is happening. Even if they can't donate they can just spread the word that what we want to do is build communities," Jones said.

'Dignity is also really important'

Natalie Brewster Nguyen, one of Jones' partners in The Outlaw Project, is no stranger to the world of activism, starting the Splinter Collective Arts Warehouse in 2020 and developing it as a community arts and activism space.

Nguyen also co-founded the Justice Movement, a training and educational collective that addresses racial equity, and organizes for sex workers' rights. She's known Jones for a decade and says they've been working hard together to address housing issues for transgender women of color.

"There's a major disparity in terms of folks being able to access services, similar to people experiencing homelessness," Nguyen said, adding that transgender women of color have a lower life expectancy as well as a higher likelihood of being a victim of violence. "Stable housing is especially important in protecting that community from danger."

But with little action from federal, state and local officials, it falls on the community to take care of its most at-risk populations, they said.

Before the pandemic, Nguyen was helping The Outlaw Project from a distance, writing grants and helping to raise funds for the tiny house community. Once COVID-19 hit, the project had to pivot to fill the immediate need of people who needed a place to stay.

"They were housing people, paying for apartments or hotel rooms or whatever needed to happen," Nguyen said, adding that she signed on with the project in an official capacity this spring.

They are also working to form a housing justice coalition, made up of local groups that will help rethink rental practices and reduce barriers to obtaining housing.

"As a property owner, I didn't come from money. I came from an immigrant family. My mother's family was very much middle class, so I've watched these struggles," Nguyen said. "And I have not been in stable housing frequently in my own life."

Nguyen said the only way to solve the housing crisis is to prioritize keeping people in their houses.

"I've watched people get evicted and move onto the streets with all they can carry, and in a few weeks, their life is ruined," they said. "Their stuff is stolen or they've been sexually assaulted and their mental health goes down the drain."

Throughout the pandemic, The Outlaw Project has helped keep transgender women of color in their homes, or help get them into new housing quickly. They've been able to do it with a little money and a lot of community support, Nguyen said.

"If the government could just support us, we could move really fast on these things," they said.

Estimated costs associated with the tiny house community include the $1,300 per month mortgage, $20,000 to plumb the lot for the tiny homes, up to $6,000 for each shipping container and roughly the same to build and fit the containers to be used as homes.

The project is looking for sustainable, affordable ways to build the community's perimeter wall, with costs to be determined, and the wheelchair-accessible bathtub unit will cost roughly $10,000.

"Dignity is also really important," Nguyen said. "To be able to have a nice place that's not just a shelter and that's really yours, where you can relax and heal. To be in a place where your needs are met, you'll be able to then better assess your resources and figure out the next steps."

'That makes for a precarious life'

The housing will be open to sex workers, among other transgender women of color, Jones says.

With transgender people facing systemic, institutional and interpersonal discrimination, many transgender women see sex work as their only viable career option, according to a research article cited by a library arm of the National Institute of Medicine.

A National Center for Transgender Equality survey from 2015  the most recent year available  found that 19% of transgender people surveyed said they had engaged in sex work at some point in their lives in exchange for money, food or a place to sleep.

The number was 20% for Latino or Latina respondents. It jumped to 27% for Black transgender individuals and 31% for American Indian and Alaska Native respondents, compared to 16% of white survey takers and 17% of Asian and Native Hawaiian/Pacific respondents.

The survey also found that transgender women represented 60% of Black respondents who had done sex work for money in their lifetimes.

"The thing about sex work is that it's controversial. People have their moral objections to it, but they fail to look at the root causes," said Juliana Piccillo of Tucson's Sex Workers Outreach Project.

"If you don't have housing that's affordable, safe and affirming... that makes for a precarious life."

A new "housing first" approach, that centers on quickly moving people experiencing homelessness into independent and permanent housing, then providing additional supports and services as needed, is being used in many cities. But it's still lagging for marginalized communities, Piccillo said.

That's where people like Jones are making a difference.

"Monica is tireless. She's done such amazing work and I'm thankful for this project," Piccillo said. "I hope to see more of it."

Star reporter Caitlin Schmidt focuses on community responses and solutions to social issues. Contact her at Caitlin Schmidt at 573-4191 or cschmidt@tucson.com. On Twitter: @caitlincschmidt

The Outlaw Project To learn more about The Outlaw Project or to donate to its tiny home community, visit theoutlawproject.org/ or gofund.me/358e3f7a

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Antidote to political exploitation

If you pay any attention to the media, you might be under the impression this country teeters on the verge of irreparable racial, ethnic and social class division. So let me offer three specific observations I made on the morning of Nov. 19, 2021 while waiting for my wife outside the 4400 building on East Broadway to directly challenge and counteract this notion. Not only did a middle-aged Latino woman hold the door for me, despite being a good 15 to 20 feet behind, but I also saw two middle-aged white males hold the door for two African-American females, respectively. In a time when many elected officials are shamefully exploiting for pure political gain what I still believe to be a harmonious American melting pot, I was pleasantly touched by the kindness I witnessed. Dont tell me chivalry, and reverse-chivalry, is dead. Thanks for reaffirming the good nature of the human spirit.

Tim Kennedy

Oro Valley

Thank you, Big Jim Griffith

Big Jim Griffith did so much for our community and Tucson is a much better place for having him as such a rich part of our history. In addition to participating in so many public events, he also was an extremely thoughtful man and generous with his time. About 25 years ago he consulted  free of charge  while I was doing research about La Llorona. We had some memorable lunches at the Arizona Inn, and he provided a wealth of information regarding Southwestern folklore. He also provided me with access to the Folklore Centers archives so I could read some very old, rare texts. This is one of many examples of what a supportive, special person he was. Ill always be grateful to him for his company, knowledge and kindness.

Christopher Rodarte

Midtown

Who are Conover, Nanos protecting?

Re: the Dec. 21 article About 150 corrections officers are facing firing.

This article should alarm everyone concerned about personal safety and the national increase in crime.

County Attorney Laura Conover and Sheriff Chris Nanos endorse reducing the county jail population by releasing supposed non-violent offenders. That may be a good objective, but have the effects been fully evaluated?

Conover has unilaterally decided to stop charging people with certain drug crimes. While I support the decriminalization of marijuana use, its for our Legislature to determine what is a crime. Not Conover.

In California, progressive district attorneys have also said they wont prosecute certain crimes and flash mobs have staged coordinated mass robberies in retail stores including Nordstroms. In Philadelphia, with another progressive prosecutor, violent crimes have spiked. Folks, criminals are not fools. If law enforcement officials announce they wont enforce certain laws or will release you, expect lawbreakers to react. They have. If crime increases in our county, well know at whose feet to place the blame: Conover and Nanos.

James Tuthill

Oro Valley

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Re: the Dec. 21 article "About 1 50 corrections officers are facing firing."

This article should alarm everyone concerned about personal safety and the national increase in crime.

County Attorney Conover and Sheriff Nanos endorse reducing the county jail population by releasing supposed non-violent offenders. That may be a good objective, but have the effects been fully evaluated?

Conover has unilaterally decided to stop charging people with certain drug crimes. While I support the decriminalization of marijuana use, its for our legislature to determine what is a crime. Not Conover.

In California progressive district attorneys have also said they wont prosecute certain crimes and flash mobs have staged coordinated mass robberies in retail stores including Nordstroms. In Philadelphia, with another progressive prosecutor, violent crimes have spiked. Folks, criminals are not fools. If law enforcement officials announce they wont enforce certain laws or will release you, expect law breakers to react. They have. If crime increases in our county, well know at whose feet to place the blame: Conover and Nanos

James Tuthill

Oro Valley

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

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The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

I rather obsessively save and re-save voicemail messages from people I love. I began this after losing the last message my sister left shortly before her unexpected death in 2020.

Id give anything to hear her voice again, so now I routinely check for the robot woman telling me something is scheduled for deletion, so I can re-save messages I never want to lose.

Thats what I was doing the other day when my husbands message from February  just 11 months ago  reminded me how phenomenal 2021 was.

Hey, honey, Robin said, Finished my shift and Im headed to drop off the tax stuff. Just wanted you to know whats going on. Love you.

This might seem mundane, unless you realize that the shift he referred to was a COVID-vaccination clinic at Tucson Medical Center. He was one of hundreds of volunteers supporting the clinics.

He worked six-hour shifts in the beginning, and everyone, it seemed, wanted a vaccination. The appointment lines were long and people who didnt yet qualify would walk off the street begging for any extra doses.

Of course, that changed by his last shift in June, when vaccine hesitancy (and COVID denial) had set in, but his message reminded me of how remarkable 2021 actually was.

Yes, weve felt like we were in the Dark Ages, full of ignorance, blind loyalty to the Big Lie and violence. But thanks to some amazing scientists (and a handful of Republicans standing up for truth), light broke through in 2021 and will continue to illuminate 2022.

Just look around. Schools, churches and businesses are open. People are eating inside restaurants, flying on planes, heading back into offices, and complaining about winter visitors  many who stayed away last year  clogging up our roads.

Thereve been weddings, funerals, baptisms and quinceaneras. Heck, I did a Christmas pageant with a gaggle of little ones, and the best part was overhearing angels and Magi argue about their arms being so strong I didnt even feel my shot.

In other words, despite what the dont-tread-on-me crowd likes to crow, the majority of the country  and certainly here in Pima County  started getting back to life as usual in 2021, thanks to vaccines, mitigation efforts and advancing treatments.

Thats something to celebrate, even if were sometimes asked to wear a mask while doing our happy dance.

Outside the pandemic, there were other pinpricks of light. Here are five.

1. Greenlands government, the Naalakkersuisut, decided it would no longer grant new licenses for oil and gas exploration, despite the country having tons of undiscovered oil deposits. They chose saving the planet (and their melting country) over profits. A million high-fives to them!

2. The Empire State Realty Trust announced that its buildings, including the Empire State Building, went completely wind-powered in 2021. According to the Washington Post, this means the 13 buildings will avoid spitting out about 450 million pounds of carbon dioxide. Who knew operating buildings is one of the largest sources of CO2 emissions? Props to them!

3. Krystyna Paszko, a high school student in Poland, was concerned about the increase in domestic violence during the pandemic. So, she set up a fake online makeup shop that allows domestic violence victims to appear to be shopping when theyre actually requesting law enforcement to come to their home. How cool is that?

4. Tennessean Jimmy Finch drove his smoker to Kentucky following the December tornadoes that destroyed the city of Mayfield. He wasnt a politician or a non-profit. He was just a man who could cook and knew, as he told The Washington Post, that not everybody has money. He fed people for free out his pickup truck. The next time there is a disaster within a days drive, I plan to do the same. We have a truck, we have a smoker and my man makes a mean brisket.

5. Shreya Joshi, a high school student from Illinois was worried about the countrys polarization. Instead of whining about it, she started Project TEAL, a student-led movement to revitalize democracy. They do this by focusing on civics education and teaching people how to have civil political conversations. There are chapters in seven states and if you want a dose of hope, visit projectteal.org and support the cause. Shreya for president!

There are dozens more phenomenal things from 2021. Yes, we all want more in 2022 (bring back in-person storytime, Pima County Libraries!), and Ill fight for that later. But today, lets just rejoice that, despite setbacks in 2021, we mostly moved forward in progress. Look for the light; its there. And if you cant see it, commit to being it in 2022. Happy New Year!

Renee Schafer Horton is a regular Star contributor. Email her your pinpricks of light at rshorton08@gmail.com.

Reader chat on Thursday The Arizona Daily Star Opinion team will host our weekly reader chat Thursday, Jan. 6, at 2 p.m. Opinion Editor Curt Prendergast will answer questions from readers and discuss the direction of the opinion pages in the new year. If you would like to join the conversation Thursday, email Opinion coordinator Sara Brown at sbrown@tucson.com, and she will email you the Zoom link. You can join by video or just listen in over your phone. Do you have a guest recommendation? Please email us your suggestions. To see previous reader chats, go to tucson.com/opinion/chats/

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PHOENIX  Arizona added nearly 109,000 new residents last year.

But they were picky about where in the state they chose to live.

The state grew at a rate of 1.5% between June 30, 2020, and a year later, new figures from the state Office of Economic Opportunity show. That's how the agency tracks annual growth.

And the more than 860,000 new residents in the past decade amounted to a 13.4% increase.

So where did a lot of them go?

Think about areas near the state's major population centers, but far enough away to have houses that are affordable.

In Southern Arizona, that means communities such as Marana. It added 2,531 new residents in the past year, enough to register a 4.8% growth rate. And Oro Valley grew by 2.1%

South of Tucson, Sahuarita posted a 3.5% year-over-year increase in population.

But all that was countered by the fact that Tucson, with a population of more than 546,000, grew by just 2,925 in the past year, an anemic 0.5% growth rate.

In fact, the unincorporated areas of the county added additional 5,061 residents. That helped pull up the overall county growth rate, but only to 1.4%, still lagging the state.

The reason Pima County lags not just Maricopa County but the statewide average is how the area's economy is built.

"Tucson is just a less dynamic economy," said economist George Hammond of the Eller College of Business at the University of Arizona. That's because it is heavily reliant on jobs in federal, state and local government.

"We just have a lot more of that," Hammond said. "And it's just not a growth industry."

There is a plus side to all that. Hammond said it tends to make the economy less susceptible to wild swings.

But he also said that geography plays a role in economic development.

Hammond said as firms look to locate or expand in Arizona, the Phoenix area is "just more of a draw," with things like more extensive and convenient airport connections.

And when people do move to the Phoenix area, the new numbers show the same pattern as in Pima County: They are looking for homes in the more affordable suburbs.

Queen Creek, which is big enough to spill over into Pinal County, posted a 10% year-over-year growth in population. Buckeye, on the extreme other end of the Valley, was not far behind at 8.9%

And since growth for Phoenix to the immediate south is blocked by the Gila River Indian Community, that left Pinal County communities of Coolidge and Eloy at 7.1% and 5.3% respectively.

The desire for affordable homes also boosted the population of Casa Grande by 4.3% and Maricopa by 4.2%.

Florence probably should have been in that list somewhere.

But the official tally shows that community actually lost close to 1,600 residents over a 12-month period, making it the community with the greatest percentage loss at 6.2%.

What's behind that, though, has little to do with the desirability of the community. Jim Quang, the state demographer, said it has to do largely with the fact there are fewer people in the custody of the state Department of Corrections there.

Population in the Eyeman and Florence units went from 9,031 in June of 2020 to 7,796 a year later.

And the trend continues, with the most recent inmate count at the two facilities now below 7,500.

Quang said the same thing is at work in Douglas where inmate population dropped by 330 to 1,686 over the course of the year. That translated out to drop of 232 residents, a decline of 1.4%.

And growth rates of less than 1% in other Cochise County communities was not enough to have the area keep pace with the rest of the state.

The flip side of the growth on the exurbs of metro areas is that the anchor cities are growing slower than the rest of the state.

Phoenix itself added about 19,000 residents, but only enough to post a 1.2% year-over-year increase. Mesa and Chander grew at 1.1% annually, with Scottsdale at 0.7% and land-locked Tempe pretty much were it was a year earlier.

At the other end of the area, Glendale added just under 1,900 residents, a 0.7% increase. But nearby Peoria  stretching much further out and with room to grow  managed to post a 1.9% growth rate, increasing to 3.8% for even farther out Surprise.

Elsewhere around the state, Prescott Valley continues to grow more rapidly than Prescott, at 2.1% versus 1.8%. But even those were outstripped by a 3.1% population increase in Clarkdale and 2.4% in Chino Valley, though Cottonwood grew by just 1.1%

Sedona posted a 1.0% growth rate.

But because the state keeps its figures by county, the bisected community shows a marked difference between the Coconino side which posted a 2.3% increase versus less than 0.6% in the Yavapai County side.

The story for rural communities was a mixed bag.

Some 851 new residents of Kingman this past year were enough to boost its population by 2.6%. Safford also grew at a 1.7% rate. And Yuma, at 1.6%, also beat the statewide average, though just barely.

But Lake Havasu City's additional 643 people computed out to just 1.1%. The population of Nogales grew by just 0.7%.

And Flagstaff actually lost 345 residents, translating to a 0.4% loss.

County population changes County / 2021 population / Change since 2020 / Change since 2011 Apache / 66,411 / 0.5% / (-6.7%) Cochise / 126,463 / 0.6% / (-2.6%) Coconino / 147,434 / 1.2% / 10.0% Gila / 53,525 / 0.4% / 0.4%% Graham / 39,025 / 1.0% / 3.5% Greenlee / 9,593 / 0.3% / 15.8% La Paz / 16,820 / 1.4% / (-15.7%) Maricopa / 4,507,419 / 1.6% / 17.3% Mohave / 216,527 / 1.2% / 8.4% Navajo / 107,748 / 0.9% / 1.2% Pima / 1,058,318 / 1.2% / 7.4% Pinal / 439,128 / 2.5% / 15.6% Santa Cruz / 48,468 / 1.4% / 2.3% Yavapai / 241,173 / 1.7% / 14.1% Yuma / 207,318 / 1.3% / 5.2% Statewide / 7,825,370 / 1.5% / 13.4%  Source: Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity Population changes in Arizona Community / 2021 population / Change since 2020 / Change since 2011 Apache Junction / 39,009 / 1.1% / 8.0% Avondale / 90,755 / 1.4% / 17.7% Benson / 5,365 / 0.1% / 4.9% Bisbee / 4,968 / 0.9% / (-8.4%) Buckeye / 101,987 / 8.9% / 93.5% Bullhead City / 42,027 / 1.4% / 6.8% Camp Verde / 12,216 / 0.6% / 11.3% Carefree / 3,708 / 0.4% / 10.2% Casa Grande / 56,242 / 4.2% / 14.4% Cave Creek / 5,021 / 2.0% / 1.6% Chandler / 280,189 / 1.1% / 17.8% Chino Valley / 13,429 / 2.4% / 23.2% Clarkdale / 4,563 / 3.1% / 12.1% Clifton / 3,909 / (-0.5%) / 21.6% Colorado City / 2,507 / 1.2% / (-43.1%) Coolidge / 14,291 / 7.1% / 19.3% Cottonwood / 12,185 / 1.1% / 9.0% Dewey-Humbolt / 4,440 / 1.6% / 13.7% Douglas / 16,302 / (-1.4%) / (-4.5%) Duncan / 692 / (-0.3%) / 0.5% Eagar / 4,474 / 1.5 / (-7.4%) El Mirage / 36,101 / 0.5% / 12.7% Eloy / 16,485 / 5.3% / (-2.7%) Flagstaff / 76,960 / (-0.4%) / 16.3% Florence / 25,250 / (-6.2%) / (-5.9%) Fountain Hills / 23,906 / 0.2% / 6.3% Fredonia / 1,374 / 3.9% / 5.2% Gila Bend / 1,893 / 0.1% / (-0.9%) Gilbert / 273,796 / 1.9% / 29.1% Glendale / 250,585 / 0.8% / 9.9% Globe / 7,161 / (-1.2%) / (-4.1%) Goodyear / 101,662 / 5.0% / 51.8% Guadalupe / 5,329 / 0.1% / (-6.2%) Hayden / 512 / 0.0% / (-19.9%) Huachuca City / 1,626 / 0.0% / (-9.9%) Holbrook / 4,877 / 0.4% / (-1.7%) Jerome / 467 / 0.6% / 5.0% Kearny / 1,741 / 0.0% / (-9.1%) Kingman / 33,716 / 2.6% / 19.8% Lake Havasu City / 57,974 / 1.1% / 10.6% Litchfield Park / 6,9,57 / 1.1% / 25.8% Mammoth / 1,079 / 0.3% / (-21.7%) Marana / 55,174 / 4.8% / 53.4% Maricopa / 61,109 / 4.2% / 38.2% Mesa / 510,792 / 1.1% / 15.5% Miami / 1,539 / 0.0% / (-14.1%) Nogales / 19,921 / 0.7% / (-3.6%) Oro Valley / 48,222 / 2.1% / 16.9% Page / 7,618 / 2.4% / 3.6% Paradise Valley / 12,707 / 0.3% / (-0.5%) Parker / 3,431 / 0.1% / 10.1% Patagonia / 807 / 0.4% / (-10.2%) Payson / 16,502 / 0.7% / 7.8% Peoria / 195,585 / 1.9% / 25.1% Phoenix / 1,630,195 / 1.2% / 12.2% Pima / 2,921 / 2.3% / 19.1% Pinetop-Lakeside / 4,044 / 0.3% / (-3.8%) Prescott / 46,826 / 1.8% / 16.7% Prescott Valley / 47,998 / 2.1% / 23.9% Quartzsite / 2,417 / 0.1% / (-31.1%) Queen Creek / 66,275 / 9.0% / 144.8% Safford / 10,324 / 1.7% / 6.3% Sahuarita / 35,588 / 3.5% / 37.6% St. Johns / 3,434 / 0.5% / (-1.5%) San Luis / 36,081 / 1.4% / 19.5% Scottsdale / 243,528 / 0.7% / 12.0%% Sedona / 9,784 / 1.0% / (-5.7%) Show Low / 11,966 / 1.6% / 11.9% Sierra Vista / 45,851 / 0.9% / 1.6% Snowflake / 6,266 / 2.5% / 12.8% Somerton / 14,477 / 1.7% / 3.0% South Tucson / 4,603 / (-0.3%) (-16.4%) Springerville / 1,724 / 0.4% / (-10.8%) Star Valley / 2,526 / 1.5% / 9.1% Superior / 2,415 / 0.2% / (-12.9%) Surprise / 149,710 / 3.8% / 26.1% Taylor / 4,065 / 1.7% / 0.6% Tempe / 181,548 / 0.8% / 12.3% Thatcher / 5,332 / 1.4% / 8.0% Tolleson / 7,309 / 0.6% / 11.4% Tucson / 546,061 / 0.5% / 4.6% Tusayan / 614 / 1.8% / 10.7% Tombstone / 1,313 / 0.2% / (-3.0%) Wellton / 2,482 / 3.8% / (-11.5%) Wickenburg / 7,715 / 2.6% / 21.7% Willcox / 3,229 / 0.5% / (-11.1%) Williams / 3,384 / 4.9% / 13.4% Winkelman / 294 / 0.0% / (-14.3%) Winslow / 9,019 / 0.2% / (5.0%) Youngtown / 7,060 / 0.1% / 13.5% Yuma / 97,883 / 1.6% / 8.0%  Source: Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity

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Nadina Hassan doesnt recall needing to wend her way carefully through the sort of psychological and emotional minefields that confront the characters in the musical Mean Girls.

Based on the 2004 movie written by Tina Fey and starring Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams, Mean Girls centers on a trio of teenage girls who set themselves up as the arbitrators of whos in and whos out  those worthy of acceptance, and those doomed to the ignominy of insults chronicled in The Burn Book.

We really didnt have anything like that at my high school, said Hassan, who grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. But then, I really got involved in theater during middle school, and was doing several shows a year, either in school productions or with the community theater groups in town.

That commitment to a life in the theater has paid off, as Hassan is one of the leads in the national touring production of Mean Girls, which Celebrity Attractions will present at the Tulsa PAC Jan. 4-9.

Hassan portrays Regina George, the alpha female amongst The Plastics, as the trio of mean girls is called. However, Reginas position as the schools queen bee is challenged when a newcomer to school unknowingly disrupts the social fabric that Regina and her minions have carefully woven.

Fey adapted her screenplay for the stage, while her husband, Jeff Richmond, composed the musicals score. Nell Benjamin, who won a Tony for her work on Legally Blonde, wrote the lyrics.

Mean Girls opened on Broadway in August 2018 and was nominated for 12 Tony Awards, tying for the most nominations that year with SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical.

It also tied an unfortunate record as being the most nominated show not to win a single award (The Scottsboro Boys would also go 0-12 in 2011). The Broadway production closed in March 2020, in the wake of the first COVID-19 lockdown.

Hassan, who graduated from Baldwin Wallace College with a degree in musical theater in 2020, said Mean Girls was one of several shows for which she auditioned remotely.

I was doing these audition tapes in my bedroom at home and sending them out, she said. I was quite surprised when I got a call asking me to come to New York City and meet with the creative team.

It was kind of a surreal experience, to be in New York City during a pandemic and meeting with people that Ive idolized for years, Hassan said. But just a few days later, I got the call that I had the role, and I started rehearsals a few days after that. It was a very fast process.

Mean Girls had suspended its tour because of the pandemic, and the actress playing Regina was one of the few cast members who did not return when the tour started up again.

In the film, as well as in previous stage productions, Regina is usually played by a blonde. Hassan, who is of Colombian and Egyptian heritage, knows that she does not fit the image some people might have of the character.

I am so lucky to be able to play Regina, because its a tremendous role but also because its a way to show young women of color that standards of beauty are not set in stone, Hassan said. When I was younger, I was a huge fan of people like Liza Minelli and Barbra Streisand, but there were not a lot of people in musical theater that allowed me to see myself on stage.

Playing Regina is my way of showing young women of color that they can play these parts, and be in these kinds of shows, she said.

After all, Hassan said, someone like Regina George is not that different from anyone else  no matter what she might want others to think.

I see her as a very multifaceted character, Hassan said. She looks at people in a different way, and she tends to project her own insecurities on them, which is why she behaves the way she does.

She is very intelligent and calculating, which is how she is able to manipulate people, she said. But in the end, she comes to the realization that shes really just like everyone else  that we all have our own insecurities and issues, and that we all need to accept everyone for how they are.

What the Ale: Cabin Boys Brewery gets a grain silo

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Just about anything may wind up in Anita Fields art, but not without a good reason.

Her art, she said, is about being an Indigenous person in what I consider pretty chaotic times but finding inspiration from the worldview we have and have had for eons as Osage people.

Raised in the Osage traditions of her father, Fields displayed a knack for translating not only American Indian life but also thoughts and ideas into sculpture and other forms of art.

I wanted to make something with more of a narrative, and not just a beautiful object, she said.

Fields work is in the collections of Phoenixs Heard Museum, New Yorks Museum of Art and Design, the Smithsonians Museum of the American Indian and Arkansas Crystal Bridges, among others.

And, in 2021, she received a National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Fields 2022 figures to be eventful, too. Her Tulsa Artist Fellowship studio is jammed with bits and pieces of color, history and culture, some already integrated into works of art, others waiting to be.

One such item appears to be nothing more than a scrap of nylon netting, but turns out to be a piece of a tent left behind after the 2016 Dakota Access pipeline protests in South Dakota. On a table is a collection that incorporates images of old Indian agency files. Off in the corner is a dressmakers mannequin and a sewing machine.

I have these boxes where Ive been collecting things since I was like in my 20s, said Fields, who is now 70. I put it in a box thinking I may use them some day.

She doesnt just collect physical items, either.

My grandmother was full-blood Osage, and her and my aunties and their peers, (Osage) was their first language, Fields said. I grew up  listening to relatives speak Osage.

I pull in all of these different ideas and thoughts within my work.  And so language is certainly one of those. Language. Landscape. The idea of our original homeland. This movement that happened to us. It changed our culture so drastically.

Featured video: The Tulsa Worlds most memorable stories of 2021

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Tulsa Youth Opera will present Gian Carlo Menottis Amahl and the Night Visitors, with three performances at Trinity Woods Community Life Center (formerly Oklahoma Methodist Manor), 4134 E. 31st St.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 7, and at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 8.

Admission is free, but seats must be reserved, as COVID-19 restrictions limit the number of seats available. To register, and to donate to help support Tulsa Youth Opera: tulsaopera.com/amahl.

Amahl and the Night Visitors, for which Menotti wrote the score and the libretto, was the first opera written specifically to be shown on the then-burgeoning medium of television. Its debut performance was broadcast live Dec. 24, 1951, on NBC, which commissioned the work, and was the inaugural production of the long-running Hallmark Hall of Fame series.

The one-act opera tells the story of a young boy whose penchant for telling tall tales is a way to compensate for his physical limitations. When he describes to his mother the unusual star he saw in the sky, she dismisses it as another of Amahls stories.

Then, that night, there is a knock at the door, and Amahl and his mother find themselves hosts to a trio of kings, who ask if they could rest here on their journey to present a newborn child with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

In an essay that accompanied the original recording of the opera, Menotti wrote that the inspiration for the opera came from a visit to New York Citys Metropolitan Museum of Art, and memories of Christmas in his native Italy.

I had been commissioned by (NBC) to write an opera for television, with Christmas as deadline, and I simply didnt have one idea in my head, Menotti wrote. One November afternoon as I was walking rather gloomily through the rooms of the Metropolitan Museum, I chanced to stop in front of The Adoration of the Kings by Hieronymus Bosch, and as I was looking at it, suddenly I heard again, coming from the distant blue hills, the weird song of the Three Kings. I then realized they had come back to me and had brought me a gift.

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Natalie Wood staked out Elvis Presley.

The promoter turned a bigger profit than the Beach Boys at their first headlining gig.

The Rolling Stones feared for their lives, escaping an out-of-control gig by way of an overloaded helicopter.

A chicken-related accident led to free publicity for Alice Cooper and his heavy-on-theatrics shows.

Why was the Beatles final performance on a rooftop?

All is revealed in the new book Rock Concert: An Oral History as Told by the Artists, Backstage Insiders and Fans Who Were There.

Its a worthy exploration executed in interesting fashion by author Marc Myers, who relied on artists, concert organizers and others connected with the music industry to provide details and remembrances.

Rock concerts are only 70 years old  not very ancient in the grand scheme of things  so Myers tracked down eyewitnesses to history, including Oklahomas Wanda Jackson. The queen of rockabilly was interviewed about her career and the rise of Presley. They dated before he was the king.

Ill tell you this, Jackson said in the book. He was a good kisser, but I dont know what he looked like up that close. I had my eyes closed.

While on the concert subject, whats the best or most memorable concert you attended in Tulsa? The question was pitched to readers on social media forums and responses were selected to accompany this article.

Before checking those out, here are 10 appetizers that might motivate you to read Myers book about rock concert history.

1. Leon Russell

The book gives readers a backstage pass from the first rock concert in Los Angeles in 1951 to Live Aid in 1985 and significant events in between, including Woodstock and the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh. Tulsa music artists Leon Russell and Jim Keltner got mentions in the Concert for Bangladesh recap.

Two years later, Russell could have been among headliners at another historic concert, a Summer Jam at Watkins Glen that set a Guinness Book of World Records attendance mark. Jim Koplik said he and co-producer Shelly Finkel targeted the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers for the event.

We just needed a third act, Koplik said. We spoke to Leon Russell about doing it. Leon was all in, but then the Deads Jerry Garcia didnt want him for some reason. Instead, Jerry wanted The Band. He said he felt that Upstate New York was The Bands home and that it was only appropriate that The Band be on the bill. We didnt want more than three acts on the show, so Shelly had to call Leon and disinvite him. We paid him half what he would have gotten had he performed. This was before we even put tickets on sale.

2. Bob Dylan

Because Tulsa is a Dylan town (the Bob Dylan Archives are here), be aware that the book delves into the drama that led to Dylan plugging in and, shockingly, going electric rather than acoustic at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. It was the night that rock and roll became rock. Yes, theres a difference.

3. Chuck Berry

Berry came to Chicago in 1955 and was sent by Muddy Waters to Chess Records. Leonard Chess, co-founder of the label, listened to a tape with Berry singing a couple of songs. One of them was Ida Red, inspired by a Western swing record by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, the group responsible for turning Tulsas Cains Ballroom into the Carnegie Hall of Western swing. The label head didnt dig the country lyrics and urged Berry to rewrite the song. The result was Maybellene, an early rock and roll smash.

4. Natalie Wood

Among interview subjects: Barbara Hearn Smith, the first president of the Elvis fan club and a former Presley girlfriend.

Smith shared that Natalie Wood came to Memphis for a few days and seemed to have a crush on Presley.

She stayed at his mothers house. In the morning, Wood waltzed around in a negligee while workmen were there. From then on, Mrs. Presley didnt like her. Wood was too modern and sophisticated.

The next day, Presley visited Smith at her aunts house for about a half hour. The aunt left them alone.

When my aunt returned, she said, Natalie Wood was sitting out in front of the house on a motorcycle the entire 25 minutes he was here. At this point, I think fame confused and frightened him, especially as he became exposed to Hollywood.

5. Bonding through music

The book says rock concerts can be traced to R&B revues held in the Watts section of Los Angeles. Music began bringing young people of different races together for concert events. Word spread and disc jockey Alan Freed began playing R&B records in Cleveland. Rosa Parks once thanked Freeds son, Lance, for helping to desegregate the country through music. Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary talked in the book about taking part in the historic 1963 March on Washington.

In addition to Martin Luther Kings moving speech, musicians were performing in front of 250,000 people, Stookey said. The March on Washington performances redefined what an outdoor concert meant and could be. It would take another six years before musicians performed in front of 400,000 people at Woodstock.

6. The Beatles

Beatlemania was an accident. Tony Barrow, the Beatles publicist from 1962 through 1968, explains why in the book.

7. Woodstock and Altamont

The book digs into specifics about the myriad obstacles that had to be cleared to make Woodstock a reality in 1969. There were fears that the large crowd would grow fangs. Instead, the vibe was chill. Joel Rosenman, co-creator and co-financier of Woodstock, said he fell in love with his generation that weekend.

A few months later, jumbo-size concert events were dealt a black eye by what happened at the Altamont Free Festival in California.

The Altamont crowd turned violent. An out of control attendee was stabbed to death by a member of the Hells Angels, who were tasked with protecting the stage. The Grateful Dead pulled out before going on stage. The Rolling Stones were left to close the concert. Said Ethan Russell, a tour photographer for the Rolling Stones: Bill Wyman later said to me: The Rolling Stones have been scared maybe only two times. Altamont was one of them. Because you knew you could die. You knew. It was clear.

8. Origin stories

The book includes many origin stories. How did Cameron Crowes career begin? Whats the story behind the Rolling Stones logo? Why does AC/DCs Angus Young wear a schoolboy uniform? How did Bill Waltons love affair with the Grateful Dead begin?

9. The Wall

The book said the 1980s began with the most spectacular and costly rock concert to date  Pink Floyds The Wall Tour.

Wrote Myers: The industry had grown to a point where no matter what you imagined, there were niche companies that could pull it off. A giant wall that goes up onstage and tumbles down at the end? Surreal large-scale inflatables hovering over the audience? A surround-sound speaker system? A plane slamming into a wall? No problem. Pink Floyds The Wall had all of that and more.

The Wall was, said rock journalist Dave DiMartino, a game-changer. Roger Waters name-dropped Woody Guthrie when talking about the social statements that were infused into the tour.

10. Live Aid

The book ends with a recap of Live Aid, a benefit concert that raised funds for famine relief in Ethiopia. The event was broadcast for 16 hours from stadiums in London and Philadelphia. Phil Collins hopped a Concorde and played at both locations. Myers wrote that Live Aid was perhaps the last spectacular rock concert before ticket prices climbed significantly and concert revenue, not albums, became the leading moneymaker for rock artists.

Leon Russell statue installed at Church Studio

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Sure, there were people along the way who told him he was crazy.

But Scott Meyers never took it personally.

Besides, for every naysayer, he said, there was somebody else who wished they could join him.

It was a lot of fun to see peoples reactions as we went town to town, he said.

A Tulsa doctor and longtime boating enthusiast, Meyers recently achieved a major nautical milestone, completing a 6,000-mile trip around the network of rivers, canals, lakes and ocean known as the Great Loop.

And he did it in an unlikely vessel: a tritoon.

Its a type of pontoon, which is really a lake boat, Meyers said. Its not really designed for ocean-going.

Joined by friends and family members for stretches of the journey, Meyers traveled the route, which spans 15 states and provinces in eastern North America, in stages over four years.

He finished the final stage, the longest at 3,200 miles, this year.

Altogether, Meyers completed the Loop in 34 days.

About 150 boaters start the Great Loop each year, but less than 10% ever complete it, he said. And of those who do, its usually in boats designed for long-distance cruising.

Fewer than five have done it in a pontoon, which is smaller and more vulnerable to weather, Meyers said.

It was the story of one of them, he added, that inspired him to try.

He was a retired Marine, and I heard about it and it kind of motivated me. Also the speed (of a pontoon) was appealing  I was able to do 150 to 200 miles a day, he said.

Which was important because my goal was to get this done and still keep my job, laughed Meyers, a dermatologist who has his own surgical practice.

The Great Loop route includes the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, Chesapeake Bay, the New York State Canals, the Great Lakes, the Mississippi and a number of inland rivers, and the Gulf of Mexico.

You just get a boat and choose a spot to start, Meyers said. If you travel the entire route back to where you began  crossing your wake, as we say it  we call that completing the Loop. And thats something special.

Effing nuts!

Meyers started out his trip solo. But for big stretches he was joined by others, including his colleague Andre Santos and nephew Joel Debrosse.

For part of this years trip, Meyers daughter Lauren also was at his side.

At their many stops on the route, the Pontoon Loopers, as they dubbed themselves, inspired memorable reactions, Meyers said.

Once, when they had some boat trouble, a boatyard owner who helped them out couldnt believe his eyes.

He never sees boats like ours and joked about it, Meyers said. When we told him we were doing the Loop on it, he said You guys are effing nuts! We all got a laugh about it, and he fixed us up fast. Were still friends.

There were a couple of times, though, when Meyers thought he might regret his choice of vessels.

Once, crossing Lake Michigan when the sea was rough, a big wave collided with the boat, damaging the bimini top.

It was an adrenaline-overload moment, he said. Fortunately, nobody got hurt.

But for the most part, the trip was smooth.

As they went along, the companions enjoyed opportunities to fish. And there was no shortage of breathtaking sights, Meyers said.

This years concluding stage started from Southport, North Carolina, traveling up the Atlantic Coast and crossing three Great Lakes.

Once Meyers hit the Mississippi River, he was in the home stretch.

From there, he hung a left at the Ohio River, traveling up it to reach his destination: Kentucky Lake, the place where he started four years earlier.

When you go over the water where it all began, theres a great sense of accomplishment, he said.

How people experience the Great Loop is up to them, Meyers said.

Retirees often will get a big boat, live on it and take a couple of years to travel the route. Meyers first learned about the Loop, he said, from some Tulsa friends who did it that way.

With the COVID-19 pandemic and a desire to get outdoors, the Great Loops popularity has seen a boost, Meyers believes.

Most people I talked to had never heard about it, he said. But now it seems more people are buying boats and starting the trip.

An article earlier this year by National Geographic has also raised awareness. It described the Loop as the epic U.S. adventure youve never heard of.

Meyers has led an active life. He ran the 100th Boston Marathon in 1996 and completed a Half Iron-Man triathlon.

But what made the Loop different from all previous undertakings, he said, was the lasting bonds forged.

When I started out, I was thinking of it almost like a sabbatical, like some people will take from work, and also about proving something to myself, Meyers said.

It was that. But by the end it was more about the relationships wed formed, and a renewed love and appreciation for my family.

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A leaky shipment of kerosene got too close to a wood-burning stove and burst into flames in the back of Gillettes General Store on Dec. 5, 1897, creating one of the biggest disasters in Tulsa history.

The fire quickly spread to nearby buildings along the east side of Main Street, where volunteers had nothing but wet blankets and buckets of water to fight the flames. In desperation, they even tore down two wooden buildings that hadnt been damaged yet, hoping to create a fire break. But the flames jumped across the gap and eventually consumed roughly half the business district.

J.M. Gillette had given up farming to open the store a couple of years earlier with business partner P.L. Price, who sold saddles in the same building, which had been one of the first stone structures in Tulsa.

The fire inspired him to change professions again, and Gillette became a real estate developer, with Whittier Square east of downtown being one of his earliest projects.

His biggest mark on Tulsa, however, was going to be a 13-story Art Deco hotel with an extravagant golden ballroom on the top floor. Along with financier H.C. Tyrrell, Gillette hired architect Edward W. Saunders to design an overtly flashy landmark with cream-colored terracotta and narrow vertical piers running up the side of the building to emphasize its height.

Construction started in 1929 on the northeast corner of Fifth Street and Boulder Avenue. Then disaster struck again.

Gillette lost most of his fortune in the Black Tuesday stock market crash, and the project stopped with only three stories finished.

Called the Pythian Building, it has been known best in recent years for Lasalles New Orleans Deli, one of the most popular lunch spots in downtown Tulsa. Until recently.

Like Gillette himself, owners Chris and Amanda West were looking for new opportunities after a terrible disaster. The couple fled New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and originally opened their Cajun restaurant in 2014 on South Boston Avenue, where the line often stretched out the door at lunchtime.

The Pythian Building offered a larger space in 2016, but the lines only got longer as downtown workers seemed to have insatiable appetites for muffalettas, po boys and gumbo.

Then disaster struck yet again.

COVID-19 left a lot of commuters working from home. And since the virus hit Oklahoma nearly two years ago, downtown lunches simply havent been as crowded.

LaSalles closed two days before Christmas.

We tried everything we could to keep our doors open, the Wests said, but in the end, the pandemic has just outlasted our financial resources.

Gillette stayed in Tulsa and found a way to prosper again after losing his first business. Lets hope the Wests do, too.

Video: Tulsa Worlds memorable stories of 2021.

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As Steve Higgins remembers it, he was 11 or 12 when his parents gave him a Rolling Stone Record Guide.

This was the early 1980s, an age of AC/DC, Prince, The Police and a rising little Irish band called U2, but an unfamiliar name caught Higgins eye.

This guy Bob Dylan, every one of his records had five stars, Higgins recalls.

Thus began a fascination that promises to reach new heights in 2022, when the Bob Dylan Center opens in Tulsas Arts District.

Higgins gave up a high-level career in corporate communications to devote the past four years to the center. Officially, his title is managing director of the American Song Archives, which encompasses both the Dylan and Woody Guthrie centers.

My job is making sure we have the resources and the organization in place to operate both the Woody Guthrie Center and the Bob Dylan Center, he said.

Higgins might be called a quintessential Tulsan. He went to Nathan Hale High School and the University of Tulsa, and he had climbed well up the corporate ladder at Williams, a Tulsa institution unto itself.

But when he heard that Dylans archives were coming to Tulsa, he knew he wanted to be part of it.

It was not accidental; it was very intentional, Higgins said.

He got to know the people at the George Kaiser Family Foundation, which was responsible for acquiring the collection, and others involved in the project and made himself useful as a volunteer. In 2017, he was offered his current position.

Higgins four years of work are expected to come to fruition May 10, with the public grand opening of the Dylan Center.

The focus of the Bob Dylan Center is on this idea of restless creativity in the creative process, Higgins said. Its really encompassing of all genres and types of artists, with Bob Dylan the thread that runs through the whole thing.

Featured video: The Tulsa Worlds most memorable stories of 2021

People to Watch 2022

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Campaign quandary: The contest for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination has created an interesting situation for many Black Tulsans.

Generally, they support Democrats, but at this point the Democrats have no viable candidate for the general election. That leaves them largely bystanders in a decisive Republican primary they view with some alarm.

Black leaders have at times clashed with incumbent James Lankford, but they have also acknowledged his willingness to work with a community that doesnt support his party and that could even be a liability in the current climate.

But challenger Jackson Lahmeyer is even less palatable to most Black leaders. He seems to equate activism with domestic terrorism and calls attempts to communicate African American perspectives divisive. Some observers, regardless of race, think his statements cross the line.

Last week, state Rep. Monroe Nichols, D-Tulsa, and Black Wall Street Times founder Nehemiah Frank got into a bit of a Twitter war with Lahmeyer.

After Lahmeyer chastised the Young Republicans for a Happy Kwanzaa tweet, calling it an embarrassment and Kwanzaa itself a fake Holiday created by a whacko (sic) who hated Christians, Nichols responded by tweeting, This is one pastor that I can say with 100% certainty has never talked to or been called on by God. His ... religion is one of division, intolerance and deceit.

Nichols then suggested Lahmeyer and his followers consult Matthew 7:15-20, which warns of false prophets.

Through Twitter, Frank told Republicans that Lankford is the conservative whose values align with your values.

Laymeyer, he said, is too culturally incompetent and distracted with going after the African American community to lead effectively.

In an email last week to supporters, Lahmeyer blasted Nichols and Frank and said the defamation and conspiracy lawsuit against his close associate Clay Clark is a badge of honor.

Franks semi-endorsement of Lankford should be a prime reason to vote for Lahmeyer, the e-mail said.

Missing reports: Lankford and fellow Republican Josh Hawley of Missouri accused the U.S. Department of Homeland Security of intentionally withholding two required reports out of concerns that this report would complicate the conversation around the Plan C amnesty proposals in the Democrats partisan reconciliation package.

By some estimates, the proposal would make around 7 million people now illegally in the country eligible for legal residence and eventually citizenship. It is in the reconciliation bill passed in December by the U.S. House of Representatives, but the Senate parliamentarian has ruled it out of order three times for that chambers consideration under reconciliation.

Lankford and Hawley are most upset about a report on the number of people in the country with expired visas. The two senators said the report was delivered to other committees but not Homeland Security, where both are members. They said copies obtained from other sources show 585,000 overstayers.

The pair also want to know why Homeland Security has not delivered a report, due Nov. 30, on the vetting of Afghan evacuees.

Employment: The number of unemployed Oklahomans fell in November while the states total workforce grew by about 6,000, causing Oklahomas unemployment rate to shrink to 1.9%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said.

The BLS said the unemployed  those seeking jobs  dropped just below 35,000, a decrease of about 2,700 from November.

The Tulsa metros workforce grew by about 1,500 as the unemployment dropped to 2.0%.

A separate survey of business payrolls reported small job gains in November for Tulsa and statewide and significant improvement from the same month a year ago.

Elevating: One of U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofes most vexing problems, the massive failures of the U.S. Navys $13.3 billion carrier the U.S. Gerald R. Ford, seems to be clearing up. Bloomberg reported the ship is finally ready for training and operations after the last of 11 Advanced Weapons Elevators, which moves ordnance from below-deck magazines to hangars and flight decks, became fully operational.

Inhofe, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, has fussed for years about the Fords delays, cost overruns and malfunctions.

I recognize the extraordinary effort that it has taken to finish all 11 of these elevators, but this effort should not have been necessary, Inhofe told Blooomberg.

Inhofe said the carrier was six years late and $2.8 billion over budget.

The Gerald R. Ford is the first of four new carriers in the same class ordered by the Navy.

Meetings and events: The Heart of the Party, the Tulsa chapter of the Federation of Democratic Women, will hear a panel discussion on issues related to last summers Vista Shadow Mountain Apartments situation during a 6:30 p.m. Monday meeting at Baxters Interurban, 717 S. Houston Ave.

The Vista Shadow Mountain Apartments were closed by city officials last summer after they were deemed unsafe, leaving hundreds of people homeless.

The Tulsa County Democratic Party will meet at 10 a.m. Jan. 15 at East Central Junior High School, 12121 E. 21st St., to discuss next months Tulsa Board of Education elections and to knock doors for specific candidates.

Dots and dashes: The Oklahoma Democratic Party condemned state legislation by Rep. Jim Olsen, R-Roland, seeking to ban the 1619 Project from public schools, colleges and universities. ... Edward Ted Jones, a Louisiana state representative, was tapped by the Biden administration to head the Small Business Administrations District 6, which includes Oklahoma. ... Oklahoma Congressmen Frank Lucas and Tom Cole were among a group of agricultural state lawmakers requesting the U.S. State Department allow South African farm workers to travel to the U.S. under the H2-A visa program.

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Jahaziel Hiriart is like a lot of people who call Tulsa home.

When I moved here (11 years ago), I thought Ill be close to my family for two years, and then Ill move back to Texas, Hiriart said. Im a big city girl. But I hear over and over again from people who planned to be in Tulsa just a couple of years and finding themselves here decades later.

The thing about Tulsa is that there are a lot of hidden treasures, she said. Once you find them, you realize how special this place is.

Hiriart (pronounced Hee-ree-art) grew up in northern Mexico, near Monterrey. Her name, Jahaziel (Ha-zee-elle), is the Spanish version of a Hebrew name meaning Held by God, chosen by her parents in the belief she would be a boy.

When I came out a girl, my dad was like, No ones going to know, its such a bizarre name, lets just keep it.

The family eventually moved to Texas and then to the Tulsa area to be near Hiriarts brother and his wife and children. Hiriarts parents, both teachers, have since returned to Texas, but she stayed and has earned a masters degree from Oklahoma State University and is working on a Ph.D. in education from Oral Roberts.

Known as Jazi (Ha-zee) to her friends, Hiriart is network director of the Oklahoma Partnership for Expanded Learning at The Opportunity Project, a nonprofit that coordinates after-school and summer programs for kids. Shes also involved in a range of volunteer activities, including the Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice, Tulsa Honor Academy, Tulsa Global Alliance and even a salsa dance group.

And, shes always on the lookout for one of those hidden treasures.

I just found out we have a laita music band, she said. Its a very specific kind of Latin music.  Thats what makes Tulsa special, that we have a lot of great, interesting things going on. But you might not necessarily know until you find it hidden somewhere.

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Cherokee Nation Attorney General Sara Hill thinks maybe the dust is beginning to settle from the U.S. Supreme Courts 2020 McGirt v. Oklahoma decision.

I hope were at the acceptance phase of the process, Hill said.

The McGirt decision effectively shifted a good deal of criminal jurisdiction and responsibility from the state to tribal and federal courts in eastern Oklahoma. Potentially, it could have broader implications, as well.

Hill, as the top lawyer for the states largest tribe, is responsible not only for defending the Cherokee Nations position on McGirt against attacks from Gov. Kevin Stitt and his administration, but also for implementing expansion of the tribal judicial system to accommodate an exponentially larger case load.

I went from one full-time prosecutor to eight full-time criminal prosecutors, in addition to all the support staff and investigators that go along with that, said Hill. In 2019 we prosecuted 60 to 65 cases. Were getting ready to file our 3,000th case this year.

Were comfortable that were making good progress, Hill said. Every day, as people go from thinking about problems to solutions to the challenges that arise, its getting easier.

Hills 18-year career as a lawyer for the Cherokee Nation, from new University of Tulsa law school grad to AG, spans a time of great change for Oklahoma tribes. She arrived at tribal headquarters just before State Question 712 opened the door for tribal gaming in the state, which in turn led to tremendous growth in tribal revenue and influence.

Stitt, through state Attorney General John OConnor, is trying to rein in that growing power by asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse McGirt.

Hill doesnt think it will.

If you look at the court cases over the last 30 or 40 years, there is a pattern, Hill said. Oklahoma argues the tribes have no jurisdiction  in something. Theres a court case where the tribes successfully assert they have do jurisdiction  Oklahoma reacts to that very negatively.

But eventually, she said, the state accepts reality and everybody begins to work together to figure out how to make things better for all Oklahomans.

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Tulsa is an extraordinary city.

The Gathering Place, the Arts District, the Market District, Bixby and Owasso: having moved to Washington, D.C., in 2011, and returning a few months ago to Tulsa, the city where I grew up, is to be startled by the growth and ambition of my childhood home.

Without a doubt, Tulsa is moving in the right direction. And it is defying broader demographic trends to do so.

Today, 40% of Americans live within 50 miles of the ocean; nearly 70% of Americans live within 50 miles of an international border. Interior cities like Tulsa have usually struggled and often failed, unless blessed with the good fortune of being a state capitol, which provides a stable base of employment that cannot decamp to California, Mexico, or China. Without this advantage, Tulsa is nonetheless making it.

Much praise is due to city leaders.

But work remains if Tulsa is going to be a truly thriving 21st century city.

Tulsa has grown only modestly over the last decade. The bulk of this growth, according to research done for the Tulsa Regional Chamber of Commerce, comes from the surrounding rural counties  like Muskogee County (the largest source of migration into Tulsa) and Cherokee and Payne counties (the next largest sources).

These arrivals are on average less educated than the current Tulsan. To put some numbers on that, in 2017, roughly 27% of new migrants into Tulsa held a bachelors degree or higher, while 45% of adults moving to Dallas had a four-year degree or higher, and 40% percent of adults moving to Kansas City were similarly qualified.

More notably, in every year since 2013, there has been a net outflow of college graduates from Oklahoma. Indeed, each year our state loses more college graduates to other states than the University of Oklahoma or Oklahoma State University award bachelors degrees.

And the problem is seemingly getting worse.

Data on this has only been kept since the year 2000, but the worst five years of net outflow of Oklahoma college graduates has been in the last seven years. While the best data is kept only for the Oklahoma City area, the Tulsa Regional Chamber of Commerce has noted a similar out-migration of the college-educated from this city over the last few years.

Should the citys focus, therefore, be on getting more Tulsans into degree programs? Yes, absolutely, and I often hear this hope expressed by city leaders.

Producing more college graduates is a contribution to the good of American society. But, alas, it may not be a contribution to the good of Tulsas society.

Tulsas universities can try to produce more young people with college degrees, but the citys challenge today is that it just cant keep those graduates here or even in the state!

We should have no illusions that this effort alone, while worthwhile, will transform our city.

To build a strong Tulsa that not only retains but recruits educated young people, we really need a strong academic research effort, which will be the key node in an innovation network. This network will bring educated young people to Tulsa.

This has been the tried and tested path of cities like Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which is today home to some of the leading companies in the world like Oracle, Disney, Uber, and Google. These companies were not lured to Pittsburgh by tax incentives, but by the need to be near Carnegie-Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh.

You cant raise your average educational attainment by producing people with college degrees who promptly move to Dallas. We need to be like Pittsburgh or, for that matter, Dallas, and be a draw for highly-educated workers  an importer of talent. And that means university research and development.

A different and more provocative way of thinking about this is: Tulsa doesnt need its universities to only produce labor; it needs its universities to produce ideas that can be a magnet for labor.

If Tulsa is to be truly successful, I believe that the University of Tulsa, the only research institution in northeast Oklahoma, must be the catalyst. Whether TU can live up to this requirement is my task to show and only time will tell. But a lot more is riding on the outcome  at least in my mind  than the fate of the university alone. We all have a stake in TUs success.

Brad Carson is the University of Tulsa president, former two-term U.S. congressman for Oklahomas 2nd District, former under secretary of the U.S. Army and member of the Tulsa World Community Advisory Board. Opinion pieces by advisory board members appear in this space most weeks.

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Brad Carson is the University of Tulsa president, former two-term U.S. congressman for Oklahoma's 2nd District, former under secretary of the U.S. Army and member of the Tulsa World Community Advisory Board. Opinion pieces by advisory board members appear in this space most weeks.

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Under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, manual laborers in the suburbs of Ho Chi Minh City were left stranding without sufficient earnings.

Now that the city has been reviving, they are determined to make up for the lost income by working overtime and taking up side jobs.

They hope to be financially prepared before the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday.

As the lunar year is coming to an end, many manual laborers in Saigon, or Chi Minh City, are burning the candle at both ends.

Some juggle several jobs to make up for their financial losses from the coronavirus ordeal.

They simply hope to save up a small amount to prepare for the coming Tet holiday, which starts at the beginning of February.

To the Vietnamese people, Tet is a significant event when family members can get back together, especially for people working far away from home.

Money is necessary for this celebration as people generally do their New Year shopping, buy presents for family members, and give lucky money to little children.

Taking up more work as the year ends

Ngo Van Phuong, originally from An Giang Province, now resides in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City.

He used to work for a ride-sharing mobile app as a driver.

Before the pandemic hit, he could earn VND700,000-800,000 (US$30-35) every day from dawn till dusk.

In July, however, Phuong and other drivers fell out of work when the city was in lockdown.

Thuy Trang, Phuongs wife, was a blue-collar worker at Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City.

Her job came to a standstill for months following the social distancing policy as the pandemic struck.

Her employer announced that they would support their staff with an unemployment incentive when their premises could reopen.

At that time, we considered moving back to our hometown in Kien Giang Province, but we have been working in Ho Chi Minh City for years, she said.

Now there is nothing in our hometown for us, so wed rather wait for our chances.

This couple contracted the coronavirus in August, just like the other tenants in their rented place.

We got sick. We lost our income. We didnt know when the pandemic would be over, said the wife.

We could not even think about the Tet holiday.

At the beginning of October, the city began to revive, which meant people could finally get back to work.

Phuong switched to being a full-time shipper for a shipping company.

Through his relations, he found another job as a delivery worker for goods coming from overseas.

For this extra work, he spends 2-3 hours every morning.

For the rest of the day, I work for a mobile app and deliver stuff to users, he said.

With this work, he is earning as much as the income before the pandemic, with all costs calculated.

His wife, similarly, has been working over hours since October. She received the promised compensation from her employer and is looking forward to the financial incentive for the coming Tet holiday.

Besides, she has opened an online shop selling face masks via Facebook.

The sales from this small business are modest, but the total income from different sources is rather good for a Lunar New Year break with her family members and relatives.

D. Ngan, a resident of District 7, Ho Chi Minh City, shares a similar story. She has also been doing multiple jobs as a way to end the year 2021.

Originally coming from Dong Thap Province in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, Ngan works primarily for the marketing department of a university.

She is also a freelance content writer for e-news websites.

Tran Van Minh works as a driver for the day and has his own snack stand for the evening. He hopes to save up before returning to his hometown with his parents. Photo: Dieu Qui / Tuoi Tre

Ngan is one of the 1.3 million Vietnamese citizens who suffered an income loss in January-September due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

For the months of lockdown and social distancing in Ho Chi Minh City, Ngan worked for merely half the previous salary.

To this 25-year-old woman, it was fortunate to remain employed in such a period and to have some savings from before to cater for herself. Since Ho Chi Minh City began to live with the virus in early October, her income has become stable.

I havent heard about any Tet bonuses, but every year we should receive some according to the law, she said.

Ngan has kept herself extremely busy as a way to prepare for the coming holiday break.

The year-end months are the right time for boosting my income by doing different jobs, she said.

It is not too hard in my line of work to seek a freelance position, so I try to make time for extra money.

Its a little tough, though.

It takes me 10-12 hours a day for my full-time job, and the rest of the day I get to do some other tasks to make some more.

I have to try hard to make up for the losses during the pandemic.

Her plan is to come back to her hometown about three days before the Tet holiday begins. Despite her reduced income, she is confident that she can still do some good shopping for the Tet festivities.

East or West, home is best

Unemployed for four months, Tran Van Minh from District 4, Ho Chi Minh City has got his plate full as Tet approaches.

The man yearns for a reunion with his parents, but is concerned now that his hometown in Binh Phuoc Province, around 100km away from his current whereabouts, is witnessing a rise in the number of coronavirus infections.

We all have got two vaccine doses, Minh said.

I hope that for the coming weeks, the number of cases will go down and I can make some more before heading back home.

Prior to the coronavirus health crisis, he was a waiter for a seafood restaurant with a handsome salary, enough for himself and for supporting his parents.

In June, the man got his final monthly pay before his employer closed permanently.

Minh is among 1.3 million unemployed members of the workforce in January-September, according to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam.

As his savings were running out, he decided to seek some new job and had to borrow here and there.

In early October, this 26-year-old man once considered going back to his hometown for a new beginning, but he had second thought and stood his post in the city.

Recently, he has registered as a driver for a ride-sharing mobile app.

I can earn enough to live with, but now that too many people are doing this job, I dont really save a lot after covering petrol cost, vehicle maintenance, and daily meals, he said.

For the last two months, he has been running a snack stand selling fish balls at the front of his rented house during the evening hours, while the day time has been dedicated to his driving job.

The earnings from the side work are unstable from day to day, but at least they give him a bit more income.

For this forthcoming Tet, Minh does not have enough to do any fancy shopping for himself. He will, however, have his motorbike serviced, for it is his means of work.

He will also ride his bike back to his parents. To him, Tet is the best chance for a get-together after half a year away from home.

He hopes to spend more time with his parents now that they are aging.

Le Thi Thao is a peddler in Binh Thanh District. She has also been trying her best to save up for a reunion with her two children.

She left Binh Dinh Province in south-central Vietnam for Ho Chi Minh City five years ago.

Her income stalled for the months of social distancing. This prompted her to send her children back to her parents.

As peddling has been allowed, she is determined to compensate for it. Instead of ending her daily wandering at 9:00 pm or 10:00pm as before, now she keeps on until midnight.

To this 37-year-old mother, what matters is the social stability after the pandemic hit so that she and others can be back to their hometown for Tet.

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Here are todays leading news stories:

COVID-19 Updates

-- Vietnams Ministry of Health documented 14,835 COVID-19 cases on Saturday, raising the countrys tally to 1,746,092, with 1,358,276 recoveries and 32,610 deaths.

Society

-- A 24-year-old man who was under the influence of alcohol set his house on fire following an argument with his mother in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang on Friday, police confirmed on Saturday. There were no casualties but damage was estimated at VND100 million (US$4,380).

-- Twenty-one traffic accidents occurred across Vietnam on the first day of 2022, killing 15 people and injuring 12 others, according to the national committee for traffic safety.

-- Police confirmed on Saturday they had arrested five members of a pickpocket gang targeting patients at the Ho Chi Minh City Heart Institute. The gang had stolen about VND18 million ($787) from three victims so far.

-- Authorities in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap on Saturday inaugurated a 2.2-kilometer street whose construction cost VND477 billion ($20.8 million).

-- Authorities in the northern province of Yen Bai have initiated the construction of a VND1.9 trillion ($83.1 million) road stretching 69 kilometers to connect Yen Bai, Son La, and Lai Chau Provinces.

Lifestyle

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism organized a ceremony at Tan Son Nhat International Airport on Saturday to welcome the first visitors to the city in 2022.

Sports

-- Thailand secured a record sixth Southeast Asian title after a 2-2 draw with Indonesia in Saturday's second leg of the Suzuki Cup final earned the War Elephants an emphatic 6-2 aggregate win, Reuters reported.

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Ho Chi Minh City has announced a five-step medical process for air passengers from abroad for early detection of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus after five recent cases of entry that were initially found positive for the strain but retested negative shortly after.

The municipal administration issued the process on Saturday as the city had become the third location to record such Omicron cases, after Hanoi and central Quang Nam Province with 15 confirmed cases in total.

According to the protocol, people entering Vietnam from abroad through Tan Son Nhat International Airport must first register their personal QR code by installing the PC-COVID app on their smartphone and using it for registration.

Otherwise, they are required to make such registration at https://antoan-covid.tphcm.gov.vn.

The airport authority should arrange a separate area with full equipment for passengers to create their personal QR code upon arrival.

In order to save time, passengers are encouraged to the code in advance of departure for Vietnam, local authorities said.

In the second step, passengers will undergo a rapid COVID-19 test upon their arrival, and those found negative will continue other procedures to leave the airport while those with positive results will have their samples taken for real-time RT-PCR testing.

These cases must be immediately reported to the local Center for Disease Control, which will coordinate with 115 Emergency Center to take the patients to Field Hospital No. 12 in the citys Thu Duc City.

In the next step, nobody is allowed to accompany arrivals from abroad in the same vehicles that bring them from the airport to their accommodations, except for their drivers and interpreters, if any.

All epidemic prevention measures must be complied with during the transport, with the vehicles discouraged from stopping along the way.

The fourth step will see local authorities confirm the presence of arrivals from overseas by scanning their QR code as soon as they reach their residence, and they are required to self-monitor their health and make health declarations using the PC-COVID app.

Pursuant to current rules, international arrivals who are fully vaccinated or those having recovered from COVID-19 for no more than six months are put in home quarantine for three days upon entering Vietnam.

If they have received no vaccination or been partially inoculated, a seven-day isolation period is applied.

If the quarantined are minors or aged 65 and over, pregnant women, or people with underlying health conditions, they may be accompanied by a caretaker who has been fully vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19 for no longer than six months.

In the final step, quarantined people will have their samples taken for real-time RT-PCR tests, and district health centers will manage them through the website of the citys COVID-19 Safety Information Portal by using login accounts granted by district administrations.

Those with negative results will be monitored until the end of the 14th day after their entry dates, while those found positive will be taken to a designated field hospital and their samples will be sent to the Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute for genome sequencing to detect the Omicron variant.

This medical protocol was released after the said five Omicron cases were detected among the passengers entering Vietnam through the southern citys Tan Son Nhat International Airport from overseas between December 21 and 25.

They were a 29-year-old Turkish woman, who is a flight attendant, and four Vietnamese, including two men and two women aged 22 to 49, according to the Department of Health.

The five had their nasal swabs collected for testing on December 26 before the results came back positive for the Omicron variant on December 31, as their genome sequencing had been conducted by the Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute, the department said.

They retested negative for the mutant on Saturday, the department said, adding that their health conditions were stable.

The first Omicron infection in the Southeast Asian country was confirmed on December 21 in a Vietnamese man who returned to Hanoi from the UK two days earlier.

The central province of Quang Nam on Thursday became the second locality affected by the new variant with 14 infections logged on November 30. All these cases are Vietnamese who returned from the U.S. and South Korea.

The Omicron mutant, a.k.a. the B.1.1.529 variant, was designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a variant of concern on November 26, two days after it was first reported to WHO by South Africa.

Omicron has now been found in over 110 countries and territories, with health experts stating it appears to be more contagious but less virulent than previous strains.

As of Saturday, Vietnam had documented 1,746,092 COVID-19 cases, with 1,358,276 recoveries and 32,610 fatalities, the health ministry reported.

Health workers have administered more than 152.2 million vaccine doses since vaccination was rolled out nationwide on March 8.

By the last day of 2021, 90 percent of Vietnams adult population, or around 75 million people, had received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, while 100 percent had been given at least one shot, according to the Vietnam Government Portal.

The health ministry has called on all localities to make more efforts to complete the coverage of second-vaccine doses for children aged 12 to 17 in January.

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Vietnams Ministry of Health recorded 16,948 COVID-19 cases across the nation on Sunday, alongside 14,420 recoveries and 221 fatalities.

The latest infections, including 34 imported and 16,914 domestic transmissions, were reported in all 63 provinces and cities, the ministry said, noting that 11,948 patients were infected in the community.

Hanoi logged 2,045 of the newest local cases, Hai Phong City 1,804, Vinh Long Province 1,280, Tay Ninh Province 946, Binh Phuoc Province 782, Khanh Hoa Province 780, Ca Mau Province 619, Hai Duong Province 545, Bac Ninh Province 403, Ho Chi Minh City 384, Thua Thien-Hue Province 350, Can Tho City 293, Lam Dong Province 240, Quang Ninh Province 219, Da Nang 202, Ha Giang Province 148, Binh Duong Province 145, Dong Nai Province 139, Quang Nam Province 127, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province 72, and Quang Binh Province 55.

Vietnam had detected 14,822 domestically-acquired infections on Saturday.

The country has confirmed 1,757,254 community transmissions in all its 63 provinces and cities since the fourth virus wave erupted on April 27, 2021. A combined 1,369,879 of them have recovered from COVID-19.

Ho Chi Minh City has been hit the hardest with 504,197 patients, followed by Binh Duong Province with 290,921, Dong Nai Province with 98,060, Tay Ninh Province with 77,002, Hanoi with 49,833, Dong Thap Province with 44,726, Can Tho City with 41,436, Long An Province with 40,462, Khanh Hoa Province with 34,570, Tien Giang Province with 34,030, An Giang Province with 32,961, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province with 26,496, Binh Thuan Province with 26,133, and Da Nang with 11,579.

Vietnam detected merely 1,570 locally-transmitted infections in total in the previous three waves.

The health ministry confirmed 14,420 recovered patients on Sunday, taking the tally to 1,372,696.

The toll has spiked to 32,831 deaths after the ministry documented 221 fatalities on the same day, including 41 in Dong Nai Province, 30 in Ho Chi Minh City, 17 in An Giang Province, 16 in Vinh Long Province, 15 in Can Tho City, 15 in Dong Thap Province, and the remainder in 19 other provinces and cities.

Vietnam has found 1,763,040 patients since the COVID-19 pandemic first hit the country in early 2020.

Health workers have given above 152.8 million vaccine doses, including 592,352 shots on Saturday, since vaccination was rolled out nationwide on March 8 last year.

More than 77.7 million of the countrys 98 million people have received at least one dose while over 69 million have been jabbed twice.

The number of third doses  including additional primary shots for immunocompromised people, boosters, and third jabs of Cubas Abdala vaccine  has increased to 6,036,280.

By the last day of 2021, 90 percent of Vietnams adult population, or around 75 million people, had received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, while 100 percent had been given at least one shot, according to the Vietnam Government Portal.

Many provinces and cities are immunizing children aged 12-17 against COVID-19, using Pfizer-BioNTech shots.

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A young woman from Lao Cai Province, northern Vietnam has died of an anaphylactic reaction hours after receiving her second Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

The deceased woman was P.S.M., a 23-year-old resident of the Dao ethnic group in Sa Pa Town, Lao Cai, the provincial Department of Health confirmed on Sunday.

M. received her first shot of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on November 21 and did not experience any side effect.

The woman got her second dose at around 3:30 pm on December 30.

Health workers had examined her health and concluded that she was qualified to receive vaccination.

M. was also required to remain at the vaccination site to have her condition monitored following the inoculation.

She began experiencing fatigue, chest tightness, difficulty breathing, stomachache, and nausea about 30 minutes after getting the second dose.

Health workers gave her first-aid treatment in accordance with the Ministry of Healths guidance before taking her to Sa Pa General Hosptial.

Despite doctors efforts, M. passed away at the hospital at 9:00 pm the same day.

Following the incident, Lao Cais health department established a council to determine the cause of M.s death.

The council stated that all steps of the vaccination process as well as the transport and storage of the vaccine were done according to Ministry of Health regulations.

An advisory panel later concluded that the woman died of anaphylaxis.

Five other people were injected with the vaccine from the same vial as M. that day, and all of them have been in normal health, according to Lao Cais health department.

Nearly 30,000 people in Lao Cai Province have received the shots from the same vaccine batch, the agency continued, adding that no one suffered anaphylaxis aside from M..

As of Saturday, Vietnam had documented 1,746,092 COVID-19 cases, with 1,358,276 recoveries and 32,610 deaths.

Above 77.6 million of the countrys 98 million people have received at least one dose while over 68.8 million have been jabbed twice.

The number of third doses  including additional primary shots for immunocompromised people, boosters, and third jabs of Cubas Abdala vaccine  has topped 5.7 million.

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The first patient carrying the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in Vietnam has been released from hospital after two weeks of treatment, the Hanoi-based 108 Military Central Hospital reported.

After being monitored for 14 days without showing any COVID-19 symptoms, the patient, H.M., was discharged on Sunday in normal health conditions following a negative test result, the hospital said the same day.

The man returned to Hanoi on a flight from the UK on December 19 and was found positive for COVID-19 through a rapid test performed at Noi Bai International Airport.

After being hospitalized, he underwent a real-time RT-PCR test and the result returned positive.

Health experts conducted genome sequencing on M. on December 20 and suspected that the man was carrying the Omicron variant.

After one verification step taken the following day, doctors and scientists officially confirmed that M. was infected with the strain.

The man had been treated in a separate quarantine area to ensure no transmission to others, doctors said.

After his discharge, the hospital has closely coordinated with his family to continue monitoring his health conditions at home.

Following Hanoi, central Quang Nam Province was the second locality affected by the new variant with 14 infections announced on December 30.

Like the case in Hanoi, these patients, returning from the U.S. and South Korea, had no COVID-19 symptoms and were in normal health, the provincial health authorities said.

Twelve of the cases are being quarantined and cared for at hotels while the two others are being monitored at a hospital.

Ho Chi Minh City came third with five arrivals from abroad that were initially found positive for the strain but later retested negative.

These arrivals, including a Turkish woman and four Vietnamese, entered Vietnam through the southern citys Tan Son Nhat International Airport on flights from December 21 to 25.

The five had their nasal swabs collected for testing on December 26 before the results came back positive for the Omicron variant on December 31, as their genome sequencing had been conducted by the Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute, the department said.

They retested negative for the mutant on Saturday, the department said, adding that their health conditions were stable.

First reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by South Africa on September 24, the Omicron mutant, a.k.a. the B.1.1.529 variant, was designated by WHO as a variant of concern two days later.

The variant, which health experts stated appears to be more contagious but less virulent than previous strains, has now been reported by over 110 countries and territories, according to WHO.

Vietnam, with a population of around 98 million, had documented 1,746,092 COVID-19 cases, with 1,358,276 recoveries and 32,610 fatalities, since the pandemic hit the Southeast Asian nation in early 2020, the health ministry reported.

Health workers have administered more than 152.2 million vaccine doses since vaccination was rolled out nationwide on March 8, and 90.4 percent of the countrys adult population had received two vaccine shots by January 1, the ministry said.

The agency has called on all localities to make more efforts to complete the coverage of second vaccine doses for children aged 12 to 17 in January.

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Authorities in Yen Bai Province, northern Vietnam have kick-started the construction of a VND1.9 trillion (US$83.1 million) road stretching 69 kilometers to boost local connecticity and tourism.

The groundbreaking of the project was organized by the Yen Bai Peoples Committee on Saturday.

Spanning 69 kilometers, the route will connect the section of National Highway No. 31 in Mu Cang Chai District, which is home to scenic terraced rice fields in Yen Bai Province, with Noi Bai-Lao Expressway, which links Hanoi to Lao Cai Province.

The new road is aimed at boosting connectivity in Yen Bai, Son La, and Lai Chau Provinces and contributing to the development of local tourism.

The project costs VND1.9 trillion ($83.1 million), which is funded by the state budget, Tran Xuan Cuong, director of Yen Bais management board for traffic construction, stated, adding that the construction will last for about 35 months.

This is the most expensive traffic project to be approved by the Yen Bai Peoples Committee, said chairman Tran Huy Tuan.

The administration will continue encouraging local residents to hand over their land to make way for the project implementation.

The groundbreaking of the project is organized in Yen Bai Province, January 1, 2022. Photo: Vu Tuan / Tuoi Tre

If the site clearance process is complete, the road will be finished earlier than scheduled, chairman Tuan elaborated.

Yen Ban has classified tourism as an important economic sector with great potential, provincial Party chief Do Duc Duy told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, adding that the province is famous for its natural landscapes, ecological environment, biodiversity, and the cultural identity of local ethnic groups.

Tourism development requires improvement in traffic infrastructure to boost connectivity and attract more visitors, Duy continued.

Local authorities prioritize projects that connect popular destinations, namely Mu Cang Chai District, Thac Ba Lake, Nghia Lo Commune, and Muong Lo Valley.

Residents have been willing to hand over their land for the implementation of several key projects over the past years, the official added.

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A former senior civil servant in charge of Brexit planning has warned some British businesses may give up importing as a result of new rules implemented in the new year.

Philip Rycroft, who was permanent secretary at the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) between 2017 and 2019, said the changes that came into play on January 1 will cause teething problems, with some sectors hit harder than others.

The news comes as Boris Johnson vowed to maximise the benefits of Brexit in 2022.

The Prime Minister, marking a year since the post-Brexit free trade deal with the European Union came into force, said the Government would go further and faster to take advantage of the enormous potential that our new freedoms bring.

But with the introduction of new barriers to trade with the bloc, Mr Rycroft said some businesses may decide it isnt worth the hassle.

Former senior civil servant Philip Rycroft said new trade rules with the EU will cause teething problems (Gareth Fuller/PA)

The changes in place from January 1 mean that importers must make a full customs declaration on goods entering the UK from the EU or other countries.

Traders are no longer able to delay completing full import customs declarations for up to 175 days, a measure that was introduced to cope with the disruption of Brexit.

There are separate provisions in place for trade with the island of Ireland.

Mr Rycroft told BBC Radio 4s PM programme the new rules might be too much for some companies.

The Federation of Small Businesses reckon that only about a quarter of their members are ready for this, which is a bit surprising in a way because theyd obviously had a lot of notice that this is coming, he said.

But lets not forget, theyve had a pretty torrid year, most businesses, with Covid and everything else, so a lot of businesses wont be ready.

POLITICS Brexit

There will be teething problems but the big question is, how many businesses ultimately think: Do you know what? This is just too much hassle, and give up importing? Just as some businesses have already given up exporting because its not worth it.

Story continues

He added: Businesses exporting to the EU from the UK have already faced these rules, obviously, for the best part of a year. So its now going to be those businesses in the UK that import from the EU (that) have got to deal with this, essentially, new Brexit bureaucracy.

This is what taking back control of our borders means. It will hit some sectors harder than others. The rules are more complicated for animal products, in particular food products that contain bits of animals, because of all the requirements around that.

Rules on country of origin documents have also become marginally stricter, with declarations needing to be made when goods arrive here.

Mr Rycroft said this will be really complicated for certain products that contain lots of different bits or ingredients.

Asked if the country is likely to see rising prices or empty shelves, he said: I wouldnt overdramatise it. I think at the margins there are new costs, which will ultimately have to be borne by the consumers.

So HMRC reckon that the total cost of these new systems will be something like 13 billion a year  thats a lot of money by any token spread across a big population like the UK, of course, thats modest increases in costs through the supply chain.

But at the margins also therell be some businesses, as I said previously, (who) think: Do you know what? This isnt worth the hassle. So there will at the margins be a reduction in choice as well.

This is why the Office (for) Budget Responsibility reckons that the net impact of this deal on our wealth as a country will be to reduce it by about 4% in the medium term.

Thats because trade between the UK and the EU will be a lot less free than it was when we were in the single market.

The DExEU closed in January 2020, with Brexit negotiations now handled by the Foreign Office.
Protesters march during a rally against military rule following last month's coup in Khartoum

KHARTOUM (Reuters) -Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said on Sunday he was resigning, six weeks after returning to his post in a deal with military coup leaders he argued could save a transition toward democracy.

Hamdok, who had failed to name a government as protests continued against the military takeover in October, said a roundtable discussion was needed to produce a new agreement for Sudan's political transition.

"I decided to give back the responsibility and announce my resignation as prime minister, and give a chance to another man or woman of this noble country to ... help it pass through what's left of the transitional period to a civilian democratic country," Hamdok said in a televised address.

The announcement throws Sudan's political future even deeper into uncertainty, three years after an uprising https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sudans-political-strife-2022-01-02 that led to the overthrow of long-time leader Omar al-Bashir.

An economist and former United Nations official widely respected by the international community, Hamdok https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/sudans-abdalla-hamdok-2022-01-02 became prime minister under a power-sharing agreement between the military and civilians following Bashir's overthrow.

Ousted and placed under house arrest by the military during a coup on Oct. 25, he was reinstated in November.

But the deal for his return was denounced by many in the civilian coalition that had previously supported him and by protesters who continued to hold mass demonstrations against military rule.

RISK OF 'DISASTER'

On Sunday Hamdok said he had tried in vain to forge a consensus between deeply divided factions that would have allowed for the completion of a peace process signed with some rebel groups in 2020, and the preparation of elections in 2023.

"I have tried as far as I am able to spare our country the danger of slipping into disaster," Hamdok said. "Despite all that was done to bring about the desired and necessary agreement to fulfill our promise to the citizen of security, peace, justice and an end to bloodshed, this did not happen."

Story continues

In the latest rallies on Sunday, hours before Hamdok's speech, security forces fired tear gas at demonstrators in Khartoum as protesters marched toward the presidential palace.

At least three people were killed, bringing to 57 the death toll in protests since the Oct. 25 coup, a doctors' committee aligned with the protest movement said. Six died and hundreds were injured in nationwide demonstrations on Thursday.

The military has said it will allow peaceful protests, and will hold to account those found responsible for violence.

Among the economic reforms Hamdok oversaw were the removal of costly fuel subsidies and a sharp devaluation of the currency.

Those enabled Sudan to qualify for relief on at least $56 billion of foreign debt and a long-running economic crisis had shown signs of easing. The coup put the debt relief deal in doubt and froze extensive Western economic backing for Sudan.

On his return as prime minister in November, Hamdok said he wanted to preserve the economic steps taken by the transitional government and halt bloodshed after rising numbers of casualties from the crackdown on protests.

(Reporting by Nayera Abdalla, Sarah El Safty, Nafisa Eltahir and Khartoum Bureau; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Mark Porter and Daniel Wallis)
The estate of longtime Central Texas law enforcement officer Truman Simons has hit the online auction block, with items to be sold including firearms, badges, Western art, antique furniture, saddles and tack, bronzes by Frederic Remington, handcuffs, a horse trailer and a 2016 Toyota Tundra pickup.

Garner & Associates, Auctioneers opened the auction Tuesday at www.RonnieGarner.com and will continue to accept bids through Jan. 11.

Simons, credited with solving the 1982 Lake Waco triple murders, died in late October at age 78. His pursuit of those responsible for the brutal deaths of Jill Montgomery, Raylene Rice and Kenneth Franks at Speegleville Park was showcased in Carlton Stowers 1986 book Careless Whispers.

The book later served as inspiration for a made-for-television movie. David Wayne Spence was executed for his involvement in the murders, while brothers Gilbert and Anthony Melendez died in prison serving life sentences. Muneer Deeb was sent to death row, had his conviction overturned on appeal, and was acquitted by a Fort Worth jury.

Garner & Associates general manager Krista Henkelman said it is not unusual for bidders from around the world to get involved in sales the company hosts.

She said one of several items of note is a signed landscape that convicted serial killer Henry Lee Lucas painted while in prison. His criminal life, which included bogus claims he murdered more than 600 people, became the subject of a Netflix documentary. Lucas died in prison in 2001.

Another potentially popular item in Simons estate is a Colt Python .357 Magnum handgun, which he was pretty proud of, Henkelman said. She would not estimate what the entire estate might bring at auction.

Simons worked for the Waco Police Department and later the McLennan County Sheriffs Office under Sheriff Jack Harwell. He reportedly pulled double shifts, working as a deputy during the day and a jailer at night, giving him the opportunity to talk with and gain the trust of Spence, who was jailed on an unrelated case.

Fimfo building permits

Northgate Resorts continues to collect building permits for a massive $25 million campground near Lake Shore Drive and North 19th Street, along the Bosque River. Camp Fimfo will open in spring or summer 2022.

Just recently, a permit valued at $1.6 million was issued for a multi-level waterplay structure with interactive toys and small water slides, according to a description provided by the local Associated General Contractors of America office.

Camp Fimfo also will sport a general store, shower facilities, bike rentals and RV spaces, among other amenities, Northgate has revealed.

Locals on Forbes Next 1000

A pair of local business owners appear on the Forbes Next 1000 list, which features entrepreneurs of relatively modest means who have succeeded due to infinite drive and hustle, the magazine states.

Those making the list were nominated by someone and screened by top business minds and entrepreneurial superstars, according to Forbes.

Eduardo Garcia, of Waco, owns an ice cream shop at North 15th Street and Colcord Avenue called Helados La Azteca. He followed that success with a coffee shop next door that also serves pastries.

Garcia learned how to run an ice cream shop from his father, who opened the original La Azteca to introduce Mexican-style ice cream to Waco, Texas, his entry on the list says. In 2019, Garcia expanded the business, opening a second location, as well as a Mexican coffee shop and bakery called Lalos.

His recognition goes beyond the mention in Forbes. The Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce honored him with its Under 40 award, which acknowledges the contributions of younger entrepreneurs.

Lalos and La Azteca both do business in commercial space redeveloped by the nonprofit Mission Waco.

Also appearing on Forbes list are the husband-and-wife team of Li and Jaja Chen, who in 2018 founded Waco Cha, a premium boba tea company based in Waco, Texas, with the mission of creating a diverse community through quality boba tea beverages and Taiwanese and Chinese food, Forbes reported. Waco Cha has 3,000 customers, including Baylor University.

Waco Cha does business at 1001 Franklin Ave.

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As many prepared to party through New Years, the newest COVID-19 variant continued its rapid spread through McLennan County and childrens hospitals statewide reported more COVID-19 cases among kids.

The Centers for Disease Control is reporting high rates of COVID-19 transmission across the country. In McLennan County, the active case count spiked over the course of just two weeks from 229 to 1,804 as of Thursday, the most recent count available.

As of Thursday, the local testing positivity rate had held at 32% for three days, and 57 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized, Waco-McLennan County Public Health District reported. The pace of new cases per day, with a rolling 7-day average of 240, was up from just 34 two weeks earlier and higher than at any point before the wave caused by the delta variant last summer.

Ascension Providence and Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest published a joint statement reporting an increase in the number of patients coming for hospitalization and intensive care.

The omicron variant is the most contagious strain we have seen yet, and the increase in cases is putting further stress on hospital staffing, the statement says.

The health care providers urge people to reserve their emergency rooms for emergencies, and to call either 211 or 877-541-7905 to find local testing sites. 211texas.org lists sites as well.

We urge the community to help us and each other by getting vaccinated, getting boosted, distancing and wearing a mask, Ascension Providence spokesperson Kathy Hadlock wrote in the statement.

During a press conference Wednesday, Dr. Mary Suzanne Whitworth, medical director of infectious diseases for Cook Childrens in Fort Worth, said the hospital had 29 COVID-19 patients, up from eight patients the previous week.

The vaccine, for children that are fully vaccinated, is excellent, so their chances of winding up in the hospital or being severely ill with COVID if theyre vaccinated, even with the omicron, are very low, Whitworth said. But even for those that are vaccinated, they still can catch a cold- or flu-like illness from omicron.

Whitworth said in an ideal world, children and school employees would return from their winter break vaccinated and remain masked and spread out as much as possible.

I think theres been good data (showing) that schools can be safe, Whitworth said.

She said she still expects holiday gatherings to drive the statewide positivity rate higher, given the experience with the delta variant, which did not cause case counts to rise as quickly as omicron has.

Whats different this time is that it is a surge with a vertical slope, Whitworth said, referring to the slope of a graph showing new cases over time. Thats what they saw in South Africa, thats what they see nationally. Its a vertical climb in the number of cases, and that translates into increased hospitalizations for us.

The Texas Department of State Health Services reported 85% of test samples analyzed in the state to determine the specific virus variant are the omicron variant.

Obviously, were still encouraging vaccination if you havent been vaccinated, said Stephanie Alvey, the Waco-McLennan County Public Health Districts emergency preparedness coordinator. If you have been vaccinated, were strongly encouraging boosters.

Alvey said gathering in large, unmasked groups in close proximity with others has not stopped being dangerous since the pandemic started, and the rapid increase in cases is an indication of omicrons even more contagious nature.

COVID is obviously spread through respiratory particles, which includes aerosol droplets, and those exist in human breath, Alvey said. The louder you speak or do things like singing or yelling, youre going to produce more of those respiratory particles.

The virus in the current surge is continuing to spread more quickly among people younger than 50 compared to older adults who are more likely to be vaccinated, but Alvey said it is still too early to tell if omicron is more likely to spread among children specifically.

Alvey said of the 414 cases reported in McLennan County on Wednesday, 97 patients were in their 20s, 76 were in their 30s and 72 were between the ages of 11 and 19. People in their 40s accounted for 54 cases, and 89 of the cases were in people 50 and older. Another 20 were in children between the ages of 1 and 10, and six cases were in children younger than 1.

Alvey said weekly reports have not included demographic information this past week or the week before because the public health district has been running on a skeleton crew during the holidays. She said the demographic analysis will return either this week or the following week.

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WARTBURG  Chef Jami Dare brought a plate of freshly baked cookies to her job interview at Wartburg College.

That was a first, recalled Marty Johnson, director of dining services at Wartburg College. My mom baked them, so I cant take credit for that, said Dare.

What she can take credit for is building a resume of education, experience and accomplishments that impressed her interviewers and led to her appointment as the first female chef of dining services at the college. Dare arrived on campus just in time for her first major public function  preparing menus and dinners for Christmas with Wartburg.

I was working with seasoned professionals who helped me, so it was a team effort, Dare said, who is returning to the Cedar Valley after 20 years. There will be plenty of other special events, including preparing special menus for the Board of Regents, as well as a range of departmental functions and special events Dare will be involved in, but shes particularly excited about feeding Wartburg students at Mensa, the colleges dining hall.

Hiring a professional chef is part of Wartburgs strategic plan, Johnson said. A part of the plan is how to educate students through food and culture. A Mensa demonstration kitchen is being completed on campus in the Centennial Hall remodel slated for completion in fall 2022.

Im really excited to reach the students through food. You can bond and accomplish a lot through food, said Dare. In addition to menu planning and other duties, the chef hopes to bolster vegetarian and vegan offerings, provide more selections for students with food allergies and add more international cuisine to the menu.

Shes also looking forward to cooking demonstrations. I want to show students that made-from-scratch meals dont have to be complicated and that even in a dorm, you can prepare food that is delicious and better for you than Ramen noodles, Dare explained.

The chef grew up near Hudson and graduated in 1995 from Dike-New Hartford High School. She earned a degree in electronic communications from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls in 2001.

But cooking has always been her first love. I get easily bored with jobs. Once I master something, I start looking around at other interesting things to try. But cooking has always been a source of joy. I enjoy experiencing and exploring international cuisines, baking and pastry, Dare said. I began to rethink my goals.

She became a world traveler, which fed her desire to learn more about cooking techniques and the skills needed to become a professional chef. Eventually she landed in New Orleans were she enrolled in the New Orleans Culinary and Hospitality Institute.

Dare honed her skills at several New Orleans restaurants, including The Elysian Bar, Domenica and Commanders Palace, the No. 1 restaurant in the Big Easy and where Emeril Lagasse was executive chef for many years. Owner Ti Martin is on the NOCHI board. She advised Dare and invited her to intern at Commanders Palace.

Jami was that student you dream of, with those bright, inquiring eyes. She had that intellectual curiosity that is a must. She wanted to know everything in the kitchen and in the classroom, Martin said.

Her hard work and talent put her at the top of her class in all the ways we measure and all the ways you cant measure  the passion, the dedication, that above-and-beyond extra effort. Those things will pay off as much as her cooking ability. When Hurricane Ida hit, she was right there helping NOCHI feed hundreds of thousands of people. There she was, right in the thick of it, as usual. Sometimes the future stars are very easy to pick out. Jami sure was, Martin said.

Dare and her husband, Donald, a retired Marine with 24 years in service and a native of the Illinois side of the Quad Cities, owned a successful bar and grill in New Orleans. Then the Dares were hit hard with a double whammy  a COVID-forced lockdown and Hurricane Zeta.

We began wondering if we were wasting our lives, Dare recalled. Then she learned about the opening at Wartburg College. My dad lives in Waverly, so it seemed like the universe was giving us a sign. It was a blessing, so I applied for the job. Everyone was so gracious and kind.

Martin is both proud and not the least bit surprised that Jami returned to Iowa as a college chef.

She has put in the work. She has developed her natural leadership abilities. But Jami is just getting started. Yall just watch, Martin added.

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The front-page feature story chronicling the travels of Dave Miglin in Mondays Courier (Iowan visits all cities, towns in state in 5 years) was an absolute gem. Im a retired newspaper editor, but even I am known to scan headlines without reading entire stories. This one was irresistible. I devoured every paragraph.

It is clear that Iowa is on track to lose a lot of its small incorporated towns and cities. That reality made Miglins quest seem poignant. There is no way to stop the trend weve been witnessing in this state for the past several decades.

Farms are becoming larger and fewer. Populations are in transition. When marginal communities enter into irreversible downward spirals, they lose their churches, their hospitals, their business districts and their schools. The grief is palpable when these vital institutions disappear. But the greater loss for these communities is their younger generations. Our major metropolitan areas, and even our healthy college towns, along with a few dozen robust county seat cities will do just fine. Its the small towns that will disappear.

I used to believe we could save all of our small communities if we simply made the right moves. Im no longer convinced of this. Like an aging parent or a beloved senior citizen whose years are numbered, we need to help our dying communities decline with grace and dignity. We can reverence them by honoring their memory. Short of a miracle, we cannot sustain them for the long term.

I think all Iowans owe a debt of gratitude to Dave Miglin for his five-year pilgrimage, visiting every incorporated community in our state. We also owe a debt to the Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism  IowaWatch for crafting the story, and to the Courier for devoting precious front-page space to share it with readers in the Cedar Valley.

Michael Sherer is a retired newspaper editor. He lives in Waverly.

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Kyle Rittenhouse had been declared guilty by a biased press and leftist politicians months before the case reached the courtroom. Immediately following the verdict, President Biden let us know it made him angry and concerned. Progressive media and politicians followed suit asserting a miscarriage of justice. Very little review or analysis preceded these misleading comments and coverage.

The trial tested the limits of nuance. Many questioned Rittenhouses motivations and youthful judgment. Some speculated that the district attorney had overcharged the case. The case was characterized as being about white supremacy, ignoring the obvious  the defendant, victims, and other participants were white.

Numerous statements from the judge seemed to indicate inappropriate antics by the prosecutors, while some pro-conviction observers accused the judge of bias. Actions by the victims and defendant were uniformly violent. Although buried in those nuances, the case clearly came down to whether Kyle Rittenhouse acted in self-defense.

Ultimately, the verdict didnt deliver what aggressive progressives had presumed and demanded. Rather, assisted by a massive volume of video evidence and witness testimony, the jury reached clear-headed, rule of law conclusions. They understood both the evidence and the applicable law.

A guilty verdict would have required ignoring the evidence or the law. Self-defense is a legitimate defense, not a license to kill as some claim. Would critics of the verdict prefer that the law be ignored? They claim Rittenhouse stormed across state lines with an illegal weapon and began his hunt. In fact, he spent the night in Kenosha as he often does because his father lives there, and he had often worked there.

Opponents of the verdict would have us ignore the reality of 2020 America. Legitimate demonstrations deteriorated into rioting, looting and destruction. Too often, law enforcement was ordered to stand down by indecisive, obviously fearful political leaders. This lasted for months and continues today in some jurisdictions. In city after city, businesses and citizens knew their best security and law enforcement alternative was to rely on themselves, their friends, and those they could recruit.

This was one of many American protests that deteriorated into violence. Protection of property is what Rittenhouse was recruited for, and what he thought he was getting into that night. His naive choices came with honorable intentions, but nevertheless he was drawn into a dangerous situation. Using his legal firearm, he killed two white rioters who threatened, pursued, and attacked him. Thats what the evidence clearly showed. The jury bravely concluded it was self-defense and acquitted Rittenhouse.

To those who believe there was a faulty verdict I ask: What made this a racist white supremacy event as you claim? Do you view as virtuous the violence and destruction that precipitated this event? What laws did Rittenhouse break? What facts would you have asserted as justification for a murder charge? What made the verdict unjust? Does your thirst for a murder conviction continue despite the evidence?

This wasnt vigilantism. Rather, what happened that night resulted from confused and fearful politicians standing in the way of proactive law enforcement. Weve experienced almost two years in which violent and destructive crime has been legitimized. Thankfully, this verdict moves us a step away from that, and its something we can build on.

The Rittenhouse acquittal encourages taking more steps down the pathway to renewed partnership between proactive law enforcement and the judicial process  a clear victory for the rule of law.

Steve Bakke is a Courier subscriber living in Fort Myers, Fla. He is a retired CPA and commercial finance executive.

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As an ordained minister I envision starting a new religious school in anticipation of a U.S. Supreme Court decision. Taxpayers would help fund it.

In Corson V. Makin last month, the plaintiffs argued that Maine, which provides vouchers for secular private schools, must provide similar funding for religious education.

That resounded with the six court conservatives and voucher proponents.

It would mock the 1947 landmark decision in Everson v. Board of Education: No tax in any amount  can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions  or whatever form they may adopt to teach or practice religion.

It would mock Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Their Virginia Bill of Rights (predating the U.S. Bill of Rights) opposed taxes paid to and attendance required at the state-sponsored Episcopal Church.

Iowa Republicans wary of public schools teaching facts might enact vouchers for religious schools.

But beware of unintended consequences. As Jefferson wrote, religious freedom includes the Jew, the Gentile, the Christian, the Mahometan, the Hindoo, and infidel of every denomination.

As an ordained Universal Life Church minister (for $9.95), I can officiate at baptisms, weddings and funerals. I may start a religious school.

QAnon lurks as a competitor  one in four Republicans, 12% of independents and 7% of Democrats are aligned with it. Pollster Robby Jones declared, It would be as big as all white evangelical Protestants or all white mainline Protestants.

QAnon emerged in 2017 as a supposed federal employee with high-level Q security clearance. He soon migrated to the 8chan and 8kun sites operated in the Philippines by Army veteran Jim Watkins and his son, Ron.

Jim Watkins was featured in a 2016 Splinter piece, Meet the man keeping 8chan, the worlds most vile website, alive, extolling Hitler, racism and misogyny. After the Army sent him to computing school, Watkins had co-founded The Asian Bikini Bar porn site, exploiting a loophole in Japanese censorship.

The Watkinses claim to be the only people to have a Q behind-the-scenes dialogue. Theyre very close. In HBOs Q: Into the Storm, Ron Watkins described his baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election: It was basically three years of intelligence training, teaching normies how to do intelligence work. It was basically what I was doing anonymously before, but never as Q.

QAnon and Co. stories are often perverted Hollywood variations. Its motto, Where we go one, we go all, is a ripoff from Ridley Scotts 1996 movie, White Squall, where its emblazoned on a ships bell.

QAnon adherents claim the bell was on John F. Kennedys yacht, Honey Fitz, and JFK Jr.., a 1999 plane crash victim, will be Donald Trumps 2024 running mate, exposing the elite cabal.

JFK Jr., though, failed to show in Dallas in November as predicted. Scott still has the bell.

QAnons failed pronouncements aside, adherents maintain their faith. If they start erecting schools, the U.S. Supreme Court may make us help pay for them  and mine.

Saul Shapiro is the retired editor of The Courier, living in Cedar Falls.

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Q: Could you please print Joe Manchins mailing address? We would like to send him an approval letter.

A: You can reach Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, at 306 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510. His office phone number is (202) 224-3954.

Q: I see where the government made a mistake and paid corn farmers $3 billion more than they deserved. Are the farmers going to have to repay that money, or will the government just let them keep it?

A: The Government Accountability Office report on the overpayments did not recommend trying to claw back any of the money.

Q: What happened to Jackie Kennons leg on KCRG?

A: Jackie Kennon replies: Nothing wrong with my leg  its just a little strap I use to put the microphone on. Thanks for checking!

Q: In the movie The Merry Widow with Lana Turner and Fernando Lamas, I was wondering if they did their own singing and dancing in it.

A: In the 1952 romance/musical, Lana Turners singing voice was dubbed by Trudy Erwin, but she was known as a superb dancer. Lamas, well known for his singing and dancing, did his own singing and dancing.

Q: What percentage of votes does it take in Congress to change the Constitution?

A: To amend the U.S. Constitution, both the House of Representatives and the Senate have to approve a joint resolution by a two-thirds vote. But thats not the end of it  then three-fourths of the state legislatures have to approve the amendment.

Q: Which is the oldest branch of the military service?

A: The U.S. Army. It was formally founded by the Second Continental Congress in June 1775, soon followed by the U.S. Navy and then the Marines. The forerunners of the modern Coast Guard date to 1789 and 1790. The U.S. Air Force didnt come into being until the 20th century.

Q: What is pulled pork?

A: Its pork thats been cooked slowly for a long time until its so tender that it can be easily pulled apart or shredded.

Q: What is the incubation time for wild mallard duck eggs?

A: Wildlife sites say its usually between 27 and 30 days.

Q: How big was Shaquille ONeal when he was born?

A: According to his book, Shaq Talks Back, Shaquille ONeal was 7 pounds, 11 ounces when he was born on March 6, 1972.

Q: Why are flushable wipes so bad for the septic system?

A: Google search results turned up a number of national reports where plumbers said the wipes do not disintegrate as fast as toilet paper and can clog pipes. Manufacturers of flushable wipes disagree.

Q: Where did Dr. Lee on Dr. Pimple Popper get her medical degree?

A: According to Wikipedia, Sandra Siew Pin Lee of the hit TLC show graduated in 1998 from Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia and completed her dermatology residency at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. Lee now lives in Upland, California, with her husband, fellow dermatologist Jeffrey C. Rebish, and works at Skin Physicians & Surgeons in Upland.

Calls are taken on a special Courier phone line at 234-3566. Questions are answered by Courier staff.

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Weather Alert

...WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM TO 8 PM PDT MONDAY... * WHAT...West winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 55 mph expected. Locally stronger gusts in wind prone locations. Sierra ridge wind gusts near 100 mph. Waves 2 to 4 feet on area lakes. * WHERE...Greater Lake Tahoe Area, Greater Reno-Carson City- Minden Area and Western Nevada Basin and Range including Pyramid Lake. * WHEN...From 11 AM to 8 PM PDT Monday. * IMPACTS...Gusty winds could blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result. Small boats, kayaks, and paddle boards will be prone to capsizing and should remain off lake waters until conditions improve. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Choppy conditions for Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake with waves 2 to 4 feet possible. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Now is the time to secure loose outdoor items such as patio furniture, holiday decorations, and trash cans before winds increase which could blow these items away. The best thing to do is prepare ahead of time by making sure you have extra food and water on hand, flashlights with spare batteries and/or candles in the event of a power outage. &&
I regret I must take exception to the premise Dr. Douglas Binder suggests in the Dec. 6 Solutions Section of the Journal comparing the potential eradication of SARS-CoV2 (COVID-19) to the eradication of smallpox. I heartily agree his urging people to get vaccinated is right on the mark. However, there is a very long row to hoe to get to the eradication of SARS-CoV2. Today, the challenge of eradicating SARS-CoV2 is nothing like the eradication of smallpox.

The term eradication means there is no transmission of a pathogen worldwide. Smallpox is the only human pathogen ever to be eradicated. It was done through a military-like global effort to find and vaccinate 90% of the worlds population. Importantly, the smallpox vaccine is stable, can be stored in a common refrigerator, cases are easily recognized, and both natural and vaccine-derived immunity lasts at least five years without a booster. Each contributes to the potential for eradication. Importantly, we have been trying to eradicate polio since 1988, but, even though good vaccines exist, it persists in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and vaccine-derived polio infections continue to occur frequently in many other countries. Only one other disease, Rinderpest, a viral infection in cows, had been eradicated. And, for the most part, I believe cows are more manageable than humans.

Eradication is not easy and the term should not be used lightly. I tell my undergraduate learners never to use the term eradication in class, but rather control  i.e. knock down the transmission of the pathogen until the disease is no longer a public health problem. Why? Because, just like Ian Malcolm famously stated in Jurassic Park, Life finds a way.

In order for SARS-CoV2 to be eradicated, vaccines must be highly effective for all mutations  witness the worries about the omicron variant today; vaccines must be available to all the worlds population. High-income countries hoard the lions share of vaccines and 100 million doses will likely expire by the end of the year. Vaccine acceptance must be universal  anti-vax sentiments are strong and persistent, and at least 80% of the worlds population must be fully vaccinated. Only about 8.4% of people in low-income countries are vaccinated with at least one dose and only 6% of all of Africa is fully vaccinated. Given the low rates of vaccination in low- and middle-income countries where approximately 85% of the worlds population lives, eradicating SARS-CoV2 is not in the cards and more variants are to be expected, hopefully with lower virulence.

So, the message is clear. Dont think about eradicating SARS-CoV2, but rather limiting transmission, preventing illness and death, and expanding full vaccination to 80% or more for the entire worlds population. If we control SARS-CoV2, it will likely morph into an endemic disease, such as the flu and the common cold, which have a usual prevalence and circulate continuously in the population.

Finally, remember what Dr. Donald A. Henderson, former dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and the father of smallpox eradication said so eloquently in 1998: In looking to the future, however, I believe it is critical that we should not be blinded to a range of new public health program paradigms by staring too fixedly at the blinding beacon of a few eradication dreams.

Victor K. Barbiero is an adjunct professor of global health at George Washington University.
CHICAGO  The year of 2021 ended as one of the most violent on record in Chicago, as a rise in the number of shootings left more people dead than in any single year in a quarter century, according to statistics released by the police department on Saturday.

According to the department, 2021 ended with 797 homicides. That is 25 more than were recorded 2020, 299 more than in 2019 and the most since 1996. And there were 3,561 shooting incidents in 2021, which is just over 300 more than were recorded in 2020 and a staggering 1,415 more shooting incidents than were recorded in the city in 2019.

Other cities have also seen an increase in the number of homicides. But Chicago, as it has in previous years, ended 2021 with more homicides than any other city in the United States, including New York and Los Angeles, both of which had recorded at least 300 fewer homicides than Chicago for the year as of late December, according to police data from those cities.

We all know this has been a challenging year here in the city of Chicago, Police Superintendent David Brown told reporters at a news conference earlier this week. Too many families are reeling from the loss of (loved) ones due to senseless gun violence.

Brown said the bulk of the homicides are the result of conflicts between rival gangs.

He has tried to highlight some positive statistics when discussing the monthly crime figures and he continued to do so with the release of the end-of-the-year statistics.

He said, for example, that the department cleared 400 homicides  a total that was higher than in any year in nearly two decades. Saturdays news release did not specify how many of those cleared homicides were committed in previous years but reported that the clearance rate for the killings was just under 50%.

The department, which says it takes more illegal weapons off the street than any other local police force in the United States, said that it took a record 12,088 guns off the street in 2021. That total coincided with the creation of a Gun Investigations Team that has focused on interrupting the flow of illegal guns into the city.

Brown, who came under scrutiny by some members of the City Council and others as the death toll mounted, said that he hopes to increase the number of detectives investigating violent crimes from 1,100 to 1,300 during the first few months of this year. And he said his goal is to reduce the caseload for detectives from about five to three cases per detective.

He also said the department hopes to recruit more new officers this year, and said, There will be more officers on the street, not just in patrol cars or behind desks, to interact with all Chicagoans.
Police initially believed a man had overdosed Friday afternoon in a home near Downtown Albuquerque but an autopsy later found a gunshot wound beneath his hair.

Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque police spokesman, said homicide detectives are now investigating the mans death.

He said officers responded around 4:40 p.m. to a home in the 1000 block of Maggies NE, near Mountain and Broadway, after friends reported seeing the man unconscious through a window. He said police got into the home and found the man dead.

Gallegos said officers cleared the call as a possible overdose based on statements from the friends and not being able to determine a possible cause of death on scene. He said the Office of the Medical Investigator later discovered through a large amount of hair that the man had a bullet hole in his head.
As a little girl, Joanna Keane Lopez remembers forming clay animals from mud.

Today, she creates adobe sculpture from clay.

Adobe walls sparkle in the sun, with its rays catching mica chips that glitter like stars. Lopez turns this ancient home-building material into geometric works of art.

SITElab15: Joanna Keane Lopez: Land Craft Theatre showcases her work in a new commission at SITE Santa Fe. The exhibition runs through Jan. 9, 2022.

Some of her forms rise into half-moons against gallery walls; others incorporate stair-step pueblo architecture. One piece combines mirrors, mica, cotton and the bloodred of cochineal insects found on cactuses.

Im really interested in geometric shapes, Lopez said. Im interested in pushing my work toward being as minimal as possible.

The Albuquerque artist and co-president of the Santa Fe nonprofit Adobe in Action, Lopez has exhibited at Arkansas Crystal Bridges Museum of Art, the National Hispanic Cultural Center and Blue Star Contemporary in San Antonio, Texas.

Through the combination of clay and sand, Lopez smooths together work, seeking healing and reparation of the splintering of families, homes and community connected to her New Mexico roots.

My fathers family comes from Socorro, she said. We have an old land grant there, so the family has been out there since the 1700s.

Her ancestors christened the neighborhood Lopezville. Lopez visited the area regularly as a child.

Mainly, its in a state of fragmentation, she said.

Theres been a lot of inter-generational trauma in the family.

Theres been a pull away from living on traditional land.

Across the decades, her family history took darker turns, infected by drug addiction, imprisonment and suicide. For Lopez, her adobe work serves as a kind of healing balm.

When she was studying at the University of New Mexico-Taos, Lopez contacted two women who taught her the tradition of adobe-making and plastering. At the time, she was working on her bachelors degree in fine arts. She says enjarradora (woman plasterer) and painter Anita Rodriguez taught her how to process the bricks, while artist and natural builder Carole Crews showed her how to plaster.

I was so lucky to work with both of them because they are just legends, Lopez said.

She also learned to use aliz, a milky clay slip used to finish the interior of the walls, mixing it with buttermilk.

Traditionally, the men would do the bricking and the women would do the plastering, she said.

Adobe demands a relationship, Lopez said. You have to fix the cracks, you have to re-mud the building. It draws family and friends to the tasks.

Lopez wants to reignite that connection.

I have always been into houses,she explained.

When I lived in Taos, I lived in a place that was by an artist builder. It was wood; it got me thinking about architecture as art.

Lopez quickly transferred those skills into sculpture and large installations. She works with five-gallon-bucket loads of clay and hundreds of pounds of adobe bricks to produce her singular architecture-cum-sculptures.

Her colorful adobe sculptures invite viewers to move freely around them, inspiring reflection and playfulness. She also created paper sculptures suspended from the ceiling.

Next year, Lopez will have come full circle. She will return to her alma mater, Albuquerque High School, as an artist-in-residence through 516 ARTS. She also teaches an adobe architecture workshop at Albuquerques New Mexico Earth Adobes. Both the Andy Warhol Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation have supported her work.
Editors note:

The Journal continues Whats in a Name?, a twice a month column in which staff writer Elaine Briseno will give a short history of how places in New Mexico got their names.

Today its famously known as Route 66, but Central Avenue in Albuquerque started its modern-day life as a muddy thoroughfare used to ferry people between new and old towns.

The iconic road was not even part of world famous Route 66 in its early years and it also wasnt called Central Avenue.

Native Americans and earlier settlers had already carved out the route that would become the Central Avenue of today. They used it to access and trade with residents in the East Mountains. The U.S. Army upgraded the mostly horse trail to a wagon road in 1858. The road really came to life with the arrival of the railroad to Albuquerque in 1880 and was given the official name Railroad Avenue.

It became the commercial heart of an expanding, bustling town transforming into a city. Mule-drawn trolleys emerged and shuttled residents the two mile distance between New Town and Old Town. Hotels, barber shops, saloons, mercantiles and other business ventures materialized along the route.

Manzano Day School is believed to have been the first known building along the road. It was the home of Manuel Armijo, a governor during Mexican rule, and he named it La Glorieta. Its also the street where successful businessman Franz Huning built his famous mansion in the late 1800s after also living in La Glorieta.

Central became part of the Mother Road in the 1930s. Initially Route 66 traveled north down Fourth Street along the historic El Camino Real trail.

The father of Nob Hill, D.K.B. Sellers, found the name Railroad Avenue impractical, and pushed for its renaming. He introduced the idea to the city council in April 1907. He and then-University of New Mexico president William G. Tight, a close friend, argued before the council that the name Railroad Avenue was misleading and confusing, making it hard to promote the citys main business corridor in other states.

They always confused it with some street right along the railroad, Sellers said. Just the same as you would think Canal Street must be along some canal.

Tight recommended the street be named University at the east end claiming that the minds of the persons would naturally turn to the meaning of the name and be impressed with the thought that Albuquerque was an educational center. A good place to live. The public and officials soundly rejected the idea of a street with two names.

The Albuquerque Morning Journal reported on April 17 that of the 60 or so men it interviewed they preferred the name Main Street or Central Avenue. The newspaper didnt ask any women what they thought. Maybe they were all busy recovering from the vapours on their fainting couches.

Anyway, not everyone was happy with the naming efforts.

In that same April 17 article, its mentioned that a number of property owners and business men did not want the name changed Chiefly on sentimental grounds.

Citizen Paul Teutsch said: I think we owe it to the old-timers who named this street to leave the name alone.

When the street committee considered the matter, Owen N. Marron, a lawyer, educator, former mayor and a businessman, spoke out against the idea.

It would be most unfortunate to change the name of this old, well-known and established street. The businessmen do not wish the change. There is no good reason why it should be changed.

Another business man argued it would set a bad precedent and people might get the name changing fad and make over the entire city.

The Albuquerque Evening Citizen ran its own voting contest leading up to the city council vote. It printed a ballot claiming Now is the time to have your say. It noted that the city administration was not interested in polling the public on its preference, although it did ask business owners along the road.

Tell The Citizen what you want and The Citizen will tell your friends and enemies alike, the story read.

The options presented were: Albuquerque Avenue, Alvarado Avenue, Central Avenue, Main Street, Rio Grande Avenue, University Avenue or no change at all.

The City Council, on the recommendation of its street committee, voted on May 20, 1907, to officially change the name of the road to Central Avenue. After the meeting adjourned, an elated Sellers had this to say:

I never expected to come out of this alive, he said. There was a great howl raised about changing the name at first, but gradually it has been seen that the change was needed.

Coincidentally at the same meeting, the council members debated the possibility of paving all the citys streets and discussed whether they should send an entourage to the great city of El Paso to look at its fancy, paved streets.

Local rubber stamp company H.S. Lithgow & Co. tried to cash in on the name change. The company ran an advertisement in the Albuquerque Morning Journal just a few days later Get a Rubber Stamp to Change the Name on Your Stationery.

Today, no rubber stamps are needed and the east to west road will take you from one extreme end of the city to the other. Practical uses aside, Central Avenue contains a treasure trove of history. Its where the past, present and future coalesce to create the backdrop for everyday life.

Curious about how a town, street or building got its name? Email staff writer Elaine Briseno at ebriseno@abqjournal.com or 505-823-3965 as she continues the monthly journey in Whats in a Name?
Joy Harjo has blazed trails during her career in education and the arts.

The United States Poet Laureate will take part in Mapping Indigenous Poetry, U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo in conversation with Layli Long Soldier at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12, at the KiMo Theatre.

The event is being put on by 516 Arts.

Harjo is the author of nine books of poetry, several plays and childrens books, and two memoirs, and as a musician and performer, has produced seven award-winning music albums.

The event with Long Soldier is part of her project called, Living Nations, Living Words: A Map of First Peoples Poetry.

The evening is the keynote event for Counter Mapping, a group exhibition on view at 516 Arts through Jan. 22, which focuses on map-related artworks engaging with geography, identity, politics and the environment. Counter mapping is a practice of mapping against dominant power structures to reclaim stories and memories of place.

The very first maps were drawn into the earth with stick or stone implements. They told us where we lived, the location of food, water and danger, Harjo says. Some were star maps of the heavens, histories notched and painted, or symbols of stories that gave directions on how to live. Some of the earliest indigenous maps of North America were not drawn. The placement and orientation of a village, its buildings and even mound structures were markers that mirrored the meaning of the heavens, or other directional senses. We mapped with weaving, baskets and in songs. We carry many kinds of maps in our poems. We still do, even as we rely on maps of the newest technologies, like the GPS we carry in our phones.

As part of her project, Harjo conceived the idea of mapping the U.S. with Native Nations poets and poems.

I want this map to counter damaging false assumptions  that indigenous peoples of our country are often invisible or are not seen as human. You will not find us fairly represented, if at all, in the cultural storytelling of America, and nearly nonexistent in the American book of poetry.

Harjo says like other living American poets, Native Nations poets use the tools of knowledge and creativity to ride the waves of language, even as we also tend to our indigenous cultural systems and communities.

Our common language of English, or sometimes Spanish, is a crossing place, a place to meet many from all over the world, Harjo says. And, like any other group of humans, we travel for economic opportunities, for education, for love and for adventure. Though we may venture far from our origin story, we are bound by genealogy, by land, even by instinct.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

In New Mexico and across the country, 2021 was a record-setting year for workers leaving their jobs in search of new challenges and new opportunities.

October data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that around 4.2 million Americans quit their jobs during the month. The same data set showed that there have been 68.1 million layoffs, resignations or other separations across the country over the previous 12 months, the highest figure on record for a single year.

Employers know in general across most sectors  it is very much an employees market, said Reilly White, associate professor of finance at the University of New Mexicos Anderson School of Management.

White said there was no one reason for the substantial uptick in workers leaving the jobs, but rather a number of different stories that varied in different industries and different states. For many lower-wage workers, including those in the leisure and hospitality sector, challenges like rising costs for goods and services and limited options for child care prompted them to look elsewhere for jobs.

In some sectors, like health care and transportation, White said the COVID-19 pandemic has created a tremendous demand for workers that companies are struggling to meet. In white-collar industries, White suggested that the pent-up demand for job changes may have boiled over in 2020.

So we have a couple of parallel stories that are really interesting, White said.

White said New Mexicos quit rate was narrowly below the national average, but that doesnt mean the Great Resignation didnt reshape the states workforce in 2021.

The Journal talked to several workers who left their jobs in search of something better, and will present their stories throughout January.
With authorities logging more than a dozen DWI arrests in the Albuquerque area since Christmas Eve, there are more calls for New Mexico to crack down on repeat offenders.

Albuquerque television station KOB-TV reports that many of the cases over the past year involve first-time offenses, but officers have seen familiar faces. One woman marked her fifth DWI offense in May after she was stopped for driving 103 mph on Interstate 40. A man marked his seventh DWI arrest in March when he hit a concrete pillar.

In yet another case, a 42-year-old woman was arrested for the seventh time  four of which have come within the last two years. One of the charges against her ended up being dismissed because the officer failed to appear in court.

Lindsey Valdez, regional director at Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said cases where there seem to be no consequences are the ones that send a message.

I think it overall shows that some people really dont find any fear in consequences if there are no consequences to driving under the influence, she said.

How often does it happen?

They are isolated, but they are not isolated enough, said Ahmad Assed, a criminal defense attorney. And the issue of people falling through the cracks is not new, he said.

Weve been talking about this topic for decades, and quite frankly we still find ourselves almost in the same position, said Assed.

As for the punishment when convicted, a first DWI could result in a minimum of two days behind bars. An eighth offense would be 10 years. However, Assed said that doesnt mean people are spending all of that time in jail, since mandatory sentences can be completed through an ankle bracelet program or home arrest.

That has led to calls for change from those who have lost loved ones.

It has an effect on anybody. Growing up without a dad is hard, said Jackie Copeline, whose father was killed by a repeat drunken driver when she was 7.

Copeline recently started a petition asking for stricter DWI enforcement and treatment.

New Mexico has among the highest death rates in the U.S. due to excessive alcohol use. State data shows that through November, nearly one-quarter of traffic fatalities in the state involved alcohol.
A teenager is in jail facing second-degree murder an other charges after shooting another teen during a New Years Eve party in northern New Mexico, according to New Mexico State Police.

Mark Soriano, a spokesman for the agency, said officers were called to 8 El Gasnate in Ribera at around 10:20 p.m. on Friday. The home is in northern New Mexico between Las Vegas and Santa Fe.

Arriving officers found Joshua Vigil, 17, who lives in Ribera, dead inside the home.

Police said Joaquin Sanchez, 18, who lived at the residence, shot and killed Vigil during a fight during a party.

Sanchez was charged with second-degree murder and negligent use of a deadly weapon. He was booked into the San Miguel Detention Center, police said.
GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo.  A western Colorado woman has been arrested on suspicion of two counts of first-degree murder after her children, ages 18 and 11, were fatally stabbed, the Glenwood Springs Police Department said.

Claudia Camacho-Duenas, 37, was arrested Thursday after officers responded to a reported stabbing at 2:30 p.m.

The victims were taken to the hospital where they died of their injuries, police said. Their names have not been released.

A bystander, who was restraining the woman when police arrived, told officers that Camacho-Duenas was responsible for the assault. The initial assault began in an apartment and continued out into a parking lot, police said in a statement.

No phone listing could be found for Camacho-Duenas, and its not clear if she has an attorney who could speak on her behalf. She was listed on the Glenwood County jail roster on Friday afternoon.

Officials gave no information about a potential motive for the stabbing.
DENVER  Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday shortened the prison sentence of a truck driver convicted in a deadly crash to 10 years, drastically reducing his original 110-year term that drew widespread outrage.

The decision on Rogel Aguilera-Mederos sentence was among several year-end commutations and pardons issued by Polis.

The move comes days after a judge scheduled a hearing for next month to reconsider the sentence at the request of the district attorney, who planned to ask that it be reduced to 20 to 30 years.

Around 5 million people signed an online petition seeking clemency for Aguilera-Mederos, who was convicted of vehicular homicide and other charges in the explosive 2019 pileup that killed four people.

Aguilera-Mederos testified that he was hauling lumber when the brakes on his semitrailer failed as he was descending a steep grade of Interstate 70 in the Rocky Mountain foothills. His truck plowed into vehicles that had slowed because of another wreck, setting off a chain-reaction crash and a fireball that consumed vehicles and melted parts of the highway.

Judge Bruce Jones imposed the 110-year sentence on Dec. 13 after finding it was the mandatory minimum term set forth under state law, noting it would not have been his choice.

Prosecutors had argued that as Aguilera-Mederos truck barreled down from the mountains, he could have used a runaway ramp alongside the interstate that is designed to safely stop vehicles that have lost their brakes.

District Attorney Alexis King said Thursday she was disappointed with the governors decision. She said it was premature and went against the wishes of the surviving victims and families who lost loved ones, who wanted to have the judge who oversaw the trial determine the appropriate sentence.

We are meeting with the victims and their loved ones this evening to support them in navigating this unprecedented action and to ensure they are treated with fairness, dignity, and respect during this difficult time, she said in a statement.

The crash killed 24-year-old Miguel Angel Lamas Arellano, 67-year-old William Bailey, 61-year-old Doyle Harrison and 69-year-old Stanley Politano.

In a letter to Aguilera-Mederos explaining his decision, Polis said that while he was not blameless in the crash, the 110-year sentence was disproportionate when compared with inmates who committed intentional, premeditated or violent crimes.

The governor said the case would hopefully spur a discussion about sentencing laws, but he noted any future changes would not help Aguilera-Mederos.

There is an urgency to remedy this unjust sentence and restore confidence in the uniformity and fairness of our criminal justice system, and consequently I have chosen to commute your sentence now, Polis wrote.
WILMINGTON, Del.  After tough talk between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin over the Russian troop buildup on the Ukraine border, both sides insist they are hopeful that a pathway to easing tensions could open during diplomatic talks set for January.

But with less than two weeks to go before senior U.S. and Russian officials are to meet in Geneva, the chasm is deep and the prospect of finding an exit to the crisis faces no shortage of complications.

Biden on Friday told reporters that he advised Putin when they spoke by phone a day earlier that the upcoming talks could only work if the Russian leader deescalated, not escalated, the situation in the days ahead. The U.S. president said he also sought to make plain to Putin that the U.S. and allies stood ready to hit Russia with punishing sanctions if the Russians further invade Ukraine.

I made it clear to President Putin that if he makes any more moves into Ukraine we will have severe sanctions, Biden said. We will increase our presence in Europe with NATO allies.

Meanwhile, Bidens national security team on Friday turned their attention to preparation for the Geneva talks, set for Jan. 9 and 10, to discuss Russias massing of some 100,000 troops on its border with Ukraine.

The Geneva talks, which are to be led on the U.S. side by senior State Department officials, are slated to be followed by Russia-NATO Council talks and a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Biden is scheduled to speak by phone Sunday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The two leaders plan to review preparations for the upcoming diplomatic engagements, according to the White House.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday debriefed Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on the Biden-Putin call and discussed preparations for the upcoming talks.

The two weeks ahead are going to be tough, said Daniel Fried, a former U.S. ambassador to Poland who was a top adviser on Eastern Europe to Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. The Biden administration has done a pretty credible job of outlining, framing up the negotiations. But the toughest test is yet to come because Putin will continue to engage in threats and brinksmanship to see how determined we are.

While Biden reiterated that he stood ready to exact sanctions that would reverberate throughout Russia, Kremlin officials doubled down on their warning to Biden about making a colossal mistake that could have enormous ramifications for an already fraught U.S.-Russian relationship.

A top Putin aide on Friday reinforced that Russia stands by its demands for written security guarantees. Moscow wants it codified that any future expansion of NATO must exclude Ukraine and other former Soviet countries and demands that the alliance remove offensive weaponry from countries in the Russian neighborhood.

We will not allow our initiatives to be drowned in endless discussions, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the state RIA-Novosti news agency. If no constructive answer comes in a reasonable time and the West continues its aggressive course, Russia will have to take all necessary measures to maintain a strategic balance and remove unacceptable threats to our security.

The Biden administration and NATO allies have made clear that the Russian demands are non-starters.

The seemingly unrealistic rhetoric has made some in Washington question how effective talks can be.

Following the Biden-Putin call, a group of 24 former U.S. national security officials and Russia experts  a group that includes several officials who served in the Obama, George W. Bush and Clintons administrations  released a statement calling on Biden to immediately, and publicly, lay out the penalties Russia would face if Putin were to move forward with military action.

The signatories of the statement included several former U.S. ambassadors, including Fried, Russia envoys Michael McFaul and Alexander Vershbow, and Ukraine envoys Steven Pifer and John Herbst.

We believe the United States should, in closest consultation with its NATO allies and with Ukraine, take immediate steps to affect the Kremlins cost-benefit calculations before the Russian leadership opts for further military escalation, the group wrote. Such a response would include a package of major and painful sanctions that would be applied immediately if Russia assaults Ukraine. Ideally, the outline of these sanctions would be communicated now to Moscow, so that the Kremlin has a clear understanding of the magnitude of the economic hit it will face.

The Russians for their part continue to make the case that they are facing an existential threat with Ukraine.

Lavrov on Friday noted an increase in weapons supplies to Ukraine and the growing number and scope of joint military drills conducted by Western powers with Ukraine, charging that the Kyiv regime naturally perceives this support as a carte blanche for the use of force. He added that Russia will protect its citizens living in eastern Ukraine.

As for residents of Donbas, where hundreds of thousands of our citizens live, Russia will take all necessary measures to protect them, he said. An adequate response will be given to any possible military provocations by Kyiv against Donbas.

Russia supports a separatist rebellion in the eastern Donbas region that has killed more than 14,000 people since it began in 2014. In recent years, Russia has offered citizenship to those living in the region.

Simon Miles, a diplomatic and international historian of the Cold War at Duke University, said it would be a mistake for the White House to let Russia unilaterally set the tempo of what is about to unfold.

Whatever the U.S. can do to keep the Russians on their back foot, as opposed to letting the Kremlin set the agenda, is going to be important to securing a favorable resolution, Miles said.



Associated Press writer Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
SANTA FE, N.M.  With the arrival of the new year, new laws are taking effect in New Mexico that aim to bolster access to health insurance and eliminate many court fines against juveniles that are viewed as counterproductive.

One bill approved by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the states Democrat-led Legislature adds a 2.75% surtax on health insurance premiums  the upfront payments made on behalf of an individual or family to keep insurance active  starting Jan. 1, 2022. The current surtax is set at 1% of premiums.

The tax increase will be used in large part to underwrite health-exchange insurance offerings for low- and moderate-income individuals, along with employees at small businesses, starting in 2023.

Insurance Superintendent Russell Toal says the surtax will provide a crucial subsidy when Medicaid coverage under special federal pandemic provisions expires for an estimated 85,000 residents. Many patients who leave Medicaid are likely to seek out policies on the state insurance exchange.

Separately, New Mexico is eliminating many fines and fees in the juvenile justice system that are viewed as potentially harmful and expensive to administer.

Under the legislation from Democratic state Reps. Roger Montoya of Velarde and Gail Chasey of Albuquerque, the state will no longer collect a $10 application fee for assignment of a public defender in delinquency cases. The new law also eliminates fines for possession of marijuana by a minor and limits community service requirements to 48 hours for minors caught with pot.

New Mexico in late June legalized nonmedical cannabis for adults 21 and older and authorized retail sales of recreational marijuana by April 1, 2022.

Regarding the states new surtax, several legislators  Republican and Democratic  have worried a tax increase on policies would be passed on to businesses and consumers by health insurance companies. Insurance officials say nearly 90% of the tax increase will fall on managed care organizations that provide Medicaid insurance.

State officials also hope to use a portion of the new tax proceeds to attract more federal matching funds for local Medicaid providers.

Toal says it is still up to the Legislature in 2022 to approve spending that reduces costs at the state health insurance exchange and helps small businesses. Lawmakers convene Jan. 18 for a 30-day session that focuses primarily on budgetary matters.
SEOUL, South Korea  South Koreas military said Sunday that an unidentified person crossed the heavily fortified border into North Korea.

The person was earlier spotted by surveillance equipment at the eastern portion of the border, known as the Demilitarized Zone, but avoided capture by South Korean troops on Saturday night. The surveillance later detected the person crossing the border, Joint Chiefs of Staff officers said.

South Korea sent a message to North Korea on Sunday morning to ensure the safety of the person, but the North hasnt responded, the officers said requesting anonymity citing department rules.

It was unclear if this was a rare case of a South Korean hoping to defect to the North, or it could be a North Korean who briefly entered the South Korean territory for some reason before returning to the North.

In September 2020, North Korea fatally shot a South Korean fisheries official found floating in its waters along a poorly marked sea boundary. South Korea said that North Korea troops were under orders to shoot anyone illegally crossing the border to protect against the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier in 2020, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un placed a border city under total lockdown after a North Korean defector with COVID-19-like symptoms sneaked back home. The fate of that defector, who had lived in South Korea, is not known.

On Saturday, North Korea announced it had decided to place top priority on strict virus restrictions at a high-profile ruling party meeting last week.

The two Koreas are split along the worlds most heavily armed border, called the Demilitarized Zone. An estimated 2 million mines are peppered inside and near the 248-kilometer (155-mile) -long, 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) -wide DMZ, which is also guarded by barbed wire fences, tank traps and combat troops on both sides.

Defecting via the DMZ is rare. At the height of their Cold War rivalry, both Koreas sent agents and spies to each others territory through the DMZ, but no such incidents have been reported in recent years.

About 34,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the late 1990s to avoid poverty or political oppression, but a vast majority of them have come via China and Southeast Asian countries.

North Korea has yet to report any cases of the coronavirus while experts have questioned its claim of a perfect record.
BERLIN  The Holocaust survivor Gertrude Pressburger, who became famous during Austrias 2016 presidential campaign with a video message in which Mrs. Gertrude warned of hatred and exclusion triggered by the far right, has died at 94.

Pressburger died Friday after a long illness, her family told the Austrian press agency APA on Saturday.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen tweeted that the death of Gertrude Pressburger fills me with deep sadness  Mrs. Pressburger had the courage to tell her story as a Holocaust survivor. She had the courage to stand by her opinion. To address facts. To speak the truth.

Pressburger was born and raised in Vienna, the daughter of a carpenter. Her Jewish family converted to Catholicism in the early 1930s, but that did not keep them from being persecuted by the Nazis after Austria was annexed by Germany in 1938.

After her father was arrested and tortured by the Nazis Gestapo secret police for alleged political activity, the family was able to escape to Yugoslavia and later to Italy, APA reported.

In 1944, the family was captured and deported to the Nazis Auschwitz death camp in Germany-occupied Poland, where her mother and two younger brothers were murdered. Her father was also killed by the Nazis.

Pressburger returned to Vienna after the war, but initially did not talk about her horrific sufferings during the Holocaust. Eventually, she decided to open up about the Holocaust and about the antisemitic experiences she suffered in post-war Austria.

I did not come back to Vienna to be oppressed again. I swear to myself that I will not put up with anything anymore. Im going to fight with my mouth, APA quoted her as saying.

Pressburger also published a memoir that she co-wrote with author Marlene Groihofer. In the book Gelebt, Erlebt, Ueberlebt or Lived, Experienced, Survived she described her familys arrival in Auschwitz in 1944.

Her mother and the two brothers were sent away on a truck. Gertrude herself was sent in another direction and she quickly lost sight of her father too. Pressburger constantly looked for her family members in the death camp until a stranger approached her, pointed to the smoke coming out of the chimneys behind the barracks and told her that all the people driven away on the truck were gassed and burned already. That, Pressburger, wrote, was the moment when she understood that they had been murdered.

In 2016, Pressburger addressed Austrias younger generation in an online video, warning against the humiliations and exclusion of minorities amid the far-right rhetoric in the countrys presidential election. She called on young Austrians to go out and vote. The video was watched and shared several million times.

I just said what I thought. Thats it. And that hit home. I never understood why, she told APA afterwards.

Van der Bellen, who is from the Green Party, later said he was sure her video appeal had some influence on the election result, which saw him narrowly win only after a re-run against the far-right Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer.

We will never know for sure, but that it had an impact, that is to say an effect, and especially on young and very young people, I am convinced of that, Van der Bellen said.
Instagram TV

The 'Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen' host rants against the 60-year-old politician while hosting CNN's 'New Year's Eve Live' with Anderson Cooper.

Jan 2, 2022

AceShowbiz - Andy Cohen put the blame on alcohol for his viral moment of him roasting Bill de Blasio on TV. Having ranted against the former New York City mayor while hosting CNN's "New Year's Eve Live" with Anderson Cooper, the TV personality admitted that he was "a bit overserved."

The "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen" host made the confession on his Twitter account on Saturday, January 1. "good morning! Um, I was a bit overserved last night," he simply penned along with a woozy face emoji.

Cohen also addressed the matter on Instagram. Sharing some pictures of him and his pal Cooper from the show, he said, "I was a hair over-served last night, but man did I have fun! I hope you did too. Happy New Year everybody."

Cohen took aim at de Blasio while broadcasting from Times Square in New York City on Friday night. After taking several tequila shots, he told the camera, "Let me tell you something. Watching Mayor de Blasio do his victory lap dance after four years of the crappiest term as the mayor of New York."

Cooper then interjected, "Oh, don't go on a rant. Don't go on a rant!" However, Cohen continued lashing out at the politician as saying, "The only thing Democrats and Republicans can agree on is what a horrible mayor he has been. So, sayonara, sucka!"

Feeling awkward, Cooper tried several times to stop Cohen from going off the rails. The former asked, "This is how you want to start the New Year?" to which the 53-year-old talk show host replied, "2022! It's a new year, 'cause guess what? I have a feeling I'm going to be standing right here next year, and you know who I'm not going to be looking at dancing as the city comes apart? You."

This was not the first time Cohen dissed de Blasio. During the New Year's Eve coverage for CNN that he hosted alongside Cooper in 2020, the Bravo executive producer blasted de Blasio, "Do something with this city!" He continued, "Honestly, get it together!"
Instagram Celebrity

The former 'Love and Hip Hop: Hollywood' star addresses the viral jokes just a few days after actor LaKeith Stanfield jokingly blames him for ruining Christmas.

Jan 2, 2022

AceShowbiz - Omarion let everyone know that he's not dangerous. When responding to the COVID-19 jokes that have been circulating online, the B2K member playfully reminded his fans that he's "an artist, not a variant."

Making use of TikTok on Saturday, January 1, the R&B star shared a video of him wishing his followers a happy New Year. "Hi everybody, this is Omarion. I am an artist, not a variant," he first quipped, referring to the new COVID-19 variant Omicron.

"So please be aware that if you just so happen to run into me on the street, you don't have to isolate for five days, nor do you have to have a negative test result in order to dance to my music," the 37-year-old continued. "So please, be safe, be healthy, Happy New Year."

Many have since reacted to the comical video. "He is sick and tired of being sick and tired of us," one person wrote alongside a series of crying laughing emojis. Another commented, "HE F**KING FED UP WITH YALL S**T, he said look this year we ain't doing this."

A third individual then suggested, "He better use this pandemic to his advantage all 2022. Someone else, on the other hand, chimed in, "Somebody said the virus has spoken."

Omarion's post came a few days after LaKeith Stanfield (Keith Stanfield) poked fun at him in an Instagram DM. "You ruining Christmas for everybody smh," the "Get Out" actor told the "Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood" alum.

"The Harder They Fall" star then shared a screenshot of the DM on his Instagram feed. In the accompaniment of the post, he wrote, "I'm weak i wonder if he's gunna respond."

In addition to LaKeith, Lil Nas X previously name-dropped the "Ice Box" hitmaker to lighten up the mood as he opened up about his health scare. Assuring fans he was doing fine, he quipped, "I'm not sure whether I've had the omarion or alicia keys variant of covid but this hasn't been a fun journey."
WENN/Dave Starbuck Celebrity

When coming forward with his pneumonia diagnosis, the 55-year-old Canadian actor assures his online devotees that he will not let his illness 'dampen [his] spirits.'

Jan 2, 2022

AceShowbiz - Nothing could stop Tori Spelling from having fun, not even her husband's illness. While Dean McDermott was fighting with pneumonia, the "BH90210" alum seemingly had a great time celebrating New Year's Eve with their kids.

On Friday, December 31, the 48-year-old shared on Instagram a photo of her with four of her children at the Lake Arrowhead Resort and Spa in Southern California. "Happy New Year's Eve 2021," she gushed. "The kiddos and I were so excited to continue our family tradition since my oldest were babies."

"Love you @lakearrowheadresortandspa! My parents used to bring my brother and I here growing up. I wanted my kids to continue that tradition," the actress added. "I can't wait for my kids to bring their kids here one day! Thx @liammcdermott2007 for taking an awesome pic."

Dean, on the other hand, turned to his own Instagram account to share a video of him from his bed. "Hi everybody, happy happy New Year! I am sick as a dog," the 55-year-old Canadian actor said. "Wishing everybody much much love and happiness and success in the new year. Health, wealth and prosperity."

In the caption, Dean wrote, "Happy New year Everyone!!! I'm down but not out!! Pneumonia sucks." He continued, "But I'm not going to let it dampen my spirits!! I hope your 2022 is full of love, light and prosperity. Much love to you all."

Tori and Dean, who have been hit with split rumors since 2020, might not celebrate New Year's Eve together. However, a source previously told Us Weekly that they "spent Christmas as a family." The source added, "They were all under one roof celebrating together."

The unnamed informant went on to note that Tori and Dean's five children, Liam (14), Stella (13), Hattie (10), Finn (9) and Beau (4), "were happy" with the celebration. The insider further noted, "That's what mattered the most to Tori and Dean, was making sure their kids had a nice holiday at home together."
Alton, IL (62002)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this morning will give way to cloudy skies and rain during the afternoon. High 69F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Rain and thunderstorms. Low around 60F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
According to the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH), Covid-19 case numbers are on the rise in Oklahoma as seen elsewhere in the country. Many factors contribute to the increased spread, including more indoor gatherings, holiday travel, increased testing, and of course the addition of a new variant. Recommended safety measures include, wearing a mask, washing your hands often and watching your distance. Moving forward, one of the best ways to keep yourself and those around you protected is vaccination, says the OSDH.

As of Dec. 27, the OSDH community data shows Alva with 24 active cases of Covid-19. No information was available for the smaller Woods County towns of Dacoma, Freedom and Waynoka. In Alfalfa County, Cherokee is listed with seven active cases. To the south in Major County, Fairview has five active cases. The city of Woodward is shown with 41. Enid had 104 active cases as of Dec. 27.
The Alva Band of Gold shows off the awards and trophies collected in their trip to the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas.

A tired but jubilant group of students, teachers and parents returned to Alva Thursday night from San Antonio, Texas. The Alva Band of Gold was greeted at the south edge of town by a police escort and a group of fans honking their horns. The band was returning from a performance at the Valero Alamo Bowl where the OU Sooners defeated the Oregon Ducks Wednesday night.

Getting to experience the bowl atmosphere was a reward in itself, but the band students, directed by Adam Steuart, had cause to celebrate. Their hours of practice and dedication paid off in a number of trophies and awards. The list includes Valero Alamo Bowl Sweepstakes Grand Champion, first place (A) in parade competition, and first place (A) in field show competition, In the Class A field show competition, Alva received outstanding march, outstanding music and outstanding general effect. In the Class A parade competition, the band received outstanding march, outstanding general effect, outstanding competition and outstanding drum major.
The battle that Israel is currently engaged in against Iran has been referred to as the war between wars.

This is a misnomer. Israel is currently engaged in a war against Iran and has been for several years. This war is mainly fought in Syria, sometimes in Gaza or Lebanon, and sometimes even inside Iran. On the other side, Iran prefers to fight against Israel indirectly through their numerous proxies. They prefer that Lebanese or Palestinians die rather than Iranians.

Wars sometime are fought openly on the battlefield, military force against military force. But often they are fought with local and regional battles, or even covert operations. The current Iran-Israel war is conducted by the latter scenario.

Lets not kid ourselves, this is a war against Irans ultimate goals: to gain regional hegemony, under the threat of a nuclear umbrella, and strike out for global Islamic domination. And, the use of a nuclear device to eradicate Israel as a force persuader against the West.

YouTube screengrab

From an Israeli perspective, the aims of the war are clear. To prevent Iran from obtaining their twofold goal.

Anyone who thinks that Iran will stop at the nuclear threshold, the breakout point before possessing the bomb, is delusional. No nation would go to the measures undertaken by Iran to simply stop at the brink. One doesnt build massive underground facilities with the most sophisticated and upgraded centrifuges, protected by powerful surface to air missile systems for a civilian project.

They may try to persuade others that they have no intention of going the final mile, but Israel stands alone in not being deceived.

Therefore, everything that Israel is alleged to have done so far can be construed as a string of preventative battles in order to set back the Iranian timetable and persuade or coerce a naive world to deal with Iran with a forceful diplomatic response.

As of the end of 2021, this has not happened. As Israel watches and plans, the world waffles.

In the past, and more intensely throughout 2021, Israel has allegedly carried out hundreds of raids, mainly in Syria but also in Iran and Gaza, to destroy the import of increasingly powerful and precise missiles that Iran has delivered to Israels enemies, Hezballah and Hamas, both Iranian proxies.

In the event that Israel is forced to strike against Irans nuclear facilities, , as it was forced to do in Iraq and in Syria (and this could come in 2022), Iran is expected to order their heavily armed proxies to come to the defense of Islam from across Israels three borders to the north, east, and south, and open furious fire into Israel with everything at their disposal.

Unlike Hamas, Hezballah has been more restrained in firing rockets into Israel. Instead, it preferred to build up its stockpile of Iranian military weaponry until the time that Tehran gives them the order to open a blitzkrieg against the Jewish State.

Israel estimates that Hezballah possesses up to 160,000 missiles of various strengths stored mainly underground silos, houses, schools and mosques in southern Lebanon.

In the May 2021 rocket bombardment initiated by Hamas in Gaza, during one weekend period over 800 missiles were aimed at Israeli cities. Fortunately, the Iron Dome missile defense shield intercepted most of the rockets aimed accurately at civilian centers.

However, in any blitzkrieg initiated by Hezballah, it is estimated that they will be capable of firing 3,000 rockets a day for a week or more into Israel.

Critically, Iran-supplied Hezballah missiles will be more powerful and more precise than Hamas rockets and no amount of Iron Dome systems currently available to the IDF will be able to prevent widespread destruction to cities like Haifa and to sensitive Israeli infrastructure and strategic facilities. Even without a nuclear bomb, the loss of life in Israel will be devastating.

This is a Doomsday scenario for Israel which will, of necessity, call for an immediate and intensive assault on thousands of intelligence-known Hezballah targets deliberately embedded in civilian neighborhoods in Lebanon as well as Hamas targets.

It will make past responses to Hamas rocket violence look like childs play.

Again, Iran wont care. If Israel targets anything in their country, it will exclusively be their nuclear facilities. And they know, and anticipate, that when they give their command to both Hezballah and Hamas to commence a doomsday blitzkrieg against Israel, hundreds, maybe thousands of civilians will be killed on both sides. But it will be Israel that will be blamed for the resulting loss of life. This is the way it always is for Israel. We are the target and we get the blame for responding disproportionately.

Such a scenario plays into the hands of the Mad Mullahs of Tehran because a naive, often malevolent, world has never appreciated the odds that Israel has had to face since Day One of our existence. The international diplomatic community goes along with all the fallacies aimed at Israel at the United Nations and in the International Criminal Court.

So it will be when the war between wars reaches its ultimate conclusion and the international community have failed to rein in the Ayatollahs led by a man they let off the hook for crimes against humanity.

Irans President Ebrahim Raisi headed the Death Commission in Iran. He murdered tens of thousands of his own people and avoided justice and punishment. A man like Raisi will have no compunction about wiping another six million Jews off the map.

This is what happens when the West goes soft on mass murderers. Six million Jews had to be slaughtered before justice was wrought on the perpetrators.

Do another six million Jews have to die before the benign West awakens from its torpor?

Barry Shaw, Senior Associate at the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies.
We are grateful to The Washington Post , The New York Times , Time Magazine and other great publications.... [for] their promises of discretion for almost forty years... [t]he work is now much more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a World Government... The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries. David Rockefeller to the Trilateral Commission, 1991.

This statement, made thirty years ago, means that the conspiracy to replace our Constitutional Republic began forty years before that1951with the assistance of respected journalists. Seventy years of concerted effort to leave We the People in the dark. (It is probably more like over one hundred years.)

James Warburg, financial advisor to FDR, and part of a banking family that stood to gain financially from world government, testified in 1950 before a Senate Congressional subcommittee that We shall have world government whether you like it or not, by conquest or consent.

This leaves We the People with two large questions: how did this happen and what can we do if either of those two options is unacceptable to the American people?

This issue has been with us since George Washington took office in 1789. A small cadre of interconnected bankers was already well-established in England, France, Austria, Germany, and Italy. These bankers took advantage of the chaos growing out of the rejection of Roman Catholicism and the social breakdown and vehement hatreds that grew out of the Protestant Reformation by funding both sides (through government debt) of the many resultant wars and revolutions and then funding the peace afterward.

The profits were enormous. As Europe went through the revolutionary turmoil of the 19th and early 20th centuries, world bankers wove through societies like a malignancy, manipulating world leaders, destabilizing whole nations of people, and supporting philosophies that promote centralized authority (including international authority) that would strengthen world banking arrangements.

America is a different matter. First, we are isolated by two oceans and developed a stable and productive society away from the horrors of Europe. We had no Roman Catholic experience to reject. We did reject atheismwe are a God-fearing and God-respecting nation. The federal Constitution, as well as each state Constitution, created a framework for ordered LibertyAmericas unique and irreplaceable Rule of Law. Decentralizing authorityFederalismis one of the philosophical anchors to that framework.

Image: David Rockefeller (meeting in 1976 with Iraqi bankers during a visit to Bahrain and Abu Dhabi) dreamed of a one-world government through banking. Photo by Hashmoder. CC BY-SA 4.0.

But we have been the prize for this group since the beginning of our Republic. Creating central banks in each country that the cartel could control was part of the scheme. Washington reluctantly supported Alexander Hamiltons First Bank of the United States. That bank's funding came almost entirely from private investors, with one of the most significant being the Bank of England.

When the charter for the First Bank of the United States was not renewed amid great public opposition in 1811, it was one more point of contention between the British and Americans leading to the war of 1812, so much so that the Bank of England had a leading role in the decision to go to war. Had the Bank of England not wanted the war, it likely would not have happened. (Other reasons were connected to the Napoleonic wars. England was concerned that the U.S. was helping Napoleon. The British were impressing U.S. sailors into the British Navy, they feared American support for France, they placed restrictions on trade, and there was still fallout from the 1807 British attack on the USS Chesapeake.)

After the peace, a Second Bank of the United States was chartered but was vehemently opposed by President Andrew Jackson when its charter came up for renewal in 1832. Jacksons view of European bankers was You are a den of vipers and thieves. He was attacked by an assassin at point-blank range whose pistols misfired. We do not know if the two events are linked. Lincoln, Garfield, and Kennedy opposed this cancer, as well. As President Garfield put it, Whoever controls the money of a nation, controls that nation.

America surrendered to the pressure for a central bank in 1913 with the help of James Warburgs father, Paul. Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act, following the model of Europe, but in a way thought palatable to the American people. Thus, we have been at constant war ever since 1917, and have allowed our wealth to be transferred elsewhere. In one hundred years we have gone from a debt of $3 billion to $30 trillion. Decentralized authorityFederalismgave way to the more easily corruptible federal power.

This is the reality of todaythe mission by those opposed to our Constitutional Republic is now how to get the American people to consent to the loss of their Constitutional system and accept perpetual debt slavery and control through the United Nations. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers as David Rockefeller tells us; by conquest or consent adds James Warburg.

What if Americans just say no. America does not need to surrender her wealth, her potential wealth, our Constitutional system, or our nation-state. We are not Europe. We do not want to dispose of the foundations of our moral roots and end up as soulless atheists imprisoned in nihilism and drowning in dependence. George Washington warned us about this; so did Dwight Eisenhower and many others.

We the People urgently need to demand a comprehensive plan from our public servants to re-establish the prosperity of our nation, stabilize and reduce our national debt, and establish a strong enough military defense to buy us time to get our national financial house in order. One important component of this defense is rebuilding and strengthening a strong moral core in the American people and encouraging authentic education in history, civics, philosophy, and economics. It is through prayer, discipline, grit, and education that our Republic will be savedby the Grace of God. If it takes two generations or another one hundred years to accomplish it, so be it.

If recovered, let us hope We the People, Americas Sovereign, never let our system or our country go to this den of vipers and thieves, again.
In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. George Orwell, Politics and the English Language

Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, a member of the progressive squad, recently accused those who disagree with student debt cancellation of "policy violence." That is, to disagree with the left now is violence. This kind of linguistic legislation by the left is now common. Words mean whatever they want them to mean in order to achieve their far-left goals.

Pressleys statement is also an implied threat. Since violence is justified in response to violence, Pressley is letting Americans know what is coming if they do not get their way.

The venomous hatred spewed by the Woke mob in the name of tolerance and inclusivity is indefensible. That is why they do not defend it. Instead, they generally try to bully people into submitting to their demands.

Some people may express astonishment at my claim that that they do not defend their views. Are not their defenses found everywhere these days? However, when I say that they do not defend their claims I do not mean that they do not produce a lot of verbiage. I mean that in order, actually, to defend a thesis one must first formulate it properly with careful definitions and mobilize arguments and evidence in favor of it (a procedure that used to be commonplace in universities). This they do not do. Consider first Northeastern University Gender Studies Professor Suzanna Danuta Walterss claim (in a 2018 Washington Post article titled Why cant we hate all men?) that it seems logical to hate all men.

Walterss article has been correctly criticized on many grounds by numerous writers, both male and female. However, my point here is different, namely, that, like those who attempt to defend the indefensible, or, to be more precise, those who attempt to promote the impression that they do so, Walters does not mean what she says or say what she means. That is, Walters only produces a semblance of a defense of her view, very similar to the semblance of argument practiced by Protagoras, Gorgias and Thrasymachus in ancient Greece.

Some writers have correctly criticized Walters claim that it seems logical to hate all men for the straightforward reason that it is as inappropriate to make such a universal claim as it would be to claim that one should hate all women, all Black people, all gay people, and so on. However, Walterss words are deceptive. No sooner does she make that indefensible statement than she takes it back and explains that she doesnt necessarily mean non-American men or men of color. That is, by all men, she does not actually mean all men. Since America is a political polity, and since she specifies she does not necessarily mean men that do not belong to that polity, and since men of color are expected to hold certain political views, namely views akin to hers, what her statement actually means, when decoded, is, therefore, that it seems logical to hate men that dont agree with her politics. In other words, it is a political statement she uses in her pursuit of power for her own tribe. She makes this explicit when in her article when she asks the men that she hates to step aside so that her political group can take power.

Similarly, the word Black as used in the expression Black people no longer means black when used by the woke left. This is illustrated by Vanderbilt University Professor Michael Eric Dysons reaction to the November 2021 election, which caused so much distress to the left, of the Black Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears in Virginia. Employing his usual alliteration of superfluous verbiage, Dyson stated that when Sears articulates her patriotic pro-American views there is a Black mouth moving but a white idea running on the runway of the tongue.

Orwell, in the same work, describes the technique:

When there is a gap between one's real and declared aims, one turns, as it were instinctively, to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink.  All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.

Thus, when Dyson uses Black and white to classify ideas, he is using these words to denote, not two races, but rather two political affiliations. By Black person Dyson means, roughly, someone who agrees with his leftist views and by white person he means, roughly, someone who disagrees with his leftist politics. This has nothing to do with race proper anymore. The reference to race is a smokescreen to damage ones opponent.

Dyson is not the first the employ such deceptive linguistic revisions in the pursuit of political power. When Bill Clinton, who is a Caucasian of Irish ancestry and whose skin color is white, was called the first black president, it was not meant that he was literally black. It was meant that he held certain political left-of-center views the people who used that description found useful for their own pursuit of power.

The same deceptive use of the word black occurred in 2018 when, at a Young Americans for Freedom talk, a student woman of color indignantly asked Allen West if he identified as Black. When West replied with an astonished laugh, the woman replied, Its a serious question. You might not identify that way. In fact, her question is not serious and her assertion that it is does not make it so. That ruse only works in the relativist fantasyland she imbibed in certain university classrooms.

West is, assuming that one is speaking in the English language, Black and proud of it. The point, once again, is that by Black this student does not actually mean black. It is not clear that she knows what she means. What is clear is that she raises this question because Wests political views are not what she believes they should be. Her indignation gives her away. Since there is no reason to be indignant because of Wests skin color (black), she can only be indignant because Wests political choices conflict with the political orthodoxy she memorized at university. By Black she means, roughly, leftist.

There is, therefore, a sense in which one should not be distressed when members of the woke mob make such indefensible statements. For, whether they know this or not, they are not actually speaking English. They are speaking a code that superficially resembles English. When, however, a clear-minded person decodes their deceptive words one invariably finds that they do not mean what they seem to mean. Suzanna Danuta Walters does not mean men by men. Michael Eric Dyson and the female student that indignantly addressed Allen West do not mean black by Black and white by white. Walters can be fine with men who submit to her political demands and Dyson can be fine with Caucasians who submit to his political demands.

Walters and Dyson are not doing what one thought they were doing. One assumed, foolishly, that they wanted truth. In fact, truth is the last thing on their minds. Walters and Dyson, and the woke mob generally, use language as a weapon of control, that is, as an instrument to achieve political power. Walters message to men is that if they dont want to be called hateful they must submit to her political views. Dysons message to Black people is that although they may believe slavery ended 150 years ago, they are still owned by his political tribe.

None of this implies that Walters, Dyson and the woke mob know that they are not speaking English. One cannot assume self-knowledge. That commodity is as rare now as it was in Socrates day. Unfortunately, since the Lefts achievement of its agenda requires the destruction of the English language, it is not clear that anyone really understands what anything means in the woke tower of Babel the left building in its frantic quest for unlimited power.

Photo credit: Oregon State University CC BY-SA 2.0 license
In his 1925 autobiography, Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler spewed page after page of hatred for the Jewish people, proclaiming what he would do if he rose to power. When the Holocaust ensued, only the most uninformed or disingenuous could claim not to have realized that Hitler meant to eliminate Jews off the face of the earth. Since the end of World War II, anti-Semitism has become more indirect, with attacks upon Jews being blamed on other factors than their special status as Gods chosen people.

Anti-Semitism has become so nuanced that open anti-Semite Ilhan Omar enjoys a seat in Congress as a representative of Minnesota. Omar has been condemned for accusing Israel of atrocities like those committed by the Taliban and fiercely criticized for implying that Jews buy political support with her infamous All about the Benjamins, baby tweet.

Since then, Omar has learned subtlety. She partnered with representative Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill) to introduce bill HR 5665, the Combating International Islamophobia Act, which passed the House of Representatives with every Democrat voting for it and every Republican opposing it. On the face of it, a bill opposing hatred of Muslims does not seem to be a problem, least of all for Jews. A closer look shows a number of problems with bill HR 5665.

The bill is unnecessary, as the state department already has offices to address issues of religious freedom and religious persecution. More importantly, Islamophobia is such a vague term that it has been used to quash legitimate criticism of Islamic extremism. Nor is Islamophobia unique, in that other religions besides Islam are subjected to criticism and their adherents suffer persecution.

Finally, Islamophobia is not to be compared with anti-Semitism which is not only a unique problem but a persistent problem throughout the history of the world. As Representative Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) said, Putting Islamophobia in the same category as antisemitism dramatically understates [and] even trivializes the historic and pervasive nature that makes antisemitism such a difficult problem to overcome. Such a dangerous false equivalence might be used by extremists to justify further antisemitic activity.

Image: Muslims speak out about insults to Islam. WikiIslam image.

A preview of how HR 5665 might play out can be seen in the treatment of Representative Scott Perry (R-Pa), who was accused of being Islamophobic for criticizing Ilhan Omar. Perry represents the largest group of Ahmadiyya Muslims in the United States, a Muslim sect that is the most persecuted by other Muslims around the world. He is affiliated with ACT for America, an organization that has honored such anti-Sharia activists as Ayan Hirsi Ali and Mariam Ibrahim. Scott is not Islamophobic. He is pro-American and pro-human rights, particularly for women.

Perry opposes Ilhan Omar because she interprets any criticism of Islamic extremism as Islamophobia. During the discussion of HR 5665, Scott reminded the committee that Omar considers 9/11 a day when some people did something, and that she was affiliated with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which the FBI has named as an unindicted co-conspirator in terrorist cases linked to Hamas. Although Perrys remarks referred to a direct quote from Omar and a public review of the FBI regarding CAIR, his remarks were considered out of order and stricken from the record.

HR 5665, if passed, would set up an ominous situation in which any criticism of actions by Islamic extremists could be labeled Islamophobia. Any support of Israel in its fight to maintain its sovereignty against Islamic extremists could be labeled Islamophobia, and that support could be shut down in the name of protecting Islam. Such a stance could easily backfire and stoke rising anti-Semitism.

The world cannot afford anti-Semitism. When a society becomes violent and totalitarian, Jews are the first ones to suffer. Like the canary in the coal mine, Jews are an indicator of a healthy society, where everyone is left in peace and no one is persecuted for their beliefs.

Pandra Selivanov is the author of The Pardon, a story about forgiveness based on the thief on the cross in the Bible.
The rollout of this new policy by Australias federal government has been fairly quiet. It was first announced November 17, 2021.

Claims made through the Federal Governments no-fault indemnity scheme for COVID-19 vaccination will be assessed from mid-December, the Department of Health (DoH) has confirmed.

A couple of weeks ago, the Australian federal Department of Health announced:

The Australian Government is developing a claims scheme to reimburse people who suffer a moderate to significant impact following an adverse reaction to an approved COVID-19 vaccine. (snip) The Australian Government is implementing a claims scheme for people who suffer a moderate to significant impact following an adverse reaction to a TGA approved COVID-19 vaccine. The scheme will provide a simple, streamlined process to reimburse/compensate eligible people for their injuries without the need for complex legal proceedings. The scheme will cover the costs of injuries $1,000 and above due to administration of a TGA approved COVID-19 vaccine or due to an adverse event that is considered to be caused by a COVID-19 vaccination. The list of adverse effects for claims purposes under the scheme include the following clinical conditions that are diagnosed by a treating doctors and are included in the approved product information for the specific vaccine: anaphylactic reaction

thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome

myocarditis

pericarditis

capillary leak syndrome

demyelinating disorders including Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS)

Thrombocytopenia, including immune Thrombocytopenia, identified as a final diagnosis. Harm not covered by the scheme includes: COVID-19

psychological and psychiatric conditions (e.g. shock)

secondary injuries (e.g. injury suffered when fainting, or a haematoma at the injection site that becomes infected)

the following other injuries unless they form part of the symptom complex of a clinical condition listed above: headache; fatigue; injection site reaction; muscle or joint pain; dizziness; diarrhoea; pain in extremity; fever; insomnia; nausea; vomiting; lethargy; hyperhidrosis; chills; decreased appetite; malaise; lymphadenopathy; somnolence; abdominal pain; puritus; urticaria or rash; influenza-like illness; angioedema; anxiety-related reactions such as hyperventilation and fainting. Specified Administration Related Injuries which are clinically diagnosed will also be covered under the scheme. For claims between $1,000 and $20,000, claimants need to have been hospitalised for at least one night and provide applicable evidence of: the nature of the injury and medical documentation of its likely relationship to a COVID-19 vaccination

hospitalisation, due to a vaccine-related injury

medical costs

lost wages.

Sundance of The Conservative Treehouse noticed this two-minute news segment on the Seven Network there that discussed who is entitled to compensation for adverse reactions to the COVID vaccines that previously touted as tested and perfectly safe.

The sums involved are low by the standards of medical malpractice lawyers like John Edwards, but at least they constitute official cognization of vaccine hazards.

YouTube screengrabs

In Australia, it is the state governments that have been responsible for vaccinations, yet it is the federal government offering compensation.

In the United States, of course, the pharmaceutical manufacturers have been granted immunity from liability from damages for any harm inflicted by their products. But I am sure the malpractice bar is looking for a way to cash in, possibly using Australias example.

Hat tip: John McMahon
On January 7, the Supreme Court will hear challenges to two vaccine mandates ordered by the Biden administration. It looks as though the Court is at last ready to intervene on behalf of basic American liberty. This is a decision that is long overdue, and it will be welcomed by American patriots. If, in fact, these mandates are overturned, it will be because the five conservatives  Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett  acting together, can get the Court back to what it was meant to be, and was for the first 150 years of its existence.

Constitutional conservatives across the country eagerly look forward to a series of decisions in 2022, and many more in the years ahead. In June, the Court is poised to overturn the 1973 decision of Roe v. Wade. Affirmative action is before the court in Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard. In New York Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, the right to concealed carry will be addressed. In AHA v. Becerra, we should get a review of "Chevron deference," which was adopted in 1984 and has led to the explosive growth and power of the administrative state.

Roe v. Wade is one of the worst decisions in the history of the Supreme Court, right up there with Plessy v. Ferguson, which authorized legally sanctioned racial discrimination. On the subject of abortion policy, the Court writes the rules. But there is no right to an abortion in the Constitution. They just made it up. This has been a constitutional travesty from the day it was decided.

It took the court 58 years to overturn Plessy v. Ferguson. So much for the "sacred principle" of stare decisis. When Roe is overturned in June, it will be 48 years old.

Affirmative action is well intended, but it's still racial discrimination. In Harvard's case, it's mainly Asian-Americans who are the victims, and I fully expect Justice Thomas to write the opinion declaring such discrimination unconstitutional. As a proud, highly intelligent black man, Thomas is viscerally opposed to being treated as if he were incapable of making it on his own. This is an opinion that will be a joy to read.

Practically speaking, you can't get a concealed carry permit in New York. Does this violate the 2nd Amendment's guarantee of "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms"? Emphasis on bear. That's the question before the court in NYR&PA v. Bruen. There is an excellent chance that the majority will rule that there is a right to "bear," or carry, arms. After all, it's specifically guaranteed in the language of the Bill of Rights. If so, this case will be the most important advance in 2nd Amendment law since District of Columbia v. Heller (2008).

This country and this economy are practically strangling in over-regulation. The administrative state is a constitutional abomination. Overturning Chevron deference will be the first step in reining in this bureaucratic monster. AHA v. Becerra is the perfect case to start rolling back burdensome regulations.

Justice Kavanaugh's vote will be critical in all of these cases, in some cases the deciding one. He wouldn't be on the Court if it were up to Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski. She never really made clear why she opposed him. In the end, she mumbled something about judicial temperament, but that was just a weak excuse.

In fact, Murkowski figured Kavanaugh was going to be the fifth vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. Murkowski is a pro-abortion extremist. She doesn't believe in any restrictions, of any kind, on a woman's right to end the life of an unborn child she carries. This is her most sacred principle. If she had her way, Brett Kavanaugh wouldn't be on the Court because of it.

In the 2022 election in Alaska, parties will not have primaries, so Murkowski will get on the ballot in November. Alaska will also have ranked choice voting, and she hopes to win a majority as the second choice of Democrat voters. She's always been an odd fit in Alaska, but with the new electoral system, designed specifically to give her a path to re-election, she does have a chance.

Regardless, we have a truly conservative Supreme Court majority in charge of defending our Constitution. Long may it last.

Fritz Pettyjohn was a second year law student when Roe v. Wade was decided, and has been looking forward to its overturn ever since.

Image via Max Pixel.
Chicago, at 2.75 million people, is roughly twice as large as Dallas, with 1.3 million people. However, while Dallas had only 220 murders last year, a 13% drop from the previous year, Chicago had 797 murders, a rate twice as high as that in Dallas. Two stories about crime in those cities help explain the differences.

The Dallas Morning News ended 2020 with a profile of Chief Eddie Garcias success in bringing all sorts of crime down in that city. Not only did murders drop by 13% in 2021, but arrests also dropped by 5% too.

Chief Garcia explained that the police department was able to do this because they focused on criminals and communities:

Officers homed in on homicides and on aggravated assaults and robberies. Police were consistently visible in the most dangerous blocks in the city. Gun seizures went up 27%, drug seizures 8%. Dallas is now eight months into Garcias violent crime prevention plan, which put data-savvy criminologists in the drivers seat of policing strategies. [snip] Using data to identify historically violent hot spots, Garcia and his command staff deployed officers into specific blocks throughout the city to maintain a visible presence. Every so often, the patrols shift to other crime-ridden grids. As the department tracked these efforts, it found that violence dropped dramatically in targeted blocks, while no decrease was evident in comparable grids where the strategy wasnt in place.

In addition, the police department engaged in strong community policingmaking themselves a friendly presence for ordinary people trying to muddle through life in crime-ridden communities. Dallas police figured out that, to improve the economy in poor neighborhoods, you must first end the violence. Pouring money and sympathy into neighborhoods riddled with crime does nothing.

Chicago has a different approach to dealing with crime, which is to make it pay. CWB Chicago tells the story of Damien Stewart, a career criminal who was recently arrested for his seventh felony gun conviction. Amazingly, with each arrest and conviction, Stewarts sentences, rather than increasing, decreased!

Image: Risa Lanier. YouTube screen grab.

For his first- and second-gun convictions, Stewart got two-year sentences; for his third conviction, he got a three-year sentence; for his fourth conviction, he got a six-year sentence; and for his fifth gun conviction, he got a five-year sentence. You caught that decline in years from his fourth to fifth convictions, right? And of course, Stewart never seems to have served the full time on any of those convictions.

But it was for Stewarts sixth conviction, in 2019, that things really went off the rails:

[Stewart was charged with] Class X armed habitual criminal, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon with previous convictions, ten counts of aggravated battery of police, aggravated assault of a peace officer by using a firearm, an DUI.

In a plea deal, prosecutors dropped all the charges except for one: His having a gun despite previous convictions on gun charges. Prosecutors next agreed to reduce that charge to the least-serious felony-level charge that Illinois offers: Class 4 aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.

Stewart, who had been facing a mandatory sentence of six to 30 years in prison on just one of the charges against him, received a sentence of three years, which was offset entirely by the time he spent on electronic monitoring and in jail before he pleaded guilty, court records show.

The judge agreed. The correction records show that Stewart left prison on the same day he entered it.

The person in charge of this ludicrous revolving door system is Risa Lanier:

If youre not familiar with Lanier, she was the lead prosecutor in the original Jussie Smollet case. That case concluded so favorably for the defendant, most experienced attorneys and judges said they had never seen anything like it before  and it helped spark a special prosecutor investigation that brought embarrassment to the states attorneys office and her boss, Kim Foxx.

Laniers approach to prosecutions is to give the prosecutors free rein. As she explained, We do empower our [assistant prosecutors] to look at their cases and to use their discretion. Judging by the Smollett case, the entire department seems to believe that prosecutors owe more to the criminals whose presence ensures future work for prosecutors than to the citizens being overwhelmed by violence.

Thankfully, for his seventh gun possession charge, Stewart ended up in the court of Judge Mary Marubio, a Democrat who believes in the rule of law. She set Stewarts bail at $250,000 but also said he will not have the opportunity to post a bond until state authorities can review whether his parole status means he needs to go back to jail.

The contrast between Dallas and Chicago couldnt be greater. Dallas is focusing on removing from the streets the recidivists who cause much of the crime. Chicago, under the rule of Mayor Lori Lightfoot and people like Lanier, clearly believes in making the city safer for criminals.
COVID-19 is a dream come true for every Marxist and would-be globalist aristocrat throughout the world. The governments of all freedom-loving democracies have been transformed, virtually overnight, into oppressive authoritarian regimes, seemingly while we slept. Evidence, however, that the COVID pandemic may not have been just an unfortunate set of circumstances is starting to accumulate.

Six months ago, it was revealed that a scientist with connections to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the People's Liberation Army, may have been trying to develop a vaccine long before the COVID virus "escaped" the confines of the institute. According to a June 4 article in the New York Post:

A Chinese Communist Party military scientist who got funding from the National Institutes of Health filed a patent for a COVID-19 vaccine in February last year  raising fears the shot was being studied even before the pandemic became public, according to a new report. Zhou Yusen, a decorated military scientist for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) who worked alongside the Wuhan Institute of Virology as well as US scientists, filed a patent on Feb. 24 2020, according to documents obtained by The Australian.

Zhou died under "mysterious circumstances" a short time later.

Add to that what we've recently learned about the NIH providing grant money to facilitate "gain of function" research on coronaviruses at the Wuhan lab and you certainly come up with a strange mix of coincidences. It's bad enough that we're funding the Chinese military through interest payments on our debt, but now we're directly sending them grant money from the NIH?

Whatever the truth turns out to be, it can't be good. Creating a dangerous virus and perhaps a vaccine to prevent the infection calls to mind several possible scenarios, and almost all of them are sinister. At the top of the list would be the "conspiracy theory" that the CCP was developing a bioweapon and the means to protect itself from it.



Image: Police, complete with zip-tie handcuffs, preparing to check diners' vaccine papers in New York (edited in befunky). YouTube screen grab.

Perhaps the CCP had not yet finished working on the vaccine when the pathogen broke containment. To deflect suspicion away from themselves as the virus spread, the CCP had to fabricate a story that became the "wet market" saga, and anyone who said otherwise was quickly made to disappear. That they were abetted in this deception by the WHO, the U.S. media, and a good-size chunk of the U.S. government is appalling.

As we began to recognize that COVID does not share aspects of its ancestry with other coronaviruses and that it has other telltale signs of having been created in a lab, an apparent mainstream media blackout about that information was also begun. Additionally, a predisposition to absolve the Chinese government of any wrongdoing and even attribute their motives to altruism continues to this day. You must have an agenda to go that far out on a limb to defend the actions of the CCP.

Even those who will now admit that there is something not quite right about the virus have difficulty making the leap from Chinese civilian blunders to reckless military schemes. In China, there is no blurred line between what is a civilian enterprise and what is the province of the People's Liberation Army because there is no line to blur. What happened in the Wuhan lab was always under the watchful eye, if not the full control, of the CCP and its army.

We must understand that communism can survive only through fear, cruelty, and coercion. COVID's death toll pales in comparison to the purges of Mao, Stalin, and Pol Pot, just to name a few. The nature of communism is not at all different today from what it was twenty, fifty, or a hundred years ago. Its resurgence is due, at least in part, to American debt.

If there was no wrongdoing at the Wuhan lab, the players involved would open their books and welcome the scrutiny of the international community. That is clearly not happening and even with Joe Biden's new "commitment" to investigate, there seems to be very little interest, within the United States government, in finding out what really occurred. Maybe that's because they already know.

Frank Liberato is a pseudonym.
Did the Twitter punks who banned mRNA vaccine inventor and bona fide vaccine expert Robert W. Malone, M.D. just set off the Mother of all Backfires?

Kind of looks like it, now that they've drawn so much public interest to the man that they've apparently broken the Google algorithm for censoring stories about him.

It started like this:

Shortly after Malone was banned on Twitter, he did an long interview with bigfoot podcaster, Joe Rogan, arguing that the disinformation and repressed information on COVID vaccines was something resembling mass psychosis.

That term, and related ones, created widely divergent results between Google and its biggest rival, the more objective DuckDuckGo search engine.

Here's a video showing how the algorithms got broken:

We are witnessing Googles real-time censorship of the term mass formation psychosis as mentioned by @RWMaloneMD on @joerogan podcast. Dont let them get away with it! Listen to the episode for yourself. pic.twitter.com/wvvmN6X3Uw  Zach Herbert  (@zachherbert) January 2, 2022

Which ought to be kind of embarrassing to Twitter and the rest of the tech barons trying to stomp him out from any Internet media presence based on his inconvenient ideas about the risks of the mRNA vaccines. Although Malone is a giant in his field and hard to discredit the way they can do with assorted pipsqueaks out there, somehow they think they need to silence the man. On Google, they've tried to paint him as a nut, a conspiracy theorist, a vaccine skeptic, a Nazi, based on the search results they tried to throw up.

But the truth got out anyway, and their manipulated algorithms have been exposed, discrediting them, and in any case, not working. All they managed to do was promote him bigger than ever, generating so much public interest in his ideas and warnings that they busted the Google algorithms. Twitter's Katzenjammer Kids who started this ought to go into public relations. One wonders what the conversations must be like right about now between Twitter and Google barons.

What's more, the idiots created huge numbers of Malone-related terms on Twitter itself, with people passing around thousands of shares of Malone speaking on with hashtags under Malone, JoeRogan, masspsychosis, and related words. The podcast itself is at a link here, but valuable little clips are easily spotted through these hashtags on Twitter. They're pretty good at own-goals, too, over at Twitter.

It's significant because Malone has Big Tech's, Big Politics', and Big Pharma's numbers and they've got a target painted on his back in response. Malone's pointed out that many of the more insane and counterproductive public health measures going around have been brought on by conflicts of interest and a revolving door between medical researchers, Big Pharma, and public health officials. Profit motives are quite operative. Malone on the Rogan podcast, for instance, pointed out that Reuters does a lot of fact-checking for Twitter -- and it has a top executive sitting on the Pfizer board. Conflict, anyone? Malone's revelations are a threat to a lot of rice bowls right there. But he hasn't stopped

As the writer of an otherwise ugly Atlantic hit piece written about Malone has correctly noted:

Ive listened to hours of Malones interviews and read through the many pages of documents hes posted. He is a knowledgeable scientist with a knack for lucid explanation.

Precisely. That explains some of his popularity. His penchant for truth explains the rest.

The Atlantic, owned and reportedly directed editorially by Apple fortune heiress Laurene Powell Jobs, launched the first hit on Malone back in August.

The article tried to claim that Malone was an insignificant, unimportant guy who exaggerated his accomplishments and didn't play well with others. It was badly sourced, and supported only by the statements of jealous rivals whose conflicts of interest went unmentioned in the piece. There was a little warning that he'd screwed up his Nobel prize for medicine for his work in the piece, which contradicted the other claims in the piece about him being unimportant and inclined to inflate his resume. Nobel committees don't normally bother with such characters, except in the literature and peace categories. Malone noted on Rogan's show that the reporter, kept asking him again and again and again who was paying him, whose interests he was acting on behalf of. That sounds like a command from his betters at The Atlantic actually -- I've experienced that kind of call to target from news executives myself in my long journalism career (no, it wasn't IBD), so I know it happens. Someone was directing the reporter to bring back the answer to that question in a broader bid to discredit Malone.

The Atlantic's claim that Malone didn't get along with others was ridiculous, too -- Malone is sharp and certain in his views because he knows so much about his topic. The Atlantic's charge is ridiculous because it's so weak and subjective in content -- the topic is the inventor of the mRNA vaccine and all they can come up with is that he does not play well with others -- seriously, is that the best they could come up with? Sharp certainty is pretty characteristic of great scientists and scholars, actually -- has this dupe ever talked to Milton Friedman? Everyone (except Joe Biden) knows that Friedman, a giant in economics, was right in his ideas. Friedman's persona was an icily certain one because that's the way such scholars actually are -- it's the NTJ reading on the Myers-Briggs personality scale, which is precisely where major scientific researchers are typically found. It's actually no biggie. The ignorance that was revealed with that particular claim about him not being nice enough to other researchers so nobody should pay attention to his scientific discoveries stuck out as particularly stupid. Apparently the writer, a poor little feller named Tom Bartlett, believed that Malone needed to be more like him -- going along to get along. Doesn't work that way if you want to break new ground on something, doofus.

Malone's expansive interview with Rogan is chock full of information about the origins of COVID, the manipulations and maneuvers of public health decisions, the story of how India broke the COVID death cycle, and whole lot of other things that discredit entirely the COVID industrial complex. It can be viewed and heard here. It's heartening to see this kind of information draw so much public interest now that the COVID edifice is crumbling. Better still, Malone has dealt Google a blow, one that overwhelmed it at long last, and perhaps the first of many to come.

Image: ImgFlip.com meme, via Robert W. Malone, M.D. Substack page
Linda Greenhouse covered the United States Supreme Court for The New York Times for nearly three decades, until 2008, and then, in late 2009, was invited to write a column, "centered on the Supreme Court," every two weeks, for the paper. Ms. Greenhouse's December 31 column, last of her bi-monthly assignment, reflected the very sour-grapes of a senior citizen who never outgrew her adolescent progressivism: it was filled with the obligatory gibes of an angry leftist, hurled at Republicans, conservatives and Donald Trump. But were her targets limited only to conservatives?

In the early part of the column, Ms. Greenhouse suggested that a Republican nominee to the high court, these days, is "a handpicked spear carrier in the country's culture wars." Two paragraphs down, Ms. Greenhouse embellished that smack with this back-of-the-hand attack: "the current term finds the court in a danger zone as a willing -- and willful -- participant in a war for the soul of the country." A few lines down from that slap, Ms. Greenhouse pulled out all the stops, questioning "whether the court can be counted on to protect democracy from the Republican-led assault now taking place before our eyes. [Emphasis added.]

The title of Ms. Greenhouse's farewell is: "Do We Have the Supreme Court We Deserve?" "No," she explained, quickly insisting, "It's not that I think the country simply deserves a Supreme Court that happens to agree with me...." Come, now, Ms. Greenhouse, of course you think that. On what side of our culture wars would you place a Republican "spear carrier" -- the patriotic, traditional side, or the radical, woke side? What is the Biden-perceived struggle for "the soul of the country about" -- our legacy of liberty, or imposition of totalitarian government on a cowed people? Since when are rulings by the Supreme Court in defense of free and honest elections seen as a "Republican-led assault" on democracy.

The rabid, partisan observations from Linda Greenhouse in support of singularity of opinion come across like a screeching piece of chalk on a blackboard.

But, as indicated, we should expect no less from a leftist propagandist masquerading as observer of the Supreme Court. There is, I believe, a second theme in this final Greenhouse column for The Times -- a theme that informs her view of the paper on the eve of 2022.

Ms. Greenhouse began the column by recalling the days when the current "Sunday Review" section was known as "the Week in Review." (I thought "the" appeared as "The" -- perhaps I am wrong.)

The column concluded with a coda that noted that, after covering the Supreme Court, her column, every two weeks, appeared on "what was then called the Op-Ed page[.]"

This coda, then, included an eruption of nostalgia, an eruption leaving a hint of displeasure in the noted change. The coda mentioned that David Shipley, the Op-ed editor who gave her the column, left for Bloomberg News, within a year. Ms. Greenhouse added, "and we never actually met." But the pandemic, methinks, was years away! Curious stuff to put at the end of a Times farewell, no?

But then the final touch -- aimed, perhaps, in-house, not at Donald Trump. Herewith are the concluding paragraphs of the Greenhouse column. She indicated that she will continue to write for the Times, occasionally.

"This is the last of my regular columns, but not the last time my voice will appear here. I will venture an opinion from time to time. How could I not?

"In 1998, I was fortunate to win a Pulitzer Prize. I was the publisher's dinner partner at the celebratory dinner he threw for that year's Times winners. Midway through the meal, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. asked me what my long-term goal was at the paper, where I had been working by then for 30 years. "'I would like to write a column,' I replied. "The publisher looked at me. 'A column!' he explained with a surprised expression. 'What would you write about?'"

With a farewell anecdote like that, suggesting the former publisher's vacuity, is it unfair to wonder if The Times will even print a letter from Linda Greenhouse?

Photo credit: Amandapbk (cropped) CC BY-SA 4,0 license
In one of the more unbelievable statements from someone working in the American government, FBI Director Christopher Wray has allegedly sworn that his agency will bring down the bad guys named in Ghislaine Maxwells little black book. Those pedophiles are toast, right? Well, I have my doubts. To the extent that the FBI has seemed to take it upon itself to be a protector and enforcer for the Democrat party, the only way I see it following up on the evildoers whom Ghislaine knew is if they pose a threat to Democrat party political dominance.

Over the past few decades, the FBIs crime-solving prowess often seems to revolve around enticing ordinary people to commit the type of crimes the FBI solves and then arresting them for those same crimes. Two of the more recent examples are the attack on Pamela Geller and the purported plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

In 2017, when Pamela Geller hosted a Draw Mohamed cartoon contest in Garland, Texas, ISIS sympathizers attempt to murder her but, thankfully, were stopped by a local police officer. What we learned afterward is that an undercover FBI agent seemed not just to have been keeping an eye on things but also to have been encouraging the crime:

The FBIs involvement in the plot to kidnap Whitmer was even more overt:

There were at least 12 FBI informants involved in the investigation to thwart the alleged scheme by a militia group known as the Wolverine Watchmen  but the agents actually took an active part in it right from its inception, according to court filings, evidence and dozens of interviews reviewed by BuzzFeed News  and now some members of the group are accusing the feds of entrapment. One informant from Wisconsin allegedly helped organize meetings where the first inklings of the plot surfaced, even paying for hotel rooms and food to entice people to attend, Buzzfeed News reported. Another undercover agent allegedly advised the group on how to blow up a bridge to aid their getaway  and promised to supply them with explosives. An FBI informant, who is an Iraq War veteran, eventually rose to become second in command of the group, the report said.

Its easy to capture criminals if you mastermind the crimes.

Image: FBI director Christopher Wray. YouTube screen grab.

In the case of people who indulged their desires for underage sex on Jeffrey Epsteins island, the FBI doesnt have to set people up in order to catch them. Instead, it has in its possession all Ghislaine Maxwells information about the people she and Epstein hosted on the island or at his other properties, including her infamous little black book. (None of these people were named at Maxwells trial, thanks to an agreement between the prosecution and the defense.)

According to The Mirror, a British publication, a source stated,

Prosecutors in the US have made countless mistakes before where Maxwell and Epstein are concerned. Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, has vowed that those who committed a crime with them will not escape justice under his watch.

Pardon my cynicism, but I dont believe it. For starters, we already know many names because of the civil case involving Virginia Giuffre. A lot of famous people were named in the evidence, although some were clearly just high society and political contacts. Even though its reasonable to believe that at least some of the people named were doing dirty deeds, the FBI did nothing.

And if youll pardon me for even greater cynicism, given the FBIs conduct vis-a-vis Hillary Clinton (destroying all the evidence of her wrongdoing), the phony Russian hoax (continuing an investigation after they knew it was baseless), and the January 6 protest at the Capitol (which may have been another example of FBI entrapment), the only reason I can see for the FBI to go after people named in Maxwells book is if doing so will embarrass Republicans. It wont matter if the Republicans investigated are potentially guilty; the embarrassment factor will be enough.

The FBI has not covered itself in glory of late. Instead, from the rank-and-file on up, its proven to be a highly political entity, rather than an organization seeking to protect Americans from genuine criminals. Theres no reason to believe that, with a blackmail book in hand, its conduct will suddenly change.
In July 2021, we published an essay from an Anonymous Antarctican describing the insane restrictions placed on people in the middle of nowhere, all in an effort to avoid COVID. Now, were getting a reminder that, in the words of the old margarine commercial, you cant fool Mother Nature. It turns out that all those crazy precautions were for nothing. A similarly situated station hosted a virgin population of people who had never had COVID, and two-thirds of them caught it, just as everyone will eventually.

The July American Thinker article, entitled Anti-COVID measures in an Antarctic research station, described how the McMurdo Station, 800 miles north of the South Pole, had instituted incredibly repressive rules, all based on magical, not scientific, thinking:

PAE-ASC (Antarctica Support Contract) along with the NSF (National Science Foundation) then implemented a COVID screening process to anyone going to the ice. This process included flying to San Francisco and staying in a managed hotel from which you could not leave the grounds. During that time, a negative COVID test was required to process further to Christchurch, New Zealand. The program booked a private charter flight to reduce COVID contact. Upon arrival in Christchurch, per N.Z. government regulations, any person arriving from outside the country was required to stay in a government-managed isolation facility for two weeks and required two negative COVID tests, one per week, before being released. But it was still not over yet; once departing the N.Z. government isolation facility, we take a private van to another managed isolation hotel. During this trip, masking and social distancing are required at all times  as it was throughout the whole process. Due to unpredictable weather patterns, delays can be anywhere from a few days to several weeks, and  you guessed it  you cannot leave your hotel at all. Mind you, N.Z. has zero COVID cases.

Those attenuated and pointless travel restrictions, which meant a month of isolation and myriad COVID tests (which we now know cant distinguish COVID from the flu) were just the beginning. Once at the station, the people were under a red-yellow-green-blue alert season, which prescribed various levels of social distancing and maskingin a small working and living area:

If it is green and a plane arrives, we go to level yellow for one week. Mask and social distance at all times during work and personal hours. At the end of a long day, you can't wait to get back to your room. Oh, wait  you have roommates, too! How can you implement these rules and yet have everyone live together? Last summer season, everyone had his own room, but this is changing this season as the NSF is ramping up production. But what happens if there are multiple planes in one week, or one arrives on day 7 from the last one? Well, you guessed it: it all starts over again. That means depending on flight schedule, you will be in "level yellow" for months. Sounds like so much fun.

Despite all these extreme precautions, which now include requiring that everyone coming to the station must be vaccinated, COVID came to Antarctica. The COVID-infected station is not the one described above, but the protocols sound much the same:

Two thirds of the staff based at Belgiums Princess Elisabeth Polar Station have caught the Omicron variant, according to Le Soir newspaper. All staff passed multiple PCR tests, quarantining, and being fully vaccinated with one having received a booster shot. Before leaving for the station, they had a PCR test two hours prior to a flight to South Africa. In South Africa they then quarantined for ten days before taking another PCR test. They were also tested before leaving Cape Town for Antarctica and also a final one five days after arrival.

Significantly, even though people with Omicron were evacuated, others still tested positive. However, because its Omicron, its not thought that any of the Belgians [sic] have experienced severe symptoms. And let me just say again that theyre all vaccinated.

Image: Princess Elisabeth Polar Station. YouTube screen grab.

The vaccinations dont prevent COVID nor do the boosters. For vulnerable people, shots may make less intense those COVID strains other than Omicron. With Omicron, there is no intense. You get it, youre not very sick, and with luck, youre truly immune and thats the end of the Chinese Communist Partys viral gift to the world.

Its time for us to end the COVID charade. Its a nasty flu, with the main problem being that our federal government refuses to allow doctors to treat it at any time before patients are at deaths door. With treatment, I suspect deaths would be uncommon. And as the Antarctica experience shows, with Omicron, well all get it and pass through the fire unscathed.
I headed into the Christmas season in a foul mood as our countrys trajectory appears to be emulating the fall of the Roman Empire. Hopelessly corrupt politicians, weak generals, barbarians swarming the borders, and a pervasive sense of moral decay all doomed Rome and are currently taking down America.

When it comes to brainless incompetence, Nero and Caligula have nothing on Brandon and Kammy!

Still, Christmas is a time of hope and giving and caring for others. I tried to relax and get in the holiday spirit but it just wasnt happening.

And then, on Christmas Day no less, I received a gift from wee Tony Fauci that changed everything: the Wuhan Flu.

Fauci, as you may know unless you only watch the sex-perverts and prevaricators on CNN, helped fund the lab in Wuhan that developed COVID-19 and loosed it upon the world. Forget how badly Fauci has bungled the U.S. response to COVID, he used millions of our tax dollars to help bring the bug into existence!

Anyway, I started the day of our Lords birth in a sour mood and with a splitting headache. And although I was surrounded by every treat imaginable, I had no appetite. Worse than that, I couldnt even enjoy any of the festive cocktails, fine wine or eggnog available. Thats when I knew for sure I was getting sick.

Over the following week, but not all at the same time, I suffered from aches, anorexia, chills, congestion, coughing, diarrhea, fatigue, fever, loss of taste and smell, nausea, night sweats, sneezing, sniffles, and zerostomia. Heck, the skin on my lips was falling off.

Turns out theyre right that the Omicron variant is milder than previous versions of the Wuhan Flu. You dont die, you just wish you would!

As the new year starts, Im finally beginning to turn it around. Having a little toast and coffee for breakfast, instead of a handful of pills with a glass of water, I realize that my illness was actually a gift.

Instead of worrying about the state of the union, Im simply happy to be alive. Im grateful for a loving wife and my wonderful grown kids. Im thankful for good friends, a long and satisfying career in health care, a nice home in a friendly neighborhood, and everyone who had anything to do with developing Advair, Advil, albuterol, azithromycin, Benadryl, Imodium, prednisone, and Vitamin D supplements.

Instead of stressing over things out of my control, like the wildly corrupt FBI, our increasingly senile president, and AOCs latest idiotic tweet, I enter 2022 with an attitude of gratitude for all the many blessings in my life. And my beer guts practically gone.

Thanks, Dr. Fauci!
On April 10, 2013, a gigantic chunk of earth and rocks gave away and crashed into the humongous pit created by copper mining at the Bingham Canyon Mine in Utah, the United States. Approximately 65 to 70 million cubic meters of debris thundered down the walls of the mine reaching speeds up to 100 miles per hour. The event was so large that it shook the earth and the tremors were picked up by seismic sensors designed to record earthquakes. The intensity recorded by the instruments measured 2.5 in Richter Scale. In other words, the landslide felt like a 2.5 quake.

The incident was the largest non-volcanic landslide in the modern history of North America, and it occurred in the largest man-made excavation in the world.

Photo credit: unknown

Bingham Canyon has been producing copper since 1906, and supplies 25% of all copper used in the United States. More than a century of mining activity has resulted in a massive crater that is 970 meters deep and 4 km wide. The hole is such a spectacle that it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.

As the mine grew and the hole became deeper and wider, mine operators began to question the stability of the slopes of the pit. So they installed the latest in surveillance technology that included sensors such as automated geodetic networks, in situ extensometers, and ground-based radar interferometry. Thanks to these monitoring systems as well as the seismic network operated by the University of Utah Seismograph Stations in the Utah region, the Bingham Canyon mine landslide is one of the best recorded in history.

In early 2013, mine operators picked up signs of increasing instability on the northeastern wall of the Bingham Canyon mine. In the morning of the landslide the movement began so strong that they immediately evacuated the area. The first landslide occurred seven hours later, followed by another one 1.5 hour later. Each avalanche lasted 90 seconds. Altogether, some 65 million cubic meters of debris were deposited, enough to cover New York Citys Central Park with 20 meter of debris.

Interestingly, the landslide also triggered sixteen smaller earthquakes real quakes making the landslide the first in history to have triggered quakes and not the other way around.

Although loss of equipment was inevitable, because of the early warning system, no loss of lives occurred.

Related: Frank Slide: Canadas Deadliest Rockslide Now a Tourist Attraction

Photo credit: fox13now.com

Photo credit: fox13now.com

Photo credit: fox13now.com

Photo credit: fox13now.com

Photo credit: fox13now.com

Photo credit: umfablog.wordpress.com

Photo credit: Miaomiao WANG/Flickr

Photo credit: Miaomiao WANG/Flickr

Photo credit: Doc Searls/Flickr

Photo credit: Doc Searls/Flickr

Sources: GSA Today / Wikipedia / University of Utah
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Around 132 million coronavirus jabs were given last year amid the largest vaccine campaign in British history.

More than 90% of people in the UK over the age of 12 have now had their first dose of a Covid-19 jab and 82.4% have had their second.

The emergence of the Omicron variant triggered an acceleration of the rollout over the festive season, and more than 1.6 million people received their booster dose in the final week of 2021.

This brought the total UK number of boosted adults to 34 million, including three in four eligible adults in England.

(PA Graphics)

Health Secretary Sajid Javid thanked NHS staff and tens of thousands of volunteers for the success of the rollout since December 2020, and urged more people to get their booster in the new year.

He said: The Covid-19 pandemic has been one of the biggest challenges our health service has ever faced and our historic vaccination programme has been vital in helping us step up to meet this challenge.

Mr Javid added that 132 million vaccinations in a single year is astounding and a true reflection of the fantastic work of our NHS and its volunteers, and said: I want to thank each and every one of them.

But we need to make sure people continue to come forward for their life-saving jab.

As we go into the New Year, make sure you Get Boosted Now to kick off 2022 with the best possible protection from Omicron.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid watches as a nurse administers a vaccine jab during a visit to a coronavirus vaccination clinic at the Gordon Hospital in Westminster, central London (Stefan Rousseau/PA).

Prime Minister Boris Johnson set the target of offering all eligible adults the chance to get their top-up jabs by the end of January, but following the emergence of Omicron he brought forward the deadline to new year.

Millions of Britons queued at around 3,000 vaccination centres, and on December 18, NHS England administered a record 830,000 jabs in a single day.

The acceleration of the programme was supported by 750 armed forces workers, and the Government suspended the 15-minute observation period following Pfizer and Moderna boosters for most patients.

Vaccines minister Maggie Throup urged more adults to come forward in the new year, and described the rollout as a source of national pride.

Ms Throup said: The UK Covid-19 vaccination programme is something we can all be proud of  having provided tens of millions of people with protection from this deadly virus over the past year.

Recent UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data shows people who are unvaccinated are up to eight times more likely to be admitted to hospital than those who are fully vaccinated.

Coronavirus cases are continuing to rise across the world, and one in 25 people in England had the virus last week, according to ONS data. This figure increases to one in 15 in London.




BEIJING, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, the world's largest free trade agreement, entered into force on Saturday.

After the agreement takes effect, more than 90 percent of merchandise trade among members that have approved the agreement will eventually be subject to zero tariffs.

With optimized trade rules among signatories, streamlined procedures and wider opening-up in the sectors of services-trade and investment, the RECP will bring tangible benefits to the member countries.



China will fully implement the obligations of the RCEP agreement and guide local governments, industries and enterprises to better seize the opening-up opportunities, according to the Ministry of Commerce.



The country will work actively with other members to build the RCEP mechanism into a major platform for economic and trade cooperation in East Asia, the ministry said.



The RCEP includes 10 ASEAN members, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The 15 states' total population, gross domestic product and trade all account for about 30 percent of the world total.







Produced by Xinhua Global Service
The Education Secretary said face-to-face teaching will continue and remain the norm as he outlined a series of Covid measures for schools.

Nadhim Zahawi said secondary pupils will have to wear masks in classrooms and be able to access on-site coronavirus tests at school.

A further 7,000 air purifiers are promised, to add to the 1,000 already announced, alongside 350,000 CO2 monitors.

He has also called upon former and retired teachers to return so bring additional support with a Blitz spirit.

(PA Graphics)

Meanwhile, 12 to 15-year-olds are being encouraged to get fully vaccinated with two jabs and 16 and 17-year-old are now eligible for a booster dose.

Mr Zahawi outlined the battery of measures in a Twitter thread on Sunday, saying he wanted to offer reassurance before the start of term.

He said: Teachers and support staff across the country have put in a Herculean effort over the past 18 months and more, and I know we can count on their steadfast support in the coming weeks as we weather this storm.

I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for all their efforts to help children fulfil their potential.

We will do everything in our power as a government to minimise the disruption to schools.

Health Secretary Sajid Javids announcement last week that ministers expect a need to constrain supply to the general population for a fortnight amid surging demands sparked concerns over supply that have now prompted calls from the Labour Party and a headteachers union for the Government to make sure the tests are available for schools.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

The Department for Education (DfT) is encouraging secondary, college, and university students, as well as education staff, to test themselves twice each week and have set up a priority route for schools to order kits.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders union NAHT, said: The difficulties the public have had in accessing lateral flow tests over the past few weeks has made many people nervous that they will not be available when needed for school staff and pupils.

If lateral flow tests are to be critical to enabling pupils and staff to return to school quickly then there must be a ready supply available for schools as they go back in January and throughout the term.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting was one voice urging the Government to make sure the tests are there for those who need them.

A student taking a lateral flow test at Hounslow Kingsley Academy in West London (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

He told Sky News: I think there are two things, though, that the Government can and should be doing.

The first is on testing.

Pupils should be testing twice a week.

Theres lots of evidence to suggest that hasnt been happening properly.

So the message for Government is get the tests in place, make sure pupils are able to test twice a week.

And my message to parents and pupils is do take the tests because the big challenge this month is going to be keeping pupils learning, avoiding mass absences, and of course making sure that staff are well enough to attend school as well.

Rev Steve Chalke, the founder of one of Englands largest academy trusts  Oasis Academy Learning told Sky News 10% of staff had been off work after testing positive for coronavirus or with other illnesses before Christmas, and staffing was still the biggest unknown.

However, he said DfE had done a great job and his schools had received all the testing kits they needed.
The Government is being urged to make sure enough Covid-19 tests are available for schoolchildren and staff.

The Department for Education (DfE) is encouraging secondary, college, and university students, as well as education staff, to test themselves twice a week.

It also said schools and colleges were able to order tests through a priority route and were able to order them before the Christmas break.

Taking regular COVID-19 tests is one of the most effective ways to stop the virus spreading. Ask your children to keep testing over the holidays, especially if theyre meeting friends or family, to help keep everyone safer this Christmas. pic.twitter.com/Ay8BXqGm1K  Department for Education (@educationgovuk) December 27, 2021

Health Secretary Sajid Javids announcement last week that ministers expect a need to constrain supply to the general population for a fortnight amid surging demands sparked concerns over supply that have now prompted calls from the Labour Party and a headteachers union for the Government to make sure the tests are available for schools.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders union NAHT, said: The difficulties the public have had in accessing lateral flow tests over the past few weeks has made many people nervous that they will not be available when needed for school staff and pupils.

If lateral flow tests are to be critical to enabling pupils and staff to return to school quickly then there must be a ready supply available for schools as they go back in January and throughout the term.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: I think there are two things, though, that the Government can and should be doing. The first is on testing. Pupils should be testing twice a week.

Theres lots of evidence to suggest that hasnt been happening properly.

So the message for Government is get the tests in place, make sure pupils are able to test twice a week.

A student takes a lateral flow test at Hounslow Kingsley Academy in West London (PA)

And my message to parents and pupils is do take the tests because the big challenge this month is going to be keeping pupils learning, avoiding mass absences, and of course making sure that staff are well enough to attend school as well.

Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the teachers union NASUWT, said: I think the reality is that tests are one part of the response to tackling this virus.

Theyre an important part but they are one part.

He added: Clearly tests are important; schools have been supplied with test kits and we were able to order those before Christmas. Well have to see whether school supplies are running short, but the important thing is that this is one of a number of mitigation measures that can be used to help to minimise the spread of the virus.

According to Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), there are currently no concerns over the supply of lateral flow tests to schools.

He said: With regards to the availability of lateral flow test kits, schools and colleges are able to order them through an online ordering system, and were advised to place orders before the Christmas holidays if more kits were needed for the start of term.

These orders are due to be delivered in the week commencing January 3, and we have not been notified by the Government of any issues affecting supply.

The Rev Steve Chalke, the founder of one of Englands largest academy trusts  Oasis Academy Learning  said the Department for Education had done a great job and his schools had received the tests they needed.
Several Conservative politicians have written to the Prime Minister, urging him to scrap taxes on rapidly rising energy bills.

Some 20 Tory MPs and peers have written in the Sunday Telegraph asking Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak to help consumers facing fuel poverty as gas and electricity payments continue to rocket.

The letter is signed by politicians including Craig Mackinlay, the chairman of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group of Conservative MPs, former work and pensions secretary Esther McVey, and MPs Robert Halfon and Steve Baker.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak (Leon Neal/PA)

They argue that the UK is causing energy prices to increase faster than any other comparable country due to taxation and environmental levies.

We hardly need to point out that high energy prices, whether for domestic heating or for domestic transport, are felt most painfully by the lowest paid, the letter states.

It argues that removing VAT on energy bills and environmental levies which fund renewable energy schemes could save the average household 200 on their energy bill.

Providers including Good Energy, EDF and trade body Energy UK have also urged the Government to intervene, after the cost of gas in wholesale markets rose by more than 500% in less than a year.

Households are expected to see a severe hike in the cost of their energy in April as suppliers are due to increase prices in line with these costs.

More than two dozen energy suppliers have also gone bust since the start of September, putting thousands of people out of work and leaving millions of homes in limbo as they wait for a new supplier.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has called for all former prime ministers to be knighted with the highest possible ranking, just as Tony Blair was in the New Years Honours.

Sir Tony was appointed as a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior British Order of Chivalry, with the honour from the Queen regularly bestowed upon past prime ministers including most recently Sir John Major.

Sir Lindsay told BBC Radio 4s Today programme, however, it should be given to all ex-PMs including David Cameron because it is one of the toughest jobs in the world.

Whatever people might think, it is one of the toughest jobs in the world and I think it is respectful and it is the right thing to do, whether it is to Tony Blair or to David Cameron. They should all be offered that knighthood when they finish as prime minister, the Chorley MP said.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle has called the role of prime minister one of the toughtest jobs in the world (Jonathan Brady/PA)

I would say if youve been prime minister of this country, I do believe the country should recognise the service theyve given, Sir Lindsay added.

It is not about politics, it is about the position they have held in this country: Its about the position and its the respect that we show to those people whove led this country.

And I think its a fitting tribute to the job theyve carried out.

Sir Tony, who left Downing Street more than 14 years ago, was one of three new appointments announced by the palace alongside Baroness Valerie Amos and the Duchess of Cornwall.

Appointments to the Garter are in the Queens gift and made without prime ministerial advice, and are usually announced on St Georges Day, April 23, but the monarch can do so at any time, and chose this year to coincide with the New Years Honours.

They are for life unless a Knight or Lady Companion offends against certain points of reproach.

Founded in 1348 by Edward III, the Garter is awarded by the sovereign for outstanding public service and achievement.

There are now 21 non-royal companions in the order out of a maximum of 24.
Rapper Kodak Black was arrested on a trespassing charge Saturday in South Florida, authorities said.

The Broward Sheriffs Office said Black was taken into custody in his hometown of Pompano Beach early Saturday morning, according to the South Florida SunSentinel. Investigators did not immediately release details about what prompted the arrest.

Black, whose legal name is Bill Kapri, later posted bond and was released, the newspaper reported. Neither his publicist nor his attorney immediately returned an emailed request for comment.

Black had a three-year federal prison sentence for falsifying documents used to buy weapons at a Miami gun store commuted by President Donald Trump on his last day in office in 2020. He had served about half his sentence.

He was later sentenced to probation last April for assaulting a teenage girl in a South Carolina hotel room. Black was originally charged with rape, but accepted a deal and pleaded guilty to first-degree assault.

Black has sold over 30 million singles and has had several multiplatinum and platinum-certified singles, including Zeze, No Flockin and Roll in Peace.
Horse trainer Bob Baffert attends the Breeders' Cup at Del Mar in November. Baffert's horses are currently ineligible to compete in the 2022 Kentucky Derby. (Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

Trainer Bob Bafferts vice-like grip on possible Kentucky Derby starters got a bit stronger on Saturday when Newgrange won the Grade 3 $100,000 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita. The only problem is that Baffert is currently excluded from running at Churchill Downs, home of the Derby.

Newgrange was a classic case of the other Baffert, where Bafferts second-favored horse wins the race. Newgrange is now undefeated in two races after having won the one-mile race Saturday by 2 lengths. John Velazquez, who has moved to Santa Anita for the winter, was the winning jockey.

Newgrange paid $7.40, $3.40 and $2.40. The Baffert-trained Rockefeller was second followed by Oviatt Class, Mackinnon and Degree of Risk.

He looked good, Baffert said. He had been training really well and working together with Rockefeller. The quality is there.  I thought Rockefeller would be a little closer. Well have to figure things out on where the two go from here.

Churchill Downs has placed Baffert on a two-year ban after last years Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, tested positive for a legal medication that is banned on race day. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has not charged Baffert with any wrongdoing, pending additional toxicology results. Bafferts attorneys contend that Medina Spirit was treated with an ointment for a rash and not through an inter-articular injection, which they say is how the rule was written.

Medina Spirit died after a workout on Dec. 6 after what is believed to be a cardiac event, but a necropsy will determine the cause of death.

Churchill Downs has deemed that any horse trained by Baffert or a surrogate is ineligible for Kentucky Derby qualifying points. The 10 points that Newgrange earned or the four points that were won by Rockefeller for second will be vacated according to Derby rules. But, a 10-point win in January is unlikely to make any difference because the point system is weighted to horses who are performing well in March and April.

The horses Baffert trains will either need to gain eligibility through litigation or moved to other trainers if they are to run in the Derby.

There were two other points qualifying races on Saturday. Courvoisier won the $150,000 Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct in New York. The race was run in a dense fog over a sloppy track. The colt paid $10.00 to win for trainer Kelly Breen and jockey Jose Ortiz. Dash Attack won the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas. He paid $17.40 to win for trainer Kenny McPeek and jockey David Cohen.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
For air travelers, the new year picked up where the old one left off  with lots of frustration.

By late Saturday afternoon on the East Coast, more than 2,600 U.S. flights and nearly 4,600 worldwide had been canceled, according to tracking service FlightAware.

That is the highest single-day U.S. toll yet since just before Christmas, when airlines began blaming staffing shortages on increasing COVID-19 infections among crews. More than 12,000 U.S. flights have been canceled since Dec. 24.

Saturdays disruptions werent just due to the virus, however. Wintry weather made Chicago  where forecasts called for 9 inches (23 centimeters) of snow  the worst place in the country for travelers. More than 800 flights were scrubbed at OHare Airport and more than 250 at Midway Airport.

Southwest Airlines suspended operations at both Chicago airports because of the forecast, according to an airline spokeswoman. She said Southwest knows from years of operating at Midway that high winds and blowing snow make it hard to get planes back in the air quickly.

Southwest canceled more than 450 flights nationwide, or 13% of its schedule. American Airlines and Delta Air Lines scrubbed more than 200 flights each, and United Airlines canceled more than 150.

SkyWest, a regional carrier that operates flights under the names American Eagle, Delta Connection and United Express, grounded 480 flights, one-fourth of its schedule. A spokesperson blamed weather in Chicago, Denver and Detroit and COVID-19 illnesses.

Among international carriers, China Eastern scrubbed more than 500 flights, or about one-fourth of its total, and Air China canceled more than 200 flights, one-fifth of its schedule, according to FlightAware.

Sunday, when many travelers plan to return home from holiday trips, is shaping up to be difficult, too. More than 1,900 flights, including more than 1,000 in the U.S., had been canceled by late Saturday. A winter storm with heavy snow is expected to march toward the Northeast as a new storm hits the Pacific Northwest, according to the National Weather Service.

Airlines say they are taking steps to reduce cancellations. United is offering to pay pilots triple or more of their usual wages for picking up open flights through most of January. Spirit Airlines reached a deal with the Association of Flight Attendants for double pay for cabin crews through Tuesday, said a union spokeswoman.

When winter weather hit the Pacific Northwest earlier this week, Alaska Airlines urged customers to delay any non-essential trips that were planned through this weekend. With full flights over the New Year's holiday, the airline said it wasn't sure it could rebook stranded passengers for at least three days.

Airlines hope that extra pay and reduced schedules get them through the holiday crush and into the heart of January, when travel demand usually drops off. The seasonal decline could be sharper than normal this year because most business travelers are still grounded.

Travelers who stuck to the roads instead of the skies faced challenges, too. Transportation officials in the Midwest warned motorists that a mix of rain and snow could make roads slippery and reduce visibility, leading to hazardous driving conditions.
People chant slogans during a protest to denounce the October 2021 military coup, in Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. Sudanese security forces fired tear gas Sunday to disperse protesters as thousands rallied against military rule, medics said. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)

CAIRO (AP)  Sudans Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok announced his resignation Sunday amid political deadlock and widespread pro-democracy protests following a military coup that derailed the countrys fragile transition to democratic rule.

Hamdok called for a dialogue to agree on a national charter and to draw a roadmap to complete the transition. The October coup had upended Sudan's plans to move to democracy after a popular uprising forced the militarys overthrow of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019.

On Sunday, prior to his resignation, Sudanese security forces violently dispersed pro-democracy protesters, in the latest demonstrations to denounce the takeover and a subsequent deal that reinstated the prime minister but sidelined the pro-democracy movement. A medical group said at least two people were killed.

The Sudan Doctors Committee, which is part of the pro-democracy movement, said one of the dead was hit violently in his head while taking part in a protest march in Khartoum. The second was shot in his chest in Khartoums twin city of Omdurman, it added. The group said dozens of protesters were injured.

Activist Nazim Sirag said security forces used tear gas and sound grenades to disperse protesters, and chased them in side streets across the capital.

Protests also took place in other cities including Port Sudan and Nyala in the Darfur region.

The protests came despite tightened security and blocked bridges and roads in Khartoum and Omdurman. Internet connections were also disrupted ahead of the protests, according to advocacy group NetBlocs. Authorities have used such tactics repeatedly since the Oct. 25 coup.

Sunday's fatalities have brought the death toll among protesters since the coup to at least 56, according to the medical group. Hundreds have also been wounded.

Allegations surfaced last month of sexual violence, including rape and gang rape by security forces against female protesters, according to the United Nations.

The ruling sovereign council has vowed to investigate violence against the protesters.

On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged security forces to immediately cease the use of deadly force against protesters" and to hold those responsible for violence accountable.

He also called for Sudanese leaders to accelerate their efforts to form a credible cabinet, an interim parliament and judicial electoral bodies that will prepare for the countrys planned 2023 elections.

The rotating leadership of the sovereign council now chaired by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan should be transferred to a civilian as was planned before the coup, Blinken said.

We do not want to return to the past, and are prepared to respond to those who seek to block the aspirations of the Sudanese people for a civilian-led, democratic government, he added.

The October military takeover upended a fragile planned transition to democratic rule following a popular uprising that forced the militarys overthrow of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019.

Hamdok, a former U.N. official seen as the civilian face of Sudans transitional government, was reinstated in November amid international pressure in a deal that calls for an independent technocratic Cabinet under military oversight led by him.

That deal, however, was rejected by the pro-democracy movement, which insists that power be handed over to a fully civilian government tasked with leading the transition.

Hamdok defended the Nov. 21 deal with the military, saying that it was meant to preserve achievements his government made in the past two years, and to protect our nation from sliding to a new international isolation.
Vietnam's first Omicron case released from hospital

The Hanoi-based Military Central Hospital 108 said on January 2 that Vietnam's first confirmed Omicron case has been discharged from the hospital on the same day after testing negative for coronavirus a day earlier.



The Military Central Hospital 108 treated the Omicron patient, a man who arrived in Vietnam from the UK on December 19 and got positive result for a rapid antigen test done at the Noi Bai International Airport and was moved into quarantine immediately.





The first patient with Omicron in Vietnam is treated at Military Central Hospital 108.

He did not show symptoms during the isolation period, the hospital said.



The hospital concluded the man was infected with the variant of concern on December 21, using Oxford Nanopore Technologies sequencer.



Following the discharge, the hospital will continue to coordinate with the recovered patient's family to monitor and manage his health at home, ensuring the safety of the community.



The hospital calls on people to strictly follow pandemic prevention and control regulations, especially to protect high-risk groups such as the elderly or people with underlying health conditions.



20 Omicron cases confirmed to date in Vietnam (all imported) have reportedly been asymptomatic or mild cases. The latest five discovered in Ho Chi Minh City have tested negative after five days or a week after testing positive for the new variant.
The New Year speech of Chinese President Xi Jinping has provided insights that Pakistan can learn from, said Dr. Saira Ahmed, an associate professor at Pakistan's Capital University of Science and Technology.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Athens, TX (75751)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms, especially during the afternoon hours. High 84F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early followed by scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low 69F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
WLTP

AMG

As you will observe, the German brand has taken a camouflaged M3 Touring to a snow-covered road near a ski slope, and its driver proceeds to a series of drifts. Wheelspin is minimal, and that is easily explained by the availability of M-tuned xDrive for this version of the M3 as well.Moreover, the caption of the teaser video also includes preliminary values of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions in the combinedcycle. These mentions are mandatory in Europe for commercials, and they reveal a bit more information about the upcoming M3 Touring.As the caption writes, the fuel consumption in the combined WLTP cycle of the M3 Touring will be 10.3 liters/100 km, while CO2 emissions are estimated at 235 grams per kilometer. We must note that both values are preliminary, so the ones corresponding to the production-spec might be different.We did not convert the values to U.S. MPG and miles because these figures are preliminary, so there is no relevance to the U.S. market, but they make a bit more sense after reading the following paragraphs.If we look at the figures for the base M3 Sedan , the 480-horsepower model has a combined fuel consumption of 10.8 liter/100 km, while CO2 emissions sit at 248 grams/kilometer.Its Competition variant , with 510 horsepower, has a lower fuel consumption, of 10.2 liters/100 kilometers, while C02 emissions are estimated at 234 grams per kilometer. All figures above are in the combined WLTP cycle.Meanwhile, the G80 M3 Competition with xDrive and M Steptronic transmission has a 10.0-10.1 liter/100 km combined WLTP fuel consumption, while CO2 emissions range between 228 and 231 grams per kilometer.If the preliminary values are any indication, it could mean that BMW M will not offer the M3 Touring with two engine versions, as it does with the Sedan. Instead, the 510-horsepower unit could be the norm for this version, as it might be the case with xDrive all-wheel-drive. The manual transmission is also a no-go for the Touring.Since BMW does not offer the Touring version of its 3 Series in the U.S., it would be unlikely for the German marque to homologate a slow-selling body style just to offer the M3 Touring on that market. Previous statements made by company officials have noted that homologation costs are prohibitive, so it will not happen.The Munich brand's competitors at Audi have introduced the RS6 Avant (not a direct competitor, though) on the American market, and Mercedes-had no problems selling their wagons there. Sadly for U.S. customers, it looks like the first M3 Touring is not arriving in showrooms across the Atlantic.While there is an online petition started in an attempt to convince BMW to offer the M3 Touring stateside, its chances of success are low, if not flat-out zero.Since company officials have explained why they do not start the homologation procedure, which involves crash-testing and adaptations for the U.S. market, the chance of buying an M3 Touring in the U.S. is too slim to consider.Unlike BMW, Mercedes-Benz has been offering wagons on the American market for decades, while Audi has previously homologated the A6 allroad quattro model , which allowed the sale of the RS6 Avant on this market. Curiously, the Ingolstadt-based brand does not also offer the RS4 Avant in the U.S., despite the fact that the A4 allroad is already available on the market.
Back at the beginning of December, something called Operation Iron Dagger took place over in Japan, where the USAF sent the mightiest of its planes to train alongside the Japanese and their hardware, including the rare-in-the-sky Mitsubishi F-2s, or the Viper Zeros as theyre also called.As usual, the U.S. Air Force and other organizations present in Japan for Iron Dagger missed no opportunity of snapping the hardware in action on film, to be shared at a later date with the general public. Thanks to this, we got to see, for instance, an impressive formation flight with a B-52H Stratofortress , seven F-35A Lightning IIs, and four of those new Zeroes we were talking about above.The pic we have on the menu today was taken during the same exercise, as one of those F-35s was flying over Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan. Somewhat ironically, this angle makes the plane look like some sort of blunt iron dagger as it moves through the air.This particular airplane is deployed with the 356th Fighter Squadron, a unit of the 354th Air Expeditionary Wing. Based over in Alaska, the squadron has had a very bumpy ride, having been created in 1942 and disbanded in 1946, then reinstated in 1956 and shut down in 1992, and most recently revived in 2019 to operate F-35s.The unit was sent to Japan as a means to show the 354th AEWs ability to rapidly mobilize and deploy fifth-generation airpower across the Indo-Pacific theater, which loosely translated can be seen as a move to keep China on its toes.
The converted Harley were looking at now is called Ludus, which is an actual word in Latin that, depending on use, might mean either game or sport, or primary or gladiator school. A name that gave Bad Land enough room to play around with the bike and come up with a design to properly represent one of the two extremes.Sadly, we kind of feel the shop failed to do that. The overall design seems to be too uptight to be associated with fun and games, and somehow, at the same time, not enough so to scream power and violence as a gladiator school would have.As it stands, the black apparition with minor touches of yellow comes as a rather minor conversion to a 300 mm wide rear wheel, a piece that comes from the Lector line of wheels made by Rick's Motorcycles.Backed by Brembo braking hardware, the wheels help move down the road just a slightly modified frame, engine, and body. We get an Ohlins front fork, AS Industries exhaust system, and Performance Machine foot control system, all stuck together under the Bad Land vision.Aside from that, the Japanese also contributed their own home-brewed bits, in the form of the triple tree, handlebar, front and rear fenders, and various covers.The Harley-Davidson Ludus was first shown by Bad Land back in 2016, and its current whereabouts are unknown, as is the sum of money the customer had to pay to have it turned into this thing.
SUV

EV

The problems that challenged the automotive industry in 2020 continued in 2021 and might even be with us in the new year. The international health crisis doesnt seem to be going away anytime soon, and the chip shortage is just as stubborn. On top of that, we have a tremendous push toward electrification, which has transformed the car market in the past year and will continue to do so in 2022.Sadly, this also means an onslaught on the car models ensues. What were about to witness in 2022 is traditional automobiles going away, with the better part of them being passenger cars. These are cars people have largely fallen out of favor with, being replaced by the more practical SUVs and pickup trucks.Theres nothing wrong with that, as peoples preferences change over time, and as such weve seen SUVs replacing sedans, while electric cars replaced everything. But now the automotive industry has a bigger problem with the chip crisis and this means carmakers need to streamline their car lineup to prioritize the most popular models. No car model is safe from the axe, and that means SUVs and EVs alike. Here are the models we have to wave goodbye to in the new year.Despite being the biggest carmaker in the world, Volkswagen has seen only mixed reception in the U.S. market. As such, weve seen the Passats demise as inevitable even though the nameplate has a 30-year history in the U.S. The Dieselgate scandal signed the death penalty for the diesel Passat and the more popular Atlas and Tiguan SUVs meant there was no longer a place for the medium-sized sedan. But what nailed the coffin for Passat was the slightly smaller and cheaper Jetta.Mazdas sedan was a fairly popular model but without a single redesign in the past nine years, it was easy to predict its fall. Besides, the American market no longer has room for more midsize family sedans besides the bread-and-butter Toyota Camry or the Honda Accord. All in all, Mazda 6's disappearance is another example of hows popularity leads to fratricide, with CX-5 and CX-9 taking the front stage.This is one of the few SUVs that go down in disgrace in 2022. Its biggest fault lies with its miniature size that makes it a sure victim of peoples obsession with larger vehicles. It wasnt very practical either, with a cramped back and a cargo area that could accommodate nothing more than a small suitcase. We can safely assume this is a crossover that wont be missed.This was an unconventional vehicle that debuted a decade ago with an equally unconventional advertising campaign . Its strange three-door design failed to impress though, despite Hyundai pimping up the car with an N badge. The good news is the sporty Veloster N will continue for a while, although we suspect it wont be with us for long.The Honda Clarity plug-in and fuel-cell could be considered a compliance car, sold with the sole purpose to help Honda meet the more stringent California regulations. They werent that popular outside California to begin with, and the volumes were rather modest. A battery-electric version of the Clarity was already phased out two years ago, so this basically means the demise of the nameplate.Those two Swedish models were with us only to honor the 244s memory. With wagons fallen out of favor with the car buyers, who preferred the more popular SUVs, its time for Volvo to call it quits on this body style. After all, their XC line of SUVs is healthy and the companys plans in 2022 will assure a successful business.The unusual-styled electric minicar was one of the first BMW electric vehicles. The Bavarians called it revolutionary, while people considered it rather quirky, which is not what a BMW customer ever expects. The i3 served its purpose though, as a technological display on wheels but it has to make way for the more advanced i models of tomorrow.While the Ioniq nameplate isnt going away, the electric version of the car will end its career. No wonder, the Ioniq 5 will play a better role as the electric model of the range. Judging by peoples reactions, the newer Hyundai offering in therealm is already a hugely successful EV. Only the hybrid and the plug-in versions of the normal Ioniq will continue in 2022. The large sedan was appreciated as a well-built vehicle , but that was not enough to keep the lights on, as it seems. And yet the Japanese model outlasted rival models like the Ford Taurus and Chevrolet Impala. With its demise, customers looking for a large ride from Toyota will have to look in the SUV range for a Highlander or a Sequoia.Just like the BMW i3, the Toyota Land Cruiser proves being in the right segment is not a guarantee for success. Perhaps its biggest enemy was the burgeoning price that ballooned to luxury SUV territory. For this kind of money, you could have a Lexus instead. The model will continue to be offered on other markets though, so a return at a further time cannot be completely ruled out.
Palmdale, CA (93550)

Today

Sunny skies with gusty winds developing later in the day. High 82F. W winds at 10 to 15 mph, increasing to 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..

Tonight

A mostly clear sky. Low 53F. Winds WSW at 15 to 25 mph.
KHARTOUM, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Huge demonstrations demanding civilian rule are expected to be staged on Sunday in Sudan's capital Khartoum and other cities.

Sudanese Professionals Association, the body leading the protests, issued a statement on Saturday evening urging the citizens to take part in the protests.

Khartoum State Police earlier announced the closure of the bridges linking the three major cities of Khartoum, Omdurman, and Bahri, where eyewitnesses said military units have been deployed at the entrances of these bridges.

Moreover, the internet service on mobile phones was interrupted across the country on Sunday.

Sudan has been suffering a political crisis after General Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan declared a state of emergency on Oct. 25 and dissolved the Sovereign Council and government.

On Nov. 21, Al-Burhan and the then removed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok signed a political declaration, which included reinstating the latter as Prime Minister, but the deal has so far failed to calm the street. Enditem
Doris Sue Kantor stands in front of one of two huge stained glass windows in the sanctuary of the Ahavath Sholom Synagogue on Albemarle Street in Bluefield. The synagogue has closed its doors as the Jewish population in the area is no longer large enough to support a congregation.
ADEN, Yemen, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Forces loyal to Yemen's government launched a large-scale military operation against the Houthi rebel militia in the country's southern oil-rich province of Shabwa on Saturday, a government official told Xinhua.

The pro-government forces including the southern Giants Brigades targeted the Houthi-held sites in Usaylan district of Shabwa, the local government source said on condition of anonymity.

Intense armed confrontations erupted between the two warring sides following the large-scale military operation, he said.

He said the pro-government forces achieved on-ground military progress and managed to capture a number of areas from the rebels in Usaylan.

Warplanes of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition are participating in the ongoing military operation through shelling the Houthi-held sites and backing the pro-government forces, according to the official.

Medical sources confirmed that nearly 12 soldiers of the pro-government forces were killed and several others injured as a result of the ongoing battles.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels made substantial advances on the battlefield in September 2021, capturing Bayhan and other key areas in Shabwa.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since the Houthi militia overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces, including the capital Sanaa, in 2014.

Saudi Arabia has been leading an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Houthis forced him into exile. Enditem
Caution Urged: King Tides Bring Flooding, Steep Seas to Oregon / Washington Coast

Published 01/01/22 at 4:32 AM PST

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Lincoln City, Oregon)  The final round of king tides are headed for the Washington and Oregon coast on Saturday through Monday (January 1  3), and the final two days are expected to bring some coastal flooding, sneaker wave dangers and extra large swells. High winds will also be present. Officials on the Washington coast and Oregon coast want you to take pictures of these extra high tides, but you need to do so from afar and keep safety in mind as offshore swells will combine with the king tides to create some flooding and additional threats. (Above: king tide photo in Nehalem, by Gretel Oxwang / Oregon King Tides Project.)

The first day of king tides will be nothing unusual, but Sunday and Monday will create the problems. The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a flood watch for the entire Oregon coast and southern part of the Washington coast, in effect Sunday for the northern half of Oregon and southern part of Washington's coast, and in effect Monday for south Oregon coast. Offshore, there is a hazardous seas watch for the south Oregon coast on Monday, bringing combined seas up near 20 feet.

On top of it all, there is now a high wind warning for the entire Oregon coast and south Washington coast, with gusts up to 75 mph possible. This is in effect from Sunday afternoon through Monday.

King tides  actually known as perigean spring tides  happen when the sun and the moon align to pull on tides together, creating higher-than-normal tide events. This time around, swells offshore will be rather large on Sunday and Monday, depending where you are. This will give the king tides some extra pushes, which will make for more spectacular photos and scenery but many more dangers.

The Washington coast won't get as much of an extra shove, however, as offshore swells are not as high, according to NWS predictions. The effects lessen the farther north towards the Olympic Peninsula you go.

However, the NWS is cautioning beachgoers, while remaining just short of official warnings.

See Oregon Coast Weather - Washington Coast Weather

See Oregon Coast Road, Traffic Conditions, Updates

A perigean spring tide event will be occurring between now and January 7th, this coupled with the persistent southerly winds offshore will bring minor tidal overflow flooding along the coast, the NWS said. Areas of concern will be low lying areas near bays, estuaries, and the lower reaches of coastal rivers. The total tide, the forecasted tide plus storm surge, will reach its peak between 11 and 12 feet along the coast around noon. In addition, the westerly swell forecast to move into the waters Monday afternoon will undoubtedly bring a sneaker wave threat, but at this point, the swell appears likely to fall short of High Surf criteria.



In some areas of Oregon, the double punch will be more than others. Combined seas may get well above 20 feet offshore on Sunday and Monday for the central Oregon coast and southward, but north of Oceanside or so they may well be in the lower 20-foot-range.

On the south coast, steep seas up to 22 feet are possible on Monday in the offshore waters coinciding with the noon king tides, expected at around 9 feet in the Bandon area (for example).



On the Washington coast, king tides happen generally around noon or so on Saturday, Sunday and Monday (see the Washington king tides page). On the Oregon coast, they differ greatly from around 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., depending on location and day (see the Oregon King Tides page).

See How Not to Get Killed During King Tides.

Coastal flooding may affect driving along the coastal highways. Tidal overflow is expected.

For southwest Washington and northwest Oregon beach towns, the Coastal Flood Advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday. Minor flooding of one foot above ground level is quite possible.

According to the NWS:

The Sunday afternoon high tide at Toke Point (Washington) is forecast to peak near 12.5 feet around noon.

The Sunday afternoon high tide at Tongue Point in Astoria is forecast to peak near 11.5 feet around noon.

The Sunday afternoon high tide at Garibaldi is forecast to peak near 11 ft around noon.

The Sunday afternoon high tide at South Beach is forecast to peak near 11.5 ft around 11 am.

For the south Oregon coast, the coastal flood watch is in effect from Monday morning through Monday afternoon.

Oregon Coast Hotels for this event - South Coast Hotels - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours





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Bandon - courtesy Gleneda Borton / King Tides Project



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While the great resignation was taking place across the country, Southeast Texas saw a bit of its own great retirement.

Here are some of the officials who announced they would take a step back from public service:

Fewer than two weeks into the new year, Beaumonts longest-serving mayor announced she would not be seeking re-election.

Becky Ames was first seated as an at-large member of the council in 1994 and spent 13 years in that position before becoming Beaumonts second female mayor.

But she and her husband wanted to take time off to travel and her mother died just a few days before Ames announced she was not running for an eight term as mayor.

Honestly, I just was thinking about life, she told The Enterprise this summer.

After three decades serving on the Beaumont ISD school board, Zenobia Bush decided it was time to step away.

Bush, who was the first Black woman elected in Beaumont, had run for a final term in 2017 when the school board returned to local control.

I wanted the community that I serve to let me know whether or not they felt like I could still represent them, or if they had no trust in me, she told The Enterprise before she retired. So that is why I went to them.

She originally ran for school board the first year after Beaumont ISD merged with neighboring South Park ISD - a key step in the districts road to integration. And her election served as a time of great promise for the city, according to a former classmate of Bush.

She also was part of the board that selected Shannon Allen as the first Black woman to serve as district superintendent and was instrumental in selecting the districts first Black superintendent.

Bushs role as the first Black (woman) elected to public office opened the door for many more minorities to follow in her stead, myself included, Allen told The Enterprise previously. Without her election to office, I may not have been privileged to serve as the first female superintendent in Beaumont ISD. Bush changed the perception by which African Americans were portrayed. She showed the community that the color of ones skin shouldnt overshadow their skill and ability.

In early November, Kyle Hayes, Beaumonts longest-serving city manager, announced his retirement.

Hayes plans to retire by Spring 2022, which he announced through an open letter published after a City Council meeting.

I have been the longest serving City Manager in the Citys history, Hayes said in the letter. Being the City Manager for more than 19 years has been an honor and a great privilege.

Just weeks later, City Attorney Tyrone Cooper announced his intention to retire before the end of the year.

Cooper worked for the city for more than 42 years and was the first African American legal assistant and city attorney for the city of Beaumont.

In late November, Texas Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, announced he would not be seeking another term in that seat.

He noted that hes been in public service for 40 years and now would like time for himself and his family.

My hope is that I was always approachable, that I was a straight shooter - honest. My door was always open to listen to the needs and desires of the constituents and respond to those, Deshotel told The Enterprise at the time. I tried to be that way throughout my whole term.

Former Jefferson County Clerk Carolyn Guidry retired from that position in late February, saying she, as a 69-year-old Black woman with pre-existing health conditions, needed to retire in part because new cases of COVID-19 werent dropping as quickly as she originally hoped.

The first Black woman elected at-large in Jefferson County also said it was time to go home and enjoy her grandson and granddaughter.

However, just a few months later in the summer, she announced her intent to again run for public office, this time as Jefferson County Judge.

The deadline to file for the March primary came and went and one name was missing from the list of potential candidates - Jefferson County Republican Party Chair Judy Nichols.

Nichols, who deserves much credit for reinvigorating the local Republican Party organization, said she will be spending more time with family.

I have recently been blessed with our first, second and third grandchild in the past 14 months, and they dont live nearby, she said at the time, adding that shell be traveling to see them instead of moving out of the area entirely.

One other name was notably missing from that list of candidates - Jefferson County District Attorney Bob Wortham.

Wortham, who will be 75 when his term expires, said at the time he feels hes worked long enough and is ready to spend more time with his family.

Ive been practicing law forever and it is time for me to take some time off and enjoy life with my beautiful bride, Wortham told The Enterprise.

kaitlin.bain@beaumontenterprise.com

twitter.com/KaitlinBain
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Cops and Courts Reporter

Amanda Burke is Cops and Courts Reporter for The Berkshire Eagle. An Ithaca, New York native, she previously worked at The Herald News of Fall River and the Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise.
RABAT, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- A total of 3,005,363 Moroccans already got a third dose of COVID-19 vaccines, the country's Ministry of Health announced on Sunday.

So far, the total number of those fully vaccinated with two doses against the COVID-19 in Morocco has reached 22,934,272, while a total of 24,560,942 people have received the first dose.

Morocco launched a vaccination campaign on Jan. 28, 2021 after the arrival of the first shipment of China's Sinopharm vaccines.

Morocco's tally of COVID-19 infections rose on Sunday to 966,777 as 1,357 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours, while the total recoveries increased by 550 to 941,558, the ministry said.

The death toll from the coronavirus in Morocco rose by four to 14,855, it added. Enditem
Mainly Jem's Birding & Ringing Exploits in the Eastern Province & Ringing Trips to Bahrain
Guest post from Nicholas Creed (pseudonym)  a Bangkok-based journalistic infidel impervious to propaganda:

We can draw upon popular culture across film, fiction, and a vast array of dystopian novels to reference, attempt to make sense of, and draw parallels to our current shared plight.

A lesser-known, less readily-acknowledged concept social affliction at play  which requires a relatively high degree of critical thinking along with a lengthy attention span to truly comprehend  is the concept of a mass delusional psychosis:

Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one. Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.

A psychosis can be defined as a detachment from reality, or the loss of an adaptive relationship to reality. In the place of facts and thoughts based in objective reality in the world, those afflicted by psychosis become overwhelmed by delusions  false beliefs that are believed to be true, in spite of the available evidence presented, even if witnessed first-hand by the eyes and ears of the psychotic.

One of the most notable examples of a mass delusional psychosis was that of the American and European witch-hunts of the 16th & 17th centuries.

Thousands of people, especially women, were killed during the witch-hunts, because they were blamed as the scapegoats or the others by societies that had collectively gone completely mad.

For a mass delusional psychosis to occur, a society first needs to be put under an intense and prolonged state of fear, along with isolation and a severance of the usual familiar social bonds and support networks that people have in their everyday lives.

Then follows the othering  the persecution, demonisation and scapegoating of a cohort of people, likening them to animals or something sub-human.

Once the populations rational and logical faculties are overrun with fear, they can no longer think critically; unchecked, that fear quickly becomes an existential threat to the others.

All ones neighbours are in the grip of some uncontrolled and uncontrollable fearIn lunatic asylums it is a well-known fact that patients are far more dangerous when suffering from fear than when moved by rage or hatred.  Carl Jung.

Anecdotally, a friend of mine surmised the cultish behaviour we are witnessing worldwide as a case of everyone believes, because everyone believes that everyone else believes! I found this to be a very apt description.

What has stumped and frustrated those of us living within the smaller island of sanity (within the larger island of the dominant Covidian cult culture, as referenced by CJ Hopkins) is the seemingly catatonic unbreakable spell we find our friends, families, and colleagues mesmerised by.

I would like to share a few short exchanges Ive experienced first-hand, along with those of my friends who can see.

A friend overhears a colleague talking about her adverse reactions post-injection; shes had a terrible fever and feels like shes been hit by a train. Those listening to her say that means it is working. The next day she cannot move the entire left side of her upper body whilst in the office. People tell her to get well soon and that we are in this together.

I tell a relative about the quarantine (concentration) camps in Australia and the despairing plea from the aboriginal tribes, I stress that they are calling it genocide. She replies with Well, you just have to get on with it really, dont you? Theres nothing we can do.

I share a link with a friend of mine on the Swedish company that has announced its microchip covid pass, and I joke that another conspiracy theory I mentioned in 2020 has become reality. His response is that hes not falling for my traps today and wont be opening any links.

Whilst referencing the reality of the situation in Australia with a colleague based there, I draw upon the news of the police, without provocation, firing openly on protestors with rubber bullets. I use the words tyranny, authoritarianism, totalitarianism, and mention that the public is concerned with an increasingly militaristic police force.

Incredulous, my colleague scoffs that I must be getting my news from Sky News Australia, and the public is not at all concerned about the police. Apparently the public are most concerned with those pesky nuisance anti-vaxxer protests!

The common denominator across these exchanges is two-fold. Firstly, a complete refusal to acknowledge objective reality, in spite of irrefutable evidence. Secondly, any semblance of empathy, shock, or outrage that would be expected by a free-thinking, feeling human, is entirely absent.

For to forsake our ability (or cognitive choice?) to empathise with someone elses suffering, or to be indifferent to humans inhumanely treating other humans, is to forsake our humanity itself. It reminds me of another exchange I had with a lifelong friend, whom I was particularly disheartened to learn was captured; in response to me detailing all the atrocities being carried out, she was puzzled at why I was at all bothered, because I was not directly affected by it, still full time employed with a roof over my head and food in my belly.

There are no words. Only realisations.

Circling back to popular culture on how and why some people can see and some cannot, we may borrow a line from the film The Animatrix:

must posses a rare degree of intuition,

sensitivity and a questioning nature.

This reinforces Leonardo da Vinci once having said:

There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.

I will hold my hand up at being in the second of these aforementioned classes of people. I spent March-April of 2020 wearing a mask, wiping down door handles, taking my own pen to the supermarket for receipt signing and other cringeworthy rituals.

I had a taste of what it must be like to be fully immersed in the new normal ideology. I can recall the anger I felt at seeing people unmasked. Not because I thought they were dangerous biohazards, but because they werent following the rules, and I was.

I will be eternally grateful to the friends who persisted with showing me the light. Once the Wizard of Ozs curtain fell away, it was extremely disorientating, yet Ive never felt more alive and self-aware. Perhaps it is the loss of face, pride and ego that prevents a lot of people from questioning the narrative.

For those that can see, or see when shown, you will need to be spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally strong enough to let this mass delusional psychosis burn itself out. You may be persecuted, blamed, demonised, attacked, imprisoned, or worse. Yet simultaneously, you will be increasingly looked to for answers, for truth, for guidance, for leadership, for hope and eventually for history.

Keep going.

What will it take for people to see? Do they have a line in the sand? Are they truly, irrevocably, unsalvageable, and beyond the pale?
A man has set himself and his MG3 hatch on fire in Richmond while screaming about Victoria's Covid-19 mandates on Saturday

The man emerged from a silver MG3 hatchback engulfed in flames near Church St in Richmond about 8pm on Saturday, where police officers and firefighters doused the man with water to extinguish the blaze with the help of about five witnesses according to the Daily Mail.

Victoria police and about five witnesses restrained the man who appeared 'off his face' while screaming about vaccine mandates.

The bystanders helped restrain the man before police officers pinned him to the ground. He was then taken into an ambulance and rushed to hospital. Police said he had suffered life-threatening injuries. One witness who helped restrain the man said his flesh was burning before the flames were put out with water.

Victoria Police said it was called to the intersection after reports of a man self-harming. The man was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Police cordoned off the area near the intersection of Church and Swan Street while customers at surrounding businesses were told to stay indoors. Bystanders said they initially saw black smoke coming from the vehicle, which was left with a charred driver's side door.

 WARNING DISTRESSING FOOTAGE: Witnesses have told of a man setting himself on fire in Melbourne while crying out about Victoria's vaccine mandates.



Full story: https://t.co/h4jzuYH9N5 pic.twitter.com/dJnPjoJQC2  Avi Yemini (@OzraeliAvi) January 1, 2022

Lydia O'Connor was having dinner at a nearby restaurant when she heard the man screaming.

"His skin was burning. He was on fire. His skin is stuck to [my] shirt," she told The Herald Sun. "He was off his face screaming about the mandates."

"He poured gas on himself and on his car. It was on purpose,' O'Connor told the publication. He was screaming about mandates. He was screaming "no vax ID" and throwing books."

Forensic police were then seen examining the area.

The incident caused disruptions to trams which run along Route 70 and Route 78 while the investigation continues.
The Battle at Wounded Knee is a significant battle in American history, as it put an end to the Indian Wars and is marked as the last official defeat of the Native Americans. But whats not taught in history lessons is that Wounded Knee was one of the first federally backed gun confiscations in the history of the United States, and it ended in the massacre of nearly 300 unarmed people.

During the late 19th century, American Indians were allowed to purchase and carry firearms, just as white men were. The colonial gun laws did not bar Native Americans from possessing firearms, yet that natural right was violated by government forces at Wounded Knee. And once the guns were confiscated, the battle ensued.

When we look at the issues surrounding gun confiscation, Wounded Knee gives us an example of the devastation that an unarmed people can experience at the hands of their own government. This battle serves as a reminder to fight against gun confiscation and the gun control legislation that can lead to it.

Leading Up to Wounded Knee

At the beginning of the 19th century, its estimated that 600,000 American Indians lived on the land that is now the United States. By the end of the century, the people diminished to less than 150,000.

Throughout the 1800s, these nomadic tribes were pushed from the open plains and forests into Indian Territories, places determined by the U.S. government. It started during the Creek Indian War (1813-1815), when American soldiers, led by Andrew Jackson, won nearly 20 million acres of land from the defeated Creek Indians.

Unlike George Washington, who believed in civilizing the Native Americans, Jackson favored an Indian Removal, and when president in 1830, he signed the Indian Removal Act, which was the first of many U.S. legislations that did not grant the Native Americans the same rights as colonial European-Americans. Davy Crockett was the only delegate from Tennessee to vote against the act.

The Plains Indians, who lived in the plains between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, werent as impacted by the U.S. government until later in the century, as U.S. expansion pushed into the Wild West. As people moved passed the Mississippi and into the Frontier, conflicts again arose between the Indians and Americans.

In an attempt at peace in 1851, the first Fort Laramie Treaty was signed, which granted the Plain Indians about 150 million acres of land for their own use as the Great Sioux Reservation. Then, 13 years later, the size was greatly reduced to about 60 million acres in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, which recreated the Great Sioux Reservation boundaries and proclaimed all of South Dakota west of the Missouri river, including the Black Hills, solely for the Sioux Nation.

As part of the treaty, no unauthorized non-Indian was to come into the reservation and the Sioux were allowed to hunt in unceded Indian territory beyond the reservation that stretched into North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado. If any non-Indian wanted to settle on this unceded land, they could only do it with the permission of the Sioux.

That was until 1874, when gold was discovered in South Dakotas Black Hills. The treaties that were signed between the Native Americans and the U.S. government were ignored as gold rushers invaded Indian Territory and issues arose, such as the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

As time went on, the American Indians continued to be pushed into smaller territories and their lives began to diminish. In 1889, the U.S. government issued the Dawes Act, which took the Black Hills from the Indians, broke up the Great Sioux Reservation into five separate reservations, and took nine million acres and opened it up for public purchase by non-Indians for homesteading and settlements.

The Native Americans were squeezed into these smaller territories and didnt have enough game to support them. The bison that had been a staple to their way of life were gone. Their ancestral lands that sustained them were no longer theirs. The resistance was over. They were no longer free people, living amongst themselves, but Redskins confined by the white man in reservations they had been forced to, many against their will.

With all of the Sioux Nation inhabiting less than nine million acres, divided up throughout South Dakota, the Indians were encouraged by the U.S. government to develop small farms. But they were faced with poor, arid soil and a bad growing season, which led to a severely limited food supply in the year following the Dawes Act. A miscalculation in the census complicated matters even more when the population on the reservation was undercounted, leading to less supplies sent from the U.S. government.

The situation was beyond bleak and the Sioux people were starving. That winter, an influenza epidemic broke out and caused a disproportionate number of Sioux children to die. And then in the summer of 1890, a drought hit, destroying yet another season of crops and the people of Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation were in dire condition.

The Ghost Dance

Perhaps it was these desolate circumstances that led to the spread of what is known as the Ghost Dance. Based on a vision experienced by a Sioux religious leader, the Ghost Dance was a spiritual ritual that was supposed to call the coming messiah, who would be an American Indian. This messiah would force the white man off of Indian lands, return the bison to the plains, and resurrect both their deceased and the life the Native Americans had once enjoyed.

Although this was not a war dance, it was feared by those who believed the Indians were savages. One such man was Daniel Royer, who arrived as the new agent on the Pine Ridge Reservation in October of 1890. He believed it to be a war dance and requested troops from President Benjamin Harrison on November 15th of that same year. His telegram read: Indians are dancing in the snow and are wild and crazy. We need protection and we need it now.

Harrison granted the request and part of the 7th Cavalry arrived on November 20th, with orders to arrest several Sioux leaders. Commander James Forsyth led the troops.

On December 15th, the 7th Cavalry attempted to arrest Sitting Bull, the Sioux chief who annihilated Commander George Custer in the Battle of the Little Bighorn (he also toured with Buffalo Bills Wild West Show and was a dear friend to Annie Oakley), because he didnt attempt to stop the Ghost Dance amongst his people. During the incident, Sitting Bull was shot and killed.

The Lakota at Pine Ridge began to get nervous and the tribes leader, Big Foot, practiced the Ghost Dance and had caught the attention of the federal agents. After hearing of Sitting Bulls death, he and his tribe fled to the Badlands.

They were pursued by the 7th Cavalry for five days. But Big Foot had come down with pneumonia and they were peacefully intercepted at Wounded Knee Creek on December 28th.

December 29, 1890: The Wounded Knee Massacre

The next morning, Col. Forsyth demanded that the tribe surrender their firearms. Rifles were being turned over without issue until some of the Sioux men started a Ghost Dance and began throwing dirt into the air, as was customary to the dance.

Tensions among the soldiers increased.

A few moments later, a Sioux man named Black Coyote refused to give up his rifle. Its been reported that the Indian was deaf, had recently purchased the rifle, and was most likely unaware of why the soldier was demanding it. Regardless, the two began to skuffle and the gun discharged.

The 7th Cavalry, who was the reconstructed regiment of Custer, opened fire on the Lakota. Along with their own weapons, they used four Hotchkiss guns, a revolving barrel machine gun that could fire 68 rounds per minute, devastating the entire tribe, which had just peacefully handed over their weapons.

The Sioux men, women, and children scattered, and the Cavalry pursued them. Dead bodies were later found three miles from camp.

Once the firing ended, some two hours later, an estimated 300 Native Americans lay dead in the snow, at least half of them women and children. Those that didnt die immediately froze to death during the oncoming blizzard.

Nearly a week later, on January 3, 1891, the Cavalry escorted a burial party to the banks of the Wounded Knee River and they buried 146 Lakota Indians in a single mass grave. Other bodies were found in the surrounding areas, and the estimated body count is between 250 and 300 Sioux.

The 7th Cavalry lost 25 men.

After the Massacre

The Massacre at Wounded Knee brought an end to the Indian Wars. There was no more resistance. The Ghost Dancing stopped.

The Native Americans had been beaten. But the Cavalrys attack was recognized as butchery, with Forsyths commanding officer, General Nelson Miles, calling it a criminal military blunder and a horrible massacre of women and children.

However, President Harrison had an election around the corner and wasnt in a position to look bad. Miles report was dismissed. Instead, the Cavalry men were made out as heroes against the Indian savages. And in the Spring of 1891, the president awarded the first of 20 Medals of Honor to the soldiers who disarmed then slaughtered the Sioux at Wounded Knee.

Its been speculated that the 7th Cavalry, which again was regrouped after it was destroyed by Sitting Bull at Little Bighorn, was looking for a fight and deliberately sought revenge on the Native Americans.

Black Elk, one of the few Lakota survivors of the Wounded Knee Massacre, recalled in 1931: I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw with eyes still young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A peoples dream died there.
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- The entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, the world's largest free trade deal to date, shows the region's resolve to keep markets open and support a multilateral trading system, The Bruneian government said on Saturday.

The RCEP deal entered into force on the first day of 2022 for the six ASEAN members of Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and for the four non-ASEAN signatories of China, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. South Korea will join the implementation on Feb. 1.

"The entry into force of the RCEP agreement will pave the way for the creation of a free trade area that covers, based on World Bank data, 2.3 billion people or 30 percent of the world's population, contributes 25.8 trillion U.S. dollars or about 30 percent of global GDP, and accounts for 12.7 trillion U.S. dollars or over a quarter of global trade in goods and services, and 31 percent of global foreign direct investment inflows," Brunei's Ministry of Finance and Economy said in a statement.

"These figures make RCEP the world's biggest free trade agreement that will facilitate global value chains and trade within the region," it noted.

"As the world continues to grapple with the economic havoc caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the entry into force of the RCEP agreement is a strong manifestation of the region's resolve to keep markets open; boost regional economic integration; support an open, free, fair, inclusive, and rules-based multilateral trading system; and, ultimately, contribute to global post-pandemic recovery efforts," the ministry added.

The ministry also called on all exporters in Brunei to utilize opportunities presented by the RCEP agreement, in particular the preferential tariff rates on offer and the potential for optimization of the supply chain. Enditem
Mental health tends to be seen through the prism of the individual. Yet mental health and its vicissitudes also exists at a population level, as mass psychology. It is so much more than the sum of the parts, in a way well captured by the term public morale.

Global pandemics such as COVID-19 seriously undermine public morale, as well as producing a surge of mental ill health and mental illness among individuals. In fact, the latter has already overshadowed by a factor of four the excess burden of disease created by direct effects of the virus in Australia.

Mental health tends to be seen through the prism of the individual.

This raises the question, who is responsible for the protection and maintenance of public morale and the mental health of the wider population during a time of national crisis?

Traditionally, during wartime, it is the government and its leaders who assume this vital responsibility. The COVID-19 pandemic represents a more complex situation. The global disaster struck at a time when, rightly or wrongly, public trust in and respect for our political leaders was at a low ebb.
Notifications from the Service NSW app about confirmed COVID-19 cases attending the same venues as other Sydneysiders are causing widespread confusion, with many people receiving new alerts only to find no new detail inside the apps check-in history.

Meanwhile, others have said they have received alerts for venues such as nightclubs or pools they only just checked into hours earlier and are in some cases still in attendance, raising questions as to how an alert can be issued so quickly and if people are attending venues while waiting for PCR test results.

Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello with an iPhone displaying the Service NSW check-in app. Credit:

It comes as the state government confirmed to the Herald that the app was sending a new push notification alert every time an additional person who attended a venue later tested positive to COVID, but without detailing which venues the additional cases attended.

Customers using the COVID-Safe check-in will receive an alert in the Service NSW app when a positive COVID-19 case attended a venue within an hour either side of a check-in, a Service NSW spokesperson said.
The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 has passed 1000 in NSW, as the state recorded 18,278 new cases and two deaths on Sunday.

The total of new infections fell from the 22,577 cases reported in NSW on Saturday. However, Sundays cases were detected from 90,019 tests, compared to 119,278 tests on Saturday.

The number of people in hospital has risen to 1066, with 83 patients in intensive care. There were 901 people with COVID-19 in hospital and 79 in intensive care on Saturday.

The surge in Omicron cases didnt prevent revellers attending the Field Day music festival in Sydney on New Years Day. Credit:Jessica Hromas

It comes as the number of COVID-19 patients in NSW hospitals has more than doubled since Christmas as experts predict cases could reach 100,000 a day and medical professionals warn of a widespread staffing crisis.
In NSW, aged care staff, who are required to have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to work, must not return to work for 14 days if identified as a close contact. Victoria currently requires fully vaccinated staff to stay away from aged care facilities for seven days after a COVID-19 exposure. Loading In a statement, NSW Health said it was working with the Commonwealth to ensure consistency and clarity of guidelines for workers in NSW residential aged care facilities who have been exposed to COVID-19. The Victorian Department of Health were contacted for comment. Paul Sadler, CEO of Aged and Community Services Australia, said there was currently a staffing crisis in the sector with staff furloughed due to COVID-19 and it was sad but necessary to keep staff who had potentially been exposed to the virus at work. It is probably not ideal, but the reality with the staff coverage aged care has at the moment is we need to provide continuity of care to residents, he said.

We need to keep risks to a minimum but you dont want a situation like at St Basils [Homes for the Aged during Melbournes 2020 wave] where all staff have been furloughed and the available workforce is not really trained to the needs of the residents. The industry group is calling for national cabinet to adopt a universal approach to furloughing staff when it meets this Wednesday. Meanwhile, families of aged care residents say measures other than facility lockdowns need to be taken in response to COVID-19 exposures as cases soar across the country, increasing the likelihood that someone recently on site will have had the virus. Daniel Virgili flew from London to Sydney to spent time with his 91-year-old mother, who has end-of-life lung disease and has suffered multiple strokes. He had been visiting her daily but on December 27 he learnt her aged care home had been shut for a week because a staff member had caught COVID-19 in the community.

Mr Virgili said his mother had also spent Christmas 2020 shut inside, and he was frustrated that the system seemed worse for residents and families than in the UK, where millions more cases have been recorded. They just lock these places down here, he said. Loading The daughter of a Melbourne aged care resident, who did not want her name published because it was a small facility, said her mother had been in lockdown several times since restrictions were eased for the rest of the community. In her facilitys first exposure, two staff members tested positive and there was onward transmission to residents. However, subsequent lockdowns were triggered when contractors who had been on-site tested positive, although this did not lead to cases in residents.

It really is taking a toll on these older people, she said. [My mother] is pretty resilient, shes a pretty alert lady  but still I think shes not quite as good after each bout. She said there needed to be a more nuanced approach to lockdowns, noting her mother and most other residents were triple vaccinated. Whats the point of locking families out, when there are still staff and contractors who are bringing it in? In mid-December more than 100 Australian aged care facilities had active outbreaks. Mr Sadler said everything would suggest that figure had increased significantly, but federal authorities had not issued a more recent weekly report. Mr Sadler said he understood the frustrations of families but often facilitating safe visits during high periods of community transmission, which could involve requirements including rapid antigen testing and personal protection equipment, required significant staff involvement and there was a need to protect the vulnerable from the virus.

In NSW over the past week, six aged care residents have died with COVID-19, including two at the large Lilian Wells North Parramatta outbreak, where cases have been genomically sequenced as having the Omicron variant. The number of people hospitalised with COVID-19 in NSW reached 1066 on Sunday, including 83 people in intensive care. Although the hospitalisation rate of the states Omicron wave is lower than in the Delta wave, the number of beds is fast approaching the states peak of 1266 virus hospitalisations in mid-September. There were 18,278 new cases reported in the state, with about one in five PCR tests processed in the 24 hours to 8pm Saturday returning a positive result indicating a significant number of cases are not being caught by testing.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Australian search lights lock on to a Japanese plane flying overhead. Below in the north Queensland soil, hundreds of men lie in trenches on hessian sacks of straw on gravel, the darkness and their helmets the only protection. A young airman, Esdale Davis, one of Brisbanes No. 23 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force, waits for what might happen next. The year is 1942. They have been sent to Charters Towers, but before long, many of them will be deployed overseas as part of the Allied powers in the Second World War. Davis and the men watch in silence. Seconds between life and death, beginning and ending. Esdale Davis (left) with a friend during their leave from the war. But no bullets are fired. He was too high to do anything about it.

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Nobody fired on it and he just circled around and looked at us and said, those pitiful people down in Charters Towers, theyre not worth touching, Davis says with a laugh. We never saw Japanese after that. The danger of that moment had passed, yet with the threat of air raids constant, the men would not remove their helmets. Uncertainty was ever their companion through the days and nights. We were all so scared, Davis voice wavers. He scoffs about the luxury of living in the bush. We dug trenches and we slept in tents and we had the luxury of putting gravel from the creek on the floor otherwise if it was raining, it came in.

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You had a hessian bag filled with straw to lie on the ground. It was all real luxury. Thats how we survived for a long time. Today, the 100-year-old Davis is the oldest known living member of the No. 23 Squadron. Mr Davis 100th birthday in November 2021 coincided with the Royal Australian Air Force celebrating its centenary. He was presented with a commemorative memento. Credit:Defence After signing up in Bowen Hills in Brisbanes north in May 1941, hed first be stationed at Archerfield in the citys south, before moving to Amberley the following year while the Japanese army advanced on New Guinea. As the Japanese drew closer, Davis was sent to Charters Towers, where he would eventually join the RAAFs No. 12 Repair and Salvage Unit. US forces had arrived in Australia, and an odd encounter with the Americans saw Davis injured.

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We went over a one-lane bridge and on the other side coming was the Americans, Davis recalls. The Americans wouldnt give way and we wouldnt give way. What we did, we charged each other like crazy in the big trucks and in the end we sideswiped each. I was sitting in the back and I got hit in the back. Davis and a mate were taken to an army hospital outside Charters Towers to be patched up. I got bandaged up and he was the same, but he was going to play his violin at a friends place, he laughs. So he and I snuck out the back. This was a Saturday. I wanted to go to the [cinema], and he wanted to go to his friends place. I hadnt recovered from dengue fever when I was in the accident.

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Davis would later go on to serve in the Trobriand Islands in New Guinea as part of 12RSU at Kiriwina. It wasnt by choice. His declining health made Davis rethink the prospect of war. Davis at 30 and not yet married. I decided I didnt want to go overseas, so I went down and applied to the commanding officer that I didnt want to go overseas, he says. I think he probably took the note from me and as I walked out he carefully doctored the note as I was key man and there was no way they were going to let me out. Davis watched as the rest of his mates kitted up and marched out. Im just sitting on the sidelines watching them, still waiting not to go overseas. Im helping every night load the boat.

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WARSAW, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Several European countries have seen record COVID infections in the post-Christmas days. During the holidays, surging numbers and ramped-up restrictions have led to dissatisfaction and criticism among experts and citizens.

CELEBRATION AND INFECTION

France has seen a sharp increase since Christmas, with 208,099 cases detected on Wednesday. This set a new record since the outbreak of the pandemic, and the incidence rate passed 1,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants for the first time.

The same day on the other side of the English Channel, Britain reported a new record increase of 189,213 COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number in the country to over 12 million.

In the warmer southern part of Europe, cases were surging too. New coronavirus cases in Greece on Thursday smashed a fourth record, reaching 35,580. Portugal recorded 30,829 cases on Friday, marking the third consecutive record of new daily infections.

In Germany, although the daily infection number fell slightly to 42,770 cases compared to last week, infections with the Omicron variant surged by 28 percent within one day, according to figures released on Thursday by the country's Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases.

Meanwhile, in the neighboring Netherlands, 14,868 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Thursday, compared to a daily average of 12,599 in the past seven days.

Despite relatively moderate daily infections, Poland has seen high numbers of deaths in the days after Christmas: a total of around 800. On Thursday, the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called this situation "extremely sad."

According to Polish epidemiologist Jaroslaw Drobnik, people in Poland act irresponsibly and carelessly during the holidays. The problem is not only the lack of vaccinations, he said, but also people ignoring basic social distancing and sanitary principles.

Poland will suffer from the effects of this behaviour until mid-January, when "it could be a firestorm," Drobnik said.

England's Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty warned that there will continue to be record numbers of COVID cases over the next few weeks. "I'm afraid we have to be realistic that records will be broken a lot over the next few weeks as the rates continue to go up."

RESTRICTION AND DISSATISFACTION

Amid surging cases and deaths after Christmas, European governments were scrambling to roll out additional restrictions to curb the trend. However, dissatisfaction is rising among experts, as new measures will take time to bring any benefits, and may not prevent a surge in cases over the next few weeks.

"Given the very high transmissibility of the Omicron variant and its ability to, at least partially, evade immunity, it should be clear that a rapid response is needed. Instead, we have a policy based almost entirely on increasing vaccination rates that will take weeks to bring any benefit," said Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

"The sudden emergence of the highly transmissible Omicron variant in the run-up to Christmas has made new restrictions inevitable. Yet, the government's emphasis remains on vaccinations," social policy expert Stuart Wilks-Heeg from the University of Liverpool told Xinhua. "Even with new rules on mask-wearing in public places and COVID passports for large events, it is a race that the UK's National Health Service is likely to lose."

A study by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment of the Netherlands released on Dec. 10 showed that confidence in the Dutch government's approach to COVID-19 was at its lowest point since the start of the pandemic.

Based on a survey of 46,000 people, the study showed that 71 percent of participants believed that far too few measures were being taken to combat coronavirus.

Reasons for low confidence in the government mentioned by participants were that the government should have learned from the previous waves of infections with regard to the introduction of measures, and should have used the "corona pass" more widely. Enditem
Labor has revived a plan to create a strategic fleet of ships that could be on call in times of national crisis or natural disaster.

With more than 98 per cent of Australian exports and imports reliant on shipping trade, the opposition hopes its plan to have about a dozen Australian-flagged commercial vessels available if needed would strengthen the nations economic sovereignty.

Federal Labor will again take a policy to the election to establish an Australian strategic fleet in a bid to ensure vital imports are secure. Credit:Dean Sewell

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese will announce on Monday in Newcastle that the plan will be guided by a taskforce that would determine the number and mix of vessels such a fleet requires. This is expected to include tankers, cargo, container and roll-on roll-off (for transporting vehicles) ships.

In times of conflict and crisis, our economic sovereignty and national security are dependent on Australian seafarers working on Australian ships, Mr Albanese said.
Macron speaks almost exclusively at press conferences with other world leaders. Credit:Getty Images By August, when Macron resigned from the government, his intentions were clear. "I am determined to do everything so our values, ideas and actions can transform France  starting next year," he said. Dr Aurelien Mondon, senior lecturer in politics at Bath University, says Macron was, in a way, neither the right candidate nor did he have the right policies. Nevertheless, he won. French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen. Credit:AP "They voted for him as the least-worst option," he says  neither far-left nor hard right. "He was quite inoffensive  no one really knew what he wanted to do, he promised he would work with everyone ... he appealed to centre-right, centre-left people who didn't see anyone else to vote for.

"Up to nine out of 10 people in France don't trust political parties ... he comes in and says 'I'm different, I'm neither left nor right, vote for me', and a lot of people were like 'Eh, why not'." Macron's handshake with US President Donald Trump was "a powerful moment". Credit:AP Almost 75 per cent of the country voted in the second round of the presidential elections in May  more than average  and Macron beat Le Pen by a mile. However the 49 per cent of the country that voted in the first round of the parliamentary election was a record low in modern times, and the 43 per cent in the second round even worse. Though En Marche won a large parliamentary majority, their weak mandate suggests a continuing disillusionment in the electorate. Nevertheless, it's an extraordinary achievement.

Benjamin Leruth is an expert in European political movements who has just joined the University of Canberra. "It's absolutely fascinating  in the contemporary history of France this has been the biggest success story for a new political movement," he says of En Marche! (now renamed La Republique en Marche or LREM for short). Macron benefited from a political "perfect storm" with a scandal-racked Republican opponent and Socialists hampered by Hollande's trashed reputation. "That said, the movement Macron created from the beginning was intended to be a political force in France," Leruth says. Macron also benefited from deep tides: Brexit and the election of Donald Trump had "re-Europeanised" many French citizens, and Macron was the most pro-European candidate. The French tend to want give a new president a friendly legislature, to avoid constitutional deadlocks (known as "cohabitation"), though there was a chance that Macron's repeated claim to be able and willing to work with politicians from other parties could backfire. But Leruth says he was surprised at the weakness of the Republican campaign against LREM  "basically they have imploded since the presidential election and this trend is likely to continue".

Mondon adds that Macron was served by an election that "went under the radar"  it drew little attention in the media, giving his opponents few opportunities to gain ground. And now France has a highly unusual parliament, in more ways than one. Thanks to LREM's equal rights policies, it has more women than ever. And half of LREM's candidates came from civil society rather than politics, so there are a lot of novices in the halls of power right now. "That's going to bring some new blood and new ideas but it's also going to bring a level of amateurism that could backfire," says Mondon. "It's going to require quite a lot of savvy management." Macron's demeanour has dramatically changed since becoming president. Gone is the chummy, campaigner full of soundbites. Instead he has become what aides call "Jupiter" (after the Roman god) a stern, remote figure whose silences help define the moments when he chooses to speak. Leruth says it is a deliberate pose. Macron didn't want to ape Hollande's normalcy and passivity which drained his authority, or Sarkozy's media ubiquity and desire to have a hand in everything. Macron doesn't chase the media butterflies of the day. When he speaks, almost exclusively at press conferences with other world leaders, he chooses his own topics.

"I won't answer newsy questions," he told a reporter recently. He lets actions speak louder than words. His white-knuckle handshake with Trump was "not innocent", he told a newspaper. He had studied Trump's use of a handshake to discomfit people, and had wanted to show that France would not make small concessions, even symbolic ones. Mondon says the handshake was a powerful moment. The near-monarchical status of Fifth Republic presidents requires a certain level of authority and confidence, and Macron is rising to the challenge  so far. Macron had intended to reshuffle his government after the parliamentary victory, but a corruption scandal has pushed him to move faster and make more changes than he intended.

Four ministers recruited from the Democratic Movement (MoDem) party, En Marche's political allies, stepped down over an investigation into corruption allegations. They included justice minister Francois Bayrou, who had been leading Macron's push for cleaner politics. Bayrou had been working on a new "moralisation" law to restore confidence in politics, tackling corruption and conflicts of interest by banning MPs and senior civil servants from employing family members, requiring new declarations of personal interest, and instituting a more rigorous expenses system. But on the day he presented the bill, he faced new allegations of misuse of European Parliament funds by MoDem  and the Paris prosecutor opened a preliminary probe. Leruth does not expect the government resignations to affect its policies or direction  and the opposition is in no state to capitalise on the whiff of scandal. Macron's honeymoon will most likely end with his anticipated big work-law reforms.

One of the French economy's biggest problems is a lack of competitiveness. Even Spain is doing better: so much so that French car companies have shifted their plants there. Macron wants companies to be able to renegotiate work hours with their employees, and has hinted at ambitious reforms such as in-house labour negotiations gaining priority over sector-wide awards, and making it easier for companies to fire people. Macron's team is meeting repeatedly with unions to try to keep them onside, and aiming for a blitz of executive decrees, ratified by parliament, before the end of the year. John Gaffney, professor of politics at the Aston Centre for Europe, says succeeding on labour law reform is a must for Macron. "It is like a badge of honour or courage," he says. "The problem is it will trigger opposition. How he responds to that will be decisive. An awful comparison might be Margaret Thatcher and the miners." Macron also plans an expensive and controversial near-total reform of the country's dysfunctional unemployment benefit system, likely to be bitterly resisted by the unions, and then he wants to take an axe to the health and unemployment social charges that make French labour among the most expensive in Europe.

This will involve pension reform  seen by conservatives as their best chance of rallying against Macron. Meanwhile Melenchon's left could rally around resistance to labour reforms. Mondon says many French governments in the past have backed away from such reforms. Even with a big parliamentary majority, Macron could be defeated in the streets. "If he goes as far as he said he would, there will be demonstrations and they could be quite large," he says. "These will take place with a state of emergency still in place. That could add up tensions. Police have reacted quite strongly at demonstrations in recent months and years  that could lead to some serious events." Mondon says it is too early to say if En Marche has changed French politics for good. The old left/right divide in politics has not gone away. But there is another danger, too.
Lawrenceville, VA (23868)

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Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 83F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. Low 57F. Winds light and variable.
Do you know what a boomerang means, in bar terms? Before I read The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails, edited by David Wondrich with help from Noah Rothbaum, I didnt. Now I do, and the information has cheered me up considerably. A boomerang is a drink sent by a bartender in one bar to a bartender in another.

The glass will be sealed with cling wrap and, because the practice is more or less illegal, tucked into a paper bag or go-box. Customers act as couriers. The name derives from the fact that if you send a nice drink to your cocktail-vending friend, ...
Names of 23 candidates recommended by various collegiums since 2018 and reiterated by the collegium were pending with the government at the end of 2021, people aware of the process of appointments to the higher judiciary have said.

At least seven high courts had recommended these names for appointment as (HC) judges, the sources said.

They said the 23 names were returned by the government with a request to reconsider.

But the (SC) collegium reiterated these names on different occasions.

Two of the names -- one for appointment as judge of the Karnataka HC and the other for appointment as judge of the Jammu and Kashmir HC -- have been reiterated by the to the government twice, they noted.

Both the candidates are advocates. While the name of the candidate from Jammu and Kashmir was recommended in 2018, the name of the candidate from Karnataka was recommended in 2019.

As on December 31, 2021, 23 such names recommended by various HC collegiums since 2018, and later reiterated by the after being returned by the Executive, were pending with the government.

In 2021, a total of 120 judges were appointed. In 2016, a record 126 HC judges were appointed.

The combined sanctioned strength of the 25 high courts is 1,098 and as on December 1, 2021, they were working with 696 judges -- a vacancy of 402.

The government has maintained that filling up of vacancies in the high courts is a continuous, integrated and collaborative process between the Executive and the Judiciary. It requires consultation and approval from various constitutional authorities both at the state and the central level.

(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 government has spent only 21 per cent of the Rs 1,298 crore collected as compensation charge from diesel-guzzling trucks entering the capital in the last six years, according to official data.

Implemented on the directions of the Supreme Court, the South Municipal Corporation (SDMC) collects the cess and deposits it with the Transport Department.

Since November 20, 2015, the city government has utilized only Rs 281.5 crore of the Rs 1,298 crore collected as " cess" on green projects, as per a reply to an RTI application filed by social activist Amit Gupta.

The maximum fund (Rs 271 crore) was utilised in the financial year 2018-19, with the city government sanctioning Rs 265 crore to the Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) for the Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project.

The NCRTC is a joint venture of the Centre and governments of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh for implementing the RRTS project across the Capital Region.

According to the RTI reply, the government released Rs 93 lakh to the SDMC in 2016-17 as "pre-tendering incidental cost of RFID" project which involved installation of automatic radio frequency identification devices at Delhi's border points for collection of toll and cess.

It also sanctioned Rs 15 crore from the amount for a pilot project which involved using Hydrogen-enriched CNG in 50 state-run buses in 2018-19 and 2019-20 to reduce pollution and improve fuel economy. The project has since been put on the backburner.

Last month, PTI had reported that the government spent Rs 527 crore on green activities from Rs 547 crore collected in the Air Ambience Fund since 2008.

Set up in 2008 and collected through the Department of Trade and Taxes, the Air Ambience Fund gets 25 paise from the sale of each litre of diesel in .

The fund has been utilized for grant of subsidy to battery-operated vehicles, e-rickshaws, odd-even drive, maintenance of the bio-gas plant at the Delhi Secretariat, operating online air monitoring stations, study on real-time source apportionment, installation of smog tower and salary of environment marshals, according to the government.

(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.)
With rising COVID-19 cases, the Karnataka government has decided to vaccinate 31.75 lakh children when the drive to vaccinate children between the age group of 15 and 18 commences on Monday, the Health Department said.

"The State has targeted 31.75 lakh children in the 15-18 age group. On day-one, we plan to vaccinate six lakh-and-odd in more than 4,000 sessions," the department said in a statement.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai would spearhead the campaign at the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Higher Primary and Pre-University College at Bairaveshwara Nagara in Moodalapalya in Bengaluru, the department said.

It added that Bommai's Cabinet colleagues, who are district-in-charge Ministers, would launch the campaign in their respective districts.

All districts have geared up with micro-plan, logistics and staff with an existing stock of 16 lakh doses of Covaxin, the statement read.

Schools and colleges would be the centres of vaccination, the department said.

Children who miss their vaccination on session days at schools or colleges would be directed to the nearby health centres for the shots.

Also, vaccination for children with any co-morbidities would be carried out in the health facility under the supervision of a Medical Officer.

The schools conducting online classes can fix a day for vaccination and children have to be called on that particular day to get the dose.

Regarding the dropouts, the department said they would be mobilised to visit government hospitals with the support of the labour department, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj and Urban Development department.

The statement said the Central government would dispatch the required Covaxin doses to the State in a day or two.

Further, the department said the In-App Purchase (IAP) and private paediatricians have been asked to support this vaccination drive for children and help in allaying anxiety and apprehension.

Monitoring and supervision of the entire campaign would be done by the district and Taluk-level officers of health and education departments to ensure quality implementation.

The department has directed the district authorities to create awareness on vaccination for children and address hesitancy or other issues which may be prevalent among parents.

The vaccine would be available free of cost at all the government COVID-19 vaccination centres.

The children can download their vaccination certificate from CoWIN portal, the statement read.

(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.)
Shri Mata University in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district was closed on Sunday till further orders after 13 tested positive for Covid-19.

An order issued by District Magistrate, Reasi, said that the medical officer has intimated that during the Covid tests conducted in the University, Kakryal (Katra) campus on December 31, 2021 and January 1, 2022, a total of 13 have tested positive.

The District Magistrate as the chairman of the District Disaster Management Authority has ordered immediate closure of the University till further orders.

--IANS

sq/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.)


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Last astronauts to visit Hubble Space Telescope sign coins for AMF



January 2, 2022  As the world's eyes turn to the deployment of a new space telescope, the Astronauts Memorial Foundation (AMF) is shining light on the last astronauts to visit one.



The foundation, which maintains the Space Mirror Memorial and operates the Center for Space Education, both at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, has revealed its latest fundraising effort, which combines history-making astronauts with U.S. Mint commemoratives.



Now available for sale through the foundation's website are six-coin collections celebrating the Hubble Space Telescope and the STS-125 crew who were the last to upgrade the orbiting observatory more than a decade ago. The offer includes the autographs of five of the seven STS-125 astronauts on individual inserts, each encapsulated with a 2020 American Innovation $1 coin featuring the Hubble.



Unlike the James Webb Space Telescope, which was recently launched on a million-mile (1.6 million km) journey to the second Earth-Sun Lagrange Point (L2)  far too distant for astronauts to easily visit  the Hubble Space Telescope was designed to be serviced in Earth orbit. STS-125 in 2009 was the fifth and final space shuttle mission to rendezvous with the Hubble to repair and change out its instruments.



The Hubble Space Telescope remains in operation today, 13 years later, in large part due to the work completed by the STS-125 crew.



The U.S. Mint's American Innovation $1 coin program honors the innovations and innovators from the 50 U.S. states, five U.S. territories and District of Columbia. Maryland, home of the Space Telescope Science Institute, chose to celebrate the Hubble on its coin issued in 2020. The golden dollar is engraved with a depiction of the observatory above Earth, surrounded by a field of stars.



The AMF coin sets include six of the Hubble-adorned dollars, including five paired with the signature of an STS-125 astronaut. Mission commander Scott Altman, pilot Gregory C. Johnson and mission specialists Michael Massimino, Michael Good and John Grunsfeld each autographed inserts that were then encapsulated with a coin in a sealed plastic case.



STS-125 mission specialists Megan McArthur and Drew Feustel remain active in NASA's astronaut corps and per federal law pertaining to government employees, could not take part in the fundraising effort.



The sixth coin in the foundation's set includes the autograph of Michael Leinbach, the former space shuttle launch director who oversaw the liftoff of Atlantis on the STS-125 mission on May 11, 2009.



The six-coins sets, which also include an STS-125 mission patch presented in a floating frame, are available with either uncirculated coins struck at the U.S. Mint's Denver (D) or Philadelphia facilities. The AMF is asking $290 for each set.



In addition to selling through its website, the AMF will have a booth at the Florida United Numismatists (FUN) show being held from Thursday to Sunday (Jan. 6-9) at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. Leinbach will in attendance at the show, along with AMF board members.



The STS-125 coin sets follow an earlier AMF offer for signed and encapsulated Apollo 11 50th anniversary commemoratives. Still available for sale, the U.S. Mint-issued 2019 gold and silver coins are autographed on inserts by either Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin or Apollo 13 lunar module pilot Fred Haise.



For both the Apollo and STS-125 sets, the AMF worked with the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) to certify the coins and autographs as genuine.



The Astronauts Memorial Foundation is now selling coin sets signed by members of the last Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, STS-125 in 2009. (Astronauts Memorial Foundation)







Each individually encapsulated coin in the Astronaut Memorial Foundation's set includes an autograph of an STS-125 crew member or the launch director. (Astronauts Memorial Foundation)



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The government has planned to offer virtual treatment via home isolation to COVID-19 patients who have received both doses of vaccination and have been affected by the Omicron variant, Health Minister Ma Subramanian said on Sunday.

The virtual treatment would include the Omicron-affected individuals who have not received the vaccination but are 'asymptomatic'. They would be under constant monitoring by a medical team, the Minister for Health and Family Welfare said here.

Subramanian was talking to reporters after inspecting a medical camp in Chennai as part of the 17th Mega Vaccination Camp being held through 50,000 vaccination camps across the state.

"When there is an increase in Omicron-affected cases (in Tamil Nadu), the vaccinated patients affected by Omicron will be offered treatment under home isolation and those who have not been vaccinated and asymptomatic will be placed under constant monitoring by a team. Virtual treatment will be commenced soon in the state", he said.

Only those who require hospitalisation would be admitted to a hospital for treatment, he said.

According to the state health department, has officially declared 121 Omicron cases as of Saturday.

Subramanian claimed those infected with the Omicron variant mostly test negative after three days, and require only five days of treatment. "It has been planned to monitor them under home isolation (after they get discharged from hospital post recovery)," he said.

Noting that the medical infrastructure in has been strengthened, he said the department has informed the management of Victoria Hostel in the city, to vacate the premises for setting up beds to treat COVID-19 patients. The hostel was converted into a COVID Care Centre last year when the second wave of the contagion was at its peak in the state.

"Already facilities with 1,000 medical beds each, have been set up in places like Injambakkam, Manjambakkam... Similarly, a 800-bed facility will be set up at the Chennai Trade Centre in Nandambakkam," Subramanian said.

Referring to the sharp rise in new cases in the state, the minister reiterated that people should wear a face mask while going out and unvaccinated ones should get themselves inoculated.

He said the vaccination process for those aged between 15 to 18 will be kicked off from Monday by Chief Minister M K Stalin at a government high school in Saidapet.

The department was also targeting to vaccinate four lakh engineering students studying in various colleges in the state, he said. "Out of this (four lakh students), only 46 per cent have received the first dose of vaccines, while 12 per cent got the second dose," he said.

The proposal to vaccinate the frontline workers with booster doses would be rolled out from January 10 by setting up camps in the state, he said. "Those who are above 60 years and those frontline workers who have completed nine months after receiving the double vaccination will be targeted during this campaign. It will be inaugurated by Chief Minister M K Stalin", he said.

Health department Principal Secretary J Radhakrishnan said currently 96 lakh individuals are eligible to receive the second dose of vaccination while 70 lakh people are yet to receive the first dose in the state.

Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi said the civic body has collected Rs 105 crore as fines from people who have not adhered to COVID-19 protocols in public. He said those who want to seek information on COVID-19 may contact the 24x7 call centre facility: 044-2538 4520 and 044-4612 2300.

(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.)
Curbing air pollution, strengthening adaptation measures such as state and city action plans, and prioritising health by building resilient health infrastructure to mitigate the impact of should be the areas of prime concern in 2022, according to experts.

Governments must ensure that the ban on single-use is implemented in 2022 and cities must operationalise plans to limit air pollution, one of the leading causes for premature deaths and disabilities, experts added.

Here is a list of priority areas India must focus on in environmental policies and action:

New standards, action plans for air pollution

ranks the second highest (after malnutrition) among the risk factors of diseases in India, accounting for 10% of the disease burden. is also estimated to reduce the average life expectancy of a child born in India by at least 1.5 years; in 2019, it killed 116,000 Indian infants, we reported in October 2020.

Pollution from vehicles and emissions from factories and coal-fired power stations contribute to across India, all-year round.

In 2009, the CPCB notified the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) which mention eight prime pollutants: particulate matter (PM 2.5 and PM 10), nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, benzene and ammonia. India is likely to establish fresh standards which would factor in more particulate matter finer than PM 2.5.

The revisions to NAAQS will serve to define the discussion around air pollution for the next decade in India, as per a December 2021 report by the Centre for Policy Research, a Delhi-based think tank. Making the standards more ambitious will be based on our understanding of risk associated with exposure and how that has evolved over time, states the report.

So far, there are 95 cities across 23 states and Union territories which are categorised as non-attainment cities, which do not comply with the NAAQS standards. City-specific action plans are to be formulated for the non-attainment cities through which the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) is operationalised. The NCAP, launched by the environment ministry in January 2019, set a national-level target of 20% to 30% reduction of PM 2.5 and PM 10 concentration levels by 2024, with 2017 as base for concentration levels.

"The NCAP did not really take off because of the pandemic and shutdown," Sunil Dahiya, analyst at the non-profit Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), told IndiaSpend. "As we retreat from the pandemic, it is important to strengthen the NCAP and prioritise emissions reduction from coal-power plants."

Emissions from coal power plants are one of the major causes of air pollution; expanding coal power will lead to 60% more premature deaths in metro cities in India, according to a report by C40 cities, a global network of people from 97 cities. Fifty-five per cent of India's coal-generated electricity is within 500 km of five megacities--Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata--which will put urban residents' health at risk, especially the young, elderly and pregnant women, stated the report.

"There will be continuing pressure to phase down coal, although India hasn't set any clear plans to control coal's impact on deteriorating air quality," said Shripad Dharmadhikary, analyst at the research organisation Manthan Adhyayan Kendra.

"The health aspect of air pollution is something which needs to be integrated in environment policies," said Shweta Narayan, an environmental justice activist and campaigner for climate and health with Health Care Without Harm in India. "The environment impact assessment for thermal power plants fails to look at public health and there is a growing momentum building around the need to undertake health impact assessment for polluting plants."

Prioritising resilient health infrastructure

and the resultant rising temperatures and altered rainfall patterns are creating ideal conditions for transmission of infectious diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, zika, malaria; it may also lead to more deaths, crop failures, mental health problems, pregnancy-related complications and heat- and humidity-related morbidity, we had reported earlier in October 2021.

"In terms of building the resilience of the health system, we are not there," said Narayan, adding, "There is periodic intervention during floods or cyclones, but building an infrastructure that can stand regular events of extreme weather is desperately needed."

In 2015, India came up with the National Health Mission which includes the National Action Plan for and Human Health with the aim to strengthen health preparedness and response at the central, state and district levels by building early warning systems and health surveillance to prevent and mitigate extreme heat.

States are putting together their action plans for climate change and human health that are due in December 2021. It will be important to see the budgetary allocations to the state to implement these plans and how they are prioritised in 2022," said Narayan.

Making the plastic ban effective

The country produces over 25,940 tons of plastic waste every day, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). In August 2021, the environment ministry introduced Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules to ban single-use plastic that will be implemented in 2022.

The rules mandate that the manufacture, sale and use of some single-use goods made with plastic, polystyrene, and expanded polystyrene such as earbuds, plates, cups, glasses, cutlery, wrapping and packing films are prohibited from July 1 2022, while others such as carry bags must be at least 75 microns thick from September 30, 2021, and 120 microns from December 31, 2022, compared to 50 microns at present.

In 2019-20, India generated about 3,4 million tonnes of annual plastic waste. While this will be a first countrywide phase out, states in India have already adopted plastic-ban resolutions. For instance, in 1998, the Sikkim government passed the country's first plastic-bag ban. In the last decade, 22 states and Union territories have imposed complete or partial bans on plastic carry bags.

Earlier in 2011, the Union ministry had notified the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling Rules) 2011 that proposed a ban on the use of plastic materials in sachets to store, pack or sell gutkha, tobacco and pan masala. However, the CPCB's annual report 2012-13 noted that the rules are not being "intensely implemented" by states and union territories and plastic bags are being used indiscriminately.

In a National Green Tribunal case (O.A. 85/2020), the petitioner moved the tribunal against Tamil Nadu's Pollution Control Board stating that the manufacture of plastic woven and non-woven carry bags was continuing and perpetuating a wrong impression in the minds of the public that these plastic carry bags were the only alternatives to thin film plastic carry bags. The bench in a November 2021 sitting reportedly said that merely issuing notice bans is not sufficient if the government fails to monitor and take effective steps to penalise offenders who flout the plastic-ban norms.

Implementing state and city climate plans

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its periodic reports, has shown how climate change is impacting the world. For instance, monsoons in India have become uncertain; especially in the important kharif-sowing months of July and August, and this has impacted the paddy harvest in several states of India, IndiaSpend had reported in October 2021. Cyclones like Tauktae and Gulab, which bookended the summer monsoon in 2021, have increased and are set to increase further, IndiaSpend had reported in May 2021.

There is a consensus to limit warming to 1.5C by 2099 to avoid the worst predictions, but at the same time the need to adapt to climate change has become more significant and urgent. Climate change adaptation includes building critical infrastructure to deal with extreme climate events such as cyclonic storms, droughts and floods.

India has a dedicated National Adaptation Fund on Climate Change (NAFCC), launched in 2015. It is a federal grant that was introduced to fulfil the objectives of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and support state governments in operationalising the State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCC) and implementing adaptation projects. The national and state action plans are a framework of action for responding to the effects of climate change and came into force in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

Thirty-two states in India have since initiated the process of drafting SAPCC. While there has been a sizable effort at mapping regional climate vulnerability and policy-making on such a grand scale, there has been little implementation of these plans, experts say. Mumbai is the only city in India to have a climate action plan. Delhi is planning to submit its state action plan next month that will focus on actionable items to be implemented in the next 10 years, according to a news report.

A conceptual monitoring and evaluation framework has been proposed by the states in their respective SAPCCs, but, in practice, monitoring and evaluation of activities mentioned under SAPCCs have been almost non-existent, according to a 2018 report by Centre for (CSE) on the efficacy of state climate action plans.

"The scope of state action plans is largely restricted to state jurisdiction and there needs to be clear vision on further decentralisation at district and city levels," said Vineet Kumar, deputy programme manager at CSE.

It is very important to prioritise comprehensive assessment of the state action plans and how effective they are against extreme weather events, he added.


The (GST) numbers for December cap an extraordinary quarter in terms of receipts from the nationwide tax for the Centre and states. At an average monthly gross collection of Rs 1.3 trillion, the October-December quarter of 2021-22 (FY22) was the best for the Centre and states since was introduced (July 1, 2017), showing just how strong economic recovery has been.

Barring May and June, which were impacted by lower economic activity due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the first nine months of FY22 have seen encouraging receipts at above Rs 1 trillion.

However, the Omicron variant of the coronavirus continues to be a big unknown, in terms of the economic impact. Depending upon how fast the third wave spreads and how severe the restrictions upon businesses are, collections in February and March 2022 could be affected, observe analysts.

What happens in the months to come depends upon the severity of the third wave. The restrictions we are seeing so far are in certain states and for certain activities. So far, no state has imposed mass restrictions the way we saw in the second wave, said M S Mani, partner, Deloitte India.





Mani said there is no clarity on how severe the Omicron wave would be and what further restrictions it could entail. Whether there will be restrictions in interstate movement of goods is what needs to be keenly watched, he added.

Gross GST collections for May 2021 (which would reflect April activity) came in at Rs 97,821 crore, while those for June (a barometer for May's economic activity) were the years lowest at Rs 92,800 crore. Hit by a deadly second wave, these were the only two months in FY22 which registered collections of Rs 1 trillion.

I dont see a complete lockdown like we saw at the peak of the second wave. But economic activity will definitely get impacted. Yes, the collections could be lower than what we have seen in the past two-three months. However, it may not be as bad as what we saw in May-June, said Rajat Bose, partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.

On Sunday, West Bengal became the latest state to impose restrictive measures on business establishments, with shopping malls, market complexes, restaurants and bars, government and private offices, and local trains instructed to operate at 50 per cent capacity from Monday. Gyms, salons, tourist spots will be completely shut until further notice.

These restrictions follow similar diktats already in place in Delhi, parts of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and other states.

However, leaving aside the uncertainty about the third wave, analysts expect economic recovery to continue at the pace it has been over the past few months.

The economic performance, as demonstrated in the GST collections, has recovered faster than it was expected to. When we were hit by the second wave, we did not expect recovery to happen so quickly. The Rs 1.3 trillion per month seems to be the new normal, said Mani.

Independent economists and policymakers within the government consider GST as a good yardstick of how the economy is working, given that it captures consumption and demand in goods, services, trade, and interstate movement across sectors.

Whenever the economy is on a rebound, there is pent-up demand and spending tends to be much more. That is what happened, especially in the festival season, said Bose.

In a media release on Saturday, the finance ministry said the average monthly gross GST collection for October-December quarter was Rs 1.3 trillion, compared with Rs 1.1 trillion in April-June and Rs 1.15 trillion in July-September.

Coupled with economic recovery, anti-evasion activities, especially action against fake billers, have been contributing to the enhanced GST. The improvement in revenue has also been due to various rate rationalisation measures undertaken by the GST Council to correct an inverted duty structure. It is expected that the positive trend in revenue will continue into the last quarter as well, said the ministry.
New fell 6.3 per cent in the December quarter compared with the September quarter. The value of new in the just-concluded quarter was Rs 2.1 trillion, according to the data from Centre for Monitoring (CMIE), which was lower than the Rs 2.2 trillion seen in the September quarter. It is, however, higher than Rs 1.5 trillion recorded for the quarter ended December 2020, the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This data ties in with the November data for core sector growth, an index of eight core industries, which grew at its slowest pace since early 2021. It was up 3.1 per cent in November. Cement output contracted over the previous year. Other industries included in the index, such as coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, and electricity, recorded a slowdown barring fertilizers. This is because rabi crop sowing was currently underway, said experts.

Meanwhile, the value of completed went up for the second quarter in a row to Rs 1.4 trillion from Rs 1.15 trillion. The pace going forward is likely to be closely watched amid rising cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Companies typically invest in creating new capacities when existing production capacity is anticipated to fall short. Such investments had taken a back-seat amid falling demand because of the pandemic. The previous wave in the early part of 2020 had a marked effect on capacity utilisation.

Due to the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, several restrictions were imposed in many regions of the country, which adversely affected capacity utilisation (CU) in the Indian manufacturing sector; the impact was, however, less severe than that witnessed during Q1:2020-21 in the wake of lockdowns and other restrictions during the first wave, said the Reserve Bank of Indias periodic Order Books, Inventories and Capacity Utilisation Survey (OBICUS) for the June 2021 quarter.

A national level lockdown had hit capacity utilisation during the June 2020 quarter.

At the aggregate level, CU for the manufacturing sector declined to 60.0 per cent in Q1:2021-22 from 69.4 per cent recorded in the previous quarter; it stood at 47.3 per cent a year ago, according to the RBI note.

Rating agency Icras chief economist Aditi Nayar had said that some sectors were seeing capacity expansion. The governments production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes were also encouraging manufacturers. The PLI scheme provides incentives for companies on increase in sale of products manufactured in India.

Capacity expansion is already taking place in some sectors such as cement and steel, and the PLI sectors, although the uncertainty generated by Omicron may temporarily delay some capex plans. In our view, rising consumption will push capacity utilisation above the crucial threshold of 75...(per cent)...by the end of 2022, which should then trigger a more broad-based pickup in private sector investment activity in 2023, she said.

There is a case to be made for additional capacity addition in India given slower investments in previous years, according to Sorbh Gupta, Fund Manager- Equity, Quantum Mutual Fund. The current uncertainty may affect how this plays out. Fresh capacity addition could get further delayed, he said.
Deputy Chief Minister on Saturday visited the under-construction campus of the upcoming Teachers' University at Bakkarwala village and informed that it will be opened this year for a total of 5,000 students.

Government will set up Delhi University on 12 acres of land and students will be able to apply for admission from 2022 itself as Sisodia directed officials to fast track the work of setting up this university in Bakkarwala village as sessions will start in 2022.

After this visit, Sisodia, in a statement, said, ''In the meanwhile, the concerned department is also working on bringing in the best who have worked with foreign universities and will groom in Delhi with the help of the world's best practices. The University will cater to the professional needs of both pre-service and in-service teachers.''

The University will have lecture halls, digital labs, and a library with world-class facilities. The four-storey main university block has been divided into two parts- the Administrative floor and Floor.

Here, the ground floor will have an administration office, whereas classes will be run on the first, second and third floors. As of now, the main university block is ready to open and other blocks are near completion.

It is to be noted that, earlier on December 20, 2021, the Delhi Cabinet had approved the proposal to set up Delhi Teachers' University. The bill related to this will be tabled in the winter session of the Delhi Legislative Assembly starting from January 3. But even before that, Delhi Government got indulged in preparing its infrastructure.

(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.)
When Lok Sabha elections are held, the and hold public meetings using government funds and the energy they have now during the winter season is derived from the money of the poor people, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo told ANI on Saturday.

On the occasion of the new year, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief took the opportunity to take a dig at her political rivals ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections and terming Opposition parties 'anti-people' urged citizens to vote them out in the upcoming polls.

"The elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Punjab are near. On the first day of this New Year, I urge the citizens to take the chance to vote out the anti-people parties in the upcoming polls this year," said .

The BSP chief said that the big parties which have been in power in the Centre like and Congress, only show up ahead of state or regional polls by conducting extravagant rallies.

"The rallies that they hold are from Central fund derived from taxpayers' money. My party cannot afford such big election rallies even if we want to. BSP is a poor man's party which consists of people like labourers," said Mayawati.

She said her party ideology is against holding extravagant rallies.

"As far as election publicity is concerned, BSP has its own way of functioning which is different from other parties," added the former UP CM. "Other parties get money from big industrialists and ponzi scams; BSP doesn't," said Mayawati.

(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.)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister on Saturday slammed alleging that the SP government seized land of dalits and property of the poor.

Addressing a public rally in Rampur, Adityanath said, "Rampur's knife, which was once used for defence, had become a tool in the government to seize the land of dalits and the property of the poor..."

"I heard Babua (Akhilesh Yadav) saying that they will provide free electricity if voted to power. During their tenure, they did not ensure that electricity reached every nook and corner of the state. Then, on what basis will they provide free electricity? Babua should come out in public and apologise to all," he said.

"Today Babua was saying that if our government had been there, then SP government would also have built a grand Ram temple. If Babua had time left from creating cemeteries, he would have thought of Ram Mandir," the Chief Minister said.

"Ram bhakts were gunned down during Babua's tenure," he added.

The Chief Minister said that 4.5 lakh youth were given government jobs and over 1.61 crore people were given employment in the state.

"Previously riots used to take place every third day. Every section of the society suffered, businessmen were looted, false cases were filed against the youth. But after BJP came to power, not a single riot has taken place and those who tried to incite violence or loot were warned that even their next seven generations would get tired of paying compensation but will not be able to do so," he said.

He slammed the for firing on kar sevaks in 1990.

"This is your power, the power of your vote. This power will someday make them seek forgiveness for their wrongdoings," he said.

He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a united battle is being fought against the COVID-19 pandemic and, "free foodgrains, free tests, free treatment are being provided to the various sections". He said free vaccines against the disease were also being given to people.

(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.)
Emphasizing that 2021 was the year of a huge victory of his compatriots, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his address on Saturday said that 2022 will be the year of a "life-and-death" struggle, the Korean Central News Agency (KSNA) reported on Saturday.

The fourth plenary session of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of (WPK) of the eighth convocation was held from December 27 to 31. According to KSNA, WPK discussed the country's budget for 2022, the results of 2021 and plans for the coming year, agriculture, and changes in the WPK charter.

In his speech, the North Korean leader noted that the great struggle of 2022 must be won to ensure the success of socialist ideas and the North Korean people, KSNA reported. Kim mainly focused on agriculture and construction, strengthening the structure of the party and local authorities, developing the economy, industry, science, and health.

The North Korean leader did not mention relations with the United States and South Korea although last month marked an important development for the Korean peninsula. South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in December that his country, China, North Korea, and the United States agreed in principle to the declaration putting an end to the Korean War.

The Korean War de-facto ended in 1953 after the US and Democratic People's Republic of Korea ratified an armistice without signing a peace treaty. However, the Korean peninsula is still formally in a state of war until a peace treaty is signed.

(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.)
More than 3,000 flights were cancelled around the world on Sunday, more than half of them U.S. flights, adding to the toll of holiday week travel disruptions due to adverse weather and the surge in cases caused by the Omicron variant.

Over 3,300 flights had been cancelled by noon GMT on Sunday, including over 1,900 entering, departing from or within the United States, according to a running tally on the tracking website FlightAware.com. Including those delayed but not cancelled, more than 4,800 flights were delayed in total.

The Christmas and New Year holidays are typically a peak time for air travel, but the rapid spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant has led to a sharp increase in Covid-19 infections, forcing airlines to cancel flights as pilots and crew quarantine.

Transportation agencies across the United States were also suspending or reducing services due to coronavirus-related staff shortages.

Omicron has brought record case counts and dampened New Year festivities around much of the world.

The rise in U.S. Covid-19 cases had caused some companies to change plans to increase the number of employees working from their offices from Monday.

Chevron Corp was to start a full return to office from Jan. 3 but told employees in late December it was postponing the move indefinitely.

U.S. airline cabin crew, pilots and support staff were reluctant to work overtime during the holiday travel season, despite offers of hefty financial incentives.

Many workers feared contracting Covid-19 and did not welcome the prospect of dealing with unruly passengers, some airline unions said.

New York sees record cases

New York state recorded more than 85,000 new cases on the last day of 2021, the highest one-day total in the state since the pandemic began, officials announced Saturday.

The number of positive test results  85,476, or roughly 22 per cent of the total tests reported by the state  once again outstripped a record set just the day before. And New Yorks turbocharged increase in cases shows no signs of slowing, with new infections from holiday travel and gatherings most likely not yet reflected in official counts. As we fight the winter surge, we need to keep the most vulnerable among us in mind  do what you can to keep others in your community safe from Covid-19, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement announcing the states latest totals. Wear a mask, wash your hands and take advantage of the best tool we have at our disposal  the vaccine.

New York is one of several hot spots  along with Washington, DC, and other Eastern states  leading a national surge. On Thursday, a record 585,013 new cases were recorded nationwide, and hospitalizations are trending upward acrossthe country.

In the previous 24 hours in New York state, nearly 90,000 vaccine doses had been administered, according to Hochuls statement. Eighty-eight deaths in the state were attributed to Covid. Nationally, there were 1,181 Covid deaths recorded Friday, according to a New York Times database.

Meanwhile, the U.K. is trying various strategies to limit the impact of record high Covid-19 cases on health care and other sectors, while attempting to stay true to a vow to avoid new lockdowns.

Among the latest moves, Boris Johnsons government is developing contingency plans to help companies and supply chains avoid disruptions caused by rising staff absences, the Financial Times reported.

Its asked private businesses to test the plans against a worst-case scenario of as much as 25% in workforce absences, according to the newspaper.
US authorities asked major telecoms operators to hold off on their planned rollout of 5G networks for another two weeks on Saturday.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Steve Dickson, asked AT&T and Verizon  two of the countrys biggest operators  for the delay amid safety concerns.

The rollout had originally been planned for December 5, but was delayed until January 5 after aerospace giants Airbus and Boeing voiced worries about potential interference.

Buttigieg requested a delay for an additional short period of no more than two weeks in a letter to the companies.

The concerns regard the use of the range of frequencies used by both as well as the devices on aircraft for measuring altitude.

AT&T and Verizon acquired the authorization to start using 3.7-3.8 GHz  the so-called C-Band service  frequency back in February 2021 after paying tens of billions of dollars. The initial launch date for the high-speed internet network was pushed back so that the FAA could get information on the effects on altimeter instruments.

The agency has expressed concern about possible interferences with aircraft electronics. Buttigieg and Dickson based their request for a delay on the threat of severe impacts on air travel.
Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Saturday said that the state government would initiate strict actions against the land mafia and people involved in illegal land grabbing.

"If someone uses politics as a shield to run illegal works like land encroachment openly, I want to make it clear that they cannot save themselves from being prosecuted legally. The law will take its own course and no one will be spared", said CM Deb in a programme organized by Purvaudaya NGO and State Bank of India (SBI) on New Year.

Appreciating the role of new Mayor Deepak Majumder, Deb said, "During the previous Left regime, the Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) Council failed to free illegally occupied land at the heart of the city. After the political change of guard, the new AMC council has succeeded in vacating those places."

The chief minister was indicating the demolition of a building in front of Maharani Tulsibati School in Agartala. The building was formerly known as the Trinamool Congress Bhavan when dissident Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Sudip Roy Barman and his close confidant were in TMC.

After they switched sides with the BJP, the building came under the control of an anti-Left employees union that extended its conditional support towards the BJP prior to the 2018 assembly elections.

Deb also reacted to the allegations being levelled against the BJP government and the party leaders on the issue of State Rifles (TSR) recruitment.

"Now scopes are less to get benefits in getting a job taking political advantage. Unlike the previous regime, MLAs, Ministers and other influential people do not have any say in government recruitment. government is now recruiting people as per a fair and transparent recruitment policy. Only the meritorious candidates are getting the scope of employment nowadays", Deb added.

Deb also highlighted the Tripura government's initiatives to empower women and said the Tripura government has recruited 500 additional women cops in the State police department.

"I hope people of Tripura shall get the benefit of the transparent recruitment rules in the days to come", added Deb.

The Chief Minister spent the first day of the New Year with elderly persons at "Apna Ghar" old age home. SBI and Purvaudaya NGO organized a programme at the old age home in which CM Deb attended as the chief guest.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy will reach New Delhi on Monday afternoon for a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where several issues related to the state will come up for discussion.

The meeting between the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister is scheduled for 4 pm on Monday, official sources here said. Among other things, Jagan is expected to raise the Vizag Steel Plant privatisation issue and also seek liberal financial assistance from the Centre to save AP from bankruptcy, the sources said. Continuation of the state Legislative Council and permission to dovetail PM-KISAN with the state's own scheme are some of the other important issues the Chief Minister will take up.



Jagan last met back in October 2020. The state Assembly passed a resolution in November 2021, withdrawing its previous statutory resolution seeking abolition of the Legislative Council, after the ruling YSR Congress secured full majority in the 58-member House.



The Chief Minister is expected to request the Prime Minister to complete the necessary formalities so that the Council remains in place. This is one of the important items that the Chief Minister has on his agenda, a top official said.In March 2021, the CM wrote a letter to the Prime Minister seeking the latter's appointment to discuss various options to revive the fortunes of the Navaratna company (Vizag Steel Plant). Jagan said he would lead a delegation of all-party leaders and representatives of trade unions (to the Prime Minister) to represent to you directly the concerns being expressed by the people of Andhra Pradesh, employees and various stakeholders on the proposed Vizag Steel Plant strategic disinvestment issue.There was, however, no follow-up action on that, even as the opposition parties and trade unions in the state have been mounting pressure on Jagan to vigorously pursue the issue with the Centre and stall the steel plant privatisation.As he is meeting the Prime Minister personally after a long gap, the Chief Minister wants to raise all such pending issues and seek redressal, the official, who did not want to be quoted, said. Another major issue is the delinking of the Centre's PM-KISAN scheme with the state's Rythu Bharosa. The Centre recently made it categorically clear that PM-KISAN being a Central Sector Scheme, can't be combined with any other scheme implemented by any state government.The state government has been paying Rs 13,500, including Rs 6,000 under PM-KISAN, to each farmer per annum, naming the scheme as YSR Rythu Bharosa. With the central government objecting to it, the cash-starved state government will have to bear the entire burden now, in line with the YSRC's electoral promise. Delinking the scheme will only lead to duplication. Since the scheme is being implemented without any hassle now, we want it to be continued in the same format, the top official said. Other issues like funds for the Polavaram multipurpose project, release of pending grants from the Centre and grant of special category status to the state always comprise the Chief Minister's agenda.

(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.)
Shiv Sena MP on Sunday said Prime Minister should not call himself a 'fakir' now with the addition of a "Rs 12 crore" car in his cavalcade.

In his weekly column 'Rokhthok' in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana', Raut also praised former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru for always using an Indian-made car, and late PM Indira Gandhi for not replacing her security guards despite a threat to her life.

On December 28, media reported pictures of a Rs 12 crore car for Prime Minister Modi. A person who calls himself a fakir, a pradhan sevak, uses a foreign made car," Raut said.

The prime minister's security and comfort are important, but from now on, the pradhan sevak should not reiterate that he is a fakir (ascetic), the Rajya Sabha member said.

A Mercedes-Maybach S650 Guard was recently added to the prime minister's cavalcade by the Special Protection Group.

The price quoted for a Maybach car in a section of the media is over Rs 12 crore.

However, government sources had said the new car was a replacement of the BMW used by the prime minister as the German carmaker stopped production of the vehicle.

Official sources had also said the SPG security detail has a six-year norm to replace vehicles used for the protectee and that Modi has not given any preference on which cars to use. They also said that the car costs about one-third of the price quoted in the media.

Raut on Sunday said Modi, who started 'swadeshi' initiatives like 'Make in India' and 'Start-Up India', is using a foreign manufactured car.

Praising Jawaharlal Nehru, the Shiv Sena's spokesperson said the country's first prime minister, despite security threat after the partition, always used an Indian-made Ambassador car.

He also said that (former PM) Indira Gandhi, despite a threat to her life, did not change Sikh security personnel deployed for her security. Besides, (former prime minister) Rajiv Gandhi mingled with crowd in Tamil Nadu and got killed by the LTTE, he said.

He (Rajiv Gandhi) should not have dared to mingle with the crowd. But, he did, Raut said.

Targeting the Centre over night curbs in the wake of the rise in COVID-19 cases again in parts of the country, the Sena leader said the Union government has imposed such restrictions at night, resulting in financial losses.

PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Samajwadi Party head Akhilesh Yadav address rallies which are attended by lakhs of people. But, the restrictions are only for the common man, Raut 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.)
Photos of hundreds of Muslim women have been uploaded on an app using hosting platform GitHub, Shiv Sena MP said on Saturday.

Chaturvedi said she has raised the matter with Mumbai Police, and demanded that the culprits should be arrested at the earliest. Have spoken to @CPMumbaiPolice and DCP Crime Rashmi Karandikar ji. They will investigate this. Have also spoken to @DGPMaharashtra for intervention. Hoping those behind such misogynistic and sexist sites are apprehended, she tweeted.



I have repeatedly asked Hon. IT Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw ji to take stern action against such rampant misogyny and communal targeting of women through #sullideals like platforms. A shame that it continues to be ignored, Chaturvedi added.



Reacting to the development, said they have taken cognisance of the matter and that concerned officials have been asked to take action. Mumbai cyber police have initiated probe in connection with the objectionable content, an official said.The app 'Bulli Bai' works just the same way as Sulli Deals' did. Once you open it, you randomly find a Muslim woman's face being displayed as Bulli Bai, a user said. Muslim women with a strong presence on Twitter have been singled out and their photos are being displayed as Bulli Bai. A journalist, who is one of the women named in the app, said that Muslim women have had to start the year with a "sense of fear and disgust."Two FIRs were filed by the Delhi and Uttar Pradesh Police in the 'Sulli Deals' controversy last year, after photos of Muslim women were misused, but no concrete action has been taken against the perpetrators.

(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.)
At his Heren Charitable Foundations office Dec. 6 in Fuzhou, 75-year-old Cao Dewang was full of energy. Next to his desk stood the final model for the design of Fuyao University of Science and Technology. He told of his plan for the 212-acre campus.

In the model, the open, elegant campus is surrounded by water with no walls, connected by bridges.

I believe it will be the most beautiful and modern university in China, Cao said in an interview with Caixin.
This photo provided by Madison County Sheriff's Office, authorities closed down a road after power lines came down and homes suffered damage early Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022 in Hazel Green, Ala. The storms followed a system earlier Saturday which brought a possible tornado and flooding to parts of Kentucky. (Madison County Sheriff's Office via AP)
41. Adult Swim (386,000, -25%)

46. Nickelodeon (335,000, -32%)

54. Disney Junior (258,000, -17%)

63. Disney Channel (233,000, -35%)

64. Nick Jr. (232,000, -31%)

72. Cartoon Network (201,000, -26%)

101. Disney XD (83,000, -13%)

107. Nicktoons (67,000, -24%)

Variety also ranked the 50 top-rated networks for the 1849 age bracket. Three of the animation broadcasters made this list:

20. Adult Swim (224,000, -28%)

39. Nickelodeon (119,000, -27%)

49. Disney Junior (91,000, -10%)

All these numbers are on a par with the precipitous drops of the past two years, and continue a downward trend that began before that. Since 2014, Disney Channel has lost 88.1% of its total audience and Adult Swim has dropped by 71.3%. Cartoon Network is down by 79.3% and Nickelodeon by 74.5% since 2016.

The context, of course, is the rise of streaming platforms and video sharing platforms, whose viewership is not included in these charts as it is measured so differently. For years, kids cable broadcasters have been hemorrhaging viewers to these services, chiefly Netflix and Youtube.

For the first time this year, all the networks mentioned above have sister streamers within the same parent company. The Nick channels are associated with Paramount+, the Disney channels with Disney+, and Cartoon Network and Adult Swim with HBO Max.

More than ever, the parent companies are actively encouraging audiences to adopt streaming by making prestige titles exclusive to those platforms. Disney has sent out a clear message by shutting channels around the world.

In other words, dont expect the bad news for linear to let up.

Image at top: Nickelodeons The Patrick Star Show
For some, though, the designs dont represent Chinese people so much as racist stereotypes of them. Viewers have taken to social media to condemn the film. This is how Chinese people were exaggeratedly portrayed during the colonial period. Weve been discriminated against for so long that this doesnt look so strange to some people, reads one Weibo user comment (as translated by Radii). Another Chinese person wrote an essay arguing that squinting eyes is a greater offense to a Chinese person than depicting a Black person eating watermelon and fried chicken in the United States.

Large eyes are very common in Chinese cg films. For Zhang, this reflects an assimilation of foreign ideas, not the small eyes his film contains. The Global Times continues:

The response to slanted eyes of the character shows that we lack aesthetic confidence and our aesthetic view of animation has been homogenized given the huge influence of Japanese and American animation, Zhang said, adding that the selection of such an ordinary boy perfectly depicts his spirit of strengthen and resistance to life.

I Am What I Am is popular with those who have seen it, earning user scores of 8.3 and 9.5 respectively on film reviewing platforms Douban and Maoyan. It screened at L.A.s Animation Is Film earlier this year, and its Chinese gross to date is 164.6 million yuan (USD$25.9 million), according to Entgroup.

The question of racism aside, this controversy shows how approaches to character design can become entrenched in the industry, to the point where even a subtle deviation makes headlines. Hollywood animation is no exception: designs are so homogenous here that when a film like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse dares to do something a bit different, everyone takes notice. We dream of a day, as were sure many industry artists and fans do too, when this kind of experimentation is the norm.

Poster for I Am What I Am:
Photo: Nelson Search and Rescue Crews rescue an injured person from Lightning Strike Ridge Friday night.

It was a busy New Year's Eve for search and rescue volunteers in the Kootenays, with crews responding to two separate incidents in the backcountry.

At 2 p.m., Whitewater Ski Resort outside of Nelson reported a large Size 3 avalanche just outside their ski area boundary, on an area known as Whale's Back.

A Size 3 avalanche has the potential to bury vehicles, destroy small buildings and break trees.

Whitewater ski patrol determined seven people were involved in the incident, but luckily, no one was buried or injured.

Nelson Search and Rescue conducted a search of the area by helicopter using a helicopter-mounted avalanche transceiver, and determined no other people were caught in the massive slide.

Earlier last week, four people and two dogs were caught in an avalanche near Friday's large slide, and two people seriously injured.

At 3:30 p.m. on Friday, while Nelson Search and Rescue crews were still involved in the Whale's Back avalanche search, NSAR crews were called in help assist the Castlegar Search and Rescue after an SOS signal had come in from the Lightning Strike Ridge area of Kootenay Pass.

A backcountry user had injured their knee, and required rescue.

With lack of light for a helicopter evacuation and temperatures again dropping below -20, ground teams were able to rescue the subject and hand him of to the BC Ambulance waiting on Hwy 3A near Kootenay Pass summit, NSAR wrote on Facebook.

After their heroic efforts, all 15 members of Castlegar and Nelson search and rescues who were involved made it home by 11:30 p.m., just in time to ring in the new year.

The avalanche danger rating for the Kootenay-Boundary region remains 'Considerable' in the alpine and treeline areas, and Avalanche Canada says a buried weak layer in the area has "produced a number of large and surprising natural and skier-triggered avalanches."
Photo: The Canadian Press Governor General Mary Simon speaks during the Presentation of Canadian Honours at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021.The governor general said Canadians can be hopeful as they ring in the new year, despite the ongoing crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The governor general says Canadians can be hopeful as they ring in the new year, despite the ongoing crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In her first New Year's message since becoming vice-regal in July, Mary Simon says Canadians have shown resilience, compassion and adaptability despite a difficult year.

In the message  released in English, French and Inuktitut  Simon says Canadians have inspired her to continue to work and find better ways to help communities thrive.

She references a concept known in Inuktitut as "ajuinnata," meaning not only commitment but putting that commitment into action.

The governor general says together, Canadians are combating the pandemic, tackling climate change, and "walking the path of reconciliation."